Immortal Refiner

"Of course, if you don't need the blood of a high-level demon python, I can give you a chance to compete for the black iron token."

King Ning put his hands behind his back and looked at Li Qing with a half-smile.

As soon as these words came out, Li Qing immediately swallowed back the excuse he was about to make to refuse.

The black iron token is the only proof to enter the Xuantian Temple. Even though Li Qing had always maintained a calm attitude towards such opportunities, his heart couldn't help but beat wildly at this moment.

But he was not dazzled by the other party's promise. There is no free lunch in the world, and pie will not fall from the sky for no reason, let alone this priceless black iron token.

Li Qing quickly calmed down and asked, "Oh? Senior King Ning, what kind of opportunity is this to compete for the Black Iron Token?"

"You're not asking me to compete with a strong person in the Fusion Stage like Senior, are you?"

If this is true, Li Qing would rather not have such an opportunity.

Prince Ning shook his head and said, "Of course it's not what you said. Some time ago, a maid in the palace found a black iron token out of thin air."

"My useless brothers and uncles were fighting over this in the palace. The emperor was furious and decided to have a fight to decide who would own the small black iron shield."

The current emperor of the Dayu Kingdom has several generations of descendants, and Prince Ning is his third-generation grandson.

These princes and grandchildren usually practice in the palace and enjoy the only seventh-level spiritual vein in Yujing City.

Once one has cultivated to the stage of fusion, he can divide the land and be crowned as a king, becoming a prince and holding certain real power outside, like Prince Ning.

But after all, there were some incompetent princes and grandchildren who were greedy for pleasure all day long and had no ambition to make progress. Their cultivation even stopped at the Nascent Soul stage and the Divine Transformation stage.

This is why, although Prince Ning is the third-generation grandson, he still dares to call his brothers and even uncles "incompetent".

Even in this strictly classified imperial palace, one's own cultivation strength is the most important principle.

"Regarding the competition for the Black Iron Token, only those below the Fusion Stage are allowed to participate. Although I have already advanced to the Fusion Stage, I still have a recommendation quota."

"As long as you bring out another twenty ginseng herbs containing Qilin's precious blood, I promise to recommend you to represent Prince Ning's Mansion to enter the palace and participate in the competition."

Now that things have come to this, Li Qing really wants to agree right away.

But he still has a concern. That is, he is representing the Ning Wang Mansion to participate in the competition for the black iron token. What should he do if the Ning Wang asks him for it after the success?

This is the credentials to enter the Xuantian Temple. Wouldn’t King Ning want to go in himself?

As if he saw through Li Qing's concerns, King Ning laughed loudly: "Hahahahaha, you can rest assured. I have already obtained a black iron token and will never let you work in vain."

As he spoke, Prince Ning took out a small black iron sword with an intricate pattern engraved on it. It was undoubtedly a black iron token.

Seeing this scene, before Li Qing could say anything, Shopkeeper Fang on the side took the lead to bow and say: "Congratulations to His Royal Highness Prince Ning for obtaining a black iron token. His Royal Highness is indeed a person favored by heaven. With such a great opportunity, I believe that in the Xuantian Temple, His Royal Highness will be able to shine and gain immortal fate, so that he can make great progress in his cultivation and reach the peak of the Great Dao soon!"

Li Qing was stunned by these auspicious words. He looked at the shopkeeper several times with deep admiration, thinking that he was worthy of being the head of a business in Yujing City. He could never catch up with his flattery skills in several lifetimes.

After hearing these words, King Ning's smile became even brighter. He looked at Li Qing and said:

"Young man, what do you think?"

Li Qing took a deep breath and said, "I have one last concern. The people competing with me for the Black Iron Token are all princes in the palace. I am worried that I will offend someone I cannot afford to offend."

Prince Ning raised his eyebrows and sneered, "Humph, they can only blame themselves for not doing their best. You represent my Prince Ning's Mansion, so just do it. I will take responsibility for anything that happens."

With this guarantee, Li Qing had no reason to refuse.

He took a deep breath and said, "Then I would like to thank His Royal Highness Prince Ning first!"

As he spoke, Li Qing took out thirty Kirin Purple Blood Ginsengs. Each one was the size of a palm, with a round texture, full and translucent, just like purple jade.

