He Had Reached Foundation Establishment Peak and Could Begin Preparing for Core Formation!

After Zhu Chuanxiong, the second elder of the Crimson Firmament Sect, left the Lu Household, the people sent by the Spirit Creek Sect arrived right on his heels.

Strictly speaking,

the Spirit Creek Sect was the Lu Household's direct overlord sect.

Most Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment forces in Heavenly River Commandery would choose a Golden Core force to attach themselves to, regularly offering resources as tribute in exchange for protection on the surface.

The Lu Household was no exception.

"Since they were the ones who attacked first, there's no problem. Rest assured, Patriarch Lu. With our Spirit Creek Sect here, no one can lay a finger on your Lu Household without cause!"

After hearing Lu Changfeng's explanation, Li Kaiyang, the Spirit Creek Sect's third elder, inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and gave him this assurance.

His manner fully displayed the bearing of an overlord sect.

After respectfully thanking him, Lu Changfeng also presented a generous gift prepared in advance.

When it came to navigating social relationships,

he had to handle them flawlessly.

"There are other matters in the sect for me to attend to, so I won't stay any longer. If anyone dares make trouble for the Lu Household, Patriarch Lu, simply send word. Our Spirit Creek Sect certainly won't stand idly by."

"Farewell, Elder Li!"

Lu Changfeng also breathed a sigh of relief.

Both the Crimson Firmament Sect and the Spirit Creek Sect had sent people over.

Only now was the matter of the Lu Household wiping out the Blazing Yang Sect, Divine Fire Gate, and Zhao Household fully settled.

They should be able to develop peacefully from now on.

The Lu Household desperately needed enough time to strengthen itself.

Rebuilding the household did not take long. Heavenly Traversal Peak soon returned to its original state, and the radioactive particles produced by the nuclear explosion were all collected through the Lu Household disciples' tireless work, day and night.

After several casts of the Cloud and Rain Technique,

the scorched blackness of the earth was washed away.

Before long, greenery covered it again.

If a nuclear bomb were detonated on Blue Star, beyond the terrifying destruction at the time, its lingering effects would last decades or even a century, difficult to eliminate.

In the cultivation world,

cultivators had all manner of means, and dealing with the aftermath posed no problem at all.

After the great battle,

the Lu Household cultivators all received a substantial share of resources.

Lu Changfeng and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators also declared that they were throwing thrift to the winds: they would consume whatever resources they had rather than stockpile them.

Not only they, but the other disciples in the clan also needed to raise their cultivation.

They had far too few Foundation Establishment cultivators.

With resources in hand, the Lu Household cultivators stopped venturing out to take risks, choosing instead to remain on Heavenly Traversal Peak to digest their gains and strengthen themselves.

For a time, the entire Lu Household settled into an atmosphere of peace and quiet.

Time flew by.

Two and a half months passed in the blink of an eye.

Those peaceful, harmonious days were destined to change on this day.

The Spiritual Power within Lu Chenxing's body had reached fullness. He was already a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator who stood above the entire Lu Household.

He needed only to take one more step forward.

Then he could attain the Golden Core Dao and live for eight hundred years.

How long he could live was not actually important.

After all, he was only a little over a year old. Lifespan was the last thing he lacked.

Moreover, if he succeeded, the Lu Household would leap from an obscure Foundation Establishment force to the fourth Golden Core force in Heavenly River Commandery.

It would stand alongside the Spirit Creek Sect, Crimson Firmament Sect, and Xiao Household.

In addition, three transfers with Great Xia had taken place over these two and a half months.

The first brought things back from Blue Star.

The Law Artifacts and pills refined by Great Xia were all superior products, better than those made by the cultivation world's native artifact refiners and Alchemists, and naturally commanded higher prices than ordinary wares.

There were also the nuclear bombs Lu Chenxing needed.

He had not expected the nation to be so generous as to send three nuclear bombs directly, each with a yield greater than the previous ten-megaton bomb.

With nuclear bombs in hand,

a sense of security arose in Lu Chenxing's heart.

Although they had certain shortcomings, their might was undeniable.

As long as they were used properly, they could certainly play an enormous role at a critical moment.

There was a letter.

It contained greetings from the nation's leaders.

News of his parents' recent circumstances.

