Chapter 199: Chapter 174: Seeing Master Lu Again_1
What?
Zhou Zhengkong stood up from his chair with a thud, looking at Lu Yan in shock.
Lu Yan had a calm face and a mysterious smile.
Zhou Zhengkong’s face showed a teasing smile, saying, "No wonder, no wonder, I always thought that Brother Lu was a rare martial arts talent with his unparalleled talent. Apparently, there’s a Grandmaster behind you, is he... your mentor?"
"Sort of, he’s an elder. This matter is known to you and me, do not leak it out."
Lu Yan’s answer was ambiguous.
But Zhou Zhengkong was sure this was the truth.
He had always felt that there was a veil of mystery around Lu Yan, which was now finally lifted.
"I will invite this senior to visit the three major Feudal Lords and help you reclaim the martial army," said Lu Yan.
"I wonder, Brother Lu, what do you want?"
Zhou Zhengkong, a smart man, knew that Lu Yan would not help him for nothing.
"I want the Martial Chefs and the beast farmers. Half of Zhou Clan’s Martial Chefs and beast farmers," Lu Yan said.
"H... half?"
Zhou Zhengkong hesitated.
"What? Not willing?"
Lu Yan’s eyes turned cold.
Zhou Zhengkong felt a sudden chill in his heart and quickly squeezed out a smile, saying, "Of course, of course, Zhou Clan will follow wherever Brother Lu leads."
"That’s good, you need to train more Martial Chefs and beast farmers, Zhou Clan, don’t only look at the present. In the future, if you get two, three, or even five Blood Land Veins, you’ll need Martial Chefs and beast farmers to manage them.
Lu Yan said as he patted Zhou Zhengkong’s shoulder, and Zhou Zhengkong nodded in agreement.
That day, Lu Yan set off alone to visit the three Feudal Lords who had borrowed soldiers and did not return them.
On the way, he changed his appearance and called out an avatar to accompany him.
It took him three days to visit all three major Feudal Lords.
The three big Feudal Lords were very "courteous" to him. They not only promised to return the martial army borrowed from Zhou Clan, but also "gifted" Lu Yan a few tens of thousands of silver, saying it was to treat Lu Yan to a drink.
After visiting the three major Feudal Lords, he had an additional eighty thousand silver in his pocket.
Returning to Qingyang City with three hundred martial soldiers, Lu Yan took away half of Zhou Clan’s Martial Chefs and beast farmers, and of course, one hundred and fifty martial soldiers.
In Lu Yan’s words, half of the Martial Chefs and beast farmers are gone, what do they need so many martial soldiers for?
Returning to Changfeng City, Lu Yan immediately made a trip to Baicao City to buy a batch of alien beast cubs from the Li Family.
All were Tier 1 alien beasts.
There were two kinds, one was Triceratops, the other was Red Eyed Cow.
He only has a Tier 1 Blood Land Vein on the surface, so buying a Tier 2 alien beast cub would not make sense.
The Li Family generously gave Lu Yan the beast food formulas for these two types, so the beast farmers could quickly get to work.
These Tier 1 alien beasts are temporarily raised on a Tier 1 Blood Land Vein.
"What should I do with this Tier 2 alien beast cub?"
Lu Yan furrowed his brows in thought.
These Tier 2 alien beasts are the most important resources of the top tier Grandmaster clans.
And the beast food formula for each kind of beast is different, all figured out over many years.
It’s not for sale.
It’s not even easy to buy it secretly.
Lu Yan can only let a few of the most experienced beast farmers enter the hidden Tier 2 Blood Land Vein to observe the habits of the Tier 2 Blood Armor Lizard. In this way, they could potentially develop the beast food formula for the Tier 2 Blood Armor Lizard and accelerate its growth rate.
At the same time, he had Li Quan find out where he could purchase Tier 2 alien beasts and their food formulas.
He knows that besides the Grandmaster clans, occasionally there are Martial Marquis clans who own Tier 2 alien beasts and their food formulas. It’s just that on a Tier 1 Blood Land Vein, they grow very slowly.
