The news of Chu Yun's death spread quickly, soon reaching the ears of First Elder Chu Nie.
As Chu Yun's father, First Elder Chu Nie led a group of men straight to the North Courtyard without a moment's delay.
With a single palm strike, Chu Nie shattered the gates of the North Courtyard. Radiating murderous intent, he roared furiously, "Chu Lan, you little bastard, get your ass out here!"
"You killed my son, and today I'll make you pay with your blood!"
Chu Nie's murderous gaze swept across the entire North Courtyard, but not a single soul was in sight.
"Hmph, little bastard, don't think hiding will save you."
Sneering coldly, Chu Nie issued an order: "Go find that little bastard Chu Lan and drag him out!"
The Chu Family guards immediately began searching the perimeter of the North Courtyard for any trace of Chu Lan.
After a thorough search, the guards found no sign of him anywhere near the North Courtyard.
"First Elder, Chu Lan is not in the North Courtyard," a guard reported, running up to him.
Chu Nie raised an eyebrow and sneered, "The little bastard must have known I'd come to make him pay with his life, so he went into hiding beforehand."
"Hmph! No matter where he runs, killing my son is an irreconcilable blood feud!"
"Search Luoyang City inch by inch if you have to, but find Chu Lan and bring him to me!"
With a flick of his sleeve, Chu Nie stormed out of the North Courtyard, leaving the guards to carry out the search.
***
Carrying a rather substantial sum of money, Chu Lan remained completely unaware of these events.
After leaving the Chu Family estate, he headed straight for Qingyun Market, the largest trading hub in Luoyang City.
Along the way, Chu Lan muttered to himself, "Three hundred taels will only buy me ten Qi-Gathering Pills at most."
He shook his head. "Far too little."
"If only I had more money."
In the past, given his status within the Chu Family, getting his hands on any amount of money would have been effortless. But that was all in the past now. Moving forward, he would have to figure out a way to earn more.
"I need to find a way to make money."
As Chu Lan pondered ways to generate income, he arrived at Qingyun Market.
Glancing up at the plaque above the entrance, Chu Lan noticed a wooden sign posted right outside.
"Purchasing large quantities of Yunxiang Grass, one tael per stalk."
Yunxiang Grass was a spiritual herb imbued with abundant spiritual energy, making it an essential ingredient for refining certain pills.
"Ah, of course!"
An idea flashed through Chu Lan's mind.
Since the time flow on the first floor of the Divine Desolation Pagoda differed from the outside world, couldn't he exploit this time difference to cultivate spiritual herbs on the first floor?
Then, he could sell those harvested herbs for profit.
With a preliminary plan forming in his mind, Chu Lan stepped into Qingyun Market.
A rich fragrance of medicinal pills instantly washed over him.
Qingyun Market dealt in many treasures, but pills made up the vast majority of their inventory. Neat rows of pills of varying quality were displayed across the counters.
Finding a shop clerk, Chu Lan spent two hundred and forty taels to purchase eight pills, then used the remaining sixty taels to buy a batch of Yunxiang Grass seeds.
After making his purchases, Chu Lan requested to use one of the private cultivation rooms provided by Qingyun Market.
The market offered these cultivation rooms to the public for free—a clever strategy to draw in crowds and boost sales.
"Time is pressing. I need to find a place to cultivate and test growing Yunxiang Grass inside the Divine Desolation Pagoda."
Walking back to the Chu Family estate from Qingyun Market took half an hour. In that same span of time, at least half a month would pass inside the Divine Desolation Pagoda. That was why Chu Lan decided to use the free cultivation room at the market.
Stepping inside the room, Chu Lan connected his consciousness with the Divine Desolation Pagoda and willed his entire body to enter inside.
"Hm?"
Once inside, Chu Lan's expression shifted in surprise.
"The spiritual energy of the Spirit-Gathering Array has recovered?"
He stared in astonishment. "It has recovered by twenty percent."
"Only half an hour has passed since I left the pagoda and re-entered it."
Previously back at the North Courtyard, the recovery rate of the Spirit-Gathering Array hadn't been this fast; recovering twenty percent would have taken at least seventy-two days, and a full recovery would have required an entire year.
