The Third Ancestor

After this event, the Lu Clan fully returned to Central Province and leaped to the ranks of its superpowers.

In Central Province, factions were generally divided into first-, second-, and third-rate factions. Above the first-rate factions were the superpowers.

Superpowers had experts of the Sage King Realm holding the fort, with deep foundations and formidable strength.

But Sage King Realm experts rarely appeared before the world.

Even throughout history, an entrance as high-profile as Ancestor Danyang's was a rare sight.

Inside the Lu Clan's ancestral shrine.

After attending to the clan's affairs and giving some instructions, Ancestor Danyang and Lu Qingshan entered the small world within the ancestral shrine together.

The small world seemed to have been expanded by Ancestor Tianyan, its space somewhat larger than before.

Atop a mountain platform, two figures could faintly be seen sitting opposite each other, chatting and laughing.

At the sight, Lu Qingshan was slightly taken aback. He turned to Ancestor Danyang beside him and asked in puzzlement, "Ancestor Danyang, who is that?"

Ancestor Danyang frowned slightly as well. "I don't know."

The two then went up the mountain together.

"Senior Danyang, Qingshan, you're back."

Ancestor Tianyan chuckled and rose to his feet unhurriedly.

It was clear that Ancestor Tianyan was in an especially good mood.

"Ancestor Tianyan."

Lu Qingshan gave Ancestor Tianyan a slight bow, then looked questioningly at the figure beside him.

The man had a round face and wore a long black robe. Though his hair was graying, he looked full of vigor.

Before Ancestor Tianyan could speak, the man stepped forward and laughed. "My name is Lu Xuanzhen. I cultivate the Dao of Arrays, and I was the Lu Clan's array ancestor over five hundred thousand years ago."

An array ancestor!

Lu Qingshan was startled, then overjoyed.

"This junior, Lu Qingshan, greets Ancestor Xuanzhen!"

Ancestor Danyang was somewhat surprised as well. "I didn't expect another ancestor to awaken so soon after me."

Ancestor Xuanzhen cupped his fists at Ancestor Danyang and said with a smile, "Senior Danyang, I was fortunate enough to awaken one step after you."

According to the Ancestral Land's rules, the later an ancestor awakened, the stronger he would be.

So, by comparison, Ancestor Xuanzhen was a little stronger than Ancestor Danyang.

Before entering the Ancestral Land, Ancestor Xuanzhen had been an Early-Stage Saint King. After digesting the essence refined by the Ancestral Land, his cultivation had reached Mid-Stage Saint King.

The Lu Clan's third Sage King Realm expert!

And an array ancestor at that.

The Lu Clan's foundations could be said to have risen by a large margin at once.

In all of Central Province, the Lu Clan could now be said to fear no other faction.

"Hahaha, Senior Danyang, I have more good news." Ancestor Tianyan laughed, then opened his palm. "Take a look. What is this?"

A crystal ball glowing with yellow light appeared in Ancestor Tianyan's hand.

Ancestor Tianyan had already refined the crystal ball. With a thought from him, its Qi immediately spilled out.

"Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven!"

Ancestor Danyang was shaken and blurted out the name.

"Exactly!"

The laws of the Dao of Alchemy continued to spread, causing even this ninth-grade alchemist to lose his composure. His voice trembled slightly.

Eight hundred thousand years ago, he had searched for it long and hard without success. He had never expected it to appear in the Lu Clan just like that in this life.

"Y-you, where did you get this?"

Ancestor Tianyan then told everyone how he had met Yu An when he first arrived at Qiyun Mountain.

"Hahahaha, the heavens truly have eyes!"

"Hehehe, to think we gained control of a grotto-heaven secret realm so easily."

"Heaven is watching over the Lu Clan!"

The group exclaimed.

"A seventh-grade alchemist." Ancestor Danyang thought of Yu An and asked, "Where is Yu An now?"

Ancestor Tianyan said, "I've already arranged for him to stay in the Lu Clan's Alchemy Pavilion."

To build up the Lu Clan's alchemy foundation, the clan had already begun establishing an Alchemy Pavilion.

"Good. I'll go see him myself in a while."

"But for now, let me take a good look at this Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven first."