If it doesn’t work out with the Grandmaster clans, he will have to start with the Martial Marquis clans.
After handling these matters, Lu Yan finally had some free time.
He once again came to the ruins on Changfeng Mountain.
He had been too busy lately and had not yet checked the hidden Tier 1 Blood Land Vein controlled by the Liu Family.
Communicating with the Dao Book, the Dao Book immediately responded.
Sure enough, there was Dao Food present.
Lu Yan strode forward, and soon he saw six or seven collapsed mountains. Inside the mountains, there were ancient ruins.
There were also earth fissures that revealed some ruins.
Lu Yan walked into a mountain, according to the Dao Book’s sensing, there was a piece of Dao Food here.
As he walked into the mountain, Lu Yan slowed down and observed closely.
He found that many of the Will Power Patterns had been damaged.
The only one that could have done this was Liu Zhenshuo.
Presumably, Liu Zhenshuo had invaded these ruins after breaking through to the Grandmaster level, destroying many of the Will Power Patterns.
After a while, Lu Yan held a dull stone in his hand.
This stone was Dao Food.
The Dao Book Illusion flew out, swallowed the stone in one gulp, and began refining to enhance the progress of superior Knife Technique.
Lu Yan left the mountain and went to investigate the other ruins.
Two hours later, Lu Yan had explored all the ruins and obtained a total of three pieces of Dao Food, all of which were in various shapes of stones.
As for the ones made of bronze, he didn’t find any, likely they had been taken by the Liu Family.
After all, it was made of bronze and looked like an ancient artifact. It was only normal for it to be taken away for research.
Only the inconspicuous rocks were left behind.
The three Dao foods he consumed were all quite ordinary. They only improved the transcendental mastery of his premier knife technique to 90% when completely digested.
Boom!
In the underground ruins, Lu Yan shattered a stele with a punch.
According to the Liu Family members, it was this stele that hinted at the existence of another hidden Blood Land Vein. Therefore, the stele couldn’t stay to prevent others from discovering the secondary hidden Blood Land Vein in the future.
Until Lu Yan made his breakthrough to the Grandmaster level, he intended to keep the secondary hidden Blood Land Vein secret.
After investigating the primary hidden Blood Land Vein, he found nothing special. Its range wasn’t vast, and it paled in comparison to the secondary hidden Blood Land Vein.
All the alien beasts they found had long been wiped out, leaving none alive.
After a round trip, Lu Yan returned to Changfeng City.
The next day, he sent the ten Martial Chefs of the Zhou Clan to the Secondary Hidden Blood Land Vein. These Martial Chefs had been with the Sanjue Martial Arts Hall for many years and perfectly understood how to cook Yinuo Lizard Meat of the second rank.
They were also given ten Rank-2 Blood Armor Lizards. From now on, these people would be in charge of cooking the Rank-2 Yinuo Lizard Meat.
After all, it was better to utilize available people than to do everything himself. With the time saved, he could better instruct his disciples in their cultivation.
Of course, the ten Rank-2 Blood Armor Lizards wouldn’t be enough for him to reach the pinnacle of Martial Marquis Level Five. Therefore, Lu Yan ordered Li Quan to secretly purchase more Rank-2 Martial Food.
They only needed to purchase a pound or two per person each time. By spreading out the purchases across several feudal lords of the Grandmaster Level, they could collectively purchase twenty pounds or so.
Making small, unconnected purchases would also make them less likely to draw attention.
If it comes to it, they could directly buy Rank-2 Alien Beast Meat.
In doing so, money was flowing out like a river.
However, Lu Yan wasn’t bothered by this. He wasn’t greedy for wealth. Money was there to be spent and converted into personal strength. Only then could it be considered valuable.
If it stayed in his hands, it would be worth as much as scrap metal.
In the blink of an eye, they had already been in Changfeng City for three months.
During these three months, Lu Yan had been on high alert every day, fearing Liu Zhenshuo’s potential revenge.
However, there hadn’t been any incidents, and Liu Zhenshuo was nowhere to be seen.
