Chapter 76

Leping Cheng led Lu Xiuhua and Lu Mengyao to the Lei Wu Gate's base.

As they passed by the Hunter's Guild, Lu Xiuhua felt a sudden impulse.

"Junior suddenly remembered that I need to go to the Hunter's Guild to take care of some matters. Senior and Mengyao, please go to the Lei Wu Gate's base first. I will visit later," Lu Xiuhua said.

"Hmm? Is there something so important that it can't wait?" Leping Cheng frowned.

"Yes, Xiuhua, I haven't heard you mention any business at the Hunter's Guild," Lu Mengyao also looked at Lu Xiuhua with some surprise.

Upon hearing this, a sharp light flashed in Leping Cheng's eyes, further confirming his suspicion that this young man named Lu Xiuhua had secrets. His initial reluctance to join the Lei Wu Gate and his current trip to the Hunter's Guild were likely to escape.

Based on the information he obtained from Lu Mengyao, the secrets this Lu Xiuhua possessed were not trivial. It could be the inheritance of a martial arts master or some treasure that aids cultivation. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain his rapid improvement in cultivation, which almost defied common sense.

Reaching the sixth level of the Qi Sea at fourteen might not be too astonishing, but advancing from the second level of Body Tempering to the sixth level of the Qi Sea in less than a year was almost miraculous.

Leping Cheng almost couldn't resist the urge to directly apprehend this young man, but he could see that his niece Mengyao had a special feeling for the boy. If he made a move, how would his niece view him?

In a way, Leping Cheng was a man of principle. Despite Lu Feichen's death, the bond of life and death still made him treat Lu Mengyao as family, genuinely and sincerely.

"Ha ha, since you have matters to attend to, go ahead," Leping Cheng said with a smile. For him, a mere Qi Sea martial artist could not escape his grasp as long as they were still in Duhai County.

Seeing that Leping Cheng did not make a move, Lu Xiuhua felt a slight relief. He thanked him and walked towards the Hunter's Guild.

After entering through the main gate, there was a separate passage in the corner of the Hunter's Guild hall, accessible only to internal members with a Hunter's Badge.

"Mr. Luo, welcome."

After entering the internal passage, a well-figured woman walked up and respectfully greeted Lu Xiuhua.

"I need to look up some information," Lu Xiuhua said directly.

"Mr. Luo, please follow me."

Under the guidance of the woman, Lu Xiuhua arrived at a room with bookshelves lining all four walls, filled with various books.

In the center of the room, a middle-aged man in a gray robe was seated at a desk.

Lu Xiuhua took out his Hunter's Badge and handed it over. The gray-robed man used an array device to read the personal information stored in the badge.

"You are an internal member of the Hunter's Guild, a talented member of the Yellow Rank. Within your authority, you can access information for free. What do you want to know?" the gray-robed man asked with a smile, his attitude very amiable.

The internal members of the Hunter's Guild were divided into talented members and external members. Talented members had a higher status, and most of the services provided by the guild were for the talented members.

At Lu Xiuhua's request, the gray-robed man fetched some information. Lu Xiuhua first looked up information about the Lei Wu Token and found that, as Leping Cheng had said, the holder of the Lei Wu Token could make a request to the Lei Wu Gate. With the Lei Wu Token, Lu Mengyao could not only become a core disciple of the Lei Wu Gate but, given her talent, would also receive special care and cultivation.

Moreover, Leping Cheng's sincere attitude towards Lu Mengyao suggested that joining the Lei Wu Gate was the best choice for her.

Next, Lu Xiuhua took out the materials he obtained from hunting beasts in the Guanlei Mountains and sold them to the guild in exchange for some Essence Stones, including the materials from the Green-Winged Demon Snake.

As for the materials from the Two-Headed Spirit Tiger, Lu Xiuhua never took them out. After all, it was a fifth-level beast comparable to a Martial King. For a mere Qi Sea martial artist to sell such materials would be too conspicuous.

