When Lu Xingzhou appeared at the Honglu Temple, Sheng Yuanyao, who was still planning how to sneak into the imperial palace and retrieve Lu Xingzhou, was overjoyed. She stopped writing and exclaimed, “That tyrant actually let you out of the palace?”

Lu Xingzhou was also in a good mood seeing the melon sister, shaking his head with a smile. “Don’t say that, she’s actually… not that unreasonable…”

“Hey, still not unreasonable? She killed tens of thousands of people last night, we saw it with our own eyes!”

“…That was treason, it’s normal.”

Sheng Yuanyao touched her chin with her index and middle fingers, scrutinizing Lu Xingzhou up and down. “You’re acting strange.”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

“Before, you barely commented on her, but today you’re constantly praising her. Tell me, did something happen? Your face is pale.”

Lu Xingzhou helplessly said, “I’m injured, how good can my complexion be? Let’s go, stop talking nonsense, I’ll take you to see a great treasure.”

Sheng Yuanyao chuckled, “You better be serious about taking me to see a great treasure.”

Lu Xingzhou picked up Anu from the side. “Stick to Shifu more, not the pig.”

Anu: “…You’d better remember that.”

Lu Xingzhou immediately corrected himself, “Okay, let’s take that pig with us, it should benefit too.”

“It has a name, Yuyu.”

Lu Xingzhou simply shut up.

Neither his brother nor his disciple was easy to deal with. Alas, he was so dedicated to finding good fortune for them.

Sheng Yuanyao followed Lu Xingzhou out the door. On the way, they saw Dragon soldiers patrolling the city. They all saluted Lu Xingzhou with awe, as if they had seen Her Majesty the Empress.

Sheng Yuanyao was stunned. “Did you save their nine clans?”

“More or less.”

These were the Southern Expeditionary Army that followed Long Yunqing in his attempt to “cleanse the emperor’s side.” Long Qinghuang knew they were merely misled and that Lu Xingzhou had maliciously provided the misleading information, so she didn’t punish them. Instead, she made them the main force for the cleanup operation within the city.

This Dragon army witnessed the most horrifying event in the world: this human whipped their Empress, and the Empress was whipped into submission.

If one were to compare this to the blood and severed heads of last night, it would feel like even dreams couldn’t conjure such a scene.

Who would dare not revere such a being who could whip the Empress? They initially thought he was a male concubine, but now it’s hard to say who is the pet.

Lu Xingzhou directly said, “Send a few Dragons to carry us to the Sacred Mountain.”

The general immediately arranged for Dragons to be mounts, not daring to argue.

As they flew directly to the Sacred Mountain on the Dragons, Sheng Yuanyao kept pondering a philosophical question: Are we envoys or VIPs?

She felt that the prestige of her house-raiding had been completely overshadowed by this dragon ride.

Riding these Dragons wasn’t as fast as riding Long Qinghuang, but it was much faster than their own flying artifacts. They covered thousands of miles, departing in the morning and arriving by evening. Upon arrival, Long Lie, who was temporarily managing the Sacred Mountain, folded his arms and scrutinized Lu Xingzhou up and down. “Your injuries are recovering quite well.”

Lu Xingzhou smiled warmly, “Thanks to the care of Her Majesty the Empress of your esteemed country.”

Long Lie’s face looked as if he had eaten something foul. He glared at Sheng Yuanyao and asked, “So what do you mean by bringing a woman?”

Sheng Yuanyao poked her head out from behind Lu Xingzhou. “You’re Long Lie?”

Long Lie glared, “What?”

Sheng Yuanyao recited, “Ah, respected Majesty, your aloofness is like the moon in the sky, a distant glance is enough to fill one’s heart with contentment…”

The next moment, Long Lie disappeared directly from sight. A Dragon general’s speed was indeed faster than an ordinary Dragon’s.

Lu Xingzhou smiled and said, “Let’s go, the Scripture Repository.”

