Chapter 209: About the Lu Family’s Residence
The Lu family residence was divided into four areas.
The first area and the one closest to the gate was the general area.
This area was the living area of the servants and low-level members of the family.
Adjacent to the first area was the living area of other members of the Lu family.
There were many courtyards in this area but the courtyards varied in size.
From what Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue knew, the largest courtyards that were close to the centre of the residence belonged to the elders and the more powerful cultivators in the family.
After this area was the central area.
The central area had the banquet hall, the training ground, the resource hall, and the family library. Except for the banquet hall and training ground, the resource hall and library couldn’t be entered at will.
Even with enough contribution points, everyone who wanted to enter the resource hall or library required permission from the family’s elders.
Behind the central area was the back area which was also called the forbidden area.
After one year of investigation, Jiang Yue compiled a general layout of the forbidden area.
Unfortunately, his information wasn’t specific and they could only make it up as they went along.
"The entrance of the family’s secret realm is in the forbidden area and I have a general layout of the area." Jiang Yue whispered as they walked.
"Where is the treasure house relative to the entrance of the secret realm?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"I didn’t see the treasure house when I was in the forbidden area. However, the information I gathered puts the treasure house about one kilometre from the entrance of the secret realm."
Yu Nianzhen heard the words and recalled the map in their possession.
"There is a medicinal pool between the entrance of the secret realm and the treasure house." Yu Nianzhen mentioned.
"Do you want to enter?"
"We can’t enter. We are at the peak of the qi transformation realm and can break through at any time. If we dare to enter a medicinal pool, we will immediately breakthrough."
Yu Nianzhen didn’t want to let go of the pool but he didn’t want to take such a big risk.
After all, there was no way to break through quietly.
If he and Jiang Yue were ordinary cultivators, they could cultivate in the pool and breakthrough without anyone noticing.
However, they would both attract thunder tribulation when they broke through to the origin tempering realm.
At that time, the Lu family would find them.
Although they could escape, it wasn’t ideal to teleport while on the verge of breaking through.
If they were unlucky, their foundations would break and the gain wouldn’t be worth the loss.
"We can’t enter but we can take the pool." Jiang Yue said and chuckled.
"It just happens that my universe wine gourd is empty."
"Good idea." Yu Nianzhen was happy when he heard Jiang Yue’s words.
With the medicinal pool, breaking through to the origin tempering realm would be easier than if they relied on the heaven and earth qi.
"I heard that the Lu family have added more herbs to the pool. They probably want to let the juniors enter the pool to improve their cultivation. With the pool and promotion pills, they should be able to cultivate a few more origin-tempering realm cultivators before the Nine Treasures secret realm opens."
"That should be the case." Yu Nianzhen agreed.
"Unfortunately..."
"You don’t have to feel sorry for them. Would we rob them if they didn’t plot against you? They cultivated this bad luck."
After listening to Jiang Yue’s experience, Yu Nianzhen hated the Lu family to the core.
Although they didn’t succeed in harming his lover, the possibility of it chilled him to the bones.
Now that he had a chance to make them suffer, Yu Nianzhen didn’t plan to leave a way out for them.
"Should we go to the treasure house first or the medicinal pool?" Jiang Yue asked.
From his formation, the medicinal pool was guarded by two core formation realm cultivators while the treasure house was guarded by four.
Other than the guards, the forbidden area was patrolled by a team of three cultivators at any given time.
This team was made up of origin tempering realm cultivators and wasn’t easy to handle.
"Let’s go to the treasure house first." Yu Nianzhen suggested.
Their objective was the treasure house and the medicinal pool was just a bonus.
If they couldn’t achieve both objectives, Yu Nianzhen wanted to make sure they cleaned out the treasure house.
"I also think so."
"We..." Yu Nianzhen began but stopped before he could finish.
He pulled Jiang Yue to hide behind a hedge and gestured for him to be quiet.
A moment later, a young man and a young woman appeared on the path.
The two were talking in a low voice and the two hidden behind the hedge couldn’t hear them.
Fortunately, they didn’t linger on the path and seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere.
When they were far from them, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue stepped out from behind the hedge.
"Your hearing is quite good." Jiang Yue praised.
Since entering the Lu family residence, the two didn’t dare to use their divine sense to check the surroundings.
This was because there were core formation realm cultivators in the Lu family.
Although their divine sense was comparable to cultivators a Dzogchen the origin tempering realm, it was weaker than that of a core formation realm.
If they accidentally touched a core formation realm cultivator with their divine sense, their location would immediately be revealed. To prevent this from happening, they relied on their five senses to observe their surroundings.
"It developed in the Black Wind Abyss." Yu Nianzhen said.
When he first arrived in the Black Wind Abyss, he suffered a lot because he couldn’t see well and his divine sense wasn’t strong enough to detect all dangers.
However, because he couldn’t see well, his other senses worked hard to compensate.
As time went by, his hearing and sense of smell developed to a point that he wouldn’t lose to a demonic beast of the same level.
Even more fortunate, his eyesight and divine sense also improved a lot.
Although he couldn’t say that his eyesight was perfect in the Black Wind Abyss, he wasn’t completely blind like he was at the beginning.
"I should also train in the Black Wind Abyss." Jiang Yue said longingly.
His divine sense could cover an area of one thousand kilometres but Yu Nianzhen’s could cover almost two thousand kilometres.
This was the benefit brought by his training in the Black Wind Abyss and Jiang Yue was a little envious.
"What’s there to be nostalgic about? You also had a lot of gains in the past seven years."
"You are right. My body refinement is better than yours." Jiang Yue said happily.
Although Yu Nianzhen’s sword body had improved after seven years of training, he couldn’t compare to Jiang Yue who trained in extreme gravity.
"It’s good that your body has improved. You will have an easier time when you cross the catastrophe."
When he said that, Yu Nianzhen frowned a little.
He was happy that Jiang Yue was enlightened and had comprehended a little of the illusion dao.
However, he was still worried.
If he had a choice, he didn’t want Jiang Yue to experience the thunder tribulation but he knew that it couldn’t be helped.
Every blessing attracted a misfortune and the thunder tribulation was the price of being enlightened ahead of time.
"You don’t need to worry. My body is strong and we will have enough resources when the time comes." Jiang Yue comforted.
Although Yu Nianzhen didn’t say anything, Jiang Yue understood his mood.
After all, he had experienced it every time his lover crossed a thunder disaster.
"We will both be fine and it will become easier as we become stronger."
Yu Nianzhen chuckled when he heard that.
He wanted to say that the thunder tribulation would only become more powerful as they became stronger but he didn’t want to spoil Jiang Yue’s intention.
Since Jiang Yue chose to put it that way even though he knew it wasn’t an accurate depiction of their situation, Yu Nianzhen chose not to refute it.
In the end, all they could do was prepare and do their best when the time came.
If the heavens wanted to destroy them, they just need to go against the heavens and transcend it.
"Cultivation is going against the heavens." He reminded himself and his mood became lighter.
This easing wasn’t just his mind but also his soul. He felt like his soul was lighter and freer.
"XiaoYue, the heavens can’t stand in our way. One day, we will free ourselves and stand above the heavens."
"I am looking forward to that day." Jiang Yue smiled and also felt relieved. He firmly believed that their fate wasn’t ordinary.
