Treasure Gathering Immortal Furnace

Back when he was in the Dao Sect, Lu Fan had heard some rumors about the One Qi Sect.

Before that Nascent Soul patriarch of the One Qi Sect passed away, he relied on this True Qi Technique to fight a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator for hundreds of rounds without being at a disadvantage, despite being at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage.

Generally speaking, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator can easily defeat two or three early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

The Nascent Soul Ancestor of the One Qi Sect is equivalent to two or three early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, and his True Qi Technique has played an indispensable role in this.

Although the One Qi Sect has declined and lost its Nascent Soul Ancestor, it has not been removed from the list of the Four Sects. This is because Song Zhiyuan has cultivated the True Qi Technique, and at a high level, he is far more powerful than ordinary late-stage Core Formation cultivators.

His ability to easily ignore the Blood Slaughter Array and still suppress the Ghostly Old Ghost and Su Meier speaks volumes.

"I didn't expect that the True Qi Gong actually has a way to counter it?" Lu Fan flipped through the True Qi Gong and seemed to have gained an unexpected insight.

The True Qi Gong in Yu He's hands has four levels.

Upon reaching the first level, one can initially condense true qi within the body, but this only enhances strength.

Upon reaching the second level, one can unleash powerful attacks with true qi, which is extremely domineering and also has the effect of warding off demons and suppressing evil.

Reaching the third level brings about a qualitative change; one achieves minor mastery of True Qi, becoming immune to all evils and possessing an innate righteous aura.

Song Zhiyuan seemed to be at the third level, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to break Su Meier's Thousand Charms Technique in an instant.

Upon reaching the fourth level, another qualitative change occurs, with the True Qi reaching its peak. With every gesture, one can unleash a dazzling golden light, achieving the pinnacle of offense and defense!

"The Yi Qi Sect's signature skill is indeed domineering! It seems that once Song Zhiyuan forms his Nascent Soul and cultivates the True Qi Technique to the fourth level, even the Sword Pavilion might not be able to suppress him," Lu Fan sighed.

However, as he looked at it, Lu Fan noticed a problem: the technique ended abruptly at the fourth level, unlike other techniques which had a beginning and an end.

"Could it be that this True Qi Technique has more than four levels? Did the One Qi Sect only obtain the upper part of the technique?" Lu Fan frowned slightly.

Back then, even the Nascent Soul Ancestor of the One Qi Sect only cultivated to the fourth level, and this remained the case for hundreds of years. This fully demonstrates that this cultivation method was not created by a single founding ancestor of the One Qi Sect and has been passed down in an orderly manner.

It's probably from some unknown source; it only has the upper part, not the lower part.

Moreover, like the Six Jia Thunder Formation, this was refined by the sect's higher-ups and is a complete upper-level technique that cannot be fully completed using the Heaven-Mending Furnace.

"Never mind, even if it's only these four levels, it's enough to greatly improve my strength. Looks like I'm going to have to risk my life," Lu Fan said, looking at the True Qi Technique in his hand and preparing to start cultivating.

Based on these four levels, as long as he can cultivate to the second level, he will have the effect of breaking demons and suppressing evil, and can completely suppress or expel the corpse energy in his body.

Unfortunately, Lu Fan simply couldn't cultivate the True Qi Gong to the second level in the remaining nine days, or even reach the first level.

This requires risking one's life, gambling that the Heart-Drying Curse will not cause one to explode and die immediately after nine days.

If he bets correctly, he will have ample time to cultivate the True Qi Gong.

However, Lu Fan is not without leverage in this gamble. With his current cultivation level, he can control the corpse energy at his heart. Even if his body explodes nine days later, only his heart will explode.

Then, nine days later, as long as he sits peacefully inside the Heaven-Mending Furnace, even if his heart explodes, as long as he has a breath left, the Heaven-Mending Furnace will restore him.

However, this was a gamble with his life, and Lu Fan couldn't guarantee that the corpse energy wouldn't disappear after his heart exploded. The Heaven-Mending Furnace was just a life-saving trump card for him.

Therefore, Lu Fan still needs to focus on cultivating the True Qi Technique to save his life first.

Lu Fan then began to carefully peruse the manual, memorizing the key points of cultivating the True Qi Technique, and began to devote himself to cultivation.

You don't know until you start practicing; once Lu Fan started, he realized how difficult the True Qi Technique was to cultivate.

Unlike ordinary cultivation methods, cultivating True Qi Gong requires first compressing the spiritual energy within the body, and then peeling back the layers to condense True Qi from the pure spiritual energy.

It's equivalent to undergoing two rounds of purification before a trace of true qi can be condensed.

To reach the first level, one must condense a seed of true qi the size of a peach pit in the dantian.

This process is extremely slow...

With Lu Fan cultivating tirelessly, nine days passed in the blink of an eye.

After cultivating for nine days, Lu Fan discovered that his True Qi condensation was no bigger than an ant egg.

"The orthodox cultivation methods are indeed difficult to practice. Unless one is exceptionally talented, it is almost wishful thinking to try to cultivate them quickly," Lu Fan shook his head.

At this point, Lu Fan could no longer continue cultivating. After all, it was time to meet the Ghostly Old Ghost, and he had not kept his promise. There was no guarantee that the Ghostly Old Ghost might suddenly attack and kill him.

So Lu Fan released the Heaven-Mending Furnace and sat inside it. Since he wasn't injured, sitting inside wouldn't consume any energy.

As long as that ghostly old man dares to remotely blast his heart, he'll instantly recover.

Although he thought this way, Lu Fan was still uneasy about this crazy, almost life-threatening act.

But there's not much we can do right now, so we can only leave it to fate.

...

Langshou Mountain.

Thousands of miles away from where Lu Fan was in seclusion, on Wolf Head Mountain, two figures stood on the mountain peak that resembled a wolf's head, having waited quietly for many days.

These two figures were none other than the Ghostly Old Man and Su Meier, who had escaped from Song Zhiyuan's clutches.

"It's been ten days already, why hasn't that kid arrived yet!" The old ghost stood with his hands behind his back, his deep-set eyes fixed on the distance.

"Perhaps they were entangled by cultivators ambushed by the One Qi Sect? Or perhaps they were killed?" Su Meier asked.

"Impossible! I can sense that the Heart-Drying Curse is still there, he's not dead!" A wisp of black energy appeared in the old ghost's palm, seemingly echoing the corpse energy in Lu Fan's heart.

"Then let's wait and see, maybe..."

Before Su Meier could finish speaking, the Ghostly Old Ghost erupted with black energy and roared, "What are you waiting for! Even a minor Qi Refining cultivator should have arrived in ten days! This bastard dares to abscond with the treasure!"

"Why are you yelling at me? Aren't you quite confident in your Heart-Drying Curse? Then just follow your senses and find him," Su Meier rolled her eyes and said irritably.

"Although I can sense the presence of the Heart-Drying Curse, the distance cannot be too far. It must be within the range of my divine sense, otherwise I will not be able to accurately locate it," the old ghost clenched his fist, clearly looking furious.

"So you can't remotely activate the Heart-Drying Curse? All those Heavenly Dews of Creation, didn't they just benefit that kid?" Su Meier said, speechless.

"Lu Fan! Don't let me find you, or I will tear you apart, skin you alive, break your bones, and refine your soul!" The old ghost's body was filled with black energy, his face was ferocious, and he let out a series of desperate roars.