Treasure Gathering Immortal Furnace

Lu Fan and Chu Lingxue returned to the attic.

Ancestor Jing took out the Ice Soul Pearl, looked at Chu Lingxue, and said, "Young friend Chu, since you acknowledge my nephew's strength, then there's no problem with the alliance, right?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Lingxue hurriedly bowed and cupped her hands to Elder Jing, saying, "Fellow Daoist Lu's strength is considerable, and he should have no problem protecting himself. I can form an alliance with him and provide him with some assistance within my capabilities. However, if it exceeds my capabilities, then Fellow Daoist Lu will have to rely on himself."

"Hehe, that's enough from you, young friend Chu. You may accept this Ice Soul Pearl," Elder Jing said, handing the pearl to Chu Lingxue.

At this moment, Elder Jing resembled an old man who was running around for the future of his juniors, and Lu Fan naturally saw all of this.

Given how well the Xuan Yang Sword Sect has treated him, he must acquire as many treasures as possible during this trip to the Li Huo Cave. He cannot let Old Ancestor Jing's painstaking efforts go to waste.

"Thank you for the gift, senior!" Chu Lingxue's usually calm and refined face showed a hint of joy, as if the bead would be of great help to her future cultivation.

"Once the Li Huo Cave opens, young friend Chu, don't forget to visit the Xuan Yang Sword Sect," Elder Jing said, then looked at Madam Luan and cupped his hands slightly, "Fellow Daoist Luan, I won't keep you any longer."

"Take care," Madam Luan said with a slight bow.

Then, Ancestor Jing and Lu Fan instantly transformed into two streaks of light and disappeared from the pavilion.

After watching the two leave, Madam Luan looked at Chu Lingxue beside her and said, "Lingxue, tell me the truth, how strong is this boy?"

"He...is indeed remarkable. In terms of spiritual power alone, I am only slightly stronger than him," Chu Lingxue replied.

Upon hearing this, Madam Luan's eyes revealed a hint of regret. She said, "To be praised by you so much, it seems that this child's Dao heart is so firm that it is hard to find even once in a thousand years. It's just a pity that reaching the Core Formation stage with a mixed spiritual root is already the limit. If he wants to go further, the cultivation resources required will increase dozens or even hundreds of times, and there is absolutely no possibility of reaching the Nascent Soul stage."

It's not surprising that Madam Luan felt regretful, after all, even for some ordinary dual-spiritual-root and heavenly-spiritual-root cultivators, forming a core or a nascent soul is not an easy task.

It can be said that out of ten Heavenly Spiritual Roots, it is already an immense stroke of luck for two or three to successfully form a Nascent Soul.

Not to mention mixed spiritual roots, that's simply wishful thinking.

Of course, it is not impossible for a super genius like Ancestor Xuanyang from ten thousand years ago to form a Nascent Soul with mixed spiritual roots, but such a talent is extremely rare, appearing only once in the entire cultivation world over ten thousand years among hundreds of millions of beings.

The probability is so low as to be negligible.

If Madam Luan knew that Lu Fan not only possessed a mixed spiritual root, but also a mutated mixed spiritual root, she would probably react with fear...

...

Half a day later.

Xuan Yang Sword Sect, back mountain dojo.

Upon returning to the Xuan Yang Sword Sect, Patriarch Jing was in high spirits, and the smile on his face never stopped from the moment he came back.

This greatly surprised the Heavenly Fire Ancestor, who had been waiting all day: "Junior Brother, it's rare to see you so happy. It must be because the Moon Gazing Sect has agreed to the alliance?"

"Hehe, it's more than just agreeing, Senior Brother. It's such a pity you didn't come along. Our Junior Nephew Lu really brought honor to our Xuan Yang Sword Sect today," Elder Jing laughed.

"How so?" Old Ancestor Tianhuo also became interested.

Then, Ancestor Jing recounted the details of the contest between Lu Fan and Chu Lingxue.

