Will Statue

"What can you bring me?" Lu Chen asked in a deep voice.

"Go to the back mountain. What you can learn depends on your own ability. Hurry up! Where are the demonic beasts I told you to kill? Bring them out so that Ding Ding can have a good celebration!"

Old Ancestor Tianyan said, throwing down his wine pot. "Don't forget to fill it with wine!"

"Damn it!" Lu Chen was about to collapse.

Although the wine pot was only palm-sized, it contained its own space and could hold three large jars.

"You win!" Lu Chen gritted his teeth in anger.

As for leaving in a huff, forget it!

On the way into the city, he saw many people with unfriendly expressions.

Needless to say, the news of what happened in Chixiao City, and even Cangwu City, had already spread.

He didn't believe that Lu Ran would remain indifferent after half a month.

Once he went down the mountain, there would be endless trouble.

He'd better see what was going on first.

Clang!

A demonic ox corpse was thrown out.

"What do you mean?" Lu Chen was stunned when Fang Jiuding continued to look at him.

"It's not even enough for Senior Sister to pick her teeth!"

"I..." Lu Chen's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that they were so destitute because Xiong Yao ate too much?

After taking out all fifteen demonic beast corpses, Fang Jiuding waved his hand and put them into the pot before leaving.

"What the heck, this pot..." Lu Chen was truly dizzy.

Fifteen demonic beast corpses were put away in one go. What kind of pot was this?

"I'll help!"

Thump, thump, thump...

After Xiong Yao said that, she carried her hammer and left.

After filling the wine pot, Lu Chen threw it to the old man and slipped out the back door to the back mountain.

Looking at the towering giant statues before him, Lu Chen was deeply shaken.

He felt as small as an ant in front of them.

It wasn't a visual sensation, but a spiritual one.

It was the influence of will, the Martial Dao Will.

Lu Chen clenched his fists fiercely.

Each statue represented a type of Martial Dao Will.

They were the visualization targets for Martial Dao Cultivators to comprehend Spiritual Power.

Lu Chen moved half a meter closer to one of the statues, and with a boom!

His body felt as if it had been heavily struck, and he bent over directly.

Images of being repeatedly struck by a hammer kept appearing in his mind.

Like forging iron.

"Damn it, I'm a person, not iron!" Lu Chen was almost driven mad.

With continuous heavy blows, ripples spread out around Lu Chen.

Three heads poked out from the broken temple window.

"Old man, didn't you say you'd be watching the whole time? Guess how long he can last?"

Old Ancestor Tianyan chuckled: "How about a bet?"

"No bet!" Xiong Yao refused directly.

"I don't think he can last a hundred breaths!" Fang Jiuding's eyes darted around, and he suddenly said.

"Go, go, go, go cook. You're everywhere!"

Old Ancestor Tianyan suddenly reached out and threw Fang Jiuding back into the main hall. He didn't know what he hit, but there was a rumbling sound and Fang Jiuding's curses.

But to the surprise of both of them, Lu Chen slowly straightened his body.

Although he didn't move, he didn't retreat either.

He just stood there.

Ten breaths, fifty breaths, a hundred breaths...

"Holy crap!" Old Ancestor Tianyan suddenly let out a strange cry, startling Xiong Yao, who was watching intently.

Lu Chen actually took a step forward.

The eighteen statues seemed to gaze down like ancient gods, their martial dao will, forged in the crucible of sword and blade, condensing into substance and pressing down on Lu Chen's spine until it creaked.

He stood before a statue of a spearman, veins bulging on his forehead, his blood essence churning like boiling water.

This spear intent was overbearing and peerless, as if it wanted to grind every inch of his bones to dust.

"My bloodline was stolen, my sea of qi is incomplete!"

Lu Chen gritted his teeth and activated the Myriad Manifestations Furnace Art. The sea of qi furnace in his dantian vibrated with a hum, crushing and refining the spear intent that had invaded his body.

The shattered martial dao will transformed into fine streams, flowing into his meridians, and surprisingly, a trace of heat sparked in the depths of his depleted bloodline.

"Not enough!" He took a sudden step forward, the pressure of the spear intent tripling. His skin instantly split open, revealing several bloody marks.

