Mortal: The Path to Immortality

A few days later, outside the city of Jingzhou.

Lu Nanzhu rode a tall horse, followed by a group of dusty Seven Mysteries Sect disciples, escorting several empty supply wagons slowly into the city.

This mission involves procuring supplies from the prefectural city and transporting them back to the Seven Mysteries Sect. Since the last time the sect's spies were eliminated, the Wild Wolf Gang has become increasingly rampant, and attacks on the Seven Mysteries Sect's caravans have become frequent. The caravan led by Lu Nanzhu will stay in the prefectural city for several days, waiting for branches in various places to gather their stockpiled medicinal herbs and ores there, which he will then escort back to Rainbow Cloud Mountain.

"Junior Brother Lu, you've had a long and tiring journey these past few days. Now that we're in the city, we can finally take a breather." The deputy leading the group was an outer sect instructor surnamed Wang, who was now fawning over him. Although he was older, he knew that this young inner sect disciple was highly valued and dared not be negligent in the slightest.

"Brother Wang, you've worked hard. After entering the city, set up camp according to the rules. We need to assign more people to take turns guarding the warehouse." Lu Nanzhu said calmly, "The Wild Wolf Gang here is quite powerful, so we can't be careless."

"Don't worry, junior brother, I'm very reliable!" Instructor Wang patted his chest and assured him.

After entering the prefectural city and settling the caravan, Lu Nanzhu did not go to the Lu family's old residence, nor did he rush to rest. He opened the window of the inn and looked northwest. There lay a deep canyon there—Qinglan Valley.

The previous caravans that were robbed also occurred near that canyon.

Lu Nanzhu found Instructor Wang outside the door and gave him instructions:

"Senior Brother Wang, you will be in charge of overseeing the caravan's transshipment. Several caravans have encountered accidents near Qinglan Valley recently. The terrain there is treacherous. If we don't personally figure out the patterns of their ambushes, and the goods are lost on the return journey, neither of us can bear the blame from the elders of the sect."

He paused, then added,

"I'll go take a look around and see the terrain and any remaining traces. If there are any Wild Wolf Gang sentries, we can take precautions early. You all stay in the city for the next few days and don't make any moves."

"Oh my, Junior Brother Lu is truly a role model for us all. With such a sense of responsibility, I'll definitely put in a good word for him with the Hall Master when we return to the mountain!" Instructor Wang exclaimed, but inwardly he thought to himself: These inner disciples are really eager to make a name for themselves. What's the point of investigating in those desolate mountains and wilderness?

Lu Nanzhu nodded. He put on his sword, changed into a neat dark outfit, and under the pretext of scouting enemy positions, left the city alone.

Upon arriving at Qinglan Valley, Lu Nanzhu didn't linger and plunged straight into the valley. However, the deeper he went, the more his brows furrowed. According to the information provided by Han Li, the Spirit-Gathering Moss here was usually harvested by farmers. But along the way, he found vast stretches of Spirit-Gathering Moss growing lush and green, without any signs of being cleared. Instead, a faint smell of blood lingered in the air.

Turning a corner, the horrific scene before him startled Lu Nanzhu.

A dozen or so corpses lay scattered among the rubble, their clothing suggesting they were mostly from nearby farmers. The men had mostly been stabbed to death, while the deaths of several disheveled women were particularly gruesome, clearly the result of inhuman torture. Not far away, several men dressed in black, with wolf tattoos on their chests, laughed loudly around a fire, devouring cured meat they had stolen from the farmers.

Lu Nanzhu lurked in the shadows, his divine sense quietly covering the area.

"Pah, the women in these mountains have such rough skin, not even half as pretty as the girls in the city." A one-eyed man spat.

"Alright, the leader instructed that Qinglan Valley is the throat for ambushing the Seven Mysteries Sect caravan, and we must not let a single survivor escape and leak information," another person sneered.

The burly, dark-faced man who led the group was now standing with one foot on the corpse of a farmer, disgustedly wiping the blood from his boots on the man's tattered clothes. He casually weighed the jet-black wooden box in his arms and addressed his men:

"Tsk, look at these worthless bastards. Why can't they just honestly dig for food in the fields? Why do they have to burrow into this Azure Mist Valley just for a pile of pigweed? They're going to lose their lives here."

"Big brother, the Lu family has already handed over their 'treasure'? Can we go back to the gang to report soon?" a skinny henchman asked.

He glanced towards the city, his tone growing colder, "Report back? Is Old Master Lu senile? Does he really think handing over this box will save his whole family's lives?"

