90: Chapter 90 The Green Lotus Ripens, the Western Demon is Sealed

After watching the excitement in Pi Kingdom, Lu Hu returned to the mountains.

The environment of Tianduan Mountain had changed significantly, with more fields, wooden houses, and courtyards. One could often see animals like sheep and cows working in the fields.

As the intelligence of the animals in Tianduan Mountain increased, the order of Tianduan Mountain also improved, and everything was developing in a positive direction.

One day, in Tiger King Valley, a large pot of stewed crimson melt beast bone was bubbling, and the aroma of meat filled the air.

Not far away, Lu Hu was lying on a lounge chair, a tiger paw clutching an ancient book—the one that recorded the whereabouts of the illusory immortal grass.

After a period of tinkering, he had finally repaired this ancient book, and the blurry images recorded inside had become clear.

Lu Hu now understood the whereabouts of the group that had originally suppressed the evil dragon.

However, he still needed to get a new map!

Lu Hu secretly thought that a thousand years had passed, and some geographical environments had long since changed from the past. He needed a freshly made map to compare and analyze the correct route.

"Great King, it is time to eat!"

Lu Qing carried a tray, on which the snake venom tea and braised crimson melt ribs were steaming hot.

"Awoo~"

Lu Hu got up, took a sip of the poisonous tea, and ate a few pieces of meat. The Crimson Molten Beast contained rich blood energy, which was very suitable for a giant beast like Tiger Dad to consume.

It was just that they had been eating Crimson Molten Beast for every meal during this period. Even though there had been a mountain-sized store of Crimson Molten Beast originally, it was now running low. The new batch of Crimson Molten Beast in the Cold Sea had not yet grown up, so they would have to be frugal in the future.

"Awoo~" (Use ordinary food for meals from now on.)

Lu Hu said while eating, "Awoo~" (Mix in some fruits and spirit herbs.)

In the sinkhole, the Tiger Fruit Tree, Zhu Fruit Tree, and other fruit trees were bearing more fruits than they could eat. The number of spirit herbs was also increasing. Once the medicinal fields planted by the animals in the mountains matured, there would be another batch of spirit herb seeds, so there was no fear of waste.

Lu Qing silently noted this down.

At this moment, Lu Hu suddenly stopped.

"What is it, Great King?"

Lu Qing asked in confusion.

"A Grandmaster has come."

Lu Hu continued to eat. It was a familiar Grandmaster, running rather urgently, his aura unstable.

Lu Qing immediately went to greet him. Not long after, Yu De, with tattered clothes, appeared in front of Lu Hu.

"Great King, save me!"

Yu De breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Lu Hu and sat down on the ground with a thud.

Yu De had said a while ago that he wanted to personally go to the Western Buddhist Kingdom to investigate the matter of the demon from a thousand years ago.

Now, looking like this, he must have run into trouble.

And…

Lu Hu glanced at Yu De; he sensed energy fluctuations at the level of an Immortal.

"Buddhist monks are hunting me down!"

After Yu De took the pill given by Lu Qing and recovered some energy, he slapped his abdomen vigorously, spat out a round wooden box, and opened it to reveal a golden stone inside.

"Because of this, they say it is some kind of sarira."

Yu De handed over the sarira and explained the reason. As a Grandmaster, it was easy for him to inquire about the demon from a thousand years ago after arriving in the Buddhist Kingdom.

The news was not only true, but he also found the location where the demon was sealed.

Upon seeing the seal, he also discovered golden stones. His old habit as the number one thief in the world flared up; he couldn't walk away when he saw treasure, so he took one on the spur of the moment.

As a result, he alerted the Grandmasters of the Buddhist Kingdom. A total of five powerful Grandmasters surrounded and killed him. It was only because Yu De was used to being hunted and had rich experience that he managed to escape. Otherwise, if it were any other Grandmaster, they probably wouldn't even have had the chance to escape the Buddhist Kingdom.

Yu De fled all the way from the Buddhist Kingdom with the stone, shifting the blame by drawing in several righteous sects to attract fire, and finally arrived here.

"Awoo~" (sarira, and one by one…)

Lu Hu took the sarira. A sarira, in his impression, was something born after a high monk died; one high monk could only produce one.

