Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 281 Eliminating Hidden Dangers
When a soul cultivator's head is separated from their body, although their divine consciousness remains, the death of their physical body still causes their soul to darken instantly, resulting in a significant backlash.

However, the biggest difference between a soul cultivator who has cultivated a life soul and a magic cultivator's soul is that the soul is immortal and the life path is endless.

Faced with a soul slightly weaker than his own, Li Ji'an had no real means of restraint, unless he had a third-tier Soul-Suppressing Talisman to sever its life path and scatter its soul.

Fortunately, the other party had not yet cultivated a primordial spirit. Otherwise, if the other party wanted to leave the body with their primordial spirit, their speed would be several times faster than that of their physical body, and Li Ji'an would not be able to catch up even if he rode a horse.

Now, the opponent is merely a soul at the Divine Consciousness Realm, unable to escape, and can only be dealt with by Li Ji'an.

"Boom!" The next moment, a ball of flames enveloped its remaining head.

Instantly, a burnt smell wafted out, accompanied by the sizzling of grease.

Although the fake core's fire-based magic could not kill him, it could still deplete his soul, causing him to feel pain that penetrated deep into his soul.

"Fellow Daoist, spare my life!" In an instant, the soul cultivator's head turned to ashes, and his soul, like a rootless duckweed, floated and wailed in the flames.

Li Ji'an chuckled lightly, thinking that the dignified leader was not as good as those believers.

That's understandable. Those believers were also affected by his divine soul techniques, while he was simply acting on his survival instinct.

"Come in yourself!" Li Ji'an then took out the Soul Wood headband.

This headband is an ancient soul artifact made of thousand-year-old soul-nourishing wood. It is the only artifact on Li Ji'an's body suitable for containing his soul.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist, thank you, fellow Daoist." Upon seeing the Soul-Nourishing Wood, the Soul was overjoyed and couldn't wait to crawl inside.

His physical body perished and was burned by flames, severely damaging his soul. However, the Soul-Nourishing Wood can nourish his soul, and given time, he can recover to his full strength.

After the soul entered the Soul-Nourishing Wood, Li Ji'an immediately drew Soul-Suppressing Runes on it. Although it did not have the Soul-Destroying Effect of a Third-Order Soul-Suppressing Rune, it was able to temporarily seal the soul.

After sealing his life soul, Li Ji'an attempted to absorb the essence, blood, and spirit of a soul cultivator using the Formless Mask.

Unfortunately, only its essence and blood were absorbed, but its soul was not.

"Just as I thought!" Li Ji'an nodded to himself, gaining a clearer understanding of how to use the Formless Mask.

Absorbing essence and aura is relatively easy, and you don't even need to kill the other party. However, if you only have essence and blood, you can only transform into their physical appearance and aura, but you cannot obtain fragments of their memories.

"I ask, you answer; if you dare utter even the slightest lie, your soul will be consumed by flames!"

"Yes Yes."

Who is in charge?

"The Holy Mother of Blood Spirit".

"How did you enter my domain? How many people entered? What is their highest cultivation level?"

……

The spirit had an extremely strong will to live and was very open and honest, so Li Ji'an didn't have to put in much effort.

After receiving all the answers, Li Ji'an breathed a slight sigh of relief.

It was not at all led by the Wanfa Palace, and the highest cultivation level among those who infiltrated was only at the early stage of Core Formation.

However, it's hard to say whether these people from the Demon Realm were deliberately allowed in.

The sects and families in the Boundless Domain are different from those in the Celestial Domain. They are less inclined to maintain their status quo, more aggressive, and relatively more united, making them a kind of demonic cultivator alliance.

The fundamental reason is that the resources in the Boundless Domain are far inferior to those in the Celestial Domain.

If it weren't for methods like corpse puppets, Yin ghosts, and blood demons, the overall strength of the Boundless Domain would be no match for the seven sects of the Heavenly Azure Domain.

After the previous war between the righteous and the demonic realms, the Golden Puppet Saint King recuperated, while the Blood Spirit Saint Mother took charge of all affairs in the Demon Realm.

