Chapter 162: Chapter 131: Combing the Meridians (Part 2)

He slowly channeled his pure Spiritual Power into Li Hejun, soothing the meridians that had withered from the potent effects of the Spirit Fruit.

While the life-extending effect of Immortal Spiritual Power was far inferior to that of a plant or wood Spirit Monster, long-term nourishment could still produce a noticeable result, not much different from taking a Life-extending Pill.

Nourished by the highly concentrated Spiritual Qi, Li Hejun’s body trembled slightly.

She clenched her teeth, barely managing to keep herself from crying out.

After quite a while, the process of soothing her meridians was finally over.

Her jade-smooth face was completely flushed and covered in beads of sweat. Drained of all strength, she was on the verge of collapsing to the floor.

Li Hejun panted, her face beet red, and asked:

"Master, is this... is this what it feels like when Cultivators train?"

"Of course. Otherwise, who could possibly persist for decades on end?" Lü Zhong told her the truth. This was indeed what cultivators felt when they circulated their techniques and cultivated.

And the higher the concentration of Spiritual Qi, the more intense the sensation became.

Of course, most of the time, a cultivator’s focus wasn’t actually on the sensation itself.

They were far more concerned with the advancement of their own cultivation.

In fact, they would feel incredibly uncomfortable if their cultivation stagnated for a long time.

Enjoying this rare moment of leisure, Lü Zhong was in no hurry to return.

Brewing a pot of Spirit Tea and poring over a Spirit Medicine Atlas was its own kind of pleasure.

The night was as tranquil as still water, calm and peaceful.

Lü Zhong put down the thick book in his hands and looked at Li Hejun sleeping soundly beside him. With a cultivator’s extraordinary eyesight, he could clearly see the many traces time had already left on her.

’Even though she can’t practice cultivation, being able to live out her life in peace... isn’t that its own kind of happiness?’

As things stood, Li Hejun’s situation was far better than that of the ordinary mortals outside.

And when he thought about the fate of most Loose Cultivators in the war, he realized they were probably worse off than even mortals.

Shaking his head, Lü Zhong stood up and gazed to the south.

A short while ago, the Sect had sent a messenger, ordering him to depart for Yongling City tomorrow and await further instructions.

...

Early the next morning, Lü Zhong rented a Red-tailed Eagle and hurried to Yongling City.

"Might you be Junior Brother Lü Zhong?"

As soon as he landed in the city’s Poultry Room, a male cultivator with a dignified air approached him. Several other Heling Sect disciples followed behind, all of them at the Late-stage Qi Refining.

"I am. And you are, Senior Brother...?" Lü Zhong asked, puzzled.

"Haha, I forgot to introduce myself!" the male cultivator laughed heartily. He then cupped his hands and said, "Li Changxuan. I am the one organizing and leading this operation to purge the Demon Cultivators from Yongling City."

"I see. A pleasure to meet you, Senior Brother Li!" Lü Zhong said, cupping his hands in return.

Lü Zhong had heard the name Li Changxuan more than once. He recalled that he was one of the sect’s Core Formation Seeds and the senior-most Qi Refining disciple of the Profound Moon Lineage. He was highly respected among the disciples, so Lü Zhong was surprised to see him here.

’This is good news,’ he thought. ’With a senior brother at Qi Refining Stage Perfection leading the way, this purge mission will be much easier.’

Following him, the group soon arrived at the Outer Sect in the northern part of the city.

The great hall, which he had visited after his victory in the ranking competition, was now covered with maps of all sizes. Lü Zhong could tell at a glance that they were related to Yongling City’s waterways, but what puzzled him was...

...the maps were not from the same time period. There were old maps with yellowed paper alongside ones that had just been drawn.

His question was soon answered.

Once all the disciples participating in the operation had arrived, Li Changxuan began to explain the mission.

It turned out that the reason the Demon Cultivators and the cultivators from the other two sects could never be completely wiped out was that they were using the city’s waterways to move around. Yongling City’s waterways were not as simple as they appeared on the surface. Because the city was built on the ruins of an ancient one, the network of hidden underground waterways was so intricate that even calling it a spiderweb was an understatement.

In reality, their operation had two objectives.

Eliminating the hidden Demon Cultivators and the cultivators from the other two sects was merely a secondary task. The true purpose of this purge was to eradicate the Demon Beasts that had taken over the waterways.

According to the pre-operation scouting reports, the two main types of Demon Beasts they needed to deal with were Yin Scythe Rats and Moon-Gazing Toads.

The reason only these two Demon Beast populations remained was that, after a long period of territorial competition, all other Demon Beasts had been driven out of Yongling City’s underground waterways, leaving only the Yin Scythe Rats and the Moon-Gazing Toads.

The two Demon Beast populations had been fighting for an unknown length of time. Eventually, one occupied the shallower waterways while the other took over the waterways left from the ancient city, resulting in their current state of coexistence.

