Lu Chenxing turned to Lu Changfeng. "Grandpa Patriarch, my grandpa..."
Lu Changfeng sighed, making his heart sink.
"I used a Heart-Protecting Pill to protect his heart meridians, so his life isn't in danger."
"But all the meridians in his body have snapped, his Dantian and sea of Qi are damaged, and his foundation has collapsed. Cultivation is no longer possible."
For a cultivator, being reduced to a mortal was worse than being killed.
His eyes full of heartache, Lu Chenxing looked at Lu Xuanqing lying on the bed. Having lost his cultivation, he looked much older than before.
Mortals lived a hundred years.
Cultivators' bodies had been nourished by Spiritual Qi, allowing them to live up to a hundred and fifty years.
Lu Xuanqing was seventy. In other words, in eighty years, he would become a handful of yellow earth.
The end of his remaining days was visible at a glance.
With a system at his side, Lu Chenxing's Great Dao should have reached the heavens.
But now...
Alas.
"Grandpa Patriarch, is there really nothing we can do?"
A way? Of course there was.
After all, this was the cultivation world.
Meridians could be repaired, but a Dantian was difficult to mend, and rebuilding a foundation was harder still.
Yet however difficult it was, there was always a method.
It was just that the things required existed only in legends. Even Lu Changfeng had only heard of them.
"A fifth-tier Nirvana Pill would allow him to undergo nirvana and be reborn!"
"A single drop of fifth-tier Heavenly Spirit Liquid would be enough to restore Xuanqing to his former state and improve his aptitude further."
A fifth-tier Nirvana Pill.
Fifth-tier Heavenly Spirit Liquid.
Lu Changgeng and Lu Xuanming involuntarily gaped when they heard of those two things.
The fifth tier corresponded to the Spirit Transformation Realm.
Such precious, high-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
How could the Lu Household dare hope for them?
Lu Chenxing fell silent for a moment, too. He was no longer the cultivation newbie he had been at birth.
Naturally, he understood what a fifth-tier item meant.
Precisely because he understood, he knew how difficult obtaining one would be.
But soon, his spirits lifted.
He had a system at his side and the support of Great Xia's ten billion citizens.
He was confident that this so-called Spirit Transformation Realm was merely one of the many crossroads he would inevitably pass on his journey through life.
A Nirvana Pill, Heavenly Spirit Liquid.
Sooner or later, they would be his for the taking.
At that thought, a relaxed smile appeared on Lu Chenxing's little face.
"That's wonderful!" As he spoke, he reached out his little hand and clasped the unconscious Lu Xuanqing's aged right hand.
"Grandpa, you have to wait for me. Wait until I bring back a Nirvana Pill and Heavenly Spirit Liquid to restore your Dao Path!"
Lu Changfeng gently patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Little Chenxing. Xuanqing has at least fifty years left to live. He can afford to wait!"
Those words also expressed Lu Changfeng's great trust in Lu Chenxing.
After all, Lu Chenxing's performance had been far too monstrous.
He had reached Foundation Establishment before he was even a year old.
Could Spirit Transformation and Void Return still be far away?
Lu Xuanqing was in terrible condition, but he was still alive. That was the best outcome.
After learning that his life was safe for now and that there was still a chance to restore his Dao Path.
Lu Chenxing breathed a sigh of relief and asked Lu Changfeng what had caused his grandpa to end up like this.
"It was the Wang Household!"
The moment the Wang Household was mentioned, the atmosphere changed.
Even the air seemed about to freeze.
Lu Chenxing knew little about the Wang Household.
But the three old men's subsequent conversation startled him.
The Wang Household was actually the one they had fought against over the Mystic Wood Forest.
"I never thought the Wang Household would still dare to strike our lineage's disciples so viciously. If I'd known, we should have wiped them out back at the Mystic Wood Forest!"
"Weren't we unsure we could do it back then? Now that I've broken through to the Foundation Establishment middle stage, Patriarch, why don't we use this opportunity to storm the Wang Household?" It was Lu Xuanming who spoke.
After several months of secluded cultivation.
He had successfully broken through from the Foundation Establishment early stage to the Foundation Establishment middle stage, greatly increasing his strength.
Of the Lu Household's four Foundation Establishment cultivators, everyone except Lu Chenxing was now at the Foundation Establishment middle stage.
Lu Changfeng sank into troubled contemplation.
Just then, Lu Chenxing spoke.
"Grandpa Patriarch, I'm a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator now, too. I count as one of the pillars of our Lu Household. Could you tell me more about this Wang Household you're discussing? I can help analyze the situation."
At his words, all three turned their eyes toward him and exchanged knowing smiles.
"We nearly forgot. Little Chenxing is part of our Lu Household's core leadership, too."
"As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, you should be the lineage's third elder, with both the duty and the right to participate in deliberations."
The third elder!
Whenever Lu Chenxing was mentioned, they could not help feeling a surge of delight.
With a smile tugging at his lips, Lu Changfeng met Lu Chenxing's eyes and slowly explained the respective circumstances of the Lu Household and the Wang Household, as well as their earlier struggle over the Mystic Wood Forest.
When Lu Chenxing learned that the three old men had gone out together to fight the Wang Household to secure resources for him, he was deeply moved.
In particular, Grandpa Patriarch had even been wounded by the strange dagger the Wang Household had deployed. He had known nothing of that before.
Battles between cultivators were unpredictable, with life and death impossible to foresee.
Last time, the three old men had been lucky enough to win.
What about next time?
Who could guarantee that the Lu Household would win an overwhelming victory every time?
"Grandpa Patriarch, Grandpa Changgeng, Grandpa Xuanming, I have a channel that steadily supplies Law Artifacts. There's no need to worry about obtaining resources. Please don't take risks again. What if..."
These were all his dear grandpas.
Lu Chenxing did not want anything to happen to any of them.
He frankly admitted that he had access to a source of Law Artifacts.
The three knew better than to probe into its origins.
Lu Changfeng smiled and stroked his little head. "That's thoughtful of you, Little Chenxing."
"In this world, you have to grow stronger to survive. And to grow stronger, you have to contend, fight, and seize!"
"But that was before. With Little Chenxing here, we old fellows can finally take a proper rest."
"I promise you, Grandpa won't take risks lightly again. I certainly won't make you worry, Little Chenxing."
At those words, a sweet smile appeared on Lu Chenxing's lips.
Then he turned toward Lu Xuanqing lying on the bed, and his thoughts returned to the matter at hand.
The Wang Household, the strange dagger.
It had actually pierced through a sword immortal's Sword Qi defense, Spiritual Power shield, and defensive armor in succession.
Even when the attack had clearly been blocked, a strand of energy had still penetrated the body.
It was absurdly powerful.
It was practically the spitting image of a transmigrator's golden finger cheat.
But since it belonged to him, Lu Chenxing, how had it ended up in the Wang Household's hands?
After thinking it over carefully, Lu Chenxing understood.
It turned out that Heaven had given him a test.
Only by defeating the Wang Household, this little beginner village boss, could he reclaim what should have been his.
Only the protagonist deserved to wield such a strange and powerful dagger.
"Grandpa Patriarch, the Wang Household is powerful and already on guard against our Lu Household. This is absolutely not a good time to strike!"
At those words, astonishment appeared on all three old men's faces.
They had not expected Little Chenxing to be so composed.
His temperament was truly extraordinary!
His own grandpa had been beaten until his Dao Path was severed, gravely wounded and on the verge of death. Lu Chenxing, too, was ruthless enough to storm the Wang Household right now.
But reason told him.
No.