In a daze, he seemed to hear the thunder of a thousand hooves approaching, and just as their iron hooves were about to crush his soul, a purple light suddenly erupted from the furnace.

"This is..." Lu Chen's pupils constricted.

A certain shackle deep within his bloodline loosened slightly under the surge of the purple light, but then returned to deathly stillness in an instant.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and gave a bitter smile.

He was absolutely certain that if his bloodline hadn't been stripped away, he would definitely have had a chance to awaken his first spiritual power.

As dusk settled over the dilapidated hall, Fang Jiuding banged on an iron pot and shouted in the main hall.

The thick soup within tumbled and rolled, the meat broth made from fifteen demonic beasts shimmering with golden oil.

"Junior Brother, hurry!" Xiong Yao sat by the pot, unfazed by the oil stains on her beast-skin tunic. She slammed her iron hammer onto the ground and scooped up a large chunk of meat.

"Contemplation requires balance. You won't comprehend anything on an empty stomach."

As soon as Lu Chen sat down, the ceramic bowl in front of him was already piled into a small mountain by Fang Jiuding.

"Dietary supplementation is also cultivation," Fang Jiuding said with a wink.

"When I first joined, I ate the 'Eight Delicacies Stew' for three consecutive months..."

"Keep bragging," Xiong Yao mumbled, her mouth full. "You forgot how hungry you were like a monkey when you first came in..."

"Cough, cough!" Old Ancestor Tianyan quickly coughed to interrupt.

He took out three jars of wine and said with a smile, "We're welcoming new disciples today, let's talk about something happy, hehe..."

Old Ancestor Tianyan broke the seals on the wine jars, and the aroma of wine mingled with medicinal scents filled the air. "Let me introduce Xiong Yao. To save villagers whose village was massacred by bandits, she endured a lightning tribulation to break through. She's now at the third level of Golden Core."

The wine jar was suddenly snatched by Xiong Yao.

She tilted her head and drank half of it, her bronze-colored skin flushing. "Why bring that up? Junior Brother was kneeling and begging for pills for seven days and nights to extend his critically ill mother's life!"

Fang Jiuding's smiling expression froze instantly.

"Unfortunately, his mother had already passed away by the time he returned."

Lu Chen's hand, holding the bowl, trembled. "How many spirit stones will three months of food cost?"

Fang Jiuding's eyes lit up, and he held up five fingers.

"Fifty?" Lu Chen's eyes twitched.

"Five... Five hundred!"

Pfft!

Lu Chen spat out a mouthful of wine. "So much?"

Five hundred low-grade spirit stones were fifty thousand gold coins. Not enough for three people to eat? What were they eating?

"She cultivated by eating, and I cultivated by cooking!" Fang Jiuding said with a wry smile.

"Were you really eaten poor?" Lu Chen blinked.

"We were already dirt poor!" Xiong Yao pouted.

"That old man is too lazy to do anything all day. The key is that Tianyu Academy suppresses our Tianyan Academy. No one in Yanjing dares to do business with us."

"Even when we go out hunting, we're constantly harassed and obstructed!"

"They come here to challenge us every few days, so we can't cultivate in peace!"

"You could say that Tianyu Academy has a lot to do with our current predicament!"

"Can't you do something?" Lu Chen looked at Old Ancestor Tianyan.

Old Ancestor Tianyan rolled his eyes. "What business do I have interfering in matters between juniors? If I step in, they'll bring out a whole group. Do you want me to disband the academy or disband it?"

Lu Chen's mouth opened and closed, but he remained silent.

Damn it, he'd really been screwed over!

He thought he might end up in opposition with some disciples of Tianyu Academy because of Lu Ran.

Now, it turned out he was in opposition with all the disciples of Tianyu Academy.

"The royal family..." Lu Chen said two words and fell silent.

Tianyu Academy was already above royal authority, so clearly the royal family couldn't do anything.

"What about the Royal Academy? Are they the same as us?"

"That's not the case. After all, they have the support of the royal family and are doing quite well. However, they're restricted to royal disciples only. Outsiders are not allowed!"

Fang Jiuding said with regret, "If that weren't the case, I might have been able to join the Royal Academy. Ouch, why are you hitting me?"

Fang Jiuding looked indignantly at Old Ancestor Tianyan.