When Lu Qing awoke from his meditation and put away the Fire Cauldron.
Wei Xinghe quickly asked, "Young Master Lu, how is he?"
When Wei Xinghe saw Lu Qing bring out the Fire Cauldron, he vaguely guessed that the demonic cultivator might not have completely perished.
After all, he saw it very clearly at the time: when Lu Qing absorbed the demonic cultivator's body, a black light flew out from his body.
Later, Lu Qing put it into the Li Huo Ding.
So he probably understood the solution Lu Qing had mentioned.
"It will take some more days to completely remove the spells on Zihao and the others."
"But I have found a way to restore their minds," Lu Qing said.
"real?"
Wei Xinghe was overjoyed upon hearing this.
What pained him most about Zihao was that he had completely changed his personality.
His ruthless and heartless demeanor, which showed no regard for family, still chills him to the bone when he thinks about it now.
Now that they heard Lu Qing say that they could restore their minds, how could they not be overjoyed?
"I'll give it a try first."
Lu Qing made a hand seal and activated his mind, sending strange fluctuations into the minds of Wei Zihao and the other Qingyun Sword Pavilion disciples.
Wei Zihao and the others were still at the Acquired Realm martial artists, their brow acupoints had not yet been opened, and their souls were relatively weak.
Furthermore, being unconscious, he was naturally unable to resist Lu Qing's mental invasion.
Soon, Lu Qing found the demonic energy imprint left by the demonic cultivator in the minds of the group, which controlled their minds.
Following the control techniques taught by the demonic cultivator, Lu Qing activated his divine soul power and quickly dissolved the demonic energy mark.
This immediately stimulated their minds, causing them to awaken.
"Cough cough!"
Wei Xinghe watched Lu Qing perform the spell with bated breath, and then he saw Wei Zihao and the others shudder and slowly open their eyes.
"What happened? Where am I?"
After waking up, Wei Zihao and the others looked around, their eyes blank.
They were in a cave, with only a flickering firelight, making it impossible to tell where they were.
"Zihao!"
Wei Xinghe noticed that his son's eyes were clear and no longer held the eerie coldness he had shown in the city. He realized that his son had truly regained his senses and was overjoyed.
"Father, what are you doing here?"
When Wei Zihao saw his father, he was startled. He was about to get up when he found that he was weak and sore all over and could hardly move. He was even more shocked.
"My body..."
"Don't get up yet," Wei Xinghe stopped his son. "Your minds have been controlled by that demonic cultivator, you've lost your senses, and he's planted a curse inside your bodies."
"Now that the spell is deeply embedded, it is constantly drawing your life force, which is why Young Master Lu has temporarily sealed your life essence..."
Wei Xinghe slowly recounted what he knew.
"The demonic cultivator controls the mind, corrupts the intellect, and plants a curse..."
As Wei Zihao and the others listened to Wei Xinghe's account, their memories of being controlled began to slowly surface.
A look of pain gradually appeared on his face.
This is also the terrifying aspect of demonic spells.
The demonic servants he controlled only had their minds twisted, but their consciousness remained.
Even if one day the demonic energy mark controlling the demon servant is dissolved, the memory of being controlled will not disappear.
Those evil memories can easily corrupt a person's mind, causing them to fall back into the evil path.
Fortunately, Wei Zihao and the others were not controlled for too long, and in order to conceal their tracks, the demonic cultivators did not make them do any more evil deeds except for secretly setting up array nodes.
This allowed Wei Zihao and the others to recall their memories of being controlled, but at least they were able to maintain their mental state and did not fall into depravity.
"Zihao, how were you controlled by that demonic cultivator? And how was the Qingyun Sword Pavilion destroyed?"
After Wei Zihao and the others recovered and were no longer seriously injured, Wei Xinghe finally asked the question that had been bothering him.
Lu Qing remained silent. Although he already knew what had happened from the demonic cultivators, he still wanted to hear Wei Zihao and the others' version of events.
This would also be a good way to verify whether the demonic cultivator was lying to him.
Upon hearing Wei Xinghe's question, Wei Zihao and the others' expressions immediately became very complicated.
His eyes held both fear and indignation.
After a while, Wei Zihao calmed himself down and said, "Father, that demonic cultivator is actually none other than our Sword Pavilion's grandmaster uncle."
"And our Sword Pavilion was destroyed by him, and even our sect leader was tortured to death by his own hands..."
Wei Zihao and the others then slowly recounted the story of how Qingyun Sword Pavilion was destroyed, one after another.
Wei Xinghe's heart trembled as he listened, never expecting that the Qingyun Sword Pavilion had such an evil and strange grandmaster.
