Chapter 337

Chapter 337: Smelting the Pillar, Celestial Changes

“Senior Yan, you said that Xiao Li’s father is very likely the King of the Night?”

“Yes, in the ancient era of cultivating immortals, although the human cultivators were powerful, they were not the only ones that

could compete with them. There were at least two huge forces, the demon clan and the sea clan, that could compete with them.

Not to mention the sea clan, they occupied a vast ocean area and rarely came ashore. The sea was their home.

Except for the powerful beings above the Yuanshen, very few cultivators could set foot there.

As for the demon clan, in fact, the sea clan and the demon clan both belong to the category of demon beasts and spirit beasts, but one lives in the sea and the other mainly moves on land.

The exchanges between the two were not close, and there was even some friction, which is why they split into two major forces.

Otherwise, if these two major forces united, the initial realm of human cultivators would be much more difficult.”

“Yan” paused, then continued.

“As for the Night King I mentioned earlier, he’s one of the twelve demon kings under the Emperor of the Land Demon Clan. His true form is also a Night Lizard.

He commands the Lizard Clan, as well as numerous other demon beasts, and is incredibly powerful, comparable to a human’s primordial spirit.”

“Since there’s a Lizard Clan, then Xiao Li isn’t necessarily the descendant of the Night King?” Lu Qing questioned.

“No, Night Lizards are extremely rare among the Lizard Clan, perhaps only one appears in a single generation.

Before I fell asleep, there were only two Night Lizards in the entire demon clan, and they were married.

So Xiao Li must be the descendant of those two,”

Yan said confidently.

Lu Qing paused. If that was the case, then it was a sure thing.

“But why is Xiao Li here? From what I see, it seems to be still a juvenile, right?”

Yan was equally puzzled.

“Xiao Li is indeed still a juvenile. I only met it by chance two years ago.”

Lu Qing briefly recounted how they met Xiao Li, revealing that Xiao Li had no memory of his origins.

“It seems many major events have occurred in the world of immortal cultivation since I fell into slumber,” Yan sighed. “Otherwise, those two wouldn’t have left their daughter alone. I wonder   how the other factions managed to resist

when the spiritual energy dried up and the catastrophe struck.   Did they successfully escape this world, or did they all perish in the apocalypse?”   Lu Qing remained silent.   If even Yan, an old antique who had lived for tens of thousands of years, didn’t understand, then there was no way he could possibly know.   ”Senior, if Xiaoli is truly the daughter of those two you mentioned, then she must have been born tens of thousands of years ago. Why is she still just a juvenile?”   ”That’s easy to understand. The Night King must have used some rare treasure to seal Xiaoli away from birth.   You have to know that the Night Lizard possesses the attributes of fire and space, and is gifted with a unique sense of perception.   It can easily discover treasures that are invisible to ordinary people.   The Night King is highly skilled in Taoism, making treasure hunting even easier.   I remember several times when secret realms emerged, it was he who amassed the most treasures.   It’s not impossible that he possesses some rare treasure that could seal Xiaoli away for tens of thousands of years.   So, treat your Night Lizard well.   It’s a true lucky charm. When the laws of heaven and earth evolve and numerous secret realms emerge,   it might be your best aid in exploring them.”   ”Yan”‘s tone grew somewhat puzzling at this point.   Lu Qing’s luck was truly immense.   Not only does he possess several spiritual weapons, but he’s now even tamed spirit beasts like the Night Spirit Fox.   It’s hard to imagine how many opportunities he’ll be able to access once the laws of heaven and earth truly evolve and perfect, and countless secret realms emerge.   Thinking of this, it couldn’t help but feel a surge of anticipation, its previous frustrations vanishing.   Following such a master of supreme destiny, perhaps one day it could truly escape its cage and find freedom.   ”Lucky star…”   Lu Qing looked at Xiao Li, who was playing with Xiao Yan, and recalled the time when Xiao Li had once traded a century-old ginseng for fish.   After some thought, he decided not to tell Xiao Li about this   for now. It had already happened tens of thousands of years ago, and it was unknown whether the Night Spirit Fox couple were still alive.   Telling Xiao Li would only cause him more trouble and serve no purpose.   Perhaps keeping Xiao Li carefree like he is now is exactly what the Night Spirit Fox couple desires.   The Wei family acted swiftly.   Although Wei Shanhai said it would take three days to gather the materials Lu Qing needed, he was still there.   In fact, on the second day, a fleet of cars from the Wei family brought some of the materials over in succession.   ”Young Master Lu, the refined iron here is what we have temporarily collected from several foundries in the county. We are sending it to you first according to the instructions of our ancestors.   As for the other jade materials, they have also been transferred from the provincial capital.   They will probably be delivered in the next two days.”   In the small courtyard halfway up the mountain, the chief steward Wei said respectfully to Lu Qing.   The Wei family now attaches great importance to all of Lu Qing’s requests. This batch of refined iron was personally escorted by the chief steward Wei.   ”Thank you, chief steward.”   Lu Qing first thanked him politely, and then inspected the batch of refined iron.   ”Ah Qing, what formation are you going to set up that requires so much refined iron?”