"It seems that while the Martial Spirit’s abilities are mysterious, they can’t defy the heavens. Our previous battle must have damaged the Martial Spirit’s Origin Energy, and Liu Zhenshuo hasn’t recovered quickly," Lu Yan pondered.
After that battle, he specifically consulted Li Xingyuan about the Martial Spirit.
With over two hundred years of experience, Li Xingyuan knew much more than Lu Yan.
Li Xingyuan informed him that Martial Spirits could be exterminated, providing you possess a huge amount of strength, enough to crush them.
Martial Spirits could also get injured.
Severe injuries would damage their Origin Energy, requiring recuperation time.
During that battle, Liu Zhenshuo was utterly crushed while his Martial Spirit was grievously harmed. Any normal Grandmaster would have undoubtedly died. Even if Liu Zhenshuo could recover, he would be weakened and need more time.
Of course, there’s also a possibility that these Martial Spirits have other plans in mind, which is why they haven’t acted yet.
In any case, he couldn’t let his guard down. The best choice was to rapidly increase his strength.
"As of now, the only way to have a breakthrough in my strength is by reaching the Grandmaster Level. It would allow me to suppress everything with my sheer power. Even the enigmatic Martial Spirits could be crushed then," Lu Yan resolved.
"At present, I have unified man and martial arts in ten premier martial arts techniques, allowing me to cultivate at an extremely fast pace. With sufficient Rank-2 Martial Food, I am confident I can reach the peak of Martial Marquis Level Five within two years."
"Thus, a year and a half from now, I need to start looking for a Martial Chef Grandmaster and start preparing for the Phoenix Blood Heart Protective Soup and Ink Jade Heart Bead."
Lu Yan silently planned his future cultivation path.
The Phoenix Blood Heart Protective Soup and Ink Jade Heart Bead obviously couldn’t be prepared by just any Martial Chef Grandmaster.
Though the Grandmaster could potentially succeed, the chances were extremely low. He only had one chance—if the preparation failed, it would be a huge loss.
However, Martial Chef Grandmasters were extremely scarce. Reportedly, there were only three in the entire Lingdong region.
One was with the Zhao Clan in Lingwang City.
Another was in the Grandmaster level feudal lord Ding Family in Zijing County, a family of Martial Chefs.
The third one didn’t belong to any feudal lord and led a free life. His whereabouts were often unknown, making it difficult for ordinary people to find him.
Perhaps the Grandmaster level feudal lords had a way to reach him.
Among the three, the Martial Chef Grandmaster of the Ding Family was likely the easiest to coax. They were a Martial Chef family who avoided conflicts and liked making good connections. As long as the price was right, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Also, Wang Lin and Wen Yuan are already at their peak after breaking their limits five times. Their Qi-blood has been refined for a while now, so it’s almost time for them to make a breakthrough."
Lu Yan contemplated.
Currently, he was lacking strong leaders under him.
While Wang Lin and Wen Yuan were able to command the martial forces, their cultivation level of having broken their limits five times was somewhat low. Their deterrent power was insufficient and they found it hard to handle matters independently.
Only by breaking through to the rank of Martial Marquis would they be able to handle matters on their own and share Lu Yan’s responsibilities.
So, next, he needed to find a Martial Chef Grandmaster to cook the Mutated Nine-Section Heart Meat.
Lu Yan thought of Lu Wenxuan instantly.
Long ago, Lu Wenxuan had leaked information that led him to be hunted down by Li Wenyan and Li Wenlong. He never forgot this debt, and it was time to settle it.
The next morning, Lu Yan set out for Baiyue City.
In Baiyue City, at the Martial Food Building, Lu Yan met Lu Wenxuan once again.
Even though many years had passed, Lu Wenxuan still looked spirited.
"What kind of martial food do you wish to have cooked?" Lu Wenxuan sipped his tea leisurely before asking.
"Master Lu, do you still remember me?"
Lu Yan changed his appearance, reverting to the face he had when he first sought Lu Wenxuan out.
