To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

"A thousand? Sir, you must be joking. Blood Essence Pills can't be eaten!"

The manager laughed and shook his head, taking it as a joke from Gu Fan.

"I'm not joking with the shopkeeper."

Gu Fan chuckled and suddenly adjusted his cultivation to the ninth level of Qi Refining, just one step away from Foundation Establishment. His magical power was released abruptly, spreading out like a tide.

The steward, whose cultivation was only at the fifth level of Qi Refining, was startled by the pressure of the magic power. His thin body trembled violently, like a frightened raccoon.

But soon, the manager calmed down.

With the Blood Spirit Sect backing it up, even Foundation Establishment cultivators wouldn't dare to act recklessly here, let alone Qi Refining cultivators.

"Greetings, senior. I was blind and neglected you earlier. Please forgive me."

Guan bowed respectfully before hurriedly instructing the servants to serve tea, his fingers trembling almost imperceptibly.

The attendant's eyes flickered slightly, and he obeyed the order to go.

"It's alright. I deliberately concealed my cultivation level just now, so don't blame me, fellow Daoist." Gu Fan smiled nonchalantly.

The steward led the three to sit down and personally lit a censer of incense. Just then, a servant brought over fragrant tea.

The teacup was placed on the table, and the steward personally picked up the jade pot and poured out the blood-red tea.

"Senior, this is a secret recipe for Infant Spirit Tea. It is made by combining the heart blood of an infant less than three months old with spiritual tea. Although its effects are not as good as the Essence Blood Pill, it is still very beneficial to cultivation."

The steward put down the jade pot and pointed to the teacup as he introduced it.

Gu Fan stared at the tea for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I appreciate your kindness, fellow Daoist, but unfortunately my current cultivation technique doesn't utilize blood energy, so let's not waste it."

The tea soup was as red as blood, like a piece of amber, but Gu Fan realized at first glance that this tea soup was absolutely not to be touched.

If he really is a demonic cultivator, then drinking the tea might indeed be as the steward said.

However, Gu Fan did not practice demonic cultivation techniques, so the foreign blood energy entering his body could not be digested and was no different from a deadly poison.

Perhaps one can suppress it by relying on Foundation Establishment cultivation, but one will inevitably have to reveal one's cultivation level.

Upon hearing this, the steward's gaze sharpened, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. He said sternly, "Fellow Daoist, you have quite the audacity. As a heretical cultivator, you actually dare to trespass into Crimson Serpent City."

The laws of the two continents and six countries are different, and they have always treated cultivators of other paths who enter their countries with indifference to death or injury.

Gu Fan's words clearly stated that the three were not cultivators from the Wu Kingdom, which made the steward unsure of their intentions.

"A Qi Refining cultivator causing trouble in Crimson Serpent City is tantamount to courting death."

"If they were gathering intelligence, they should have kept their tails between their legs and hidden. What are these three up to?"

While the steward was still hesitating, Li Fengyi and Wu Chengdao were both shocked.

If it weren't for their trust in Gu Fan, they probably would have already turned around and run away.

Even so, Li Fengyi quietly clenched her fists, and a cold glint appeared in Wu Chengdao's eyes.

In an instant, the atmosphere inside the Baodan Pavilion froze, and everyone fell silent.

"Hey, fellow Daoist, don't be nervous."

Just as everyone was on edge, Gu Fan smiled and said, "We have no ill intentions and do not intend to cause trouble here. On the contrary, we have a favor to offer you, fellow Daoist. Why don't you sit down and have a chat?"

The steward's eyes flickered for a moment, and after thinking for a while, he chose to sit down.

Just as Gu Fan said, if the three people really had malicious intent, they wouldn't have revealed their identities so easily.

The steward sat down across the table from Gu Fan, his gaze still wary, and said bluntly, "Senior, you might as well make your point clearer."

Gu Fan nodded, then suddenly let out a long sigh.

"To be honest, fellow Daoist, the three of us entered Crimson Serpent City concealing our identities. We were actually working for our families, and it was also true that we wanted to buy Essence Blood Pills."

