Chapter 2: The Ancestral Dao Divine Furnace!

"You..."

Lu Tianyun had not expected Lu Changfeng’s words to be so sharp, yet he found himself unable to decline.

In the past, it was precisely by mastering the Pure Yang Sword Manual in seven days that he had first earned the title of a genius.

"What?" Lu Changfeng said with a mocking smile, "Young Master Tianyun, could it be that you are afraid?"

"Sigh." Lu Tianyun let out a long breath. "Lu Changfeng, I never wished to harm my own kin, as we both share the blood of the Lu family. But since you are determined to remain obstinate, I have no choice but to grant your wish."

"In three days' time, I shall wait for you to master the Pure Yang Sword Manual, and we shall battle in the Ancestral Hall!"

"I will personally verify your Pure Yang Sword Manual!"

With that, Lu Tianyun turned and left.

Lu Changfeng looked toward Elder Lu Sha, his expression calm. "Great Elder, if there is nothing else, I shall take my leave. In three days, all will be revealed."

Lu Sha stared at him coldly. "Since Young Master Tianyun has spoken, I will grant you this opportunity. But remember: if in three days you have not mastered the Pure Yang Sword Manual and proven your purity, then according to the laws of the Lu family..."

"You will face execution!"

Lu Changfeng did not respond. He simply turned and limped out of the Law Enforcement Hall, his blood-soaked back causing the onlookers to shudder.

*Drip.*

*Drip.*

With every step Lu Changfeng took, blood pooled on the ground, leaving behind a trail of harrowing crimson footprints.

...

In front of a dilapidated little courtyard of the Lu family, Lu Changfeng stopped.

"This is my home?"

He glanced around. The courtyard was in ruins, and even the wooden door was covered in cracks. It was hard to imagine that this was the dwelling of a direct descendant of the Lu family.

However, Lu Changfeng did not care. As the former leader of ten thousand emperors across the three thousand star domains, material things were merely passing clouds to him.

He entered the drafty hut and sat cross-legged on the bed. The blood from the wounds on his back seeped into the bedding, soaking it through.

"Heal first."

Lu Changfeng sat in meditation, closing his eyes to look inward for a moment. He felt a hint of helplessness. "A congenital blocked pulse... tsk, a starting point even worse than my previous life."

"However... it matters not."

He dipped his finger into his own blood and drew a complex talisman in the void. This was a secret technique he had obtained from the ancestral grounds of the Blood Demon Realm after he had trampled it into dust in his past life. By sacrificing one's own blood, one could manifest immense vitality.

It could bring the dead back to life and regrow bone and flesh.

*Hiss—!!*

As the blood talisman took shape, the blood on Lu Changfeng’s body transformed into eerie, crimson flames, releasing a massive surge of vitality. Under this infusion, his wounds began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye; his flesh regrew, closed, and scabbed over.

Within the span of two incense sticks, Lu Changfeng’s injuries were completely healed, and even the internal organ damage caused by the Law Enforcement Hall had returned to its original state.

"Very good." He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and opened his eyes. "The wounds are healed. Next, I must solve the problem of the blocked pulse."

Lu Changfeng’s expression remained serene. To others, a congenital blocked pulse might mean a lifetime of being unable to cultivate. But to him, this was no trouble at all. After all, in his previous life, he had conquered the three thousand star domains and collected countless top-tier secret techniques and divine abilities.

Among them were methods specifically designed to counter congenital blocked pulses.

"I will start with something gentle." Lu Changfeng made his decision quickly. "My main sword scripture from my past life is far too powerful. This current body cannot withstand it. It is better to wait until my cultivation has reached a certain foundation before switching to the sword scripture."

He searched his memory and selected a low-grade Heaven-tier cultivation technique.

Soon, under the guidance of the technique, specks of spiritual energy began to gather slowly toward his dantian.

Just as Lu Changfeng was about to begin his breathing exercises, golden flames suddenly erupted from his body. With a domineering force, they tore through and devoured the spiritual energy!

"What is happening?" Lu Changfeng frowned, opening his eyes in bewilderment.

But then, his surprise transformed into astonishment and excitement. "This... is this the object I tore from the Will of Heaven when I battled it in my previous life?"

Deep within Lu Changfeng’s soul, a furnace fire hung silently—the very source of the golden flames!

"The Ancestral Divine Furnace..."

"This thing... it actually followed me through reincarnation?"

Even with Lu Changfeng’s composure, his pupils constricted, and a look of shock appeared in his eyes.

*Whoosh—*

As the golden flames absorbed the spiritual energy, the furnace fire gradually shifted from illusory to tangible, manifesting as an ancient, weathered divine furnace floating silently before him.

Before Lu Changfeng could examine it closely, a palm-sized flame flew out from within the furnace. Like a bolt of brilliant golden lightning, it instantly plunged into the center of his brow.

*Hiss—!*

The pain of his soul being torn apart made Lu Changfeng gasp. Countless profound and obscure pieces of knowledge poured into his mind like a torrential downpour.

Gradually, the pain subsided. He synthesized this knowledge, forming a complete cultivation technique: *The Ancestral Dao Divine Scripture!*

As he digested the technique, his expression shifted from shock to awe. "This... this technique is even more powerful than my original sword scripture?!"

