Chapter Six Arrangements
Xu Mansion, Western Garden.
"Master is back, he's..." Chunmei and Qiujie saw Xu Hua walking in from afar, with a little boy covered in mud by his side, and they skipped over to Xu Hua excitedly.
Luò Chéng gazed at the two beautiful sisters, who looked like celestial beings. A faint blush appeared on their dark faces as they slightly lowered their heads, allowing their disheveled hair to cover their faces. They followed behind Xú Huá Gōngzǐ, looking like a pair of attendants.
Chun Mei and Qiu Ju walked together, one on the left and one on the right, holding Xu Hua's hands. Xu Hua looked at them and said, "I'm troubling you two sisters again. This is Luo Cheng, who will be my book boy from now on. Please arrange a residence for him near mine in the Western Garden."
The two girls looked at the little boy behind Xu Hua, who was covered in dirt and looked a bit shy, and slightly furrowed their brows. However, they still nodded and said, "We'll go make arrangements right away."
Seeing that the two had no objection, Xu Hua turned to face Luo Cheng and said: "Luo Cheng, you should follow these two sisters' arrangements for now and get settled first. Get yourself cleaned up, change into some clean clothes, and take the opportunity to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Come see me tomorrow morning, I have things arranged."
"It's the young master, thank you for your trouble, two sisters." Luo Cheng slightly raised his head and secretly glanced at Chunmei and Qiujie a few times, which made the two women feel that he was much more interesting, 'heh', 'heh' laughing.
"Come on, Luo Cheng, let's go." Chunmei started chattering nonstop, while Qiujie occasionally interrupted. As for Luo Cheng, he basically didn't listen at all, and just followed the two girls foolishly, his mind filled with their heavenly beauty.
"So you're a beggar, but it's your good fortune to have met the young master. The young master is a really kind person, and from now on, you won't have to worry about not having enough food to eat. From now on, just settle down at the Xu residence!"
……
Xu Hua watched as the three people left, then headed towards the backyard.
The backyard of the Xu's mansion was very large, extending all the way to a small hill. The people from the Xu family rarely came here, but Xu Hua made it a point to visit every day, for there were endless flowers, grasses and trees here, and this was where he obtained the vital energy he needed.
Passing through a small forest, Xuhua was already far away from the Xu Mansion. This place basically wouldn't have any people around, and Xuhua could also cultivate here with peace of mind.
Xu Hua chose a lush shrub, and sat cross-legged in a small clearing within the shrubs, starting to circulate the "Devouring Life Technique".
"The Devouring Life Technique" is a martial arts manual that differs greatly from other techniques and incantations. It has no hierarchical divisions, only one main chapter of about 1,000 words, starting from scratch to cultivate from nothing. At the beginning of cultivation, it is very difficult to extract the life essence from the bodies of all living things, and can only slowly absorb its internal life energy by placing one's hand on the grass or wood itself.
As Xu Hua's cultivation progressed, his mastery of the "Life-Draining Technique" became more and more proficient. He could absorb the life force from plants within a radius of one zhang (about 3.3 meters), and his absorption speed also accelerated. Two years later, he was able to absorb the life force from plants and wild beasts within a radius of twenty zhang (about 66 meters). Moreover, his absorption speed was incredibly fast; in just one quarter of an hour, he could drain the life force from all the plants and wild beasts within a radius of twenty zhang.
As for the demon beast, its body contains more life energy. Even a first-level demon beast has more life energy in its body than a human martial artist. Although a warrior-level martial artist corresponds to a first-level demon beast, the massive body of the demon beast is not something that a human martial artist can compare with. Human martial artists cultivate their physical bodies, but mainly focus on true energy and martial skills. Therefore, even if a martial artist's level is one level higher than a first-level demon beast, the life energy in their body cannot be compared to it.
If he could absorb the life essence from the demon beast's body, Xu Hua's accumulation of life essence would be much faster. However, he had never tried it before. He had never left Qing Shan Town, and in Qing Shan Town, there were no demon beasts. Occasionally, a martial artist would bring back a demon beast they hunted from the Tai Hang Mountain Range, but it would be dissected beyond recognition. As a result, Xu Hua still didn't know what differences there were between a demon beast and a wild beast.
One hundred miles north of Qing Shan Town, you can reach the edge of the Taihang Mountains. The entire Taihang Mountain range is vast and boundless, with no one knowing its exact size. It's only known that the entire mountain range spans across the Eastern Domain, Southern Domain, and Central Domain, with countless demonic beasts within. Except for the Taihang Mountains and the Eastern Forbidden Zone, the rest of the Tian Xuan Continent is human territory. Although there are still many places with demonic beasts, they can't compare to the Taihang Mountains.
In the outer reaches of the Taihang Mountains, within a radius of two to three hundred miles, there are mostly first and second-tier demonic beasts, equivalent to human warriors and martial artists. Further in, within a range of five to six hundred miles, there are mostly third and fourth-tier demonic beasts, equivalent to powerful human martial kings and emperors. Further in, it is basically a forbidden zone for humans, where fifth-tier demon lords can be seen everywhere, and even sixth-tier demon emperors often appear.
