Immortal Refiner

Boom!

A muffled sound suddenly echoed from Li Qing’s cave abode.

From the outside, Wild Cloud Peak seemed to tremble slightly, as if shaken by some immense force.

Li Qing slowly rose from his seated meditation posture, his upper body bare. A thick layer of aged skin covered his entire body.

In the next instant, he channeled a surge of energy through his body, causing the aged skin to crackle and fall away, revealing his honed physique beneath.

”A peak mid-Second-Tier fleshly body... I’m now infinitely close to a late foundation establishment realm body refinement cultivator.”

”In just nine months, the Brahma King True Body secret technique has truly achieved something miraculous.”

Indeed, after nine months of secluded cultivation and body refinement within his cave abode, Li Qing’s fleshly body had advanced to an unimaginable level.

”But the price I paid was terrifying. Without spirit herbs to replenish my vital energy, I’ve lost nearly seventy years of my lifespan.”

Yes, to others, these nine months might have seemed like just nine months, but Li Qing had truly lost seventy years of his lifespan.

During this time, he consumed all the spirit herbs he had exchanged for from the sect, yet he persisted in refining his fleshly body.

There were moments when his vital energy dried up and his vital energy was severely depleted, yet his fleshly body continued to grow stronger.

To achieve this, he had to relentlessly squeeze every cell in his body for its potential, forcibly cultivating this extremely ferocious body arts technique.

Squeezing potential meant sacrificing his life force, and his lifespan rapidly dwindled.

In the end, after paying the price of seventy years of his lifespan, his body arts realm had climbed to a level infinitely close to the late second-tier.

Now, he could truly be considered to have mastered body arts!

Leaving his cave abode, Li Qing casually found a small, uninhabited mountain near the sect.

Brahma King True Body!

Li Qing silently chanted the name, activating the secret technique accompanying this body refinement method.

His body suddenly swelled several times its original size, transforming him into a small giant with muscles as formidable as those of a savage dragon.

Without hesitation, Li Qing unleashed a palm strike against the small, desolate mountain before him.

Boom!

A deafening roar echoed through the air as a massive palm print was blasted into the mountain’s solid rock face. Cracks spiderwebbed outward from the impact point, as if the entire mountain were about to shatter.

A fleshly body capable of shaking mountains—utterly domineering!

”Not bad. If I used my full power, I could probably obliterate the entire mountain.”

As he spoke, Li Qing gradually retracted his fleshly body divine ability, returning to his normal size.

He immediately retrieved a loose-fitting magic robe from his storage pouch and put it on. His earlier transformation had torn his clothes to shreds.

”Future battles might be rough on my clothes,” he mused. ”I should consider refining a proper battle robe. Otherwise, having my clothes explode every time will get rather troublesome.”

The words had barely left his lips when Li Qing remembered a spiritual material he had acquired long ago:

Moon Gilt Gold!

This was a spiritual material Li Qing had obtained long ago while serving as Guardian during Liu Hanyue’s foundation establishment. He had never found the time to use it, nor could he think of what kind of magic artifact to refine with it.

”Moon Gilt Gold comes from beyond the realms,” he mused. ”Its exceptional malleability and remarkable toughness make it ideal for crafting a close-fitting suit of battle armor.”

”Now that my body arts have matured, future battles will inevitably lean toward close-quarters combat until my mana cultivation catches up.”

”A suit of armor with exceptional defensive capabilities would significantly enhance my survival prospects.”

After muttering these thoughts to himself, Li Qing made his decision. He would refine a suit of protective armor to complement his future close-quarters combat style.

Most importantly, with armor forged from Moon Gilt Gold, he wouldn’t have to worry about the embarrassing situation of his Daoist robes tearing when his body expanded.

”There’s still some time before entering the sealing formation. I should carefully consider how to refine this Gilt Gold armor. This will also be a good opportunity to replenish the Lifespan I’ve lost recently.”

With these thoughts in mind, Li Qing prepared to return to his cave abode and begin his grand artifact refinement project.

However, a plump figure soon came hurtling through the sky toward him.

”Li Qing, so you were here! No wonder I couldn’t find you in your cave abode earlier.”

”My master has already created four talisman treasures from his damaged golden blade magic artifact, and I specifically saved one for you!”

As he spoke, Fatty Wu winked and descended, pulling out a Talisman Paper imprinted with a golden blade.