"The ancestor of ten thousand paths, one path suppressing ten thousand. Such a mysterious technique—who could have created it?" Lu Changfeng muttered to himself.

The next moment, he attempted to circulate the *Ancestral Dao Divine Scripture* within his body. As he finished reciting the first layer of the technique, an accident occurred!

The mouth of the Ancestral Divine Furnace seemed to respond to a call, suddenly opening and erupting with an irresistible suction force. Before Lu Changfeng could even react, he was pulled directly into the furnace!

*Whoosh—!!*

Golden flames roared to life, scorching his flesh and meridians inch by inch, tempering and recasting his congenitally blocked body!

In a mere instant, Lu Changfeng discovered that his meridians were unblocked. Under the tempering of the furnace fire, his physical body became increasingly powerful. Every inch of his meridians grew several times thicker than those of an ordinary person, allowing them to contain far more spiritual energy.

Not only that, but during the tempering process, Lu Changfeng felt massive amounts of spiritual energy rushing into his body from all directions. In the blink of an eye, he transitioned from a mortal with no cultivation to an entry-level practitioner, breaking through multiple stages in succession to reach the third level of the Spirit Condensation Realm!

"This speed... it is truly heaven-defying." Lu Changfeng was amazed.

At the same time, he found that he had returned to his room. The Ancestral Divine Furnace dimmed, hanging quietly in the deepest part of his sea of consciousness.

Lu Changfeng did not stop cultivating. He knew that Lu Tianyun was a practitioner at the ninth level of the Meridian Opening Realm. To defeat him in three days, he needed to reach at least the ninth level of the Spirit Condensation Realm.

As for the Pure Yang Sword Manual, Lu Changfeng was not in a hurry. With the insights of a Heavenly Emperor, mastering a mediocre divine ability was effortless.

Time passed bit by bit.

The next morning, Lu Changfeng reached the seventh level of the Spirit Condensation Realm.

The following morning, he reached the ninth level.

...

On the fourth day—the day he and Lu Tianyun had agreed upon to prove his innocence—before dawn had even broken, waves of spiritual energy surged from Lu Changfeng’s dwelling like angry tides crashing against the shore, emitting a series of booming sounds.

*Crack.*

With a subtle sound, something seemed to shatter within Lu Changfeng. His meridians erupted with brilliant light, piercing through his skin and shining with a dazzling, golden radiance.

"Meridian Opening Realm."

Lu Changfeng opened his eyes, satisfied. As the breakthrough finished, the golden light faded, and his spiritual energy fluctuations vanished, becoming invisible.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps outside his courtyard.

"The three days are up!"

"Lu Changfeng! Get out here!"

"The Patriarch and the Great Elder have already arrived at the Ancestral Hall! Do not think you can hide from this!"

"Has this guy run away?"

"Humph, a piece of trash, speaking so boldly. To deny the dirty deeds he committed, he actually dared to challenge Young Master Tianyun!"

Curses rang out from outside. Lu Changfeng knew without thinking that during the three days he had been in seclusion, Lu Tianyun and the Liu woman must have been working even harder to ruin his reputation.

However, he did not care.

As soon as Lu Changfeng stepped out of his door, the Lu family members outside swarmed him, acting as if they were terrified he might run away.

"You trash, you had better not think about running!"

"That’s right! The Patriarch has ordered that if you dare to flee, we have the authority to execute you on the spot!"

The crowd glared at him with predatory eyes.

Lu Changfeng said indifferently, "Who said I was running? Lead the way to the Ancestral Hall."

The crowd was stunned. For some reason, the Lu Changfeng who was usually silent and allowed them to bully him now exuded an aura of superiority that made their hearts tremble. It was as if an emperor was looking down upon the world—dignified and imposing, forcing them into submission.

They subconsciously surrounded him and led him toward the Ancestral Hall.

...

At the Ancestral Hall, when Lu Changfeng arrived, many people had already gathered—far more than the day at the Law Enforcement Hall.

On a high platform, the Lu family Patriarch and the Great Elder, Lu Sha, sat in grand chairs, looking down at him from on high.

"Lu Changfeng," the Great Elder, Lu Sha, began. "The three days are up. You claimed you would master the Pure Yang Sword Manual to prove your purity. Have you done it?"

"Not yet." Lu Changfeng’s expression was as calm as water. "Lu Tianyun hasn't arrived yet, has he? There is still time to comprehend it now."

"You... what did you say?" Lu Sha was momentarily stunned.

Beside him, the Patriarch snorted. "Absurd! My son, Tianyun, is a genius rarely seen in a thousand years in the Lu family, and even he took seven days to comprehend the Pure Yang Sword Manual. You dare to spout such nonsense?"

"Enough. Since you cannot prove your innocence, guards, seize this disaster and execute him immediately!"

"Yes!"

The Lu family guards immediately stepped forward.

However, the moment they were about to touch Lu Changfeng, flames began to burn faintly around his body.

Great Elder Lu Sha’s face changed drastically, and he gasped, "This..."

"This is the Pure Yang Fire!?"

"He only took three days to comprehend the Pure Yang Sword Manual?!"