The Taiyue Mountains, located in western Jianzhou, stretch for thousands of miles. This region is dotted with untouched pristine forests, steep ridges, lush trees, and a multitude of wild beasts and birds of prey.
Ordinary people naturally wouldn't imagine that this seemingly ordinary mountain range is actually covered by a vast and mysterious formation covering its entire central section. This is the Huangfeng Valley, one of the seven great immortal cultivation sects, which has existed for thousands of years.
Atop a northern branch of the Taiyue Mountains, Lu Tiandu sheathed his flying sword and stood in mid-air. With a flick of his hand, a white token appeared in his hand.
He casually tossed the token before his eyes, formed hand seals, and struck it with several streams of spiritual energy. The token instantly spun, and with a "chi" sound, a beam of yellow light shot out, striking somewhere in the void.
An illusory portal suddenly appeared in the void. Lu Tiandu rolled up his sleeves, collected his family identity token, passed through the portal, and flew away at an incredible speed using the Wind Walk technique.
This was the Lu family's home.
Looking down from the air, pavilions and terraces were scattered in an orderly fashion along several beautiful mountain peaks. Occasionally, cultivators wielding flying swords or leaf-shaped magical instruments could be seen flying low overhead.
Upon returning to the family compound, Lu Tiandu didn't head directly to his own cave abode. Instead, he immediately reported to the small hall next to the family meeting hall. Later, he planned to go to the inner affairs hall to collect the monthly allowance of spirit stones and elixirs the family had provided him for the previous ten months.
Unexpectedly, upon emerging from the small hall, he ran into the Lu family's head, Lu Yongxin, who had just finished attending to some business and was about to leave. Seeing the dusty Lu Tiandu, he checked his spiritual energy again. The middle-aged scholar in a blue robe was surprised and said with a smile,
"Good boy, you've reached the eleventh level so quickly! Good! Good!"
Without waiting for Lu Tiandu to speak, the scholar carefully checked his spiritual energy and said, "Your foundation is strong and your spiritual energy is flowing smoothly. You've clearly put in a lot of effort. Not bad, not bad."
Lu Tiandu chuckled and offered a few words of modesty.
Lu Yongxin then inquired about Lu Tiandu's recent departure before saying,
"Your cultivation has surpassed the tenth level, so your monthly allowance should be increased to five spirit stones. Later, when you go to the Inner Affairs Hall to collect your previous allowance, it will be issued at five spirit stones. Just say it's my order..."
"Since you've already obtained the Green Dragon Flag, get familiar with it. This will give you some protection against future battles..."
The middle-aged scholar, overjoyed at the thought of another Foundation Establishment cultivator emerging from the family within a few years, gave him a few more instructions before swiftly gliding away on his flying sword.
Lu Tiandu smiled faintly, exchanged greetings with several nearby clansmen, and then headed for the Inner Affairs Hall.
The Lu family had three Foundation Establishment cultivators. Besides the Great Elder, who spent years in seclusion hoping to reach the Core Formation stage, Lu Tiandu was more familiar with his Uncle Yongqing, who had been guiding him in his cultivation, and the elegant Lu Yongxin, the patriarch of the Lu family.
Lu Yongxin had only established his foundation within the past decade or so. He and Lu Tiandu's father, who had passed away unexpectedly, were both members of the Yong generation of the clan, and were currently at the early stages of the foundation building stage.
Because of his wind spirit roots, the Lu family dedicated themselves to Lu Tiandu's cultivation.
Besides the constant guidance of Lu Yongqing, the Second Elder, who was in the middle stage of the foundation building stage, the family head, Lu Yongxin, never shortchanged him in terms of cultivation resources, even offering him a subtle level of support.
Besides the thousands of mortals unable to cultivate, the Lu family also boasted over two hundred members, both direct and collateral, with the aptitude for cultivating immortals. With such a large family, there were naturally all sorts of intrigues and deceitful practices, but Lu Tiandu could remember experiencing few instances of injustice.
