Eternal Life by Daily Divination

Li Chang’an sat cross-legged before the Pill Furnace. He sent out a stream of Wood Element Magical Power, igniting the Pill Fire.

The raging flames instantly engulfed the entire furnace.

The Alchemy Room suddenly grew scorching hot.

His expression was focused as he stared intently at the Pill Furnace, the reflection of the flames dancing in his eyes.

’Dragon Pattern Gold!’

With a thought, a piece of Dragon Pattern Gold flew into the Pill Furnace, slowly melting into a pool of shimmering golden liquid.

Immediately after, the other four main ingredients flew into the furnace, successively melting into green, blue, red, and yellow liquids.

The five colored liquids slowly began to merge.

Li Chang’an used the Five Elements Mutual Production Method in conjunction with his alchemy techniques to ensure the fusion process was even smoother.

「A moment later.」

Hundreds of Auxiliary Medicines flew into the Pill Furnace in sequence, melting into pools of liquid that fused with one another.

「About an hour later.」

Inside the Pill Furnace, both the auxiliary and main ingredients had vanished. Only two pools of liquid, one large and one small, remained.

It was soon time for the most critical step.

Li Chang’an wrapped the Thousand-Year-old White Jade Ganoderma in Magical Power and sent it into the Pill Furnace, slowly refining it into a faintly glowing white liquid.

He focused his full attention, sending out streams of Magical Power and Divine Sense to control the slow fusion of the three liquids.

The process was flawless and went very smoothly.

「A quarter of an hour later.」

Inside the Pill Furnace, the three liquids had completely merged, leaving only a single mass of shimmering golden liquid.

Li Chang’an carefully divided the liquid into three portions, then intensified the Pill Fire for the final step.

’The quality of the formed pills shouldn’t be low.’

His gaze was steady as he watched the liquid in the furnace, thinking to himself.

He had chosen the highest quality for every ingredient, both main and auxiliary.

Furthermore, the final fusion agent was a top-tier Treasure like the Thousand-Year-old White Jade Ganoderma, not some ordinary Tier Three Demon Pill.

The entire refining process had also been completely free of errors.

He had already extracted all the medicinal toxins.

The three portions of liquid boiled within the furnace, continuously shrinking and gradually solidifying into three round, shimmering golden pills.

After a moment, a rich Pill Fragrance wafted out from the furnace.

’It’s a success!’

A smile appeared on Li Chang’an’s face. He raised his hand and beckoned.

Three Elixir Pills flew out from the Pill Furnace and bobbed in his palm. They were radiantly golden, like three little golden beans.

The quality of the first two had actually reached the High-quality grade!

The third pill was slightly weaker and didn’t reach the High-quality grade, but it was still far superior to an ordinary Five Elements Golden Condensation Pill.

’It went pretty smoothly.’

Li Chang’an extinguished the Pill Fire and put the three pills away.

He only needed one High-quality Five Elements Golden Condensation Pill to raise his chances of successful Core Formation to one hundred percent!

The remaining two could be used for trade in the future.

’Next, all I have to do is wait for my Body Refinement to break through to Tier Three. Then I can find a Tier Three Spirit Vein and officially attempt Core Formation!’

Li Chang’an took a deep breath, calming his excitement.

Although Core Formation was not far off, he hadn’t truly reached that stage yet. He couldn’t celebrate prematurely.

His Path of Body Refining was just one step away from breaking through to Tier Three.

The breakthrough should happen within the next month or two.

He went to the depths of his cave residence, released Wang Xiao’s Soul, and began to interrogate him.

”Daoist Wang, I heard that Liu Xuanfeng has already reached Core Formation in the Purple Mist Sect. You two are close, so do you know what his Golden Core Quality is?”

Wang Xiao remained silent, glaring daggers at Li Chang’an.

「Even now.」

He still couldn’t accept that he had fallen into Li Chang’an’s hands!

Before today, he had always believed Li Chang’an was just a coward hiding behind his Array, too afraid to take the initiative. He thought that without the Array, Li Chang’an was nothing.

But the reality was the complete opposite of what he had imagined!

