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

Song Chen felt a divine sense sweeping over his body, which made him very uncomfortable. It was really unpleasant to have one's underwear exposed.

After his divine sense swept over Meng Feng, Song Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as Meng Feng did not do anything out of line.

"It seems Meng Feng hasn't discovered the problem with my spiritual root; I can simply pretend otherwise."

Just as Song Chen was still mentally preparing his speech, Meng Feng spoke first:

"Your soul is severely injured. There are soul-repairing pills in the alchemy room. You can go and get them."

Song Chen was slightly taken aback, not expecting the other party to say that. Therefore, Meng Feng should not prevent him from entering the alchemy room.

He nodded and replied, "Okay."

The restrictions on the alchemy room had long since disappeared, clearly destroyed by Meng Feng.

"This person seems to be inspecting the Sword Sect's treasury like me. I wonder where the sect keeps all its treasures."

Song Chen walked to the other side of the alchemy room, just a few meters away from Meng Feng.

His gaze swept across the scene, and all he saw were pills and spiritual herbs.

Most of the pills were given to Song Chen; they were common goods that he wouldn't even glance at, and only a very small portion were somewhat useful.

As for the spiritual herbs, Song Chen naturally wanted as many as possible and took them all.

At the end of the alchemy room was a gleaming treasure chest, clearly of extraordinary quality.

Song Chen's curiosity immediately piqued: "The items before are all ordinary, but this one looks quite extraordinary!"

He approached the treasure chest, inside which was a flawless white jade bottle with the character "soul" printed on it.

Seeing this, Song Chen already had a guess in his mind, and was just waiting to open the bottle cap to find out what was inside.

"Don't open it! The pills you wanted are inside. Take them back and take them!"

Meng Feng quickly spoke up and stopped Song Chen's crazy behavior.

"The Soul-Replenishing Pill's potency dissipates extremely easily. It must be consumed within three breaths of opening the bottle, otherwise it's essentially a wasted pill!"

Upon hearing this, Song Chen quickly stopped what he was doing, put the bottle into his storage bag, and bowed to Meng Feng in thanks.

"Thank you for the reminder, fellow Daoist!"

Meng Feng's expression darkened upon hearing this: "Call me Senior Brother!"

"...Senior brother."

Although Song Chen appeared outwardly respectful, his inner thoughts were constantly racing. He thought to himself, "I'm about to leave the sect, who's going to be friends with you as senior and junior brothers anymore!"

Having achieved his goal, Song Chen had no reason to stay any longer and immediately fled, leaving Meng Feng alone to continue wandering in the alchemy room.

"Is this what Master meant by 'moderate good karma'?"

Meng Feng was still searching around the alchemy room, muttering to himself, "Where exactly is the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum?"

......

Before leaving, Song Chen had one more place to go: to retrieve the Foundation Establishment Pill he had refined!

He rushed to the alchemy workshop and could still sense the presence of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator happened to be walking straight down from the rooftop when he bumped into Song Chen and questioned him, "What are you doing at the Pill Refining Pavilion?"

Song Chen cupped his hands and said, "A few days ago, I came to your place to refine a hundred Foundation Establishment Pills. I wonder if you have finished them?"

"Here to collect the Foundation Establishment Pill? Follow me."

Song Chen was led to a room in the Pill Refining Hall, where the Foundation Establishment cultivator asked him to wait in front of the door for a moment.

Before long, the Foundation Establishment cultivator waved his hand, and ten jade bottles floated to Song Chen's front and landed in his hand.

"They're all here, a total of one hundred and twenty."

Song Chen wasn't afraid of the Foundation Establishment cultivator right in front of him, so he casually opened the bottle cap, saw that it was full of Foundation Establishment Pills and confirmed that it was genuine, then left without saying a word.

......

Five days later, in the cave where Xiong Tian was.

Song Chen's mental state has greatly improved. His complexion is rosy, his lips are slightly red, and his eyes are deep. He is no longer as lifeless as before.

The soul above the spiritual sea has become more than 30% more solid than before, no longer appearing as faintly as it used to, but rather becoming increasingly condensed.

After that, Song Chen was finally able to begin absorbing spiritual energy to cultivate.

From that moment on, Song Chen discovered that his cultivation was different from before.

The spiritual energy did not flow into the spiritual sea, but instead went towards the soul.

With each wisp of spiritual energy that seeped into his soul, Song Chen felt an abundance emanating from within, and his cultivation in the Soul Dao gradually improved.

However, this did not show any sign of condensing divine consciousness.

This left Song Chen somewhat bewildered.

Since entering the tenth level of Qi Refining, I have frequently encountered problems in my cultivation and urgently need to discuss and resolve them with others.

This problem was temporarily alleviated while I was in the sect, but it has become immediately apparent now that I have left.

"If only there were a lineage that could guide me on the path," Song Chen thought to himself.

If there were a lineage, Song Chen could learn from the understanding of his predecessors and better understand the path and key points of cultivation, without having to resort to such smear campaigns and be helpless when faced with problems.

Moreover, the inheritance is mostly a thought or a book, with almost no intrigue or backstabbing, and the safety factor is guaranteed. More importantly, there is no need to expose one's own situation to others, which can better protect oneself.

From all perspectives, inheritance is Song Chen's only option at present.

But with such a seldom-finding tradition, where can Song Chen find it?

Almost all the known inheritances have been explored to the last drop, leaving nothing to be gained. As for the undiscovered inheritances, they are even less likely to be found by anyone else, let alone Song Chen.

"Unless I'm the only one who knows the coordinates of the inheritance, and no one else is there right now."

For some reason, Song Chen had a wild idea.

Wait... am I the only one who knows the inheritance coordinates?

Song Chen suddenly thought of the map he had obtained in the cave earlier. Could this be a legacy?

