The next day, early morning.
Lu Changsheng directly controlled the ant colony and charged towards the bottom of the crater in a mighty force.
Along the way, the ant colonies stretched for miles, scaring the surrounding strange beasts into fleeing in panic.
Soon, Lu Changsheng arrived at the top of the crater.
He no longer hesitated and immediately rushed downwards.
"Hiss…"
A large number of ants followed closely behind, and any lone fire toads they encountered on the road were easily submerged by the ants.
After half a cup of tea.
Lu Changsheng came to the edge of the lava river again.
"Gugugugu…"
The hot air waves rolled over the magma, the air was very choking, and the surroundings appeared a fiery red glow.
"Quack…"
At this moment, a group of fire toads sensed the movement and immediately rushed out.
The leading fire toad was more than twice as big as an ordinary fire toad. It was the fourth-level beast king.
When the Fire Toad King saw Lu Changsheng appear again, his eyes turned blood red.
It has always remembered this treasure thief in its heart.
However, after just a few months of not seeing each other, the other party's aura suddenly increased, which made him quite confused.
"Gugugugu…"
The Fire Toad King did not hesitate. He kicked his legs and jumped out of the lava river, rushing towards Lu Changsheng with a very ferocious momentum.
A large army of fire toads also came towards Lu Changsheng in a mighty force.
Bringing up waves of fiery energy around.
"kill."
Lu Changsheng gave an order and led the ant colony to attack.
"Boom boom boom…"
The two armies suddenly collided with each other, stirring up layers of air waves.
The violent crash resounded throughout the cave, and even a lot of rubble was shaken off the surrounding rock walls.
"Gugu..."
The two tribes fought bloody battles at the edge of the lava, and soon a large number of corpses were left.
Because the ants came out in droves and their numbers were even larger, they were not at a disadvantage for a while.
Although the ant tribe is only a second-level monster.
Lu Changsheng also met the beast king.
"Boom boom boom…"
His whole body flashed and he quickly came to the side of the Beast King, slapping the other's back with one claw.
With one blow, the Fire Toad King was knocked back several meters, but the scales on his back were still intact, and it was obvious that he had not suffered any fatal injuries.
"roar..."
The Fire Toad King roared in pain, his eyes red.
It also couldn't understand why this treasure thief suddenly became so powerful.
"What a tough armor."
Seeing that the other party took his claw without any serious injury, Lu Changsheng couldn't help but admire him.
The other party's body has been soaked in magma for a long time, and the scales may have undergone some magical changes.
Lu Changsheng no longer hesitated and immediately activated his innate skill [Soul Strike].
"Buzz..."
As a soul wave came from his mind, it instantly turned into an invisible needle in the outside world and stabbed towards the Fire Toad King's mind.
In the blink of an eye, it penetrated into the other person's body.
"Ah…"
The Fire Toad King immediately began to tremble all over in pain and curled up on the ground.
Lu Changsheng seized the opportunity and rushed forward quickly.
"Bang, bang, bang…"
He madly moved around the other party, while extending his sharp claws and slapping the fire toad's body hard.
Soon, the beast king was tortured to death.
Taking this opportunity, Lu Changsheng once again used his innate skill [Command].
A colorful mark of light quickly penetrated into the other person's mind.
"Buzz..."
The Fire Toad King struggled desperately with his remaining life.
Lu Changsheng also felt great resistance.
A moment later.
"Ah…"
Following a shrill scream, the Fire Toad King fell directly to the gravel ground, his eyes closed, not moving at all.
Seeing this, Lu Changsheng's eyes moved slightly.
This beast king has a very strong temper. He would rather his soul be destroyed than surrender to me.
It seems that the success of the contract with the Fire Ant Queen was also due to a certain amount of luck.
Generally speaking, the king of a race is extremely difficult to enslave.
However, the failure of this contract is not a big deal.
It takes a huge amount of resources to cultivate an ant colony, and adding a swarm of fire toads to it is more than he can handle.
This fourth-level body can be recycled and used to cultivate a queen ant.
Lu Changsheng scanned the entire audience.
The two ethnic groups are still fighting.
The field was filled with evil spirits and corpses of all kinds were scattered on the ground.
When the fire toads saw their king fall, they all fled in all directions.
The ant colony followed closely and began to chase and kill, leaving the entire battlefield in a mess.
Lu Changsheng also rushed forward quickly.
"Boom boom boom…"
Every time it strikes out with its claws, a fire toad dies.
"call out..."
He moved across the battlefield as fast as lightning.
Soon, a large number of corpses were left on the ground.
With the strength of a fourth-level mountain spirit, it was a one-sided massacre against these ordinary third-level monsters.
Time passed slowly, and half an hour later.
Lu Changsheng stopped and stood on a huge rock.