Not only did Li Chang’an dare to strike first, but his strength also far exceeded his expectations.

Even without the Array, he could still easily slay a Golden Core Cultivator!

”Daoist Wang, it seems you’d like the Evil Soul to give you a warm welcome.”

Seeing his silence, Li Chang’an immediately summoned the Evil Soul.

With a few strange cackles, the ferocious-looking Evil Soul appeared. Its scarlet eyes stared at Wang Xiao as if it had spotted a delectable delicacy.

Feeling that gaze, Wang Xiao’s expression changed instantly.

Inside the Venerable Soul Banner, he had already witnessed the methods the Evil Soul used to torture the other souls.

He immediately answered, ”Xuanfeng’s Golden Core Quality is Half-step Golden Core.”

”Half-step Golden Core? That’s within my expectations.”

Li Chang’an nodded slightly. He had previously speculated it would be a Half-step Golden Core.

Wang Xiao added, ”So what if you know Xuanfeng’s Golden Core Quality, Li Chang’an? Your combat strength may be impressive, but you’re ultimately just a wandering cultivator from the mountains. Your Golden Core Quality could never compare to Xuanfeng’s.”

”Daoist Wang, ten thousand years ago, Mo Qingkuang was also just a wandering cultivator.”

”You...”

Wang Xiao was about to retort but didn’t know how to refute that.

There was indeed a flaw in what he had just said.

「Next.」

Li Chang’an asked about some specific internal matters of the Purple Mist Sect.

For example, the specific strength of Liu Xuanfeng’s father and whether he could fight across cultivation stages.

Wang Xiao answered, ”He can fight across minor stages, but not across a Major Realm. A Foundation Establishment Cultivator might be able to defeat a Golden Core, but it’s impossible for a Golden Core Cultivator to defeat a Nascent Soul.”

In the current Cultivation Immortality Realm, there were no longer any Divinity Transformation Powerhouses.

Nascent Soul Cultivators were the supreme existence.

It was nearly impossible for a Golden Core Cultivator to defeat a Nascent Soul.

「While Li Chang’an was asking his questions.」

「Outside.」

News of the fall of the Purple Mist Sect’s five Golden Core Cultivators had gradually begun to spread.

The Purple Mist Sect was furious. They had dispatched a large number of personnel to investigate the ruins, vowing to find the culprit.

The various Golden Core Influences in the Southern Domain also announced that they would cooperate with the Purple Mist Sect’s investigation to find the killer in the shortest possible time.

However, half a month passed without anyone realizing it.

There was still no news about the murderer.

Within those ruins, it was as if the five Golden Core Cultivators had vanished from the face of the earth, leaving not a single trace behind.

”Saintess, we’ve searched everywhere. There are no traces of Wang Xiao or the others.”

”We also questioned the Late Golden Core Stage Cultivators from the various Golden Core Influences in the Southern Domain. None of them were in the ruins that day.”

”Even if a Late Golden Core Stage Cultivator had made a move, the five of them should have been able to hold their own...”

The implication was clear.

It was possible that a Nascent Soul True Monarch had acted!

Even if it wasn’t a Nascent Soul True Monarch, it had to be a Golden Core Cultivator with astonishing combat power, such as the Saint Children and Saintesses from the various Nascent Soul Influences.

”Saintess, we suspect it might have been done by a Demon Sect cultivator.”

”The Demon Sect?”

The Zi Xi Saintess seemed lost in thought.

The people of the Demon Sect weren’t madmen. If there was no grudge, they wouldn’t have attacked the five for no reason.

The only one who had recently made an enemy of Wang Xiao’s group was Li Chang’an of Changqing Mountain.

But Zi Xi’s thoughts were similar to those of Wang Xiao and the others.

Without his Array, it was absolutely impossible for Li Chang’an to have killed all five of them in such a short amount of time.

’Who could it be?’

Standing on the Flying Ship, Zi Xi pondered for a long time.

「Meanwhile.」

「Cyan Cloud Sect, deep within the Sect’s Spirit Vein.」

Li Chang’an, controlling Wan Xing, arrived at a secluded cultivation chamber here, preparing to attempt Core Formation.

