Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

Standing alone before the mountain gate, he waited for the gatekeeper disciple to announce his arrival.

This contrasted sharply with the disciples constantly entering and leaving the sect.

Most of the disciples entering and leaving the sect these days were in a hurry, while Li Ji'an appeared leisurely and serene.

Before long, a young man in outer sect attire steered a magical artifact to greet him from afar.

"Are you Fellow Daoist Li from Immortal City?"

"I am Li Fan, invited to attend Senior Xiao's Foundation Establishment celebration," Li Ji'an responded with cupped hands.

"Welcome, Fellow Daoist Li. I am Senior Brother Xiao's duty disciple. Senior Brother Xiao is currently occupied, so I have been specially sent to welcome you on his behalf. Please."

Outer sect disciples generally served as guards for the sect's various peaks, mostly shouldering miscellaneous sect affairs.

Inner sect disciples, once they established their foundation, would be assigned independent cave dwellings and duty disciples.

For an outer sect disciple to become a duty disciple for a Foundation Establishment senior brother was considered a very good position. Not only did their status rise with the Foundation Establishment senior brother, but they also had the possibility of being individually instructed and receiving extra rewards from the senior brother.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist."

He then followed the young man, steering the magical artifact deep into the sect.

Twenty-one years ago, when he participated in the trial, he only entered the outer sect's Dharma Hall at most. This time, he directly passed through the sect's heartland to reach the inner sect's cave dwelling area.

Along the way, he saw immortal mountains surrounded by abundant spiritual energy, free from the many vulgarities of Immortal City, truly fulfilling Li Ji'an's Xianxia dream from before his transmigration.

Only the cultivators he encountered lacked a sense of ethereal immortality and mostly had stern expressions.

It wasn't until they landed halfway up a mountain peak that they finally arrived at Xiao Changfeng's private cave dwelling.

The red silk carvings arranged outside the cave dwelling further ruined the artistic conception of ethereal immortality.

It also brought Li Ji'an back from that fantasy of a fairyland.

"In the end, it's not the immortal world of my dreams!" Having been in this world for sixty-six years, the only thing that could still give him a space for fantasy was the ancient cultivation world of six thousand years ago.

Harmony between man and nature, a contention of myriad techniques, not relying on external objects, but more on cultivating oneself, one's mind, and one's spirit.

That was the flourishing age of cultivation that Li Ji'an yearned for!

Returning to his senses, Li Ji'an took out the congratulatory gift and handed it to the young man on duty.

"Fellow Daoist Li from Immortal City, a high-quality magical artifact, congratulating Senior Brother Xiao," the duty disciple immediately announced.

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure hurried out of the cave dwelling.

"Big Brother Li!"

This address of Big Brother Li really surprised Li Ji'an.

In Cangyun Prefecture, whether it was a sect or a cultivation family, the status of Foundation Establishment cultivators was very high. No matter what the previous relationship was, once they advanced to Foundation Establishment, it was the difference between a senior and a junior.

Xiao Changfeng's uninhibited nature and carefree temperament, he had long discerned.

Even when he sent the invitation for the Foundation Establishment celebration last month, he also addressed him as Big Brother Li.

However, that was a private message, or perhaps he had just advanced to Foundation Establishment and hadn't switched over yet.

But at this moment, in public, still in the heartland of the sect, he could still call him Big Brother with such sincerity!

"That won't do. You have already successfully established your foundation, you are a senior expert..." Li Ji'an pretended to be flattered and declined.

Xiao Changfeng waved his hand, "Why is Big Brother Li also so worldly? If you really call me Senior, our friendship will be over."

Then Xiao Changfeng shook his head with a wry smile, transmitting his voice, "Before last year, I was oppressed by the worldliness, many things blocked my heart, leading to a mottled state of mind and powerless cultivation. It was you who made me suddenly enlightened and my state of mind transparent.

After returning that day, I asked myself, everyone in the world is like this, so must I be like this?

The world has always been like this, so is it right?"

"In the end, the knot in my heart was untied, I suddenly realized one morning, and finally found my original heart."

Hearing this, Li Ji'an nodded secretly.

Every society has its rules and customs, as well as human relationships and worldly wisdom. Generally, most people are frivolous and reckless when they are young, unaware of the immensity of the world, fantasizing that they are geniuses who can be independent of the world. After entering society and experiencing beatings, their original heart will be tempered and they will begin to adapt, eventually becoming a member who practices its ways.

He was like that, Zhao Shuyao was like that, and all other ordinary people were like that.

Even when Zhang Tiezhu had just advanced to the mid-stage of Qi training, he felt a little extraordinary and couldn't wait to address Li Ji'an as Fellow Daoist according to the customs of this world.

However, in this world, in every era, there will always be true geniuses and protagonists. They can really ultimately stick to their original heart and not be buried by the world.

Otherwise, if the world were all one color, there would be much less excitement.

