ly dispel their doubts. It's just that the asymmetry of information between the two sides made the wizened old man and the middle-aged Daoist nun both feel that the other party was incapable of escapi...Five months later.

"The Primordial One, before qi was differentiated, existed in a state of primal chaos, unified as one. Qi originated within this chaos, luminous outwardly but obscure inwardly...."

Lu Xia Tian sat cross-legged on the grass mat in front of his cave, silently running the exercises from the *Hun Yuan Jing*. He held his breath and focused his mind, guarding his essence and returning to unity. After circulating the qi within his body for a second great cycle, he exhaled a mouthful of turbid air. Before entering the Qi Refining stage, the air in Lu Xia Tian's lungs would dissipate upon exhalation. But now, the air expelled from his mouth shot out like a short arrow.

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It took Lu Xiaoci nearly four months to reach the first level of Qi Refining, and this past month he has consolidated his progress slightly.

“Oh no, I almost forgot to give Little Green Ant the Beast Spirit Pill.”

Lu Xiaoteng patted his forehead, the spiritual energy outside the cave was even richer, so the time spent cultivating just now was a little longer. At this moment, he came back to his senses and Lu Xiaoteng rolled over from the ground, his two small legs hurriedly stepped forward, and ran into the cave. A big black bear lay at the door, opened its eyes when it saw Lu Xiaoteng, and closed them again with no energy, continuing to snore loudly.

Lu XiaTian skillfully ran to the secret chamber of the alchemy room, taking a small white bottle. Then he went to the spirit beast house within the cave dwelling. In the relatively spacious spirit beast house, in a jade pool measuring about a zhang in size, some leaves of Baiying Grass were scattered. Baiying Grass was a low-grade spirit herb with its leaf surface shimmering with a faint white glow. And occasionally, there were slight movements within the leaves of the Baiying Grass.

Lu Xia Tian took out a dozen black pills that emanated a strange fragrance from a white vial and scattered them on the leaves of the Bai Yingcao.

Hiss...

Suddenly, a commotion arose in the jade pool. Over twenty green ants, each five or six times larger than normal, crawled out from the leaves and swarmed towards the Beast Spirit Pill, munching on it greedily.

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One, two...

Riding on the meal of the little green ants, Lu Xiaotian repeatedly counted them, finding that there was no decrease in their number. Finally, he let out a breath of relief. Over the past six months, the old man in black robes had gone out more and more frequently. Apart from cultivating, Lu Xiaotian also had to be responsible for taking care of these little green ants for the old man in black robes.

These small green ants are low-level spirit insects, difficult to raise. It took nearly half a year to cultivate these twenty or so. Once they run out of enough food, the small green ants will turn on each other.

Two months ago, Lu Xiaoteng was punished by the black-robed elder with twenty lashes because he didn't feed the ant larvae in time. As a result, two of the larvae were killed and eaten by stronger ants. He was in so much pain that he could barely move for three days before he could walk again. After this lesson, Lu Xiaoteng always became extra careful.

Lu Xia Tian stuffed the peach wood into the mouth of the white bottle. Suddenly, a long and narrow shadow appeared on the ground. Lu Xia Tian's heart tightened, but he quickly relaxed. He turned around, as expected, it was the old man in black robe.

"Old Master Geng!" Lu Xia Tian bowed to the black-robed old man.

“You know it’s me” Even though the old man in black robes was far superior to Lu Xia Tian in cultivation, the moment he appeared at the entrance of the Spirit Beast Room, Lu Xia Tian seemed to have sensed him, which surprised the old man in black robes.

“There was a faint human figure on the ground, and Heixiong guarded the entrance of the cave. Only Lao Geng could enter the cave silently.” Lu Xiaottian said truthfully.

>

"Not bad, at such a young age to have such intelligence, among peers, it is indeed outstanding." The black-robed elder nodded slightly, secretly thinking it was a pity that this child's spiritual root and potential were lacking. He had been practicing the HunYuan Sutra for nearly half a year, but there wasn't much progress. In the past, he would have considered taking him as a disciple. But ever since the Dihuo Palace was destroyed, whenever the black-robed elder thought of the word "disciple", his face turned gloomy.

“The shadow ants are well-fed, here’s a Qi Gathering Pill as a reward for you.” The black-robed old man took out a pill bottle from his body, and with a palm up, the bottle floated in front of Lu Xia Tian.

Lu Xiaitian took the pill bottle, opened the lid, and a refreshing medicinal fragrance wafted out. Lu Xiaitian couldn't help but smile, Gathering Qi Pill was a medicinal pill used by cultivators in the early stage of refining Qi. From the first to the third level, it had good effects. This pill, for him who was only at the first level of refining Qi, was equivalent to three months of hard cultivation.

"Thank you, Elder Geng, for gifting me this pill." Lu Xia Tian carefully put away the pill and hurriedly thanked him.

