Mortal: Starting by looting Han Laomo's entire herb garden

Back in his cave, Lu Yan first released the little creatures from the spirit beast bracelet.

With a flash of silver light, the black dragon landed first. This creature was now several zhang long, its entire body shimmering with silver scales, its dragon horns on its head had thickened, and its four claws under its belly were sharp as hooks, coiled there.

As soon as it appeared, it raised its head high, its aura already at the peak of level five, just one step away from breaking through to level six.

With a flash of red light, the Illusionary Phoenix landed on the ground, its fiery red feathers vibrant and lustrous, making the Demonic Eyes of Illumination even more profound.

After reaching level five, its size didn't change much, but the flames around it became noticeably more solid. Ordinary magical artifacts would probably be burned to ashes before they even got close.

With a flash of yellow light, the Xuan Yuan Turtle landed on Lu Yan's shoulder, its shell pattern becoming even more intricate, with a faint spiritual light flowing through it.

As always, it remained obedient, lying motionless on the ground, only stretching its neck to glance at Lu Yan as a greeting.

Lu Yan took out the twenty level-five demon cores from his storage bag and distributed them to the three guys.

Watching the three creatures eat so happily, Yin Yue said sourly, "Brother Lu, you're feeding them so well, when are you going to find me a body to live in?"

"I'll definitely do it next time."

Silver Moon snorted and shrank back into silence.

Lu Yan put the three spirit beasts back into the bracelet and turned to walk deeper into the cave.

There is a stone chamber at the very back, which he specially opened up as an insect chamber.

On the branch in the center of the insect chamber, countless gold-eating insects gathered together, forming a ball the size of a fist, gleaming golden.

Lu Yan patted the spirit beast bracelet, and a white light flew out, causing the blood jade spider to fall to the ground.

"Get to work."

The Blood Jade Spider was crystal clear all over. It stretched out on the ground with its eight long legs, and a stream of silvery-white spider silk was spitting out from its tail.

The spider silk was fine and tough, weaving a dense web in the air, which enveloped the gold-devouring insect ball and wrapped it up.

Lu Yan stepped forward, bit his tongue, and spat a mouthful of blood onto the insect ball.

The essence and blood seeped into the gaps in the spider silk and were absorbed by the gold-devouring insect swarm.

The insect ball trembled violently a few times, and the buzzing sound changed from sharp to deep.

He raised his hand and beckoned, and the insect ball slowly flew into his palm, transforming into a golden ball of light that rested quietly in his hand.

Lu Yan nodded in satisfaction, put the insect ball into his spirit beast bracelet, and told the Blood Jade Spider to go back and rest.

For the next two days, he didn't go anywhere but stayed in his cave to meditate and consolidate his newly achieved Core Formation realm.

The golden core in his dantian slowly rotated, emitting a faint lightning glow.

He circulated the "Great Wilderness Thunder Scripture" to gradually straighten out the surging spiritual energy within his body, making his foundation more solid.

Two days later, Lu Yan opened his eyes and took out a jade box from his storage bag.

Upon opening it, inside lay a spiritual herb radiating seven-colored light—the Seven-Colored Lotus.

Lu Yan took a deep breath and put the Seven-Colored Lotus into his mouth.

The lotus petals melted in the mouth, and a powerful medicinal force instantly exploded within the body, like scalding rivers surging and flowing along the meridians.

The golden core in his dantian trembled violently, greedily absorbing the medicinal power, and its light grew brighter and brighter.

Half an hour later, the effects of the medicine gradually subsided.

The golden core was larger than before, and its light was more solid.

Mid-stage of Core Formation.

Lu Yan exhaled a breath of stale air, stood up, and stretched his limbs.

Now that my cultivation level is stable, it's time to refine those ancient treasures.

He sat down cross-legged and took things out of his storage bag one by one.

The Azure Fan is entirely bluish-gray, with swirling clouds and wind on its surface.

The coiled dragon belt is a dark gold belt with lifelike dragon patterns. After being refined, it is worn around the waist.

The Spirit-Capturing Gourd, after being refined, is hung on the waist, its mouth faintly glowing with a ghostly light.