Xiao Changfeng showed a different style from his peers twenty-one years ago. However, when they first met before going to Flame Mountain last time, Li Ji'an clearly felt that he had been beaten by society and was much more stable. He didn't expect that the spring wind building's problem-solving last year would accidentally allow him to find his original heart again.

Of course, that night was just a trigger at most. The key reason should still be the accumulation of contradictions that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time.

However, whether he is the protagonist here and whether he can ultimately maintain his original heart is still too early to say.

There are still too many beatings waiting for him on the road of life.

"Good, congratulations, virtuous brother, on successfully establishing your foundation and taking another step forward in the immortal path," Li Ji'an followed the local customs, practiced the rules, also because he had been beaten and knew that he was not the protagonist here, forced to do so, so he could understand Xiao Changfeng very well, and immediately stopped being pretentious.

"Hahaha, good, Big Brother Li, please come inside!" Xiao Changfeng smiled freely and led Li Ji'an into the cave dwelling.

As soon as he stepped into the cave dwelling, Li Ji'an felt the spiritual energy richness close to the mid-stage of the second order and secretly praised it. This was more rich and pure than the spiritual energy in the core spiritual vein of the Yan family, and there was a lot of earth spiritual energy.

After walking a few feet, a huge cave dwelling covering several acres, hollowed out above, came into view.

In the hall, many people were sitting and discussing the Dao, with maids serving spiritual tea and spiritual wine.

Seeing Xiao Changfeng personally welcoming him and calling him Big Brother, everyone's eyes fell on Li Ji'an.

"It's him!"

"Fellow Daoist Li Fan, long time no see."

"Fellow Daoist Li, it's been twenty years since we parted, how have you been?"

...

Most of them were inner sect disciples who entered the sect in the same year as Xiao Changfeng, so they recognized Li Ji'an at a glance.

However, no matter how they usually discussed him in private, they were quite friendly when they met at this moment. After all, they had to give face to Xiao Changfeng, who was the first inner sect disciple among their batch to establish his foundation, except for the three true disciples.

Moreover, Xiao Changfeng's attitude towards Li Ji'an was obviously unusual.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoists," Li Ji'an replied with a smile.

With Xiao Changfeng by his side, Li Ji'an was welcomed and not looked down upon because of his status as a rogue cultivator.

The welcoming young man earlier deeply remembered Li Ji'an's appearance in his mind at this moment, secretly telling himself that he must be more respectful when he sees this rogue cultivator in the future.

After arranging for Li Ji'an to sit down, Xiao Changfeng left on business.

After a brief exchange of greetings, everyone resumed the previous topic, and Li Ji'an gradually became an outsider again.

This couldn't be blamed on the others. After all, they were all sect disciples and had common topics. Moreover, at Xiao Changfeng's Foundation Establishment celebration, the most discussed topic was naturally about Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, because of their status as sect disciples, they talked a lot about what tasks to do, how to allocate the contribution points earned, and which quality of Foundation Establishment Pill was the most cost-effective.

As the only rogue cultivator present, Li Ji'an couldn't get a word in and didn't want to, so he seemed a little out of place for a while.

This was a circle belonging to sect disciples, not to him.

During this period, one of the disciples who was awakened by Li Ji'an tried to pull Li Ji'an into the topic, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he realized the difficulty for rogue cultivators to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills, and worried that this topic would make Li Ji'an think too much, so he forcibly stopped and toasted a glass of spiritual wine to end it.

After that, more and more sect disciples came to congratulate him, and even a few older generation Foundation Establishment senior brothers and the three true disciples of the same batch as Xiao Changfeng came.

Compared to the initial disciples who had not established their foundation, a few of these people, after learning of Li Ji'an's status as a rogue cultivator, still inadvertently revealed contempt and disdain. Facing Li Ji'an's perfunctory greetings, a few of the Foundation Establishment senior brothers turned a blind eye.

Li Ji'an didn't care about this. He was just waiting for Xiao Changfeng to share his insights.

It wasn't until an hour later that Xiao Changfeng finally returned to the cave dwelling and began to share his experience and insights on this Foundation Establishment.

This was a tradition in the Biyun Sect.

It also reflected the advantage of sect cultivators in the "companion" aspect.

Whenever someone in the sect broke through a major realm, they would share their experience and insights as usual, and answer some questions from their fellow disciples.

This was what Li Ji'an valued when he came here.

Besides Xiao Changfeng's sharing, it was also in the questions asked by other disciples.

After a long time, Li Ji'an raised his eyebrows slightly. Only then did he realize that Xiao Changfeng didn't use the Foundation Establishment Pill this time.

He directly stated that a high-grade earth spiritual root has a 20% success rate of Foundation Establishment, the physical body has been tempered since childhood, and has not been abandoned in recent years, nearly a first-order late-stage body cultivator, adding another 1.5% chance, the magic power has been tempered during the pursuit of robbers in previous years, although the magic power is not very strong because the technique is not top-notch, it is also pure, adding another 1.5%, the soul is not special, but it is not bad, adding another 1%, starting with a 60% success rate, the odds are very high.

