Ancestor Above

Lu Mingling was a rather talented cultivator from the Ming generation. Even though he had three Spiritual Roots, he did have a lightning-element Strange Spiritual Root like his father. He was also a cultivator with Lightning, Fire, and Wood Spiritual Roots, which was regarded as one of the best combinations for a person with three Spiritual Roots.

Aside from his Spiritual Root talent, he had an even more exceptional perceptive ability. His thought processes were always very clear when he was trying to learn and understand techniques, and he could always grasp key concepts. Not only was Lu Mingling hardworking, but he could also withstand hardships. Thus, he had managed to enter the Qi Refining Stage when he was just 15 years old. He was only 35 years old this year, yet he was already a seventh-tier Qi Refining cultivator. If he continued to advance at this pace, he would be able to enter the Foundation Building Stage by the time he was 45.

A cultivation speed like that was rather fast. Several cultivators who had Double Spiritual Roots had to work extremely hard if they wanted to advance as quickly as Lu Mingling did.

From the looks of things, Lu Mingling should have been the cultivator with the most potential and the brightest future among the clan members of the Ming generation.

Lu Tinghua no longer had a chance to advance to the Foundation Building Stage. That was why he treated the juniors of the clan with much more importance.

At that critical moment, he stood in front of Lu Mingling without any hesitation, blocking the Stonemother’s attack.

The giant rock that was crashing downward pressed onto the cloak.

The cloak was a piece of defensive magic equipment. Lu Tinghua pressed his palm on the cloak and constantly supplied it with his spiritual strength. It prevented the giant rock from falling.

“Run quickly!” he shouted. His face, exhausted, started turning a shade of red because he was using all of his power.

Lu Mingling did not dawdle. He seized the chance, got up, and ran as fast as he could.

He could not help but turn back to look as he ran.

The Stonemother became even more enraged when it saw that the giant rock it shot out had been blocked. It let out a dull roar and then flailed its arm once again. Another giant rock materialized in the air.

Lu Tinghua had already exhausted all his strength. He could barely defend against one giant rock with the help of a valuable piece of defensive magic equipment.

The giant rock was not just an ordinary piece of rock. Otherwise, a ninth-tier Qi Refining cultivator would have been able to deal with it, no matter how heavy it was. The giant rock harbored all of the Stonemother’s massive earth-element spiritual energy. This was a technique, not an ordinary large rock.

Lu Tinghua could only barely defend against one giant rock with all of his strength. He would undoubtedly die if he was hit with another one.

However, there was no way for him to run now.

He had barely blocked the giant rock with all of his strength, but he could not push the rock away. If he shifted his power slightly, the piece of granite would instantly penetrate the defenses of the cloak and crush his body without giving him enough time to run. He would be dead.

However, if he did not run, he would also die if the second giant rock hit him.

There was no way out.

“Uncle!” Lu Mingling’s voice came from behind. He had not run far. He shouted with red eyes when he witnessed this scene.

He knew that his uncle, Lu Tinghua, had only entered this situation, in which death was inevitable, to save him. Because of this, his heart was overcome with grief. He blamed himself for not being able to avoid the attack sooner. If he had not been blasted onto the ground by the exploding shrapnel, his uncle would not have had to defend him from an attack at the cost of his life.

However, Lu Tinghua no longer had the energy to think about his nephew’s feelings. He knew that he was dead meat. However, he became furious when he saw that Lu Mingling had not made it very far away. “Scram!”

Lu Mingling clenched his teeth and hastened his stride.

He had to live. Otherwise, his uncle would have died for nothing.

It was at that moment when the sound of crackling lightning rang out beside his ears. Violent spiritual energy welled up behind him.

He could not help but turn around to take a look. Stopping in his tracks, he then let out a deep sigh, an elated look on his face.

Under the dazzling bolts of lightning, he saw the giant rock, which was about to fall, blow up into hundreds of pieces!

He recognized that technique!

Lu Mingling had a Lightning Spiritual Root. Even though it was only one of his three Spiritual Roots, it did allow him to cultivate Lightning Elemental Techniques. The technique he learned was the same as that of the clan leader, Lu Chaoxi. It was the Bright Yang Lightning Ceremony.

Even though he had not been exposed to the Foundation Building-level techniques of the Bright Yang Lightning Ceremony, Lu Mingling knew that a Foundation Building cultivator who cultivated that technique would gain access to an incantation technique. The name of the incantation technique was “Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation,” and Lu Mingling had just witnessed its effects at that moment. It could gather a bolt of yang-element lightning to attack the enemy with overbearing power.

Since the Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation had appeared, the clan leader was not far away!

The clan leader was an expert who was at the eighth-tier of the Foundation Building Stage. Furthermore, the technique he cultivated was of the lightning element. It was an offensive technique that only rare cultivators with Strange Spiritual Roots possessed. The Stonemother was no match for the clan leader!

The person who had arrived in the nick of time was indeed Lu Chaoxi.

He had recovered from his injuries two years earlier. Even though he had not managed to advance to the ninth tier of the Foundation Building Stage, his abilities had improved. After he received his father’s voice transmission, he notified Lu Mingchao and Lu Chaohe using a Voice Transmission Amulet before riding on his flying sword and rushing over.

A Foundation Building cultivator could control a flying sword and soar through the skies.

Even though Lu Chaoxi’s flying sword was only a piece of Level-Two low-grade equipment, he could reach the Energy Stone Mine quickly, as it was located only halfway up Yuyan Mountain.

He noticed Lu Tinghua’s predicament from afar and showed no hesitation. He used the Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation and dealt with the matter at hand.

He then rushed over to the area quickly. He got off the flying sword and stood on the ground. At the same time, he controlled the flying sword and cleaved the giant rock that was pressing on Lu Tinghua’s cloak.

Lu Tinghua, who felt his body instantly become lighter, became limp. He almost fell onto the ground.

He had exhausted almost all of his spiritual strength in that short time.

“Tinghua, protect Mingling and leave first,” Lu Chaoxi instructed. He controlled the flying sword and sent it toward the Stonemother.

The Stonemother had slow speed and even worse agility. It could not avoid the flying sword attack.

Even for an eighth-tier Foundation Building cultivator, an ordinary flying sword would not cause fatal damage to the Stonemother’s body, which was made entirely of sturdy granite. The sword left behind multiple deep marks, but since the Stonemother’s body was not made out of flesh and blood, it did not sustain severe injuries.

The Stonemother became even more enraged after it was attacked.

It opened its mouth wide and let out a continuous string of furious roars. Multiple giant rocks appeared one after the other and came crashing toward Lu Chaoxi.

Lu Chaoxi was a Foundation Building cultivator. Even though he had already tossed his flying sword out to deal with the enemy, his body was still far stronger than that of a Qi Refining cultivator. The earth-element spiritual energy did affect his agility and speed, but it was not fatal. He could still easily avoid the giant stones that were crashing down on him.

The Stonemother took a different approach when it saw that the giant rocks could not hit their target. It tried to attack Lu Chaoxi with the exploding stones that it had used before.

Even though the exploding stones were not as destructive as the impact of the giant rocks, this attack covered a wider area and was slightly faster. It was harder to avoid a series of exploding stones.

Even though Lu Chaoxi was powerful, some of the shrapnel from the exploding stones still hit his body and grazed him.

He did not mind the injuries. When he saw that the flying sword did not have much of an effect on the Stonemother, he gauged the amount of spiritual strength he had left and made a hand gesture. He summoned the Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation!

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