The steward tentatively inquired, "May I ask which family you are from?"

Most independent cultivators cannot break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, but Gu Fan, despite his young appearance, reveals a cultivation level of the ninth level of Qi Refining, which is enough to show that he has a powerful force supporting him.

"I am Lu Zhanyuan from the Lu family of Xuanyin Mountain," Gu Fan introduced himself.

"The Lu family of Xuan Yin Mountain?" The steward sneered, "Senior, please don't try to fool me. Wasn't the Lu family of Xuan Yin Mountain wiped out?"

Gu Fan raised an eyebrow and asked, "How did you know about the Lu family's destruction?"

The manager's eyes flickered slightly, and he slowly shook his head: "Senior, please don't change the subject."

Gu Fan nodded and explained, "The Lu family was indeed attacked a few years ago, and the attackers were none other than the Lingxiao Sect!"

After saying this, Gu Fan clenched his fists, his eyes flashing with a cold light, as if his enemy was right in front of him.

"The Lingxiao Sect is going too far. One of their disciples came to Xuanyin Mountain to gather herbs and happened to meet my eldest daughter, Lu Caiwei. Taking advantage of her status as a disciple of a major sect, he took advantage of her beauty and made lewd remarks, claiming that he wanted to take her as a concubine."

"Caiwei is the jewel of the Lu family, pampered since childhood. In a fit of anger, she started fighting with him."

"Although the disciples of the Lingxiao Sect are extraordinary, Xuan Yin Mountain is still within the territory of my Lu family. He was ultimately unable to fight against so many people, so he had no choice but to flee, claiming that he would report to the Lingxiao Sect to avenge him."

"The Lu family could not afford to offend the Lingxiao Sect, but they could not bear to let Caiwei really marry such a person as a concubine. So they had to prepare to apologize to the Lingxiao Sect while spreading the news in the Xuan Yin Mountain market to hold a contest to find a husband for Caiwei."

"Unexpectedly, the Lingxiao Sect is domineering and unreasonable, and launched a surprise attack on my family's territory on the eve of the marriage proposal. If it weren't for the two patriarchs' prior preparations, the entire clan would probably have been wiped out!"

At this point, Gu Fan's voice became hoarse, and his eyes glowed red, as if he were about to shed tears.

Upon hearing this, Li Fengyi clenched her fists even tighter, gritted her teeth, and tightened her face, looking as if she was suppressing her anger.

If she hadn't personally participated in the annihilation of the Lu family, she might have believed it!

The manager frowned, pondering the meaning behind Gu Fan's words.

As one of the five surnames of Xuan Yin, the Lu family was wiped out overnight. As the steward in charge of welcoming and seeing off guests, he had indeed heard about it, not to mention that he had other sources of information.

However, the reasons for the Lu family's demise remain a subject of much debate.

Some say it was done by demonic cultivators, while others say the Lu family offended the three major sects of Wei, but no one has seen the bodies of the two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Lu family.

After all, the extermination of the Lu family was a sect mission of the Lingxiao Sect, and the reasons were not disclosed to the public afterward. The Liu brothers handled the matter quite cleanly.

The steward already believed seven or eight parts of what Gu Fan said about the reason for the Lu family's demise.

There are more than one or two cultivation families that have been destroyed for offending the Blood Spirit Sect disciples. Major sects have always been domineering towards cultivation families.

"So, the Lu family wasn't actually wiped out?" the steward asked Gu Fan in a low voice.

Gu Fan nodded slightly, then slowly shook his head: "Although we weren't wiped out, we were severely weakened."

"The two patriarchs were injured, most of the clan's members were killed or wounded, and not a single mortal escaped."

"For years, my Lu family has been hiding in the deep mountains under assumed names, only venturing out after our two ancestors recovered from their injuries and emerged from seclusion."

The steward nodded and then asked, "What was the meaning behind your earlier mention of purchasing Essence Blood Pills and bestowing merit upon me?"

Gu Fan's eyes were bloodshot as he said hatefully, "The people of my Lu family will never die in vain! We will avenge ourselves against the Lingxiao Sect sooner or later!"

