Treasure Gathering Immortal Furnace

Moreover, at this moment, Lu Fan's strength is already such that he can compete with early Foundation Establishment cultivators with his Qi Refining Level 40 cultivation without relying on any spells or artifacts.

If combined with the divine sense of a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, as well as external forces such as spells and magical artifacts, one could put up a fight against a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.

But that's it.

After all, it is extremely difficult for cultivators to fight across borders, so Lu Fan's achievement is truly remarkable.

As Lu Fan exited his cultivation state, the amount of white hair on his head visibly increased, even though all his physical signs remained extremely strong.

However, the depleted true energy made Lu Fan look somewhat haggard, as if his body had been drained by years of being surrounded by women.

Actually, this state is quite good, after all, it is very deceptive.

Who would have thought that a guy who looks like he has kidney deficiency is actually a monster with a Qi Refining Level 40?

"Next, it's time to keep the appointment," Lu Fan said, tossing out his flying sword and leaping onto it, heading straight for the Hall of Affairs.

...

Outer gate, Deacon's Hall

In the last five years, Wang Qingzhu did not go out to train, but instead devoted himself to honing his sword skills and accumulating necessities such as pills and talismans, which can be considered as making sufficient preparations.

At this moment, Lu Fan landed in the main hall of the Deacon Hall. Wang Qingzhu slowly walked out from the inner hall. After noticing Lu Fan's cultivation level, she was slightly surprised: "I didn't expect you to have actually reached the tenth level of Qi Refining in the past five years?"

"I've lived up to my uncle's expectations; I've managed to break through by sheer luck," Lu Fan said with a smile.

"What about the Sword Shadow Splitting Light Technique?" Wang Qingzhu asked.

"I am not very talented, and I have only reached the second level. After all, my lifespan is coming to an end. If I cannot reach the tenth level of Qi Refining, even if I obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill, it will be useless. Therefore, I have focused on cultivating the Qi Refining technique," Lu Fan replied.

"Indeed, it must have been tough on you. But the second level is alright. You should be able to protect yourself if you encounter a cultivator of the same level," Wang Qingzhu said, then raised her hand and took out twenty spirit stones and a token. She said, "Take these twenty spirit stones and the token. Although it's not much, you can go to the market outside the sect to buy a few talismans for protection. We'll set off on time in ten days."

Upon hearing this, Lu Fan accepted the spirit stone and bowed slightly, saying, "Yes."

"Besides me, Steward Ma will also be participating in this demon-slaying conference, along with Yan Ruyu, who was recently promoted to inner sect steward, and the Core Formation Elder of Yuehua Peak leading the team."

"Including you, there are a total of fifty inner disciples participating."

Wang Qingzhu spoke slowly.

Upon hearing this, Lu Fan was visibly surprised: "Yan Ruyu? She's become an inner sect steward?"

Clearly, Lu Fan was a little surprised, not expecting Yan Ruyu to advance so quickly!

"That's right. She reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment a month ago, making her a rare cultivation genius in the Dao Sect. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been chosen as a closed-door disciple by the Core Formation elder of Moonflower Peak," Wang Qingzhu said, unaware of the feud between Lu Fan and Yan Ruyu.

Lu Fan fell into deep thought. Sure enough, Yan Ruyu had a powerful backer, excellent aptitude, and her cultivation level was rising rapidly.

If I don't hurry up, the next time I hear news of Yan Ruyu, she might have already reached the Core Formation stage.

Of course, that was just Lu Fan's thought. Although he had advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage quickly, forming the Core Formation stage was not such a simple matter.

For example, Wang Qingzhu has been stuck in the late Foundation Establishment stage for decades, and even failed to break through to Core Formation more than ten years ago.

Take Mo Li for example. His three failures to form his core are enough to show that forming the core is an extremely difficult thing.

A Golden Core cultivator would be a pillar of any sect, and might even be qualified to establish their own sect.

