The Path to Immortality: Starting with the Growth of Bubble Fruits from the Ground

"Old Wang, didn't the Clan Alliance blacklist me in the market? How come the Red Chamber still dares to..."

On the way back from Lingnong's group, Zhou Mu quietly asked Old Wang a question.

As Old Wang ran at high speed, he said, "What's so strange about that? Even the Family Alliance can't dominate the Myriad Dao Sect. Besides, the 'Linglong Palace' behind those women is no weaker than the Myriad Dao Sect."

"The Linglong Palace? Which faction is that?"

Zhou Mu had lived a rather isolated life for the previous sixteen years and knew very little about the cultivation world in Qin. Old Wang's words aroused his curiosity.

"Let me put it this way, there are four Golden Core forces in the entire Qin Kingdom. Besides the Myriad Dao Sect, there are also the Linglong Palace, the Tianyi Sword Sect, and the Jade Capital Tower."

"The idea of ​​a family alliance is nothing but a fart in the eyes of the three families."

Zhou Mu glanced at Old Wang and suddenly asked, "What about the Lieyang Chamber of Commerce?"

"How would I know that? All I know is that the Lieyang Chamber of Commerce is an external force with shops all over the Qin Kingdom."

Old Wang spoke vaguely, his gaze drifting towards the distant mountain peaks, giving the impression that he meant, "Don't ask me, I don't know anything."

Zhou Mu glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions.

But today's provocation of the family alliance by the shopkeeper, as well as the shops all over the Qin Kingdom, demonstrate that the Lieyang Chamber of Commerce is not simple.

This put Zhou Mu at ease.

"Don't overthink it, just focus on your journey. We'll be nearing the sect's boundary marker soon, then we can rest for a bit."

Zhou Mu looked up and saw the towering boundary marker faintly visible in front of him. Everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief and was no longer so tense.

"call out…"

Just then, a piercing sound suddenly rang out.

Two streaks of gray-black light swept in from afar, skimming the treetops, and landed steadily in the middle of the mountain path.

As the light dissipated, two figures wearing bamboo hats and black robes were revealed, their faces obscured except for their cold eyes.

"Who are you? We are Wan..."

"boom…"

Before Wang Ping could finish speaking, two powerful pressures surged into the sky.

Wang Ping and several outer disciples were the first to be hit, forced to retreat repeatedly, their faces flushed red, unable to utter a word.

The spiritual farmers, whose highest cultivation level was only the fourth level of Qi Refining, were like seedlings in a storm, struggling to even stand firm and could only support each other to barely keep going.

"Those two beasts have reached the peak of Qi Refining!"

Old Wang squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth, while Zhou Mu beside him was not doing well either. The magic power in his dantian was paralyzed and completely unresponsive.

A moment later, the oppressive aura dissipated, and all the spirit farmers gasped for breath, greedily inhaling the air.

Wang Ping and his companions stood solemnly at the front, not daring to make the slightest move.

"Zhou Mu, you have betrayed your family; your crime is heinous!"

"Come out and come with me to face the consequences, don't drag innocent people into this!"

Two cold voices rang out in succession, and all the spirit farmers around Zhou Mu turned to look at him, retreating like a tide.

In the blink of an eye, Zhou Mu, who was originally at the end of the group, was completely exposed to the two men.

"Family Alliance..."

Zhou Mu's face was full of bitter smiles, his heart filled with resentment. He stood up, handed the storage bag to Old Wang, and then walked forward.

Now that things have come to this, Zhou Mu doesn't want to implicate anyone. If these two Qi Refining Perfection cultivators were to harbor murderous intent, the entire team wouldn't last a quarter of an hour before being slaughtered.

"Xiao Zhou..."

Old Wang grabbed Zhou Mu's arm and placed the storage bag in Zhou Mu's hand.

"Don't rush, there's more to come..."

Old Wang winked at Zhou Mu, a crooked smile creeping across his face.

Zhou Mu looked at Old Wang with surprise, secretly wondering, "Could it be that Old Wang is really a master?"

