Nine Transformations of the True Spirit

Every member of the Lu family owns or once owned a house on the family land on Wuchen Island.

Those members of the Lu family who had not emerged as immortal cultivators for three consecutive generations had no choice but to leave Wuchen Island and settle on other islands. They could not return to their clan until their descendants were detected with spiritual roots.

There is only one person in a hundred who possesses spiritual roots. More and more mortals are leaving Wuchen Island. Many mansions and gardens in the Lu family's land are vacant, waiting for the next owner.

After the young Taoist agreed to join the Lu family, he followed Lu Qing into the Lu family's land and lived in a quiet and elegant courtyard at the foot of Wuchen Mountain.

This courtyard is completely incomparable with those extravagant mansions, but it is very close to the Wuchen Mountains. You only need to walk a hundred steps to enter the mountains.

The aura escaping from the mountains makes the aura here the richest among the Lu family, and is far more valuable than those mansions.

Even an ordinary monk at the tenth level of Qi Refining must obtain the approval of those in power in order to be assigned such a courtyard.

Lu Qing, as the elder of Jiedan, was in charge of the Lu family's secular affairs, and gifted this courtyard to the young Taoist. Naturally, no one dared to say anything. Some even some foundation-building monks were very confused as to why the young Taoist was not allowed to open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains. .

After recruiting the young Taoist as a guest minister, Lu Qing spread the news widely. On the first day the young Taoist joined the Lu family, more than thirty foundation-building monks gathered here to congratulate him on becoming a guest minister of the Lu family. .

Among them are indispensable the people in power in each house of the Lu family, Lu Yuan is also among them, and he is very enthusiastic about the young Taoist.

Those Lu family monks who had asked the young Taoist to refine elixirs had already tasted the benefits and would not miss this opportunity to make good friends with him.

And those monks of the Lu family who had not dealt with the young Taoist had long heard about his magical alchemy skills from others. However, due to various reasons, either because they did not have spiritual herbs in their hands or because they had doubts, they did not Ask him to make an elixir.

Now that even Lu Qing has personally come forward to recruit him as a guest, they will naturally no longer have any doubts and come to visit the young Taoist immediately.

Lu Dongji, the only alchemy master of the Lu family, also came to this courtyard. His face was very ugly, with a forced smile, and he looked at the young Taoist with a gloomy look.

In addition, several guests who had joined the Lu family before also came here.

The rest of the Lu family monks who did not come were either practicing in seclusion or stationed on outer islands.

The head of the Lu family, Lu Gui, and another Danjie elder, Lu Haiwei, also did not show up. After all, the young Taoist was just an alchemy master, and Lu Qing's handling was enough, but it was not enough to alarm these two Danjie masters.

Under the watchful eyes of all the Lu family monks, Lu Qing handed a guest token to the young Taoist. From then on, he officially became the Lu family's guest guest.

Everyone congratulated one after another, but with Lu Qing present, it was difficult to say anything more to the young Taoist, and they quickly dispersed.

After they left, Lu Qing said with a smile: "Little friend Ziyang, you can receive fifteen pieces of medium-grade spiritual stones as an offering every year, and for every batch of elixirs you refine, you can keep one for yourself. This treatment is for you. Satisfied?"

For a monk in the middle stage of foundation building, fifteen pieces of medium-grade spiritual stones a year are already a lot. It only takes seven years to buy a top-grade spiritual weapon, and the young Taoist can also leave behind a pill. , it won’t delay your cultivation, and the treatment is very generous.

If the Lu family hadn't been in urgent need of an alchemy master, it would have been impossible to offer him such an offer.

The young Taoist naturally agreed. Lu Qing smiled slightly and winked at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan understood in his heart, flicked the storage bag, took out more than a dozen spiritual herbs, raised his hand and sent them to the young Taoist: "Fellow Taoist Ziyang, these are the spiritual herbs from the two furnaces of Muyun Dan. Thank you, fellow Taoist." Make elixirs."

"Leave this matter to me. After one month, I will definitely give the eight Muyun Pills to fellow Taoists." The young Taoist took the spiritual grass.

