"How are Ning Caichen and Zhuge Wolong doing?"
"Ning Caichen has now succeeded his father as Minister of War. As for Zhuge Wolong, he is now the Imperial Tutor. However, his health is not good, and he may not have many days left."
"I see. What are your plans now? Haven't you gotten married all these years?"
After hesitating for a moment, Fu Qingfeng said.
"Neither my sister nor I are married. We've been busy taking care of our father all these years, and..." She didn't finish her sentence. Fu Yuechi, however, picked up where she left off.
"To show his loyalty, Father remained a loyal minister in the court. After his death, we were left with no one to rely on. Father knew this, so he left a will, hoping that we would come and seek refuge with you, sir, after his death."
"Refuge with me?" Lu Xuan was somewhat surprised, but also somewhat understanding. After all, Fu Tianchou had witnessed firsthand Lu Xuan and the others' extraordinary abilities, as well as the most dangerous side of this world. He wasn't exactly a perfect father, but he still hoped his daughter could live out the rest of her life safely.
To remain a loyal and solitary official, he refused to marry into any high-ranking court official's family. However, he was well aware that such a loyal official would inevitably face purging from his political enemies after his death. Therefore, he made the decision to send his two daughters to seek refuge with Lu Xuan. After all, in his view, Lu Xuan was a righteous man, and with his protection, his two daughters should be safe and sound.
As for marrying an ordinary person and living a mundane life, Fu Tianchou had considered it. However, after experiencing many ups and downs, Fu Tianchou now understood a principle: some things you can't avoid just because you want to. Just like when he was bedridden at home, he was still arrested and imprisoned by the Ministry of Justice with a single word from his superiors. He had no son and couldn't protect his family, so he had no choice but to resort to this drastic measure.
Just as Lu Xuan was hesitating, Hongyu came out.
"Let them stay."
"??? What?" Lu Xuan was completely dumbfounded.
"Let them stay. Although they are a bit old, they have good aptitude and can learn my sword cultivation techniques."
"But......"
"But what? You think I don't know what you're thinking?"
For some reason, after cultivating with Lu Xuan, Hongxiu's personality changed quite a bit. Although she still maintained a cold demeanor towards others, she was completely different with Lu Xuan. Not only did she take it for granted that she was the mistress of the house, but she would also subtly act coquettishly from time to time.
Just like that sentence, which sounded both angry and reproachful, made Lu Xuan's heart itch a little.
And so, Fu Qingfeng and Fu Yuechi also joined Lu Xuan's lineage. They became disciples of Hongyu, learning sword cultivation techniques. Lu Xuan then discovered that his small sect already had quite a few members.
He and Hongyu, then Xiaoqing, Xiaobai, and Xin Shisi Niang, three transformed demons. Xiaoqian, Xiaolan, and Hongxiu, three female ghosts. There's also a family of foxes in the back mountain. Now two more human girls have arrived, including Xiahou, who guards the gate. The entire mountain gate now has a total of 32 people.
Lu Xuan longed to establish a sect. However, he seemed to have received some kind of warning. Once a sect was established, he would become entangled in too many karmic consequences with this world. Although he didn't know what the consequences would be, since his intuition had given him this warning, Lu Xuan decided to maintain the status quo.
In any case, that mysterious mechanism is a rigid thing, like a program. He can teach disciples as he pleases, but he cannot establish a sect or sect in this world.
Time passed gradually as he trained Hongyu and his disciples. After achieving the Core Formation, Lu Xuan's lifespan reached over five hundred years. Given that his lifespan was already longer than average, he estimated he should have a lifespan of over six hundred years.
This amount of lifespan is nothing to cultivators in online novels. But for Lu Xuan, it was the first time he had such a plentiful amount of time.
After reaching the Core Formation stage, further advancement requires a long period of accumulation. Therefore, Lu Xuan has ample time to conduct comprehensive research on various techniques.
He visited various sects throughout the world, exchanging his unique techniques for different types of spells. Although it was almost impossible to obtain core cultivation methods, it still gave him considerable inspiration, allowing him to further refine the various techniques of his lineage.
By this point, Lu Xuan had essentially established a mature cultivation system. His path of cultivation had begun to embark on an unprecedented journey.
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Chapter 389 The Black Mountain Demon
Lu Xuan hadn't neglected his thunder magic either; in fact, he had already completed the cultivation of all five inner thunder techniques. However, he was far from mastering the five outer thunder techniques.
