To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

Gu Fan's decision to help Yang Ju was certainly not out of kindness.

Lin Lie clearly had powerful backers, and he didn't want to invite trouble for himself.

What changed his mind was the storage bag that Yang Ju stuffed into his hand.

When he probed the storage bag with his divine sense, he immediately discovered that it contained pieces of dark gold ore, exuding a rich earth energy and earth elemental spiritual energy.

This instantly piqued Gu Fan's interest.

After breaking through to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, as long as one stabilizes their cultivation, they can undergo the fourth refinement. However, the Xuanhuang Mother Qi is still unavailable, and this ore is most likely produced in an earth-elemental spiritual land.

"If we can refine the Primordial Chaos Qi in a spiritual land, it probably won't be long before we gather a complete set."

This is the reason why Gu Fan chose to lend a helping hand!

The next step, naturally, is to find out the origin of the ore.

Gu Fan took out a piece of ore and held it in his palm, asking, "Where did you get this ore?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Ju's small eyes flashed with a sharp light and rolled around twice.

"Senior, you're not from the State of Chu, are you?"

Yang Ju seemed to be asking a question, but his tone was very certain.

Seeing his decisiveness, Gu Fan immediately understood there was no need to hide it anymore. His expression darkened, and he asked, "How did you know?"

To be honest, he didn't have a good impression of Yang Ju.

His previous actions were clearly a diversionary tactic. If his strength hadn't far surpassed theirs, Lin Lie wouldn't have been willing to retreat.

If Yang Ju cannot give him a satisfactory explanation, he will not hesitate to silence him.

Yang Ju had been carefully observing Gu Fan for some time. Upon hearing this, he trembled and quickly said, "Senior, you may not know this, but the cultivators in Chu Kingdom all come from various families. Even outsiders will be affiliated with a family, either by marrying into it or by serving as a guest elder. Outsiders without status cannot stay in Chu Kingdom and are all considered to be on the demonic path."

"I am from the Yang clan of Shilin. I can recommend you to be a guest elder of our clan. I had no other choice but to resort to this measure just now. I hope you will forgive me."

Upon hearing this, Gu Fan frowned and inquired carefully.

In order to save his life, Yang Ju dared not hide anything.

After a while, Gu Fan finally learned about the situation of the cultivation world in Chu Kingdom from Yang Ju.

As recorded by the Lingxiao Sect, the Chu Kingdom was controlled by cultivation families and no sect was established.

But the reality was far more complicated than Gu Fan had imagined.

In the Chu Kingdom, the families that cultivate immortality are divided into three ranks: the highest rank is called the Immortal Clan, the next rank is the Noble Clan, and the lowest rank is the Humble Clan.

Yang Ju's Shilin Yang Clan and Lin Lie's Jinfeng Lin Clan both belong to the Han Clan. The strongest members of both clans are at the late Foundation Establishment stage, and there are no Golden Core cultivators.

Only those clans with Golden Core cultivators can become aristocratic clans.

There are only three Immortals in the Chu Kingdom, and each of them has a Nascent Soul True Monarch in charge.

According to the rules established by the Immortal Clan, the Immortal Clan families are subordinate to each other according to their rank. Each family has several lower-ranking families that must pay tribute to the family every year, and the families in turn pay tribute to the Immortal Clan.

The ore in the storage bag is a specialty of the Yang clan's land in Shilin, called Huanglong Stone.

Yang Ju was the representative of the Yang family, responsible for transporting Huanglong Stones to the Gu family as tribute.

Unexpectedly, he was ambushed by his rival Lin family on the way, and all the family disciples who followed him died tragically. Only he managed to break through the encirclement. If he hadn't met Gu Fan, he probably wouldn't have been able to escape alive.

"The Lin family and the Yang family have been enemies for many years. Originally, they were evenly matched and things were relatively peaceful."

"But a few years ago, the Lin family sent one of their daughters to the Gu family to become the concubine of the second young master of the Gu family. Since then, they have become bolder and are preparing to seize the foundation of my Yang family."

At this point, Yang Ju was indignant, seemingly disdainful of the Gu family's act of selling their daughter for personal gain.

According to him, if the tribute is stolen and the Yang family fails to deliver the tribute within the deadline, they will be held accountable by the Gu family.

After holding someone accountable, it is natural to expend a great deal of resources to quell the Gu family's anger.

At that time, the Yang family will decline further, and the Lin family will have an opportunity to take advantage of it.

"Does the Gu family completely ignore the infighting among its subordinate families?" Gu Fan asked, frowning.

This doesn't seem reasonable.

What aristocratic families are most worried about is having their family status threatened.

If the Lin family really swallows up the Yang family, and if they manage to cultivate a Golden Core cultivator after acquiring a large amount of resources, wouldn't they be able to stand on equal footing with the Gu family?