"At this recovery rate, the Spirit-Gathering Array will completely recover its spiritual energy in four and a half months!"
"If that's the case, wouldn't I be able to use the array to cultivate twice every day?"
Realizing this, Chu Lan felt a surge of great joy.
He then spent about half a minute planting the Yunxiang Grass seeds. Once that was taken care of, he took out a Qi-Gathering Pill and began cultivating.
Just like before, even when utilizing the Cloud Flash Technique, Chu Lan could only absorb sixty percent of the pill's spiritual energy.
It wasn't until he had completely absorbed all eight Qi-Gathering Pills that his cultivation finally reached the Body Spirit Realm Second Layer.
"Now that I've broken through to the Second Layer, once the spiritual energy of the Spirit-Gathering Array fully recovers, I should be able to advance another minor realm."
Chu Lan exhaled softly. Unwilling to waste time while waiting for the array to recharge, he decided to review some martial arts techniques he had practiced in the past.
In his earlier days, Chu Lan had mastered two martial arts: the lower-tier Yellow-grade Cloud-Piercing Palm and the lower-tier Yellow-grade Crimson Gold Fist.
These were the two strongest martial arts the Chu Family had to offer, and prior to his setback, Chu Lan had already pushed both techniques to the pinnacle of perfection.
Martial arts mastery was divided into Initial Success, Great Success, Pinnacle of Perfection, and Consummation. The higher the mastery, the greater the explosive power unleashed.
In fact, martial artists with high mastery could sometimes defeat opponents one or two minor realms higher than themselves.
Chu Lan was still a short step away from reaching Consummation. He wanted to see if he could use this waiting period to push both techniques to that ultimate level.
Inside the Divine Desolation Pagoda, time slipped by like half a year.
True to his efforts, both martial arts techniques had broken through to the Consummation level.
Chu Lan's innate talent was by no means lacking; otherwise, before his Dantian was destroyed, he never would have been hailed as the number one prodigy of Luoyang City.
His current slow cultivation speed was solely due to his Dantian not being fully healed yet.
"Very good. With two Consummation-level martial arts under my belt, once my cultivation reaches the Body Spirit Realm Fifth Layer, dealing with Chu Beichuan will be an absolute breeze!"
At the same time, Chu Lan looked over at the plot of Yunxiang Grass he had planted.
"They've sprouted!"
A wave of joy washed over him. Wonderful! Spiritual herbs could indeed be cultivated inside the Divine Desolation Pagoda.
This meant he could grow large quantities of them inside the pagoda, sell them for profit, or even hire alchemists to refine them into pills for him.
"Alright, time to continue cultivating!"
The spiritual energy of the Spirit-Gathering Array had fully recovered. He could resume his training and further elevate his strength.
While Chu Lan was immersed in his cultivation, First Elder Chu Nie's guards had already tracked him down to Qingyun Market.
As one of the prominent noble clans of Luoyang City, finding someone was a simple task for the Chu Family.
Led by Chu Xiaofeng, the guards entered Qingyun Market and handed a small sum of money to the clerk, inquiring whether he had seen Chu Lan.
Without hesitation, the clerk pointed them toward the cultivation room Chu Lan was using.
"Hmph, does that punk really think he'll be safe hiding in a Qingyun Market cultivation room?"
Chu Xiaofeng sneered coldly and led his men straight to the room.
Without a word of warning, Chu Xiaofeng kicked the door of the cultivation room wide open.
"Chu Lan, do you know your crimes?!"
As the door flew open, Chu Lan raised his eyes and gazed coldly at him.
"What crime have I committed?" Chu Lan sneered.
The First Elder truly spoiled Chu Yun rotten. Just because he had beaten Chu Yun, the man had sent guards to hunt him down. Back in the day, had the First Elder dared to try something like this, he wouldn't have even dared to utter a single word.
"Hmph! Chu Yun is dead! Do you still dare claim you are innocent?"
Chu Lan was startled. Chu Yun was dead? That couldn't be right.
"I didn't kill him!"
"Whether you killed him or not is for the First Elder to decide!" Chu Xiaofeng barked, stepping forward and reaching out to grab Chu Lan!
"You're courting death!"
Chu Lan's expression darkened; he certainly wasn't going to stand on ceremony with Chu Xiaofeng!