You Cultivate, I Farm

Having secured half a bottle of Emperor Essence, Lu Xuan returned to the Cloud Houses.

Moments later, a slight disturbance came from outside. Opening the door, Lu Xuan found a little white ape standing at the doorstep, its eyes glistening like red jade gems.

In its hand, it clutched a small white jade bottle, brimming with Emperor Essence.

Upon seeing Lu Xuan, the little white ape promptly offered the bottle to him.

"For me?" Lu Xuan asked in surprise.

The little white ape nodded, its hands gesturing animatedly.

Due to its diminutive size, Lu Xuan could easily see the silver-white hairs at the back of its head.

Through the thoughts it conveyed, Lu Xuan understood that this bottle of Emperor Essence was collected by the elder ape as a preliminary reward for cultivating the Heart Ape Fruit on its behalf.

"A gift from an elder, I dare not refuse. Then I shall accept it without ceremony."

Overjoyed, Lu Xuan took the bottle of Emperor Essence and fetched some spiritual fruits from his storage bag to give to the little white ape as snacks.

During the previous collection of Emperor Essence, he had witnessed many spiritual beasts in the blessed land employing their innate abilities and bloodline talents to intercept the Emperor Essence. The phenomena created by the white ape and the dragon turtle were the most conspicuous, clearly visible even from the high clouds above.

A hundred-zhang tall white ape phantom appeared out of nowhere, its head thrown back as if swallowing the moon, with countless strands of Emperor Essence rushing into the phantom.

Another transformed into a gigantic divination symbol, its spirit patterns moving, absorbing all the Emperor Essence falling within a dozen li into the symbol.

Unexpectedly, the elder ape had thoughtfully left a bottle for him.

After the little white ape left, feeling somewhat bored and mindful of the countless demonic beast materials within the forbidden land, Lu Xuan made his way to the lakeside.

"Lu lad, you've come? How much Emperor Essence did you manage to collect just now?"

The old dragon turtle was leisurely lying on a flat giant rock, with several pieces of ancient and mottled green-black turtle shells drying beside it.

"Quite lucky, I managed to collect half a bottle of Emperor Essence, which can be used to nourish a few spiritual beasts in the sect."

Lu Xuan answered truthfully.

"Only half a bottle? What's that good for? Here, take this bottle. It's for your own body cultivation."

The old dragon turtle scoffed, floating a bottle of Emperor Essence towards Lu Xuan.

"Heh, thank you, senior!"

Lu Xuan hadn't expected this pleasant surprise and quickly expressed his gratitude.

As for the slight mockery in the Sixth Rank Dragon Turtle's tone, he didn't mind at all. With a bottle of Emperor Essence in hand, even a bit of mockery for a couple of hours was no issue.

"By the way, senior, I was thinking of taking a walk in the forbidden land today. I'm worried about the fierce and demonic beasts inside causing trouble. Could you please divinate for me?"

After securing the Emperor Essence, Lu Xuan asked the old dragon turtle.

"Sure."

The old dragon turtle responded succinctly. The spirit patterns on the dozens of turtle shells beside him moved continuously. Lu Xuan sensed an aura locking onto him from the void, which disappeared after a few breaths, leaving a divination symbol on the turtle shells.

"Go ahead, there's nothing dangerous. If you handle it well, it seems you might even stumble upon some opportunities."

The old dragon turtle blew on its long whiskers and waved its short limbs at Lu Xuan.

"I don't know how you managed to cultivate to the intermediate stage of Foundation Establishment being so cautious."

"I have to be cautious. I still want to see if I can outlive you, old fellow!"

Lu Xuan chuckled lightly, bidding farewell to the old dragon turtle, and a moment later, arrived at the edge of the forbidden land's pit.

His spiritual sense infiltrated the Beast Control Command in his hand, which emitted a shallow red glow. The formations and restrictions outside the forbidden land, upon touching the red light, automatically created a passageway just wide enough for one person.

He slowly drifted down towards the pit.

Without the old dragon turtle by his side this time, Lu Xuan had to be even more cautious.

Fortunately, all the fierce and demonic beasts within the forbidden land were sealed by formations and magical instruments. The only threat to him, a fifth-rank fox spirit beast, was now under his control with the Beast Control Command, granting him the authority over life and death within the forbidden land.

Moreover, having the old dragon turtle divine for him as a precaution and equipped with various hidden magical instruments and techniques, Lu Xuan was confident he could easily deal with several Foundation Establishment completion cultivators or beasts of equivalent strength.

His previous visit had been a brief survey,

but this time, Lu Xuan explored more thoroughly.

He noticed narrow passages in the stone caves on all sides, each filled with a dense aura of blood and death.

Listening closely, Lu Xuan could faintly hear the sound of beastly roars coming from within.

The spiritual light of the Azure Stride Shoes appeared beneath his feet, propelling him to the entrance of a passage.

The ground of the passage was soft and dark red, giving off a slight sticky sensation, as if it had absorbed the blood essence of countless demonic beasts.

Lu Xuan slowly proceeded deeper into the passage. Along both sides, numerous stone caves housed a variety of demonic beasts, mostly of second and third rank, with quite a few at the Foundation Establishment level.

Upon seeing Lu Xuan, the beasts snarled and bared their teeth at him, but due to the formations outside their caves, they could only make empty threats.

After walking for a mile or two, Lu Xuan entered a massive stone hall.

The moment he stepped into the hall, his pupils contracted slightly. At the center of the hall was a cultivator.

With his current level of spiritual sense, he had failed to detect the presence of this cultivator upon scanning.

The cultivator was bare-chested, bald, with muscles coiled like dragons, and his body emanated a thick aura of blood, indicating the countless souls that had perished by his hand.

A dark red chain, adorned with glowing runes, was split in two, passing through his clavicles.

In his hand, he wielded a giant ghost-faced saber, about a zhang long, with the ghost head on the hilt gnawing at a piece of demonic beast meat.

A massive wolf-shaped demonic beast lay prostrate at his feet, the edge of the ghost-faced saber aimed at the beast's head, which was lightly tapped.

Instantly, the head rolled off, with a cut so smooth that the blood from the beast's carcass seemed not to have realized it had been severed.

After slaying the wolf demon, the bald cultivator's hands moved with agility, processing various parts of the wolf's body.

Useful parts were piled up together, while other disposable organs, intestines, and flesh were set aside.

"You seem unfamiliar. May I ask your name? And how do you possess Uncle Cangwu's Beast Control Command?"

The bald cultivator, while processing the demonic beast carcass, inquired.

"My name is Lu Xuan, an inner sect disciple of the Sky Sword Sect, managing the Myriad Beasts Grotto blessed land on behalf of our Core Formation Uncle. May I know who you are, brother?"

Noticing the bald cultivator referred to True Person Cangwu as Uncle, Lu Xuan deduced he must also be a cultivator of the Sky Sword Sect.

He probed briefly with his spiritual sense, discerning through the thick, almost tangible blood scent that the bald cultivator possessed the cultivation level of Foundation Establishment completion.

"I can't even remember who I am anymore. Now, I'm just a blood slaughterer remaining in the forbidden land. You can call me Blood Brother."

The bald cultivator stored the processed demonic beast meat into his storage bag, while the unused scraps were piled up together.

As he moved, the dark red chains piercing his shoulder blades jingled softly.

"I'm merely a sinner of the sect, staying in the forbidden land to atone slowly."