Mortal: The Path to Immortality

"What kind of bizarre escape technique did this person use? Why is he so fast?" The Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Spirit Control Sect stared at the streak of light with a horrified expression.

"What's the panic? I've already sent a message to Elder Ning." The female cultivator who controlled the blood flies gritted her teeth, staring hatefully into the distance. "How could a mere Foundation Establishment junior, even if he knows some escape techniques, possibly escape the pursuit of a Core Formation elder?"

At this moment, Lu Nanzhu was rapidly gliding through the air.

The wound on his shoulder burned with pain, forcing him to divert some of his magical power to suppress it firmly on his left shoulder. Watching the mountains rush past, the thoughts in his eyes grew increasingly intense.

His escape route was not towards the Ling Beast Mountain sect in the south, but rather towards the Yuanwu Kingdom in the north.

"Something's fishy. These northern mines are worthless, so why would the Spirit Control Sect send so many people here just to capture me?"

They knew I'd be there? It seems either an inside agent leaked the information, or...

Lu Nanzhu paused, then shook his head.

"Someone in the sect wants my life. I can't go back to Spirit Beast Mountain, and I absolutely cannot stay in Tiannan any longer."

With his thoughts back to normal, he no longer hesitated and activated his magic power, speeding northward.

Suddenly, the spirit beast pouch at my waist trembled violently; it was "Full Storage".

When the little guy was taken out and placed on his shoulder, it became restless, standing upright and scratching and waving its two front paws rapidly in the air, as if urging Lu Nanzhu to run away for his life.

At the same time, Lu Nanzhu also vaguely sensed a divine sense sweeping over.

His heart skipped a beat, and without further hesitation, he ripped off the Spirit Beast Mountain mission token from his waist and tossed it into the air without a second thought.

Immediately, he took a sip of his homemade "spiritual milk" and immediately felt his spiritual power slowly recovering. With the help of the recovered spiritual power, he activated the escape technique from "The Legend of Fuyao"—the Heavenly Song of Steps.

In an instant, the blue and green light veins on his body shone with dazzling spiritual light, and the overflowing magic power enveloped his entire body.

With a leap, he transformed into a streak of light, soaring thousands of feet into the sky, leaving a dark peacock blue mark on the gray-white backdrop before disappearing completely into the horizon.

Shortly after Lu Nanzhu sped away, a steady beam of light crashed down in the low sky. When the light dissipated, it revealed a Core Formation elder with a sinister face, dressed in brown robes—Elder Ning of the Yuling Sect.

He looked around with some surprise, a strange purple light emanating from his eyes. He unleashed his Core Formation stage divine sense, not missing a single rustling sound within a radius of dozens of miles.

A few breaths later, Elder Ning withdrew his divine sense with a livid face, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"He's really gone... I clearly sensed him just now, how could he suddenly vanish without a trace? Could this kid be carrying a spatial teleportation artifact?" Elder Ning stood in mid-air, hands behind his back, deep in thought, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty.

"What is this person's background? It seems we should get rid of him as soon as possible, lest things get complicated."

Having said that, he reluctantly searched for hundreds of miles further north, but apart from a sandstorm, he found no trace of Lu Nanzhu and had to return disappointed.

......

Several weeks later, in a remote, desolate mountain in the Yuanwu Kingdom.

The simple underground cave was tightly covered by three layers of concealment and protective formations.

If one could look through the array, one could see a dark blue spiritual light, like ripples on water, shimmering in the dim stone chamber.

At this moment, Lu Nanzhu, who had recovered from his injuries, was immersed in the deduction of the "Little Inkstone".

He is trying to use the lifeless eggs of the blood jade spider as raw materials to breed a more perfect variety.

His eyes were closed, his consciousness wandering in that secret realm, where he was using his divine sense to repeatedly manipulate and sift through the various spiritual fruits on the secret realm's spiritual tree.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Lu Nanzhu suddenly opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

In his palm lay two brand-new spider eggs.