But in this world, high monks were replaced by cultivation; they were products formed from the remains of Earthly Immortal-level Buddhist practitioners after they died.

Their power was extraordinary. One had to know that any piece of bone from a dead Earthly Immortal used to forge a weapon could possess the power to kill a Grandmaster.

And the sarira was formed from the essence of the entire body of an Earthly Immortal, far exceeding ordinary Earthly Immortal-level magic treasures in both energy and hardness.

According to Yu De, he saw sariras one by one. Did that not mean the Buddhist Kingdom once had many Earthly Immortals!

"Those righteous sects are craftier than the next; they won't be able to hold them off for long!"

Yu De warned that the sarira seemed to be able to give the Grandmasters of the Buddhist Kingdom a direction, and he couldn't shake them off, which was why he came here to seek protection.

Only a powerful existence like Lu Hu could resist the five Grandmasters of the Buddhist Kingdom.

"Why trouble the Great King with such a small matter!"

Lu Qing said with a smile. Although he didn't like fighting much, life here was too comfortable, and he felt bored. This opportunity to stretch his muscles was perfect for him!

"Just the two of us?"

Yu De hesitated. Those were five Grandmasters.

"And us!"

The Owl and the Dragon Li appeared. The Owl fanned cold light from the gaps in her huge wings; those were short arrows, which were also her weapons.

The Dragon Li stood on its hind legs, carrying a long sword forged from pure meteorite iron.

Both the eagle and the cat had lived for hundreds of years, had gone very deep in the realm of Grandmasters, and possessed exclusive weapons. Their strength was not comparable to Lu Qing, who had just entered the Grandmaster level.

"You two take one each, leave the rest to me!"

The Dragon Li said confidently. Afterwards, they waited. When the five Grandmasters of the Buddhist Kingdom chased them down, they were defeated by the Dragon Li and the Owl with a crushing posture!

"The sarira cannot be lost!"

After the failure, one of the Grandmasters from the Buddhist Kingdom knelt down and begged Yu De to return the stolen treasure.

If the sarira was lost, the seal would be damaged. If the great demon inside were to come out, it would surely cause devastation to all living things!

"No way."

Hearing the explanation, Yu De couldn't help but shrink his head. He had only taken one; didn't they have a backup?

For such a big event, there should be an emergency plan!

"If everyone were like you, no amount of preparation would be useful!"

That Grandmaster glared at Yu De, and after a while, said powerlessly, "At the first moment, we opened the backup sarira treasury, but it was empty inside."

There was indeed a backup, but the backup had long been stolen. They didn't even know when it had been stolen.

"Awoo~" (Alright, it's just a demon, look at how scared you are.)

Lu Hu got up. It was just a demon, wasn't it? In the ancient books of the Kun Kingdom, it was just a slightly stronger Earthly Immortal. What was there to be afraid of!

"Awoo~" (Point the way.)

Lu Hu said. He wanted to go to the Buddhist Kingdom himself.

"Awoo~" (Just reseal it!)

After arriving at the Buddhist Kingdom, looking at the seal bubbling with demonic energy, Lu Hu's expression changed slightly. Damn, how is it a Heavenly Immortal?

Fortunately, he hadn't made any big claims about eliminating the root of the trouble.

Lu Hu rejoiced and put the sarira back. The sealing array was perfected again, and it no longer bubbled with demonic energy.

This kind of demonic energy could stimulate the bodies of living beings, wear down their consciousness, and make them go mad, becoming machines that only knew how to destroy.

Before this, a large amount of demonic energy had already leaked out.

However, Lu Hu was surprised to find that not many people among the Buddhist Kingdom's populace had fallen into demonic possession due to the demonic energy.

Even if they were possessed, under the orders of the Buddhist monks, they continued their daily work.

kuxin fruit!

After a little thought, Lu Hu understood the reason. The people of the Buddhist Kingdom had been eating kuxin fruit since they were young to temper their minds and harden their bodies, so they were used to pain.

The leaked demonic energy diffused and became thin, so the pain it caused was not too high, and many people could endure it.

As for consciousness, the people of the Buddhist Kingdom, after long-term mental tempering, had basically lost their ability to think independently and would only blindly follow the instructions of their superiors to work.

