Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

Amidst the eager anticipation of many inner-city cultivators, Li Ji'an's cave dwelling slowly opened.

"Little Li, congratulations, congratulations."

"Quick, quick, let this old man see your supreme-grade pill."

"This old woman has lived for most of her life and has yet to see what the pill patterns of a supreme-grade pill blessed by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth look like."

…

Compared to their polite and measured treatment of Alchemist Zou, this group of self-important people was much more casual with Little Li Alchemist. Some rash individuals were even close to squeezing into the cave dwelling.

"What pill did you refine? Elementary or intermediate?" Alchemist Zou was the first to rush in front of Li Ji'an, his eyes, slightly bloodshot from three days and nights of meticulous pill refining, staring intently at Li Ji'an.

Li Ji'an feigned surprise and hurriedly clasped his hands in greeting, "Greetings, seniors."

"No need for formalities, quickly take out the supreme-grade pill and let us see it."

"Yes, quickly take it out. If it's an intermediate supreme-grade pill, this old man will buy it at a high price and take it back to enshrine."

"Little Li, did you have a premonition that's why you tried it?"

Seeing the crowd's excitement, Li Ji'an stopped dawdling and took out a porcelain bottle.

As the porcelain bottle appeared, several divine senses suddenly descended. Li Ji'an directly opened the bottle and poured out the pill inside.

"Hiss~" The sound of everyone inhaling sharply filled the air as the pill appeared.

"This old woman was actually mistaken. I thought Little Li Alchemist could at most refine elementary and intermediate supreme-grade pills, but I never expected..."

"It's actually a late-stage first-order凝碧 Pill!"

"This pill is beneficial for those attempting to establish their foundation, and you actually refined a supreme-grade version of it!"

"Little... Alchemist Li, this old man was blind."

…

Seeing the crystal-clear pill, not only shimmering with light but also with a small flame-shaped pill pattern imprinted on the surface, everyone's attitude towards Li Ji'an changed drastically.

Most of them thought that he could at most try to refine intermediate supreme-grade pills, and that would be the limit.

After all, late-stage pills require more of the alchemic fire and divine soul. It's difficult to guarantee quality.

And if you want to refine a supreme-grade pill, even with a stroke of luck and a blessing from the heavens, you must at least have the strength of a high-quality product to be qualified for that bit of heavenly favor.

Otherwise, if your pill refinement skills are not exquisite enough, even if you are given a heavenly opportunity and have a stroke of good luck, it is impossible to refine a supreme-grade pill.

The appearance of the supreme-grade 凝碧 Pill is enough to show Li Ji'an's exquisite pill refinement skills and future potential.

"He actually refined a supreme-grade 凝碧 Pill!" Xie Gui was the most shocked. He stood on the periphery, his eyes fixed on the 凝碧 Pill, holding his breath.

At this moment, he finally understood why so many old customers had become Li Ji'an's customers.

It turned out that Li Ji'an was not on the list because the chamber of commerce promoted him, but because he had Alchemist Zou's endorsement that he became number one.

As a fellow first-order alchemist, he was even more aware of the technical content of the supreme-grade 凝碧 Pill in Li Ji'an's hand. Leaving aside luck, 凝碧 Pill, a high-difficulty pill that can refine the mana in the dantian and is beneficial to the foundation establishment stage, had a very low rate of high-quality pills for him.

"Well, not bad. Little Li has deep blessings, this old man is envious." Just when the whole place was shocked by the supreme-grade pill in Li Ji'an's hand and optimistic about his future potential in pill refinement, Alchemist Zou forcibly calmed his emotions, stroked his beard, and praised him, adopting the attitude of an expert commenting on a beginner.

Only the phrase "deep blessings" revealed a hint of sourness.

The tradition of relying on seniority was one reason.

His status as a second-order alchemist who could steadily refine Foundation Establishment Pills in Immortal City for decades was the second reason.

His prejudice against independent cultivators who had no master's inheritance and were self-taught was the third reason.

In summary, as a senior second-order alchemist who could refine Foundation Establishment Pills, a high-difficulty second-order pill, and was praised and respected by many cultivators, he was indeed qualified to look down on a small first-order independent cultivator alchemist, and was certain that the other party's situation was just a stroke of good luck.

"Alchemist Zou is too kind, it's luck, all luck," Li Ji'an replied modestly.

"Well, no need to be humble. You have achieved this at a young age, and the future is promising. You can still come and ask this old man if you don't understand anything in the future," seeing that Li Ji'an was giving him face, Alchemist Zou felt better and said meaningfully.

Li Ji'an understood the meaning of his words, and instead of being displeased, he was happy to accept it.

