Mortal: The Path to Immortality

While Lu Nanzhu continued planting the medicinal herbs, he found several crimson fruits deep in his storage bag. These were "Dragon Blood Fruits" that had been selectively bred.

Previously, he had retrieved this creature along with the tail feathers of the "Shadowless Kite" from the "Crimson Forbidden Land" in Tiannan, and then repeatedly used the "Small Inkstone" to deduce and breed it.

However, as a rare ancient spiritual fruit, the "Dragon Blood Fruit" has extremely stable characteristics. Even though he had spent a lot of effort on several breeding trials, he had not found many excellent varieties worth keeping.

Until recently, after repeated attempts, Lu Nanzhu finally managed to cultivate this brand-new variety.

The improved "Dragon Blood Fruit," in addition to its original function of helping spirit beasts enhance their magical power and assisting them in advancing to higher ranks to a certain extent, also has a small chance of causing the spirit beasts to experience some kind of enhancement or qualitative change in their abilities after consuming it.

While this added effect sounds fantastic, it ultimately depends on luck.

However, Lu Nanzhu didn't care too much. He planned to plant more of this new variety of "Dragon Blood Fruit" in the stone chamber and use it as a regular snack for his tamed spirit beasts.

"Since the chances are slim, let's increase the dosage. As long as it's not completely impossible, if we feed it more, it will eventually succeed." Lu Nanzhu looked at the few crimson fruits in his palm and muttered to himself with certainty.

He casually scattered the dragon blood fruit seeds onto the open ground covered with "spirit moss".

After thoroughly tidying up the medicinal garden on the ground floor, Lu Nanzhu climbed the newly repaired stone steps and arrived at the next level of the cave.

Compared to the secluded retreat and cultivation area at the bottom, this space is the most spacious in the entire Linghai Peak Cave.

Lu Nanzhu decided to develop this most expansive area into a habitat for spirit beasts and spirit insects.

He used his magic to work with the dozen or so mechanical puppets to carve out several interconnected, huge, independent stone chambers in the rock wall.

Then, he flicked the several spirit beast pouches at his waist and led Lei Yuanpeng, Xue Kui Beast, the Spirit Erosion Bee Swarm, and the two Xuan Yu Spiders that had recently hatched into the stone chambers.

Seeing these spirit beasts, who were originally used to the vast world, being confined in a small stone chamber, Lu Nanzhu knew that keeping them in such a confined state was indeed a bit unfair to them.

Originally, he planned to let these spirit beasts live and roam freely within the entire Listening Sea Peak's restriction, but after some consideration, he abandoned the idea, as doing so was indeed somewhat risky.

This mountain peak faces the sea to the north and is located in a remote area. Although it usually seems deserted, it doesn't mean that other cultivators won't come here to seek opportunities in the future.

The spirit beasts and insects in his hands were all extremely rare and top-tier spiritual creatures. If they were discovered by passing cultivators while he was active in the mountains, they would surely bring him unnecessary trouble.

After settling all the spirit beasts in, Lu Nanzhu fed them enough spirit-feeding pills in each of the stone chambers.

Watching them settle down and begin to consume the pills, Lu Nanzhu clapped his hands, then climbed the carved stone steps again, leaving this level of residence.

Returning to the top level of the entire cave, this place was also transformed into a huge stone chamber by Lu Nanzhu using his magic power, used for daily alchemy and cultivation.

Upon entering the alchemy room, he approached a stone table. On the table were various mature spiritual plants brought from Tiannan, all of which had been matured using "spirit moss" and were of very high age, exuding a fragrant aroma.

On one corner of the stone table were piles of local medicinal formulas that he had previously collected in Tiandu Street Market.

The pill formulas in the Chaotic Star Sea are completely different from those in Tiannan. Apart from some low-level pills for the Qi Refining stage, the other high-level pills that assist in cultivation all require the use of demon cores from demonic beasts as the main ingredient.

Thinking of this, Lu Nanzhu couldn't help but shake his head and mutter to himself, "Using demon cores to refine pills for daily cultivation improvement is a bit too extravagant."

Fortunately, before coming to the Chaotic Star Sea, I had gathered all the necessary medicinal seeds and alchemy ingredients according to the Foundation Establishment pill formula from Tiannan. At least until I reach the Core Formation stage, I don't have to worry about refining pills to aid my cultivation.

He put down the pill formulas, walked to a futon, and sat cross-legged. With a flick of his hand, he summoned his alchemy furnace, then breathed out a mouthful of innate true fire into it, and began to put the medicinal herbs on the stone table into the furnace one by one.

For the next ten days or so, Lu Nanzhu spent most of his time refining pills such as "Qi Harmony Pill" and "Spirit Gathering Pill" to improve the cultivation level of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Sometimes he would get up to stretch his muscles and bones, and while he was at it, he would go downstairs to the stone chamber to look after the many spirit beasts kept there, and also water the medicinal garden with some spiritual spring water.

With his outstanding alchemy skills acquired in Tiannan, he had an exceptionally high success rate in refining these familiar pills, and rarely failed to produce any pills.

That day, Lu Nanzhu looked at the dozens of porcelain bowls piled high on the stone table, each filled with perfectly round, finished elixirs. He picked one up with his fingers and pondered:

"These should be about enough. Apart from the small portion left over from Tiannan, the vast majority were made during this period."

After all, his main cultivation technique consumed far too much spiritual energy and pills. However, if he successfully mastered the technique, his internal magical power would be several times that of other cultivators of the same level, giving him a huge advantage in future battles.

After putting down the pill, Lu Nanzhu walked to his bedroom and changed into a loose and clean set of casual clothes.

After returning to his seat, he used his fingers to activate his magic and lit a plate of calming incense. Then he sat down cross-legged on the futon in the center of the stone chamber.

As the fragrance filled the hall, Lu Nanzhu quickly calmed himself down. He began to circulate his main cultivation technique, occasionally reaching out to grab a few pills from a nearby stone table and swallowing them.

Instantly, a rich blue-green spiritual energy gathered from all around the cave and enveloped his body.

At this moment, the stone door was tightly closed. The dull sound of waves crashing against the cliff outside the cave entered the stone chamber, making this secluded place of cultivation seem exceptionally tranquil.

In the days that followed, apart from occasionally going downstairs to check on his spirit beasts and herb garden, Lu Nanzhu spent most of his time in seclusion, focusing on his cultivation.

Sometimes he would walk alone to the edge of the cliff outside the cave, watch the rolling waves below, and feel the pleasant sea breeze to calm his mind.

Time flies.

Finally, seven years later.

On this day, Lu Nanzhu was meditating in his cave. He had been cultivating in seclusion here for nearly a month after realizing that he had reached a bottleneck.

Suddenly, a violent surge of spiritual energy emanated from his body, causing the blue-green spiritual energy around him to fluctuate wildly. After a moment, the surge gradually subsided and returned to his body.

Opening his eyes and feeling the more abundant and powerful magical energy within his body than ever before, Lu Nanzhu smiled.

After seven years of hard work, he finally broke through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.