Upon hearing this, Yang Ju sighed and said, "I heard that... the eldest and second young masters of the Gu family are not on good terms and are vying for the position of the next heir. The Lin family sent their eldest daughter to the second young master as a concubine, so they are naturally on the second young master's side."

Gu Fan immediately understood.

The Lin family is nothing more than a tool for the second young master of the Gu family to amass resources. Even if the Yang family is destroyed, the lion's share will still go to them.

"Then what did the Yang family do?" Gu Fan asked curiously.

Yang Ju's expression was strange upon hearing this, a mixture of wry smile and gossip: "The eldest son of the Gu family has long since married a concubine of the Immortal Clan, and he is strictly controlled, not even daring to have a concubine. The Yang family has no chance to follow suit."

"Furthermore, with the help of his wife's family, the eldest son is unlikely to lack resources for cultivation, so he would naturally look down on the Yang family, a small and insignificant family."

After saying that, Yang Ju advised again: "If you are not affiliated with a family, you will be hindered in entering the market or renting a cave. As long as you agree to become a guest elder of the Yang family, you can rest easy."

After saying that, Yang Ju advised again: "If you are not affiliated with a family, you will be hindered in entering the market or renting a cave. As long as you agree to become a guest elder of the Yang family, you can rest easy."

Gu Fan nodded and said softly, "I can go back with you and take a look."

Yang Ju was overjoyed upon hearing this.

"Thank you, senior. The head of the Yang family is indeed my uncle. I will certainly not disappoint you in my offerings!"

Gu Fan nodded slightly and casually tossed the storage bag back to Yang Ju.

Yang Ju was taken aback: "Senior, this is...?"

"Since you're going to be a guest elder, it's not appropriate for you to take these things."

The yellow dragon stone in the storage bag was a tribute from the Yang family. Since he was preparing to become a guest elder, it was not appropriate to keep it for himself.

"Thank you so much, senior. Thank you so much, senior." Yang Ju expressed his gratitude profusely.

Afterwards, Yang Ju led Gu Fan toward the Yang family's territory.

Two days later, Gu Fan arrived at the Yang clan's territory and finally understood why the surname was preceded by "Shilin".

This is because the Yang clan's territory is located in a vast valley filled with strangely shaped rocks.

Surrounding the valley, strangely shaped stone pillars rise high, resembling a jungle. The Yang clan's ancestral land is located deep within the stone forest.

As soon as he approached the area of ​​the stone forest, Gu Fan noticed that the earth elemental spiritual energy had become even more concentrated.

The spiritual veins of the Yang clan's territory were actually much more prosperous than those of the Lu family in Xuan Yin Mountain, which he had visited.

"Even a humble clan in the Chu Kingdom possesses such a spiritual vein?" Gu Fan asked in surprise.

The Lu family's spiritual vein is a branch of Xuan Yin Mountain, which is already considered quite good in Wei. If even the common people in Chu have such a clan territory, then the foundation of Chu's cultivation world is probably beyond Gu Fan's imagination.

Yang Ju shook his head upon hearing this and said, "Senior, you may not know this, but this stone forest is only rich in earth element spiritual energy. The ground beneath the stone forest is all stone, so it is impossible to plant spiritual plants or raise spiritual beasts. If it weren't for the fact that it can produce Yellow Dragon Stones, it would be difficult to prepare the resources to support the cultivation of the clan's disciples. Even so, we sometimes have to go to the Cloud Mist Sea to hunt demons."

"In comparison, the Lin family's land is much better. They can grow spiritual herbs, raise spiritual beasts, and even have a gold-elemental spiritual vein mine. It's truly enviable."

For cultivation families, besides cultivation techniques, the most important thing is the resources for cultivation.

If all spiritual herbs, materials, and beasts are purchased, there will be no means for the clan's disciples to practice cultivation techniques.

For example, the talisman paper and ink used by disciples of the Lingxiao Sect for practicing talisman techniques are all produced by the sect itself.

As they talked, they arrived deep in the stone forest.

Gu Fan was surprised to find that the array surrounding the Yang clan's territory was actually a second-tier high-grade array, which made his eyebrows twitch slightly.

Seeing Gu Fan's expression, Yang Ju said with a hint of pride, "An ancestor of the Yang family once produced a formation master. This formation was left by that ancestor. It is thanks to the legacy of our ancestors that the Yang family has been able to continue to this day."

This second-tier superior formation is perfectly integrated with the terrain. It operates by taking advantage of the special environment of the stone forest, demonstrating the extraordinary array mastery of the array setter. More importantly, Gu Fan had never seen such an array in the Lingxiao Sect's array inheritance.

He immediately became curious about the Yang family's tradition of array formations.

"Does the Yang family still have any array masters?"

"Uh..." Yang Ju smiled awkwardly.

Gu Fan immediately knew the answer upon seeing this.

Upon arriving at the formation, Yang Juchong released a command token from within the formation.

The command talisman flew into the barrier and disappeared.

A moment later, the array barrier trembled slightly, revealing a passageway.