Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

As the spiritual energy surged into Lu Chen's body, a tearing pain immediately spread throughout his body. Even though Lu Chen possessed a very powerful soul, he almost couldn't withstand it.

Lu Chen quickly adjusted his breathing rhythm, reducing the intake of spiritual energy. Although the pain was still intense, he could barely bear it.

Just then, he suddenly felt some changes in his body. As someone with memories of Earth, Lu Chen knew about the existence of cells. He felt that the cells in his body were constantly dividing and dying, and the cells that were divided were getting stronger and stronger.

After the spiritual energy passed through his body, the growth and death of those cells accelerated, and the newly born cells became more powerful, making his body stronger as a result.

Soon, a burst of energy emanated from Lu Chen's body, and the stone table in the pavilion was overturned.

Lu Chen immediately opened his eyes, a smile appearing on his face. In just one month, he had broken through to the peak of the Mortal Realm. If he continued at his current cultivation speed, he might be able to break through to the Human Realm in no time.

At this moment, in the shadow of the artificial hill in the courtyard, Zhao Yu was extremely shocked when he sensed Lu Chen's breakthrough.

Lu Chen went from an ordinary person to the peak of the mortal realm in just one month. This speed of realm improvement is too fast!

Most importantly, Lu Chen has not absorbed any strange or evil spiritual energy, relying solely on the spiritual energy in the air.

There are many kinds of spiritual energy. In this world, spiritual energy also roams in the air, but this spiritual energy is very thin and not pure. The spiritual energy in the body of strange and evil spirits is very rich and pure. Therefore, if a spiritual martial artist wants to improve his realm quickly, he needs to rely on strange and evil spirits.

Zhao Yu originally intended to provide Lu Chen with some strange and evil corpses, but considering that Lu Chen had just become a Spirit Warrior, absorbing the spiritual energy from the bodies of strange and evil spirits so quickly would greatly harm his body, so he did not have anyone provide Lu Chen with strange and evil spirits.

However, it now seems that even without absorbing the spiritual energy from the strange and evil spirits, Lu Chen's rate of improvement in cultivation is far faster than that of ordinary spiritual warriors.

It only took Zhao Yu a month to go from the mortal realm to the peak of the mortal realm. In all his years of life, he had never heard of such a thing.

After the initial shock, Zhao Yu finally felt relieved. He had been worried that the Zhennan Prince's Mansion would decline after the Prince of Zhennan's death, but now it seemed that the Zhennan Prince's Mansion could probably continue for several hundred years.

Even if Lu Chen doesn't grow up, as long as the people of Zhennan Prince's Mansion don't fall apart, and Lu Chen persists until his child grows up, then Zhennan Prince's Mansion will still have a chance to rise again in the future.

After Lu Chen broke through to the peak of the mortal realm, his perception of his surroundings became much more acute. Only then did Lu Chen realize that although his divine soul was powerful, it was limited by this body and could not be fully released.

However, as his strength increased, the benefits of his powerful soul became apparent. His senses were much sharper than those of a typical peak mortal martial artist. Lu Chen clearly sensed a spiritual aura near the stone mountain in the courtyard.

Lu Chen tentatively addressed Shi Shan, "Commander Zhao, what brings you here so late?"

In Lu Chen's view, the Zhennan Prince's Mansion is now being targeted by various forces, and his father will definitely send a strong person to protect him. As the successor of the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, his father will likely send a strong person at the Earth Realm to protect him. The most likely person is Zhao Yu, after all, Zhao Yu is also his teacher.

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Zhao Yu was stunned again. He had already concealed his aura, but he didn't expect that Lu Chen would still be able to detect it.

Then Zhao Yu stopped hiding and stepped out of the shadows. "Young Master, congratulations on breaking through to the peak of the mortal realm."

"His Majesty was worried that someone might harm you, so he specially sent me to protect you."

Lu Chen said, "I see."

Lu Chen then asked, "I feel that the spiritual energy in the air is very thin. If I want to continue to improve my cultivation level, will I need more strange and malevolent spiritual energy?"

Hearing Lu Chen's question, Zhao Yu hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "Logically speaking, once a Spirit Warrior reaches the Mortal Realm, they can begin to absorb the strange and evil spiritual energy. However, Your Highness, you have only just become a Spirit Warrior. I am worried that your body will not be able to withstand the erosion of the spiritual energy. The strange and evil spiritual energy is more concentrated and pure, and it will cause greater damage to the body."

Zhao Yu did not want Lu Chen to come into contact with strange and evil spirits so quickly. Now that Lu Chen has shown his potential, and the powerful figures of Zhennan Prince's Mansion will not leave for the time being, there is no need for Lu Chen to be in such a hurry to become stronger.

If you are too eager to become stronger and injure your body, it will be a losing proposition.

Upon hearing Zhao Yu's words, Lu Chen replied nonchalantly, "It's alright, I can handle it. You can catch a few weak monsters for me at the beginning."

Seeing Lu Chen say this, Zhao Yu said, "If the young master really wants to absorb the spiritual energy from the body of the strange and evil spirit, I can catch a lantern ghost for the young master right now. The lantern ghost is very weak, and the spiritual energy in its body is not that pure, so it will not be as painful to absorb it."

Most powerful families keep some weaker, strange and evil spirits as resources for martial artists to improve their strength.

The underground of the Zhennan Prince's Mansion also harbors some strange and evil spirits.

Among the evil spirits kept in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, the weakest is the Lantern Ghost. Lantern Ghosts are very common in the Great Zhou Dynasty. They can be found wherever there are abandoned graves. Moreover, the Lantern Ghost is very weak. Even if an ordinary person encounters a Lantern Ghost head-on, the ordinary person will only suffer minor injuries and will not be in mortal danger.

Lu Chen thought for a moment. He realized that he had never absorbed the spiritual energy from a strange and evil spirit before, so it was indeed better to proceed step by step. He then said, "Alright, then I'll trouble Commander Zhao."

As soon as Lu Chen finished speaking, Zhao Yu's body once again disappeared into the shadows. In just a moment, Zhao Yu emerged from the shadows again, carrying a struggling lantern ghost in his hand.

The lantern had a human face on its back and emitted a faint red glow.

After Zhao Yu arrived at Lu Chen's side, he directly crushed the lantern ghost to death.

The moment the lantern ghost died, Lu Chen felt a surge of malevolent spiritual energy in the air. This spiritual energy was far more ferocious than ordinary spiritual energy, and once it entered his body, it began to devour his life force.

However, the ability of these spiritual energies to devour life force is limited; once it reaches a certain level, it can no longer devour life force.

Lu Chen then sat cross-legged and began circulating the "Spiritual Fiend Body Refining Technique," continuously absorbing the spiritual fiend energy from the lantern ghost's corpse. (End of Chapter)