Cultivation begins with alchemy and collecting runes.

"Oh, it's a nest of flamingo eggs."

Li Xiuyuan walked to a nest of lush, peaceful birds.

Looking around, you can see three eggs hidden in the nest, one large and two small, constantly emitting a fiery aura.

Li Xiuyuan probed inside with his divine sense and found that the largest bird egg was thriving and looked well-nourished. "The hearts of parents are truly selfless."

Li Xiuyuan recalled the flamingo's stubborn refusal to move its nest, and connected the dots.

It became clear immediately that it had just laid a nest of eggs, which was why it refused to leave.

Li Xiuyuan immediately collected two bird eggs, leaving one with a weaker chance of survival, and turned to leave, holding it in his palm.

……

On a hilltop far from the battlefield, An Ran watched the massive fighting scene in the distance with a sense of horror.

A cold sweat broke out on my back, and I felt fearful and uneasy.

"How does this guy surnamed Li possess such powerful magical energy? Am I really just a Foundation Establishment cultivator? Why do I feel like we're from different worlds?"

An Ran looked at the distant battlefield with lingering fear, thinking that she had definitely not made a mistake by decisively retreating just now.

Otherwise, if he were to actually fight Li Xiuyuan to the death, he would definitely be the one to die.

"Never mind, I'll say goodbye to him when he gets back. I can't use such a dangerous person."

An Ran looked at the collapsing mountain peak and knew that the battle between the flamingo and Li Xiuyuan was over, feeling a pang of sorrow.

……

Huang Zhongren, who was controlling the formation, lost most of his life due to the backlash from the formation. He looked at Li Xiuyuan in the center of the battlefield with resentment in his eyes.

"Damn it, these sect cultivators are so high and mighty, treating us lowly cultivators like ants. I didn't expect that bitch to be such a pushover. She puts on a sour face in front of us, but fawns over this scoundrel. Damn it, damn it, you two!"

Suddenly, he felt a gentle breeze behind him. Teetering on the edge of life and death, his survival instinct immediately surged.

He abruptly activated his magical artifact and attacked behind him.

"brush!"

Before he could even take out the magical artifact from his storage bag, he saw a stream of hot blood flowing down his neck, his vision went black, and his head was severed from his body.

"We've been waiting for you to make the first move!"

Li Xiuyuan remained indifferent, then flicked his finger, and a crimson-gold sword aura split into three.

With murderous intent directed at the four people behind him, he spun around, and four watermelon-sized heads rolled to the ground.

With a flick of his finger, Li Xiuyuan sent out ten palm-sized crimson-gold fireballs.

He burned the five corpses to ashes, then with a flick of his wrist, five storage bags floated to his face.

Li Xiuyuan turned around and spoke to the trembling figure hiding behind a big tree.

"Fairy Anran, how long are you going to hide?"

"Li Xiuyuan, are you trying to kill me to silence me too?!"

An Ran's gentle voice disappeared, replaced by a trembling cry of fear.

Li Xiuyuan chuckled, casually took out the flamingo eggs he had prepared beforehand, and laughed loudly.

"You jest, fairy. Those people were spewing vulgarities and slandering your reputation. I, Li, couldn't stand it and let them defame the Five Immortal Sects. We are fellow disciples, how could I be the kind of person who would destroy my own defenses?"

"Consider this beast egg as an apology to Junior Sister Anran. Didn't Junior Sister want to raise a spirit pet? Senior Brother knows a little about the art of beast taming. We can raise it from the egg until it is born and grows up. During this period, it is easiest to develop a bond with a cultivator, and it will be unable to rebel after it grows up."

"This beast egg was guarded with its life by that beast, and it has some merit. I'm giving it to you, Junior Sister. I hope you won't hold our past grievances against me."

After Li Xiuyuan finished speaking sincerely, he placed the beast egg on the spot, turned around, and flew away.

Half an hour later.

Only after confirming that Li Xiuyuan had truly left did she cautiously and slowly emerge from behind the large tree.

"Yes, this really is a flamingo egg. It's just that the life force inside the egg is a bit weak, perhaps it's congenitally defective. I'll nourish it with spiritual liquid. That villain was right, the Demon Mountain is full of dangers. I've been away for several months, I have to hurry back to the sect, otherwise my master will lock me up in the dark room again."

After speaking, the beautiful female cultivator rolled up her sleeves to wipe away the tears on her cheeks and carefully put away the fiery red beast egg.

