Mortal Alchemy

Chen Ping's face turned cold: "Highway robbers!"

He immediately stowed away the White Jade Flying Boat and landed on the ground.

Remaining in the air would make him a sitting duck for the two highway robbers.

He immediately suspected Guo's family of betraying him, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

These two highway robbers must have participated in the auction and targeted him there.

The newcomers were two old people, a man and a woman.

"Highway robbers, and a cultivation couple?"

The old woman had a gloomy expression and said to Chen Ping, "Boy, hand over the Radiant Prism and I'll spare your life."

They're after the Radiant Prism? It really was trouble stirred up at the auction.

Chen Ping sneered, "If I hand over the Radiant Prism, I'll just be waiting for death."

"This is under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Profound Sect. If you dare to act as highway robbers and are discovered by the Eastern Profound Sect's Sky Patrol Guards, you'll only find death."

The old man smiled sinisterly, "As long as we kill you and escape the Eastern Profound Sect's territory, there's nothing to fear."

"Why waste words with him? Attack, lest complications arise!" The old woman scolded, raising her bony hands. Dozens of tiny hidden weapons immediately flew out from her sleeves.

Chen Ping's eyes were indifferent. He cast a Golden Light Spell, neutralizing the hidden weapon attack.

In that instant, the old man had already charged at Chen Ping with a sword.

Chen Ping's pupils shrank. At such close range, the opponent didn't want him to use the Radiant Prism.

But that was exactly what he wanted. He slapped his storage pouch and pulled out an ordinary sword made of refined iron.

He had the idea of upgrading the Azure Bamboo Jade Sword when he was mining in the Great Abundance Mine, so how could he not have a few spare swords on hand?

Even a good refined iron sword could only withstand him using three sword strikes at most.

Chen Ping, at the twelfth level of Qi Refining, had undergone a physical and spiritual transformation, and with the supplementary cultivation of body refinement, his movements were extremely fast.

He immediately unleashed a Fire Wave Sword Qi.

"No!!!" The old man's expression changed drastically. "How could you possibly be at the twelfth level of Qi Refining!"

He had kicked a steel plate.

However, he didn't have time to dodge. He was engulfed by the Fire Wave Sword Qi, emitting a miserable scream, and in the blink of an eye, he lost his life and turned into a charred corpse.

"Husband!" The old woman was grief-stricken. The look in her eyes towards Chen Ping was filled with resentment:

"Beast, I'll kill you!"

This old woman was also blinded by hatred.

Facing Chen Ping, who was stronger than her, she didn't retreat but instead actively attacked him.

"Die!" The old woman roared, grabbing at Chen Ping with her bony hands, her fingers like those of a zombie.

She used some kind of evil technique, and her aura rapidly increased, suddenly soaring to a level that made Chen Ping feel danger.

"I can't keep her, otherwise I might capsize in the gutter!" Chen Ping frowned, wielding his sword and unleashing two more sword strikes.

"Whirr——"

As the sword qi was unleashed, the ordinary refined iron sword in his hand turned into rubble.

"Pfft, pfft——"

Two sword qi strikes hit the old woman, cutting her two hands, which were preparing to attack Chen Ping, into hundreds of tiny pieces.

The old woman let out a painful, heart-wrenching scream, her eyes filled with disbelief:

"This is impossible! Why is your magic power so strong?!"

Chen Ping didn't waste any words, he just raised his hand and cast a Golden Light Spell, piercing her head.

The old woman's body fell to the ground.

"Old and weak, yet you dare to act as highway robbers…" Chen Ping was speechless.

But he was also clearer in his heart that these two were probably not highway robbers on a regular basis, their preparations were too weak.

Why did they want his Radiant Prism? Chen Ping didn't feel like exploring the story behind it.

He couldn't even manage his own life well, how could he have time to care about others? Being able to take care of his former fellow disciples was already the limit.

Chen Ping searched them and found two storage pouches and a backdoor lens of the Radiant Prism.

"These two are the previous owners of the Radiant Prism?"

"They sell the Radiant Prism, then kill the buyer to take it back."

Chen Ping's face turned pale: "…This water is too deep."

Fortunately, his strength was barely passable, otherwise he would have really suffered today.

The methods these highway robbers use to track cultivators are truly varied.

A first-grade high-quality magical artifact actually has a tracking backdoor left behind.

In the future, the magical artifacts he uses should preferably be custom-made rather than bought from the market.

Otherwise, he might be killed by someone one day without even knowing it.

He used a Restriction Breaking Talisman to open the two storage pouches.

Chen Ping curled his lips: "So poor."

The two storage pouches added up to just over a hundred spirit stones, plus a few bottles of Essence Qi Pills and Yang Strengthening Pills.

But it was better than nothing, after all, it was an income of a hundred spirit stones.

He had three thousand five hundred spirit stones on him, which was exactly the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill.

He kept the Essence Qi Pills, but Chen Ping didn't want the Yang Strengthening Pills. He flicked out a Fireball Spell and burned the two corpses to ashes.

Chen Ping summoned the White Jade Flying Boat again and returned to the Mu family.

……

Two days later, Chen Ping returned to the Mu family.

He first went to the Spirit Cuisine Hall for a hearty meal before returning to his own cultivation site to cultivate.

Refining Body Tempering Pills, swallowing pills to cultivate, Chen Ping's days were as monotonous as ever.

Half a year later, Chen Ping's cultivation reached the peak of the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

Then, in the dark, Chen Ping had a feeling: "If spiritual consciousness cooperates with spiritual power to impact the realm, then it is to impact the Foundation Establishment stage…"

"And only using spiritual power to impact cultivation, further compressing spiritual power and cyclone, is to impact the thirteenth level of Qi Refining."

Chen Ping was naturally not so stupid as to impact the Foundation Establishment stage now, but rather to impact the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

Soon, he felt the difficulty and bottleneck involved.

"Even though my pill poison is low and my spiritual power is relatively pure, it's still barely enough for the thirteenth level of Qi Refining."

Feeling the bottleneck of the thirteenth level of Qi Refining, having to compress the gaseous state to the extreme, between the liquid state of the Foundation Establishment stage, Chen Ping's face was very unsightly.

It was as if he had returned to impacting the fifth level of Qi Refining more than a decade ago.

"Pfft… failed…" Chen Ping spat out a mouthful of blood, his face pale.

The strength of his physical body was not enough to support Chen Ping's compression of the cyclone, further purifying his spiritual power.

If Chen Ping had impacted the Foundation Establishment stage at the twelfth level of Qi Refining, then he would have died just now.

His foundation was too weak.

"Forget it, forget it, I'll take it slowly after entering the late stage of the first level of body refinement…"

He was inexplicably anxious. He had previously estimated that it would take two years to cultivate to the thirteenth level of Qi Refining, but now, less than a year had passed, just eleven months, and he had tried to impact the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

This made him suffer enough.

This was also the first time he had failed to impact a realm.

The taste was very unpleasant.

He could only wait until his physical body became stronger before he could further cultivate, compress the cyclone, and purify his spiritual power.

Immortality cannot be forced.

You can only proceed step by step, work silently, and then you can see a glimmer of hope.

Calculating with his fingers, it would take at least half a year for his physical body to enter the late stage of the first level.

Chen Ping didn't plan to waste these six months. He planned to go out and collect information on the whereabouts of Jade Marrow Fungus and Celestial Spirit Fruit.

At this time, Mu Luofei came to visit.