Ancestor Danyang rubbed his hands, then eagerly flew into the sky of the small world, preparing to place the Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven somewhere.

Under normal circumstances, grotto-heaven secret realms existed in the sky.

Ordinary experts would have difficulty detecting them without powerful means of investigation.

The Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven had clearly been dug out by someone and sealed within a special space.

This was also the usual way of dealing with a heaven-and-earth secret realm after discovering one.

Afterward, one only needed to release it, and the heaven-and-earth secret realm would automatically settle in place.

A place like the small world now opened up within the Lu Clan's ancestral shrine was ideal.

That way, the heaven-and-earth secret realm could not only make the small world's laws more complete, but would also be less likely to be discovered by outsiders.

It was killing two birds with one stone.

Rumble.

As space trembled, the group knew that the Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven had fully settled within the Lu Clan.

"Come on, let's also go see what wonders lie within the legendary Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven."

Ancestor Tianyan waved his hand and took Lu Qingshan and Ancestor Xuanzhen into the sky with him, entering the patch of yellow light.

Lu Qingshan was excited.

The Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven was one of the nine great grotto-heaven secret realms. He had never expected the Lu Clan to gain a heaven-and-earth secret realm so soon.

Back then, he had even extorted Qing Zhe for a few slots in the Azure Feather Dynasty's Lush Wood Blessed Land.

And now, heh, happiness had truly come so suddenly.

Light flashed before their eyes.

The group found themselves standing amid a place filled everywhere with fantastic, colorful light.

There was no space beneath their feet, only strange light stretching as far as the eye could see, dreamlike and illusory.

Within the light lay countless alchemy materials, rooted in a special soil.

Lu Qingshan floated forward and carefully cupped a handful of soil.

"What is this?"

Ancestor Tianyan, standing beside him, explained, "This is the legendary Yellow Pill Soil, unique to the Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven. It is filled with abundant laws of the Dao of Alchemy and has a natural advantage when it comes to cultivating alchemy materials."

This was the holy land in the hearts of countless alchemists.

And now it belonged entirely to the Lu Clan.

Just then, a figure came speeding over from the distance. It was Ancestor Danyang.

Ancestor Danyang was ecstatic and laughed heartily. "The Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven has a space of ten million mu! With such a vast space and the abundant alchemy materials here, even without help from other factions, our Lu Clan can be self-sufficient!"

In Ancestor Danyang's original plan, he had intended to use his influence to borrow alchemy materials from other factions. For that, he had been willing to personally refine pills for them.

Now, it seemed there was no need.

Even the Alchemists' Guild's medicinal fields could not compare to the Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven.

Ancestor Xuanzhen, standing nearby, looked on enviously. "If only our Lu Clan had the Orange Array Grotto-Heaven."

The Orange Array Grotto-Heaven was a grotto-heaven blessed land as renowned as the Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven.

A secret realm of the Dao of Arrays.

Ancestor Xuanzhen was an expert in the Dao of Arrays, so he naturally hoped the clan could also possess a heaven-and-earth secret realm suited to him.

Unfortunately, such a thing could be chanced upon but not sought.

The Lu Clan had already been extraordinarily fortunate to obtain the Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven.

Ancestor Tianyan patted Ancestor Xuanzhen on the shoulder and comforted him. "Ancestor Xuanzhen, don't lose heart. Given enough time, the Lu Clan will grow stronger and stronger. When that time comes, what won't we have?"

Hearing this, Ancestor Xuanzhen chuckled. "True."

It was worth mentioning that heaven-and-earth secret realms possessed rich laws that their controller could also use. In other words, once Ancestor Danyang gained control of the Yellow Pill Grotto-Heaven, he could draw on the power of its laws of the Dao of Alchemy, greatly increasing his strength.

Of course, the Dao of Alchemy was not meant for combat.

So, comparatively speaking, Ancestor Danyang's alchemy skills would rise to an even higher level.

Ancestor Danyang was already a ninth-grade alchemist, standing at the pinnacle of the Dao of Alchemy on the Cangxuan Continent. What realm, then, lay above a ninth-grade alchemist?

That was also why Ancestor Xuanzhen was so envious.