Five Years Until the Demon Fu Zhu

The battered carriage jolted along the narrow road. Liu Yueling leaned against the carriage frame, vomiting as they traveled.

Lu Li could only gently pat her back and comfort her in a low voice. "Once we reach Qingzhou City, we'll get a different carriage."

Liu Yueling vomited for quite a while. Later, she lay in the carriage, either having fainted or fallen asleep from exhaustion.

After Liu Yueling fell asleep, Lu Li took out the Ride Things, Roam the Mind Manual.

The booklet recorded methods for circulating inner energy and techniques for coordinating force. It was exceedingly intricate and profound.

"Ride Things, Roam the Mind Manual... Such generosity, and it's even a high-grade movement art?"

A strange glint flashed through Lu Li's eyes.

He searched through his memories. This Ride Things, Roam the Mind Manual had truly appeared around ten years later, in the hands of a chivalrous thief.

That man had obtained this high-grade movement art from Thousand Theater and cultivated it to mastery. His movement skills had carried him across the martial world, and even when pursued by an expert a major realm above him, he had escaped with ease.

Lu Li quickly finished flipping through the booklet, his gaze shifting.

The Ride Things, Roam the Mind Manual was not only a movement art, but also a footwork technique. It was tremendously helpful in battle, but correspondingly difficult to cultivate, placing considerable demands on one's comprehension.

"Heh... comprehension?"

Lu Li smiled unconcernedly. As the only person with a player panel, version updates and iterations were one thing, but the ability of Heaven Rewards Diligence was a function even the initial version of the panel possessed.

Although it did not visibly display a progress bar and only showed the art's level, whenever Lu Li cultivated, he would gain insight into the technique.

Otherwise, even with the assistance of Xuandu Essence, his Heart-Breaking Buddha Body would not have progressed so quickly.

What was more, once the information was recorded by the panel, he could immediately grasp the basics and begin using it.

[Martial Art: Ride Things, Roam the Mind Manual]

[Level: First Layer]

[Effect: Leaving No Trace on Snow, borrowing force to act, includes twelve leg techniques; agility and speed greatly increase when used]

This movement art placed great emphasis on control over inner energy and force. It had three layers in total. When using the first layer, one landed without a sound and moved as lightly as a swallow.

At the second layer, one could borrow force to accelerate. Simply put, one could run and leap off a falling leaf or a descending drop of water.

As for the perfected third layer, one could even stand upon rippling water without sinking.

"What a good person..."

Lu Li was in high spirits. This movement art was of an extremely high grade; even within a sect, it would be an unrevealed secret.

With this movement art and footwork, his shortcomings were completely made up for, raising his strength to another level.

Unmatched body cultivation, exceptional movement skills... wasn't that just a Grand Fortune that could drift?

After sorting through his gains, Lu Li resumed refining blood qi for cultivation.

Martial arts, cultivation methods, and combat techniques all relied on internal force as their foundation. Cultivation was the foundation of everything.

If one's realm was high enough, there was no need to use martial arts against an enemy at all. Even flailing turtle punches could beat an opponent to death.

Perhaps because they were nearing the prefectural city, they encountered more travelers along the way.

However, most of them were bandits robbing the road. With Ground Owl scouting from the sky, Lu Li easily used the bandits as nourishment for his cultivation several times, replenishing his blood qi.

Still, those bandits were weak, and the blood qi they could provide was limited.

Lu Li did not mind. After all, even a mosquito's leg was still meat.

He also understood that in this martial world, anyone with even a little ability would not become a bandit.

Ten years ago, Black Dragon Dao Province in the far north suffered a severe drought for three months. Not a single grain was harvested, leaving countless refugees and destroying innumerable families.

At that time, Emperor Gansheng was still a prince, at a critical moment in the struggle for the throne. The court was in turmoil, and he had no time to spare for anything else.

A month later, incited by Merging Cavern, Black Dragon Dao Province erupted in a refugee uprising, with quite a few sects drawn into it.

