Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

That day, a metallic sound echoed from above Li Ji'an's alchemy room, accompanied by a golden spiritual aura descending. Li Ji'an put down his talisman brush and looked excitedly at the golden arrow talisman in front of him!

"A second-tier, middle-grade talisman brush indeed makes things much easier!"

Over the past year, Li Ji'an's progress in talisman-making had advanced to a new level thanks to the second-tier talisman brush that "Bloodhand Human Butcher" had delivered, along with a dozen second-tier talisman materials. With the help of the Law-Nourishing Pill to compensate for his lack of mana, his success rate in creating second-tier, mid-grade talismans exceeded fifty percent.

And after a year of honing his skills, he had finally succeeded today in drawing his first-ever second-tier, high-quality talisman.

More importantly, the Golden Arrow Talisman was a second-tier, mid-grade talisman, comparable to a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The power of the laws of heaven and earth contained within it was equivalent to the power of a common mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's mana.

Moreover, this one was of high quality and contained the spiritual energy of the Five Elements' Metal element, making it extremely powerful in attack, possessing nearly fifty percent of the power of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. If an ordinary mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator did not have a top-grade defensive magic weapon or a second-tier, mid-grade defensive talisman, they could potentially be instantly killed.

"Unfortunately, my mana is still not sufficient. Otherwise, with my talisman skills and spiritual sense, plus this talisman brush, I could even successfully create a second-tier, late-grade talisman!" Gently stroking the Golden Arrow Talisman, Li Ji'an felt a hint of regret amidst his excitement.

If he possessed a set of second-tier, late-grade talismans, he would have no worries in the entire Cangyun Prefecture, except for a handful of the strongest experts.

Without hesitation, he summoned the Fiery Halberd Talisman that had been nurtured in his dantian for six years and stored the Golden Arrow Talisman into his dantian.

This Fiery Halberd Talisman, nurtured for six years, was originally a second-tier, low-grade, high-quality talisman that posed a threat to ordinary mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, possessing nearly fifty percent of the power of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Now, after six years, it should possess seventy percent of the full force of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's strike.

"I wonder if the mana boosted by a Blood-Burning Pill can support the creation of a second-tier, late-grade talisman?" These years, whenever he drew talismans, he needed to use the Law-Nourishing Pill to compensate for the lack of mana in his dantian. The Blood-Burning Pill, while consuming qi, blood, and vitality, could greatly increase mana, more than doubling the increase compared to the Law-Nourishing Pill. This thought was not the first time he'd had it.

After a moment, he shook his head with a self-deprecating smile.

Ordinary cultivators would only consider taking a Blood-Burning Pill, which burns their life essence and consumes their vitality, in a life-or-death crisis.

After all, they only had one life; consuming it once would mean living ten years less.

Li Ji'an, however, relied on his ability to revert to his youth and wanted to use it to draw talismans simply to compensate for his lack of mana. If others knew, they would probably laugh their heads off.

He once again put away this thought.

After all, it was not necessary to have a late-grade talisman right now. Each life he could live one more year meant one more year of experience, which would benefit future lives.

Afterward, he sat down to cultivate and recover the mana he had consumed this time.

Half a day later, the mana in his dantian was fully restored.

Unfortunately, her array skills were still stuck at the peak of the first tier, with no further progress, because the earth spiritual energy she could draw upon only reached the first-tier level.

If she wanted to rely on her talent for sensing the earth's spiritual energy, she would need her spiritual soul to reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

But since she advanced to the mid-stage of Qi Refining six years ago, her mana cultivation progress has slowed down even more. In six years, she has barely reached the fifth level of Qi Refining. Based on her cultivation progress, it would take another thirty-five years to cultivate to the peak of Qi Refining!

This did not even take into account the bottleneck of the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

By then, she would be over sixty years old, and once her qi and blood decline, her hope of Foundation Establishment would be very small.

