Treasure Gathering Immortal Furnace

The flying boat flew slowly and leisurely. Lu Fan was not in a hurry to speed up, but instead looked at Chi Mei, who was sitting quietly inside the flying boat.

At this moment, Lu Fan was actually very curious about where Chi Mei had obtained the secret method of preserving souls with corpse pills.

Because most life-extending secret methods have strong side effects, such as the Infant Locking Technique used by the Heavenly Fire Ancestor, which is a technique that can extend life by forty years.

However, the cost is also enormous; if a breakthrough cannot be achieved during this period, the entire process will be annihilated.

However, the Crimson Eyebrows' corpse pill, which preserves the soul, can extend lifespan by a hundred years and even enter the cycle of reincarnation normally.

This was a bit scary, so Lu Fan was very curious at the moment.

"Master, could you show me your secret technique for preserving the soul with the Corpse Pill?" Lu Fan suddenly asked.

Upon hearing this, Chi Mei seemed reluctant to take it out, saying, "Fellow Daoist Lu, with your talent, you don't need this Corpse Pill to preserve your soul. You shouldn't look at it."

Upon hearing this, Lu Fan immediately understood. Sure enough, there was a problem with this secret technique!

"Just tell me the truth, what are the drawbacks of this cultivation technique? It's impossible for it to extend your lifespan by a hundred years without any cost, is it?" Lu Fan frowned slightly and asked.

Seeing that he could not hide it any longer, True Man Red Eyebrows sighed and said, "Alas, nothing can be hidden from Fellow Daoist Lu. I will tell you the truth. After using this Corpse Pill to preserve my soul, I must devour the soul of a mortal every once in a while in order to maintain my consciousness. Otherwise, I will become the next Xuanling Corpse Demon."

Lu Fan was quite shocked when Chi Mei said this. Wouldn't that mean he had fallen into the demonic path?

"Master, devouring the souls of mortals means getting entangled in karma. Even if you enter the cycle of reincarnation a hundred years from now, with such karmic burdens, will you be able to enter the human realm?" Lu Fan asked.

"I have also thought about this, but according to the records on the Corpse Pill, devouring low-level demonic beasts can maintain consciousness for a period of time. If it really becomes unsustainable, then use the soul of a mortal to make up for it."

"Fellow Daoist Lu, you can rest assured. I will not actively kill mortals. Wars between mortal nations are common, often resulting in the deaths of millions. Taking only one or two souls will not cause any harm."

Red Eyebrows spoke.

It may seem that Chi Mei spoke casually, but the underlying cause and effect is actually quite terrifying.

If a cultivator accidentally kills some mortals, there's not much of a problem. However, if someone like Chi Mei intentionally devours living souls over many years, it's a different story.

This disrupts the cycle of reincarnation, causing one to be entangled in karma and karmic burdens. The probability of being reborn as a human being is extremely small.

They would likely end up in the animal realm, a fate worse than being reduced to ashes.

"Alright," Lu Fan shook his head helplessly. He couldn't persuade Chi Mei either, so he simply stopped asking.

Before long, the flying boat arrived at the village that Chi Mei had mentioned.

It is a large village called Luoxi Village, with a population of about three thousand people.

"Is this Xuanling Corpse Demon near this village?" Lu Fan asked, standing at the bow of the boat.

"That's right. Based on my observation, this corpse demon regularly abducts mortals from the nearby villages every now and then, and Luoxi Village below is likely the location visited by the corpse demon this time," Chi Mei nodded.

"Well, it's good to know it will appear. I'll go check out the village first. You all should stay away from here to avoid alerting it," Lu Fan said.

"Alright, then I'll leave it to Fellow Daoist Lu," Red Eyebrows cupped his hands in greeting.

This Xuanling Corpse Demon possessed the strength of the late Core Formation stage and was extremely sensitive, so only Lu Fan could personally handle it using the Qi Concealing Jade Talisman.

Lu Fan then took out the Qi Concealing Jade Talisman, suppressing his cultivation to almost nothing. There was no spiritual energy fluctuation around him, and even his divine sense was suppressed to a range of three zhang.

It can be said that they achieved a level of absolute certainty.

After doing all this, Lu Fan leaped off the flying boat and sped towards the village.

Ye Lingxi then maneuvered the flying boat to take off immediately, moving far away from the village.

...

Luoxi Village.

As Lu Fan landed at the village entrance, he looked around.

Although the village was not small, it looked deathly silent at the moment. Every house was closed, and a gentle breeze swept through the doorway, carrying withered leaves, creating a gloomy atmosphere.

"Strange, it's still early before dark, why are they closing the doors and windows so early? This corpse demon can't possibly appear during the day," Lu Fan muttered to himself, after all, this Xuanling corpse demon has always appeared at night, it has become a pattern.

As he entered the village, many ordinary people in the houses on both sides of the street were peeking through the cracks in their doors to observe Lu Fan outside.

Lu Fan didn't care about this at all. It was already close to dusk, and he just needed to wait until evening to kill the Xuanling Corpse Demon when it appeared.

"Hey! Young man, are you out of your mind?! You dare to wander around outside like that!"

Just then, an elderly man in his sixties opened the door a crack and called out to Lu Fan.

"Sir... it's still early, why are you all closed?" Lu Fan asked curiously.

"Hey! Stop talking and come in quickly! Otherwise, you'll be dead when the Demon Slayers arrive!" the old man shouted.

Upon hearing the words "Demon Slayer Division," Lu Fan paused slightly, as if the name sounded somewhat familiar...

Among the miscellaneous notes he had read, there were indeed records about this Demon Slayer Bureau.

This is a special institution that exists within the system of government offices for ordinary people.

This organization is mostly composed of ordinary martial artists with high martial arts skills. After some simple special training, they can master some simple talismans and imitation magic weapons for slaying demons and monsters. The so-called imitation magic weapons are special weapons with a very small amount of magic power, which are completely different from the magic weapons of real cultivators.

Ordinary people don't know that they are using imitation magical artifacts; it's just what cultivators call them.

Of course, the demons and monsters here are not the powerful monsters and demonic cultivators.

The "demons" here mostly refer to mountain spirits and wild monsters. These spirits and monsters are weak in cultivation, even weaker than Qi Refining cultivators.

Therefore, even if the demon slayers are just a group of ordinary people, they can easily kill them, so the demon slayers have extremely high prestige among ordinary people.

Because in the common understanding of mortals, nine out of ten mortals do not believe that immortals exist in this world.

Especially for those ordinary people in remote, impoverished areas who may never leave their villages in their entire lives, it is just a legend in their eyes.

Therefore, the Demon Slayer Division, which possesses a limited number of spells and can contend with demons, is the closest existence they can come into contact with to immortals. In reality, these people are similar to minor cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining.

The fact that this old man is so afraid of the Demon Slayer Division must mean that the Demon Slayer Division has done something here.

"Young man, stop standing there! Come in!" the old man said hurriedly.

"Old sir, don't worry about me," Lu Fan said, raising his hand slightly. After all, he had come to wait for the Xuanling Corpse Demon, so how could he hide?

"Hey! I've seen people who don't care about their lives, but I've never seen anyone this reckless!" The old man said, speechless.

Just as Lu Fan was about to continue his stroll, a group of people suddenly surged up behind him.

Tapping.

Just then, a series of rapid hoofbeats and chaotic footsteps suddenly appeared behind Lu Fan.

"Hey kid! Stop right there!" The woman on her warhorse pulled on the reins and stopped three feet away from Lu Fan.