The refugee rebels grew ever stronger, eventually sweeping across all of Black Dragon Dao Province. The entire vast province fell into the hands of the rebels.

Only then did the court belatedly react, dispatching a large army to suppress them and conscripting commoners. During that time, many martial sects also took part, secretly joining the rebels, allowing their advance to proceed swiftly and bringing them into a deadlock with the imperial army.

Suppressing the rebellion took three years. Nine out of every ten homes in the Jing Dynasty stood empty, and the people's livelihoods were devastated. Emperor Gansheng ascended the throne and allowed the people time to recover.

In the fifth year of Qianyuan, the Li Dynasty stationed a great army along the border between the two nations, and war erupted once more. This time, both soldiers and civilians were conscripted, and even the bandits entrenched across the land could not escape.

Lu Li pondered the information from his memories. He knew Merging Cavern's shadow lay behind both consecutive wars, and its purpose was to awaken the second Divine Weapon, the Blood-Containing Jade Moon Saber.

Using the bones and corpses of a million living beings as a sacrifice to revive a Divine Weapon.

"Heh... The sacrifice to the Divine Weapon failed, yet it awakened a demon instead."

Lu Li shook his head inwardly. Yanggu Pass, where the Jing and Li Dynasties went to war, had been a tomb burying demons in ancient times.

Black Dragon Dao Province's earth veins connected to Heavenly River Water. The slaughter between refugee rebels and armies gathered endless bloodlust, baleful energy, and resentment, nourishing Fu Zhu, one of the Nine Great Demons, until it gradually awakened.

The complete revival of all Nine Great Demons and the fall of humanity marked the official beginning of the demon version, which would take roughly thirty years.

But Lu Li knew that less than five years remained until the demons first began to awaken.

Five years later, the demon Fu Zhu would awaken in the depths of Heavenly River Water. Through its water veins, it would contaminate the streams and rivers of six nations, causing demon disasters like the one in Cloud Province City to erupt throughout their territories.

"Five years... will that be enough for me to cultivate to the Divine Intent Realm?"

Lu Li lowered his eyes. In the early stages of the demons' revival, they were not yet particularly powerful. Ordinary demons at Meridian Opening Perfection could be easily dealt with.

Only the Nine Great Demons were exceptions. Every one of them was exceptionally formidable; only Divine Intent Realm experts could barely protect themselves against them.

It was only later, when people gradually opened up the Outer Scenery Realm by using the tendons, bones, flesh, and blood of demons as materials, that they could finally exterminate the demons completely.

"The road ahead is long and arduous..."

With a sigh, Lu Li suddenly raised his head and looked into the distance.

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the outline of a colossal city emerged, like a gigantic beast crouching at the edge of his vision. It was a magnificent sight.

They had arrived at Qingzhou City.

Qingzhou City teemed with people coming and going. Swept along amid the crowd, Lu Li paid one tael of broken silver for entry and slowly entered the city with Liu Yueling.

The moment they entered, an immensely bustling, lively atmosphere washed over them, filled with the roar of voices.

Streets paved with blue stone slabs stretched in both directions, more than ten feet wide—broad enough for three carriages to travel abreast. On either side stood lofty corner towers, with countless taverns, shops, and buildings.

"So this is a prefectural city..."

Lu Li surveyed the surroundings. Qingzhou City was a prefectural city, far larger than any town, and certainly more dangerous as well.

Martial forces such as aristocratic clans and renowned sects generally made their homes in prefectural cities.

"So many people!"

Liu Yueling's eyes shone as she and Lu Li threaded through the crowd.

They casually found an inn, settled the carriage, and then Lu Li took Liu Yueling outside.

Now that they had come to a prefectural city, it was time to buy Deadly Poison and begin cultivating the Poison Astral Body. Besides that, he also needed to find Madam Peng's younger sister.

"Peng Family Smithy?"

A passerby was stopped. Seeing Lu Li's composed, weighty aura, the man knew Lu Li was not someone to provoke and silently pointed in a direction.

"There is such a place, over in the south of the city. But if you're going there, you may need to be careful..."