Huyang City

Chapter 138 Huyang City

The greatest function of the Gu Cauldron is to open the spiritual apertures within a cultivator's body. However, this only applies to spiritual apertures; it won't work for spiritual roots, as these are two separate systems.

The person who crafted the Gu Cauldron clearly hadn't considered its suitability for cultivators from the Southern Heaven.

Of course, they don't need to think about it, since they practice the Gu Dao (a form of poison/poisoning).

However, this would mean that the Gu Cauldron wouldn't be as helpful to Lu Yang, since Lu Yang couldn't possibly abandon orthodox cultivation to practice what cultivators considered unorthodox methods.

Moreover, the Gu Dao (a type of poisonous insect) involves using one's own body as a Gu, which usually results in the body being riddled with holes, making it very difficult to achieve enlightenment.

Fortunately, the Life-Breaking Pearl shielded the Gu Cauldron from its drawbacks; otherwise, Lu Yang would probably be considering throwing it away right now.

From the current perspective, the Gu Cauldron can indeed be considered a rare treasure.

After all, with a spiritual aperture opened behind him, the Law of Heaven and Earth Gu entered the aperture, granting Lu Yang the ability to manifest the Law of Heaven and Earth, which greatly enhanced his strength.

The battle against the demon serpent proved this point.

Lu Yang's current physical cultivation level is only at the early stage of the second tier, but by using the ability of reducing his rationality by one and the ability of transforming heaven and earth, he can reach a level close to the late stage of the second tier.

This is something that no amount of secret techniques could buy.

However, this place was indeed not suitable for lingering, and Lu Yang's gaze fell on the demon snake.

The others are fine, but this serpent is a treasure trove, we can't miss it.

After being refined by the elixir, Lu Yang's spiritual energy had recovered somewhat, and his physical damage had been greatly reduced. At the very least, his mobility was no longer impaired.

Snake skin is a good thing. The skin of a mid-stage second-tier demon snake is enough to be used as the main material to refine a spiritual leather armor.

When the battle began, Lu Yang was attacked by the demonic snake, and his top-grade magic robe was shattered completely, beyond repair.

Now that my Qi Refining cultivation is nearing the second level, my magical artifacts are no longer up to par. Using this snake skin to forge a spiritual artifact would be just right.

The snake blood was collected in a jade bottle, especially the six drops of essence blood from the snake demon, which were even more valuable. If anyone from the Demon God Cult encountered these six drops of essence blood, they would be fought over like crazy.

Even if you use it yourself, it's good for preparing body-refining elixirs later.

The snake meat was cut into pieces and could be eaten directly later. The flesh and blood of the demon beast could serve as direct energy for cultivators, especially for body-refining cultivators.

If we find a safe place and grill a couple of pieces, his injured body will probably recover faster.

A single snake gallbladder can be said to be a concentrated essence of the serpent's entire being.

If the gallbladder of a mid-stage second-tier snake is used in medicine and alchemy, it is enough to produce a mid-grade second-tier pill, which would be of great benefit to cultivators in the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, let alone Lu Yang.

When we get back, we'll ask the Grand Ancestor for help and see if he can refine a batch of pills for us.

There are also two venomous fangs and the venom sacs on the serpent's body. These should be kept for refining weapons. If his scorpion tail needle can be processed with these two venomous fangs and venom sacs, it might be able to advance and become even more powerful.

The enormous demonic snake was quickly cleaned up by Lu Yang.

After glancing around, Lu Yang didn't linger and quickly left.

Lu Yang had only wanted to find a place to forge the prototype of his sword, and he never expected to gain such a reward.

Huyang City.

This was the first city Lu Yang encountered after entering the Southern Barbarian lands, and it wasn't far from the mountain forest.

Lu Yang had already found a set of clothes that fit him from the storage bags of those Southern Barbarian cultivators and changed into them. With his Gu Cauldron in hand, his spiritual aperture opened, and he controlled the Heavenly and Earthly Gu, Lu Yang was now a genuine Gu Dao cultivator. Therefore, he didn't need to deliberately conceal himself, and his aura hardly aroused any suspicion.

In the city, Lu Yang found an inn and checked in.

It's probably due to cultural invasion. In the Southern Barbarian Lands, there were no inns before. Now, not only are there inns in the Southern Barbarian Lands, but most of the facilities in the city also show a strong Southern influence. There's no doubt that they were learned from here, or that Southern cultivators influenced everything here after entering the Southern Barbarian Lands.

Inside the inn.

Lu Yang didn't rush to do anything else. He simply roasted two pieces of the demon snake meat, swallowed them, and then had a good sleep.

Lu Yang slept for three whole days. Fortunately, he had informed the inn in advance, so no one came to disturb him.

I must say, it really feels comfortable.

When Lu Yang woke up, his meridians had recovered to about 70-80%, and his spiritual power had also recovered considerably.

Most importantly, his spirits were much higher, but the feeling of being less rational was not good. When the battle just ended, Lu Yang felt that his mind was a little unclear.

Now things are much better. Lu Yang ate two more pieces of snake meat and, taking advantage of his refreshed state, began cultivating the Returning to the Flow and Refining the Spirit.

Sure enough, after some practice, his spiritual cultivation level improved considerably.

The path of cultivation involves refining the body, refining the qi, and refining the spirit. Now that Lu Yang has already opened the door to the second stage through body refinement, the resistance to further advancing in spirit refinement will naturally be greatly reduced.

This great battle also provided Lu Yang with an opportunity to advance his spiritual cultivation.

Unfortunately, there were no suitable spiritual materials for refining the spirit. Otherwise, Lu Yang might have been able to break through in one fell swoop during this training. However, even now, Lu Yang has taken half a step towards the second level in the path of refining the spirit.

