Mortal Alchemy

When Mu Luofei saw Chen Ping, she immediately crossed her jade arms in front of her chest, her beautiful eyes narrowed, as if with a hint of anger, but she suppressed it, and said to Chen Ping with a forced smile:

"Junior Brother Chen, you still know to come back."

Chen Ping asked cautiously:

"There were some delays on the way back, I hope I didn't ruin Senior Sister Luofei's plans?"

"Hmph!" Mu Luofei feigned anger, and snorted lightly: "Follow me, this is not the place to talk."

This time, Mu Luofei did not take Chen Ping to a private room, but instead took Chen Ping away from the Deacon Hall, summoned a white jade flying boat, and had Chen Ping board it, heading straight for the Pill Hall.

Finally, they entered Chen Ping's Daoist temple and opened the restrictions.

Her movements were extremely skilled, as if this were her Daoist temple.

Only then did Mu Luofei speak:

"Junior Brother Chen, if you had come any later, I would have gone out to search for the Hundred-Year Spiritual Milk alone."

Chen Ping cupped his hands and smiled wryly: "I was indeed held up by other matters, and there was no way to rush back sooner."

"In that case, Senior Sister Luofei has already obtained the whereabouts of the Hundred-Year Spiritual Milk?"

"Not bad." Mu Luofei nodded her head slightly, and said seriously: "In the Eastern Barren Deep Pit, eighteen thousand miles away, there is suspected to be Hundred-Year Spiritual Milk."

Chen Ping's spirit shook slightly: "When does Senior Sister plan to set off?"

Mu Luofei said: "Now that Junior Brother Chen is back, naturally the sooner we set off, the better."

She only had two years left until her Foundation Establishment deadline.

Chen Ping used his Qi Observation Technique and saw that Mu Luofei was still a little distance away from the peak of the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

Chen Ping pondered for a moment, and then said:

"Senior Sister Luofei, how about we set off in three months? This Junior Brother has returned with the confidence to break through to the twelfth level of Qi Refining."

"And Senior Sister can also take this time to cultivate more."

Mu Luofei frowned slightly, then relaxed after a moment, and sighed:

"Alright, then we'll set off in three months."

Chen Ping knew that there were monster tides in the Eastern Barren, and setting off in three months would mean that whether it was his cultivation or entrusting Zhou Ying to purchase second-order talismans, he would be more prepared, and he would have more means to protect his life.

Chen Ping smiled and cupped his hands: "Thank you, Senior Sister, for your tolerance. This Junior Brother gained something from this trip, which can be used as a gift."

"Gift?" Mu Luofei raised her eyebrows slightly, somewhat expectantly.

Chen Ping took out a pile of Silken Ice Silk from his storage bag.

Mu Luofei's beautiful eyes lit up: "Silken Ice Silk!"

As female cultivators, they naturally loved Silken Ice Silk. This item was relatively expensive, with one or two taels of Silken Ice Silk costing twenty spirit stones.

Chen Ping had taken out at least seven or eight catties of Silken Ice Silk, worth hundreds of spirit stones, enough for Mu Luofei to make three beautiful outfits, and also make some ice silk stockings.

But compared to the clues Mu Luofei provided about the Hundred-Year Spiritual Milk, these gifts seemed less valuable.

It could only be said that it was Chen Ping's intention, and also the unintentional contribution of the锦毛寻宝貂 (literally 'Brocade-Fur Treasure Hunting Mink').

Immediately afterwards, Chen Ping took out a jade box, opened it, and inside was a complete and undamaged snow lotus.

"Ice Mountain Snow Lotus!" Mu Luofei, who had been a little angry, completely softened at this moment, returning to her gentle and smiling self.

Ice Mountain Snow Lotus had miraculous effects on preserving youth, and was a great weapon for female cultivators like Mu Luofei.

This item was difficult to find, and its production was extremely rare.

"Hmph!" Mu Luofei happily accepted the gift Chen Ping gave her, and gave a delicate snort:

"I forgive you."

Chen Ping laughed heartily: "It's good that Senior Sister Luofei likes it."

Then Mu Luofei took out a storage bag and said to Chen Ping: "This is the demon bone blood that Junior Brother Luo and Junior Brother Fang collected for you in the end."

Chen Ping accepted the storage bag and said: "What kind of business have Junior Brother Luo and Junior Brother Fang been doing recently?"

Mu Luofei said: "With your and my help, they have almost solved their loan problems over the past few years, and they also have some opportunities. Now they also want to try to reach Foundation Establishment."