Upon hearing these words, the Heavenly Fire Ancestor was extremely shocked: "Good lad, I didn't expect you to be able to hold out against that girl for so long! This is not something an ordinary Core Formation cultivator can do!"

"You two are too kind. It was just a friendly exchange, not a life-or-death struggle. Compared to those geniuses, I am far inferior," Lu Fan hurriedly said.

"No matter what, it's commendable that you were able to compete with that girl!" Old Ancestor Tianhuo laughed.

At this moment, Ancestor Jing spoke up: "There are only a few months left before the opening of the Li Huo Cave. Junior Nephew Lu should take advantage of the remaining time to make proper preparations."

"Yes, disciple also wants to go into seclusion to hone my swordsmanship, and improve it as much as I can," Lu Fan said.

"Go ahead," Elder Jing nodded slightly.

After bowing respectfully, Lu Fan returned to his cave dwelling.

After releasing two isolation arrays, Lu Fan released the Heaven-Mending Furnace and tossed the Golden Core of True Jade Hermit into it.

After absorbing the Golden Core of True Jade Hermit, the Heaven-Mending Furnace immediately recovered 20% of its energy, which was even stronger than Wu Sheng's Golden Core. At this moment, the Heaven-Mending Furnace still had nearly 50% of its energy remaining.

"It seems that killing someone to obtain their core is much better than feeding them a demon core," Lu Fan smiled slightly. He then took out two more Golden Essence Pills, divided them into hundreds of small pieces, and threw them all in.

As the Heaven-Mending Furnace flashed with golden light, hundreds of Golden Essence Pills poured out like beans, making Lu Fan's eyes light up.

Although replicating pills seems appealing, the consumption is also terrifying. After producing one hundred Golden Yuan Pills, the energy that had just recovered instantly drops by nearly 30%!

"It seems that replicating so many Golden Essence Pills at once puts a tremendous strain on the Heaven-Mending Furnace, since Golden Essence Pills are among the rarest of the fourth-grade pills."

"With my mutated mixed spiritual root talent, I don't know how many Golden Essence Pills I would have to swallow to reach the mid-stage of Core Formation."

"If we plan to form a Nascent Soul later, won't the consumption be even greater?"

Lu Fan sighed helplessly, then popped a Golden Yuan Pill into his mouth and ate it like a candy.

After taking the Golden Essence Pill, he didn't rush into seclusion, because the Golden Essence Pill is a pill that slowly releases spiritual energy, so even without seclusion, his cultivation would gradually increase.

You only need to take one every few days. Of course, if you want to cultivate quickly, you can take multiple pills at once.

Only then did Lu Fan take out the storage bag of the True Jade Hermit. After all, this was the storage bag of a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, so it shouldn't be as bare as the storage bags of those Foundation Establishment or early Core Formation cultivators.

As Lu Fan probed with his divine sense, he first took out the tortoise shell magic artifact that he had punched with a large hole.

Although it wasn't a particularly powerful magic weapon, it was at least a defensive one, and it could still be used in critical moments, so I simply threw it into the Heaven-Mending Furnace to repair it.

Then, they found three thousand spirit stones, as well as several low-level pills and talismans, in the storage bag.

There were also a few cultivation techniques and secret manuals, but Lu Fan wasn't very interested in them. After all, if they were good techniques and secret manuals, he wouldn't have killed Zhenyu Sanren.

After fiddling with it for a while, Lu Fan found a small, curved wooden handle in the storage bag. The handle was carved with deep incantations and emitted a strange light.

"This is... a fragment of an ancient treasure?" Lu Fan immediately became interested.

I never expected that this Jade Hermit would possess an ancient treasure! Although it's a bad one, it's good for Lu Fan.

"Let's see what it is and fix it," Lu Fan said, tossing the small half of the wooden handle into the Heaven-Mending Furnace.

Then a flash of light appeared, followed by a uniquely shaped longbow!