Sending his son to learn a trade back then was truly like sending a lamb to the slaughter.
If Lu Qing hadn't been there this time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Not only will the father and son die, but the entire prefecture will also be plunged into an abyss of no return.
"After the sect leader was tortured to death by our grandmaster, we hadn't even escaped from Jeju before he caught up with us again, and he also took the sect's secret treasures that we were hiding on his body."
Later, he even controlled our minds and cast spells on us.
Under the instructions of his grandmaster, he spent several months secretly setting up numerous array nodes in the prefectural city.
Later, you know what happened after the formation was activated, Father.
At this point, Wei Zihao's eyes showed a look of deep remorse.
From his memory, he knew that after the formation was activated, many citizens in the prefecture city lost their lives.
Although they were under the control of demonic cultivators, setting up the formation.
But the deaths of those city dwellers were indeed partly their responsibility.
Therefore, Wei Zihao was not feeling well.
The other Qingyun Sword Pavilion disciples also showed expressions of guilt.
"Alright, it's all over now. The formation in the prefecture city has been broken, and the demonic cultivators have been killed. Your actions in the city were not your own choice, and it wasn't your fault. There's no need to take it too seriously."
Wei Xinghe could see the guilt in his sons' hearts, so he comforted them.
Whether they can let it go depends on their individual character.
Fortunately, Wei Zihao and the others were, after all, disciples of a prestigious sect, and their will was quite strong.
After a while, they all calmed down.
Wei Zihao asked, "By the way, Father, where are we now?"
"We are now in a cave not far from the prefectural capital."
Young Master Lu said that the demonic curse that you all have is very troublesome.
It is at the cost of extracting the life force from your bodies in exchange for power.
If this is not resolved soon, you will die from the depletion of your life force.
"It was Young Master Lu who helped you break free of the mind control, allowing you to regain your sanity."
Wei Xinghe explained.
Wei Zihao and the others were all startled and looked at Lu Qing with awe in their eyes.
Since they hadn't lost their memories of when their minds were controlled, they all knew just how terrifying the boy before them truly was.
Those Qingyun Sword Pavilion disciples, for example, had personally experienced Lu Qing's strength.
To this day, they still don't know what kind of power Lu Qing used back then, which allowed him to suppress them, who were at the Innate Realm level, without even moving an inch.
As for Wei Zihao, needless to say.
Several of his fellow disciples were suppressed and rendered unconscious by Lu Qing beforehand, and thus did not witness his battle with the demonic cultivators.
But Wei Zihao watched the entire match from beginning to end.
Therefore, he knew even more clearly just how terrifying Lu Qing's strength was.
That was a level he never dared to dream of.
"Many thanks to Young Master Lu for saving my life and for killing that demonic cultivator, avenging this blood feud for our Qingyun Sword Sect."
Unable to stand up, Wei Zihao could only awkwardly clasp his hands in a fist salute, [N O V E L I G H T] his face full of gratitude.
"Thank you so much, Young Master Lu, for saving my life!"
The other Qingyun Sword Pavilion disciples also expressed their gratitude respectfully.
"No need for formalities. Here is a bottle of medicine for your injuries. Please share it with me."
The curses within you have been temporarily suppressed by me.
After taking the medicine, your injuries should be healed by tomorrow.
"Then we'll head back to Cang County and see when we can remove the curse from your bodies."
Lu Qing took out a bottle of pills and handed it to Wei Zihao and the others.
While the others were taking medicine to heal their injuries, his mind once again entered the Fire Cauldron.
"Master, have they recovered their spirits?"
Upon seeing Lu Qing enter, the demonic cultivator immediately went to greet him obsequiously.
Everything is sealed within the spiritual artifact space, and with the current level of the demonic cultivator, he is unable to perceive any movement from the outside world.
"That's right, I've removed the demonic imprints from their minds, and they've regained their senses."
"You're smart enough not to lie to me."
Lu Qing nodded.
"How dare I, a mere servant! I am now enslaved. If I had any disloyal intentions, how could I possibly conceal them from you, Master!" the demonic cultivator hurriedly replied.
The demonic cultivator's true spirit core was marked with a divine soul imprint by Lu Qing, completely enslaving him.
Lu Qing would sense if he had even the slightest thought that was detrimental to Lu Qing.
Therefore, he absolutely dares not have any other ulterior motives now.
Upon hearing this, Lu Qing remained noncommittal.
Admittedly, under the control of the soul, he could indeed sense the fluctuations of the demonic cultivator's thoughts at any time.
Even so, he would never completely believe the demonic cultivator's words.
Because he knew that the cultivation world was vast, and there were countless people with profound cultivation.
