The Devil Daoist Lu

"Great Scarlet Realm".

Chongming Hall was a hive of activity. A group of Lineage elders worked without pause, following Li Zhengjun's requirements and the information he had provided.

Fetal Breath-grade thunder talismans and Qi Refinement-level trapping formations were little things an Immortal Foundation cultivator could make with a wave of the hand.

But creating them from scratch to meet his specifications in just one day was another matter. Their power had to be suppressed so their users would not run short of spiritual power, yet they still had to retain enough killing force to counter Devil Cultivators. The intricacy and labor involved made the task more taxing than refining an Immortal Foundation Law Artifact.

Fortunately, the Li Household's six hundred years of accumulated resources were no mere decoration. The Talisman Hall had its "Altar Thunder" inheritance, the Formation Hall had its diagrams for trapping and killing formations, and the storerooms held low-grade spiritual materials that had been sorted and sealed away for who knew how many years. Nothing was lacking.

Everyone put their backs into it and managed to finish everything within the allotted time.

Just as the Lineage elders had confirmed that everything was in order, Li Zhengjun appeared.

This time, True Person Yuhong had not gone into seclusion either, remaining in the hall throughout.

By his reckoning, he knew his grandson and the Li Household's disciples were about to set out to wipe out the Devil Cultivators.

This was the Li Household's first major battle in another realm. The thought made Yuhong inexplicably nervous, and he could not remember how many years it had been since he had felt that way.

When he saw the faint golden radiance circulating subtly around Li Zhengjun, Yuhong's brow relaxed slightly, and he was the first to speak:

"Good. You managed to condense four strands of Bright Yang Qi in just a few days. Spiritual power is thin in the Ning Kingdom, so you must have worked hard to make such progress."

He knew there was little Spiritual Qi in the Ning Kingdom. His grandson's success in condensing four strands showed how diligently he had cultivated, and Yuhong was very pleased.

Li Zhengjun did not wish to take the credit and merely said:

"It was all thanks to the method you taught me, Grandfather, and the Spirit Gathering Formation."

He changed the subject, his gaze sweeping over the various items neatly arranged on the desks in the hall.

"Grandfather, are the thunder talismans and trapping formation ready?"

Yuhong nodded and motioned for the Lineage elders to present the items.

Li Chenbin stepped forward first, holding out a red sandalwood box. When he lifted the lid, fifty thunder talismans lay neatly arranged in three stacks. The paper was a muted blue-gray, plain and unadorned, with only the faintest hint of purple light showing through at the core of each talisman.

"There are fifty thunder talismans in all. I suppressed them to Embryonic Breathing Perfection, which should be roughly equivalent to what the Great Scarlet Realm calls Peak Qi Refinement. Unlike ordinary thunder talismans, these require no Hand Seals to summon thunder. They can be activated in an instant with a thought, relying on the element of surprise. Sealed within them is our Li Household's orthodox Altar Thunder method, which is especially effective against sinister Blood Qi. It is the perfect bane of those Devil Cultivators."

With that, he took three more talismans from his sleeve and presented them separately to Li Zhengjun.

These three were entirely different from the thirty in the box. Their paper was black-gold and cold as iron to the touch, their patterns cast in heavenly thunder silver liquid. At each talisman's core was a dense mass of purplish black. One extra glance was enough to make the eyes sting faintly, while thunder rumbled distantly in the mind.

"These are called Innate Thunder Sha Evil-Slaying Talismans. They are Qi Ingestion-grade, and each contains a genuine strand of Innate Thunder Sha. They are already the limit of what you can wield at your current realm, my lord."

Li Chenbin's tone abruptly turned solemn, and he lowered his voice.

"Using one is certain to cause a phenomenon. Heavenly thunder will descend, and Sha Qi will surge into the sky, perceptible for a hundred li in every direction. Unless you have absolutely no other choice, you must not use them lightly."

Yuhong himself had instructed him to give that warning. Once unleashed, a talisman's power would certainly be enough to level the entire imperial palace, but the accompanying phenomenon was also highly likely to draw the attention of powerful native cultivators of the Great Scarlet Realm.

Before they had fathomed the depths of these waters, exposing their strength was a grave taboo.

But Yuhong would rather take that risk than let any harm come to his grandson. No risk, however great, outweighed Li Zhengjun's life.

Yuhong also brought out four Law Artifacts and said:

"These are Embryonic Breathing Realm Law Artifacts drawn from the Lineage's stores. Every one of them is effective against demons and devils. Zhengjun, remember: a child of great wealth does not sit beneath the eaves. When you encounter that devil, do not fight him hand to hand. Our Li Household has Law Artifacts and talismans to spare."

Li Zhengjun accepted them with both hands, his expression solemn:

"Thank you, True Person. Thank you, Uncle."

Another figure stepped forward. It was the Lineage head, Li Zhengchen.

He was a master of formations, and he had personally drawn up the modifications to the trapping formation.

