Chapter 22 Foundation Establishment Immortal Banquet

Black Magpie Mountain was clear and cloudless today. At Zizai Pavilion, Chen Li was making a Third-Rank Formation while sipping tea.

Chen Li took out the bones and hide of a Third-level Demon Beast from his Storage Pouch, then steeped tea while engraving third-grade formation patterns, working on one after another as if mending clothes!

He finished one set every hour, taking out another beast after finishing the previous one.

A gentle breeze blew, causing a spirit fruit tree on the mountainside to sway. From Zizai Pavilion, the crimson sun spirit fruit tree was perfectly hidden within.

Now that the crimson sun spirit fruit tree had been replanted, its green leaves were still green, showing no signs of wilting!

He occasionally went to Luoxia Mountain to check on the spirit rice and weed the area.

... A few days later, at the Lu Family ancestral land in Yuanwu Prefecture, many people had already arrived at the Guest Reception Tower for the banquet.

The Family Heads of the thirteen Qi Refining Immortal Clans from the four counties of Liangxi County had all arrived, along with some clan disciples.

The first floor was for entertaining the Qi Refining Immortal Clans, and the second floor was for the guests from the Foundation Establishment Immortal Clans.

On the first floor, every arriving guest brought a small gift. The gift Chen Li brought was a set of Second-Rank Formation, not too valuable but not too dismissive either, as a set usually cost around one hundred to three hundred Spirit Stones on the market.

Not far away, he saw Yun Tiancheng, the Yun Family Head, Luo Sheng, the Luo Family Head, and guests from the An Family and Wang Family. The five quickly formed a table.

Yun Tiancheng said, "Brother Chen, long time no see. I heard you were blessed with a daughter and a Qilin!"

The other families also offered their congratulations to Chen Li on having two children. Chen Li replied to each one, and after some pleasantries, the Zhu Family from Lingchuan County also arrived.

Zhu Baiqiu, the Zhu Family Head, walked over after seeing Chen Li.

"Greetings, Old Ancestor Zhu!" Chen Li greeted him.

"Nephew Chen, take this. It's a bottle of vitality replenishing pill for Lingyue to replenish her Origin Qi. And this spirit rice and spirit milk are food for my own grandchildren from me, an Old Ancestor!"

"Thank you, Old Ancestor Zhu!" Chen Li accepted without refusing.

Half an hour later, the Qi Refining Immortal Clans from Liangxi County had basically all arrived. Chen Li had now met all these Family Heads.

The highest-ranking Family Head was at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, and the lowest was at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer. In Yuanwu Prefecture, there was only one Foundation Establishment Family, the Lu Family. Over the years, six or seven Qi Refining Immortal Clans had gradually settled in Yuanwu Prefecture, including Chen Li's.

There were no other Foundation Establishment Cultivators establishing clans in Yuanwu Prefecture; it had always been the Lu Family. Zhang An probably saw this point, realizing that supporting two Foundation Establishment Immortal Clans with the offerings of a dozen Qi Refining Immortal Clans was the absolute limit.

But since Zhang An came, he had to pull some ridiculous stunt. He couldn't handle the turmoil and passively died, returning to square one.

Two Foundation Establishment Immortal Clans from Yunan Prefecture arrived: one from the Wu Family, which had three Foundation Establishment Cultivators in Yunan Prefecture, and the Li Family, which had recently advanced from a Qi Refining Immortal Clan to a Foundation Establishment one. One Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Bai Family of Guangyue Prefecture also came.

By this time, everyone had arrived, and most of the dishes were served. Before the feast officially began, Lu Xilou came downstairs to show his face briefly, occasionally glancing at Chen Li's table. The others noticed it too.

However, everyone's acting skills were passable; there were no unusual movements. After all, they were on someone else's turf, just there to attend a feast, not to cause trouble.

Chen Li and the others chatted idly while eating. Suddenly, a young attendant at the door announced, "A distinguished guest has arrived! A Golden Core True Person from the Beast Hunting Sect is visiting!"

Lu Xilou, who was on the second floor, hurried to the entrance and said enthusiastically, "I wonder what brings the esteemed superior to visit us. We apologize for not greeting you sooner!"

