Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

The more Li Ji'an learned about soul cultivation secret methods, the more he looked forward to them.

Compared to Dharma cultivation, which refines the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into Dharma power, nurturing a Dao infant, and merging with heaven and earth through the Dao,

soul cultivation was the initial method of self-improvement for the human race, the core of the human race's ability to compete with all other races.

It was also the most prosperous cultivation method of the human race in ancient times.

The advantage of all races lay not in physical strength or bloodlines, but in intelligence.

What allowed the weak human race to rise step by step in the ancient era of all races contending for supremacy was rooted in the power of the Heavenly Dao.

To gain the power of the Heavenly Dao, there were three paths: body, Dharma, and soul.

Body cultivators received the favor of the Heavenly Dao through their bloodlines, which was the only way for the barbaric demon race to dominate all races for a long time.

The human race was physically weak and had ordinary bloodlines. It was not until the ancient sages understood the Dao through the divine soul, and Dharma naturally followed, that they opened up a prosperous era for the human race.

However, refining Dharma and nurturing an infant to merge with heaven and earth was actually a method that arose after the ancient Dao principles weakened.

However, according to records unearthed from many ruins, the path of soul cultivation had already weakened in ancient times, until the outbreak of the demonic cultivation disaster more than three thousand years ago, when soul cultivation was labeled as demonic and almost disappeared.

His "rejuvenation" strengthened his divine soul. Each time he rejuvenated, the foundation of his divine soul became stronger, making him most suitable for the path of soul cultivation. Even if he could not comprehend heaven and earth and enter the Dao through the divine soul, at least cultivating the methods of the divine soul could accelerate the strengthening of his divine soul.

Unfortunately, in the decades he had been here, he had never heard of any soul cultivation secret methods.

"What are you dawdling about? Hurry up and prepare the materials! There's a Foundation Establishment senior outside." After waiting for a while without any movement, Li Ji'an easily enveloped the array material shop with his divine sense.

He saw a middle-aged woman in the inner hall organizing materials, while the fat shopkeeper beside her urged her with a disgusted expression.

The woman remained silent and continued to organize.

"Hmph, now you're mute? Why didn't you have this forbearance when you were arguing with your third sister-in-law?" The shopkeeper became even more angry.

"Speak!"

The woman took a deep breath and finally said calmly, "Master, it's not that I don't know how to be tolerant, it's just that the third sister-in-law went too far this time. It's wrong of her to hit my Qun'er during a dispute between juniors."

"Wrong? Don't you know who your third sister-in-law is? She's the daughter of the clan's enshrined alchemist. Even if she hit Qun'er, or even you and me, we have to endure it!" The shopkeeper finally found an opening and complained sharply.

The woman didn't speak again.

"Hmph, we are just collateral descendants. We finally managed to climb onto the third master's branch and got a shopkeeper's job. Otherwise, where would I have the hope of getting a Yangyuan pill for Qun'er? You… do you think your family is the same as your third sister-in-law's family?

If you cause our family to be disliked by the third master this time, and Qun'er doesn't have a Yangyuan pill to nourish his spiritual roots in the future, and his path to immortality is ruined, you…"

……

Li Ji'an retracted his divine sense, no longer prying into other people's privacy, and did not urge them.

Such things were common in cultivation families. Zhang Tiezhu once lost many opportunities because he was an adopted son-in-law, and his eldest son, Yan Jue, lost many opportunities.

The larger the family, the more such things happened.

After all, there was a difference in closeness, and there was no true fairness.

Not long after, a young man entered the door again.

He was dressed in exquisite Dharma robes, with a handsome appearance and an arrogant expression.

As soon as he entered the door, he frowned when he saw that no one came to greet him.

Just as he was about to call out, he suddenly discovered Li Ji'an, who had restrained his aura, was sitting there.

The young man was instantly shocked when he saw Li Ji'an's face.

Then, he suddenly smiled and respectfully greeted him, "Junior greets Senior Li and sends greetings from my ancestor."

Li Ji'an nodded slightly. He had an impression of this person, who had once followed a Foundation Establishment elder to the Li residence to seek pills.