After refining the Purple Thunder Hammer, the Blazing Fire Mirror, the Soul-Sweeping Mirror, and the Ancient Copper Coin Treasure, Lu Yan opened his eyes.

Having refined the ancient treasure and stabilized his cultivation at the mid-stage of Core Formation, Lu Yan began to ponder the matter of his natal magic weapon.

The Great Wilderness Thunder Scripture records a natal magic weapon called the Nine Heavens Thunder Hammer, which is forged from various thunder-attribute materials. Once refined, it can summon divine thunder from the nine heavens, and its power is unpredictable.

The techniques are described in mysterious terms, such as "one hammer strike brings forth ten thousand thunderbolts" or "nine hammer strikes at once cause the heavens and earth to collapse," basically making it as powerful as possible.

The power of a hammer depends entirely on the materials used; the better the materials, the more powerful the hammer will be.

"I guess I'll have to try my luck in other realms." Lu Yan sighed. After all, there were too few good things in the human realm. He put away the cultivation technique jade slip.

Silver Moon peeked out from his arms: "Are we going to use that fragment again?"

"Otherwise what?" Lu Yan took out the nameless fragment from his storage bag and weighed it in his hand: "This is for refining a natal magic weapon, so we can't be careless."

He donned black clothes, held the Nine Mountains Soul-Suppressing Brick Talisman between his fingertips, and activated the Six Ding Heavenly Armor Talisman, with six layers of silver light shield enveloping his entire body.

A single thought can cause the world to spin.

The scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

Lu Yan found himself standing in a secret room.

The secret chamber was exquisitely furnished, with the floor covered with the finest spirit beast pelts, the surrounding stone walls inlaid with luminous pearls, and several pots of spirit flowers and herbs placed in the corners, the spiritual energy of which was unbelievably rich.

In the very center, a white-robed youth sat cross-legged on a futon. He looked to be no more than seventeen or eighteen years old. His spiritual energy surged around him, and his aura hovered around the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, clearly indicating that he was attempting to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

Lu Yan felt relieved; the Qi Refining stage would be much easier.

The boy suddenly opened his eyes and saw a man in black appear out of nowhere in the secret room. His pupils contracted and his face changed drastically.

"Who dares to challenge me!"

Before he finished speaking, a brick flew out of Lu Yan's sleeve, growing to about ten feet in size in the wind, and smashed down on the boy's head.

The boy reacted quickly, patting his storage bag, and a small shield the size of a palm flew out, transforming into a light screen about ten feet high to block in front of him.

At the same time, he held a bead wrapped in electric light in his hand, as if he was about to throw it.

The Nine Mountains Soul-Suppressing Brick smashed into the light barrier, which shattered after only a moment.

The brick continued its downward momentum, landing squarely on the boy's head.

The boy's eyes rolled back, his body slumped, and he collapsed limply onto the prayer mat, blood flowing from his seven orifices, lifeless. The bead in his hand rolled to the ground.

Lu Yan looked down and his heart skipped a beat.

Azure Fire Thunder.

He recognized this thing; it was extremely powerful, comparable to a strike from a Nascent Soul cultivator in the early stages.

Could this young man be the young master of the Qingyang Sect?

He picked up the Azure Fire Thunder and then rummaged through the boy's storage bag.

Tens of thousands of spirit stones, a few ordinary magic artifacts, a few bottles of pills, and a jade slip containing the "Yin Yang Transformation Technique".

There were nine more blue fire thunderbolts lying in the corner, making a total of ten, including the one from before.

Lu Yan's eyes lit up. Ten Azure Fire Thunderbolts, good stuff.

He packed everything up, glanced at the boy on the ground, and cast a fireball.

Then his figure disappeared.

The second stop.

The world spun around him, and Lu Yan found himself in an antique-style room.

A circle of wooden cabinets stood around the room, each filled with spirit lamps. The dim, yellow light flickered, casting dappled shadows throughout the room.

In the center of the room, an old man stared dumbfounded at this uninvited guest.

Lu Yan's eye twitched.

I ran into someone I knew.

Linghu Laozu.