As for the characteristics of the Demon Beasts, the Yin Scythe Rats were skilled in stealth and moved like assassins.

The Moon-Gazing Toads, on the other hand, were a rare type of Ice Element Demon Beast.

After hearing this, Lü Zhong suspected that the higher-ups’ true motive for clearing out the Demon Beasts was likely to obtain the Ice Element spiritual materials from the Moon-Gazing Toads. These materials could then be refined into Magical Artifacts to be used in the war against the Luoyun Sect.

After all, the Luoyun Sect was located on a giant lake.

The "yun" in its name, meaning "cloud," actually came from the water vapor that gathered over the lake, resembling a sea of clouds.

Because of this, most Luoyun Sect cultivators practiced Water Element Cultivation Techniques.

And as it happened, Ice Element Magical Artifacts were the perfect counter to the Water Element.

After explaining the situation, Li Changxuan moved on to the specific arrangements.

With his Eighth Level of Qi Refining Cultivation, Lü Zhong’s cultivation base was among the highest in the group. As expected, he was made the captain of a purge team, responsible for leading ten Inner Sect Disciples at Mid-stage Qi Refining and thirty Outer Disciples at Early-stage Qi Refining.

"Alright, those are the arrangements. Does anyone have any questions?" Li Changxuan asked, smiling at the group.

The disciples exchanged glances, but no one stepped forward.

Seeing that no one else was going to speak, and concerned for his own safety, Lü Zhong had no choice but to bite the bullet and step forward. "Senior Brother Li, since we are purging the Demon Beasts that have taken over the city’s waterways, I was wondering if the higher-ups have dispatched any Foundation Establishment True Cultivators for support? The Demon Beast populations below have been entrenched for so long, it’s inevitable that some Tier Two Demon Beasts have emerged..."

"What do you mean by that, Lü?" a young man in a jade crown standing next to Li Changxuan suddenly snapped.

"Zi’an, that’s enough." Li Changxuan waved his hand, silencing the young man in the jade crown. He then turned to Lü Zhong and said, "Junior Brother Lü, you have a point. That was an oversight on my part."

After a moment of thought, he took out a Spirit Talisman and announced to the group, "I will send a Sound Transmission Talisman right now to request reinforcements from the Sect, to deal with any potential Tier Two Demon Beasts we might encounter."

Standing to the side, Lü Zhong heard this and suddenly felt the urge to laugh.

As far as he knew, there was only one idle Foundation Establishment Cultivator in the entire Heling Sect at the moment.

And that was his own master, Shuini!

Thanks to the merit she had earned from "slaying" Chen Jiang’nu, the Saintess of the Black Corpse Hall, Shuini had been relaxing in her immortal’s cave lately, living a far more comfortable life than her fellow disciples.

Whenever he had paid her a visit recently, her posture seemed to grow more languid each time.

’Still, if she’s the one coming as backup, it would be quite reassuring should we run into a Tier Two Demon Beast.’

While these thoughts churned in Lü Zhong’s mind, Li Changxuan activated the Sound Transmission Talisman.

A Sound Transmission Talisman was a Tier Two High-grade Talisman that could record several sentences of speech. Upon activation, it would fly on its own to a preset target. As long as the target was within a thousand li, delivery errors were unheard of.

The only problem was that it could be intercepted mid-flight.

After all, the talisman literally flew through the air; it didn’t teleport directly to its destination.

Furthermore, severe weather could also affect the talisman; in a storm, it was certain to attract a lightning strike.

Soon, a reply came from the Sect.

"The Sect Leader has replied. Master Shui will be here soon to provide support," Li Changxuan announced, relaying the message from the Sound Transmission Talisman to everyone.

"Master Shui?" someone exclaimed in surprise.

The name Shuini was known to almost everyone in the Heling Sect; after all, she held a very special status.

Just then, someone spoke up, then looked at Lü Zhong with a peculiar expression. "Senior Brother Lü," the person asked, "if I remember correctly, aren’t you Master Shui’s disciple?"

The matter of Shuini taking on a disciple had caused quite a stir at first.

But gradually, because Lü Zhong was so low-key and rarely interacted with his fellow disciples, people only remembered that Master Shui had unexpectedly taken on a disciple, but they had forgotten that disciple’s name.

"That’s right," Lü Zhong replied.

At this, the crowd burst into an uproar.

In the corner, the expression of the young man in the jade crown who had just snapped at Lü Zhong flickered.

But no one present was paying him any mind. All eyes were fixed on Lü Zhong, their gazes filled with curiosity. After all, this was the man whom Shuini herself had seen fit to take as her disciple.

But no matter how they looked, aside from being more handsome than Li Changxuan, Lü Zhong didn’t seem to have any other remarkable qualities.

And they’d heard he only possessed Four Spirit Root Talent.