This Dao Ancestor is too young.

After sensing that the most intense transformation around his body had subsided, Zhang Yuanzhu looked up at the sky.

The sun disappeared without anyone noticing, the sky darkened, and night fell.

"The medicinal power of the Essence Blood Pill will be fully refined in seven days at most!"

Suddenly, the boy frowned slightly, tilted his head slightly, and looked toward the inner city.

He felt a strange sense of being watched.

He stood up, his five fingers gripping the sword hilt tightly, his internal energy flowing within his dantian, and his aura bursting forth unrestrained.

"Who is it!"

As his words drifted away, the boy, following his body's instincts, unleashed a slash from thin air.

Stab it!

The air seemed to tear apart, and the inexplicable feeling of being watched vanished with a snap.

......

Deep within the Shang family manor, inside Jiaoyuan City.

bang~

A talisman burned to ashes and scattered.

The burly, dignified-looking middle-aged man looked at the ashes on the ground and spoke:

"Did you see clearly, is this the person?"

The young man, dressed in magnificent robes and wearing a jade crown, nodded, his expression solemn.

"This is the man who killed the Snake Elder at Little Snake Mountain. It seems that Green Snake Village has also been destroyed."

"It's too much to remove the power that my Shang family has built up like this."

A hint of anger flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes.

The Green Serpent Stronghold had collected a lot of consumables and spiritual resources for the Shang family, and they were quite convenient to use, but they were directly wiped out.

Shang Lian lowered his hand and casually placed it on the hilt of the sword at his waist:

"Father, now that he has entered Jiao Yuan City, he is like a fish on a chopping board, and it will not be difficult to kill him."

The Shang family has been established in Jiaoyuan City for nearly a century, and their accumulated resources are enough to easily crush cultivators who are not even at the Qi Refining stage.

The head of the Shang family gave his son a deep look and shook his head:

"Investigate the other party's background first, then decide how to handle the situation."

"You take charge of this matter."

He waved his hand, signaling Shang Lian to leave.

A hint of resentment appeared in the young man's eyes, but he still did not refute it.

Several days ago, he saw blood everywhere and a fierce battle taking place while he was hiding in the Green Snake Village.

After some hesitation, they finally decided to leave, for how could jade collide with rubble?

But Shang Lian knew that he was afraid and dared not participate in the encirclement and killing.

Now that he has met the boy again, he naturally wants to end his life.

Lost in thought, the young man was about to leave the courtyard when a deep voice came from behind him just as he was about to cross the threshold:

"Lian'er, don't dress like that Dao Ancestor anymore. You're not suited to using a knife."

Shang Lian paused slightly and nodded lightly.

"I see."

Then he left directly.

For a moment, only the head of the Shang family stood in the courtyard, staring at the ashes on the ground, his anger forcibly suppressed.

......

"The inner city?"

Zhang Yuanzhu slung the longsword at his waist and lightly touched the hilt with his fingertips.

Since the spying originated from the inner city, and was able to know about it on his first day in the city, and used methods that were beyond his detection, then it could only be the three major families of Shang, Tao, and Qian, as well as the city lord's mansion.

The boy's eyes were filled with thought as he recalled his adversaries from this period of time.

Since the Tao and Qian families had never had any contact, the only possible source was the Shang family or the city lord's mansion.

After all, the "Young Master Shang" mentioned by the Green Snake Village Chief was likely from the Shang family. As for the City Lord's Mansion, the act of observing the porridge stall outside the city may have attracted their attention.

Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility of other hidden cultivators.

Various thoughts flashed through Zhang Yuanzhu's mind before settling down one by one.

There's no point in overthinking. What we need to do now is strengthen ourselves. If we're strong enough, what's so difficult about going there to ask them in person?

The fastest way to increase magical power is...

"Repair the magical artifact!"

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Yuanzhu had made his decision.