The Sacred Mountain has existed for many, many years. As a sacred mountain revered by all races in the Demon Domain, its status and accumulation of cultivation methods, in theory, should not be much lower than that of Tianyao Sacred Land. Being beaten to this state was simply because they provoked the wrong opponents—either Ye Tinglan or Long Qinghuang, what kind of people are they…

Such a sacred-level Scripture Repository, fully open, straight to the top floor, was even more comfortable than picking things at Tianyao Sacred Land back then. This was the meaning of a conqueror.

Sheng Yuanyao was also enjoying the best.

Even if the Sheng family’s ancestral battle array cultivation was good, it was only a first-grade cultivation. Here, on the top floor of the Scripture Repository, any book picked up casually was a first-grade item, and even transcendent-grade items could be chosen at will.

However, these were either related to Buddhism or Demon race cultivation, and not all were suitable, so careful selection was needed. Relatively speaking, martial arts would be easier to find, as many martial arts of humans and demons could be used in common.

Anu’s goal was clear: to head straight for the Buddhist Vajra Indestructible Dharma.

The Kai Tian Jue she practiced mainly focused on strength. As for defensive power, Long Qinghuang had it because the Dragon race naturally possessed scales, not because of Kai Tian Jue. If she wanted to become a Vajra doll, she still needed to learn other things. And she wanted to find something for the little white pig to practice.

Lu Xingzhou’s goal was equally clear: to read up on meridian transfer and the laws of life.

He would deal with what he promised Long Qinghuang first; other matters of his own could wait.

For a time, the entire top floor of the Scripture Repository was filled with the rustling sound of turning pages, a silent tranquility.

The notion of “irreversible” was not wrong in itself. There was naturally no way for already transferred meridians to spontaneously return. This answer was obtained by Long Qinghuang by searching Dujuan’s soul, so it was certainly not false. But merely searching for the idea of “whether it can be reversed” was a dead end. Long Qinghuang was not entirely clear-headed at the time… if her mind had been more flexible, she would have thought of setting up a new meridian transfer array to transfer the plunder from the Sacred Mountain to Long Ya, and that would have been it. What’s the big deal?

Lu Xingzhou understood the basics of meridians but couldn’t perform this trick. He fully intended to learn it on the spot at the Sacred Mountain and then use this universally learnable knowledge to manipulate the little female dragon…

However, with his relevant foundational knowledge, Lu Xingzhou did learn this much faster than others. Before long, he had largely grasped it, and fell into thought.

At that time, Zhao En’s plundering of the Tian Shuang Kingdom’s qi veins was somewhat similar to this method, but not entirely the same.

Zhao En targeted national destiny, which was more ethereal. The array was also based on the mountains at the time, which could be said to be aimed at the mountains and rivers, not at people.

Dujuan’s method relied on the bones of Dragon ancestors, closer to witchcraft, and targeted the lineage of the Dragon race.

It sounded as if Zhao En’s was more advanced, but in reality, the two were similar, just leaning in different directions. In fact, combining the two would be a more advanced method.

It could extend to a feeling of… offering sacrifices with mountains and rivers, refining this universe.

Lu Xingzhou immediately thought of Mohe, Danxia Mountain, and Anu.

Going around in circles, it felt like everyone was doing similar things… to put it bluntly, Dujuan was also from the ancient world, what did the current mountains and rivers do to you?

Furthermore, the demonization of Da Qian officials should also be Dujuan’s doing, which was also a Dujuan-esque idea of “the raccoon dog for the crown prince.” And when this demonization reached a certain scale, it could also lead to a plunder of national destiny.

The initial collaborator should have been Prince Qi. Did Prince Qi hope to cultivate his own power in this way?

Then Gu Zhanting discovered it, was furious, and demoted him to commoner. But such a matter was difficult to publicize, so he simply pinned the blame for plotting against Princess Chaohuang on him.