For the current Lu Xiuhua, he did not lack cultivation resources, so there was no need to take risks and draw attention.

If one day he reached the pinnacle of martial arts, no one would dare to covet his secrets.

...

Duhai County had three major forces: the Lei Wu Gate, the Gongsun Family, and the Yongchang Pavilion.

Among these three forces, the Lei Wu Gate ranked first, with a Martial King at the seventh level as its guardian.

Tianwu Kingdom had thirteen counties, each with a sect known as the Tianwu Thirteen Gates. The Xiaoyao Gate ranked eleventh, while the Lei Wu Gate ranked seventh.

Leping Cheng was a ninth-level Spirit Refinement martial grandmaster and served as a protector in the Lei Wu Gate. He also had another identity as the son of an elder in the Lei Wu Gate.

In the Lei Wu Gate's base, the heads of the three major families in Zuo Xing City came to visit.

In a separate room, Leping Cheng met with the head of the Yan family.

"Head of the Yan family, do you know why I have asked to see you alone?" Leping Cheng looked at the head of the Yan family with a half-smile.

"Sir..."

The head of the Yan family looked terrified. No one knew his son better than he did.

Yan Qiu had been causing trouble in Zuo Xing City for a long time, especially recently, to cultivate the Yin Absorption Technique, he had harmed many women.

He never expected his son to finally cause a major disaster. Not only did the woman he wanted to kidnap hold the Lei Wu Token, but his son also led people to try to seize the Lei Wu Token, resulting in his death.

"Dreamyao is my niece, and fortunately, she was not harmed. Since your son Yan Qiu is already dead, I will not pursue the matter further."

"Thank you, sir." The head of the Yan family immediately knelt down, grateful.

Leping Cheng nodded. "I have a task for you. The young man who was with my niece is named Lu Xiuhua. He is currently at the Hunter's Guild. I want you to send people to monitor the Hunter's Guild. As soon as he appears, notify me immediately."

"If you cannot even handle this small task, your Yan family will have no reason to continue existing."

"Yes, sir, I will ensure that this matter is handled properly," the head of the Yan family quickly said.

In the Hunter's Guild, Lu Xiuhua requested a private room for cultivation.

He was well aware that his cultivation was too weak, so he planned to use the resources at his disposal to strengthen himself.

The private room was equipped with an array formation to block perception and prevent the leakage of aura, and it also had a warning function.

Cultivating in the Hunter's Guild generally posed no safety issues.

Martial artists usually cultivate by absorbing the essence energy of heaven and earth. The denser the essence energy, the better the cultivation effect.

Additionally, they can use elixirs and treasures to aid their cultivation.

Lu Xiuhua had a fifth-level Spirit Gathering Array Formation device. By embedding medium-grade Essence Stones, he could increase his cultivation speed by nearly ten times!

He took out all the low-grade and medium-grade Essence Stones from his storage ring and piled them up on one side. Under the effect of the Spirit Gathering Array Formation, the essence energy from the Essence Stones surged out and gathered around Lu Xiuhua.

Cultivating in such a dense and abundant essence energy, Lu Xiuhua's cultivation rapidly improved, quickly advancing from the sixth level of the Qi Sea to the seventh level...

Then, the middle, late, and peak stages of the seventh level, and finally breaking through to the eighth level of the Qi Sea!

Cultivation knows no time, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye. When Lu Xiuhua opened his eyes, he saw that the tens of thousands of Essence Stones had all turned into white powder.

Feeling the powerful force surging within his body, Lu Xiuhua took a deep breath. His cultivation had reached the ninth level of the Qi Sea.

The forces of life and death circulated through his body, and Lu Xiuhua could feel his current strength. With the improvement in cultivation, his understanding of the first fundamental law diagram of the All-Heaven Life and Death Wheel was like a sudden enlightenment, and he finally comprehensively grasped the first fundamental law diagram.

This fundamental law diagram encompassed techniques, martial arts, and array formations.