"I never expected Senior Li to personally visit my Liu family's shop. It is truly an honor for us, a great fortune, a great fortune." The young man became even more excited when he received a response.

The Li alchemist in front of him was a highly renowned second-tier alchemist in Immortal City. His ancestor had now recognized the other party's second-tier pills and had repeatedly wanted to befriend him.

"You're too kind, young friend. The array materials here are more refined and affordable than those in Immortal City, so it's only right that I come here," Li Ji'an said with a smile.

The families near the Liu family all had the surname Liu, mostly collateral branches of the Liu family and some families bestowed with the surname. Compared to the chaos of the wilderness, this place could be said to be the Liu family's monopoly.

Not only the Liu family, but also the other four major families in Cangyun Prefecture were like this.

"Does Senior Li need array materials? With a word from you, Junior will definitely send them to Immortal City for you personally. There's no need for you to make a trip here," the young man said more enthusiastically after seeing that Li Ji'an was quite amiable.

"No need, I just wanted to get out and about. You go and do your thing," Li Ji'an waved his hand.

The young man knew when to advance and retreat, and hurriedly bowed and took his leave, "Senior, please wait a moment. Junior will take his leave."

At this moment, the fat shopkeeper brought over the organized array materials with his Dao companion.

The young man saw the two and hurriedly instructed, "Liu Zhong, Senior Li is a close friend of the ancestor. You must not neglect him."

"Greetings, Young Master, yes, yes, yes, I understand," the fat shopkeeper nodded repeatedly.

The young man nodded, bowed to Li Ji'an again, and hurriedly left the shop.

Then, the fat shopkeeper more respectfully explained the configuration of several sets of array materials to Li Ji'an, carefully separating each portion.

Just as Li Ji'an was about to pay for the spirit stones after all the materials were put into the storage bag,

a hearty laugh came, "Hahaha, Alchemist Li, it's an honor for us, a great fortune for this old man!"

Then, the old man who had come to seek pills in his memory greeted him with some excitement.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Liu," Li Ji'an responded with a cupped fist.

"Greetings, Ancestor," the fat shopkeeper and the woman hurriedly saluted.

The ancestor turned a deaf ear and only sincerely invited, "Alchemist Li, it's better to meet by chance than to arrange it. Since we've bumped into each other near my Liu family today, please move to the clan so that this old man can do his best as a host."

"Fellow Daoist Liu is too kind, then Li will accept your kind invitation." Since he had come to the Liu family's Dao field, Li Ji'an intended to make some contact.

Moreover, the other party was just a collateral Foundation Establishment family of the Liu family, which posed no threat to him. Besides, Li Ji'an's reputation in Immortal City still had some effect.

At least people with some status would not blatantly harm him.

In the end, the Liu family's ancestor firmly refused to pay for Li Ji'an's array materials and welcomed him into the family.

Their clan was located on a second-tier low-grade spiritual vein, which was given to them by the Liu family's direct line more than three hundred years ago in recognition of their ancestors' merits.

Compared to the wilderness families with external enemies and unstable situations, Li Ji'an clearly felt the internal strife in this family. In just a short welcoming ceremony, Li Ji'an saw that the high-level members of the clan were divided into at least three factions.

After discussing the Dao with the Liu family's ancestor for half a day, both of them had many feelings.

"Haha, cultivation is not easy! Small families like us who depend on the main family will not see any hope unless we catch the eye of the main family, even more so than the wilderness families," the Liu family's ancestor shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Li Ji'an also felt the same way, "Compared to Fellow Daoist Liu, a loose cultivator like Li is even more hopeless. At least Fellow Daoist Liu still has the possibility of being favored by the main family, but Li can only wait for opportunities."

"Same, same. The sect strictly controls the Golden Core resources, and the main family even firmly controls the Foundation Establishment mid- and late-stage resources. To be honest, I would be satisfied if I could step into the Foundation Establishment mid-stage."

……

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During this period, Li Ji'an did not try to inquire about the situation of the Liu family's main line, but only made some inferences based on what he said about the situation of this collateral family.

The Liu family had almost no external troubles, and the internal strife was very serious.