"Uncle Li!" Xiao Qiao looked up at Li Ji'an, her face showing some shame.

Li Ji'an smiled and nodded, then walked closer.

"Uncle Li, I..."

"There's no need to blame yourself. Look at the spring scenery in this courtyard; isn't it all your credit?" Li Ji'an pointed to a medicinal field in the backyard and the courtyard full of spiritual grains, flowers, trees, and plants.

These were all the result of Xiao Qiao drawing upon the earth's earth-element spiritual energy to irrigate them. Li Ji'an had previously held extravagant hopes for this, fantasizing about whether it could have the ability to ripen like Han Tianzun's Little Green Bottle.

Unfortunately, the effect existed, but it was not significant, similar to a first-tier medicinal field.

"Gua ~" After comforting Xiao Qiao, Li Ji'an looked at Guagua, who was basking in the sun so freely.

Guagua immediately shuddered.

"It's okay, bask away." This time, Li Ji'an didn't say anything to it, nor did he force it to improve.

In his previous life, he had accidentally encountered Guagua, initially only as an experiment. Later, during their interactions, he found that it had much less demonic nature than ordinary demon beasts, which was more to Li Ji'an's liking.

It had also sheltered him once when he reverted to his youth, and Li Ji'an was already content.

Now that it had advanced to the second tier, its theoretical lifespan could shelter him once more, which was enough.

After all, it was only a low-grade bloodline. Although years of devouring Soul-Devouring Ants had caused some mutations in its bloodline, it still had limited potential, and advancing to the second tier was considered its limit.

Unless there was some great opportunity for its bloodline to transform.

Moreover, Li Ji'an asked himself that the beast pills he had provided it over the years were also limited, and he had not put much effort into studying the art of beast taming, so there was no reason to demand too much from it.

Just then, Doctor Bai sent a voice transmission to gather.

Li Ji'an smiled at Guagua, who was still in a state of suspicion, and turned to walk outside.

This year was generally quite leisurely. He had accumulated a lot of medicinal herbs in previous years, enough for his cultivation needs. Moreover, the families within the state were all conscripted to the forbidden area of the ruins, so there were fewer people coming to him seeking pills.

Apart from the pill refining task assigned to him by the sect half a year ago, there was almost nothing else.

Moreover, the pill refining task assigned to him by the sect was calculated according to the production capacity of ordinary alchemists, which was very easy for him. Like usual, opening the furnace five times a month was enough to cope.

However, half a month ago, a major conflict finally broke out in the forbidden area of the ruins.

On that day, on the northern side of the forbidden area, rogue cultivators from Tianyuan and Daoyuan States gathered together and launched the first collective charge against the forbidden area.

They claimed that the Daze Mountains did not only belong to Cangyun State, and while the Biyun Sect was entitled to excavate the southern ruins, they could not prevent them from excavating the northern ruins.

On that day, the forbidden area barrier set up by the Biyun Sect and the temporary magic formations were broken. Nearly a hundred sect disciples were killed or injured, and two hall master-level disciples died. The Biyun Sect was furious, and several Pseudo-Dan elders took action, slaughtering the rogue cultivators from the two states until blood flowed like rivers.

However, they were just a mob gathered for profit. Most of them could sense the aura of Core Formation stage cultivators in advance and fled early. Most of those who died were Qi training stage cultivators.

After that, the rogue cultivators from the two states began a tug-of-war. As long as a Core Formation stage expert from the Biyun Sect came out, they would attack other directions.

The Biyun Sect was fully engaged in excavating the ruins, and most of the experts were deep in the ruins breaking restrictions. The ruins area was vast, making it difficult to spare more manpower to defend every place, which led to many rogue cultivators breaking into the ruins in recent days.

Because of the outbreak in the north, most of the sect disciples went to the north to defend, and the defense in the south was weak. A group of Cangyun State cultivators, who had been waiting for an opportunity, also took the opportunity to break through the forbidden area barrier.

