It was not easy to be an unaffiliated or independent cultivator. Independent cultivators were often killed and robbed of their treasures outside. They often faced various problems such as lack of resources, insufficient Cultivation Methods, insufficient spirit stones, and so on. There were many itinerant cultivators who died outside.
There were two main types of unaffiliated cultivators who lived a comfortable life in the cultivation world. One type had a top-tier Immortal Artifact, which could make up for the lack of resources. The other type was like a certain cultivator who had a top-tier Grotto at the beginning of their cultivation. A day in the outside world would be a year within the Grotto. They relied on the Grotto to cultivate spiritual herbs, so they did not lack resources.
Otherwise, the other unaffiliated cultivators would have a pretty miserable life.
A few unaffiliated cultivators would dare to fight and seize good opportunities to become Foundation Establishment cultivators.
After becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the unaffiliated cultivator would think of a way to get rid of the identity of an unaffiliated cultivator and establish a cultivation clan. With the collective strength and power of the clan, they could survive in the world of cultivators.
Being an unaffiliated cultivator had no future. It was like being a bandit with no future.
"The spiritual energy in the mountains outside is very thin. It's only one-tenth of the spiritual vein of the clan. Cultivating in the wild is too slow," Lu Xuanji analyzed.
The spiritual energy that seemed free and easy to come by in the past was now the most precious thing.
Cultivators cultivated the Dao, Wealth, Partner, Spells, and Land.
Wealth was denominated not only with spiritual stones, but also spiritual pills, Magic Treasures, and arrays.
Partners were not just Dao Companions. There were also disciples, teachers, clan members, friends, and so on. Only by relying on each other could they go far.
Spells were the Cultivation Methods and cultivation techniques. There were also pill formulas, array formations, and talismans.
The land was the spiritual mountain, the blessed land, and so on. Without spiritual veins, one could not cultivate.
When the Lu Clan existed, there was no lack of wealth, partners, and land. As long as one entered the Qi Refinement stage, the clan would give them free cave abodes, and they could plant spirit fields at the foot of the mountain in peace. At that time, they complained that they had to be farmers after cultivating. However, now, that life seemed so sweet and happy.
Now that they were reduced to unaffiliated cultivators, if they tried to start a spirit field and plant spirit rice, it was likely that they would get robbed by other cultivators.
On Mount Ziyang, there was a tier-3 spiritual vein for cultivation. With the aid of the spirit vein, cultivators can advance one level every four years. In the outside world, it would take 20 years to advance one level by absorbing the wandering spiritual energy from the outside world.
In the past, while they were on Mount Ziyang, they had taken the spirit vein for granted because it was within reach.
Now that the Lu Clan had been destroyed, they missed their old life.
No wonder after the establishment of those large forces, the first thing they did was to establish the spirit vein.
"Big Brother, the Lu Clan has some businesses outside, and there are some Foundation Establishment cultivators overseeing them... We can rely on those uncles," Ye Feixue said.
"When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. When the Lu Clan was strong, those businesses would be a safe haven. Now that the Lu family has been destroyed, those businesses will be taken over by some forces. Some of these forces would not show mercy at all."
"Those businesses may be attacked soon... The only lucky thing is that father and mother are guarding the market outside, and they avoided this disaster," Lu Xuanji said.
On Mount Ziyang, the cultivators of the Lu Clan had suffered a devastating blow.
If it was a Qi Refinement stage cultivator, they might have escaped, but if it was a Foundation Establishment cultivator who was targeted, the chances of survival were almost zero.
The first thing to do was to go to the Lu Clan marketplace and find the other clansmen.
...
After confirming their target, they walked toward the Lu Clan's marketplace.
On the way, the two of them kept an extremely low profile. Two days later, they arrived at one of the Lu Clan's marketplace.
The once-bustling bazaar was now nothing more than a pile of rubble. There were also blazing flames. The collapsed buildings, as well as the charred corpses, all displayed the cruelty of this place.
"Not good. The Lu Clan's marketplace was attacked by that Zifu disciple. It's completely destroyed." Lu Xuanji's expression was rather gloomy.
This market city of the Lu Clan was usually mainly used by itinerant cultivators. Here, there were shops, spirit fields, Immortal Caves, and so on. The Lu Clan had spent a large amount of energy to construct this market city.