This habit had long been deeply ingrained in their bones. Even if they were infected by demonic energy and became manic, when they heard the orders of the Buddhist monks in the temple, they would honestly go to work.

There were very few demons who fell into slaughter!

Even if they were possessed, most were children, and their destructive power was limited.

As for the Buddhist monks in the temple, they were selected from the populace for their firm minds that were difficult to shake. Even if they encountered demonic energy, they would not lose their individual will for a while.

The kuxin fruit, the result of the Buddhist Kingdom's thousand-year accumulation used to resist the demon, showed effective results at this moment.

The demon seal was stable, and the Buddhist monks in the temple began to clean up the impact caused by the leakage of demonic energy.

Lu Hu re-examined the seal. The seal mainly relied on the sariras, and each sarira was at the Earthly Immortal level.

These were all accumulations from a thousand years ago. The Buddhist Kingdom had not produced an Earthly Immortal for over a thousand years, and without new sariras to replenish them, the importance of these sariras was self-evident.

Looking at the sariras one by one, Lu Hu was curious about what the field within this seal was.

The demonic aura he felt when he first arrived was indeed that of a Heavenly Immortal, but Lu Hu had previously seen a record in the Kun Kingdom of the Sword God subduing a demon. At that time, both the Sword God and the demon were Earthly Immortals.

The demon was now a Heavenly Immortal, which meant that this guy could still become stronger even while sealed.

Logically speaking, if it were a seal, it would definitely restrict the person being sealed from continuing to transform. Before this demon was sealed, the Earthly Immortals of the Buddhist Kingdom should have thought of ways to stop the demon from becoming stronger.

But the result was that it unknowingly broke through to a Heavenly Immortal. He didn't know if there was a problem with the seal or if the demon had other means—it was the energy of the sariras that restrained it, otherwise the demon would have run out long ago.

Lu Hu pondered. He would definitely have to face the demon, and the demon-transforming fruit was very likely inside, so he had to prepare early.

Lu Hu asked the people of the Buddhist Kingdom, wanting to understand the detailed information about the seal and the demon, but looking at the confused expressions of the Grandmasters of the Buddhist Kingdom, Lu Hu sighed inwardly. Like the Kun Kingdom, they had lost some inheritance over the years.

...

After returning, Lu Hu found the Cat Eagle and asked the Cat Eagle to help draw a world map.

He needed to compare the new map with the map recorded in the ancient kun script book to find the location of the illusory immortal grass.

There was also the god-slaying thatch, which might be in the hands of the Sword God. Lu Hu went to the Sword Sect passed down by the Sword God and saw many powerful exotic treasures, but he did not find the god-slaying thatch. He prepared to go to the Qian Imperial City, but before he got close to the Qian Imperial City, Lu Hu felt an inexplicable crisis, so he gave up.

After returning, Lu Hu focused on farming, using spirit herbs to accelerate the growth of the medicines needed for the tasks.

The rewards for the advanced tasks and the initial tasks were very different.

The levels of the corresponding spiritual objects rewarded were higher than spiritual objects like spirit ginseng, just like the Cold Sea pearl embryo rewarded after the deep sea pearl task was completed.

The embryo alone could affect a Grandmaster. After being taken to the Cold Sea by Da Bei to be nurtured, in just a few days, the power of the Cold Sea pearl embryo could easily injure a Grandmaster. Once it matured, it would definitely be an Earthly Immortal-level treasure.

Besides the Cold Sea pearl, the rewards for other advanced tasks were also growable Earthly Immortal-level items.

The heaven-climbing grass, which was the golden vine task, the heaven-reaching tree seed obtained after completing the kuxin fruit task, the wish-gathering fruit seed...

Each one was at the Earthly Immortal level.

For this reason, Lu Hu specifically instructed Da Bei to subdue the Cold Sea shellfish spirit beast group to produce deep sea pearls and obtain more Cold Sea pearl embryos. For new tasks, he also promised heavy rewards to accelerate the search.

Unknowingly, the green lotus stopped growing, and the leaves and rhizomes showed signs of separating. It had matured!

After picking the lotus pod, the system's notification sound for task completion followed.

The system rewarded Lu Hu with the Creation Physique. This was a complete physique, plus a cultivation method, the Creation Green Lotus Technique.