On top of this foundation, he borrowed the sect's quasi-third-order cave dwelling with the contribution originally prepared to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill, and also arranged a second-order spirit gathering array to ensure the spiritual energy was abundant and stable during the process of impacting Foundation Establishment.

He also rented a high-quality dharma crown with the effect of clearing the heart, concentrating the mind, and purifying the mind to maintain a clear state of mind and move forward courageously.

Finally, he prepared a high-quality body protection pill to ensure that even if the impact on Foundation Establishment failed, it could protect the dantian from damage and the physical body from destruction to the greatest extent.

After talking about the materials prepared for Foundation Establishment, he then carefully explained each level of Foundation Establishment, from the physical body level, the magic power level to the soul level, sharing the details and insights of each level.

Finally, he frankly said that the success of this Foundation Establishment was mainly in the state of mind, in the courage to move forward in the step of magic power condensation.

He encouraged everyone not to be affected by external rumors, Foundation Establishment is not difficult, a success rate of more than 50% can be tried, not necessarily a Foundation Establishment Pill.

However, when he said this, an fake core elder who didn't know where he had been hiding jumped out and sternly warned the other disciples that this point could not be listened to.

The Foundation Establishment level involves the Dao foundation, the risk is very high, and the consequences are serious. Without more than 70% certainty, it is not recommended to forcibly impact.

He also pointed out in public that Xiao Changfeng's ability to successfully establish his foundation with a 60% probability and a solid and pure Dao foundation was by no means normal, but mostly due to luck, and others could not imitate it.

This little episode brought great laughter to the originally serious Dao discussion meeting, and the atmosphere was pushed to the highest point in one fell swoop.

Li Ji'an was fully focused throughout the whole process. Besides Xiao Changfeng's self-report, he also pushed back to the origin from the questions of other disciples and benefited a lot.

He had a better understanding of his upcoming Foundation Establishment level.

The sect does not allow outside cultivators to stay overnight. Except for core descendants of major forces like Liu Jiuchan, Li Ji'an bid farewell after the end of the Dao discussion meeting.

When parting, Xiao Changfeng encouraged Li Ji'an a lot, hoping that Li Ji'an could also establish his foundation as soon as possible, and promised that if he found any traces of the heaven and earth spiritual flame in the future, he would definitely help Li Ji'an capture one.

This time, Xiao Changfeng gave Li Ji'an the feeling that he had returned to the high spirits of his youth, and there was a bit more uninhibitedness in his words and deeds, without some of the previous worries.

Regarding this, Li Ji'an felt that it was not good for his future development. He was in the sect, and his talent was not particularly outstanding. It was inevitable that he would be labeled as complacent when he first entered Foundation Establishment.

However, things are unpredictable, and Li Ji'an understood that this was his nature returning, so he didn't say much.

——

Half a year later, the handover of Immortal City was completed.

The Wan Jian Qi family took over Immortal City, and all the Biyun Sect cultivators withdrew.

On this day, the first grand market after the change of ownership of Immortal City that Li Ji'an expected arrived.

The Qi family announced to the world that they would hold a grand auction in the name of Immortal City half a year later.

It was also revealed in advance that this auction would auction a high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill refined by a senior second-order alchemist from Daoyuan Prefecture.

As soon as this news was released, it immediately caused a shock among all cultivators in Cangyun Prefecture.

The Biyun Sect had been in charge of Immortal City for hundreds of years, and had only auctioned a middle-grade Foundation Establishment Pill at most, and most of the rest were low-grade or even inferior-grade.

A low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill can increase the success rate by 20%.

A middle-grade increases it by 30%.

A high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill increases the success rate by a full 40%.

Even a cultivator with a low-grade spiritual root, as long as the physical body, magic power, and soul pass the test, plus a high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, will have a 70% success rate. Just find a Foundation Establishment dojo with abundant spiritual energy, and almost no other help is needed to succeed.

However, after the excitement, everyone also understood that this Foundation Establishment Pill would probably be auctioned off at a sky-high price.

A few years ago, a low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill was auctioned off for a high price of 6,000 spiritual stones. This high-grade one is definitely worth more than 10,000, and may even reach 20,000.

This price made many people calm down.

Similarly, it also mobilized the enthusiasm of more people.

Li Ji'an was one of them. He currently had more than 5,000 savings, and it was impossible to double it even with half a year. However, he was not for auctioning this Foundation Establishment Pill, but felt that there might be many good things at this auction, and it wouldn't hurt to prepare more spiritual stones.

In the next half year, he almost completely devoted himself to alchemy, even throwing aside the talismans and the formations that he had originally started to study, and making pills day and night.

The good thing was that Immortal City had just changed hands, and the price of first-order medicinal herbs had dropped to a certain extent, but the price of finished pills was temporarily stable, and the income was relatively more.

Half a year passed in a flash.

On this day, the grand market of Immortal City for hundreds of years finally arrived.