A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

He took the square box and gently lifted the lid a crack. A wave of scorching heat immediately wafted out.

The Golden Sun Insect Fire was a pale gold laced with faint streaks of azure. It was a type of Yang Fire that was relatively easy to collect. Lü Zhong had seen it described in numerous ancient texts, and after confirming it was the real thing, he accepted it.

With nothing else to do, the two of them then began to exchange Cultivation Insights.

As the saying goes, the truth becomes clearer with debate. After sharing and verifying their insights, both sides felt they had gained something.

...

After obtaining the Golden Sun Insect Fire, Lü Zhong immediately returned to Liuyun Mountain.

「Time passed, day by day.」

Besides his necessary daily meditation to refine his Qi and absorb Star Yang Gang Qi, he spent nearly all his time deciphering Arrays and comprehending the Flame Manipulation Technique. His schedule was packed.

Of course, Lü Zhong would also emerge from seclusion from time to time to regularly dispel the fire-natured energy within his True Essence. It served as a welcome change of pace from his otherwise tedious cultivation life.

But just as the note had described, the Flame Manipulation Technique was incredibly difficult to cultivate. Even with his considerable experience with Magic Techniques, his progress was halting. Despite the Gray Mist Space reducing the cost of trial and error, it still took him over two years to finally master the First Layer of the Flame Manipulation Technique.

Now, he could finally refine the Golden Sun Insect Fire.

Filled with anticipation, Lü Zhong immediately used the Technique provided by the Spirit Forging Fire Secret Skill. He used the Golden Sun Insect Fire as kindling and, after a great deal of effort, successfully condensed a wisp of Spirit Forging Fire.

Gazing at the golden flame before him, a smile finally appeared on his face.

’This wasn’t easy, but at least I’ve finally succeeded!’

There was no time to lose. Lü Zhong immediately drew the Spirit Forging Fire into his Dantian and attempted to forge his True Essence for the first time.

Instantly, golden flames ignited across the surface of his body. There was none of the unbearable pain he had anticipated. Instead, it felt like soaking in warm water—pleasantly and comfortably warm.

After observing for a while, Lü Zhong discovered that the Spirit Forging Fire truly did have the effect of refining the impure and retaining the essential.

His True Essence, which had become somewhat mottled from taking Pills, gradually began to purify. Although the change was almost imperceptible and couldn’t compare to the Spiritual Power purification of the Four Spirits Technique, he figured that if he persisted with the forging, the results wouldn’t be much worse than consuming a Spiritual Object designed to remove Pill Poison.

’Not bad. Not bad at all!’ Lü Zhong nodded in satisfaction.

To be honest, he was very pleased that the Spirit Forging Fire had this effect.

According to the Spirit Forging Fire Secret Skill, upon mastering the Second Layer of the Flame Manipulation Technique, the Spirit Fire would reach the Small Success stage, and its ability to purify True Essence would increase dramatically.

He knew that cultivating the Second Layer would certainly be much harder than the first, but only after trying did Lü Zhong realize just how absurdly difficult it was. It was no exaggeration to describe the gap in difficulty as a massive chasm.

This left Lü Zhong utterly frustrated, with no choice but to come out of seclusion.

There was another reason for emerging: he was running out of Essence.

Nourishing both the Spirit Ring and the Qingyang Mirror at the same time consumed Essence at an astonishing rate. The several hundred pieces of Essence he had obtained from clearing out the waterways of Yongling City had been completely used up during his two-plus years of seclusion.

To hasten the Spirit Ring’s Metamorphosis and restore the Qingyang Mirror to its full power, Lü Zhong had no choice but to come out of seclusion to gather more Essence, lest he delay the nourishment of his Spiritual Artifacts.

He calculated the date. Today was supposed to be a day of rest.

Lü Zhong walked toward the depths of his residence. He’d recently been feeling that his newly refined True Essence wasn’t circulating as smoothly as it should. It was about time he found someone to help him let off some steam.

He walked through the wind and snow, but with his Star Yang Gang Qi protecting him, not a single snowflake landed on his body.

He soon arrived at a heated room. He had ordered its special construction, with numerous pipes laid beneath the floor. As long as the boiler room in the distance heated water, a continuous stream would flow through, constantly warming the room and keeping it pleasant and comfortable even in the dead of winter.

This was also a small way of repaying Li Hejun.

After half a day of exertion, they were finally finished.

Lying on the soft brocade couch, thoughts churned in Lü Zhong’s mind.