The objective is clear: to divide and conquer the sects within the region, thus paving the way for the next invasion.

"Is there an inside accomplice?" Li Ji'an asked again.

"Yes! I don't know about others. I only contacted an inside agent of the Biyun Sect." The soul spoke like a bamboo tube spilling beans, and its cooperation made Li Ji'an more cautious.

"Who is the spies within the Azure Cloud Sect?"

"Zhao Qi is in charge of law enforcement here!"

Upon hearing the result, Li Ji'an remained calm.

"Zhao Qi is here!" Just then, the Soul of Life suddenly reminded him.

Sure enough, the next moment Li Ji'an sensed the other party as well.
-
"Useless! They're all useless!"

"You can't even handle two Qi Refining cultivators? What are your men good for?"

"The two disciples I informed you about have returned to the sect. The elder of the Law Enforcement Hall is most likely aware of this matter and may have already gone to the mountains to investigate."

……

Inside the dark room, Li Ji'an activated his soul cultivation essence and sat upright on the cold jade chair, quietly watching Zhao Qi, who was on the verge of madness, outside the curtain.

He was disguised as a cultivator from the Ma family, but Li Ji'an saw through him at a glance.

"Enough with the nonsense, you must make your move this time."

“That elder of the Law Enforcement Hall is only temporarily in charge. His actual combat strength is not as good as that of a typical fake alchemist. He is just a rogue cultivator and an alchemist. With your soul attack, you will definitely be able to capture him easily.”

Li Ji'an's lips curled slightly.

As expected, Zhao Qi's resentment towards him had never faded.

“This is against the rules. With my soul-binding techniques, even if he captures his men, he won’t be able to find us. Taking action rashly would only expose us.” A hoarse, cold voice rang out.

After being rejected, Zhao Qi was instantly furious, but he had no better reason.

Seeing that he could not coerce him, he softened his expression and said in a calm voice, "Chief Yan, to be honest, that Elder Li has a grudge against me for obstructing my path. If I can help you kill him this time, I will owe Chief Yan a favor!"

Li Ji'an narrowed his eyes slightly, and agreed with his statement.

It was indeed an act of obstruction.

But shouldn't the real person be Xiao Changfeng?
He had only protected the resources for Xiao Changfeng after Xiao had already obtained them.

"Chief Yan, I, Zhao, swear by my inner demons that Li is absolutely just an ordinary fake alchemist, a rogue cultivator who is only skilled in alchemy." Seeing no response from the dark room, Zhao Qi assumed that Li had some concerns and emphasized again.

"You really want to kill him?"

"I wish I could devour his flesh raw!" Zhao Qi gritted his teeth, then a thought flashed through his mind: "Chief Yan has never tasted real flesh and blood before, has he? Perhaps it would be of great benefit."

Da Da Da~
Footsteps finally echoed in the darkened room.

Immediately, the curtain opened, and Chief Yan's decaying body appeared before Zhao Qi.

Zhao Qi was overjoyed: "Don't worry, Chief Yan, if this succeeds, I will definitely..."

"Bang!" Before he could finish speaking, a festering hand had already pierced Zhao Qi's chest, and his protective magic shield had not even had time to stop it.

"Thump~ Thump~" The next moment, Zhao Qi pulled his festering hand out and saw his own beating heart.

"Ah!" A heart-wrenching scream finally rang out.

Li Ji'an calmly looked at Zhao Qi, who was standing close by with a blank expression, and tightened his grip slightly.

"Bang!" His heart exploded.

Immediately, Zhao Qi's body fell straight down.

Li Ji'an shook his head slightly, and with a flick of his magic, he was about to cleanse his hands of all the filth.

suddenly,

The heart that had just burst open in his hand instantly turned into blood, dripping down Li Ji'an's hand onto the ground and converging towards Zhao Qi's corpse.

"Ok?"

At the same time, Zhao Qi's body began to melt, and to Li Ji'an's astonishment, it completely turned into a pool of blood.

With a "whoosh," the pool of blood receded rapidly. Li Ji'an's gaze sharpened, and with a wave of his hand, a magical barrier sealed the exit, preventing the blood from escaping.