However, in order to establish a sect and maintain stability, a third-rate sect needs three Core Formation cultivators to be in charge, without a Nascent Soul ancestor to oversee it.

"Are other sects involved as well?" Lu Fan asked.

There are four well-known sects in the Great Yan Dynasty: Dao Sect, Sword Pavilion, Art Academy, and One Qi Sect. Among them, Dao Sect and Sword Pavilion have Nascent Soul Ancestors in charge.

The Academy of Arts and the One Qi Sect only have Golden Core stage cultivators in charge, making them third-rate sects. As for other small sects or families that don't even have Golden Core stage cultivators, they are as numerous as hairs on a cow.

However, these small sects tend to keep a low profile, and the spiritual veins they occupy are barren lands that other sects look down upon. They rarely participate in activities between major sects.

"Only my Dao Sect and Yi Qi Sect are participating in this Demon Extermination Conference. After all, the Sword Pavilion and the Academy of Arts made a fortune in the last Demon Extermination Conference, so we should withdraw this time," Wang Qingzhu said.

In reality, the so-called demon-slaying conference is, to put it bluntly, just a way to seize resources from evil cultivators.

The Great Yan is a vast and sparsely populated land with many spiritual veins and mines. Numerous evil cultivators have formed groups to occupy these areas and secretly grow stronger.

As the mainstream sects of the Great Yan Dynasty, the Four Sects naturally did not want to see them grow stronger, so they would clean them up every now and then.

In fact, Lu Fan knew perfectly well that the Great Yan Dynasty didn't have that many demonic cultivators; they could kill them all even after hundreds of years.

Those whom the four major sects labeled as demonic and heretical cultivators were actually mostly independent cultivators who banded together.

But if you want to seize resources, you can't just rob them directly; you need a pretext.

For example, if a spirit stone mine appears in a mountain range, and any independent cultivators band together to occupy it, within a few years, they will be labeled as evil cultivators, and under the guise of a demon-slaying conference, their disciples will be sent to plunder it.

But often the result of doing this is that the more they kill, the more extreme those rogue cultivators become.

Even those who weren't practicing heresy have become heretics.

"Disciple understands," Lu Fan nodded slightly.

"The location of this demon-slaying conference is Tiandang Mountain in the southwest of Dayan, where hundreds of evil cultivators are entrenched."

"The One Qi Sect is not as strong as us, so we should mainly focus on our own strength."

"But you must also remember that when you enter Tiandang Mountain, your main task is to protect yourself. Pick up any scraps you can, and launch surprise attacks whenever possible."

"If you encounter unavoidable danger, shift the blame to other inner disciples. In short, it all boils down to two words: survival."

Wang Qingzhu acted like a dutiful elder, patiently teaching Lu Fan the ways of survival.

"Yes," Lu Fan nodded.

"Alright, go and get ready. We'll meet at the Inner Gate Square in ten days," Wang Qingzhu said, raising her hand slightly.

After taking his leave, Lu Fan returned to his thatched hut, where he needed to make preparations.

However, it must be said that the survival skills Wang Qingzhu taught him were quite ruthless.

If you can't beat them, just shift the trouble to other inner disciples.

It's no wonder Wang Qingzhu taught Lu Fan this way, since he really didn't seem to have any real strength.

He looks like he's been through a kidney overdose; if a real fight breaks out, he'll be the first cannon fodder to die.

However, Lu Fan had endured twenty years of hardship to wait for this Foundation Establishment opportunity, so he certainly wouldn't be as cowardly as Wang Qingzhu.

That requires swift and decisive action, cutting through the mess quickly, gathering enough heads to reliably obtain the Foundation Establishment Pills, and then planning the next steps.

After returning to the thatched cottage.

Lu Fan also began preparing his trump card.

As Lu Fan released the magical alchemy furnace, he then took out the jade spirit armor pendant.

With one punch, he smashed the Jade Spirit Armor and Jade Pendant into twenty pieces.