There were fire toad corpses everywhere, densely packed and quite creepy.
Even the surrounding gravel was stained red with blood.
Then he ordered the ants to clean up the battlefield and drag away the corpses of the strange beasts to feed the ants.
These third-level exotic beast meats are good stuff.
With it, the ant colony's evolution speed will be greatly accelerated.
There is a good chance that the queen ant will break through to the fourth level in the future.
After cleaning up the battlefield, Lu Changsheng did not forget his own plan and immediately took action.
Countless ants searched the surroundings in a mighty force, which was quite spectacular.
Lu Changsheng didn't leave either, but lay quietly on the boulder and waited.
An hour later.
One by one, the ants returned to the edge of the magma and came to Lu Changsheng, holding a large number of fire crystals in their mouths.
"Add 1 energy point."
"Add 5 energy points."
"Add 5 energy points."
…
Seeing the source energy points on the panel increasing rapidly, Lu Changsheng was quite happy.
It was worth the two months of time it took to conquer this precious land.
Now is the time to reap the rewards.
Next, he planned to stay here until all the treasures were dug out.
...
A few days later.
Changping County.
In a study, Lu Changsheng sat upright on a chair.
Open the panel.
Source energy points: 480.
After a few days of collecting, the resources in hand once again met the upgrade requirements.
He has been keeping a very low profile these days, and even his outings have been reduced a lot.
I finally gathered all the energy points today.
He no longer hesitated and immediately headed towards the plus sign point behind the footwork.
"Buzz..."
As the source energy points decreased by four hundred.
A mysterious wave suddenly descended deep into the mind.
It was as if an extremely powerful person was practicing footwork in his mind.
[After several years of hard training, you have finally mastered the Cloud and Mist Step...]
A moment later.
Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes and gathered the qi and blood in his body.
He began to verify immediately.
I saw his footsteps move slightly, and his whole body seemed to turn into a wisp of smoke, moving quickly in the room.
Countless afterimages appeared in the room at an extremely terrifying speed.
"call out..."
At this moment, he immediately stopped, and the massive afterimages around him instantly returned to his original form from all directions.
After this improvement in footwork, his speed increased by another 20%.
Even if some blood transfusions are completed, it will be difficult to catch up with me.
For him, the safety of the next patrol mission will be greatly improved.
However, Lu Changsheng did not leave the city for a tour immediately. He stayed at home, waiting for the source energy point to arrive.
Although there were some rumors in the outside world, many warriors from aristocratic families said that Lu Changsheng had been hiding at home for a long time and not carrying out any missions because he was afraid of death.
Lu Changsheng ignored this.
Even his immediate superior Qin Ruobing had no objection. It was obvious that some people had sinister intentions.
Warriors from several major families are all looking forward to their fall.
In the next few days, Lu Changsheng strolled around the city during the day. When he got tired of strolling, he would go to Yuelai Tower to drink and sit there for the whole day, feeling quite leisurely.
Seeing his source energy points increasing every day makes him very satisfied.
It will only take a few days to improve again.
He naturally would not choose to go out of the city for a tour at this moment.
This day, early in the morning.
Yuelai Restaurant.
Lu Changsheng sat in a corner by the window on the second floor, drinking some wine with a very comfortable look on his face.
As the most luxurious restaurant in the inner city, this building is located in the downtown area and seems like two different worlds from the outside of the city.
He quietly watched the crowd outside the window, savoring the prosperity of the downtown with a glass of wine, and even his impetuous mind seemed to be purified a lot.
The long-term struggles and fights have inevitably made him tainted with a hint of tyranny.
After these days of rest, my mind gradually calmed down.
The path of martial arts is about alternating between tension and relaxation. A short break is also extremely beneficial to martial arts.
Just then.
"Knock, knock, knock…"
There were sounds of footsteps, and a figure walked quickly towards the second floor.
Soon he came to Lu Changsheng.
A beautiful woman appeared, it was Yue Shulan.
The other person was wearing a pink long dress and had a proud figure.
"Brother Lu, hurry to the Demon Suppression Office..."
Yue Shulan looked quite anxious.
These days, she often came to see Lu Changsheng, so she naturally knew that he was drinking here.
Lu Changsheng was quite confused and didn't know what had happened.
He has been practicing martial arts and collecting spiritual objects, and has not paid much attention to information from the outside world.
Soon the two of them left the restaurant and walked quickly towards the Demon Suppression Office.
But when the two arrived at the Demon Suppression Office, the place was already full of people.
The three deputy hall masters were prominently present, standing on the stage with grim expressions.
Everyone on the field was in disagreement and the atmosphere was extremely depressing.
Lu Changsheng followed the crowd's gaze and saw a headless corpse lying quietly on the ground.