Looking at these Kirin Purple Blood Ginsengs, King Ning finally showed an expression of emotion on his face. He took them in his hands and examined them carefully one by one.

"Okay, okay, it really is a ginseng containing the blood of a Qilin. It's incredible that even such an immortal spirit can shed blood." King Ning collected the thirty Qilin purple-blood ginsengs with great satisfaction, and then threw a token with the word "Ning" engraved on it to Li Qing.

This is the token of Prince Ning's Mansion. With this token, you can walk around the city freely.

After receiving the Qilin Purple Blood Ginseng, Prince Ning immediately turned around and flew away, leaving only one sentence behind:

"The palace competition will begin in thirty days. You should prepare early. Then you can participate in the competition with the token in hand."

"Farewell, His Royal Highness Prince Ning (Senior)!"

Li Qing and Shopkeeper Fang both respectfully clasped their fists in the direction where Prince Ning was flying.

"Haha, congratulations to Fellow Daoist Wuji. Now, Fellow Daoist Wuji has a fair chance to compete for the black iron token that everyone in the world wants to get." Shopkeeper Fang turned his head and looked at Li Qing and said with a smile.

However, Li Qing did not get too carried away. He shook his head and said, "Manager Fang is really joking. All the princes in the palace are awe-inspiring geniuses. How can I say that I have much confidence? I am afraid that I am just a foil in this palace competition."

Shopkeeper Fang said with a smile: "Let alone this big competition, it is also a great fortune for Fellow Daoist Wuji to have a relationship with His Royal Highness Prince Ning."

Li Qing still couldn't agree with this. He and King Ning were just trading with each other, each taking what they needed. There was no way to establish a relationship between them. The token in his hand was just for participating in the competition.

Just like that, after Li Qing said goodbye to Manager Fang, he went straight back to his own cave.

"Although those princes and grandchildren of the emperor are useless in the eyes of Prince Ning, they are still royal relatives after all, and the cultivation resources they can enjoy are far beyond the imagination of ordinary people."

"It may not be easy to win this competition. We still have to improve our strength as much as possible."

As he spoke, Li Qing took out the blood of the Earth Python given by King Ning.

When the seal of the bottle cap was opened, a strong evil aura emanated from it.

"hiss!"

The small snake transformed from the essence and blood coiled up and stared at Li Qing with a very ferocious look.

"If you were still a demon python in the fusion stage, I would naturally respect you. But now you only have a little blood and energy left, yet you dare to be so ferocious."

After saying that, Li Qing blinked and activated the "Nine Snakes Heart Technique".

When he opened his eyes again, his pupils had turned into golden vertical pupils, and his cold and majestic gaze was directed at the bloody little python in the bottle.

The moment the bloody little python and Li Qing looked at each other, it shrank back in fear, no longer showing its previous ferocious attitude.

Li Qing practiced the "Nine Snakes Heart Sutra" using the Hydra as a reference object for visualization. Now, this pair of trick snake eyes naturally possessed some of the pressure of the real Hydra. The blood and essence of a mere Earth Python was naturally suppressed.

After scaring the Earth Python out of its blood, Li Qing poured out the trembling bloody little python.

At the same time, he activated the "Nine Snakes Heart Sutra" and swallowed the blood of the Earth Python into his mouth.

boom!

A violent demonic energy surged out of his body, and his entire body began to tremble slightly.

The key to practicing the second level of "Nine Snakes Heart Sutra" is to drive the snake image you visualize to devour the essence and blood, and finally merge the two into one to cultivate a snake spirit.

This step naturally has the possibility of failure. If the visualized snake image is too weak, or the quality of the snake monster's blood essence is too high, it may lead to failure.

However, if the quality of the snake goblin's blood is too low, the snake spirit that is cultivated will be too weak and useless.

Therefore, Li Qing rationally chose the blood of the snake fairy at the fusion stage, which was the most suitable for him.

It will neither exceed the Hydra mentality that one has visualized, nor be too weak, rendering the snake spirit useless.

But even so, this is after all the essence of a snake demon in the fusion stage, which contains some of the will of the Earth Python before its death. It is not so easy to tame and completely refine it.

Li Qing suppressed it with his own powerful spirit, and at the same time practiced the "Nine Snakes Heart Technique" to try his best to tame it.

“Roar!”