Lu Qing chuckled and stood up: "Then I won't bother little friend Ziyang."

Lu Yuan also said goodbye and left. The young Taoist sent the two of them out of the door in person before turning around.

Lu Qing did not fly, but just walked towards the Wuchen Mountains. Lu Yuan naturally did not know how to ride the flying light, and followed Lu Yuan step by step, slightly half a body behind.

The two of them had long left their natal lanterns in the Lu family's ancestral temple. The clan guardian formation could sense their spiritual auras and passed through the formation without any hindrance, heading up the mountain along the stone steps.

After walking for a while, Lu Qing said: "I transferred a late-stage foundation-building monk from the third room to live next to the courtyard where Taoist Ziyang lives. Always pay attention to his movements and be careful not to expose his whereabouts."

"Later-stage monk?" Lu Yuan looked surprised, "Fifth Uncle, this Ziyang Taoist is only in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. You have also checked it yourself. He has no problem, and the clan still needs him to refine elixirs. Is it necessary to be so wary of him?"

"My Lu family doesn't have any treasures worth stealing. If he notices it, he will feel dissatisfied..."

Lu Qing said calmly: "I really don't see any problems with Ziyang, but he, an alchemy master, suddenly appeared on Wuchen Island. Although he made some excuses that didn't reveal any flaws, it still inevitably makes people suspicious."

"And it is essential to be on guard against others. If he has no ulterior motives, it is just a waste of energy. Even if he notices it, the worst he can do is add more offerings."

"But if this person really has evil intentions and doesn't take precautions in advance, that would be bad."

Lu Yuan was sincerely convinced: "What my fifth uncle taught me is that my nephew is not thoughtful and thinks superficially."

Lü Qing smiled slightly: "You have only been practicing in the clan for a long time, so you have less experience. In the future, as long as you travel more and see all kinds of cultivators, you will naturally have experience."

"My nephew will follow the teachings of my fifth uncle!" Lü Yuan responded respectfully, "But my nephew still has one thing unclear. How long does this Taoist Zi Yang need to be monitored?"

"The clan is in a period of expansion and manpower is tight. It is okay to transfer cultivators in the early and middle stages, but it will take some effort to transfer a late-stage cultivator to monitor him for a long time."

"And Taoist Zi Yang has been in the clan for a long time, so he must know the rules of the clan. If the clan has not allowed him to open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains, will he be dissatisfied?"

Lü Qing nodded slightly: "You make sense, then temporarily set it for one year. If he does not move in this year, he will be allowed to open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains."

"Yes, my nephew will arrange the staff right away!"

...

In a dim and quiet room, Chen Yuan looked at the alchemy furnace in front of him with a calm expression.

Suddenly, he raised his hand and waved, the furnace cover was lifted, and nine Muyun Pills flew out, four of which flew into a jade bottle, and the remaining five flew into another jade bottle.

Chen Yuan changed the spell in his hand, took back the true fire, and the alchemy furnace slowly fell to the ground.

With his alchemy skills, refining Muyun Pills, a late-stage foundation-building pill, was easy.

But there are fifty great ways, and forty-nine heavenly evolutions. If one is missing, it cannot be perfect.

No matter how exquisite his alchemy skills are, he can only refine nine pills at most, and he will never be able to refine ten.

Chen Yuan put the two jade bottles into the mustard ring and the storage bag respectively. This was the second furnace of Muyun Pills he refined. It only took him half a month to make two furnaces of pills.

He spread his spiritual sense and quietly explored the formation restriction of a courtyard a hundred feet away. He saw that the late-stage foundation-building cultivator of the Lu family was flipping through a book, looking up from time to time, using his spiritual sense to explore the courtyard where Chen Yuan was. He couldn't help but smile slightly and began to meditate and practice.

When he just started to make pills half a month ago, he found that this cultivator moved nearby and often spied on him.

He was not surprised by this. The Lu family did not allow him to open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains. They must have been worried about him and would naturally send people to monitor him.

And this was the inevitable disadvantage of him entering the Lu family as an alchemy master, which was expected long ago.

But he was just a late foundation cultivator, so he could not find out his secrets. Even Lu Qing himself could not do this.