"Look there."

Zhou Mu looked up following Old Wang's finger and saw a cloud slowly dissipating in the sky, revealing a black flying boat floating quietly in the air.

"This...is the shopkeeper's!"

There were seven or eight figures standing on the flying boat, and the one in the lead was actually the manager of the Lieyang Chamber of Commerce. Even in mid-air, Zhou Mu recognized his distinctive round figure at a glance.

"You're using me as bait again..."

Zhou Mu finally understood that the shopkeeper wanted to seek revenge against the family alliance, so he was using him as bait.

The gonging and drumming earlier was the fishing line.

Zhou Mu looked at Old Wang curiously: "How did you know the Clan Alliance would be blocking the road here, shopkeeper?"

"He doesn't know. It's all just luck. He's not a fortune teller."

Old Wang shrugged, speaking as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Gotcha... I finally caught him..."

After the shopkeeper landed on the ground, he clutched his stomach and laughed so hard he almost fell over.

He pointed at the two men in black robes: "You two were very arrogant just now, two Qi Refining Perfection cultivators bullying a young man, you're shameless."

At this moment, the two black-robed men who were surrounded experienced a rapid fluctuation in their auras, clearly realizing that the situation was dire.

At this moment, one of them quickly spoke up and threatened, "If you really want to go against us, leave now and we'll pretend nothing happened."

"Enough with the nonsense," the shopkeeper said, picking at his ear with annoyance. He waved his hand and said, "Brothers, attack together, no matter what."

The battle began quickly and ended even faster.

Zhou Mu only saw seven or eight figures move at the same time.

One of the golden streaks of light was incredibly fast; Zhou Mu's gaze couldn't keep up with it at all, and the person instantly appeared behind the man in black robes.

The two men in black robes reacted quickly, forming hand seals and unleashing a protective aura of gray-black light around their bodies.

The other person patted his storage bag, and a dark light shot out—a snake-shaped flying sword—which hovered around him.

Then Zhou Mu heard a short, muffled thud.

The person inside the golden light didn't even use any magical artifacts; he simply pressed his palm against the black-robed man's protective aura.

"boom…"

With a cracking sound, the protective aura shattered like paper, and the black-robed man was sent flying backward, crashing through three ancient trees beside the mountain path before rolling to the ground.

The other black-robed man's serpentine flying sword was caught halfway by a streak of blue light that swept in from the side.

The flying sword and the blue rainbow tangled together, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound.

Before he could change his move, two more people appeared behind him, one on his left and one on his right, with two spirit swords held against his neck, making him dare not make the slightest movement.

Zhou Mu couldn't help but blink. From the moment he saw the golden light disappear to the moment the two spirit swords were placed against the black-robed man's neck, only about three breaths had passed.

Two Qi Refining cultivators reached the peak; one was half-dead, and the other was captured alive.

At this moment, the black-robed man in the distance was dragged back. He was a middle-aged man with blood foam at the corner of his mouth and his chest rising and falling slightly, indicating that he was still alive.

The shopkeeper slowly walked up to the middle-aged man, squatted down, and patted his face.

"Weren't you so arrogant? I'll show you what arrogance is, I'll show you how to scheme against me..."

The man in black robes was slapped three times by the shopkeeper, causing half of his face to bulge out.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, pointed at another man in black robes, and mumbled, "Why...why didn't you hit him..."

"..."

"Let's go back and spread the word, so that their backers can come and ransom them with spirit stones."

After speaking, the shopkeeper glanced at Old Wang and Zhou Mu, turned around, boarded the flying boat, disappeared into the clouds.

"Old Wang, is the shopkeeper going to release them?"

"Otherwise, there's no way to back down after killing him, and we won't get the ransom. Losing a business channel would be a huge loss for the manager."

Old Wang patted Zhou Mu on the shoulder and continued, "Except for a few very rare reasons, there aren't that many life-or-death struggles between factions. There are just too many things involved."

"Xiao Zhou, do you really think the conflict between the family alliance and the Lieyang Chamber of Commerce is because of you?"