Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

Looking at the tragic state of the gathering place before him, Li Ji'an felt a tightening in his heart.

He had anticipated this situation to some extent. Decades ago, when he first came to this world and roughly understood in the wilderness gathering area that resources were king in this cultivation world, everyone fought with the heavens, with others, and with themselves for that glimmer of opportunity. Moreover, after possessing powerful combat strength, he had always held a sense of awe.

In particular, although most of the gathering areas were mortals who had not yet embarked on cultivation, they had resources needed by cultivators due to value exchange. It was hard to guarantee that there wouldn't be despicable people who bullied the weak and feared the strong, harboring thoughts about the mortals in the gathering areas.

Although most gathering areas were adjacent to forces occupying spiritual veins and received a certain degree of protection from nearby forces, it was limited after all.

Therefore, he had been worried before his rejuvenation.

Until he had Guagua, he had some assurance.

This was also why he had painstakingly tried to ensure that Guagua did not escape his control before reincarnation.

Calming his mind, he instructed Guagua to closely follow Xiao Changfeng, so that it could provide some assistance in case of danger.

Xiao Changfeng, upon arriving here and seeing the tragedy not far away, was also filled with shock.

There were rules within Cangyun Prefecture that forbade the wanton slaughter of mortals within the territory. At least in the past thousand years, such a large-scale slaughter of mortals had not occurred.

As Xiao Changfeng approached, he遁入地下, cautiously sensing.

After a moment, he emerged from the ground in the gathering area.

Looking at the corpses all over the street, at least half a month had passed, and the bloodstains had already dried and seeped into the ground.

He then searched for survivors in every corner of the gathering area.

Li Ji'an also instructed Guagua to search.

Unfortunately, not a single living person was left.

Xiao Changfeng immediately sent a message to his sect, informing them of the matter, and then headed towards a nearby Qi Refining family.

That Qi Refining family occupied a first-order middle-grade spiritual vein a hundred miles away, and the highest elder in the family was a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

Before long, the tragedy of that Qi Refining family simultaneously entered the eyes of Xiao Changfeng and Li Ji'an.

It was the same scene of devastation, with not a single living person left.

After Xiao Changfeng returned, the two reached a consensus that the tragedy here was likely caused by another group of rogue cultivators who had fled from Tianyuan Prefecture.

The number was probably not small, mainly late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, and perhaps even Foundation Establishment rogue cultivators.

Otherwise, they would not have abandoned the first-order middle-grade spiritual vein here.

As Xiao Changfeng reported the tragedy in detail, Li Ji'an's heart stirred, and he sent a message to Yan Qingwan, informing her of the matter.

That rogue cultivator group from Tianyuan Prefecture was said to be led by a Golden Core True Person, who had gathered a large number of rogue cultivators. Eventually, the leader was dealt with by the Ten Thousand Dharma Palace with thunderous means, and the followers scattered and fled.

Half a year ago, a group of fleeing rogue cultivators near the Bi Yun Sect's Immortal City was led by a Foundation Establishment Daoist.

And this group was probably another group that had fled from the eastern part of the Daze Mountains to this place.

Further south from here was the Beast Taming Liu family of the five great families, and beyond the Beast Taming Liu family was the wilderness area.

If there were no True Persons in this group of bandits, they would likely bypass the Liu family and go straight into the wilderness.

The wilderness was far from Tianyuan Prefecture and had a chaotic situation. They could either seize the second-order spiritual vein dojos of the eight great families in the wilderness, or retreat deep into the Fallen Dragon Ridge.

Informing Yan Qingwan in advance was to allow her to prepare.

"Not good! Brother Li, we must speed up. I'm worried that if they go further east, they will reach the family where my parents reside," Xiao Changfeng said after reporting, and the sect indicated that they knew and would send people to investigate and capture them.

Xiao Changfeng then thought of the family less than ten thousand miles further east.

His parents were both from rogue cultivator backgrounds and were able to enter a nearby family based on their body refinement strength, becoming the backbone of the family.

If this group of bandits continued eastward, it would be difficult for them to escape.

Sect recruitment required severing previous relationships. In addition to cultivating sect cohesion, it was also to prevent sect disciples from getting involved in family disputes, leading to the establishment of sect internal factions, which was not conducive to unity.

But in reality, how could blood ties be truly severed?

One of the sect's methods was to prohibit disciples from maintaining contact with their parents' families, intending to slowly alienate them over time, so that after one generation, they would be completely sect members.

Li Ji'an nodded, but did not think that rushing there at this time would be of any use.

Judging from the traces here, the group of bandits had left for half a month. If they really had ideas about the family where Xiao Changfeng's parents were, it was probably too late.

And it was obvious that this group of bandits acted crudely and used rough methods. They should not have intended to stay here. Their target should be the wilderness.

Of course, being able to confirm their safety would also allow Xiao Changfeng to relax a bit.

In the following journey, Xiao Changfeng almost fully activated his speed. The ten-day journey only took six days to complete.

