Longevity: Starting from Refining Gu

Throughout the journey, in sight, one ordinary village after another had transformed into demon caves, with large numbers of black fog monsters entrenched within.

Chen Qing had no interest in clearing these demonic villages, leaving them to Li Shang would be better.

As night fell, Chen Qing moved forward amid the curtain of rain, and suddenly, he saw flickers of firelight in the distance.

Chen Qing was immediately taken aback, "Firelight?"

"Could it be, amidst the years of disaster, there are still living ordinary people in the Water Country?"

Chen Qing approached the direction of the firelight and could see a cave ahead with a group of ordinary people warming themselves around a campfire.

Chen Qing extended his senses, "Over three hundred ordinary people?"

"Listening to their conversation, it seems they have fled from near the royal city to here, planning to seek a way to survive near Prince Wen Palace."

Chen Qing stood on a withered tree in the distance, listening to the communication among the group of ordinary people through the raining curtain.

The ordinary people were arguing about whether to save the people from another village, "We don't have much food left; we can't take on more people on the road!"

"But they are just like us. You were late joiners to the group, too. What right do you have not to save them?"

"There's a journey of tens of thousands of miles before we leave the territory of the Water Country. How can we possibly obtain that much food?"

"The ground is full of rainwater, and the soil is filled with lumps of flesh and fresh blood; we can't grow crops at all!"

"We can't find any more food!"

Finally, a little girl with bare feet and purple hair rode back from the rain on a bear, using a huge lotus leaf as her little umbrella.

"Stop arguing; I feel like I can still get more food, and we will definitely be able to leave this place."

The little girl seemed very young, only seven or eight years old, dressed in a green floral dress.

But her words seemed to have a peculiar magic, convincing people. She quickly settled the argument with playful language, beginning to arrange how to rescue those ordinary people trapped in the demon caves.

Chen Qing's gaze fixated on the purple-haired little girl, feeling an inexplicable closeness to her.

"An Abnormal person?"

"In such an apocalyptic situation, still thinking of rescuing others, what kind of background could she have?"

Then, Chen Qing saw the little girl reach out her hand, plucking a bag of rice from the void.

The little girl said, "See, I can still get more food."

Chen Qing was slightly surprised, "Similar to Ji Ru's ability to pluck items out of the void, what special connection does she have with the Void Gate?"

The crowd of ordinary people became excited again, gathering around the girl, following her arrangements to rescue more people, taking to the road together to escape the soon-to-be doomed nation.

The little girl took out three bags of rice, letting people boil them into porridge, sharing it out to everyone.

After eating their fill, everyone's mood settled, "Then we'll leave it to Mr. Li to arrange how to attack Luohua Village tomorrow to save those ordinary people."

Chen Qing was also interested; he wanted to see how this group of ordinary people would contend against the black fog monsters with the strength of the ninth level of Qi Refinement.

Soon enough, a pale-faced scholar was led out by the girl's hand, the scholar said, "We still have enough stock of Fire Spirit Stone and Thunder Spirit Stone, tomorrow we'll still use the Thunder Fire Cannon."

"First bombard them with a round from the Thunder Fire Cannon, then slay the remaining monsters with the Thunder Light Sword!"

He said this while coughing, seemingly ill.

Chen Qing was puzzled; what on earth was this scholar talking about.

Chen Qing, listening from outside to the discussions of these ordinary people, got to know that the scholar was named Li Dangxian, once a Cultivator, but later suffered setbacks and lost his cultivation.

He could make weapons that utilized Spirit Stone to launch attacks, or armor that formed a protective barrier of Spiritual Energy, in charge of commanding the warriors among this group of ordinary people.

And the purple-haired little girl was named Ling Xi; the food for the team was sourced by her.

Chen Qing became more and more interested in this group of ordinary people, "Ordinary people who can manipulate Spiritual Energy with objects, this child truly has an extraordinary talent!"

"Anyway, killing all the replicas isn't a matter of one or two days, let's observe for one or two more days."

