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

Magical arts and artifacts, as well as other arts and crafts.

Regardless of cultivation level or whether one is a mortal or an immortal, it can actually be activated.

Mortals use their lifespan, while immortals use their spiritual energy.

When ordinary people use their lifespan to activate it, the power is greatly reduced, with only one in a hundred remaining. Therefore, people believe that it cannot be activated.

As for artifacts and spells that are not suitable for a cultivator's cultivation level, they can be activated as long as there is enough spiritual energy.

Similarly, its power will be greatly reduced.

For example, Song Chen, with his early-stage Qi Refining cultivation, forcibly activated a high-grade talisman that could only be easily used in the late-stage Qi Refining realm.

Aside from the huge consumption of spiritual energy, its power is less than half of its original strength, but even this half is still greater than many mid-grade talismans.

Back then, Song Chen was still hovering between the early and middle stages of Qi Refining and didn't know the reason. Now that he's at the ninth level of Qi Refining, he understands everything.

The spiritual roots and even the physical bodies of cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining are quite different from those of cultivators in the early and middle stages of Qi Refining.

As the cultivation progresses, the cultivator's spiritual roots begin to change gradually.

In the past, spiritual roots only existed on the outside of a cultivator's body, and only began to gradually advance towards the bottom of the spiritual sea in the late stage of Qi Refining.

As mentioned before, the activation of spells and magical artifacts ultimately comes down to the output of spiritual energy from the dantian to the spiritual root.

Now that the spiritual root has entered the dantian, it naturally greatly reduces the loss of spiritual energy and significantly enhances the strength of spiritual energy, and can even be output directly as spiritual liquid!

The difference between them is considerable.

Upon reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining, the spiritual root completely occupies the bottom of the dantian and is thoroughly nourished by the spiritual liquid, naturally becoming stronger day by day, and indirectly boosting the cultivator's physical strength.

Song Chen is now not far from the tenth floor.

One-tenth of them already possess spiritual roots occupying their spiritual sea, and the power of their spells far surpasses that of ordinary ninth-level cultivators.

Even facing the tenth floor, Song Chen was confident he could fight it!

A pale red rainbow appeared beneath his feet. He held a black knife in his right hand (his previous Cold Blade was a mid-grade magic weapon that had been discarded long ago), and extended two fingers with his left hand. A faint aura of flames had already appeared beneath Zhang Guan's feet.

Zhang Guan's neck tilted back unnaturally, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and he sensed danger.

How is that possible?

He told himself that.

Even if Qian Zhan breaks through to the late stage, he will at most be a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining! Don't scare yourself!

But with each step Song Chen took forward, Zhang Guan could feel a terrifying sense of oppression.

Even Luo Feng, who was standing behind Zhang Guan, sensed something was wrong.

Why does this spiritual energy feel so eerie?

Song Chen's gaze was sharp, his target fixed on Zhang Guanxin's heart.

With a thought, the fiery tails on his heels burst forth, and his figure vanished, leaving only a streak of black light piercing straight into Zhang Guan's heart!

Zhang Guan looked surprised and doubtful, and was even unable to release his protective spell.

Immediately afterwards, an enormous fiery finger shot straight into the sky, enveloping Zhang Guan's entire body!

This is the superior-grade spell, Heavenly Fire Finger.

After breaking through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, Song Chen found a place to change this method.

Unlike Chi Hongyou's arduous cultivation process, he cultivated quite quickly because of the Earth Fire Finger as a guide, and he completely entered the door in just one month!

Zhang Jiu, who was still in the crater, snapped out of his daze, looked at the fiery fingers in front of him, and shouted, "Manager Zhang!"

Luo Feng abandoned his disdain and looked at Song Chen with awe.

Xie Qingshang was speechless for a moment, his head was throbbing, and his face turned slightly bluish.

Only Wang Jiu could barely speak, turning his head and babbling incoherently:

"Bro, you're awesome... Wait, why did you just kill him outright?"

Song Chen remained silent, only glancing indifferently at Zhang Guan lying on the ground, thinking to himself: 'The first one.'

He twisted his body to avoid the attack from behind.

Zhang Jiu raised his wooden sword and attacked him fiercely.

"Like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!" Song Chen said softly, slapping Zhang Jiu with the blade, sending him flying and crashing into the Zhang family mansion.

The entire house trembled violently under the strain, one of its four corners collapsed, and the house was on the verge of collapse.

"What are you doing?"

A pleasant, slightly flirtatious voice rang out, and the person floated in the air, walking on air as if on air.

It was Aunt Jiang.