"They came back last month to resupply, saying that there was warfare in the Eastern Barren and they were going to seek opportunities. I didn't stop them."

Chen Ping nodded.

If he hadn't helped them in the beginning, Fang Xing and the others' path to immortality would have basically been cut off in this lifetime. They would have had to work hard for the rest of their lives to repay their loans. Now that they could breathe, they were going to embark on the journey to Foundation Establishment again.

Thinking of this, Chen Ping was inexplicably happy. It seemed that the people of Jiazi Courtyard were fulfilling their childhood promises and were all going to embark on the path of Foundation Establishment.

Mu Luofei reminded him: "Junior Brother Chen, you should interact with them less in the future..."

"They are suspected of engaging in the activities of rogue cultivators over there."

One refines weapons, one draws talismans, and one arranges formations. It seemed that thinking about it, it was really an excellent combination of rogue cultivators.

Chen Ping could also understand that killing people and setting fires was a quick way to get rich. If they wanted to embark on Foundation Establishment, they would need a lot of resources, and without the high-paying tasks given by Chen Ping, they would definitely not be willing to earn only the small amount of spirit stones from their respective units each month.

Chen Ping cupped his hands and said: "Thank you, Senior Sister, for the reminder."

"Alright, we'll see you in three months." Mu Luofei turned off the restrictions and summoned the white jade flying boat:

"Junior Brother, you must hurry up and break through."

"I also need to spend more time cultivating."

Then she left in a hurry.

As the Foundation Establishment deadline approached, not a minute or a second could be wasted.

Chen Ping also released the Treasure Hunting Mink, and then walked into the house to prepare for cultivation.

Compared to the last time he came back, Chen Ping's Daoist temple had more of Mu Luofei's fragrance.

"Could it be that Senior Sister Luofei often comes here to cultivate when I'm not here?"

"It should be. I haven't been back for so long. It's normal for her to cultivate here and wait for me to come back."

Smelling the remaining fragrance, Chen Ping couldn't help but smile, and then sat cross-legged to cultivate, taking out pills to swallow and refine.

Chen Ping's time was also fully arranged.

Cultivating, body tempering, refining the Cold Ice Nether Fire, cultivating the Azure Lotus Sword Technique, so much so that he didn't even have time to refine Body Tempering Pills.

......

In a flash.

Two months passed.

Chen Ping's cultivation reached the peak of the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

With all aspects of his state adjusted to the best, Chen Ping was about to break through to the fourteenth level of Qi Refining.

Vast and massive mist-like spiritual power began to wash away the bottleneck.

The spiritual consciousness that had expanded to its limit also surged out, beginning to transform in the direction of divine consciousness.

With the body tempering pills, the physical body of a first-order late-stage body cultivator, and the Azure Lotus Sword Essence tempering, it actually began to tremble violently at this moment, as if it couldn't bear it.

The pores of Chen Ping's physical body actually began to ooze blood beads.

Although he had worked very hard to cultivate, his foundation was still a little shallow. If he were to try to reach Foundation Establishment like this, he would die on the spot.

When the Treasure Hunting Mink saw Chen Ping's painful expression and blood seeping from his body, it cried anxiously, as if trying to wake Chen Ping.

The spiritual consciousness was gradually transforming, but the heart-wrenching pain did not stop Chen Ping from breaking through to the fourteenth level of Qi Refining. He felt that he could still persevere.

However, after an unknown amount of time, the surging and massive spiritual power came to a new world, and then returned to calm.

The spiritual consciousness also transformed successfully. Chen Ping seemed to be able to perceive the world, and the spiritual consciousness could leave the body, but in reality, he couldn't leave the body.

Divine consciousness could leave the body to explore the surrounding environment and enemies, while this fourteenth level of Qi Refining was between spiritual consciousness and divine consciousness.

Chen Ping opened his eyes: "Fourteenth level of Qi Refining, I succeeded..."

Pfft.

Chen Ping could no longer suppress the backlash from the breakthrough, and spat out a large mouthful of blood, fainting to the ground.

After a while, Chen Ping got up, his eyes full of bitterness, and he smiled wryly as he touched his nose:

"It seems that I underestimated the strength of my own spiritual consciousness, and also overestimated the power of a first-order late-stage body cultivator."

He was actually injured by his own spiritual consciousness. If this were to spread, probably no one would believe it.

This time, it wasn't caused by the bottleneck, but by the spiritual consciousness being too powerful.

But in any case, the fourteenth level of Qi Refining is a further step towards Foundation Establishment!