Since he was about to attempt Core Formation himself, he planned to use the Puppet to try it first and gain more experience.

「Five days later.」

Wan Xing successfully achieved Core Formation. The quality of his formed pill was a Superior True Pill.

’A Superior True Pill. That’s within my expectations. Aside from Body Refinement, he’s a notch below Ye Mengxian in every aspect, and he didn’t have that golden symbol to help him like she did.’

Li Chang’an silently reviewed the entire process of Wan Xing’s Core Formation.

「A few more days passed.」

Murong Kang, inside the Soul Banner, could finally hold out no longer.

Under the Evil Soul’s relentless torture, he confessed how he had obtained the Demon Planting Technique.

He had found it in a predecessor’s cave residence.

He had shared Li Chang’an’s suspicion, wondering if the technique was bait left by a more powerful being.

But he had no choice!

”My talent is poor, I can’t compare to Senior Sister Pei. If I didn’t practice this Demon Planting Technique, I would have no hope of reaching Core Formation in this lifetime.”

Murong Kang confessed that even if there was a problem with the Cultivation Technique, he accepted it!

He just wanted to become stronger.

To enjoy the fleeting glory of being powerful.

Even if he would ultimately be refined into a Puppet or a clone for some stronger entity, he didn’t care.

Aside from this Demon Planting Technique, he had never had any great opportunities. He had to seize this chance.

In that predecessor’s cave, he found not only the Demon Planting Technique but also a message left behind.

”What did it say?”

Li Chang’an asked.

Murong Kang replied, ”The predecessor guessed that Mo Qingkuang might not be dead.”

”Not dead?”

Li Chang’an was somewhat surprised.

Mo Qingkuang was a figure from ten thousand years ago.

If he wasn’t dead, how did he survive for ten millennia?

A Nascent Soul’s lifespan is only a thousand years!

Murong Kang continued, ”The predecessor suspected that the Demon Planting Technique he found was bait left by Mo Qingkuang. Cultivating it to the end would turn one into a Blood Seed, and both one’s Magical Power and lifespan would be devoured by Mo Qingkuang, who hides in the shadows.”

Li Chang’an frowned. ”The Blood Seed Technique can only devour Magical Power, not lifespan.”

”Theoretically, that is correct.”

According to existing records, the Blood Seed Technique cannot devour lifespan.

But...

After all, this magic was created by Mo Qingkuang.

Who knew to what extent he had perfected it later on?

With his heaven-defying comprehension, perhaps he really could create a magic that devours lifespan!

’Devouring lifespan...’

The very thought of it stirred Li Chang’an’s heart.

What he sought in this life was longevity.

If such a magic truly existed, he would naturally want to obtain it.

The Evil Soul had once told him that there was more than one path to longevity in this world; there were all sorts of strange paths.

But the Evil Soul couldn’t recall the specific details of these paths.

Li Chang’an had once speculated that comprehending the mysteries of reincarnation and being reborn with a complete memory in each life was likely one such alternative path to longevity.

If one lifetime wasn’t enough to attain the Dao, then one could use ten, or a hundred, until they finally walked the true Path of Longevity!

「Furthermore.」

The path of devouring lifespan should also be a viable one.

’If Mo Qingkuang is truly still alive, after a full ten thousand years have passed, what level would his strength have reached?’

Li Chang’an thought to himself.

Even a pig, if it lived for ten thousand years, could become an unimaginably powerful existence.

To say nothing of a peerless genius with astonishing comprehension like Mo Qingkuang.

’There are probably quite a few old monsters like that hidden in the Cultivation Immortality Realm. I can’t let my guard down.’

Li Chang’an warned himself.

「For the next half a month.」

He hung a sign indicating he was in seclusion, accepting no visitors. He focused on the Path of Body Refining, getting closer and closer to breaking through to Tier Three Body Refinement.

「Finally.」

Late one night, Li Chang’an felt the signs of a breakthrough.

He was submerged in the Body Refining Medicine Liquid, and the pain wracking his body grew increasingly intense, as if tens of thousands of Ant Beasts were frantically tearing at his flesh.