Time passed quickly, and seven days vanished in the blink of an eye.
To suppress his cultivation, Lu Jiuyuan spent this time learning several martial techniques and immortal arts, lest he be unable to defeat high-level Foundation Establishment demon beasts after entering the secret realm.
(Immortal arts referred to attacks cast directly by consuming Spiritual Energy without needing a weapon, while martial techniques referred to attacks unleashed by infusing Spiritual Energy into a weapon.)
Although he could easily kill Chen Feng in seconds, Chen Feng was only at low-level Foundation Establishment. His strength could not be mentioned in the same breath as high-level Foundation Establishment cultivators.
On the morning of the seventh day, Li Qingping arrived at the Lu Family early. Shortly afterward, Lu Jiuyuan and Li Qingping met without incident.
Seeing the flying artifact Li Qingping had taken out, Lu Jiuyuan looked somewhat puzzled. Li Qingping explained.
"The Qingfeng Secret Realm is quite far from Qingfeng Town. Even Deity Transformation Stage cultivators need roughly a day of flight to reach it."
"No need. Elder Qian, take us to the Qingfeng Secret Realm."
Lu Jiuyuan turned decisively to the Thousand Ghost King at his side. With a Tribulation Crossing Stage subordinate at hand, why not use him?
"Yes, Young Master."
Now that he had sworn a Heavenly Dao Oath and submitted to the Lu Family, he naturally had to fulfill the duties of an old servant. Besides, judging from the current situation, serving beneath the Lu Family did not seem like such a terrible thing.
"This... I hadn't expected that."
Li Qingping froze when she saw this, then gave a wry smile a moment later.
A Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivator was certainly faster than a flying artifact. Of course, at the same realm, a flying artifact would definitely be faster.
Before long, the Thousand Ghost King carried Li Qingping and Lu Jiuyuan at high speed toward the Qingfeng Secret Realm, leaving the Integrated Body Late Stage retainer secretly protecting Li Qingping to suffer.
After Uncle Chen had been injured that day, Li Xuanran had replaced him with another retainer to protect Li Qingping.
"Is this the speed of the Tribulation Crossing Stage? Isn't it a little too fast?"
Looking down from the sky, Lu Jiuyuan could not see anything below clearly. Heaven and earth flashed past his eyes in an instant.
"That's perfectly normal. Deity Transformation Stage cultivators can travel a thousand miles in a single thought, let alone those at the Tribulation Crossing Stage. The speed of such great powers can only be described as one step spanning a hundred thousand miles."
Li Qingping shook her head beside Lu Jiuyuan. Her father was Li Xuanran, after all, so she naturally understood this better than anyone.
"Is that so? Then it seems I need to break through to the Tribulation Crossing Stage as soon as possible."
Lu Jiuyuan smiled. If he had a cheat and still could not break through to the Tribulation Crossing Stage within a hundred years, he might as well die. He would disgrace all transmigrators.
Li Qingping also smiled but said nothing. Perhaps, in her eyes, it was merely a joke.
After all, which Tribulation Crossing Stage cultivator had not spent tens of thousands of years breaking through? As far as Li Qingping knew, even the once-in-a-million-years genius of the entire Tianling Prefecture had taken several hundred years to reach the Tribulation Crossing Stage.
And that was already considered fast. She simply did not know what expression she would wear when she saw Lu Jiuyuan truly break through to the Tribulation Crossing Stage before long.
After only a short while, the Thousand Ghost King slowed down.
"Young Master, we've arrived."
Lu Jiuyuan and Li Qingping looked around and saw that the area was already packed with people. The Qingfeng Secret Realm had once enjoyed immense fame, and even though it had now declined, many Rogue Cultivators still swarmed here.
"That over there is the entrance to the Qingfeng Secret Realm, but it hasn't opened yet. From the looks of it, it will probably take another day."
Li Qingping pointed toward a distant mountain. A curtain of light hung over it, and several piles of ash lay beside it. Presumably, some fools who did not know their own limits had tried to force their way in and been ground to dust.
If one tried to force entry before the secret realm opened, the power of its rules would forcibly obliterate them. Unless one's cultivation rivaled the Heavenly Dao, death was certain.
"Let's go rest over there."
Lu Jiuyuan quickly spotted a suitable place in the distance and made the suggestion.
Li Qingping naturally had no objection. The Thousand Ghost King was merely a bodyguard, so what could he say? The group soon arrived beneath a large tree and began adjusting their condition.
But before long, a fool came looking for trouble.
"Young Master, it seems the secret realm has not opened yet. Why don't we rest briefly before going in?"
Not far from Lu Jiuyuan's group stood a youth dressed in lavish robes, with an ordinary-looking old servant beside him. After looking over the surroundings, the old servant made the suggestion.
"Uncle Chen, I'll leave this matter to you."
The youth spoke indifferently, as though everything here had nothing to do with him.
After hearing the Young Master's words, Uncle Chen began looking around. Before long, he found a suitable spot.
"Young Master, let's go."
Uncle Chen came before the youth and spoke respectfully. The youth soon followed Uncle Chen beneath the large tree, but unfortunately, this was where Lu Jiuyuan's group was resting.
Seeing that someone was already there, Uncle Chen raised his brows slightly, then strode before Lu Jiuyuan and the others with his head held high.
"Kid, we've taken a liking to this spot. I'll give you a hundred low-grade Spirit Stones. Find somewhere else."
Hearing this, Lu Jiuyuan raised his brows, his expression becoming rather intrigued. He had not expected such a clichéd scene from novels to happen to him.
But Lu Jiuyuan did not lack such a paltry sum of Spirit Stones. He still had the pocket money Ancestor Changsheng had given him—one hundred thousand high-grade Spirit Stones.
"I'm curious. What will you do if I refuse to move?"
Lu Jiuyuan asked curiously, while Li Qingping gave him the same look.
Noticing that the two before him were merely at the Qi Refining Stage, while the other had no aura of cultivation at all and was clearly an ordinary mortal, Uncle Chen naturally had nothing to fear. He sneered.
"Kid, you'd best find out exactly who the Yuan Family of Panshi Town is!"
With that, Uncle Chen directly released the aura of the Deity Transformation Stage. He clearly intended to make Lu Jiuyuan and Li Qingping retreat in the face of difficulty, but he had not expected to kick an iron plate this time.
Lu Jiuyuan could not help sneering when he heard that.
Uncle here loved competing in family backgrounds.
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