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

The sun hangs high in the sky, shining down impartially across the vast five regions. In the southeast of the eastern region, there is a lake surrounded by islands.

A Golden Core cultivator once passed away here, and it is said that his body was left on a remote island. As a result, the local people began to search for the Golden Core cultivator's legacy.

Over time, this place has also been given a beautiful name – Wandaobo (Ten Thousand Islands Pond).

Birds flew across the horizon, passing over the coastline.

To the northeast of Wandaobo, the waves constantly surge around Duanya Island.

What was originally just a faint crimson spot in the sky turned into a long rainbow in the blink of an eye.

The flame tail swayed, forming a continuous, undulating tail, while the flame head protruded, resembling a long, red-flaming arrow upon closer inspection.

In Huanbei South Alley, Song Chen raised his right hand high and gently lowered it, destroying the fiery red gate along with the courtyard.

The rocket crashed to the ground, creating a huge crater. The aftershocks did not spread, only raising billowing dust. When the smoke cleared, Song Chen appeared there, his gaze coldly fixed on the boy at his feet.

The boy, paralyzed on one side, stared at Song Chen in disbelief, blood gushing from his throat as he struggled to speak:

Why?

Song Chen remained silent, drawing a wisp of spiritual energy from his dantian, which instantly transformed into a blazing arrow at his fingertips, delivering a fatal blow to the boy in a flash.

The boy's eyes went completely dark, his head turned away, and he died.

"Foolish! Who would bother investigating a newcomer's neighbor?"

Song Chen persisted, raising a blood-red longsword with a flick of his right hand. He activated the "Essence Blood Technique," causing a continuous stream of blood to flow from the boy's neck, pulling at the bamboo basket beside the corpse.

The bamboo basket contained what was called a "local specialty," and the contents that rolled out emitted a rich purple aura.

The next moment, the boy's corpse at Song Chen's feet, along with his blood and essence, turned into a pool of poisonous water that seeped into the ground, as if it had never existed.

"Poison Child!"

"Young man! Don't push your luck!"

The hollow sound came from afar. Song Chen snorted coldly and ignored it, turning back into the house.

This person is a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator who specializes in poisons. His offense and defense are both based on poisons. The boy just now was a poison puppet he created.

Feng Sancai has a complete memory; at least in Huanbei City, there isn't a single capable person he doesn't know.

As for the blood-red longsword, it was a powerful mid-grade magic weapon that Feng Sancai had prepared in advance and stored in his storage bag.

Song Chen glanced at it briefly. Before reaching the peak of Qi Refining, there was no need to worry too much about resources as long as the expenditure was not several hundred thousand spirit stones.

"The essence blood technique is quite useful."

Song Chen clenched his fist and looked down.

He can inherit the mastery of spells absorbed through the blood spirit root, and thus easily replicate them.

Whoosh!

The wooden barrel was bright red, and the room was filled with the pungent smell of blood—the essence and blood of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

The blood was vibrant and unfathomable; even just smelling its aura gave Song Chen a sense of his cultivation level rising.

Without saying a word, Song Chen took off his clothes and fell inside.

In an instant, a surge of powerful spiritual energy rushed into his dantian, like a terrifying wave of energy that nearly destroyed all the meridians in his body.

Fortunately, Song Chen was quite farsighted this time, knowing the power of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, and did not use external aids such as spirit stones and spirit gathering pills, thus averting a major disaster.

His brows were furrowed, and he would sometimes groan and sometimes grit his teeth, his mind completely focused on regulating his breathing in his dantian.

The spiritual energy surged in my dantian like ocean waves.

Song Chen focused on controlling the energy, and countless streams of spiritual energy liquefied, causing his cultivation to steadily and rapidly improve.

......

An hour later.

There was no more blood in the wooden tub; only Song Chen, completely naked, sat quietly inside, holding a mid-grade spirit stone in his hand, continuously absorbing spiritual energy.

Half an hour later, Song Chen opened his eyes. There were already nine drops of spiritual liquid in his dantian, just one step away from the fifth level of Qi Refining.

But more than his cultivation level, the spells that appeared in his mind this time delighted him even more.

"The Three Pure Sword Shadow Technique" - a high-grade spell brought about by the essence and blood of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

By transforming spiritual energy into a sword, one can unleash a special sword technique that ordinary sword cultivators cannot perform. Its power is unparalleled, and even in the late stage of Qi Refining, it can break through the full defense of a peak cultivator.

With the current total amount of spiritual energy in Song Chen's dantian, if he were to exhaust all his spiritual energy to activate it, he could probably cast a spell once, but the power would only be less than 30%. After casting the spell, he would be completely exhausted and unable to move.

If we only consider the consequences, then we should not use it. However, if we consider the actual situation, then the situation is quite different.

High-grade spells are not as powerful or unpredictable as ordinary high-grade talismans.

Even with only 30% of its power, it's more than enough, whether you're at the mid-stage of Qi Refining or holding onto it as a trump card.

Moreover, there is plenty of time in the future. Once Song Chen breaks through to the late stage of Qi Refining, this kind of magic will naturally be upgraded and become a powerful killing move, which he can then use as easily as his own arm.

Why not?