Under the blessing of the physique, Lu Hu's cultivation soared, reaching the Heavenly Immortal level.

The spiritual energy in the world could no longer affect him at all, even if all the spiritual energy in the world were gathered together.

Fortunately, the spiritual item rewarded by the system was unique and could stably grow to the level Lu Hu needed.

Lu Hu dug out a lotus seed from the lotus pod and ate one; the vast Power of Creation contained within was also of great benefit to cultivation.

Subsequently, Lu Hu plucked and collected the lotus leaves, lotus roots, and lotus stems separately.

With a total of nine lotus pods, he harvested a hundred lotus seeds at once. Lu Hu chose a new location and planted ten green lotuses. It wasn't that he didn't want to plant more, but the consumption was truly too great.

From germination to maturity, a single green lotus consumed a massive amount of the Essence of All Things; it could wipe out the vegetation of an entire dense forest.

Planting ten was basically the limit; any more, and the Tianduan Mountains would turn bald.

Lu Hu set aside one lotus seed for the Kun Kingdom, a promise made long ago, and kept the remaining seeds to use as cultivation resources.

For the next period, Lu Hu began to adapt to the power of a Heavenly Immortal. This level of power seemed to have reached the limit of what the world could withstand. In Lu Hu's perception, all things were so fragile that a slight exertion of force would cause everything to shatter.

Lu Hu also sensed many sources of pure power; these were the relics left behind in the world by that group of Earthly Immortals from a thousand years ago.

Skeletons, weapons, clothing... the quantity of such items was beyond Lu Hu's expectations and was quite considerable.

It was just a pity that without the corresponding methods to activate it, this level of power merely rendered the objects as hard artifacts.

Just like the Kun Kingdom; excluding the Stone Tablet Forest, the Earthly Immortal-level weapons and exotic treasures mastered by Emperor Kun numbered over a hundred, yet only about twenty could be truly activated.

The rest could only be used as sturdy defensive gear. Most of these were accessories and clothing of Earthly Immortals. Long-term wear had imbued them with the power of an Earthly Immortal, but to trigger this power required an Earthly Immortal, and an Earthly Immortal had no need for the power of mere accessories.

Those below the level of an Earthly Immortal could not activate them, and in the hands of an Earthly Immortal, they were useless—truly a tasteless, chicken-rib situation.

Since obtaining the system, Lu Hu had no suitable weapons and needed some magical treasures for protection. However, making Lu Hu use this junk was not as good as refining the green lotus leaves and lotus roots into weapons; their power would surely be stronger than this scrap.

Lu Hu went to the Qian Imperial City again. Just like last time, he stopped at the edge of the city. After sensing carefully, Lu Hu left the Qian Imperial City and went to the place where the Buddhist Kingdom's demon was sealed.

Lu Hu opened a gap and poked his head in. He finally came out with a look of shock, his belly bulging, stuffed with demonic energy, and his appearance had become much more ferocious.

Just after entering the seal, his stomach had been filled to the brim with demonic energy. Enduring the discomfort, Lu Hu reinforced the seal once more before returning to Tianduan Mountain to cultivate in seclusion.

The conflicts between the countries of the world were becoming increasingly intense.

This world did not lack skilled craftsmen. After several Grandmasters brought cannons back from the Pi Kingdom, they studied them and successfully replicated the manufacturing methods for firearms.

With the advent of firearms, the strength martial artists could exert became greater, but their status had also declined significantly.

Because using firearms did not require any restrictions, an ordinary person could threaten them; only a Grandmaster could truly ignore firearms.

Martial artists were rare. Ever since they were able to develop firearms, the shortcomings of the Qian Kingdom were completely compensated for. They bared their fangs even more fiercely, sweeping across dozens of surrounding countries with an attitude of absolute crushing superiority.

The Qian Kingdom's goal was not to expand its territory, nor did it care about the consumption of its own soldiers. It kept inciting wars, not even sparing spirit beasts; its targets were all aimed at extermination.

The spirit beast faction opposing the Pi Kingdom could not withstand the pressure. While retreating steadily, they were also seeking help everywhere, even extending their plea for aid to the Tianduan Mountain, which was tens of thousands of miles away.