The corpse was wearing the robe of a demon-suppressing official with a gold edge on the cuffs. It was obvious that the other party was a Xuan-level demon-suppressing official.
At this time, Xiao Tianci spoke in a cold tone:
"This man was one of my patrol officers. He was killed by cultists outside the city, and his body was brought into the city today."
"It is said that the opponent's first ghost master killed him."
He was extremely angry. A few months ago, after one of his patrol officers was beheaded, another one was promoted.
Unexpectedly, he was beheaded again in just a few months.
Why is it always me who gets hurt?
The two weakest patrol envoys under Qin Ruobing had been getting along peacefully, which puzzled him.
Everyone on the field looked extremely angry when they heard this.
The other party killed someone and sent the body back. This is a blatant provocation.
Lu Changsheng also observed a moment of silence for the other party.
This person might have stepped into his own trap.
After he killed the ghost envoy Liao Jinping, the other party would definitely take crazy revenge.
As a result, he had been staying at home mining all this time, and Xiao Tianci's patrol envoy happened to run into him.
"In the future, if you can kill a ghost user, you will get a great merit in addition to the points."
At this time, Qin Ruobing spoke in a stern tone, scanning the entire audience with a look full of pressure.
"I await your orders."
Everyone on the field felt their bodies tense up and they all bowed.
Chen Zhanpeng in the center of the field looked confident.
The next moment belongs to him. As long as he can kill a few more ghost messengers, his promotion to deputy hall master is just around the corner.
A gleam of light flashed in Zhu Houyu's eyes standing by.
He also exchanged blood for combat power, and had always kept his thoughts hidden.
Soon, everyone on the field left.
In the next few days, the news that the patrol envoy was killed and his body was sent back to the Demon Suppression Bureau spread throughout the county.
A large number of warriors were extremely angry. The cultists were too rampant. They not only killed people but also destroyed their hearts.
At the same time, many warriors began to shout across the air, hoping that the mysterious strong man in the city would take action again, kill the ghost messenger, and teach him a lesson.
However, after a few days, no news came out, and many warriors were quite disappointed.
Lu Changsheng also knew about some of the disturbances in the city, but he ignored them. Instead, he calmed down and began to wait for the opportunity.
If you act rashly and fall into a trap, you will be in trouble.
The difference between prey and hunter is often just a thought away.
......
The four major families, the Zhu family compound.
"Are you confident in your promotion to Deputy Palace Master this time?"
"Dad, don't worry. Chen Zhanpeng has always been high-profile, and I know his general strength."
"With my strength, I will definitely be able to defeat this person. Once he is defeated by the First Ghost Envoy, I will then turn the tide and naturally gain a lot of reputation and supporters..."
Zhu Houyu smiled faintly, with an inexplicable look in his eyes. He had already simulated this plan many times in his mind.
He has always been low-key. Although he has already reached the strength of blood replacement, he has always remained weaker than Chen Zhanpeng.
He is determined to win the position of deputy hall master candidate this time.
"I'm afraid the old ghost of the Chen family's spiritual object will be wasted."
An old man smiled slightly, looking quite pleased with himself.
The four major families are also in a competitive relationship. As long as their children can become the deputy hall master, the whole family will benefit greatly.
......
Seven days later.
Late at night, it is as quiet as water.
Lu Changsheng sat quietly in the study and opened the panel.
Source energy points: 520.
After several days of digging day and night, the ants were finally able to improve their skills again.
After this upgrade, you can start striving for perfection in bone forging.
With his perfect-level breakthrough, he would definitely have the strength to enter the Blood Exchange Realm by then.
He no longer hesitated and immediately clicked on the [Giant Cauldron Technique].
"Buzz..."
The fluctuations in my mind came again, and a figure was practicing martial arts day and night, as if never stopping.
[After several years of hard practice, you have finally mastered the Ju Ding Gong.]
With a series of crisp prompt sounds, the upgrade officially ended.
Lu Changsheng immediately walked out of the yard and prepared to start verifying it.
Outside the courtyard, the white moonlight scattered down, as if covering the surrounding houses with a layer of silver gauze.
Lu Changsheng stood in the yard and immediately activated his defensive skills.
"Hiss…"
A huge tripod suddenly appeared above his head, covering him tightly, and there was a gleam of light on the huge tripod.
He took out the butcher knife and chopped at the giant cauldron quickly.
"Boom boom boom…"
A violent roar resounded throughout the courtyard, but the giant tripod was still spinning overhead, showing no signs of being broken.
"What a strong defense."
Lu Changsheng was quite satisfied.
In this experiment, he used three levels of strength, but was unable to shake this cauldron of qi and blood at all.
After breaking through to the great perfection, the defense power was enhanced again by nearly 30%.