Fortunately, this place was safe and sound.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Xiao."

"Greetings, Senior Xiao."

"Changfeng, why are you back?"

...

As soon as he entered the family, Xiao Changfeng breathed a sigh of relief. The familiar Ma family members came forward to greet him.

The Ma family head hurriedly led the family elders to greet him.

The former outsider Xiao Changfeng was now wearing the Bi Yun Sect's inner disciple uniform, a big figure they needed to treat with respect.

Fortunately, the moment Xiao Changfeng tested out a high-grade spiritual root, the Ma family head and elders were very self-aware, knowing that he would definitely be extraordinary in the future. They not only gave many family treasures, but also funded Xiao Changfeng to participate in the sect trial.

In the following years, they treated Xiao Changfeng's parents as honored guests.

After Xiao Changfeng met with everyone, he was arranged by the family head to catch up with his parents alone.

The others treated Li Ji'an and Xiao Qiao with great courtesy, regarding them as figures equal to Xiao Changfeng.

After learning that Li Ji'an was a senior high-quality alchemist, they were even more respectful, and immediately let the Ma family's precious daughter personally serve him.

This place was far from the Immortal City and located in a remote area. Resources were even scarcer. Even the most common pills in the Immortal City were not easy to buy here. If they went to the Immortal City to purchase them, the travel expenses and risks were not worth it.

When Xiao Changfeng finished catching up with his parents, he learned that something almost happened here half a month ago. Fortunately, the destroyed family gathering area had a rogue cultivator who was friendly with the Ma family, who sent a message to the Ma family in the first time.

The Ma family did not hesitate to pack up the family's important supplies and led the family members to run east, running thousands of miles in one breath, hiding in a spirit-scarce place for several days, and only returned to the family a few days ago after sending people back to investigate and finding no danger.

This made Li Ji'an admire the survival wisdom of the bottom-level families in the cultivation world, and he also sweated for them.

After staying in the Ma family for three days, Xiao Changfeng's parents urged him to leave quickly, so as not to make the sect dissatisfied with him.

Before leaving, the Ma family head asked Xiao Changfeng for help, asking if he could ask Li Ji'an to sell them some late-stage Qi Condensation Pills for the family.

Li Ji'an appreciated the Ma family head's interpersonal skills and agreed to his request.

Unfortunately, before Li Ji'an set off, in order to raise money for possible expenses along the way and prepare talismans, he had already handed over a batch of pills once, and the remaining pills on him were all high-quality Qi Condensation Pills.

The value exceeded the Ma family head's expectations too much.

He could only awkwardly laugh at himself and gave up voluntarily.

——

Setting off again, a month and a half later, Li Ji'an finally arrived as he wished at the outer area of the Fire Mountain Jedi, where traces of heaven and earth spiritual flames were suspected to be found.

This place was already the eastern border of Cangyun Prefecture, and ten thousand miles further east would truly enter the Fire Mountain Jedi range.

Compared to the spirit-scarce lands along the way, the spiritual energy here was even thinner, almost undetectable.

Looking up at the barren, hot, steaming, endless bare stone red earth, Li Ji'an's divine sense was affected by the heat wave and could only exert 80% of its strength.

The mana in his dantian was shrinking day by day due to the lack of replenishment of heaven and earth spiritual energy.

The reason why cultivators in this world could not stay in spirit-scarce lands for a long time was because if the mana in their dantian was not replenished with spiritual energy for a long time, it would gradually weaken, eventually leading to a decline in cultivation. If the mana in the dantian was exhausted for too long and could not be replenished, it would also damage the dantian and affect potential.

Therefore, Li Ji'an prepared a lot of Spirit Replenishing Pills for this trip.

After arriving at the Fire Mountain periphery, Xiao Changfeng put away the flying boat to minimize mana consumption.

Li Ji'an released a mana shield to protect himself and Xiao Qiao, avoiding discomfort caused by the heat wave.

It was worth mentioning that although there was no spiritual energy here, which was not suitable for human cultivators, it was attractive to some fire-type demon beasts. The promotion of demon beasts mainly relied on bloodline transformation and evolution, and in addition to spiritual energy, there were also various special materials that were helpful to the transformation of demon beast bloodlines.

For example, the violent and chaotic spiritual energy in some deep mountains and old forests that human cultivators could not absorb and refine, as well as the fire spiritual energy contained in the rolling heat waves overflowing here near the Fire Mountain Jedi.

However, Guagua did not like the environment here very much and was even somewhat affected. It was more suitable for earth and water spiritual energy.

After going hundreds of miles deeper, reaching the area where the rogue cultivator said he saw traces of heaven and earth spiritual flames, Li Ji'an and Xiao Changfeng were no longer in a hurry to hurry.

Li Ji'an had previously told Xiao Changfeng the purpose of this trip, which was to try his luck.

Xiao Changfeng understood this very well. No alchemist had not hoped to have a heaven and earth spiritual flame.