The escape of the blood was blocked, and the situation suddenly changed again.

In an instant, the person stood up and quickly coalesced into a human shape.

In the blink of an eye, Zhao Qi came back to life completely.

"..." Li Ji'an's expression changed instantly, staring at the resurrected Zhao Qi with considerable surprise.

"What kind of secret technique or rare treasure is this? Could it be some kind of Dao artifact?"

With his Foundation Establishment stage cultivation, how could he possibly have the ability to come back to life?

"You even gave me Blood Demon, the substitute for Blood Spirit Mother?"

As Li Ji'an was filled with surprise and doubt, the spirit also cried out in alarm.

However, it has been blocked, and only Li Ji'an can hear it.

"A substitute blood demon?" Li Ji'an quickly communicated with his life soul.

"Indeed, this is the Blood Spirit Mother's Life-Sacrificing Blood Fiend, which can take the fatal blow for its master. Even if the physical body is completely destroyed, the blood spirit can be reunited!"

"..." Li Ji'an was instantly moved, this was equivalent to having an extra Resurrection Cross.

"Who exactly are you? Where is Chief Yan?" Zhao Qi reassembled his body and stared at Li Ji'an with a wary expression.

Li Ji'an regained his senses and calmed down. What's wrong with having another life? He wouldn't mind killing him again.

Immediately, he activated Fu Xiaochen's essence blood, and as his appearance changed, the pressure of his true core was suddenly released.

"Master Fu!" Zhao Qi was immediately shocked upon seeing this.

As a core disciple of the Biyun Sect, he naturally knew the True Core Masters of various sects.

"Please spare my life, Master! I have been forced to join the Boundless Demon Sect because of the betrayal of my sect. I will definitely not reveal that you are here."

He had initially thought that a powerful figure from a righteous sect had dealt with Chief Yan in order to eliminate evil and uphold justice, which would have been a cause for despair.

But at this moment, seeing that it was Fu Xiaochen, a hope for survival rose in his heart.

After all, Fu Xiaochen is currently being hunted down by the entire Wanfa Palace, and he is even less likely to expose himself than I am.

“Master, the Tiancang Domain is full of untrustworthy and wicked people. The Wanfa Palace, under the guise of protecting the masses, is actually exploiting all living beings. Why not join the various holy sects of the Wuya Domain and fight against the Tiancang Domain together?”

"Once we take over the Heavenly Azure Domain, with the strength of a True Person, we will surely be able to replicate the glory of the Blazing Sun Sect!" Zhao Qi said again, trying to bring Fu Xiaochen into the group, so that he could truly save his life.

"Boom!" Li Ji'an had no interest in listening to his nonsense anymore and decisively made his move.

The Core Formation and Foundation Establishment stages are like an insurmountable chasm. Unless one is a physical cultivator like Wu Weixiong, who is supported by a spiritual pet, even an ordinary peak Foundation Establishment cultivator is no match for a fake Core Formation cultivator.

Moreover, although Li Ji'an only condensed a fake pill, the quality of his fake pill was purer than that of ordinary fake pills, and the magic power of the magic pill was naturally higher.

As expected, Zhao Qi collapsed to the ground, severely injured, in just three breaths.

"Mercy, sir!" Zhao Qi had no power to resist and could only beg for mercy.

Li Ji'an ignored him and struck again, severing his head.

This time, however, no further abnormalities occurred.

After confirming that all were dead, the essence, blood, and soul of the deceased were absorbed using the Faceless Mask, and the corpses were then burned to destroy all traces.

They then swept away the underground temple, but killed any believers they encountered.

He eventually blasted the main hall to pieces and flew away.

Almost as soon as they left the Ma family compound, the communication talisman vibrated, and the sect had already discovered that Zhao Qi's soul lamp had gone out, and the direction it was heading was the Ma family compound.

Li Ji'an immediately sent a message instructing the nearby law enforcement team to investigate.

A month later, in a secluded cave in the Daze Mountains, Li Ji'an reverted to his original form, gazing towards the Boundless Domain, lost in thought for a moment.

After a month of screening Zhao Qi's memories, he learned more secrets.

