The entry for cultivating immortality states that after dying a hundred times, I attained immortalit

Above the altar, eight figures floated in the air. Li Zhen's illusory clone was in front, and this guy who had lived for more than two hundred years was staring at Jiang Bai.

Jiang Bai pointed to the sword hilt with his right hand, while his left hand hung down at his side.

"Qi Refining Level 5".

When Li Zhen spoke, he carefully examined the wounds on Jiang Bai's body. His gaze lingered briefly on the tattered Taoist robe and charred skin before turning to the two piles of puppet rubble in the corner of the altar.

"You're quite capable, young man, to be able to destroy the guardian puppet left behind by the Blood Vine."

Jiang Bai grinned but didn't reply.

With more than half of the spiritual energy in his dantian gone, the effects of the hastily swallowed Explosive Spirit Pill gradually wore off, and a feeling of exhaustion surged throughout his body.

The seven men behind Li Zhen were also staring at Jiang Bai.

The old man in black on the far left has the highest cultivation level, reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining. He has a thin knife hanging at his waist, with a black scabbard and a three-inch gleaming blade visible through the scabbard opening. He always keeps his right hand on the hilt of the knife.

Standing on the right was a middle-aged female cultivator whose Qi Refining Realm had reached the seventh level. She held a copper bell in her hand, with many tadpole-like symbols engraved on its surface. Her gaze was fixed on the black gauze tied around Jiang Bai's left arm, and she frowned slightly.

The remaining five people, three of whom were at the sixth level of Qi Refining and two at the fifth level of Qi Refining, were positioned rather loosely, but they were actually forming a pincer movement, blocking all escape routes from the altar.

The poisonous miasma in the air had been dispersed by the altar array, but the atmosphere at this moment was even more oppressive than the miasma itself.

Li Zhen floated forward half a step.

With just half a step, an overwhelming pressure, like a mountain collapsing, suddenly descended!

It was purely a crushing defeat of realms. The Golden Core cultivator had some understanding of the laws of heaven and earth, which turned into a shackle that weighed heavily on Jiang Bai's shoulders.

Jiang Bai bent his knees slightly, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the stone slab beneath his feet. He gritted his teeth, kept his back straight, and ultimately did not kneel down.

"His bones are hard."

Li Zhen said something casually and raised his right hand.

He extended his index finger and gently tapped Jiang Bai from a distance of ten feet.

Jiang Bai's hair stood on end instantly, as if he had been hit hard on the temple with a hammer, the piercing pain shooting straight into his mind, and his consciousness was suddenly pulled back to a certain scene.

He stood frozen in place, and was brutally crushed into mincemeat.

There was simply no time to think.

Jiang Bai slammed his left foot into the ground and lunged to the right, so fast that he seemed to leave a blur. The hem of his Taoist robe was still stuck in place, but he had already leaped more than two zhang away.

The dark blue stone slab where he had been standing immediately collapsed.

As if trampled by a pair of giant feet, the stone slab, along with the soil and rocks three feet below, instantly turned to dust.

A square pit, about ten feet in size, appeared out of nowhere on the altar.

Jiang Bai slumped to the ground, his chest heaving violently; that lunge had almost exhausted all his strength.

Even though he avoided a direct confrontation, the aura formed by the Golden Core Daoist technique still swept over his body, making his internal organs feel as if they were being tightly gripped. A metallic taste rose in his throat, and blood slowly spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Blood was seeping from all seven orifices.

My vision began to blur, and my ears started to ring.

Li Zhen raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of surprise on his face. He slowly said, "Your perception is quite sharp, even better than many Foundation Establishment cultivators, as you were able to dodge my finger strike."

Jiang Bai used his sword to support himself as he slowly stood up. He wiped the blood from his face and revealed a twisted smile: "That old man has poor eyesight, and his strength is as weak as cotton."

The old man in black's eyes turned cold: "Insolence!"