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However, the local rogue cultivators of Cangyun State were weak and scattered, and they had been suppressed in terms of resources for a long time. They were vulnerable to the sect cultivators.

In the past few days, Li Ji'an knew that three early Foundation Establishment stage rogue cultivators and dozens of late Qi training stage cultivators had already died. Even those who managed to escape were already wanted by the sect.

They either had to risk crossing the mountains through the northeast passage to Tianyuan State, or wait until the sect finished dealing with the ruins, and then they would have nowhere to hide.

Before long, the seven people from the compound met again.

Doctor Bai, Hua Hongling, Duanmu Qin, and Zhou the Tailor all looked solemn.

It turned out that today, the four of them had received an order from the sect to enter the forbidden area of the ruins tomorrow to guard it for the sect.

Among them, Doctor Bai was to serve as a military doctor, providing timely medical treatment to the allied forces.

The remaining three would serve as combat forces on the front line.

Li Ji'an had expected this. Of the eight people here, Gou the Puppet Master had been taken away by the sect two years ago. Of the remaining seven, he and Alchemist Zhou had accepted pill refining tasks from the sect, and Qian the Array Master had also accepted the task of engraving array foundations for the sect. It was only a matter of time before the other four were conscripted.

However, as rogue cultivators, unlike the cultivation families within the state, the sect basically had no means to absolutely control them. If they were unwilling, they could completely go to Tianyuan and Daoyuan States through the passage in the east of the mountains.

The sect also did not force them on the surface, but only summoned them.

But the four of them had already decided to go.

Li Ji'an knew Duanmu Qin's thoughts, she was probably just waiting for this opportunity.

As for the other three, they might also have this idea.

"Alchemist Li, having known you for ten years, your character has been praised by everyone. I won't waste words. This is my lifelong medical inheritance. I will give it to you today. If I can't come back this time, I hope you can help settle my wife, children, and old folks." After the meeting, Doctor Bai specifically stayed to talk to Li Ji'an.

Li Ji'an gladly agreed.

Over the years, he had wanted to dabble in medicine, but he had never obtained a reliable medical inheritance. He had once subtly expressed to Doctor Bai his desire to trade for his medical inheritance.

This time, his behavior was naturally due to the reputation he had gained from adopting and taking care of Xiao Qiao, as well as his character demonstrated over the past ten years through his interactions with others.

That night, Duanmu Qin also came to say goodbye to him, saying that she would find an opportunity to survey that cave again, and told Li Ji'an to rest assured that she would never cooperate with others.

Li Ji'an remained noncommittal about her statement.

If she really met someone trustworthy and capable of helping her break the cave's restrictions, Li Ji'an didn't expect her to remember him.

In the face of the Great Dao, everything is fleeting.

However, when they parted the next day, Li Ji'an still gave her a Blood Burning Pill and a second-order Escape Talisman.

The purpose was to let her understand that he had the ability to obtain second-order talismans.

This was the greatest effort he could make for that opportunity, and after that, it was up to fate.

After sending off the four, Li Ji'an also felt a sense of crisis.

Today, they could send weapon refiners and musicians to the battlefield. When the chaos completely broke out, it was hard to guarantee that they wouldn't send him, an alchemist, to the battlefield as well. After all, in the eyes of the sect, the alchemy skills of the sect alchemists on the sect's alchemy peak were the best, and they were the main force in supplying second-order pills.

"My trump cards are still not enough!" Faced with the possible conscription, he had no intention of escaping, let alone fleeing to the northern two states for this reason.

After all, with his current trump cards, crossing the Daze Mountains alone, which were full of monsters, and where he might encounter third-order monsters if he was unlucky, was much riskier than entering the ruins.

He was an alchemist, and everyone knew that his fighting strength was poor. Even if he was really conscripted into the ruins, he would at most be asked to beat the drums on the sidelines and deal with Qi training stage rogue cultivators.

However, he was still eager to prepare some more powerful trump cards.