Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

The evening wind was slightly stronger, and the deep forest was sparsely populated.

Entering the Fallen Dragon Ridge again, Li Ji’an’s state of mind was completely different from what it was thirty years ago.

At that time, he knew very little about this world and was filled with awe.

But today, thirty years later, as a first-tier body refiner at his peak, a Qi training stage intermediate-level Dharma cultivator, and with a spirit beast about to advance to the late first tier, he was much more composed.

He sped along the way, and by the time he entered the mountain range, it was already late at night. Li Ji’an released Guagua, letting it burrow into the ground to scout the surroundings.

He then sat down cross-legged to try to recover some mana.

Only a moment later, he opened his eyes again: "As expected, the spiritual energy in this deep mountain and dense forest is too mottled. No wonder it's called a 'miscellaneous spiritual ground.' It's not as good as a spirit-barren land for human cultivation and is quite risky. Only demonic beasts can use it to transform their bloodlines."

Then, he took out a Qi-replenishing pill from his storage bag and swallowed it.

"Guagua~" Not long after, Guagua sent a signal through the connected spirit of the beast control token.

Li Ji’an’s spiritual sense focused, and he immediately merged his spiritual sense with Guagua’s in the beast control token.

In the next moment, Li Ji’an had an additional field of vision.

It was Guagua’s view from ten miles away.

Guagua was now burrowed just beneath the surface, with only its eyes watching the outside from the cracks in the earth.

Not far away, seven or eight dark figures were slowly approaching.

Filthy bandit cultivators!

These were very common in this area, mostly scattered cultivators who shared similar vile interests.

The immortal cultivation resources were monopolized by those family forces. Their aptitudes were poor, they had no skills, yet they were unwilling to be ordinary people. They looked down on small businesses that accumulated wealth too slowly, and they were even less willing to settle down and accumulate wealth over several generations. Their hearts were higher than the sky, but their lives were thinner than paper.

Li Ji’an shook his head. The flying sword beside him instantly soared into the clouds, bringing a burst of fiery light.

"Scram!" His Qi and blood surged, and a thunderous voice boomed.

At the same time, his spiritual sense, comparable to a late-stage Qi training cultivator, was released in a targeted direction towards the group, accompanied by a wave of spiritual pressure!

"Not good! It's a late-stage Qi training grand cultivator, retreat!"

"Senior, please calm your anger. We have eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. Please forgive us."

"Thank you, Senior, for showing mercy."

...

Several bandit cultivators fled with their heads in their hands.

Those who could hide in the mountains and become bandit cultivators were all frightened by the joint guards of the eight great families.

Those with real strength didn't need to be bandit cultivators. Anyone with late-stage Qi training strength would definitely be offered a guest elder position by the eight great families.

Li Ji’an ignored them. After finishing his breathing adjustment, he once again headed towards the depths of the mountain range.

But he didn't take Guagua back, still allowing it to use its earth tunneling ability to scout ahead.

The next morning, he arrived at the location marked by Chen Zhaohu.

It was a depression surrounded on three sides by towering peaks.

This place was already close to the depths of the Fallen Dragon Ridge mountain range, with the possibility of encountering second-tier demonic beasts. It was a place that even the eight great families would not easily set foot in.

Chen Zhaohu and his group were forced to hunt here, which was inseparable from the eight great families' land reclamation.

"Go, don't miss any spot." Li Ji’an stood on the mountaintop, instructing Guagua.

The Soul-Entrusting Ant was a method he found by using Yan Qingwan’s connections, consulting many classics within the clan, and scouring almost every ancient book related to the soul in the entire market, to find the most likely way for him to make good use of Guagua in this life.

Once he regressed to childhood, his physical body would return to the age of eight. At the same time, everything would be purified, and his soul would also be purified, eliminating all effects. The memories branded on the soul would become nourishment, feeding back to the soul and making it stronger with each regression.

And the only way he could now flawlessly control Guagua was with the beast control token.

The beast control token was a soul contract signed between his soul and Guagua’s soul.

This contract not only connected Guagua but also connected his soul.

In theory, once one party’s soul dissipated, the contract would become invalid.