In this way, his pill refinement progress would have a traceable origin.

After all, his first-order pill refinement skills could be said to have been taught by Yan Qingwan, and his second-order pill refinement skills could be said to have been taught by Alchemist Zou in the future.

The Foundation Establishment cultivators who had just been shouting to buy his supreme-grade pills and enshrine them at home were now silent.

After all, 凝碧 Pills were already not cheap, and supreme-grade ones were priceless. Of course, the most important thing was that they were of little value to them.

If Li Ji'an took out the Foundation Establishment Pill he had really refined today, it was hard to guarantee that there would be no forced purchases.

After bidding farewell to a group of Foundation Establishment seniors in the inner city, Li Ji'an finally returned to his small courtyard.

"Fortunately, I had the 凝碧 Pill refined earlier as a shield!"

After activating the courtyard protection formation and then activating three layers of shielding talismans, Li Ji'an instructed Guagua to be vigilant before entering the alchemy room.

First, he checked on the situation of the Fire Spirit, and seeing that it was still very exhausted, he shook his head worriedly.

"Why are you all so honest and so拼?"

When refining the second batch of Foundation Establishment Pills, he had just casually instructed the Fire Spirit to do its best this time. As a result, this little guy really did its best and almost consumed a bit of its origin.

This reminded him of Guagua, that silly thing, who had desperately charged forward because he had casually said not to let him down some time ago.

After carefully wrapping the Fire Spirit with mana, he took out the main character of today from the storage bag.

The first Foundation Establishment Pill was milky white and dull, almost without impurities, undoubtedly a genuine product, which could increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment by 20%.

The second Foundation Establishment Pill was crystal clear, with three flowing lights hovering around it, clear and dust-free. The moment it was taken out, the fragrance of the pill permeated the air, a high-quality Foundation Establishment Pill!

This was really beyond his expectations.

During the second batch, he was in a calm state of mind, and because he had the experience of the first batch, he wanted to try to improve the quality this time and would be satisfied with a mid-grade.

So he condensed and squeezed all the essence of the medicinal liquid that could have formed two pills into one pill.

What he never expected was that during this process, the Fire Spirit's original flame burned, almost attracting the spiritual energy of fire.

If the Fire Spirit's flame power was not relatively weak now, it would probably have become a supreme-grade this time!

"High-quality Foundation Establishment Pill! Increases the success rate of Foundation Establishment by 50%." After carefully examining it for a long time, Li Ji'an was filled with emotion.

Twelve years ago, because the Yan family could not obtain even a low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, he left the wasteland and came to Immortal City.

Before the change of ownership of Immortal City, he was still worried about how to obtain a mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

At the previous Immortal City auction, he longed for that high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill...

But now, he was holding a high-quality Foundation Establishment Pill!

"The encounters in life are really unpredictable. As long as you live, there are infinite possibilities!"

After a long while, after properly packing the two Foundation Establishment Pills, Li Ji'an immediately began to adjust his breath with all his heart.

Now that he had a high-quality Foundation Establishment Pill in hand, coupled with his physical body, mana, and divine soul, Foundation Establishment would be a natural process. Excluding all external factors, there would be no accidents.

To avoid any unforeseen events, he decided to establish his foundation as soon as possible.

Half a month later, his mana and divine soul were restored to their peak, and the little Fire Spirit had also recovered a little vitality.

On this day, he sent a message to Zhao Shuyao in advance, intending to visit Tong Yaoyao.

He had already consulted the Foundation Establishment methods in the many bookstores in Immortal City many times, and compared them with the experience shared by Xiao Changfeng in the past year. He knew the theoretical knowledge of Foundation Establishment like the back of his hand.

However, people are ultimately different, and Xiao Changfeng's good fortune was not shallow, and his experience may not be suitable for him.

So he prepared to ask Tong Yaoyao for advice again.

Multiple verifications, check for omissions and fill in gaps.

Soon he received a message from Zhao Shuyao that Tong Yaoyao was still in Immortal City recently.

Not long after, Li Ji'an brought two food boxes and came to visit.

"You kid have a heart, well, the craftsmanship is good." Li Ji'an envied Tong Yaoyao's free and easy nature.

Unfortunately, this kind of nature is not something ordinary people who bear pressure and work hard for cultivation resources can have.

"Xiaofan, how are the Foundation Establishment Pills prepared?" Zhao Shuyao was still gentle and elegant, and the older she got, the more kind and amiable she became.

Li Ji'an stepped forward to help Zhao Shuyao rub her shoulders with his Qi and blood: "Aunt Yao, don't worry, I have prepared everything thoroughly. Today, I just want to ask Aunt Yao for her Foundation Establishment experience."