Li Zhen waved his hand to shut him up, his eyes still fixed on Jiang Bai, and asked, "Kid, do you realize what you meant by that last 'thud'?"

Jiang Bai spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and said, "The Mountain-Suppressing Finger. If the Golden Elixir Daoist technique treasured by the Li family is mastered to the great level, it can suppress mountains and rivers with a single finger. The move you just used... tsk, at most it only suppressed a crater."

The wrinkles on Li Zhen's face twitched slightly.

It wasn't anger, it was finding it amusing.

Having lived for over two hundred years, this was the first Qi Refining junior to dare speak to him like that.

"Interesting." Li Zhen nodded. "Then let's try another finger."

He raised his hand again.

Bring your middle and index fingers together to form a sword gesture.

Jiang Bai's pupils suddenly contracted.

The warning conveyed by the [Killing Intent Perception] was ten times stronger than before, with as many as nine finger strikes, blocking all directions in front, behind, left, right, up, and down, leaving almost nowhere to hide.

He almost instinctively rushed towards the teleportation array!

This is the only chance of survival; perhaps there will be a glimmer of hope if we rush to the core of the formation and activate it.

The moment they moved, the seven figures moved simultaneously.

The old man in black drew his sword.

The blade flashed, swift as lightning, aimed straight at Jiang Bai's neck. Even before the blade arrived, the chilling aura of the blade already made his skin ache.

Jiang Bai stepped to the side, and the Burial Mountain Sword was thrust out to block the attack.

clang!

Swords clashed, sparks flew.

Jiang Baihu coughed up blood and was forced back three steps by the immense force. The old man in black changed his sword technique and slashed diagonally at Jiang Baihu's abdomen with his second strike.

At the same time, the middle-aged female cultivator shook the copper bell.

"jingle--"

The bell rang crisply and melodiously, yet it contained a strange fluctuation that could penetrate directly into one's soul. Jiang Bai immediately felt dizzy and his movements slowed down by half a beat.

In that split second, the longsword of a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator on the left had already pierced his ribs!

Jiang Bai gritted his teeth, slapped the sword with his left palm, and kicked the opponent's knee hard with his right leg.

The longsword deflected three inches, grazing the ribs and piercing through, tearing away a piece of flesh. The cultivator's knee was hit, he groaned, and staggered backward.

But the attacks from the other four had already arrived.

A hammer slammed into his back, two spears pierced his legs, and a flying shuttle aimed straight for his brow!

Jiang Bai spun rapidly, the Burial Mountain Sword drawing an arc.

clang clang clang!

The four crisp sounds rang out almost simultaneously.

The hammer was parried by the sword, the spear tip was cut off, and the shuttle was knocked away by the sword energy.

Jiang Bai himself also felt quite unwell. He barely managed to mobilize his spiritual power to block the attacks coming from all directions. His dantian suddenly felt as if it were being torn apart, and a bloody taste rose in his throat again. His back happened to be hit by the sweeping hammer wind, and his spine felt as if it had been whipped hard with an iron whip. The burning pain was indescribable.

Even more fatally, Li Zhen's second finger arrived.

This time, the wind was not an ethereal thing; it transformed into a thin, pale golden thread, as delicate as a hair, yet exuding a chilling and sharp aura.

A thin line sliced ​​through the air and shot straight at Jiang Bai's brow!

too fast!

It was so fast that there was no time to dodge!

A fierce glint flashed in Jiang Bai's eyes. He gripped his longsword tightly with both arms, the Burial Mountain Ancient Sword standing upright in front of him, its blade swirling with a gray-black aura of resentment. This aura surged wildly, rushing towards the thin golden line.

The moment the thin thread touched the sword, time seemed to stand still for a split second.

The next moment, the Burial Mountain Sword let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain.

On the sword, the cracks caused by the impact of the stone statue suddenly widened and spread outwards like a spider web. The gray-black gas filled with resentment was torn apart and dissipated little by little by the golden threads.

A tremendous force traveled along the sword.