The old doctor was surprised to see the large quantity of refined iron that Chief Steward Wei had escorted over, and to hear that more would be delivered.

“There’s not much left,” Lu Qing shook his head. “I need to refine and purify this much, so there won’t be much left.

What a pity! If I could get a batch of refined iron over a thousand times refined, I wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble of purifying it.”

Upon hearing this, Chief Steward Wei said: “…

refined iron over a thousand times refined, no foundry in the entire county can forge it.

Only the Wei family’s treasury holds a small amount.”

Lu Qing’s desire to collect a large quantity all at once would be incredibly difficult. Even

plundering all of Cangzhou would likely be a stretch.

After all, thousand-refined refined iron is a treasure capable of forging thousand-refined weapons.

It’s always in short supply and highly sought after.

Any warrior who obtains it will immediately seek to forge it into the perfect weapon for them.

Few would keep it for themselves.

Lu Qing naturally knew that his wishful thinking was unrealistic.

Therefore, after Chief Steward Wei and the others left, he immediately started the furnace, preparing to refine the fine iron.

With a flick of his fingers, the finger-sized Lihuo Ding, which he hung around his neck as a pendant,

quietly flew out, transforming into a cauldron half a man’s height, landing in the courtyard.

The old doctor’s expression shifted slightly.

Although he had witnessed this more than once, he couldn’t help but marvel at the myriad miraculous methods of cultivation.

“Senior Yan, excuse me.”

“No big deal, leave it to me.”

Lu Qing tossed the refined iron piled in the yard into the Lihuo Ding bit by bit.

“Yan” accepted everything, swallowing it all.

With its own internal space, it could swallow not just a bit of refined iron, but even a small mountain.

After swallowing all the refined iron, “Yan” formed a hand seal within the spiritual artifact’s space.

The next moment, a large amount of flames appeared out of thin air, burning at the pile of refined iron.

Soon, the refined iron was melted, turning into a large ball of iron liquid.

“Yan” looked relaxed, controlling the flames in the space and continuing to calcine the ball of iron liquid.

As a spiritual artifact, refining a small amount of ordinary iron was no small task for the Lihuo Ding.

It was accomplished effortlessly, requiring no power at all.

Under “Yan’s” control and calcination, the impurities within the large ball of iron liquid were rapidly refined, and its volume gradually shrank.

Finally, when the calcination had reached its limit and no more impurities could be refined, Lu Qing appeared within the spiritual artifact space.

He took control of the Lihuo Cauldron and, with his mind, caused the ball of pure iron liquid to fragment into dozens of smaller clumps.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Qing began to cast restrictions within.

The old doctor had been nearby, and upon seeing Lu Qing’s concentration, he stepped aside to help protect him.

Soon, he saw small iron pillars gradually emerging from the Lihuo Cauldron.

Mysterious patterns faintly emerged on each pillar, seemingly imbued with some mysterious power.

After dozens of small iron pillars had been ejected, Lu Qing finally opened his eyes.

A hint of fatigue lingered in his eyes.

“Ah Qing, are you all done?”

“Well, unfortunately, there’s still a little less refined iron. I can only refine thirty-six magic pillars for now,”

Lu Qing said, somewhat unsatisfied.

“How many magic pillars do you need for the formation?” the old doctor asked.

“According to my plan, I need one hundred and eight magic pillars to complete the formation.”

The old doctor was a little surprised.

The refined iron sent by the Wei family this time was already quite a bit, but it didn’t even meet half of Lu Qing’s requirements.

