Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 209 - 171: After Many Years Apart

"How can he be from Lu Kingdom? How is it possible for him to be from Lu Kingdom?!"

Yu Wen Tai being from Lu Kingdom was like a bomb exploding in Zhang Yao's mind.

His instinctive first reaction was disbelief.

What kind of environment is Lu Kingdom? Even calling it a cultivation desert would be an understatement. Even breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refining is as difficult as reaching the heavens. The loose cultivators within the country's borders are the most miserable batch of free cultivators he's ever seen, their circumstances only slightly better than those of miner slaves.

Could such a remote place really give birth to a genius like Yu Wen Tai?

One must know that this person is not only a genius in cultivation, having achieved Foundation Establishment Perfection early on but also possesses astonishing combat power, renowned as invincible in Foundation Establishment. He even has outstanding accomplishments in the Dao of Alchemy and Artifact Refining that surpass those of other countries.

Even though Zhang Yao has some grudges against him, he must admit that this person is a rare talent, a once-in-a-millennium prodigy.

"No, my thinking is still too narrow..."

As Zhang Yao calmed down, he quickly overturned his previous thoughts.

Although Lu Kingdom's environment is poor, it doesn't mean it can't produce a super genius. After all, people aspire to climb to higher places, and it's not like they're confined to developing only within Lu Kingdom.

And more importantly:

Back then, when facing the newly established Foundation Establishment Yu Wen Tai, several Golden Core Ancestors definitely had lie detection means. Given the significance of something like the Five Elements Secret Realm, they might have even resorted to a soul search.

In such circumstances, Yu Wen Tai wouldn't dare, nor would he be able, to conceal his origins—so his background and the related records documented by the Fuhai Sect are highly credible.

"So... is he really from Lu Kingdom?"

At that moment, Zhang Yao's emotions were extremely complicated, and his thoughts were all over the place.

"Qingxu?"

Opposite him, Lord Haihe noticed his daze, frowned slightly, and asked with curiosity:

"What's wrong with you? Why did you fall into deep thought upon hearing that Yu Wen Tai is from Lu Kingdom?"

"Ah."

Zhang Yao came back to his senses and replied calmly:

"I was just trying to recall which southwest border region Lu Kingdom is in, as I haven't heard of it before."

"I see..."

Lord Haihe, not suspecting him, casually remarked:

"Those small border countries near the Southern Border are all devoid of Immortal Families, with national titles and dynasties frequently changing. Who knows in which backwater region they lie?"

"But agonizing over this point is meaningless, because with Yu Wen Tai reaching the heights he has today, his origin no longer matters."

"Yes, Lord is right."

Zhang Yao nodded slightly in agreement outwardly, but his heart grew heavier.

"It seems, I'll need to secretly return to Lu Kingdom to find out more about Yu Wen Tai's background..."

He made a silent decision in his heart.

Currently, Zhang Yao strongly suspects that Yu Wen Tai originated from the imperial Yuwen family of Lu Kingdom, and only later left the family to venture alone to Da Li.

His conjecture is not without basis:

Firstly, the cultivation realm of Lu Kingdom is very small, apart from the Yuwen family, there's only the two cultivator sects of Kongqing River and Celestial Capital Mountain. Since Yu Wen Tai shares the Yuwen surname and is from Lu Kingdom, he's most likely from the Yuwen lineage of Wuyin Island.

Secondly, when he conquered Wuyin Island and sorted through the inheritance of Elder Lady Liu, he noticed a peculiar point—that being the disproportionately small number of spirit stones.

Logically, Elder Lady Liu was a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, possessing a complete set of array banners and high-grade magical artifacts. Amassing a few hundred or thousand spirit stones shouldn't have been difficult, yet the spirit stone reserves of the Wuyin lineage amounted to a mere scant few dozen.

If someone had used them up, it wouldn't make much sense; otherwise, the Yuwen family wouldn't have taken so many years just to produce a small middle-stage Qi Refining underling.

Zhang Yao hadn't paid much attention to this issue back then and let it slip from his mind, eventually forgetting about it over the years.

Not until Yu Wen Tai's origins came to light did he suddenly remember—could it be that Yu Wen Tai used up those spirit stones?

"If he truly is from the Yuwen family, why did he later abandon the Yuwen family, never returning to Lu Kingdom after leaving?"

"Moreover, does Yu Wen Tai know about the greatest secret of the Liu and Yuwen family's legacy—the earth vein node and Earth Vein Spirit Bead?"

Various chaotic thoughts surged in Zhang Yao's mind, making it difficult for him to reach inner peace.

After chatting idly with Lord Haihe for a while, he took the initiative to bid farewell, and Lord Haihe personally saw him out of the Floating Island on the sky.

Once he left the Fubo Sea's vicinity:

He unleashed the full speed of his escape light, speeding like the wind at the fastest pace back to Cangjiang Water Mansion.

"Association Leader, you've returned!"

Zhang Yao deliberately made a great noise with his escape light, and upon returning to the water manor, he naturally alarmed the on-guard Master Cang'er.

"Association Leader, how was your journey to Fuhai Sect? Was it smooth?"

Master Cang'er asked with a cheerful smile.

"Very smooth."

Zhang Yao nodded slightly and said:

"I have already secured the Kunyuan Spiritual Liquid and will soon enter a long-term closed-door cultivation."

"This..."

Though Master Cang'er was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but say:

"If the Association Leader were absent to oversee, some petty individuals might seize the opportunity to cause trouble..."

Currently, without Zhang Yao, the strength of the Haihe Association is not at its peak.

Lord Haihe has long returned to his sect, and from the outside, considering both parties seldom interact, and remittances are handled through official channels, their relationship seems hardly close, naturally stirring some people's ambitions.

After all, the Haihe Association now occupies the entire Fang Continent and half of Kang Continent, essentially a venerable piece of fat meat.

"No, they won't."

Zhang Yao waved his hand and said:

"In ordinary times, I indeed wouldn't choose to go into long-term closed-door cultivation lightly, but the situation now is different."