When it comes to cultivating immortality, it naturally starts with upgrading the herb garden.

Three days later, Song Chen, with about a thousand spirit stones in his pocket, used the Qi Concealment Technique to hide his aura and went to the street to buy spells.

These days, his life has become increasingly dull. All he does is cultivate, and he hasn't even practiced any spells.

It wasn't that Song Chen didn't want to practice, but rather that he didn't know what to practice.

The art of gathering qi has been mastered.

Shadow Step also condensed a fourth shadow. This final fifth shadow was the bottleneck and could not be rushed.

Fire Shield and Fire Control are beyond question; they have long been mastered and there is no room for further advancement.

The reason for buying this spell is not only because there is no room for improvement in other spells.

Or perhaps it's because Song Chen felt his offensive tactics were too limited.

Aside from launching rockets and throwing talismans, their magical artifacts are all designed for sneak attacks; their frontal combat capabilities are too weak to fight tough battles.

Song Chen urgently needed to add a powerful offensive spell.

Of course, another reason is that there are too many spirit stones, so many that there's nowhere to spend them.

Song Chen didn't like keeping spirit stones in his hands; he preferred that they be effectively converted into combat power.

"This is truly a happy problem."

Song Chen pouted and turned into the magic shop.

Among the dazzling array of spells, he bought a mid-grade spell called "Earth Fire Finger" for one hundred spirit stones.

This spell can directly condense a fiery finger, which emerges from the ground according to the cultivator's will. It is extremely powerful and very suitable for ambushing people.

This method is a rewrite of the superior-grade spell "Heavenly Fire Finger". Once you break through to the late stage of Qi Refining, you can directly switch to cultivating "Heavenly Fire Finger".

It's considered a lower-level spell among high-grade spells.

Naturally, the price is several times higher than that of a typical mid-grade spell, almost half the price of a high-grade spell.

Incidentally, the "Heavenly Fire Finger" is not sold in this shop.

The shop is out of stock even high-grade spells.

Before Song Chen left the shop, a secret technique worth fifty spirit stones caught his attention at the entrance.

This method is called "Self-Ignition Technique".

Although this spell is called "self-ignition," it doesn't actually involve spontaneous combustion.

Instead, it instantly draws all the spiritual energy from the cultivator's dantian to the surface of their body, condensing it without dissipating, forming a spiritual energy armor.

At the same time, it burns the lifespan of a cultivator, instantly granting the caster extraordinary power, transforming them into a super warrior.

Early-stage Qi Refining cultivators can use this to defeat mid-stage cultivators, and mid-stage cultivators can use it to defeat up to seven levels.

Song Chen's sixth level of Qi Refining was exactly equivalent to the cultivation level of the old man Feng Sancai after he used it.

He felt he could buy it as a trump card to use in case of unforeseen circumstances.

After all, if you can't survive a crisis, then having extra lifespan is completely useless.

Song Chen walked out of the magic shop and looked around the bustling alley.

"I still have a thousand spirit stones left. How can I improve?"

"What does this shop do?"

Song Chen's gaze fell on a shop across the street called "Protecting You".

Array Dao?

What can you sell in a Zhendao store?

Battle formation?

Driven by curiosity, Song Chen walked toward the shop.

The store was unexpectedly luxurious, with a Tai Chi Bagua diagram on the floor, a Yin-Yang Five Elements array on the ceiling, and detailed explanations of array principles carved on the walls. Every corner exuded a unique noble aura of array principles.

The shelves on both sides were filled with array diagrams.

Clearly, this shop is quite skilled in formation techniques.

As soon as Song Chen entered the store, an acquaintance walked towards him.

It is Ning Lianyi.

She saw Song Chen and asked in confusion, "Song Chen? What are you doing here?"

"Come in and take a look."

Seeing someone he knew, Song Chen was somewhat pleased and smiled, "What are you doing here?"

Ning Lianyi said speechlessly, "This is my family's shop! Of course I'm going to stay here!"

Song Chen was bewildered. He searched his memory and realized that his predecessor had no idea about Ning Lianyi's family situation.

The two claimed to be good friends, but apart from knowing that Ning Lianyi knew the art of array formations, the original owner knew nothing else about her.

"Besides selling battle formation diagrams, what else does your shop sell?"

Song Chen picked up one of the musical scores and casually looked at it.

He lacked basic knowledge of array formations and could only get a general idea, not understanding their true meaning.

This is a lightning-attracting array. It requires four square bamboo poles as array markers and four low-grade spirit stones as the spiritual energy base. Arrange them in a specific way to complete the array.

"We not only sell array diagrams here, but also temporary array formations and services for setting up array formations."

Ning Lianyi placed her jade-like hand on Song Chen's shoulder and said sarcastically:

"Aren't you an alchemist? Can you understand formations?"

Song Chen smiled, a slight smirk playing on his lips, and said, "Of course!"

He deliberately dragged out those two words, then continued, "I don't understand!"

Ning Lianyi slapped her forehead upon hearing this:

"You won't need the lightning-attracting array. This array is either used to set traps or to extract the power of heavenly lightning."

"This spirit-gathering array is quite suitable for your herb field, and this basic gate protection array is very suitable for home use."

Song Chen put the array diagram back on the shelf and asked, "What is that temporary array?"

He was not satisfied with the two formations Ning Lianyi mentioned.

The Spirit Gathering Array is currently almost useless to Song Chen. With the system's transformation bonus, that little bit of Spirit Gathering bonus is really dispensable.

He had heard of the basic gate protection formation; it couldn't even defend against a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining, and was still considered one of the most useless formations in the cultivation world.

Furthermore, formations require frequent maintenance.

Song Chen has many secrets; how could he possibly bring other people into his home?

"Temporary formations are simply small-scale formations, unlike traditional formations."

"Temporary formations are pre-formed formations that can be carried around, are plug-and-play, and come in various types."

"But these types of formations are generally very expensive."

Ning Lianyi gave a brief introduction and then led Song Chen into the shop, where there was a wall covered with small arrays.

Song Chen glanced at the array on the wall and saw that the array axes were constantly rotating, indicating that the arrays were being slowly activated.

As Ning Lianyi had said, they were all fully formed formations.

Moreover, small formations are really small, the smallest being only the size of a finger, and the largest no more than the size of a palm.

"A formation of this size can generally be stored on one's person to enhance a cultivator's power, right?"

Song Chen walked up to one of the smaller formations and naturally began to speculate about its function.

"Yes."

Ning Lianyi nodded slightly and addressed one of the spells:

"For example, this formation can be placed on the chest as a protective formation, which can withstand the full force of a Qi Refining Level 8 cultivator's attack."

"Or perhaps this formation can be placed under the feet, which can provide cultivators with instantaneous bursts of power when necessary."

Song Chen glanced at the two formations Ning Lianyi mentioned, silently memorizing them, then looked at another formation radiating purple light and said:

"What about this one?"

Ning Lianyi narrowed her eyes slightly and said:

"This is a small-scale Purple Qi Replenishing Array, which can provide spiritual energy support for cultivators. The effect is not very good, but it is still somewhat useful."

She glanced at Song Chen, noticing the interest in his eyes, and said:

"I don't recommend it. It costs 150 spirit stones each, which is very expensive."

"Of course, if you have too much money to burn, you can buy it, but you need to buy several so that the effects will be combined for amazing results."

Song Chen nodded, stretched, and said slowly, "Okay! Thanks, I'll save up some money and come buy it in a few days."

Then, he turned his back to Ning Lianyi, waved his right hand as a farewell.