“Thirty-six magic pillars will barely be enough to form the framework of the formation.”

Lu Qing waved his hand, and the thirty-six magic pillars, refined by his mind, suddenly glowed and soared from the ground, transforming into streams of light and flying down the mountain.

Lu Qing’s current spiritual power was comparable to that of the Foundation Establishment Realm. If he used all his power, he could detect any movement within miles.

Covering the tiny Jiuli Village was naturally no problem.

Under his spiritual control, the thirty-six magic pillars landed precisely at the desired locations and sank silently into the ground.

Having lived in Jiuli Village for so long, Lu Qing had a thorough understanding of the village’s topography.

Therefore, the landing points he chose were the most suitable nodes for the formation.

The pillar descended, connecting the Qi and transforming the entire Jiuli Village.

The earth’s energy rapidly flowed, and the spiritual energy surrounding the village slowly gathered.

Of course, these changes were imperceptible to the ordinary people of Jiuli.

They simply felt that the village had suddenly become much cooler.

“Old man, have you noticed it’s getting a little cooler in here?”

Grandpa Zhang’s wife, who was enjoying the cool breeze with a sunflower fan, asked in surprise.

“It seems to be getting a lot cooler. What’s going on? Is it going to rain outside?”

Grandpa Zhang, who had been lying on his recliner, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the heat, quickly got up and ran outside to collect his clothes.

However, when he reached the courtyard, he found the sun shining brightly outside, not a single cloud in sight. The blazing sun hung brightly overhead.

Yet, even standing in the blazing sun, he didn’t feel the intense heat he’d felt before.

Instead, he felt the sunlight was warm, like autumn or winter.

“What’s going on?!”

Such a strange situation not only did not make Grandpa Zhang happy, but also made him terrified.

There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. Such violations of common sense often mean that something extraordinary has happened.

At this time, other more clever villagers in the village also noticed the sudden changes and ran out of the house to check the situation.

Just when everyone was worried, Lu Qing’s voice suddenly came from the mountain.

“Don’t worry, the changes in the village are caused by me. It is beneficial to the village and will not hurt anyone.”

The voice came from the mountain, but it was not deafening, as if it rang in the ears of the villagers.

After hearing this, all the villagers suddenly realized and felt relieved.

“So it was Ah Qing who did it. It’s okay then. Let’s just do what we should do.”

“Ah Qing is getting more and more powerful. I don’t know what amazing skills he has learned this time when he went out. He can even influence the celestial phenomena.”

“That’s great. The weather has been getting hotter and hotter recently. It’s much hotter than in previous years. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Now it’s getting cooler and I can finally have a good sleep at night.”

“Yeah, the celestial phenomena this year are weird. A few months ago, there was a torrential downpour that was so cold that it was deadly. I heard that someone in the neighboring village was frozen to death.

Now it’s so hot that people can’t stand it. If it goes on like this, I’m afraid there will be a severe drought.”

“Fortunately, there is Ah Qing. He is more powerful now. He can actually make the whole village cooler. This is almost comparable to the skills of the gods in operas, right?”

“Could it be that Ah Qing and the old doctor went out this time to seek immortals and ask for advice?”

…

The villagers were buzzing with discussion, their topics ranging from the celestial phenomena of recent months to whether Lu Qing possessed divine powers, their conversation growing increasingly exaggerated.

Lu Qing, nestled in a small courtyard halfway up the mountain, overheard these discussions, shook his head with a smile, and withdrew his spiritual awareness.

However, his expression grew more serious.

The villagers were right. Ever since the laws of heaven and earth shifted and spiritual energy revived,

the celestial phenomena had indeed become much more complex.

Putting aside the cold rains of

a few months ago, the scorching sun and increasingly intense heat of the past month alone seemed quite abnormal.

“Master, it seems these changes in heaven and earth are a blessing or a curse for ordinary people.”

“I’m afraid they’re more curses than blessings,”

the old doctor sighed.

He had also heard the villagers’ discussion.

Jiuli Village, nestled against the beautiful Shiwan Mountains, was still experiencing such a situation.

How would those more hostile regions outside, facing these unusual celestial changes, face the prospect of such a change?

The old doctor felt a bit heavy at the thought.

After a while, he suddenly said, “Ah Qing, I want to go to the nearby village in the next few days.”

(End of this chapter)