The Liu family's current Pseudo-Core ancestor had lived for more than three hundred years, and his theoretical lifespan would not exceed fifty years. If he added a second-tier longevity pill, he might live for another twenty or thirty years.

Another not-so-secret piece of news was that the core spiritual vein of the Liu family's array was originally a third-tier low-grade, but a large spiritual gathering array was set up here, connecting several second-tier and first-tier spiritual veins in this area. All the spiritual veins surrounded the Liu family's core spiritual vein, and the core spiritual vein had a slight trend of increasing, while the spiritual veins of these collateral small families had a trend of decreasing.

In the afternoon, Li Ji'an took his leave.

The Liu family's ancestor personally sent him out of the family.

"Thank you, Alchemist Li, you are magnanimous. It's all because I didn't discipline them strictly enough. Please forgive me."

"Third Madam, this old woman apologizes to you on behalf of Pingping!"

Just as he flew above a small courtyard, a familiar voice caught Li Ji'an's attention.

As far as he could see, in that courtyard, Dong Jiangling was humbly apologizing to an old alchemist.

Beside him, an old woman was also bowing to a middle-aged woman.

Behind them, two adults and one child were kneeling, who were the shopkeeper couple and their daughter from the array shop earlier.

"Hey, Alchemist Li is laughing at us. There are many clansmen, and discipline is not strict, really…" The Liu family's ancestor sighed slightly. He no longer had the energy to manage these things.

He immediately sent a message to the current patriarch to deal with it.

Li Ji'an cupped his fist slightly towards him, "Fellow Daoist Liu, there is an old friend of mine below, I need to meet him."

"Oh?" The Liu family's ancestor was quite surprised.

Then, the two slowly landed from the sky.

"Greetings, Ancestor, greetings, Senior!" The old alchemist and his daughter below hurriedly saluted.

Dong Jiangling and the others did not dare to look up.

The Liu family's ancestor landed without speaking, just looking at Li Ji'an, wondering who his old friend was.

"Alchemist Li? Xie Fang, the unworthy disciple of Master Zou, greets Alchemist Li!" The Liu family's enshrined alchemist, after seeing Li Ji'an's appearance clearly, was immediately overjoyed.

He was Master Zou's disciple and Xie Gui's younger brother.

Feeling that his alchemy skills could not be improved in his early years, he found a Foundation Establishment family to be an enshrinement. During this period, he often returned to Immortal City to visit Master Zou and Xie Gui and had met Li Ji'an.

Li Ji'an nodded slightly, then walked to Dong Jiangling and helped him up, "Uncle Dong, why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Thump~"

Xie Fang and his daughter, including the fat shopkeeper and Dong Ping kneeling below, all looked at Dong Jiangling in shock.

"Senior Li calls my father-in-law… Uncle Dong?"

"When did my father know a Foundation Establishment expert?"

Dong Jiangling looked at Li Ji'an, his old face blushing. He only learned about this today. He originally thought that Cui Niang could solve the problem, but he learned that it was a bit tricky. Urged by his son-in-law, he rushed to solve the conflict for his daughter.

"This is Aunt Cui, right?" Li Ji'an helped up the old woman beside Dong Jiangling again.

Cui Niang looked shocked. Dong Jiangling had said before that he had an elder brother, and he had talked about his elder brother's son over the years, but it was only hearsay. At this moment, he finally understood that her husband was not bragging.

"This old woman… greets Senior…"

"Aunt Cui, Aunt Yao asked me to send her regards to you."

"Good, good, but Senior, please don't embarrass this old woman, this old woman can't afford it." Cui Niang was very excited, but she really couldn't understand Li Ji'an's way of addressing her as a Foundation Establishment senior.

Then Li Ji'an walked to Dong Ping and helped her up, "Sister Ping, nice to meet you for the first time, a small token, please accept it."

Li Ji'an handed her a high-grade Beauty Pill.

Dong Ping's pupils shrank, as if she had seen a ghost, and even suspected that she was dreaming.

In the end, she handed it to the little girl beside her.

The fat shopkeeper kneeling beside her was already trembling like a sieve.

After doing all this, Li Ji'an took his leave again, without asking any questions about what had just happened.