Jiang Bai's arms trembled violently, and a clear cracking sound came from his bones. It was not a bone fracture but a broken bone. His forearm bones, wrist bones, and finger bones were all broken at that moment.

The Burial Mountain Sword flew out of his hand, tumbled a few times in the air, and crashed with a thud onto the edge of the altar.

Jiang Bai was sent flying backwards, crashing heavily onto a stone slab ten feet away, and then sliding another three or four feet before coming to a stop.

He lay face down on the ground, his arms hanging limply at his sides, unable to lift them. His chest heaved violently, and with each breath he coughed up bloody foam from his mouth and nose. His vision was filled with crimson, and all he could hear was his own heavy breathing and heartbeat.

ended.

Li Zhen's illusory figure slowly drifted closer and stopped about ten feet in front of Jiang Bai.

The eight cultivators from the Li family gathered together again. The old man in black sheathed his sword, and the middle-aged female cultivator put down the copper bell in her hand. Everyone's eyes fell on the bloodied man on the ground. The expressions on their faces were not sympathy, but a sense of relief after completing the mission.

Li Zhen reached out and grabbed the storage bag at Jiang Bai's waist—the three main flags were inside.

His fingers were long and thin, with dark yellow nails, and his movements were slow, revealing a leisurely ease like a cat catching a mouse.

Jiang Bai's consciousness began to blur.

Many scenes flashed before my eyes: my ordinary self before the transmigration, the helplessness when I was first poisoned, the anger when I was besieged at Tianhen Mountain, and my disheveled appearance when I repeatedly escaped from the brink of death in Black Wind Valley.

Is this the end?

He died at the hands of a Golden Core cultivator's clone, without even seeing his true form?

Damn it, I'm not reconciled!

Just as Li Zhen's fingers were about to touch the storage bag—

A cold, emotionless voice echoed in the deepest recesses of Jiang Bai's mind:

[Host detected is on the verge of complete annihilation]

[A Golden Core level attack can negate the system's rebirth mechanism]

[Hidden protection mechanism triggered]

[Advance access to "Lord of the Secret Realm" quest rewards: +3 deaths]

The exchange options are: 1. Force teleport to a random safe area with a success rate of 37%; 2. Temporarily enable the "Entry Fusion" permission once.

Jiang Bai did so almost without hesitation.

Choose two!

[Entry fusion permission has been enabled]

Please select the terms or abilities you wish to merge (maximum three).

A semi-transparent light screen appeared before him, with all the entries and abilities he possessed listed on the left:

[Toxicity Immunity (White)], [Killing Intent Perception (Green)], [Swift Shadow Step (Green)], [Shadow Stealth (Blue)], [Poison Explosion Technique (Blue)], [Desperate Counterattack (Blue)], [Venomous Corrosion (Poison Pattern Ability)], [Hundred Poisons Tempering Body Technique (Cultivation Technique)]...

Jiang Bai's consciousness swept across the light screen.

[Desperate Counterattack] + [Vicious Corruption] + [Poison Explosion]

[In-process simulation...]

[Fused Product: Annihilation of Poison (One-Time Skill)]

[Effect: Unleashes all poisonous patterns and depletes 30% of life force, launching a devastating attack on all enemies within a 100-meter radius, combining deadly poison with soul-destroying power regardless of their level.]

The price was the complete shattering of the True Blood Poison Soul Pattern, a drop in cultivation level, and a near-death state that lasted for twelve hours.

[Has the fusion been confirmed?]

With such stringent conditions, the only option is to confirm.

As the light screen disappeared, a torrent of intense heat suddenly burst forth from within the dantian, instantly filling every part of the body. This was not a feeling of pain, but a strange and intense sensation, as if one's flesh and bones were being ignited.

On his right arm, nine poisonous patterns shone with dazzling light, deep blue, purplish blue, dark red, grayish white... and a grayish-black pattern. At this moment, all the patterns wriggled and twisted wildly, like nine awakened poisonous snakes intertwining and merging together.