Using the power of the previous tribulation lightning, Lu Xuan intercepted the heavenly lightning and began attempting to condense it himself. However, after trying, Lu Xuan knew that this was not an easy task. The requirements for both the quantity and quality of spiritual energy were currently beyond his capabilities.
The "Five Thunders of Heaven, Earth, Clouds, Water, and Demons" refers not to lightning on the ground, but to the thunder and lightning around the time of the Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe). This thunder is believed to generate all things, nourish the grains, eliminate insects and locusts, vanquish mountain spirits and stone monsters, clear away mountain miasma and evil, deliver the dead souls, regulate the earth's energy, and bring sunshine and rain. In short, it refers to spring thunder. This type of thunder symbolizes the warmth of spring, the blooming of flowers, and the revival of all things on earth, hence the name "landmine."
Around the time of the Awakening of Insects, Lu Xuan intercepted the thunder energy and also included it in the list of cultivators.
Like heavenly thunder, cloud thunder carries the connotation of killing and destruction. Generally, when cultivators and Taoist priests perform rituals and pray to gods and Buddhas, requesting heavenly thunder to slay demons and monsters, the lightning that falls is cloud thunder. People generally believe that it is heavenly thunder. However, heavenly thunder is not something that mortals can summon at will.
As for water mines, they are responsible for bringing rain, relieving droughts, eliminating dragons, poisonous snakes, evil clam shells, and monsters, and stirring up wind and clouds. They are the lightning that protects the growth of all things after landmines.
Finally, there is the rarest of all: demonic lightning. To be honest, Lu Xuan has never seen the legendary demonic lightning before. Monsters themselves fear lightning, and the only monster Lu Xuan can think of that might wield the power of lightning is a dragon.
Unfortunately, he searched for several resident dragons in the great rivers and found that most of them were only proficient in water-based supernatural powers. Many of them didn't even possess any intelligence and acted purely on instinct. The few he could communicate with also said that they had never heard of any of their colleagues being able to control lightning.
Lu Xuan had also inquired about the existence of the Dragon Palace. After all, these dragons who had been granted titles might include beings capable of controlling lightning? However, without exception, they all replied that they had never heard of any Dragon Palace. 'If there really was a Dragon Palace, we would have gone to seek refuge there long ago.' These were the exact words of those demonic dragons.
Unfortunately, Lu Xuan had no choice but to temporarily abandon the demonic lightning and instead focus on the four types of lightning: heaven, earth, cloud, and water. Since heavenly lightning was insufficient, he mainly focused on earth, cloud, and water lightning.
Using the thunderous energy of the Awakening of Insects, Lu Xuan mastered the transformations of landmines. However, he was still far from being able to control them at will. Cloud thunder and water mines were relatively simpler. Lu Xuan observed them several times, extracted a portion of the thunderous energy, and then tried to simulate it within his body. He quickly mastered the corresponding transformations. The rest would require time to accumulate experience little by little.
And it was during these years of cultivation that a crisis, almost forgotten by Lu Xuan, suddenly erupted: the Black Mountain Demon.
Yan Chixia arrived weary from his journey to discuss the matter.
"I don't know what happened in the underworld. The Black Mountain Demon suddenly became extremely violent. For several days in a row, he forcibly infiltrated the human world and destroyed three towns." Yan Chixia's tone was full of worry. After all, that was a hegemon-level being in the underworld, and he was truly unsure of what to do.
“Brother Yan, there’s no need to worry so much. In fact, I think this is a good thing.”
"Good news! Tens of thousands of people have died! Is this a good thing?" Yan Chixia looked at Lu Xuan with disbelief.
"I'm not saying it's a good thing that ordinary people died. It's just that the Black Mountain Demon's actions... don't you think there's something wrong with them?"
After listening, Yan Chixia pondered for a moment, and then suddenly realized what was going on.
"Something is definitely not right. It has always guarded its own underworld and rarely interferes directly with the human world. Legend has it that it has seized some of the underworld's power and can intercept the souls of the dead who are heading to the underworld. It even built its own City of the Unjustly Dead. I don't know what's wrong with it this time, that it has started attacking the human world."
"The reason is easy to guess. Its City of the Wrongfully Dead needs a constant replenishment of human souls to sustain the ghosts under its command. But in recent years, the human realm has returned to normal. I estimate that the underworld is also recovering. The Black Mountain Demon may soon lose control of the underworld."
"That makes sense; it needs a large number of dead souls to maintain its position. So this kind of attack will continue to occur."