"The Lu family is willing to pledge allegiance to the Blood Spirit Sect, but they lack the connections, which is why they've come to the Precious Pill Pavilion. If I'm not mistaken, the Blood Spirit Sect must be behind the Precious Pill Pavilion, right?"

"As for the essence blood pill, it is naturally prepared for the purpose of switching cultivation techniques after joining the new sect."

The manager's brows finally relaxed, and a smile appeared on his lips: "Senior is right, the Blood Spirit Sect is behind the Precious Pill Pavilion."

"I can indeed make an introduction, but words alone are insufficient. How can you prove that you truly come from the Lu family?"

"This is easy!" Gu Fan took out a strangely shaped token from his storage bag and placed it on the table. "This is the token of the five Xuan Yin families. Only the heads of the five families have it. It was a token given to me by my ancestor before we set off."

Then, Gu Fan took out another waist token and placed it on the table: "This is my waist token as a disciple of the Lu family. All the cultivators of Xuan Yin Mountain recognize it."

The steward examined the two tokens and hesitated, saying, "I'm afraid I need to borrow them temporarily so I can verify them. Please..."

"It's alright, fellow Daoist, please investigate!"

Gu Fan waved his hand cheerfully, then suddenly turned his head and said, "But we still need to buy the Essence Blood Pills. I know that a thousand pills is quite a large quantity, and time is rather tight, so I brought a deposit. We can deliver the goods after we finalize the matter of joining forces."

After speaking, Gu Fan took off a storage bag and placed it on the table.

The manager sighed helplessly and shook his head, saying, "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, senior. Our shop is temporarily unable to supply so many Essence Blood Pills."

"Why is that?" Gu Fan was secretly delighted, but pretended to be surprised and asked, "A thousand is a bit much, but with your store's background, how could you not be able to supply it?"

"Could it be that they look down on the Lu family, or are worried about not being able to afford the spirit stones and are deliberately making excuses?"

Gu Fan slammed his hand on the table, speaking angrily, and his magical pressure spread out once again.

"Please calm down, senior, and allow me to explain."

The manager was startled by Gu Fan and quickly said, "Recently, another family has also pledged allegiance to our sect and ordered a large number of Essence Blood Pills."

"Although our shop is backed by the Blood Spirit Sect, the Blood Essence Pills are always given priority to the sect's disciples, and only the surplus is put on sale in the shop."

"It is currently the season for blood collection, and the essence blood from various places has not yet been collected, so the reserves of essence blood pills are already quite low."

"Senior, you might as well wait a few more days. After the blood collection is finished, you can start refining the pills. You will definitely feel much more relaxed then."

Gu Fan's eyes widened slightly, and he asked, feigning surprise, "Such a coincidence? Which family has pledged allegiance to the Blood Spirit Sect? You're not just trying to fool me, are you?"

"How could I deceive you, senior? There really is a family I've sought refuge with." The steward hesitated for a moment before continuing, "It's quite a coincidence that the family I've sought refuge with is the Zhu family of Xuan Yin Mountain. It seems we have some connection."

"The Zhu family?" Gu Fan looked puzzled. "My Lu family has suffered a calamity, and the Zhu family is probably going to dominate Xuan Yin Mountain. How could they...?"

The steward chuckled and said, "It's understandable that you've been living deep in the mountains for so long, so it's not easy for you to be out of touch with the world."

After speaking, the steward recounted the establishment of Xuan Yin Mountain Immortal City and the news of the Zhu family's allegiance to the Blood Spirit Sect.

Gu Fan suddenly realized what was going on.

"That's no surprise! The Lingxiao Sect has committed countless evil deeds, utterly disgracing itself as a reputable sect!"

But the next moment, Gu Fan slammed his hand on the table: "No! The Zhu family and my family have been at odds since the time of Xuan Yin Mountain. Now that they've both submitted to the Blood Spirit Sect, how can we let them seize the initiative?"

Gu Fan stared at the steward and asked, "Where are the Zhu family members? I'm going to confront them and demand that they give me half of the Essence Blood Pills!"