"Such an experience is unbelievable?"

He was secretly astonished by Zhao Qi's unknown past.

It turns out that not long after Zhao Qi entered the Boundless Domain, he was spotted by a beautiful woman who then captured him alive.

The reason he returned to Tiancang Domain later than Xiao Changfeng and the others was that he had been dealing with that woman all along.

The woman was actually the Blood Spirit Saintess, the second most important figure in the Boundless Domain after the Golden Puppet Saint King.

What shocked Li Ji'an the most was that the Blood Spirit Mother still truly loved Zhao Qi. Not only did she let him return to the Heavenly Azure Domain, she also gave him the substitute blood demon that she had painstakingly refined over a hundred years.

The Blood Spirit Saintess is an unparalleled beauty who rejected the Golden Puppet Saint King and is hailed as the number one beauty in the Boundless Realm!

"The mind of a demonic cultivator is indeed extraordinary!"

It is obvious that Zhao Qi's values ​​are incompatible with his, and he simply cannot believe that the dignified Blood Spirit Mother, a late-stage Core Formation cultivator, could truly love him, a junior.

So after some sweet talk, he decisively returned to the Heavenly Azure Domain.

However, upon returning to the Heavenly Azure Domain, Xiao Changfeng snatched away the opportunity to form his Core.

From that moment on, hatred grew in his heart.

During the great battle between good and evil, they will meet the Blood Spirit Mother again.

At that time, he asked the Blood Spirit Mother to help him kill Xiao Changfeng to vent his hatred.

In the end, Elder Fang saved Xiao Changfeng in a critical moment, dashing Zhao Qi's hopes.

After that, Zhao Qi was caught in a dilemma.

When Li Ji'an finally succeeded in condensing his false core, he could no longer bear it. He took the initiative to go to the border and contacted the Blood Spirit Mother. In the end, he received a promise from her that as long as he cooperated with the demonic cultivation, the Demonic Cultivation Alliance could provide him with one of the top fifty Core Formation Spiritual Treasures to help him condense his true core.

By a twist of fate, destiny plays a cruel trick!
The matter of Zhao Qi was finally resolved satisfactorily, and there would be no more worries in the next life.

He then began to imprint the secret techniques of the Soul-Piercing Path transmitted by the Soul-Breaking Technique.

Once mastered, this secret technique allows one to concentrate divine sense and attack the opponent's sea of ​​consciousness.

If the opponent's soul is weaker than one's own, it has a miraculous effect of killing with one blow. Once the soul is destroyed, no matter how strong the physical body is, it is useless.

Even if the opponent's soul is comparable to one's own, as long as there is no way to protect the soul, one can still damage their sea of ​​consciousness with a single blow, causing their soul to be injured and greatly reducing their combat power.

However, Li Ji'an naturally did not trust him, so he temporarily allowed him to teach him and imprint it on the jade pendant.

I'll discuss this further with Ning Sujin when I get back.

Besides the Soul-Shocking Strike, he also had to get his hands on that secret technique that could invade the consciousness of others.

On that very day, Li Ji'an received another message that the law enforcement team near the Ma family's residence had discovered the location of Zhao Qi's death and had taken the entire Ma family under control.

Li Ji'an used the excuse that he was in the mountains pursuing the thief who had previously attacked and killed the sect's disciples to entrust another fake Core Formation cultivator from the sect to interrogate him and to make the matter public.

Three days later, without the control of the soul cultivation secret technique, the Ma family members quickly revealed the truth, and several other hall masters who were captured even confessed that Zhao Qi was an internal traitor.

In an instant, news that the Sect of All Beings intended to overthrow the rule of the sect spread rapidly and quickly became known throughout the entire region.

A month later, the sects in the other two states also began searching the strongholds of the Cult of All Beings.

Meanwhile, news of Fu Xiaochen's appearance at the Ma family was finally revealed, and the Wanfa Palace was furious and pursued him.

At this moment, Li Ji'an set off to return to his sect.

With just over a decade until the time to reverse aging has passed, and all potential risks have been largely eliminated, it's time to prepare.

(End of this chapter)