Then, she took a jade hairpin from her flying hair bun, threw it into the air, and rode the magical artifact towards the direction of the sect.

……

Watching the woman leave, Li Xiuyuan let out a long sigh.

"Finally got rid of that shrew. Am I really that scary?"

The claim that Li Xiuyuan would kill her is obviously false.

Li Xiuyuan was no fool. He had long seen through the fact that this female cultivator from the Biyue Sect, though seemingly shrewd, actually had the mindset of an innocent young girl.

He's obviously the direct disciple of some high-ranking figure in the sect, and he couldn't resist sneaking off the mountain as soon as he reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

If it were those rogue cultivators or unorthodox practitioners who did not understand the secrets of the five major sects, they would naturally think that this woman was a big fat sheep.

After Li Xiuyuan achieved Foundation Establishment, he learned this from a message given to him by Sect Leader Xue.

Every true disciple, direct descendant of each peak, direct descendant of a true master, or descendant of a disciple of the five major sects will leave a soul lamp in the sect.

Soul lamps are made from a wisp of a cultivator's life essence, making them even more valuable than top-grade magic artifacts.

The Soul Lamp can confirm the life or death status of the cultivator it is associated with. Once a cultivator dies, the sect's Golden Core Ancestor will use the Soul Lamp as a guide to perform a secret technique to investigate the cause of death.

With the supernatural powers and magic of a Golden Core cultivator, the murderer's location can be found in an instant.

With great magical power and supernatural abilities, he arrived at the scene in an instant, crushed the murderer to ashes, and slaughtered his entire clan.

In the past, a foolish Core Formation demonic cultivator appeared in the outer realms. He thought himself to be all-powerful and robbed the most talented disciples of the five major sects.

As a result, the five sects were enraged, and the five Golden Core cultivators mobilized together, laying a net that overturned the entire Chu Kingdom.

They surrounded the Core Formation cultivator and ultimately beheaded him to show the world.

Even if Li Xiuyuan possessed the secret method to get rid of the five Golden Core cultivators, he wouldn't do something that would result in a loss.

As for the flamingo egg, it wouldn't hurt to give it to her. At least she kept her promise, stood guard for Li Xiuyuan, and didn't cause any trouble.

If the two were in each other's shoes, Li Xiuyuan would certainly not settle this score, after all, people are different.

……

Bishui Market, Welcome Guest House No. 11.

Li Xiuyuan sat cross-legged, holding dozens of spirit stones in his hands, meditating to recover his mana essence.

Half an hour later.

Li Xiuyuan exhaled and slowly finished his practice.

Open the panel:

[Immortal Lord: Li Xiuyuan]

Lifespan: 44/287

[Realm: Foundation Establishment Level 1, 9/100]

[Cultivation Techniques: Golden Flame Burning Heaven Technique, Entering the Inner Chamber, Mastery 5/100; Primordial Five Elements Great Art (Initial Understanding), 10/100]

[Spells: Yi Wood Sword Technique (Mastery), 400/500; Li Fire Elixir Technique (Beginner), 10/50]

Looking at the empty space deep within his mind, Li Xiuyuan felt a little helpless.

After he established his foundation, he discovered that the spells he had cultivated during the Qi Refining stage had reached a high level of mastery very quickly under the guidance of the [Primordial True Meaning].

Even his alchemy skills, which had always troubled him, improved rapidly, as if he were riding a roller coaster.

While he was studying the Fire Separation Elixir Technique, he unknowingly advanced to the near-second-tier level.

By simply refining a low-grade second-tier pill, one can easily break through to the second-tier skill level.

This was fantastic news for Li Xiuyuan.

There's also bad news: the chances of getting runes from Qi Refining level techniques, spells, and skills are extremely low; you might get one or two runes if you're lucky.

The rune's effect was of little use to him, who was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, which frustrated Li Xiuyuan greatly.

For a moment, he thought his system had malfunctioned, but fortunately, after continuous attempts, he finally found the problem.

The system is also undergoing iterative upgrades.

The previous rune effects were useless to him; one had to cultivate Foundation Establishment level spells or skills to obtain runes.

Every loss has its gain; the ability to improve outdated skills in a very short time saved Li Xiuyuan a lot of time.

This allows him to devote more time to collecting spiritual items of the five elements and improving his cultivation.

Just as Li Xiuyuan was preparing to rest, there was a rapid knocking on the door.

"My lord, it's time for the auction."