But the question arises: since Gu Zhanting discovered it, why didn’t he deal with it?

If he wanted to deal with it, it wouldn’t be difficult… now, not only has it not been dealt with, but it feels like he replaced Prince Qi and colluded with them.

What does Gu Zhanting want to do?

Do you need to cultivate demons? What are they for?

Lu Xingzhou suddenly remembered the altar in the outskirts of the capital that Ye Tinglan had asked him to investigate, and the demon corpses within it. That altar should involve a method of bloodline replacement, used for healing, and it was already abandoned. It seemed unrelated to this matter, but Lu Xingzhou still felt there must be a connection.

After returning to the country, this matter should be a priority… he always felt that the hidden dangers here were even greater than those in the Demon Domain.

And in this matter, what role did the Huo family, who habitually took the blame for the emperor’s dirty work, play?

“Why the frown? Did you encounter a problem?” Sheng Yuanyao’s voice came from his ear, interrupting his thoughts.

Lu Xingzhou turned to look at Sheng Yuanyao’s pretty face, which was close at hand, and suddenly smiled, “I’m investigating the city lord’s demon case with Commander Sheng.”

Sheng Yuanyao was stunned. “Ah?”

“Going in circles, our initial acquaintance is still an important clue,” Lu Xingzhou put down the classic, stood up, and patted Sheng Yuanyao’s shoulder. “Want to investigate with me?”

Sheng Yuanyao smiled so much her eyes disappeared. “Okay.”

Lu Xingzhou asked, “What did you choose?”

“Some transcendent-grade martial arts and saber techniques,” Sheng Yuanyao’s brows danced with excitement. “This time, when I go back, I’ll scare Old Sheng to death.”

“What about cultivation methods? Those are more fundamental.”

Sheng Yuanyao shook her head. “I don’t feel they’re quite suitable. I’m also afraid of growing fur like Xu Bingkun. Well, at least they have demon qi.”

“No, not all of these are demon cultivation methods. There are pure Buddhist ones.”

“I don’t know how to distinguish them. Help me.”

“What’s so hard to recognize? Demon cultivation and Buddhist Dharma can’t be the same thing.” Lu Xingzhou walked to a bookshelf, randomly pulled out a book. “Look, the cover is different. This one must be Buddhist… Uh.”

His voice suddenly caught in his throat.

Sheng Yuanyao looked at the six large characters on the cover, expressionless.

“Da Huanxi Jile Jing” (Great Joy and Ultimate Bliss Sutra).

Indeed, Buddhist Dharma, as pure as it could be.

“What’s with that expression?” Lu Xingzhou craned his neck and said, “This is a genuine transcendent-grade item. Look, an old turtle can cultivate to transcendent-grade; it must be related to this technique. Those 170-plus illegitimate children are proof.”

Sheng Yuanyao suddenly smiled. “So if I want to cultivate to transcendent-grade using this… how many do I need to have with you?”

“Five…” Lu Xingzhou suddenly shut up.

Sheng Yuanyao’s face instantly changed. She grabbed his collar. “Aha, you really wanted to trick me! Mmm mmm mmm…”

Lu Xingzhou covered her mouth with his hand.

If any of Long Qinghuang’s secret agents heard, you’d be tied up, and I’d be violated.

Anu hugged the pig and sighed.

This is the Scripture Repository, how uncivilized to be so noisy.

“Putting everything else aside, this really is a transcendent-grade Buddhist cultivation method. Let’s take a look first.” Lu Xingzhou opened a page and browsed it, suddenly looking a little stunned.

Sheng Yuanyao also leaned her head over and took a look, and suddenly looked a little stunned too.

If this classic wasn’t exaggerating, it wasn’t just a transcendent-grade cultivation method.

This method claimed… to reach the greatness of Qian Yuan.

Other cultivation methods all claimed to reach the transcendent-grade, but this one told you it could surpass the transcendent-grade. There has never been a cultivation method in this world that dared to boast so much!