Li Zhengchen took out a Storage Bag and said:

"The bag contains everything needed to set up the formation: the formation plate, formation flags, copies of the formation patterns, and the proper proportions of Spirit Stones. Everything is ready. Yuankai has studied formations under me since childhood, so he will know how to set it up at a glance. I will not waste your time with further explanation, my lord."

When he finished, he paused for a moment, then took out a letter.

The envelope was only ordinary yellow paper, but its opening had been carefully sealed with spiritual power. Clearly, much thought had gone into the letter before it was written.

"My lord, Yuankai's mother misses him terribly and wrote him a letter from home. I... could not dissuade her."

He paused, then finally handed over the letter, a trace of almost imperceptible bitterness in his voice.

"Please pass it on to him for me, my lord."

Li Zhengjun took the letter, but the scene from the day of their departure came to mind.

In Chongming Hall, Li Zhengchen had not looked at Li Yuankai once from beginning to end.

At the time, he had assumed the Lineage head was simply composed and unwilling to show tender feelings. Thinking back now, it was not that he would not look, but that he dared not.

"I suppose you could not bear to part with him that day, Elder Brother, and now you miss him terribly too."

He had heard from others in the Lineage that his elder brother Li Zhengchen had placed great hopes on his eldest son. He had kept the boy at his side and taught him personally from childhood, from formations to everyday affairs, from managing the household to dealing with others. In every way, he had been raising Li Yuankai to be the next Lineage head.

Yet when the Lineage needed the first direct descendant to set foot on that road of no return, the one he had sent forth with his own hands was the very one he could least bear to part with.

Li Zhengjun accepted both the Storage Bag and the letter and said:

"I will make sure they reach him."

Li Zhengchen suddenly remembered something and hastily added:

"My lord, please wait until after the Devil Cultivators have been wiped out before giving him the letter. Yuankai has been sensitive since childhood. I fear reading it might unsettle him and distract him on the battlefield."

Li Zhengjun nodded and put the Storage Bag and letter away together.

Seeing that everything had been dealt with, Yuhong added one final instruction:

"Zhengjun, remember: your life matters most. If anything goes wrong, return to the Yuyu Realm at once."

Li Zhengjun stepped back and bowed deeply:

"I will heed your instruction, True Person. Everyone, await the good news."

With that, he returned to the Great Scarlet Realm.

"Great Scarlet Realm".

The imperial palace of the Ning Kingdom.

"Master, according to the count, around forty-three grandmasters have come to the capital this time."

The speaker was a sturdy, powerfully built man, his bald head gleaming with oil in the candlelight. His fleshy face was openly ferocious. He was Guo Xun, one of the four great guardians under Daoist Lu.

A man was leaning back on the dragon throne.

He was an old man with a head full of silver hair, yet his complexion was rosy and his spirit vigorous, showing no sign of age.

He wore a five-colored Daoist robe embroidered with mountains, rivers, the sun and the moon. Had he not been sitting there with his legs casually crossed, having the emperor beside him serve him tea, he would indeed have looked every bit the immortal sage from a distance.

Yang Xun, the emperor of the Ning Kingdom, wore his dragon robe and was the dignified ruler of a nation. Yet at that moment he was like a respectable servant, carefully holding a cup of tea, afraid of disturbing the immortal master's pleasure in savoring it.

Daoist Lu took a sip of tea. When he had heard Guo Xun's report, his face immediately darkened.

"Forty-three? It was bad enough that the number fell year after year. There were still more than seventy last year, and now it has dropped by nearly half! How have you been doing your jobs?"

The annual palace examination was when he refined the blood pills he needed for the coming year's cultivation.

He was now at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining and preparing to break through to Qi Refinement Great Perfection, so he needed a great many blood pills.

"Have all the disciples who went out returned? Pass the order down and see whether anyone was missed."

Cold sweat poured down Guo Xun's face. He knew his master's temper. If there were not enough blood pills, the disciples would all have to offer up their Essence Blood as "filial tribute."

"Master, the disciples who were out have nearly all returned to the palace, but..."

Daoist Lu fixed his gaze on him and said coldly:

"But what?"

"But Junior Brother Jiang Cheng has not returned for many days, and no one knows where he is."

Guo Xun hurried on, turning the conversation and shifting the fire onto someone else.

"Junior Brother Jiang was responsible for passing on cultivation methods to the warriors of three commanderies. Without him, we cannot confirm whether any grandmasters were left out. I have sent people to search everywhere, but they have found no trace of him. I do not know whether he... is still within the Ning Kingdom..."

Daoist Lu narrowed his eyes. In earlier years, there had indeed been disciples who abducted people on their own and secretly refined blood pills.

For that very reason, he had taken back all the methods for refining blood pills and had not left a single Pill Furnace or related implement behind.

Could it be that Jiang Cheng had grown bold enough to try the same trick right under his nose?

He fell silent for a moment, then snorted coldly:

"A minor cultivator at Early Qi Refining-could he grow wings and fly off this island that is the Ning Kingdom? Hold the palace examination first. Once my Devil Cultivation Method reaches mastery, there will still be time to settle accounts with that brat."