For example, in the Tianyuan Great World, there are countless people who possess great supernatural powers.
The myriad and varied cultivation methods are even more numerous and vast.
There might be some strange and mysterious technique that can break free from the enslavement of the soul.
Who knows if this demonic cultivator has practiced some evil technique that allows his thoughts to bypass his senses?
"Alright, since you've been relatively honest, I'll give you some demonic energy to help your soul recover a bit."
"Once you've recovered to a certain extent, immediately remove the talismans from Wei Zihao and the others."
After Lu Qing finished speaking, a black severed hand suddenly appeared in front of him and was thrown to the demonic cultivator.
It was the hand he had severed with his battle blade during the previous battle with the demonic cultivator.
"Thank you, Master!"
Upon seeing the severed hand, the demonic cultivator was overjoyed and immediately pounced on it, beginning to absorb the demonic energy within.
He had previously been refined by Lu Qing using the spiritual fire within the cauldron, resulting in the depletion of most of his essence, leaving him in a precarious state.
If he doesn't quickly absorb demonic energy to replenish his source, it won't be long before he collapses and dissipates without Lu Qing even lifting a finger.
While the demonic cultivator was absorbing demonic energy to recover.
Yan's figure appeared beside Lu Qing.
"Young master, do you intend to spare this demonic cultivator's life?"
"Let's keep him for now. This demonic cultivator has an extraordinary background. I have some things I want to ask him, and he's still useful for the time being," Lu Qing said calmly.
This demonic cultivator's predecessor came from the Tianyuan Great World, something Lu Qing was quite curious about.
"It's good that you're aware of this, young master. However, demonic cultivators are cunning by nature, and this demon has a mysterious origin. You should still be careful, young master. Soul enslavement is not without its risks."
"Yan" reminded him.
"Don't worry, senior, I have my own plans," Lu Qing said.
He never even considered releasing this demonic cultivator out of the spiritual artifact space.
As long as he's in the spirit artifact space, Lu Qing has a thousand ways to control him.
Moreover, he never said he would definitely let them live.
Seeing Lu Qing's confidence, "Yan" nodded and said nothing more.
Lu Qing's meticulousness was something he had witnessed firsthand.
When this boy really got into scheming, even it suffered a major setback.
Since he has already made up his mind, there is no need for me to persuade him any further.
Lu Qing's conversation with "Yan" seemed to be in front of the demonic cultivator, but the demonic cultivator did not react at all.
This is because within the spirit artifact space, everything is in the hands of Lu Qing and "Yan".
Their conversation naturally wouldn't reach the demonic cultivators.
After throwing the severed hand to the demonic cultivator, Lu Qing's mind did not linger in the Fire Cauldron for long and he quickly withdrew.
He glanced around and saw that Wei Zihao and the others were still healing, so he didn't disturb them.
He continued to sit cross-legged, but his spiritual power surged from the acupoint between his eyebrows, spreading outwards and sensing the surrounding space.
Today, the Daoist voice of Heaven and Earth resounded for the fourth time, but he hadn't had a chance to properly sense the changes in the world.
Lu Qing's current spiritual power is extremely strong, comparable to that of a true Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.
So he quickly sensed the difference between heaven and earth.
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth became even more abundant, which goes without saying.
What Lu Qing was most concerned about was that after the fourth Heavenly Dao Sound, the evolution of the rules between heaven and earth became more stable and perfect.
The invisible suppression of rules that he had felt after breaking through to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining had disappeared.
He knew that this was because the rules of heaven and earth had evolved and improved, making them able to accommodate the birth of even more powerful cultivators.
In other words, in the days to come, he wouldn't have to worry about his cultivation speed being too fast, just like on his way to Zhongzhou.
Despite having reached the required cultivation level, they were unable to break through due to the imperfections in the rules of heaven and earth.
This time, it was finally the evolution of the rules of heaven and earth that was ahead of his cultivation advancement.
Next, as long as he cultivates step by step and breaks through to the Foundation Establishment stage, there should be no further obstacles.
After realizing this, Lu Qing felt a surge of joy.
Although the rules of heaven and earth have been further improved, the constraints and restrictions on the strong have been greatly reduced.
Those mysterious secret places might just harbor true powerhouses.
However, with Lu Qing's current strength, he is not afraid even if he faces a true Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.
Moreover, he also possesses several magical artifacts.
With these powerful weapons in hand, he was confident he could put up a fight against even a Foundation Establishment cultivator, let alone an ordinary one.
"Hanging Mountain, I hope you can give me some surprises then."
A fierce glint appeared in Lu Qing's eyes.