The blade was remarkably lifelike, its razor-sharp aura seeming to pierce through the paper. Even a single glance at it made Li Qing feel a faint ache between his brows.

A talisman treasure!

Li Qing’s heart fluttered slightly, and a look of intense delight spread across his face as he accepted the talisman treasure.

”This is a talisman treasure? It truly is extraordinary.”

Hearing this, Wu Chong narrowed his eyes and chuckled. ”Of course! After the imprinting process, my master’s damaged golden blade magic artifact was completely destroyed.”

This was true. Magic artifacts were exclusive to core formation realm cultivators.

Some Natal Magic Treasures require constant internal nourishment with a core formation realm cultivator’s true essence, day and night, to continuously enhance their power.

Talisman treasures are unique creations that combine artifact refinement techniques and talisman art. They store a portion of a magic treasure’s power within a talisman, which diminishes with each use.

However, such imprinting severely damages the magic treasure’s original power and spirituality.

Generally, core formation realm cultivators rarely imprint their Natal Magic Treasures into talisman treasures. The loss of spirituality and power from a single imprinting requires many months to recover.

Only when a core formation true lord nears their great limit, and their family lacks a new core formation realm cultivator, would they imprint their magic treasure into multiple talisman treasures before death, providing their descendants with a life-saving resource after their passing.

Alternatively, someone like Ancestor Devourer of Heaven, possessing numerous magic treasures, might imprint an unwanted, damaged artifact into talisman treasures to bestow upon younger generation elders within his sect.

This shows just how rare talisman treasures are in the current immortal cultivation world. Even after cultivating for so long, Li Qing had only encountered his first one.

”I accept the golden blade talisman treasure,” Li Qing said sincerely, his heart filled with gratitude. ”If I survive the sealing formation, I will repay this kindness.”

Wu Chong waved dismissively. ”Heh heh, if you really want to repay me, just don’t die in the formation! Come out alive, and we’ll go feast in the mortal world together afterward!”

He was still the same gluttonous fatty Li Qing remembered.

Seeing Wu Chong’s smile warmed Li Qing’s heart.

Back in the border garrison, Wu Chong had always looked out for him. Even now, after embarking on the immortal dao, nothing had changed.

After bidding farewell to Fatty Wu, Li Qing returned to his cave abode.

He took out the golden blade talisman treasure again, stroking and examining it with fascination.

”A talisman treasure should theoretically unleash about ten percent of the original magic treasure’s power. But since it’s not being activated by a true core formation realm cultivator, its potency will likely be further diminished.”

”Still, this is more than enough. With this talisman treasure, my combat prowess has increased significantly.”

”I just wonder how many times I’ll be able to use it.”

With that, Li Qing carefully stored the golden blade talisman treasure, treating it with utmost reverence. This would be his greatest asset when entering the sealing formation.

In the next moment, he retrieved a piece of moon silver-colored metal from his storage pouch.

It was Moon Gilt Gold!

Its surface shimmered with an ethereal moonlight, cool to the touch yet strangely warm. Even just holding it in his palm, Li Qing felt a pleasant, soothing sensation.

This was the Moon Gilt Gold he would use to refine his battle armor!

”This amount alone would be insufficient to refine a complete set of battle armor. I’ll need to add other spiritual materials to create a proper suit.”

After a moment of contemplation, Li Qing began to consider the requirements for his armor.

Moon Gilt Gold possessed exceptional malleability and remarkable durability, easily withstanding attacks from ordinary sharp magic artifacts.

However, it remained vulnerable to attacks imbued with the Five Elements or other elemental properties.

”We should focus on resisting Five Elements-based spell attacks. If we’re talking about the best spiritual material, it would undoubtedly be chaos stone. However, this precious material exists almost exclusively in ancient records. Even cultivators at the divine transformation stage struggle to find it.”

Chaos stone, as its name suggests, is a rare immortal material that originated during the primordial chaos. Armor refined from such a material would be completely impervious to all spells!

Of course, Li Qing had no chance of finding such legendary immortal material.

He had to settle for more common spiritual materials.

”Sigh, I don’t have any contribution points right now, and there’s not enough time to post a mission. I’ll have to make do with the leftover materials from refining the Five Elements Spirit Binding Rope earlier.”

With that, Li Qing retrieved the excess materials from helping Elder Xu refine the Five Elements Spirit Binding Rope and piled them together.

Boom!

With the materials prepared, Li Qing immediately ignited a crimson-red Innate True Fire within the Forge.

(End of the Chapter)

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