As for Qi cultivation, after the Kunlun Sword Technique evolved and the prototype of the sword embryo was forged, Lu Yang's practice of the Kunlun Sword Technique became significantly more effortless.

Moreover, through this battle, the connection between Lu Yang and Broken Sword has deepened considerably.

Using the Kunlun Sword Cleansing Technique to cleanse the broken sword, Lu Yang could feel his connection with the broken sword deepening.

If things continue like this, perhaps after Lu Yang breaks through, it won't be long before he can use the broken sword as his natal spirit sword.

Today, Broken Sword is no longer what it used to be.

The Broken Sword was once nothing more than a broken sword that had lost its brilliance. Perhaps it had a deep foundation and many strange features, but it was ultimately incomplete. It was through Lu Yang's repeated refinement with his essence blood, the blood of the Barbarian God, and the nourishment of sword essence that the Broken Sword was restored to its present form.

The Broken Sword of today has been imbued with too much of Lu Yang's will.

If some high-quality spiritual materials can be added in the future to reforge the broken sword, its quality will be further improved.

Especially after the initial forging of the sword embryo, Lu Yang felt as if he had awakened a sliver of spiritual light in the broken sword.

Although the broken sword was sharp, it was still only at the level of a magical artifact.

Now, however, there are signs that it has recovered to the level of a spirit weapon.

As he continued his cultivation, Lu Yang was surrounded by sword energy, and his cultivation level had clearly improved further, greatly increasing his chances of breaking through to the second tier.

After several days of cultivation, his physical body, spirit, and Qi cultivation were finally complete, shaking off the slump that followed the battle with the demon serpent.

This state of mind gave Lu Yang confidence.

To be honest, Lu Yang hadn't really wanted to leave the inn before. Even though it was just a mortal city, his current state made him vulnerable to an opponent.

After leaving the inn, Lu Yang moved to a more upscale one. Staying in the same inn for too long is never a good thing; it makes you more memorable.

Especially the strange behavior of staying for several days without ever leaving the house.

When you're out and about, it's always better to be careful than to make a big mistake.

Inside the new inn, Lu Yang opened the Thousand Soul Banner. Lin Xuan looked extremely miserable. Lu Yang's gaze fell upon him. "Tell me about it."

Although Lin Xuan's soul was weakened by the ordeal and he was covered in wounds, a hint of stubbornness could still be seen on his face.

"Pah, don't even think about it."

Hmm! Lu Yang couldn't help but smile wryly. What's going on? Making him look like the villain.

The hatred between the Western Four Counties and the Southern Barbarians had long been established. In this land, the rule was that if a cultivator from the Western Four Counties killed a cultivator from the Southern Barbarians, it would be a great achievement. Therefore, Lu Yang didn't feel any psychological burden.

Moreover, such an opportunity is not to be missed, let alone killing Southern Barbarian cultivators to seize treasures. In Tiannan, it is not something to be missed.

He shook his head. Stubbornness is good. These souls inside the Thousand Soul Banner are lonely every day. Having such a toy is good too.

The number of souls within Lu Yang's Thousand Soul Banner has now exceeded one hundred.

Two of them already possess second-tier soul bodies, namely Lin Xuan and Tuo Mu. Their strength as Thousand Soul Banners alone is already quite good. If some spiritual materials can be added later to refine the Myriad Soul Banner, its power might be enough to serve as a trump card for Lu Yang.

Since Lin Xuan was unwilling to speak, Lu Yang simply dragged out the log.

Tuomu wasn't as tough as Lin Xuan, and immediately confessed.

Like the cultivation world of Nanzhou, the cultivation forces in the Southern Barbarian Lands are also divided by region.

According to Tuomu, the southern barbarian lands are mainly inhabited by tribes. Apart from the seven cities near the seven kingdoms, further inland the lands are mostly inhabited by tribes, and the grand scene of Huyang City is nowhere to be seen.

Huyang City is the city that connects with the Yue Kingdom. It is not just a simple city, but also bears the important responsibility of communication between the southern barbarian lands and the Yue Kingdom.

The main business was the exchange of goods. Even when the Yue Kingdom and the Nanman were at their most intense fighting, trade here never stopped. The profits involved were so great that neither the Nanman nor the Yue Kingdom were willing to give it up.

Among the twelve marquisates of the Southern Barbarians, the one in charge of Huyang City is the Marquis of Huyang, who has a third-tier cultivator in charge, equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator from the Southern Heaven.

However, according to Tuomu, there are three Golden Core cultivators in Huyanghou's faction, and Huyanghou himself is in the late Golden Core stage. The force that is now advancing into the four western prefectures is under Huyanghou's command.

Of course, there are only two Golden Core cultivators left now, because the High Priest Fengxi, who was at the early stage of Golden Core, has already died in the Chaotic Stone Forest.

After some investigation, Lu Yang gained a preliminary understanding of the situation in the Southern Barbarian Lands, no longer completely clueless as before and only having heard about it.

There are also cultivation forces around Huyang City, mainly four families. The Lin family, where Lin Xuan is located, is actually a major cultivation force around Huyang City. It was established by an evil cultivator and also has a patrol team that drags wood.

The patrol team was not an official organization of Huyang City; at most, it was an externally hired team, specially approved by Tuomu from the Huyang Marquis's tribe.

With this title, Tuomu could hunt around Huyang City. Tuomu and Lin Xuan's father were close friends, the kind of close friends who could stab each other in the back.

The idea of ​​a godfather stabbing his biological father in the back is incredibly melodramatic.