Song Chen pulled himself back from his thoughts and poured another three thousand taels of his essence blood into the wooden tub, intending to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refining.

......

Three hours later.

Song Chen's aura suddenly surged, his meridians became more than twice as solid, and the turbid and filthy surface of his body was expelled as impurities were eliminated.

His spiritual energy spread along his spiritual root, and with a touch of cleansing magic, his whole body instantly felt refreshed, like a handsome man who had just taken a thorough bath.

At the same time, twenty drops of spiritual liquid mixed together in the dantian, giving it a lively feel.

Two hours ago, Song Chen broke through to the fifth level of Qi Refining, and in the following hour, he made another progress.

In the storage bag, there were only two thousand taels of essence blood left, barely enough for the next blood bath.

Before Fatty Dong's goods arrived, Song Chen had no choice but to settle for second best, using mid-grade spirit stones and spirit-gathering pills to slowly improve his cultivation.

No. 16, South Alley.

A man, no more than half a zhang tall, with a face resembling that of a child, yet with eyes revealing an extraordinary wisdom, sat in a dark room.

Despite being exposed, the Poison Child remained undeterred and continued his wicked schemes.

At this moment, he was faced with four poison puppets.

From left to right, the Poison Puppet's cultivation levels are Qi Refining Level 3, Qi Refining Level 4, Qi Refining Level 5, and Qi Refining Level 5.

Poison Child's face was solemn, his eyes darting around, and his hands rested on one of the poison puppets, as if he had made up his mind.

"That kid at No. 17 South Alley possesses great blood energy, making him the perfect choice for crafting an advanced poison puppet."

"If it can be successfully refined, it's not impossible to use the advanced Poison Puppet's dantian to condense spiritual energy and break through to the late stage of Qi Refining!"

Although he is called a "child" in Chinese, he is actually over a hundred years old. He only managed to rejuvenate his body by using some methods.

However, this is still only a temporary solution; to truly prolong life, breaking through one's cultivation level is the most reliable approach.

He was originally a wandering cultivator from Snowfall Market on Winter Island. Seeing that his time was coming to an end, he did not want to die in front of others, so he came to this small place in Huanbei to enjoy his last moments.

Unexpectedly, he was able to find this hope in Song Chen, and now that it had appeared, he had to make the most of it.

The Poison Boy was a cautious man who considered defeat before victory. He released a poisonous pigeon out the window, with a letter hidden in its belly.

If this attempt fails, someone will come to clean up his mess, preventing his body from lying in the wilderness.

"After a century of arduous cultivation, we've finally reached this point!"

"Hair turns from black in the morning to snow by evening; right and wrong, success and failure, all vanish in the blink of an eye!"

Poison Child took a deep breath and, with four poison puppets, charged straight toward Song Chen's house.

When he arrived at Song Chen's room, he searched for a while but couldn't find him: "Did he go out?"

Poison Child turned his head to look at the medicinal herb field in the front yard outside the house. The green and white hair was lush and the fragrance of the herbs attracted his attention.

"This is......"

The Poison Child's eyes widened in horror, and he could not close his mouth.

This is actually a medicinal field that produces a lot of spiritual herbs!

These spiritual fields should be used by him!

His heart burned with excitement, thinking to himself, "This kid actually possesses such a priceless treasure; coming here was definitely the right decision!"

However, the Poison Child's thoughts did not continue, and his gaze shifted rapidly.

"Xiaoqing? What are you doing here?"

Song Chen shot him through the neck with a rocket, sending him to his death.

If you look closely, you will find a faint green crawling mark on the wound of the poison child.

Unfortunately, the Poison Child was already carrying a potent poison, so he easily blocked the toxins, leaving no trace on his body.

"That little bit of green in my dantian can actually transform into a trace of deadly poison in a spell!"

Song Chen stared at the poison child's neck. Although the poison marks were fleeting, they were still there.

The toxin in the spiritual liquid was left over from when the blood essence of the Azure Wolf was absorbed.

Recalling the butcher's words that night, he must have poisoned the blood and essence.

However, Song Chen clearly absorbed all the essence and blood but did not react, indicating that the toxins were probably sent into his dantian along with the spiritual energy.

"Although the Blood Spirit Root brings constant calamities, its wondrous uses are truly endless!"

Song Chen glanced around and sighed, then grabbed the Poison Child's corpse and put it into the wooden tub.

Besides the four poison puppets, the storage bag also contained the crafting method for an advanced poison puppet.

Song Chen glanced at it briefly and found it uninteresting.

The sole purpose of this method is to create a poison puppet that can absorb Qi, but it has no combat power. Its main function is to help one break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Song Chen possesses a blood spirit root, so he has no bottlenecks. He only needs to accumulate resources and cultivate naturally. He doesn't need the crooked methods of ordinary people to help him break through.

He skillfully drained the blood and poured it into a wooden bucket.

The blood of the Poison Child is truly strange; others' blood is bright red, while those with higher cultivation levels have deep red.

His body, however, was reddish-green, indicating that he had already developed some toxins in his body.

Song Chen didn't care what kind of blood it was, he just wanted to suck it.

However, just in case, he had a detoxifying pill in his mouth, and then he jumped...

At this moment, in the middle alley of Huanbei Market, a Foundation Establishment cultivator landed here...