Dragon Head Mountain.
The mountain towered mightily, with a range of peaks stretching on and on, as if a real dragon lay coiled across them, gazing down over the vast land and leaving onlookers in dread.
At the foot of the mountain, an immense stone stele stood a hundred meters tall.
Carved into it were the forceful and vigorous characters “Beast Taming Xu Family,” exuding an air of grandeur and an ancient aura.
This was the main residence of one of the three great Cultivator Families of Jiang Country’s Cultivation Realm—the Beast Taming Xu Family!
For thousands of years, the Xu Family had not only a Core Formation Old Ancestor at its helm but also Third-Order Spirit Beasts to underpin its heritage, commanding the renowned Water Serpent Dao Soldiers and Fire Crow Dao Soldiers across the Cultivation World of Jiang Country!
Their strength was unquestionable and not something ordinary Family Forces could compare with.
At this moment, in the Xu Family Ancestral Hall.
“Pffft!!!”
He entered the ancestral hall in a frantic state to investigate.
Direct members of the Xu Family, the core descendants, were each equipped with a Life-bound Plaque.
Once they broke through to Foundation Establishment and became part of the upper echelons of the family, their Life-bound Plaque would be upgraded to a Life-bound Lamp!
With this, not only could one ascertain if the lamp’s owner was alive or dead, but one could also sense their life force through the lamp.
A flickering lamp, like a candle in the wind, indicated that the person was in a state of crisis, and one could take the lamp to their aid.
The Xu Family elder entered the hall where the lamps were displayed and at first glance, did not see any extinguished lamps.
However, facing this situation, he felt no joy;
his face turned pale as he slowly looked toward the high platform where the lamps were situated.
The first layer!
The second layer!
The third layer!
His face grew paler with each ascending layer he observed, and when he saw a lamp on the third layer extinguished, he felt as though struck by lightning, his face ashen, nearly collapsing to the ground.
“This is the Ancestor’s lamp, how, how, how could this be…”
The elder was overwhelmed, disbelief filling his eyes;
thinking his vision failed him, he looked again and again.
Once sure the lamp was truly extinguished and their Elder Ancestor had perished abroad, he let out a pitiful cry, sounding the bell to notify the family.
In the depths of the Cangmang Mountain Range.
Lu Changsheng had finished cleaning out the Storage Bag of the Elder Ancestor of the Xu Family.
Aside from Spirit Stones and several Top-Grade Spiritual Instruments, there weren’t many precious treasures.
“Well, it seems that this Elder Ancestor of the Xu Family had probably spent all his possessions on this Thunderstorm Ring and the Nine-Headed Wind-Thunder Steed,” Lu Changsheng shook his head and sighed as he looked at the ‘Thunderstorm Ring’ in his hand.
A False Core Immortal like the Elder Ancestor of the Xu Family wouldn’t possibly have afforded a Nine-Headed Wind-Thunder Steed if he hadn’t been born into the Beast Taming Xu Family.
After all, nurturing Spiritual Beasts was akin to burning money.
The Blackwater Jiaolong Dao Weapon, Nine Netherhound, and Six-Winged Golden Silkworm that he had asked Hong Lian to help him raise had all consumed vast amounts of resources.
Not to mention the Elder Ancestor’s nine Second-Rank Wind-Thunder Steeds!
Under these circumstances, unless the other party had just engaged in plundering and killing like Xiahou Wuwo had once done, they wouldn’t normally have much wealth on them.
Lu Changsheng dealt with all the suspicious items, pocketing the Magic Treasure ‘Thunderstorm Ring’ into his Storage Ring.
Such Life-bound Magic Treasures would see their power decline by several folds once refined by others.
Moreover, if the attributes of the Cultivation Method did not match, they couldn’t unleash much power at all, making it very superfluous and only suitable as a gift for one’s children.
“As for the most precious thing, aside from the treasure, it’d be this inner core, right?”
Lu Changsheng examined the False Core he held in his hand, belonging to the Elder Ancestor of the Xu Family.
He had not yet come across the inner core of a False Core Immortal.
By appearance, it should have been a Third-Order Demon Pill.
However, after being condensed into a False Core by the Elder Ancestor of the Xu Family, the entire pill looked marred and discolored, with an aura completely different from the True Elixir of Nangong Mili.
“No wonder it’s called a False Core.”
“By the looks of it, unless it’s the same exact Cultivation Method used by the Xu Family Elder Ancestor, it’s probably unusable by anyone else.”
After inspecting it for a moment, Lu Changsheng put the core into his Storage Ring, planning to ask his walking encyclopedia—Hong Lian—for advice later.
Then, he turned to check on his two sons.
After a while, he identified the problem with the Black Dragon Shears.
“The Elder Ancestor of the Xu Family must have used this Spiritual Artifact as a primer to sense your presence,” Lu Changsheng spoke out.
He hadn’t found any markers on his sons but noted that the aura of this Black Dragon Shears resonated with the same source as a Flood Dragon Pearl from the Elder Ancestor’s Storage Bag.
Therefore, he deduced that the Elder Ancestor must have used some method to sense the location of the Spiritual Artifact and followed it to them.
“So does this mean we can’t casually keep any Spiritual Artifacts on us in the future?”
Hearing his father’s words, Lu Ping’an looked at the Black Dragon Shears before him and scratched his head.
“Ordinary Spiritual Artifacts should be fine.”
Lu Changsheng chuckled and continued, “This Spiritual Artifact was clearly forged by an Artifact Refining Master using rare materials, so remember to be extra careful when encountering such Top-Grade Spiritual Artifacts.”
“However, this time it was just that the Patriarch Xu happened to be outside the secret realm;
usually, even if the Spiritual Artifacts can sense each other, there’s a distance limitation.”
“Most of the time, as long as you’re separated by thousands of miles, sensing them becomes quite difficult.”
Lu Changsheng slowly explained.
This kind of method was similar in principle to Sensing Talismans and Identity Tokens.
Once the distance exceeded a thousand miles, even if the other party was a Nascent Soul Immortal, it would be very difficult for them to sense anything unless they paid a great price.
“Dad, we understand.”
The two of them nodded, quickly grasping the concept.
“Furthermore, on some Magic Artifacts, Bloodline Spirit Bans will be refined in to prevent outsiders from refining them for use. If someone rashly tries to consecrate them, they’ll trigger the prohibitions and methods within.”
“So you must be extra careful with powerful artifacts you get from Clan Cultivators in the future.”