So, after all the Cultivators came out, they all cupped their hands in greeting.

This person was Jin Yue, the Enforcement Elder from the Hunting Hall of the Beast Hunting Sect. His expression was cold as he said, "Have you seen this person?"

Jin Yue took out a portrait. Lu Xilou looked at the portrait, shook his head, and said, "I have not seen him."

Thus, the Foundation Establishment Immortal Banquet turned into a portrait identification session. Lu Xilou cursed inwardly, but he dared not offend the man.

One by one, people went up to identify the portrait, and every single one shook their heads.

When it was Chen Li's turn, he saw the portrait of the Scarred Cultivator and suddenly understood. Although his heart panicked slightly, his acting skills were up to par, and he shook his head just like everyone else.

After everyone had identified the portrait, Jin Yue frowned. Presumably, he had asked many people, so he wasn't surprised that no one recognized him.

Then Jin Yue coldly threw down a sentence: "You all may continue."

... Because of this interruption, the Foundation Establishment Immortal Banquet could not proceed properly and ended hastily, with everyone returning home.

On the way back, Chen Li pondered. For this Scarred Cultivator to warrant personal investigation from a Golden Core True Person, did this person hide some earth-shattering secret?

However, besides the sixty Yao Beasts in the Storage Pouch, the rest were just some books and Cultivation Techniques?

Hmm? Books and Cultivation Techniques?

Could it be a case of false advertising?

At Black Magpie Mountain, in a study room on the second floor of Immortal Learning Tower, Chen Li placed all the calligraphy books belonging to the Scarred Cultivator here.

They were all books and Cultivation Techniques at the Qi Refining level. Chen Li began to flip through them.

At the same time, after Jin Yue left, he returned to an Immortal Cave. Inside the cave, there were dense rows of cages trapping Qi Refining Ninth Layer Cultivators from the Beast Hunting Sect!

Upon returning, Jin Yue approached one cage and asked, "Is the 'Blood River True Nascent Soul Great Art' you mentioned really on this person?"

Jin Yue showed the portrait of the Scarred Cultivator, which he had obtained from the Sect. If he hadn't been worried about the backlash of using Soul Searching Art as an Early Stage Golden Core Cultivator, he would have directly used it.

The Cultivator trapped at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining replied meekly, "Yes, yes, it's him. Three years ago, we accidentally entered an Ancient Tomb, seemingly belonging to a Cultivator from ten thousand years ago. There were only these two books inside, which I split with this person. One was the 'Blood River True Nascent Soul Great Art,' and the other was the 'Blood River True God Great Art' for you, Elder."

"Please, Elder, let me out!"

Seeing the Cultivator begging bitterly, Jin Yue completely ignored him and cast a Dharma Art, silencing him forever.

He took out the 'Blood River True God Great Art.' This book discussed how to use true blood to sacrifice a Nascent Soul to condense into Soul Transformation. However, Soul Transformation was too distant for him. The 'Blood River True Nascent Soul Great Art' was what he truly desired; if he couldn't even reach Nascent Soul, how could he aim for Soul Transformation!

But this person had entered the Boundless Forest, and now, after searching everywhere nearby, there was no trace of him. He was most likely dead in the Boundless Forest or at the hands of someone else.

Sigh!

Jin Yue sighed. It was fate!

At Black Magpie Mountain, in the study room on the second floor of Immortal Learning Tower, the cover of a third-grade Cultivation Technique disguised as the 'Gui Yuan Jue' actually had another book jacketed over it. One wouldn't discover it without flipping through it!

Chen Li began to look through this 'Blood River True Nascent Soul Great Art.'

After a while, he gasped in astonishment. This was clearly a Demonic Path Cultivation Technique!

It required devouring the essence blood of myriad spirits to condense a Nascent Soul, necessitating the slaughter of a million living beings to collect essence blood and forge the 'Blood River True Nascent Soul.'

He placed this book into his Storage Pouch. He didn't know how that Golden Core Cultivator found out about this person and this book? What he did know was that if this book were exposed before he possessed absolute strength, it would only lead to a dead end!