The current Tianxuan Continent is no longer as prosperous as it was in the ancient, distant, and primordial eras. The strong ones of the Martial Emperor and Demon Emperor levels have already stood at the top of the continent, and there are no longer any martial saints or martial gods, nor are there any powerful demon beasts appearing.
According to ancient books, in the distant past, Martial Emperors and Demon Emperors were everywhere, and there were many Martial Saints and Demon Saints. There were even Martial Gods and Demon Gods; in the primordial era, it was even more terrifying, with Martial Venerables and Demon Venerables being no better than dogs, while Martial Emperors and Demon Emperors roamed freely, and saints could be seen walking by just by lifting one's head. In that era, Martial Gods and Demon Gods were the true protagonists; if a race did not have Martial Gods or Demon Gods, they would either be dependent on other races or face extinction.
At that time, even the strongest warriors could pluck stars from the void. Now, compared to the past, the martial arts have fallen behind by too much. The Martial Emperor and the Demon Emperor rarely appear, and it's said that only seven major powers on the entire Tianxuan Continent possess such existences, and they basically never show their faces.
These seven major forces are the overlords of the Tianxuan Continent, and each force's power can influence a large domain. Countless forces surrender to them, and countless warriors yearn for them. The Eastern Domain's Qidian Temple, the Southern Domain's Red Fire Peak, the Western Domain's Dan Zong, the Northern Domain's Xuan Yin Lake, and the Central Domain's Han Family, the Dayue Wang Dynasty, and the Yaozun Temple are all renowned in the world.
Among the seven major forces, except for the Demon Hall, all are human forces. As for the Demon Hall, they are all transformed into powerful demons. Ordinary demon beasts can cultivate to the fifth stage and refine the horizontal bone in their mouth, speak human language, and reach the sixth stage of Demon Emperor to transform into a human being. However, it is not necessary to reach the sixth stage to transform, if one obtains a transformation pill, they can also transform into a human being.
Because the members of the Demon Emperor's Palace are all powerful demons in disguise, there are very few of them. However, the number of top-level demon emperors within the palace far exceeds that of other dominant forces, which is why it can stand firm in the human world; otherwise, the strong humans would have destroyed the Demon Emperor's Palace long ago.
The reason why the Demon Temple is so powerful is that all the strong demon beasts in the entire Taihang Mountain will be incorporated into the Demon Temple once they reach the level of Martial Emperor, and only some hidden Demon Emperors will reside in the Taihang Mountains.
These were all seen by Xu Hua in the ancient books of his own family, among which there were several layers of truth and several layers of falsehood, but he was not clear about it either. For him, this world was very big and also very dangerous. As a warrior in the early stages, although he had some other means, for the strong on the mainland, one hand could crush him to death, not much stronger than an ant.
Today, he finally realized the importance of his strength and is now preparing to fully enhance his own strength. Usually, he rarely cultivates martial skills and techniques, so he has only just reached the early stage of being a warrior. As for the "Devouring Life Technique", although he practices it every day, he controls it tightly, far from reaching the limit that he can achieve.
He usually only practiced "Shengong" in the morning, but tonight he came alone to the small hill in the backyard of the Xu family again, preparing to absorb a large amount of life energy from plants and trees. In the past, his demand for life energy was not high, so most of the plants and trees absorbed by him were still alive. But today, he couldn't care about these things anymore. His great kindness and benevolence only applied to humans, as for the lives of plants and trees, if they had to be sacrificed, he would absolutely not show any mercy.
Half a minute passed, and within twenty feet of Xu Hua's body, all the grass and trees began to wither and fall, countless life energies surged into Xu Hua's body, constantly nourishing his flesh. Perhaps because of the speed of absorption was particularly fast, the surging life energy was especially numerous, his body kept making 'zhi', 'zhi' sounds.
Vital energy surged in, every meridian, every organ, even the skeleton was greedily absorbing vital energy, rapidly strengthening, hardening, becoming more powerful.
"Hmm..."
As Xuhua opened his eyes, all the grass and trees within a radius of twenty zhang around him lost their vitality, becoming desolate and lifeless. Even the small insects that were eating leaves on the tree leaves withered and scattered, dying quietly in happiness.
"For my strength, for my dreams, I can only inconvenience you." Looking at the withered trees, Xu Hua stood up and walked towards a lush area of trees in front, sat down again to continue absorbing the life energy here.
Today, he has already absorbed the life force twice, but Xuhua still doesn't feel the limit. Perhaps the "Life Devouring Skill" never had a limit to begin with, it's just that the original Xuhua didn't think about it that way before.
As Xu Hua operated his technique, the life energy within the surrounding plants and trees flowed out in large quantities, all surging into his body. Feeling his own body rapidly growing stronger, a satisfied smile also appeared on Xu Hua's face as he closed his eyes.
……
It was unknown how long it had been, and how many places Xu Hua had changed. When Xu Hua opened his eyes and stood up to look back, he saw that the forest in the darkness of night was silent, without even the sound of insects. This world had completely lost its vitality, and it was unknown how long it would take to recover.
Feeling the immense power surging through his body, Xu Hua's excitement overcame his sorrow, and he muttered to himself: "It was all worth it..."
Step away from this place, under the moonlight, a long shadow is drawn out.
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