Beneath this market city, there was a tier-2 spirit vein. Here, there was a formation protecting this market city.
Even if seven or eight Foundation Establishment cultivators joined forces, they might not be able to break through this market city. It could be said that the defense was powerful and impregnable.
However, when the Zifu disciple made his move, no one was able to stop him.
When the Zifu disciple Patriarch came, he relied on his tyrannical power to break through the formation. He destroyed this marketplace and killed the Lu Clan cultivators here.
"Let's go." Lu Xuanji continued to walk towards the other properties of the Lu Clan.
They arrived at a spirit mine. There were spirit stones buried underground, which needed to be dug out by cultivators. Every year, the Lu Clan would be able to mine more than 20,000 spirit stones. However, when they arrived here, an enormous palm print appeared above the mine, causing the mine to collapse. The Lu Clan cultivators were buried within it.
They arrived at another copper mine, where the production of copper was one of the main materials used in artifact refinement. However, it was also destroyed and headed towards destruction.
They also arrived at several other properties of the Lu Clan, all of which were destroyed. All of the cultivators there were killed.
After walking for a month, they discovered that all the cultivators within Lu Clan properties had been killed.
According to some calculations, these cases happened on the same day.
In other words, the Zifu disciple had been traveling in all directions with his sword. In a short period of time, he had killed all the cultivators of the Lu Clan.
"I wonder if any Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Lu Clan are still alive..." Lu Xuanji sighed.
The Lu Clan had more than 1,500 cultivators, but there were only about 20 Foundation Establishment cultivators.
These 20 or so Foundation Establishment cultivators were the foundation of the Lu Clan. Once all of the Lu Clan's Foundation Establishment cultivators died, the Lu Clan would be disqualified from being a cultivator clan. The remaining 500 or so Lu Clan cultivators would become itinerant cultivators and die in battle.
That Daoist hated the Lu Clan so much...
If it were not for the fact that he was worried about the Dan Yang Sect and did not have enough time, he would have killed all the Qi Refinement stage cultivators one by one.
Not only that, with the Lu Clan's experts being killed, some of the Lu Clan's spirit mines, spirit fields, spirit veins, and other real estate were also occupied by other cultivation clans.
It could be said that the Lu Clan had fallen, and many people had come to eat their fill.
Lu Xuanji and Ye Feixue looked at each other, and a hint of bitterness flashed through their eyes. They steeled themselves and headed north, away from the Lu Clan.
Now that the situation was unclear, it was best to lie low for a period of time and hide one's cultivation.
Huff huff.
In a cave, Lu Xuanji hesitated slightly, but he still took out a spirit stone and began to absorb the spirit energy in the spirit stone.
Not only that, he also handed Ye Feixue ten spirit stones, allowing her to absorb the spirit stones and raise her cultivation.
"Big Brother, using spirit stones to cultivate is too extravagant," Ye Feixue said.
"It's a little extravagant, but this is the best method to digest spirit stones," Lu Xuanji said. "Spirit stones are only money if you spend them. Spirit stones that aren't spent are only stones. They are resources nonetheless."
Ye Feixue's heart ached a little, but she still took out the spirit stones and began to absorb the spiritual energy, raising her cultivation.
In the world of cultivation, spirit stones were used as currency, and this currency was valuable.
There were two main sources of spirit stones. One was from underground, which had been formed naturally after a long time of precipitation. The other was from cultivators who compressed the spiritual energy, turning it from a gaseous state to a solid state. This was a man-made spiritual stone.
A one-inch cubic spiritual stone could be considered a standard spiritual stone.
A spiritual stone might not seem big, but the spiritual energy contained within was enough for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to cultivate for a day.
Of course, no cultivator would be so extravagant as to directly use spiritual stones to cultivate. Spiritual stones were not just a currency for trading. They could also be used to set up formations, nurture spirit veins, and quickly replenish True Qi during battle.
Without the spirit veins of Mount Ziyang, it would take ten years for Lu Xuanji to raise his cultivation level by just absorbing the spiritual energy from the outside world. He could not afford to wait that long.
He had no choice but to absorb the spiritual energy from the spirit stones to increase his cultivation speed.
It was a little wasteful, but his cultivation speed had increased.