There were three spirit beasts in total: one was a Grandmaster-level Black Bull riding a First-Class warhorse, and on the bull's back was a bird acting as a translator.

They first found a group of animals in the mountains. After communicating, they found the Wild Boar King, who had already stepped into the strength of a Grandmaster, and persuaded the Wild Boar King to join the war.

In their words, if the Qian Kingdom continued like this, it would sooner or later spread the battlefield here. Rather than being wiped out one by one by the Qian Kingdom, it would be better to unite and fight to the death.

"Hmph~ Hmph~"

The Wild Boar King felt strange and did not understand, but he still reported the news.

"Roar~" (The Qian Kingdom...)

Lu Hu's expression was unreadable. Before stepping into the realm of a Heavenly Immortal, he had felt an inexplicable crisis at the Qian Imperial City. After stepping into the realm of a Heavenly Immortal, approaching the Qian Imperial City still brought a potential threat.

It was precisely because of this threat that he had always hesitated about whether to approach the Qian Imperial City.

In this life, he had been pampered and had never suffered. Facing threats, his mind wanted to have a hearty battle, but when it came time to face it, he couldn't help but want to avoid and retreat.

Yes, whether it was the Qian Imperial City or the great demon of the Buddhist Kingdom, they only made Lu Hu feel threatened; as for a crisis, he had not felt much.

But afraid of getting hurt, he still stepped back. Lu Hu felt helpless; there was a problem with his state of mind—he would bully the weak by relying on his cultivation realm, but would want to retreat when encountering danger.

This time, he would not retreat.

Lu Hu made up his mind to take on the Kun Kingdom.

But he couldn't act recklessly; he could let the spirit beasts probe first.

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he last saw the Great Black Bull.

Lu Hu called for Li Jiao. During this time, Li Jiao had been researching missiles. For Li Jiao, who came with a transmigrator's golden finger, it was not very difficult. The only pity was that while missiles could fly thousands of kilometers, there was no satellite assistance in the sky.

For long-range strike capabilities, there was a lack of precise positioning. Besides that, Li Jiao had other inventions that were of great use on the battlefield.

The Great Black Bull was overjoyed upon receiving the news. He didn't expect Lu Hu to be at Tianduan Mountain and hurried out to welcome him.

That night, the Great Black Bull hosted a banquet for his guests and also explained the current predicament of the spirit beasts. He was very troubled. Previously, he had only thought about wiping out the Tai Kingdom to let the human side know that spirit beasts were not to be trifled with, but the result was that the Qian Kingdom latched onto this point and refused to let go, fighting him to the death regardless of the cost.

At first it was fine; there were many species of spirit beasts, and with mutual cooperation, resisting the elite armies of humans was no problem. But after the advent of firearms, the trouble became huge.

Grandmaster-level spirit beasts could still fight back a little, but those below the Grandmaster level were suppressed to death by the dense firepower, retreating steadily.

The most terrifying point was that the Qian Kingdom was very crazy and disregarded casualties.

When the Qian Kingdom used artillery to slaughter extensively, the Great Black Bull joined forces with two Grandmaster spirit beasts to penetrate deep into the Qian Kingdom's army alone and engage in a massacre.

For a faction, a Grandmaster was more of a deterrent and rarely took action.

Once they were determined to take action against the low-level forces of the enemy faction, it was basically impossible to restrain them without several or even ten times the power.

But if they really did that, the low-level forces of the faction to which this Grandmaster belonged would also be slaughtered by the hostile Grandmaster. In the end, it would be a river of blood, leaving only the Grandmasters.

Artillery was useless against Grandmasters, but for those below the Grandmaster level, it was no different from a massacre.

Therefore, the Great Black Bull penetrated deep into the Qian Kingdom's army, wanting to use the method of "if you dare to exterminate my clan, I will also exterminate yours" to force the Qian Kingdom's army to retreat.

But the result was that the Qian Kingdom's Grandmasters did not care about the deaths of their soldiers and killed their way into the spirit beast clans, also engaging in a massacre.

It was as if they wanted to compete with the Great Black Bull to see who could kill more.

The Great Black Bull was helpless. The Qian Kingdom did not care about the life or death of its soldiers, but he could not ignore the survival of his clans.