The skin's texture begins to crack.

It didn't disappear, but exploded. Tiny bloodstains slowly spread from the edges of the pattern. The blood that flowed out was not red, but a strange dark green, and its fishy and sweet smell was so strong that it made people nauseous.

Li Zhen's finger stopped three inches away from the storage bag.

He suddenly looked up and stared intently at Jiang Bai's right arm!

A look of surprise appeared on that face, which resembled the bark of an old tree. "Is this... an ancient forbidden technique?"

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Bai opened his eyes.

Those eyes showed no fear or despair, only an almost insane calmness. He looked at Li Zhen and revealed a wicked smile, his teeth covered in bloodstains.

"Old Ancestor Li".

"Here's a big gift for you."

The next second, a gray-black ripple spread out from Jiang Bai's center.

There was no sound, no light, only a pure, all-consuming gray-black.

As the ripples spread, the stone slabs vanished silently, the air seemed to be sucked away, and even the light became distorted and eventually disappeared.

The first to be affected were the eight Li family cultivators.

The old man in black reacted the fastest; the knife had barely been drawn three inches when gray-black ripples spread across his body.

There were no screams, no struggles.

He was like a sand sculpture, scattered by the wind. Starting from the hand holding the knife, his skin, flesh, and bones turned to ashes little by little. In the blink of an eye, only an empty set of black clothes and a thin knife remained on the spot, which fell to the ground with a clang.

The middle-aged female cultivator shook a copper bell, which emitted a dazzling golden light. However, this light only lasted for a very short time before being swallowed up by the gray-black ripples. The female cultivator was horrified and tried to shout, but only two faint gurgling sounds came from her throat. Then, her body began to shrink and eventually vanished.

The remaining five people didn't even have time to react.

The gray-black ripples swept across the surface, and the five bodies suddenly stiffened, as if they were being tightly gripped by an invisible giant hand. With a soft "poof," they were torn apart into five clouds of blood mist. Before the blood mist could dissipate, it was completely evaporated by the ripples, leaving not a trace behind.

Li Zhen's illusory image changed drastically!

He formed a hand seal in front of his chest, and golden runes flowed from his fingertips, piling up in layers in front of him, instantly forming nine layers of defensive light shields. Each layer of the shield was three feet thick, with flowing golden light, showing an indestructible state.

The gray-black ripples collided with the first layer of light shield.

laugh--

Like a red-hot iron block pressed into snow, the light shield shattered into countless points of light before it could even hold for half a breath.

Second layer, third layer, fourth layer...

The ripples weren't moving fast, but they contained an unstoppable destructive force. The nine layers of light shield shattered one by one, and Li Zhen's illusory figure's face grew increasingly pale, not out of fear, but because the power of this clone was being frantically devoured.

"You brat!" Li Zhen roared through gritted teeth, "Where did you learn this ancient forbidden technique?!"

Jiang Bai did not answer.

He couldn't answer either.

The cost of using the Absolute Poison Annihilation technique began to manifest. The poison patterns on his right arm completely collapsed and disintegrated, and numerous tiny blood cracks appeared on his skin. Dark green blood gushed out, and his cultivation level rapidly declined from the late stage of the fifth level of Qi Refining to the fourth level, the third level, and finally settled at the early stage of the second level. His condition was extremely unstable.

Thirty percent of his life force had been drained, which was even more fatal. At this moment, he felt as if a crack had appeared in his soul, and something was constantly flowing out of the crack.

But the gray-black ripples are still spreading.

The seventh layer of light shield shattered with a deafening roar.

The eighth layer of light shield trembled violently, its surface covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

A resolute glint flashed in Li Zhen's illusory eyes. His hand seals changed instantly, and the last light shield suddenly contracted, transforming into a palm-sized golden shield that stood in front of him.

The ninth layer of light shield shattered.

The gray-black ripples collided with the small golden shield.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

A crack quietly appeared on the surface of the small shield.

