Boom!
The lightning technique blasted down!
The radiant yang-element lightning erupted with an incandescent, golden splendor!
The golden lightning that fell from the sky blasted itself on the Stonemother. Large pieces of granite shattered and fell from its body. The Stonemother now looked pathetic. Its head that looked like a female bust sculpture opened its mouth wide and let out a pitiful howl.
The Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation was the most powerful offensive technique in Lu Chaoxi's arsenal. Any cultivators who were below the Initial Enlightenment Stage would be severely injured if they took the attack head-on, even if they had a piece of defensive magic equipment.
The defensive capabilities of the Stonemother were extremely powerful. It was considered top-notch even among other Level Two spirit monsters. Even so, it still sustained serious injuries after it was hit by lightning.
At the very least, its feelings of fury had been suppressed.
The Stonemother was frightened.
She waved her hand and poured out large amounts of earth-element spiritual strength. She attacked Lu Chaoxi with continuous granite explosions.
Lu Chaoxi, who had just used the Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation, could not follow up with his attacks when faced with such a counter-attack. All he could do was to dodge the incoming attacks constantly. At the same time, he summoned a piece of magic equipment, the Jade Suppression Plate, to defend himself against the flying shrapnel.
The Jade Suppression Plate was only a Level One magic equipment that was produced by the family. Several of the cultivators from the family had one, and thus, it was not extremely valuable.
However, under the control of a Foundation Building cultivator, the effects of the Jade Suppression Plate were much better than the Level One high-grade Magic Defensive Cloak that Lu Tinghua used earlier.
The continuous explosions barely injured Lu Chaoxi.
However, when Lu Chaoxi looked up again, he noticed that the Stonemother had escaped.
It did not run toward in any other direction. Instead, it tried to head back into the Energy Stone Mine.
Lu Chaoxi immediately chased after it. He quickly caught up to the Stonemother again after he entered the mine.
The Stonemother was too slow.
However, when they fought a second time, Lu Chaoxi noticed that something was off.
For one, the terrain in the mine was extremely disadvantageous for him. When they had excavated this mine many years ago, a cultivator had used Earth Elemental Techniques to make the mine rather wide. However, the area inside the mine was incomparable to the vastness of the outside world. It would be harder for Lu Chaoxi to avoid the giant rocks blasting down at him.
That only posed as a slight problem. Lu Chaoxi's abilities were stronger than the Stonemother's. Even if his flying sword only had a limited effect on the Stonemother, his Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation could still deal a heavy blow to it. He would not lose to the Stonemother even if he had to avoid the blasts from the granite and engage in a competition of strength.
However, while they were chasing each other, the strength of the Stonemother was getting more and more powerful.
He could see several glowing specks coming from inside the dim cavern. Those came from the Energy Stones, and the Stonemother was absorbing the energy that came from the Energy Stones. As they got deeper into the cavern, the number of Energy Stones increased. The Stonemother got even stronger as a result.
Lu Chaoxi clenched his teeth and summoned another Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation. The impact caused the Stonemother to squeal in pain. Its arm was blasted off and fell onto the ground. The attack also blew up half its head.
However, since the other party was not made out of flesh and blood, it did not have a vital point. Losing half her head just meant that it was now a little uglier. It did not stop it from escaping deeper into the cavern.
After pursuing the Stonemother for some time, Lu Chaoxi could only stop in his tracks.
He could not stop the Stonemother from escaping. He also could not consolidate his strength and exterminate the Stonemother within a short period as its defensive capabilities were too strong. All he could do was let it go. If he continued to pursue the Stonemother, then its home-ground advantage would become obvious. Even he might be in danger if the Stonemother managed to tap into a greater level of strength.
He returned to the entrance of the mine and sat down, cross-legged. He guarded the area.
The only plan he had now was to seal off the entrance of the mine to prevent the monster from running out and harming people. He waited for Mingchao and Chaohe to arrive while he was at it. The three Foundation Building cultivators could join forces and find a way to head deep into the mine to exterminate the Stonemother.
Lu Qing floated behind his eldest son. He had witnessed the scene just now.
The situation of the clan had become much better than it was five years ago. They had also accumulated a decent amount of strength. However, completely reversing the decline of the clan was not something that could be accomplished within a short time.
When he was still around, the Stonemother was something that could be annihilated with a mere gaze.
Even if Lu Qing did not take action, Lu Chaoxi was an eighth-tier Foundation Building cultivator. He even cultivated an overbearingly offensive technique that was the "Bright Yang Lightning Ceremony" for decades. Under normal circumstances, he would never have allowed the Stonemother to escape back into the mine. He would have killed the enemy outside the mine.
However, the problem lay in the fact that the pieces of magic equipment Lu Chaoxi owned were too weak.
He was ill-equipped.
He was an eighth-tier Foundation Building cultivator, yet he was using a Level One Jade Suppression Plate as his defensive magic equipment and a Level Two low-grade flying sword. He still had to get down from his flying sword before he could command it to attack his enemies… Who would believe that he was the leader of a clan? He was pathetically poor!
Back when the Lu Clan was in a pathetic state, the clan's income could not keep up with their expenditure, and they faced a massive deficit. They had to sustain the clan by selling off the assets that they had accumulated in the past.
When Lu Qing engaged in closed-door training to treat his injuries many years ago, he had already squandered a good amount of the family's fortunes to purchase healing items. During the few crises faced by the clan, they had also used a few of the amulets and treasures Lu Qing left behind. That, along with the constant sale of their assets, caused such a situation.
The effects of having poor equipment were huge.
If Lu Chaoxi had a lightning-element Level Two high-grade flying sword, he would be able to deal decent damage with the flying sword alone, even without the use of any techniques. If he had a treasure that could enhance the power of incantation techniques, then the two Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation would not have just inflicted serious injuries to the Stonemother. He would have killed the enemy directly.
Unfortunately, he did not have anything. All he had was a ragged Level Two low-grade flying sword.
Lu Qing felt a little annoyed even in his spirit form.
This situation of poverty was not unique to Lu Chaoxi. It was fine for the Qi Refining cultivators of the Lu Clan. A Level One magic equipment was inexpensive and was suitable for a Qi Refining cultivator. They were better off than an average unaffiliated cultivator. However, the three Foundation Building cultivators from the Lu Clan were all extremely poor.
"In the future, I'll have to find a way to get the three of them some equipment…" Lu Qing thought.
He had no way to do that in the past as the clan was too poor. However, their situation had improved quite a bit. They had a profit of over 400 Spirit Stones every year. Even if they had to set aside some money as a reserve fund, the rest of the money could be used to give the three Foundation Building cultivators of the clan some better pieces of equipment.
While Lu Qing was deliberating the matter, Lu Chaoxi, who was guarding the entrance of the mine, welcomed the arrival of his seventh brother and ninth sister.
The two of them were also extremely poor. They did not even have Level Two flying swords and had to make do with Level One high-grade flying swords. Since their flying speed was not fast, they spent much longer time arriving at the mine than Lu Chaoxi did.
A piece of Level Two magic equipment was not cheap. An ordinary Level Two low-grade magic equipment cost at least 200 to 300 Spirit Stones, while high-grade equipment cost over a thousand.
The three siblings discussed the situation with one another. Lu Chaoxi first told his brother and sister about the information regarding the Stonemother. They then discussed a strategy and entered the cavern together.