The Earth Python began to struggle and bite back madly, but Li Qing's soul was so powerful that it didn't move at all, and it was like a mountain pressing down on the essence and blood.

I don't know how much time had passed, but the resistance of the Earth Python's blood essence finally weakened.

Seeing this, Li Qing hurriedly drove the nine-headed snake phantom in his sea of ​​consciousness closer to the essence and blood of the Earth Python.

Just by getting close, the originally unruly and ferocious Earth Python instantly became much more docile.

"It turns out to be so simple." Li Qing felt that what he had done was a bit redundant and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The Hydra slowly lowered one of its heads and swallowed the blood of the Earth Python crawling on the ground.

The two merged together, and soon, the Hydra's eighteen cold golden snake eyes appeared to be full of life and became vivid.

Seeing this scene, Li Qing was so scared that he thought the Hydra was about to revive in his body again.

But he soon discovered that this was not the case. The Hydra phantom only had a little more vitality because of swallowing the essence and blood of the Earth Python, but it did not have its own will.

Li Qing breathed a sigh of relief and began to cultivate the snake spirit using the steps in the "Nine Snakes Heart Sutra".

As time passed, the Hydra, which was originally a phantom, became more and more solid.

Finally, after Li Qing successfully tried to feed it with his own blood and qi, he was able to master the second level of the Nine Snakes Heart Sutra.

"Phew! It's really not easy. A snake spirit based on the Hydra should have great potential."

As he spoke, Li Qing drew some of his own blood and energy and fed it over.

After swallowing Li Qing's blood and energy, the Hydra's snake spirit grew stronger to a degree that was imperceptible to the naked eye.

This is the step of feeding the snake spirit. Next, Li Qing will feed it with his own true essence, qi and blood, spiritual power, etc. The stronger the snake spirit is, the more powerful it can exert.

Afterwards, he fed it with his true essence, qi, blood, and spiritual consciousness in turn, and the snake spirit became stronger at the corresponding levels.

"With this snake spirit, I can continue to try to practice the last level of the Nine Snakes Heart Sutra. However, the snake spirit has just been cultivated. Even if I cultivate to the third level, I am afraid I can't use it as a sacrifice to exchange for too strong power."

"Why not try using other things to see if I can feed this snake spirit, such as the seven-colored true essence that I condensed with my life span."

Li Qing did what he said. At the cost of his own life, he condensed about two hundred years of colorful life essence.

Buzz!

This time, the lifespan, which had been fixed, dropped again.

After seeing this scene, Li Qing was slightly startled, and then said to himself: "So that's how it is. After reaching the Void Refining Stage, the life span will not decline any more, but it will still be reduced."

"For example, if I use this method to squeeze out my own lifespan, it will still consume my lifespan."

But it doesn't matter. As long as he doesn't really return to zero, he can still live in this world without worrying about his old age and the end of his life.

Li Qing didn't care about this. Taking into account the lifespan he had accumulated before and the lifespan gained from breaking through the Void Refining Stage, he now had a total of more than 80,000 years of life left to consume.

Such a long life span is enough for him to condense a considerable amount of seven-colored life essence. In the future, he can also increase the replenishment by refining treasures, and there is no need to worry about the day when it is exhausted.

Afterwards, he fed all the colorful life essence to the newly formed snake spirit.

After the Hydra came into contact with these colorful life essences, it was like a hungry man seeing a feast, and it suddenly began to feast on them.

In a short while, all the colorful life essences were devoured by it, and the snake spirit became much stronger.

“Tsk tsk tsk, it actually has such a miraculous effect. It seems that I can quickly cultivate it through the seven-colored life essence in the future.”

As he spoke, Li Qing once again condensed two thousand years of colorful life essence and fed it all to the nine-headed snake spirit.

“Roar!”

This time, the Hydra's size was even more exaggerated. Real snake scales emerged from its body. The snake spirit, which was originally a small snake, turned into a giant python.

It might be more appropriate to call it a nine-headed giant python now!

The stronger the snake spirit becomes, the greater the power it can exert.

Li Qing was delighted to see the prey and couldn't help but try to use the snake spirit to merge with it.

Soon his body twisted, and in a flash, he turned into a nine-headed snake. The dense scales on his body reflected cold light, like a real spirit descending to the world.

There was a sense of coldness and majesty in its eighteen golden snake pupils.