“As long as you do a good job, I won't be stingy with my rewards.” The old man in black nodded and took out another small jade gourd. “In the future, I may spend less time in the cave. After the shadow ants in the jade pool grow to maturity, if I haven’t returned yet, you will put the mature shadow ants into this jade gourd.”

At this time, Lu Xiaoteng also knew that this kind of small green ant was called Ying Ant. However, Lu Xiaoteng's face was a little embarrassed. This kind of small green ant was a low-level spirit insect. Its killing power was not great, but it had an extremely strong paralyzing effect. Two months ago, that is, the time when the feeding was inadequate, it was also because Lu Xiaoteng accidentally reached into the Jade Pool and was bitten by a small green ant. His movements were much slower than usual. He lay on the animal skin and slept two more hours than usual that night. Coming together, the small green ants in the Jade Pool had already started to devour each other.

“Elder Geng, after I was bitten by a shadow ant, I was paralyzed for almost a day. Without preventive measures, I'm afraid it would delay Elder Geng's task.”

Lu XiaTian cautiously said, fearing that the old man in black would be displeased.

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“This vial contains the antidote for the paralysis poison of Shadow Ants. You just need to take the antidote before you capture the Shadow Ant.” The black-robed old man gave Lu Xiaotien another small vial of medicine.

"Yes, Old Geng."

Lu Xia Tian took the antidote and thought to himself, "No wonder that black-robed elder who had always been so straightforward with him earlier gave him a Qi Gathering Pill. It turned out he was supposed to do this kind of hard labor." Even with the antidote, being bitten by the little green ants was quite painful. It's just that there was no room for the black-robed elder to refuse his arrangement.

“I’m leaving tomorrow, taking the alchemy furnace with me.” The old man in black robe said.

“If the Beast Spirit Pill runs out and Old Geng hasn't returned, I'm afraid I won't be able to take care of these Shadow Ants.” Lu Xia Tian said honestly.

"I still have a small alchemy furnace here, it's not very good, but it's enough to refine Beast Spirit Pills."

The old man in black robe took out another small furnace, its whole body was as black as obsidian and seemed to be made of dark iron. Compared to the one he used before, it was far inferior in appearance. However, Lu Xia Tian had no other single-use items or spirit objects, so he didn't mind this. Nevertheless, Lu Xia Tian thought to himself that he still had no means of self-protection. Through the conversation between the old man in black robe and the others, Lu Xia Tian knew that cultivators not only needed cultivation methods but also needed to practice spells or combat techniques to be considered capable in battle.

When he was at the Leifeng Sword Sect, Brother Shi Qingshan had also practiced both internal energy and martial arts techniques after cultivating his internal kung fu. Only then could he be considered a true warrior. Therefore, Lu Xia Tian thought that warriors and cultivators shared similarities.

The old man in black robes was leaving later and later each time, so after a moment of thought, Lu Xia Tian gathered his courage and said, "Old Geng, what if you don't come back in time I need to go out to collect medicinal herbs for refining the Beast Spirit Pill. If I take the black bear with me, if a demon beast breaks into the cave, it might damage things inside. If I don't take the black bear, it’s no big deal if I encounter danger outside, but what if I don't come back It would delay Old Geng from raising these Shadow Ants, which would disappoint Old Geng."

“Are you trying to ask me for favors” Old Geng chuckled darkly, his triangular eyes flashing with a venomous coldness.

"No, I dare not."

Lu Xiaotian's forehead immediately broke out in a cold sweat. The pressure from the high-ranking cultivator made Lu Xiaotian's legs tremble. At this time, being able to stand firm and not kneel down was already considered good.

Elder Geng's face flickered with uncertainty. The spiritual creature found in the canyon was indeed what he desired. The Shade Ant was also one of his trump cards, but its individual destructive power wasn't strong. In previous battles with disciples from Lingxiao Palace, most of them were destroyed. This young one still had some use. If what Lu Xia Tian said was true, it would indeed be troublesome.

After a moment of thought, Elder Geng's face softened slightly, a hint of amusement flashed in his eyes, and then he threw another ancient silver ring and a book to Lu Xiaitian. "This is a spirit beast ring, and the book contains the art of taming beasts. You can take Black Bear out to subdue a low-level spirit beast."

"Excuse me, Old Master Geng."

Lu Xiaoteng finally let out a sigh of relief. He had an innate fear of the black-robed elder. If it wasn't absolutely necessary, Lu Xiaoteng wouldn't want to bear this kind of pressure for no reason. However, once the black-robed elder left, he would be too dangerous to go out alone to collect herbs and refine beast spirit pills. For his own life, he had to do this.

Let me know if you have any other text you'd like me to translate!e Illusory Mist Marsh following the direction where other Immortal Sects and the Tortoise Spirit Immortal Army had retreated. 。"It's a pity that when Guiling Immortal Domain mobilized its troops, they...