Before, Lu Qing came to the Lingdan Hall in person, and he did not even see Chen Yuan's true cultivation. His consciousness was comparable to that of a mid-stage Jindan cultivator, which was enough to hide from Lu Qing's detection.

If Lu Gui came in person, he would not be able to hide it.

But when he decided to enter the Lu family in this way, Chen Yuan was sure that Lu Gui was the head of the Lu family and was unlikely to ask about such a trivial matter as recruiting an alchemy master as a guest of the family, so he made a bold move.

Of course, if Lu Gui suddenly asked about this matter on a whim and saw Chen Yuan's true and false, he would not be afraid.

Although he was not Lu Gui's opponent, he was still quite confident of escaping after stimulating Zhu Yan's true blood.

Things developed as he expected. From beginning to end, only Lu Qing asked about the matter, and even another elder Lu Haiwei did not show up, allowing Chen Yuan to successfully sneak into the Lu family.

So far, he was only one step away from the mysterious inheritance. As long as he entered the Wuchen Mountains, he could enter the inheritance place.

But at this point, the Lu family was most defensive against him, and he had to be more cautious than before to eliminate the Lu family's vigilance.

Half a month later, Chen Yuan came out of retreat, handed over two bottles of Muyun Dan to Lu Yuan, and received two furnaces of spiritual herbs for late-stage foundation-building pills.

He did not refuse and continued to open the furnace to refine pills. A month later, he handed over two bottles of pills again.

In this way, half a year passed, and Chen Yuan kept refining pills. In addition to the spiritual herbs given to him by Lu Yuan, there were also late-stage foundation-building cultivators from other rooms of the Lu family who asked him to help. In the last two months, he no longer refined late-stage pills, but turned to refining middle-stage pills.

At this time, he suddenly refused to make pills again, saying that he wanted to practice in seclusion for a while.

This request was reasonable. Alchemists cannot make pills endlessly, and they also need time to practice.

But the Lu family finally found a guest official with such superb alchemy skills, with a high success rate and fast speed. As long as the pills were precious, they were all handed over to Chen Yuan for refining. Even Lu Dongji, who was cultivated by the Lu family, had only refined pills in the middle and early stages of foundation building in the past six months.

Chen Yuan suddenly proposed to practice in seclusion, which caught the Lu family cultivators off guard.

Although there was still Lu Dongji who could make pills, when they thought of his success rate, which was 20% lower than Chen Yuan's, and the poor quality of the pills, their hearts bled and they were reluctant to give him the spiritual herbs.

But they could not stop Chen Yuan from practicing, so they could only let the cultivators in the late stage of foundation building come forward and ask Chen Yuan to continue to make pills.

Especially the foundation-building monks of the Lu family who came back from outside the island. They had guarded other islands for several years before and had accumulated a lot of spiritual herbs. They were very happy to know that there was a guest alchemist master in the family. They wanted to ask Chen Yuan to make pills, but he had to practice in seclusion, which was naturally very unwilling.

Together with other monks who needed to make pills, they found the monks in power in each house and asked them to persuade Chen Yuan not to retreat for the time being.

This was related to the special situation of the Lu family now. Ordinary family monks would not accumulate too many spiritual herbs at the same time, but the Lu family obtained a large amount of spiritual herbs not long after destroying the Haiyan Sect. They distributed them to the monks in the family one after another in the past ten years, resulting in them not lacking spiritual herbs and urgently needing to refine them into pills.

The monks in charge of each branch had no choice but to find Chen Yuan and persuade him, but he politely refused every time.

