Chapter 73 - The Wind Rises

  "As long as the hall can provide me with sufficient second- and third-grade spiritual seeds, I will naturally cultivate spiritual plants wholeheartedly."

  Lu Xuan replied very practically.

  It's just a pie in the sky, and it makes everyone feel the same. As long as he can get the exact rare spiritual seeds, his cultivation attitude goes without saying.

  The two talked for a while, and Lu Xuan found a reason to leave.

  Before leaving, he said goodbye to Manager He and came to the loose cultivator market. There

  were many more cultivators in the market than before. Some of them were in a hurry and looked tired. At first glance, they had just returned from the wilderness.

  There were various monster materials on the stalls, and many new varieties of spiritual plants and medicines appeared.

  While Lu Xuan looked for unknown rare spiritual seeds, he listened attentively to the discussions of the passing cultivators.

  From the words of the cultivators, he learned that a large number of loose cultivators who went to open up new secret realms had just returned to the market.

  "I don't know if Brother Zhang will come back this time?"

  Lu Xuan muttered to himself, thinking of Zhang Hong's family who had taken good care of him.

  He originally wanted to go to Wanbao Building to buy an alchemy furnace to prepare for alchemy later, but after hearing the news, he temporarily changed his route and went to the gathering place of scattered cultivators in the North District.

  After moving out of the outer area of ​​the North District, Lu Xuan rarely went back there.

  The only family he was familiar with was Zhang Hong's. When Zhang Hong was out, it was inconvenient for him to go there. Zhang Xiuyuan, on the other hand, came to play with Lu Xuan a few times at the beginning.

  However, after the invasion of evil spirits and the appearance of alienated cultivators from time to time, his behavior was restricted by his mother Xu Wan, and he had not seen her for several months.

  He bought several kilograms of spirit beast meat at the market and carried it to the outside of the Zhang family's yard.

  There was a knock on the door, and the gate opened a crack, revealing Zhang Xiuyuan's face with a curious look.

  "Uncle Lu, you are here?!"

  "Dad! Mom! Uncle Lu is here."

  The moment he saw Lu Xuan, Zhang Xiuyuan, who had once worked together to kill insects and formed a deep friendship, shouted in surprise.

  "Xiaoyuan, you have grown so tall?"

  After not seeing each other for a few months, Zhang Xiuyuan suddenly grew a lot taller and was slightly taller than Lu Xuan's shoulders.

  He walked into the yard with a smile, and saw Zhang Hong and the other two people coming out to   greet him.

  "Brother Zhang, sister-in-law, long time no see!" Lu Xuan was happy to see an old friend, and greeted him with a smile.   The two did the same.   "Brother Lu, I finally see you. I heard Xiaoyuan say that you moved away when I came back, and I was still talking about it. I didn't expect you to come!"   Zhang Hong grabbed Lu Xuan's arm and pulled him into the house enthusiastically.   "Brother Zhang, what's wrong with your hand?"   Lu Xuan noticed the abnormality of Zhang Hong's arm. The arm under his sleeve was obviously much smaller.   Zhang Hong smiled bitterly and rolled up his sleeves, revealing an arm that was dry like an old tree. The flesh and blood of the arm was withered, and even a section of gray bones was exposed.   "I was unlucky when I opened up the new secret realm this time. I encountered a mysterious evil spirit. I was not careful and he sucked the flesh and blood of one arm."   "Fortunately, I saved my life and can see you again, brother Lu."   "Can you recover? Is there anything I can help with?"   Lu Xuan asked with a heavy face.   "You should be able to recover mostly after resting for a period of time, but as for a complete recovery, that's a bit difficult."   Zhang Hong replied optimistically.   

  Lu Xuan nodded, but unfortunately his newly acquired Blood and Soul Pills were mainly used to quickly restore Qi and blood, and were not very effective for injuries that required muscle growth.

  "Although I was seriously injured during this trip to open up the secret realm, it was a blessing in disguise. My cultivation level has broken through to the fourth level of Qi training."

  "I was thinking about showing off to you, Brother Lu, after meeting you, but I didn't expect that you have been staying in the market, and your cultivation level has improved faster than mine. You have reached the fourth level of Qi training without realizing it."

  The two sat at the table, drinking tea and chatting. Xu Wan took Zhang Xiuyuan to the kitchen to prepare food, and the Cloud Lynx walked slowly in the Zhang family's spiritual field.

  "The quality of the spiritual plants I planted recently is quite good, and I have established a certain cooperative relationship with Baicaotang, so I have earned a lot of spiritual stones."

  "Before, due to the limitation of spiritual power, I couldn't cultivate too many spiritual plants. After thinking hard, I used almost all the spiritual stones to buy elixirs to improve my cultivation, and thus broke through to the fourth level of Qi training in a short period of time."

  Lu Xuan made up a lie. Anyway, whether it was the cultivation reward brought by the white light ball or the improvement of cultivation after taking a large number of elixirs, they were all pretending to be external objects, so he found a more acceptable excuse.

  After eating and drinking, Lu Xuan and Zhang Hong sat in the yard, and Zhang Xiuyuan was teasing the stepping cloud lynx on the side. The

  stepping cloud lynx had a cold expression, and his green eyes had no emotion. He ignored Zhang Xiuyuan's teasing, but kept a close distance with him.

  In the yard, the two eclipse moon trees that Lu Xuan left for them were planted on both sides, with lush branches and leaves. Silver-white fruits like crescents had already grown, looming in the dense leaves.

  "I came back from the new secret realm this time, and I was lucky enough to save my life. I have some different ideas."

  Zhang Hong opened up.

  "I always thought that even if there were risks in exploring the secret realm, I would not encounter them. I always dreamed that I could get all kinds of opportunities."

  "However, reality always hits you head-on. As the exploration of the new secret realm becomes deeper and deeper, the dangers that appear are also increasing. I witnessed with my own eyes that a whole team in the distance was killed by evil spirits."

  "More than ten cultivators, including several mid-level Qi training cultivators, were easily killed by a strange evil spirit."

  A trace of fear flashed in Zhang Hong's eyes, and he took a deep breath and recovered.

  "Maybe in the future, I will be like you, Brother Lu, an honest and conscientious spiritual plant master, and live a stable life with my wife and children."

  "It's a good time to rest for a while, heal my wounds, and think clearly about the future path."

  Lu Xuan said. He did not persuade Zhang Hong what to do. Every choice could not be right or wrong.

  "Brother Zhang, why don't you tell me about the situation in the secret realm? Although I don't want to go out and take risks, I still want to listen."

  "Okay, sure. It's always good to know more about evil spirits."

  The two whispered. The wind started in the courtyard at some point, making the branches and leaves of the Eclipse Moon Tree rustle.

  ...

  The center of the market, Wang's family.

  On the top of a building several dozen feet high, the head of the Wang family overlooked the entire Linyang market, without saying a word.

  "Chong'an, what are the two sect companions you brought with you doing now?"

  A handsome young man who stood quietly behind him stepped forward and said respectfully.

  "With the help of the two senior brothers and sisters, the evil spirits and alienated monks in the market have been almost cleared, but the strange-level evil spirit has not been found. I don't know if it has a strong ability to hide or has returned to the secret realm."

  "Don't worry about this, just treat them well."

  "Wait until the formation in the center of the secret realm is broken, find an opportunity to bring them to the secret realm together, and use their power to clear the evil spirits in the secret realm."

  "Yes."

  The handsome young man replied in a deep voice.

  On the tall building, the wind howled, and the dark blue robes fluttered in the wind.

  (End of this chapter)