Although this opportunity was much smaller than finding a Foundation Establishment opportunity, countless alchemists explored everywhere for this every year.

They also encountered three alchemists who seemed to be trying their luck along the way.

However, they may also be beast tamers who wanted to capture fire-type demon beasts.

Li Ji'an and the others also saw many demon beast figures, but on the surface they were all primary fire lizards and the like, and they avoided them from a distance when they encountered them.

After arriving here, the two acted separately.

Li Ji'an fully informed him of some possible traces of the heaven and earth spiritual flame, and gave him another bottle of Spirit Replenishing Pills.

When Xiao Changfeng's figure disappeared from sight, Li Ji'an released the reluctant Guagua.

"Overcome it. If we can capture a heaven and earth spiritual flame this time, my Foundation Establishment will be almost worry-free. Then I will be able to plan for your promotion to blood pills. You can definitely do it!"

Although the biggest expectation of this trip was Xiao Qiao, Li Ji'an still habitually encouraged Guagua and fed it a beast pill with fire avoidance effect.

"Guagua, be good, I'll make you delicious food when I go back," Xiao Qiao also gently stroked the frog's head to encourage it.

"Guagua~" Guagua's enthusiasm was immediately mobilized, and it plunged into the ground, searching everywhere.

"Xiao Qiao, help uncle find it underground, it's the kind of flame I showed you before," Li Ji'an said to Xiao Qiao again.

As early as before departure, Li Ji'an had used mana to transform the appearance of the heaven and earth spiritual flame he saw in ancient books.

Although the shapes of the spiritual flames were different, and the colors also differed due to the level, they were still generally flame-like.

"Yeah." Xiao Qiao nodded and began to look underground.

Because Li Ji'an's divine sense was affected, and it was particularly consuming to explore with divine sense in this place, he simply did not look underground, but focused on some traces on the surface.

After searching for half a month, they found nothing.

"Uncle Li, there is a fire snake there." This day, Xiao Qiao pointed to the underground not far away again.

Li Ji'an immediately notified Guagua to avoid it.

These days, Guagua was really embarrassed and had been attacked by local demon beasts several times. There were still many scars on its body.

The main reason was that there were many late-stage first-order demon beasts in the depths of the underground here, and they occupied the geographical advantage. Guagua accidentally broke into their territory and would be attacked. Although most of them eventually lost under Guagua's tongue, they also killed one thousand enemies and lost eight hundred themselves.

Therefore, now Xiao Qiao had to help Guagua sweep mines in advance in addition to looking for spiritual flames.

"Uncle Li, there is also a small grass there."

Not long after, Guagua showed its head on the ground, holding a "Three Flame Grass" in its mouth.

Li Ji'an nodded in satisfaction and let it be stored in the Qiankun in its mouth.

This was a late-stage first-order spiritual grass, which was an auxiliary medicine for many late-stage pills, and even second-order pills.

This was another surprise that Xiao Qiao brought to Li Ji'an. In addition to being able to "see" living things underground, she could also "see" things with spiritual energy.

After so long of probing, Li Ji'an had a deeper understanding of Xiao Qiao's ability.

It should be a kind of induction, but it was only sensitive to the underground.

And he had tried to let Guagua put an ordinary stone into the ground, but Xiao Qiao could not "see" it.

So he ruled out "spiritual eyes" and the like.

However, Xiao Qiao herself did not understand her ability.

Li Ji'an felt that it should be some kind of ability to connect with the earth's spiritual energy.

He could not determine whether it was a supernatural power of a god-favored person.

After all, the more he understood the cultivation world, the more he felt that the vast cultivation world was really amazing. In addition to the god-favored person possessed by the fragments of the laws of heaven and earth after the death of the Tao, it was said that there were many special wonders that ordinary cultivators could hardly understand in ancient times.

"Brother Li, come quickly!" Suddenly, a message talisman came with Xiao Changfeng's slightly anxious urging.

Li Ji'an raised his eyebrows. Could it be that Xiao Changfeng had found it?

He immediately picked up Xiao Qiao and summoned Guagua to rush towards Xiao Changfeng.

Not long after, in front of a pile of red rubble that had been steamed by the heat wave for a long time, Li Ji'an saw Xiao Changfeng with a surprised expression.

"Brother Xiao!"

"Brother Li, look, is the winding burning place here the trace of the spiritual flame you mentioned?" Xiao Changfeng said, pointing in front of him.

Li Ji'an stared and scrutinized, his eyes lit up: "Brother Xiao is really blessed with good fortune. You and I have been searching for half a month, and you really found it."

He said this from the bottom of his heart. Compared to Xiao Changfeng, he had Xiao Qiao's supernatural power and Guagua's cooperation underground.

And Xiao Changfeng's spiritual sense had little effect here, and he really found it with only a pair of eyes.

And the traces in front of him were so faint and hidden.

However, as Xiao Changfeng said, the traces here were one of the symbolic clues that Li Ji'an had obtained from reading many ancient books to explore the spiritual flame.