Then came the second, the third...

"Click."

A crisp cracking sound rang out.

The small golden shield transformed into numerous points of light, with gray-black ripples spreading forward and covering Li Zhen's illusory body.

"ah--!!!"

The phantom let out a shrill scream, its form gradually twisting and blurring. It stared intently at Jiang Bai, its eyes filled with a venomous hatred that seemed about to burst forth.

"You junior... my true form... will surely kill you!!!"

As the last word fell, the phantom completely disintegrated, turning into a wisp of green smoke and dissipating into the air.

The gray-black ripples slowly dissipated.

The altar was deathly silent.

The light emanating from the nine stone pillars dimmed considerably, and pits of varying depths appeared on the stone slabs on the ground, their edges perfectly smooth, like mirrors. None of the eight cultivators from the Li family remained; only a few dilapidated magical artifacts lay scattered on the ground, testifying to the brief yet terrifying destruction that had just occurred.

Jiang Bai knelt in the center of the altar, his right arm hanging by his side. Blood dripped from his fingertips, pooling into a small puddle. He lowered his head, panting heavily. Each breath stung his lungs, and his throat was filled with the taste of blood.

His cultivation level dropped to the second level of Qi Refining, and his dantian was as empty as a leaky, tattered bag.

After the poisonous pattern ruptured, the strange patterns on the skin of his right arm disappeared, leaving only a bloody and mangled wound that was deep enough to penetrate to the bone marrow.

But his left hand was still tightly gripping the storage bag at his waist.

The three main flags are still inside.

Jiang Bai raised his head and looked at the teleportation array eye twenty feet away. He saw a flagpole with three array flags stuck in it standing quietly, surrounded by nine stone pillars. Dark red light slowly flowed in the spiral groove on the flagpole.

He released his left hand, used his still-movable fingers to grip the cracks in the stone slab, and slowly moved forward.

His knees struck the rough stone slab, leaving two dark red welts. His arms, broken and hanging limply, swayed with the slightest movement of his body.

One foot, two feet, three feet...

A long trail of blood was left behind him.

The altar was quite large, with only twenty feet between the center and the eye of the formation. Normally, it would take only a few breaths to reach it, but in this situation, it was as if it were blocked by thousands of mountains and rivers.

Jiang Bai gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, sweat mixed with blood streaming down his face and dripping into his eyes, blurring his vision.

But he didn't stop.

His left hand stretched into the cracks in the stone slab, his nails splitting and his fingertips bleeding, but he still gripped every protruding part he could use tightly. The wounds on his right arm rubbed against the ground, and the intense pain surged through his nerves like waves, almost causing him to faint.

Finally, he climbed to the foot of the flagpole.

Looking up, three array flags were swaying in front of me: the crimson Fire Flag, the jet-black Mountain Flag, and the earthen-yellow Kun Mountain Flag. The flags fluttered gently in the breeze generated by the operation of the array.

Jiang Bai pressed his forehead against the flagpole, took a few deep breaths, and then laboriously raised his only movable left arm and placed it in the socket on the flagpole base.

The last bit of spiritual energy in his dantian was squeezed out and flowed into the flagpole through his palm.

The pole trembled slightly.

The dark red light in the spiral groove suddenly accelerated, and the light spheres at the top of the nine stone pillars lit up together. They emitted nine colors of light: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, black, and white. These lights intertwined and formed a rotating vortex of light above the altar.

At the same time, the teleportation array was activated.

Jiang Bai twitched his lips, trying to laugh, but coughed up a mouthful of blood.

He let go, leaned back, and fell heavily onto the stone slab.

The field of vision began to darken.

The faint sound of wind breaking in the distance was no longer important whether it was reinforcements from the Li family or bandits left over from Black Fiend Valley.

The teleportation vortex slowly descended, engulfing him.

At the last moment, a thought flashed through Jiang Bai's mind:

This cultivation world is fucking... tough to survive in.