Since it was found near the corpse, the person who set up the inheritance was likely already deceased, and there was no case of possession like the one that occurred at Guanshiding.

Song Chen became increasingly excited as he thought about it, and made up his mind to go and find out for himself.

With this in mind, Song Chen flew out of the cave and headed north.

While in the air, he felt like he had forgotten something. Several times he looked back at the empty cave, but he still couldn't remember what it was.

"Never mind!"

It flew in an arc towards Huanbei.

Song Chen did not fly at full speed, as the spiritual energy consumption of full-speed flight would be too great, and at most, his dantian would be completely depleted within an hour.

He kept the speed within a suitable range, neither consuming too much spiritual energy nor being too slow to affect the progress.

Huanbei was neither too far nor too close; Song Chen arrived in less than half an hour.

The cliff island was deathly silent, with dark clouds hanging over it that never seemed to dissipate, making it appear as if it were shrouded in eerie weather.

As soon as Song Chen approached the island, he felt that the spiritual energy was extremely thin, so thin that he needed to feed the spiritual energy in his dantian back to the outside world.

Normally, cultivators absorb spiritual energy to cultivate, but this area is actually absorbing Song Chen's spiritual energy!

This shows just how terrifyingly scarce its spiritual energy is!

Fortunately, the absorption rate was not fast, and Song Chen could easily handle it by simply taking out low-grade spirit stones.

As a result, as soon as he took out the low-grade spirit stone, all the spiritual energy of the spirit stone dissipated into the air and vanished into thin air.

Song Chen's cheek twitched.

He slapped his forehead, realizing he'd forgotten about it.

Spirit stones are pure mixtures of spiritual energy in the world without any protection. In such a sparse place, they will naturally be captured by the world instantly and transformed into the spiritual energy reserves of this world.

Thinking of this, Song Chen suddenly had a whimsical idea.

If there were a device that could continuously produce spiritual energy, wouldn't it be possible to quickly restore Huanbei to its original state?

After all, the area's collapse was caused by the absorption of spiritual energy from heaven and earth during the Foundation Establishment stage. Could it be restored by replenishing spiritual energy?

Song Chen felt there was potential, the only problem was that he didn't have enough spirit stones, and there was no reason to restore this place.

This island is not his personal property, so even if he puts in the effort to repair it, it would be meaningless and would ultimately benefit the Lower Sword Sect.

"If even a failed Foundation Establishment attempt in the Northern Rings is like this, then what about a successful Foundation Establishment attempt on Lower Sword Island? Wouldn't that be a complete waste?"

Song Chen thought sadly.

If Xiajian Island hadn't been destroyed, he would have been very willing to stay in the sect and continue to develop there. It's just a pity that the island has completely lost its vitality and is like a dead land.

He gathered his thoughts and flew toward the point marked on the map.

It's a beach.

The sand was gray, and the waves that crashed up were black; the world looked terrifying.

Song Chen searched around for a location and found a suspicious cave in a corner of the beach.

Caves are inherently dark, and in this environment, they are so dark they are almost overflowing.

After using several luminous talismans, some parts of the light could finally be seen.

Song Chen stepped inside.

There were obvious signs that the cave had been searched and that someone had lived there, suggesting that someone may have gotten there first.

He rummaged through the messy fire and garbage.

Got nothing.

However, in one corner, Song Chen still noticed some clues. There were signs of soil being turned over, but it had been filled in again, so it was not very noticeable.

Song Chen touched upwards and easily created a small hole, seemingly large enough to store things, but the contents had already been taken away.

"Looks like they've already found us. I'm too late..."

Song Chen gave a wry smile.

Life is unpredictable; how can everything go as planned?

Song Chen emerged from the cave, preparing to leave, but turned back to look at the cave entrance before leaving.

The entrance to this cave is quite strange.

Most caves are oval-shaped, like the one Song Chen came out of, but this one is vertical and square, not smooth at all, and doesn't look like it was formed naturally.

Song Chen quietly recalled the "Door Curse" he had previously discovered among the remains.

The spell wasn't difficult to learn, and Song Chen mastered it quickly, but he didn't know where to use it.

The spell's sole purpose was to open a door, but it didn't tell Song Chen where that door was.

Looking at the cave before him, Song Chen said speechlessly, "This thing can't actually be a door, can it?"

Bored out of his mind, he suddenly had a brilliant idea: to cast a door spell in the narrow confines of a cave!

This wasn't premeditated, nor was it based on any guess. It was just that since we'd already studied and come here to search for treasure, it couldn't hurt to give it a try!

So Song Chen cast door spells all over the cave, inside and outside, even on a small rock, he wanted to try them out.

What if it's the key to passing on the legacy?

Unfortunately, he tried every method to obtain the necessary inheritance, but nothing came of it.

"It seems someone beat them to it."

Song Chen was somewhat disheartened; the feeling of failing after such an attempt was not pleasant.

However, he quickly changed his mindset: 'It's alright, if all else fails, I'll just join another sect and see if I can find a way to break through to the peak of Qi Refining!'

Song Chen summoned his flying boat. His spiritual energy was almost completely depleted after casting the spell. He could only use the flying boat to sense his departure, otherwise he would have to swim away from the cliff island.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around, the cave entrance changed, and a beam of golden light shot into the sky, with several large characters printed on it.

"Disciple of the Soul Path, True Lord Xuanyou, Land of Inheritance"

A surge of powerful spiritual energy erupted from the golden light, only to be completely absorbed by heaven and earth in an instant.

The dark clouds above the cliff island thinned out, and Song Chen also felt that his spiritual energy consumption had decreased significantly.

The beam of light, also constructed of spiritual energy, gradually weakened until it vanished, leaving only a torn spatial rift...