Having repeatedly used his supernatural powers to observe the weapon-forging techniques, and with his comprehension over the past few days, he was now confident in repairing the shield.

Call ~

He exhaled a breath of stale air and waved his sleeves.

Swish swish~

Several streaks of light landed in the courtyard, revealing a headless corpse, a spirit stone that had consumed most of its spiritual energy, and a pitch-black shield torn into three irregular fragments.

Let's begin!

The boy whispered in his heart.

The energy flowed within his dantian, and he raised his arms, forming a hand seal.

hum~

The remains trembled slightly, and the flesh began to melt away little by little, followed by the internal organs, and even the bare bones, all of which melted away.

Hehe, woohoo~

A series of ghostly wails and howls rang out, and wisps of blood mist rose, twisted, and filled the courtyard, covering the slender figure and adding to the boy's sinister aura.

Zhang Yuanzhu remained expressionless, his fingertips shifting rapidly as he unleashed a series of magical hand seals.

The crimson color twisted and changed, transforming into mysterious patterns that landed on the fragments of the magical artifact.

clang clang ~

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out continuously until dense, blood-red patterns enveloped the fragments of the magical artifact, transforming them into a blood cocoon.

Just then, the spirit stone shattered, and streams of spiritual energy converged towards the blood cocoon.

At this moment, the sound of metal clashing grew louder and the blood became even more crimson.

Time passed by, second by second.

A stick of incense!

One hour!

Two hours!!!

Two and a half hours passed, and it was late at night when the boy stopped his hand seals and looked at the blood cocoon in front of him.

Zhang Yuanzhu's lips curled up slightly, a hint of pleasure in his expression.

Become!

Click~

The blood cocoon slowly cracked open, revealing a dark shield.

The triangular shield was jet black, with blood-red patterns engraved on it, making it both sinister and ferocious.

Zhang Yuanzhu extended his palm and gently beckoned.

brush~

The shield shrank rapidly and landed in the palm of the hand.

I clench my fingers together, feeling the coldness emanating from my fingertips.

"A low-grade magic weapon is enough."

The boy nodded in satisfaction.

Magical artifacts are traditionally used by Qi Refining cultivators. For him, it was already quite good to have a low-grade magical artifact at the Qi Condensation stage.

As he pondered, the aura of the spring within his dantian surged into his palm, flowing into the shield, where he began to refine it with all his might.

buzz~

The refining of the triangular shield went extremely smoothly, without any resistance.

In just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the magical artifact had been completely refined.

A thought crossed my mind.

The shield rapidly grew larger, resembling a black and red wall blocking his way.

"My repair skills are pretty good; from now on, I'll call it Black Blood Shield."

The boy put away the magical artifact and examined it carefully in his hand.

After a moment, he put the ritual implement into his bosom and then walked towards the reclining position.

A wooden table and a wooden bed—extremely simple—but for Zhang Yuanzhu, it was enough.

Lying in bed, with my arms as a pillow, my body relaxed, my eyes closed, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

Only a murmur drifted through the room:

"We need to find the spy as soon as possible so we can rest easy."

.....

From then on, Zhang Yuanzhu practiced the "Annotations on the Qi-Inducing Record of the Nether Spring" in the morning, studied water control techniques and swordsmanship at noon, and spent his evenings studying the fragments of the "Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns" bronze furnace and ancient books on weapon forging.

Every minute, every second, his cultivation level was rapidly increasing, and his understanding of the scriptures and various skills became more proficient.

The fighting power of the young people has shown explosive growth.

Seven days passed uneventfully, but the ascetic practice ended with a snowfall.

Huhu~

The wind howled and the snow fell heavily.

Under the eaves, a young man in a cotton-padded coat stood with a sword at his side, gazing at the falling snow with a heavy expression.

The snow is heavy and the ice is freezing; how many more people will freeze to death today?

If he had enough strength, he should have done something instead of standing in the room and waiting for tragedy to happen.