He lowered his voice, a glint of fanaticism in his eyes: "The gang leader has received guidance from Venerable Jin Guang and knows that this box contains a treasure that can attract immortality. He's been itching to get in touch with it. Now, the gang leader is personally leading a large force, with Venerable Jin Guang as his backup, and heading straight for the Seven Mysteries Sect's 'Sunset Peak' stronghold! Hehe, that immortal master's magic power is boundless. By now, he's probably already terrified those self-proclaimed extraordinary hall masters of the Seven Mysteries Sect."

He stroked the box in his hand again. "The Lu family has repeatedly colluded with the Seven Mysteries Sect to ruin the leader's plans. This time, we'll use the pretext of dealing with the Seven Mysteries Sect to wipe out the Lu family as well! Tomorrow morning, my second brother and the others will burn down the Seven Mysteries Sect's warehouse in the city, cutting off Sunset Peak's support. Then, we'll coordinate from the inside and outside to kill all the remaining Seven Mysteries Sect members in the vicinity, and then slaughter the entire Lu family."

"The leader is truly brilliant! Tomorrow morning, after the second hall master sets fire to the Seven Mysteries Sect's warehouse in that prefectural city, we'll coordinate from the inside and kill the Seven Mysteries Sect disciples, then slaughter the entire Lu family. With this great achievement, the leader will be overjoyed; what kind of women won't he have then? Hahaha!"

The henchmen erupted in a shrill, raucous laugh.

Lu Nanzhu hid in the shadows, listening to these disgusting remarks, his gaze sweeping over the group of scum.

"Since you think it's not worth losing your lives for a few bundles of pig feed," Lu Nanzhu stepped forward slowly, his voice calm and steady as he questioned, "then what about you dying here for a box that doesn't belong to you?"

"Who?!"

The burly, dark-faced man suddenly turned around, swung his broadsword, and instantly stirred up a fierce gust of wind that rushed towards the attacker. This man's martial arts skills were already top-notch; this sword strike was powerful and heavy, enough to cleave a boulder in two.

Lu Nanzhu didn't move, but a wisp of blue light condensed at his fingertips. To the astonishment of the dark-faced man, he merely pointed at the air.

"clang!"

With a crisp sound, the broadsword, forged from refined steel, shattered just inches from Lu Nanzhu's fingertips. The fragments flew back and instantly slashed the burly man's right hand, which was holding the sword, leaving it a bloody mess.

"Internal energy? No... you're a celestial master?!" The dark-faced man exclaimed in surprise. Before he could even beg for mercy, several fireballs came hurtling towards him.

When the henchmen saw that their unparalleled martial arts master had turned into a human fireball, they all began to flee.

"Immortal...immortal magic!"

"Run! It's a cultivator!"

There was no fierce fighting, only a one-sided massacre. After a moment, the valley floor returned to deathly silence.

Lu Nanzhu flicked the remaining embers from his fingertips, his expression remaining unchanged.

He looked down at his hands, a subtle feeling rising in his heart. Before, in the Seven Mysteries Sect, he mostly killed people with swords piercing flesh. But now, with just a few fireballs fired casually, before he could even hear the screams of his victims, those living people had already turned to ashes several feet away.

The intense heartbeat of battle was gone, replaced by indifference. To him, killing these dozen or so Wild Wolf Gang sentries seemed no different than crushing a few ants.

He didn't ponder for long, but turned around and looked at the gruesome corpses of the farmers lying among the rubble.

After a long silence, Lu Nanzhu sighed softly, made a hand seal, and with his divine sense guiding the earth, it surged like waves. Using his rudimentary object manipulation and earth magic, he carved out a huge pit on the high slope behind the deep pool. Then, he placed the shattered corpses into it one by one.

"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. Now that we've run into you, we can't just leave you to rot in the wilderness."

As the soil settled, he casually shaved off a piece of bluestone and placed it in front of the mound. Although it was nameless, it was a way of bringing peace to the earth.

After doing all this, Lu Nanzhu slowly walked to a crevice in the rock. He carefully took out the wooden box and dug up the best-looking, bluish-purple moss by the roots.

This quality of *Gnaphalium affine* is far more potent than described in *A Brief Introduction to Herbs*, making it an ideal mother plant for spiritual cultivation.

Finally, he picked up the jet-black wooden box, weighed it in his hand, and casually put it into his pocket. Afterward, he inspected the place and hurried back to the prefectural city.