The shells of the two extra eggs were no longer the original snow-white, but a clear black with a metallic cold light, and there were streaks of ice-blue fluorescent light that flickered intermittently.

For these two spirit eggs, he not only exhausted the entire nest of dead eggs but also used most of his divine sense. However, the result was more perfect than he had imagined.

Fortunately, he had practiced two techniques that enhance spiritual awareness: the "Controlling Meridians and Transforming Spirit Technique" and the "Great Evolution Technique." Otherwise, he might not have been able to successfully breed spiders in one go.

This new species of Blood Jade Spider looks exactly like the egg, its body shimmering with the luster of obsidian, mixed with lustrous ice-blue patterns.

Because of its jet-black color and jade-like smoothness, it was named "Mysterious Jade Spider" by Lu Nanzhu.

Compared to the original, the Jade Spider not only inherits and enhances the original characteristics of the Blood Jade Spider, but also completely removes the useless restriction that "it must be a male-female pair to advance".

Furthermore, through the transformations and evolutions of the inkstone, a mature Xuan Yu Spider can awaken the "Cold Poison" supernatural power, one of the Ten Deadly Poisons.

Once this poison enters the body, it will solidify the spiritual energy within the cultivator's body like a maggot clinging to a bone, causing the cultivator to become sluggish and eventually die from the despair and pain of frozen meridians and dissipated spiritual energy.

"This is far superior to the original." Lu Nanzhu looked at the two spirit eggs, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"With this unreasonable, chilling poison, perhaps a trip to the inner sanctum of the Void Heaven Palace is worth a try?"

He put away the spider eggs, rubbed his slightly throbbing temples, and began to plan his next training session.

"If I hadn't mastered the second level of the 'Soaring Record' this time, I probably wouldn't have been able to escape the pursuit of those Yu Ling Sect cultivators."

The situation in Tiannan is getting more chaotic every day. We must be extremely careful before setting off for the Chaotic Star Sea.

"According to the old man who was a Nascent Soul cultivator, the Heavenly Fire Liquid needed to form the Core should be found in the Sealed Sea Fire Abyss."

However, now that the Spirit Control Sect is searching for me all over the world, it might be safer to buy it from the Chaotic Star Sea. But... the 'Blazing Frost Scale Grass' needed to cultivate the third level of the *Soaring Record* is a problem.

Lu Nanzhu looked at the cultivation technique jade slip in his hand with a headache.

The jade slip only records that this herb was born in a spiritual place where "yin and yang are in harmony and wind and energy converge," but it does not give a specific recommended picking location.

The reason he was so obsessed with the Blazing Frost Scale Grass was because the third level of the "Soaring Record" offered such a significant boost to cultivators.

The third level of "The Legend of Fuyao" records a supernatural power called "Wind Gang Scales and Feathers".

Once this supernatural power is mastered, the cultivator's body will be covered with a layer of invisible and formless scales formed from wind energy.

Not only can it increase escape speed again, allowing one to move freely in the deep sea or scorching lava; but it can also automatically absorb the spiritual energy of attacks and dissipate most of their power when a cultivator is attacked in a great battle.

What Lu Nanzhu envied most was its passive effect of concealing the spiritual energy emanating from its body and hiding a cultivator's true cultivation level. It was simply the perfect match for playing dumb to outwit the enemy, and for both home and travel.

"I still have to go out and try my luck."

Lu Nanzhu put the jade slip away, stood up, and patted his long robe.

He planned to take advantage of the opportunity to purchase ingredients for refining healing medicines and cultivation-enhancing pills to find several well-established shops and inquire about the whereabouts of the "Blazing Frost Scale Grass".

After tidying up the items in the cave, Lu Nanzhu took out a mask that could block the detection of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator's divine sense and put it on his face.

After changing his clothes and confirming there were no flaws, he removed the formation and flew away from the place on his magical artifact.