The next day, under the command of Ling Xi and Li Dangxian, all the ordinary people began to take action. The elderly, weak, women, and children waited ten miles away from Luohua Village under Ling Xi's leadership.

Ling Xi brought out enough food, and after the warriors had their fill, Li Dangxian and thirty warriors set out with their weapons.

They were wearing very peculiar armors, which had slots for embedding Spirit Stones, providing power.

Once the warriors put on these armors, they were as light as swallows, running as if flying.

No wonder they could survive in such dangerous places, Li Dangxian led thirty warriors outside of Luohua Village, "Bring out the Thunder Fire Cannons!"

The warriors immediately brought out a very peculiarly shaped object, similar to a giant bamboo tube equipped with a trigger.

As the trigger was pulled, a huge wave of fire gushed out from the barrel, striking at the ruins of the village.

Chen Qing sensed the construction within, which was engraved with intricate protective runes, and an explosion was caused by the collision of Thunder Spirit Stones and Fire Spirit Stones, spewing out the fire wave.

The original reaction that could be triggered by the protective runes alone, producing destructive power, besides the complexity of the protective runes, the rest was not difficult.

As the fire waves were emitted, the entire Luohua Village was instantly leveled.

A large number of black fog monsters were blasted to pieces, and the remaining few were completely killed by Li Dangxian leading the warriors wielding Thunder Light Swords.

The construction of the Thunder Light Sword was far more complex than the Thunder Fire Cannon; it required a specific frequency of Spiritual Energy to strike the Spirit Stones to gather into the effect of a Thunder Light Sword.

After rescuing three women, Li Dangxian led everyone back to the group and continued towards the direction leaving the Water Country.

Unfortunately, not long after they had set off, Chen Qing felt an extremely strong presence flying towards the group.

Chen Qing's heart tensed, and he followed to see what was happening.

It was a Water Country Cultivator, at the Mystic Gate Realm, wearing a bamboo hat, his face unclear.

This Mystic Gate Realm practitioner stood in the air and shouted, "Li Dangxian, I don't care if you want to leave Water Country, but you must leave Ling Xi behind!"

Li Dangxian said, "I don't want to get involved with the strife in your royal city, I just want to take these ordinary people far away from your battlefield!"

The Mystic Gate Realm practitioner said, "Li Dangxian, now I'm giving you two choices: leave the girl behind, or I will kill you all and then take the girl away!"

With a helpless smile, Li Dangxian said, "You leave me no choice."

"I can't possibly hand Ling Xi over to you and let you take her back to the terrible vortex in the royal city."

"She's just a child, an innocent child who knows nothing!"

The Water Country Mystic Gate Realm said, "She is too important to the higher-ups; I can't let you just take her, if you do, I can't answer for my actions!"

"Li Dangxian, do you really think a group of ordinary people can stop me?"

Confidently smiling, Li Dangxian replied, "Then what are you waiting for?"

"Are you afraid, afraid that I have already developed a weapon that can kill someone at the Mystic Gate Realm level!"

The Mystic Gate Realm practitioner from Water Country laughed loudly, "Wrong, I am waiting for the fog to rise."

Li Dangxian instantly became vigilant, looking around, a thick fog had already surrounded them. A warrior in armor next to him thudded to the ground, his body limp.

And he, too, felt his body becoming numb, "Poisonous fog, you are waiting for the poisonous fog you control to erupt!"

The Water Country Mystic Gate Realm laughed loudly, "Li Dangxian, I admit you have some abilities, but in front of a true Cultivator, ordinary people are still nothing!"

He landed from the sky, heading straight for Ling Xi, "Miss Ling Xi, you must have had enough fun, it's time to return to the royal city."

Just then, he suddenly heard Chen Qing's chilling voice behind him, as Chen Qing pinned him to the ground, "Now, tell me exactly who Ling Xi is, and you might have a way to live."

The Mystic Gate Realm practitioner from Water Country looked at Chen Qing in surprise, "A lapdog of Prince Wen? Or one of those rebels?"