She had been at the back of the mansion, and when she sensed something was wrong, she rushed over and saw the scene before her.

Zhang Guan lay dying in a pool of blood, while Zhang Jiu lay covered in blood in the ruins.

Song Chen was not afraid at all and floated up into the air.

After reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining, the intensity of spiritual energy increases significantly, allowing one to easily condense spiritual energy under their feet to support their entire body.

Therefore, being able to fly on the wind is considered the standard for the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Seeing Song Chen fly, Aunt Jiang frowned and said, "Are you going to make an enemy of the Zhang family?"

Song Chen didn't answer, but instead fiddled with the sword in his hand, raising his eyes and saying:

"It is the Zhang family that wants to be my enemy."

Aunt Jiang scrutinized Song Chen's aura, her expression growing increasingly grim. She tossed a spellbook from her sleeve: "Here, take what you owe me!"

Song Chen didn't even try to catch it. Instead, he slashed the book with his knife, sending thousands of pages flying through the air, making a soft, squeaking sound as they were pressed together.

"What do you want?" Aunt Jiang asked through gritted teeth.

"Destroy the Zhang family, or you will destroy me."

Song Chen swung his sword, and wisps of black energy transformed into blade energy that attacked Aunt Jiang.

Aunt Jiang narrowly avoided the attack, but her trouser leg was torn open, revealing a patch of her snow-white skin.

"What a fine knife!"

Song Chen's lips curled up as he glanced at the knife in his hand.

It was worth all the effort he put in to find a craftsman and spend a lot of money to create this top-grade magic weapon.

When spiritual energy is channeled into this blade, it can manifest as black energy.

The black energy can be transformed at will, used for both offense and defense, and can take on any shape, with considerable power!

"Qian Zhanwang! It seems you're determined to rebel!"

Aunt Jiang roared, "What a waste of the Zhang family's efforts over the past four years! You didn't come after that moonlit night, but have I ever targeted you in these four years? You're such an ingrate, it's truly disheartening!"

Upon hearing this, Song Chen burst into laughter, offering no rebuttal but instead continuously waving his black energy, terrifying Aunt Jiang, who was filled with dread:

"This black aura is really troublesome!"

He made a hand seal with his left hand, and with a flick of his wrist, a huge fiery finger flew out, blocking Aunt Jiang's last escape route!

Seeing that there was no way to avoid it, Aunt Jiang mobilized her spiritual energy in her dantian, and a thin layer of dew rose from her body.

She then deliberately crashed into one of the black wisps of energy, thus greatly reducing the amount of damage that would fall on her.

But she still underestimated the power of the dark energy.

With just one strike, the black energy left Aunt Jiang completely disoriented, half-dead, and powerless, causing her to fall to the ground like a piece of paper.

Zhang Jiu, who had just struggled to his feet from the ruins, saw this scene and his eyes widened in horror. He cried out, "Auntie!"

He was filled with resentment.

If the head of the family hadn't gone missing, how could they have ended up in such a sorry state?

Unconsciously, Zhang Jiu suddenly recalled a mission four years ago where he was supposed to die, but was unexpectedly saved by someone.

For some reason, Zhang Jiu began to fantasize, hoping that this person would appear again to save them.

But things backfired.

Even when Song Chen fell from the sky and struck Aunt Jiang with a knife, no one came to the aid of the Zhang family.

The cold knife plunged into her warm chest, and Aunt Jiang's eyes rolled back, and she fell silent.

Song Chen didn't bother to retrieve the body; instead, he picked up his knife and headed towards the Zhang residence.

Blood flowed like rivers wherever they went.

Zhang Jiu could only watch helplessly as Song Chen slaughtered everyone in the mansion, leaving no one alive.

"No! You demon! Ah!!!"

He shouted, but he couldn't stand up. He wanted to stop Song Chen, but he was powerless to do so.

Song Chen was covered in blood, looking like a demon.

After killing the man, he approached Zhang Jiu and said, "Stop yelling! If you've got the guts, try and stop me!"

"When your Zhang family slaughtered my entire family, didn't you ever imagine this day would come?"

"When your Zhang family killed my friend, did you ever imagine that someone would come to your door with a knife?"

Zhang Jiu's face fell, and his eyes hesitated.

He knew that what Song Chen said was true.

But... even though it's so terrible, this is still Zhang Jiu's home!

Do you know why I didn't kill you?

Song Chen said coldly.

Zhang Jiu looked up, his face full of confusion.

Song Chen left without saying the second half of his sentence.

Zhang Jiu was left sitting alone in the ruins and sea of ​​blood, stunned.