"Good, good, you are as opinionated as your father. I'm not worried." Zhao Shuyao nodded in satisfaction.

But then she changed her tone: "However, you may have asked the wrong person if you want to ask Yaoyao for her experience."

Li Ji'an raised his eyebrows slightly: "Why?"

Zhao Shuyao glanced at Li Ji'an and smiled helplessly: "People can't be compared. This girl doesn't need Foundation Establishment Pills to establish her foundation at all, and her path... is different from ordinary people."

"..." Li Ji'an paused and looked at Tong Yaoyao with curiosity.

But he did not explore the secrets.

Just a little sigh.

I thought that I had obtained a high-quality Foundation Establishment Pill and had surpassed 99.99% of the cultivators in this world, at least the family elders like Yan Qingwan in the wasteland could not reach it.

However, in front of Xiao Changfeng and Tong Yaoyao in front of him, it still seemed not enough.

After Tong Yaoyao finished eating Zhao Shuyao's share, Li Ji'an solemnly requested: "Aunt Yao, I would like to ask you to protect me during my Foundation Establishment."

"Why do you need a protector to establish a foundation?" Tong Yaoyao glanced at him with some disdain.

Li Ji'an was ashamed: "Now that Immortal City has changed ownership and the city defenses have changed, I plan to rent a cave dwelling to break through, and I am worried about being disturbed by accidents."

If it was the Biyun Sect who was in charge of Immortal City before, he wouldn't be worried, but he couldn't rest assured about the current Qi family's safety defense of Immortal City.

It's not that he was afraid that someone would target him, mainly afraid of some accidental influences. After all, he had always adhered to the principle of making friends widely and had no grudges so far.

"Yaoyao, let's go together." Zhao Shuyao said.

Tong Yaoyao obeyed Zhao Shuyao's words: "Okay, okay, my Aunt Yao, but you have to give me ten more of this kind of food!"

"It's a deal!" Li Ji'an was relieved.

After saying goodbye to the two, Li Ji'an went directly to the City Lord's Mansion and rented a cave dwelling again.

"Alchemist Li, are you preparing to break through to Foundation Establishment? Congratulations." The cave dwelling rented this time was a high-quality second-order cave dwelling specially arranged for breaking through to Foundation Establishment. Unlike alchemy cave dwellings, it focused more on the concentration of spiritual pressure and divine consciousness.

In fact, for ordinary breakthroughs to Foundation Establishment, a low-quality second-order cave dwelling is enough. After all, the cave dwellings in Immortal City have many formations arranged, which can almost guarantee sufficient spiritual energy and stable spiritual pressure.

Yan Qingwan once rented a low-quality second-order cave dwelling and successfully established her foundation.

But for Li Ji'an, spirit stones were just external objects and were not important. If he could exchange them for even a trace of better, he would be willing.

Li Ji'an nodded: "Fortunately, the owner cultivated me and gave me the opportunity. Whether I can succeed is still unknown."

"Hahaha, Alchemist Li is being humble. I think your mana is pure and your Qi and blood are strong. You will definitely succeed in one fell swoop and successfully establish your foundation! Immortal City will have another second-order alchemist in the future, great!" Since the Immortal City steward saw the supreme-grade 凝碧 Pill refined by Li Ji'an last time, his attitude towards Li Ji'an became more intimate.

"Then I will borrow the steward's good words!"

Breaking through to Foundation Establishment takes a long time, as short as two or three months and as long as one and a half years, and once successful, stabilizing the realm also takes one or two months. Li Ji'an directly rented it for half a year this time. If it was not enough later, he would make up for it after leaving the customs.

Steward Qi calculated a discounted price for him and only charged 4,000 spirit stones.

After completing the rental procedures, Li Ji'an returned to the small courtyard again.

Immortal City's cave dwellings have rules that spirit beasts are not allowed to enter without permission, and there are formations underground to prevent earth escape. Li Ji'an was not sure if Guagua would trigger them.

After explaining the Foundation Establishment matter to Xiao Qiao and Guagua, he prepared nearly a year's worth of cultivation resources and daily necessities for them, and then released the Fire Spirit, instructing the three little ones to put safety first in everything.

On the same day, he moved into the cave dwelling.

Until three days later, the spiritual environment of the cave dwelling, including various formations that enhanced the divine soul, was completely adapted, and his essence, Qi, and spirit were adjusted to the best condition, Li Ji'an slowly opened his eyes.

At this moment, his sea of consciousness was clear, his Qi and blood were at their peak, and his mana in the dantian also reached the best.

His state of mind was unprecedentedly confident and powerful!

"Foundation Establishment will definitely succeed!"