The happy news that his younger brother Lu Chenyu had reached the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

And updates on Great Xia's cultivation era.

"Blue Star, Great Xia, Three Saints Mountain, Star Palace... I really want to go back and have a look!"

As Lu Chenxing read the letter, a scene seemed to emerge in his mind.

In a world of technology, a towering tree of the immortal Dao pierced the clouds. The two developed independently without interfering with each other, yet could also merge and advance.

How wonderful.

Great Xia had mastered the art of pill refinement and produced large quantities of pills to send back.

After discussion among the Lu Household's higher-ups, all cultivation pills were retained and distributed to the household's other disciples, while every other type of pill was sold.

Including the Law Artifacts,

the final total came to 2.8 million Spirit Stones.

It had more than tripled compared to last time!

Every month brought a new GDP.

The Lu Household also began changing the content of its clan missions, shifting from the original tasks of tending spirit fields, cultivating spirit medicines, slaying monsters, and so on to gathering materials for pill and artifact refinement.

Completing the missions would earn generous resource rewards.

Lu Chenxing wanted to give back to the Lu Household.

But the Lu Household could not simply accept being fed resources without contributing anything.

So, after consideration, Lu Changfeng and the others decided to use missions to motivate the clan's cultivators and preserve internal competition.

They would maintain the vitality of flowing water.

There was little to say about the second transfer.

Once again, it consisted of large quantities of pill-refining and artifact-refining materials, Spirit Stones, and collected inheritances, cultivation methods, books related to cultivation, and so on.

The returns from the third transfer multiplied again.

The resources brought in had a total value as high as five million Spirit Stones.

Although the three old men, Lu Changfeng, Lu Changgeng, and Lu Xuanming, did not know exactly what channels Lu Chenxing possessed, they understood.

The Lu Household truly was going to soar because of him.

Resources, those exceedingly precious resources of the cultivation world,

were truly there for the taking.

"Little Chenxing, oh, Little Chenxing, even your grandfather can barely glimpse your back now!" Lu Changfeng could not help exclaiming.

Lu Changgeng and Lu Xuanming also wore rueful expressions.

How could the gap between people be so vast?

Despite having cultivation resources, their aptitudes were what they were, and both remained a considerable distance from the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

Lu Chenxing, by contrast,

saw his cultivation rise as though it had sprouted wings.

Breaking through realms was as easy as eating and drinking.

Whenever they thought about it, they could not help inwardly calling him a freak.

He was simply too much of a freak.

Lu Chenxing gave a sheepish smile, unsure how to respond. He did not want to discourage the three old men either.

My cheat is just that incredible!

The Cultivation Return System alone was one thing.

But he had also bound himself to Great Xia, with its ten billion citizens.

This truly was soaring straight into the heavens.

Thinking about it now, Lu Chenxing truly felt fortunate about his initial decision.

Fortunate that his trust in his nation had led him to choose to bind himself to Great Xia.

Had he chosen to bind himself to the Lu Household, the cultivation results returned by its clansmen, who already had a foundation in cultivation, might initially have made his cultivation increase at an inhuman pace.

But later, it would have become slower and slower.

He would also have had to find ways to keep nurturing the Lu Household's clansmen. Yet the Lu Household had so few cultivators, fewer than a hundred, and their Spirit Root aptitudes varied greatly.

How could they possibly compare with Great Xia?

After the nationwide Spirit Root survey concluded, more than five hundred people had been found to possess Heavenly Spirit Root aptitude!

Great Xia also had over a billion children under ten.

Thus, there would be a continuous supply of new heavenly geniuses afterward.

And in a stable environment, encouraging births was not difficult. Ten billion had every chance of becoming a hundred billion, or a trillion.

If Blue Star could no longer accommodate them,

they could even go to other planets.

Great Xia had long possessed the capability for interstellar travel. It was only because certain key technologies, such as biological hibernation, remained immature that it had not ushered in the age of interstellar voyaging.

But that was merely a matter of time.

With cultivators, time was no longer much of a problem for Great Xia either.

So five hundred was not the endpoint, but the starting point.

Lu Changgeng spoke after a moment of thought.

"Little Chenxing has already reached Foundation Establishment Peak. We can begin preparing for his attempt to reach Golden Core."