As the elders of the Internal Affairs Hall watched him off, Lu Tiandu returned to his family compound, carrying the fifty spirit stones he had just received, along with two bottles of Qi-nourishing and one bottle of Qi-condensing pills.
Breaking through the barriers and entering the courtyard where he had lived for over a decade, a sense of familiarity washed over him.
The courtyard, adorned with an antique charm and nestled midway up the mountain, offered a pleasant view. My parents had invested a great deal of thought into this mansion, setting up spirit gathering formations in several rooms and even a medicinal garden in the backyard—more than enough for a cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage.
After my parents' accidental death seven years ago, there were a few young girls from other branches of the family who cared for my daily life and cultivation. However, after Gu Tiandu traveled through time over a year ago, he found an excuse to give them some spirit stones and sent them away.
Having adapted to the life of a cultivator over the past two years, he no longer felt lonely. Returning to his bedroom, Lu Tiandu began to consider his next steps.
He had already reached the eleventh level of Qi Refining. His storage bag held thirty bottles of Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pills, five bottles of Nourishing Qi Pills, two bottles of Gathering Qi Pills, and one bottle of Condensing Qi Pill. These pills were sufficient for him to reach the twelfth level.
In the original story, after Han Lao Mo reached the eleventh level, the Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pills ceased to increase his cultivation. However, perhaps due to Lu Tiandu's limited use of these pills and the purification process in the Creation Divine Furnace, they were still effective for him,
which was good news.
However, due to his frequent use of Nourishing Qi Pills, these pills, which were slightly more expensive than the Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pills, were becoming less effective.
Once he reached the twelfth level, he would need to switch to other elixirs if he wanted to reach the thirteenth.
He was very satisfied with his current progress in his spiritual cultivation. He even estimated that he was on par with the average Foundation Establishment cultivator. After all, he was truly gifted in this area.
Furthermore, according to his plan, in a few years, he intended to experiment with not only elementary but also intermediate spiritual technique. His only potential limitation was his lack of spiritual energy.
As for spiritual instruments, he previously possessed only a top-grade, exquisite Wind-following Sword, a small, upper-grade shield, and the upper-grade Green Jade Rope body armor gifted by Chen Qiaoqian. The rest consisted of a few less valuable trinkets.
This time, while searching for opportunities, along with the items purchased from the family's Jade Pavilion, the newly acquired Green Dragon Flag and two talismans had significantly boosted his offensive power.
His only current limitation was his lack of a top-grade defensive instrument.
As for talismans, he currently held over a hundred elementary and intermediate-grade talismans and over thirty elementary and upper-grade talismans in his storage bag, valued at over two thousand spirit stones.
With the new monthly allowance from the family, his total spirit stone holdings now totaled over eight hundred and fifty.
Not counting the various spiritual herbs in Lu Tiandu's Hundred Medicinal Herbs Garden, these items alone are worth nearly eight thousand spirit stones, a wealth far greater than the average cultivator's early Foundation Establishment stage.
This substantial fortune is primarily earned from selling various talismans over the past two years. This demonstrates the immense benefits of mastering any of the hundred arts of cultivation—talisman-making, alchemy, and instrument-refining.
However, these skills require either natural talent or resources, and are beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators.
Despite his considerable wealth, Lu Tiandu still feels his income stream is slow. For example, he's been unable to purchase top-tier defensive artifacts or generate some Fortune Dew for refining certain elixirs due to a shortage of spirit stones.
After all, all of this is geared towards the Blood Forbidden Trial, which will take more than four years, and the initial investment is substantial.
To put it bluntly, his current sources of income are limited; his only source of spirit stones is selling talismans.
However, due to the large number of talismans he possessed, he lacked other safe and stable channels to sell them, other than his family's Jinyu Pavilion.
Therefore, while developing new channels, he began to consider how to develop new products to generate further revenue.
(End of this chapter)