As the eldest son of the eldest house, Lu Yuan's every move was closely watched in the Lu family. After the other monks failed to persuade him, they found Chen Yuan and persuaded him: "The monks in the clan urgently need elixirs for cultivation. Can Daoist Ziyang postpone his retreat? As long as you refine the spiritual herbs in their hands into elixirs, Daoist Ziyang can retreat and practice at will in the next few years." Chen Yuan sighed: "I am not a person who does not know the limits. I also understand Daoist Lu's meaning. But I am not welcome in the Lu family. If I continue to refine elixirs for the monks in the clan and offend Lu Dongji, how can I stay in the Lu family in the future?" Lu Yuan was surprised and said: "Daoist Ziyang, why do you say this? You were personally recruited into the Lu family by my fifth uncle as a guest official, and you have been refining elixirs for the monks in the clan. The monks in the clan all praise you. How can you not be welcomed?" Chen Yuan looked embarrassed and hesitated to speak. In the end, he shook his head and remained silent. Lv Yuan frowned and said, "Fellow Daoist Zi Yang, just speak directly. Is there anyone in the clan trying to make things difficult for you? If that is the case, I will definitely help you."

Chen Yuan said, "No one is trying to make things difficult for me, but..."

He suddenly stopped talking when he got to this point, and turned to look out the window, with dissatisfaction in his eyes.

Lv Yuan followed Chen Yuan's gaze and saw the Wuchen Mountains a hundred steps outside the window. From here, he could see the top of the Wuchen Peak across the courtyard wall. This is also the main peak of the Wuchen Mountains, where the head of the family, Lv Gui, was in seclusion.

Lv Yuan suddenly realized, turned around, considered his words, and said: "Do you want to open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains?"

Chen Yuan nodded: "Yes, there are sixty-three people in the Lu family, including the foundation-building cultivators and the guest officials. But whether it is the people who are cultivating on Wuchen Island or those who guard the outer islands, only my cave is not in the Wuchen Mountains. How can I live in the Lu family?"

Lv Yuan was speechless. What Chen Yuan said made sense, but he couldn't say that this was Lu Qing guarding against him, so he could only be vague: "Daoyou, you don't know, this is the rule of the clan. As long as you are a guest official who joins the clan, you must live in the clan for a period of time first. After being recognized by the cultivators of the clan and integrated into the family, you can open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains. It is not just for you."

What he said was not false. The Wuchen Mountains stored the treasures accumulated by the Lu family and opened up a large area of ​​spiritual plant gardens. Naturally, outsiders would not be allowed to enter at will.

But what he didn't say was that this rule had long been reduced to a decoration in the Lu family. The guest officials before Chen Yuan only needed to stay in the clan for a few days to open up a cave in the Wuchen Mountains.

After all, the Wuchen Mountains were guarded by the clan protection formation and there were Jindan cultivators in charge, and the guest officials who joined the Lu family were only foundation-building cultivators, so there was no need to worry about them causing trouble.

And those who could hide from the Jindan cultivators of the Lu family were all highly skilled. How could they risk offending the Zhenhai Sect to seek the treasure of a small family?

After Chen Yuan got this explanation, his face looked much better. He smiled apologetically, and the hideous scar on his face was moved: "Since this is the rule of the Lu family, then I will naturally abide by it. What fellow Daoist Lu said is that there is no rush to retreat at this time. I will first make pills for fellow Daoists in the clan, and it will not be too late to practice later."

Lv Yuan smiled and said: "Thank you fellow Daoist Ziyang, Daoist, rest assured, I will go to my fifth uncle to ask for your help and let you open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains as soon as possible."

He stood up and said goodbye and left, and went directly to Lu Qing's cave, reported the matter to Lu Qing, and finally added: "Fifth uncle, this Taoist Ziyang is so eager to enter the Wuchen Mountains, is there really any conspiracy?"

Lv Qing smiled: "The Taoist Ziyang's behavior shows that he is open-minded. , and there is no trickery. "

Lv Yuan was stunned for a moment, his face full of doubts, and Lu Qing said again: "He is a master of alchemy, but he cannot open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains. It is reasonable for him to feel resentful."

"If he really lives at the foot of the Wuchen Mountains for a year, working hard to refine pills without complaint, I would suspect that he has ulterior motives."

Lv Yuan suddenly realized: "Yes, if he can even tolerate such a thing, he must have some plan."

Lv Qing said lightly: "For the past six months, I have been waiting for Taoist Ziyang to complain about this matter. I didn't expect that he could survive for half a year. He is quite cunning."

"How about this, in two months, you invite him to enter the Wuchen Mountains to open a cave and make up for the offering of five medium-grade spirit stones. "