’By my calculations, the Fire-Bound Golden Flower should be maturing soon. This means the coming days are a critical time for power plays. If something is going to happen to the Tan Family, it should happen now.’

’If nothing happens, that would be for the best.’

He had already served as the Tan Family’s Honored Guest Elder for four years. With less than a year to go, he would be able to smoothly obtain the method for making the Flying Talisman. Naturally, he didn’t want anything to happen to the Tan Family and only hoped that Tan Luoyun would succeed in her Core Formation soon.

Before entering seclusion, he had specifically instructed Li Hejun to gather information on this matter.

”Has anything major happened over there recently?”

”I have only been able to gather public information,” Li Hejun said softly. ”However, judging by the information analysis methods you taught me, it seems the Tan Family’s Core Formation succession was a success. One after another, outside forces have been ceasing their activities lately. I believe Tan Luoyun’s successful Core Formation must have happened recently.”

...

「Another ten or so days passed.」

To Lü Zhong’s surprise, although Tan Luoyun had obtained the Fire-Bound Golden Flower and successfully triggered the Core Formation Celestial Tribulation, she had ultimately failed to reach Core Formation. Instead, she perished under the Three-Nine Thunder Tribulation.

The Three-Nine Thunder Tribulation was a mandatory ordeal one had to pass for Core Formation.

Lü Zhong used to think that the claims in ancient texts—that not even one in a hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators succeeded at Core Formation—were just exaggerations by the authors. He never imagined it could very well be true.

All the Tan Family’s extensive preparations had been washed away by a single Celestial Tribulation.

”Life is truly unpredictable...” he murmured to himself.

He couldn’t help but wonder: when it was his turn to face the tribulation, how would he deal with it?

The ancient texts did describe methods for cultivators to deal with Thunder Tribulations, but every single one required the aid of rare Spiritual Objects. These included the Thunderward Stone, which hadn’t been seen for ten thousand years; Thundering Grass, which had been harvested to extinction by Ancient Cultivators; or elusive Ancient Exotic Species.

’It seems I’ll have to pay close attention to methods of avoiding lightning...’ Lü Zhong had no desire to painstakingly cultivate to Perfect Foundation Establishment and prepare all the necessary Spiritual Objects to aid his Core Formation, only to be blasted to ashes by the Three-Nine Thunder Tribulation.

’The best age for Core Formation is before two hundred.’

He figured a hundred-odd years should be more than enough time for him to find one or two methods to ward off lightning.

With these thoughts in mind, his life continued in its usual, methodical way.

After Tan Luoyun’s failure to reach Core Formation, the Tan Family’s control over its various industries tightened considerably. The monthly ”tributes” and benefits that fell into Lü Zhong’s hands decreased by a visible amount.

This action was not hard to understand. The Tan Family was, after all, large and influential. Plus, their old ancestor was still in his prime; they weren’t at the end of their rope yet. If they could gather enough Spirit Stones during this time and manage to acquire a Golden Core Pill, it wasn’t impossible for them to complete the Golden Core succession.

Lü Zhong didn’t care about the reduction in Spirit Stone tributes. Obtaining the method for making the Flying Talisman was what mattered most.

「Spring turned to autumn, and the biting cold of winter soon passed.」

Finally, the five-year term was over!

On the day he stepped down, he was honestly a little reluctant to leave.

The five years he had served the Tan Family as a Foundation Establishment cultivator had been truly comfortable and smooth. He could focus all his time and energy on advancing his cultivation and improving his own strength.

Not only had he obtained a scroll of Array Dao inheritance, but he had also mastered the Spirit Forging Fire, which would benefit him for a long time to come.

No matter how he looked at it, the Tan Family had been a Blessed Land for him.

However, when faced with Tan Shihe’s invitation to stay, Lü Zhong ultimately chose to refuse.

A shallow pond cannot raise a Flood Dragon. If he truly wanted to achieve the Golden Core, he had to venture out into a wider world. Only then could he gather the resources for Core Formation. Otherwise, if he stayed cooped up in a small place like this, he feared his ambitions would sooner or later wither away.

He stayed at the Tan Family’s residence for another month.

Under the personal instruction of a Talisman Maker, Lü Zhong very smoothly mastered the method for creating the Flying Talisman.

Tier Two Talismans were different from Tier One Talismans. The methods for drawing the Talisman Head, Talisman Core, and talisman foot were all far more complex. This was especially true for the talisman foot, which served as a form of encryption. He estimated that if he had tried to decipher it on his own without any instruction, it would have taken him at least ten years to learn.

In any case, Lü Zhong had finally mastered his first Tier Two Talisman.