When Li Ji’an killed that beastmaster and obtained the beast control token, Guagua was already an unowned beast. He re-signed the contract by connecting his soul with the beast control token again.

If he regressed to childhood at this time and his soul was purified, the soul in his sea of consciousness would naturally dissipate by default, and the beast control token would lose control.

Spirit beasts are still beasts, so he naturally couldn't gamble.

The solution he tried was to use the Soul-Entrusting Ant to store a wisp of his soul before regressing to childhood. At that time, even if his main soul dissipated, the beast control token’s contract would still be in effect.

And he only needed to quickly re-cultivate and condense his spiritual sense to regain control of the beast control token.

This was also the reason why he had been searching for Soul-Entrusting Ants all these years.

"Guagua~" Until the red sun set in the west, Guagua was already exhausted, but it still hadn't found the ant nest.

The reason why Soul-Entrusting Ants can store souls is because of their characteristic of feeding on souls. Therefore, where there are a large number of Soul-Entrusting Ants, spiritual sense perception will become ineffective.

Once spiritual sense approaches a certain range, it will be absorbed, and no feedback will be obtained.

This was also why Li Ji’an had Guagua constantly tunnel underground to search.

Unfortunately, the area of this depression was not small, and the Soul-Entrusting Ants’ nest was exceptionally deep, so it had not been successful for the time being.

"You must work hard. This is not only for me but also for yourself!"

"Once this method is verified to be feasible, you will truly obtain a great opportunity."

"Not to mention low-grade bloodlines, even ordinary toads, as long as you follow me, you will have the hope of ascension."

"Keep it up; your destiny is in your own hands!"

He fed it beast pills time and time again, encouraging it sincerely.

Until five days later, good news finally arrived.

First, through vision sharing, Li Ji’an clearly saw the densely packed Soul-Entrusting Ants, which were more than ten times larger than ordinary ants.

What made him even more delighted was that the queen ant was in its egg-laying period. Its body was crystal clear and white, and its belly was glistening white, almost bursting open.

According to ancient records, this state is the easiest time to tame them.

"Good! You have made a great contribution." Li Ji’an was in a good mood and immediately had Guagua return.

Guagua was equally excited to be praised, with endless anticipation in its eyes.

Anticipating what Li Ji’an had encouraged it to do earlier.

Li Ji’an rewarded it with a beast pill and then had it open its mouth to swallow him.

As Guagua was about to break through to the late first tier, the internal space of its "Devouring Heaven" talent was already nearly five zhang cubed. Li Ji’an had tested it with living creatures before, and they could survive for nearly three days.

After Guagua swallowed Li Ji’an in one gulp, it immediately used earth tunneling again and came to the ant nest fifteen zhang deep underground.

"Eat, all these worker ants are a reward for you!" To tame the queen ant, one must naturally cut off its food supply first.

Guagua was overjoyed in an instant, its fleshy tongue was like a high-frequency vibrating, retractable divine weapon, launching a frenzied devouring of the thousands of worker ants in the ant nest.

And Li Ji’an began to feed the queen ant with a small amount of Qi and blood...

Ancient records stated that it would only take three years to completely tame it.

However, three years passed, and then another three years. Fortunately, Li Ji’an had enough Valley Avoiding Pills prepared in his storage bag, or he wouldn't have been able to hold on.

"It is obedient, but its appetite is really too big. It hasn't even shown any signs of being full yet."

He estimated that it was related to this queen ant. The queen ants recorded in ancient books were not as big as this one.

In the blink of an eye, six years passed.

On this day, Li Ji’an fed the queen ant with Qi and blood as usual, and Guagua still stuck to its post, only revealing a pair of eyes, observing the outside through the cracks in the ground.

Suddenly, Guagua sent a signal, and Li Ji’an instantly connected with its vision.

A familiar figure came into view.

Chen Qingling, whom he had not seen for thirty years, had become a robust middle-aged man, and he was now respectfully following behind a slovenly old Daoist.

The old Daoist was holding a formation plate-like object in his hand, with a solemn expression and excited eyes.

"Could this be that Grave-Digging Rogue Cultivator?"