Up to now, the Great Black Bull had led the spirit beast army to retreat again and again, avoiding the army's firepower, but even so, there were heavy casualties every day.

The arrival of Lu Hu, a powerful expert with profound strength, was also a deterrent on the battlefield and could reduce heavy casualties, which made the Great Black Bull happy.

"Roar~" (I didn't come to participate in the war.)

After Lu Hu finished speaking, he introduced Li Jiao.

Li Jiao of the Pi Kingdom, a creator of firearms.

The current predicament of the spirit beast army was because of Li Jiao's firearms. Now that Li Jiao was here, countering the Qian Kingdom's army would be no problem.

With one sentence, the Great Black Bull was stunned on the spot, followed by irrepressible ecstasy.

In the following days, the spirit beasts continued to lead their respective clans to avoid the encirclement and suppression of the Qian Kingdom's army, retreating again and again.

They were manufacturing weapons. Li Jiao mastered various weapon manufacturing technologies, and his manual dexterity had been enhanced due to his transmigration.

The Great Black Bull's manual dexterity was not inferior to Li Jiao's, and because of his cultivation realm, he could lift heavy materials that Li Jiao could not budge. After understanding the methods of firearm manufacturing, the weapons he created were even more precise than Li Jiao's.

The man and the bull cooperated with each other, and not long after, bombers soaring in the sky appeared.

In terms of air power, the Qian Kingdom was originally no match for the flying spirit beasts. After the bombers appeared, the Qian Kingdom's army was sanctioned.

This was a shameless method of attack that land-based Grandmasters were helpless against: dropping bombs from thousands of meters in the air. Only it could hit others, and others couldn't hit it. The only thing that could counter it was attacks from flying creatures, which were on the spirit beast side.

The appearance of bombers slowed down the casualties of the spirit beast clans, but the war did not stop. Bombs could not hurt Grandmasters, and the Qian Kingdom's Grandmasters actually wanted to kill the spirit beast clans personally.

They wanted both sides to engage in a massacre, staining the earth red.

But in the end, the Qian Kingdom's Grandmasters failed. Lu Hu swept a glance over them, and they all fell asleep.

There were a full five Grandmasters from the Qian Kingdom responsible for waging war against the spirit beasts, and all of them were suppressed. However, the Qian Kingdom not only did not stop the war or negotiate, but instead arranged for more Grandmasters to come for a decisive battle.

The newly arrived Grandmasters were not simple; they carried Earthly Immortal-level exotic treasures and unleashed a blow that made the Great Black Bull feel despair.

In the end, Lu Hu blocked it and captured another Grandmaster.

He also directly displayed the power of an Earthly Immortal. The Qian Kingdom fell silent for a time and did not encircle and suppress the spirit beasts again, but the Qian Kingdom was still manufacturing firearms and waging war on surrounding forces.

This crazy, reckless appearance was truly terrifying. It was too insane, and every faction felt threatened.

Many factions united to form an Anti-Qian Alliance to resist the brutal acts of the Qian Kingdom.

The Great Black Bull also joined in. With Li Jiao's help, the types of weapons expanded rapidly, and with the support of other factions, they gradually suppressed the Qian Kingdom comprehensively, slowly counterattacking and fighting towards the territory of the Qian Kingdom.

At the same time, Lu Hu stepped into the territory of the Xuan Kingdom, known as the number one great power in the world.

They were about to force out the foundation of the Qian Kingdom, but within the Anti-Qian Alliance, apart from Lu Hu, there were not many means to counter Earthly Immortal-level power. The foundation of the Kun Kingdom rarely had lethal power.

It was impossible for Lu Hu to take action every time an Earthly Immortal-level power appeared. Lu Hu felt that it was necessary to have a few more helpers to force out the Qian Kingdom's foundations one by one. But in the world today, apart from the little Cat Eagle, only the Xuan Kingdom possessed such power.

Thus, Lu Hu came to the Xuan Kingdom.

"Ugh..."

Just after entering the Xuan Kingdom, Lu Hu discovered a familiar aura.

He frowned, but soon smoothed his brow, suddenly realizing.

No wonder he couldn't find any aura of Tiger Sister in the Tianduan Mountains; it turned out she was here.