The technique was the All-Heaven Life and Death Wheel, which condensed the forces of life and death, making it much stronger than the true qi cultivated by ordinary martial artists. Even the innate true qi cultivated by many innate martial masters could not compare to the forces of life and death.

The martial art was the Life and Death Seal, which did not have a specific grade. The higher the cultivation, the greater the power of this seal. This seal had a large growth potential, and compared to seventh-grade martial arts, it was incomparably superior.

Although his cultivation had reached the ninth level of the Qi Sea, Lu Xiuhua was not particularly excited because the amount of Essence Stones he had consumed was enormous.

Tens of thousands of Essence Stones, almost equivalent to the wealth of a Martial King, had been completely consumed, and he had not even reached the innate realm.

The reason was that the forces of life and death were of a higher grade, and the process of condensing them required more essence energy.

This also meant that if Lu Xiuhua wanted to break through to the innate realm, he would need to consume even more essence energy. Relying solely on Essence Stones would make it almost impossible to break through.

The Yin Qi contained in the Yin Stone was of a higher grade than ordinary essence energy, but Lu Xiuhua did not plan to use the Yin Stone to aid his breakthrough at this moment. If he failed to break through to the innate realm, the hard-earned Yin Stone would be wasted.

Moreover, his cultivation had just advanced from the sixth level to the ninth level of the Qi Sea, and he needed some time to consolidate.

Additionally, before attempting to break through to the innate realm, Lu Xiuhua needed to make more preparations to ensure success.

He had obtained four Fire Yang Fruits in the Guanlei Mountains. If he could refine the Heaven Ascending Pill, with the help of the Fire Yang Fruits and the Yin Stone, the success rate of breaking through would be much higher.

According to Lu Xiuhua's knowledge, many peak ninth-level Qi Sea martial artists had to attempt to break through to the innate realm multiple times. Only those with exceptional talent could easily break through.

Lu Xiuhua was well aware that his talent was not good; otherwise, he would not have only reached the second level of Body Tempering from ten to thirteen years old.

Without the Life and Death Pearl, he might have been eliminated by the Qingyun Martial Hall long ago and returned to the small Panshi Town with his father, living an ordinary life like most people, achieving nothing and dying after a hundred years.

Leaving the private room, Lu Xiuhua took out two fourth-grade array formation treasures and exchanged them for twenty thousand low-grade Essence Stones at the guild. Then, he used two thousand Essence Stones to exchange for a bottle of Body Transformation Pill.

The Body Transformation Pill was a third-grade elixir that could change one's appearance. Unless a Spirit Refinement martial master used their divine sense to investigate, one would not be recognized.

Lu Xiuhua had used the Body Transformation Pill when he infiltrated the outer sect of the Xiaoyao Gate.

As a talented member of the Yellow Rank, Lu Xiuhua had the authority to exchange for other third-grade elixirs, including the Heaven Ascending Pill, which was necessary for breaking through to the innate realm.

Breaking through from the Qi Sea to the innate realm, even with exceptional talent, was almost impossible without the Heaven Ascending Pill. Many ninth-level Qi Sea martial artists risked their lives to obtain a single Heaven Ascending Pill.

If Lu Xiuhua bought the Heaven Ascending Pill from the Hunter's Guild, it would cost ten thousand low-grade Essence Stones per pill.

According to his knowledge, the normal market price for the Heaven Ascending Pill was around fifteen thousand low-grade Essence Stones.

The Heaven Ascending Pill could also be exchanged for Fire Yang Fruits, with one Fire Yang Fruit equivalent to one Heaven Ascending Pill.

Originally, Lu Xiuhua planned to gather the other ingredients needed to refine the Heaven Ascending Pill and find a third-grade alchemist at the Alchemist's Guild to refine it. Since the Hunter's Guild could exchange for it internally, Lu Xiuhua decided to take out three Fire Yang Fruits and directly exchange them for the ready-made Heaven Ascending Pill.

With four Heaven Ascending Pills and a Yin Stone containing Yin Qi, Lu Xiuhua estimated that it should be enough for him to break through to the innate realm.