Starting with the consumables of the Demonic Sect, one can barely achieve immortality.

To be honest, Yan Cheng did have some cultivation techniques that could lead directly to the Core Formation stage.

At the very beginning of his transmigration, he derived the "Upper Yin Heaven Corpse Path Chapter" from the "Yin Corpse Walking and Killing Technique," which contained the Dan-forming section that countless cultivators dreamed of.

Therefore, Yan Cheng never worried about his own path.

But this does not mean that a Dan-forming technique from another path is of no value to him!

Yan Cheng's gaze was intense as he pondered to himself:

"From Qi Refining to Core Formation, it is essentially the process by which a cultivator condenses their Immortal Foundation from nothing, and then elevates that Immortal Foundation into Divine Power."

"Once one obtains the Golden Core and cultivates supernatural powers, the subsequent path cannot be traversed by a single cultivation method."

Therefore, being able to cultivate to the point of achieving the state of "embracing the elixir" is already the pinnacle of cultivation techniques in the world!

If the "Heavenly Crying Gods and Ghosts Manual" is incomplete or has been deliberately altered.

The Hidden Immortal Mirror will surely be able to deduce and complete it to its original form.

However, there is no way to deduce this technique—for whatever reason, the ancient cultivators of the Heavenly Corpse Path did indeed pass down their Cold Qi technique without reservation, and without any falsehood.

Yan Cheng couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that even the Heavenly Corpse Path, which was recognized as the demonic path in ancient times, was at least good to its own people, far superior to the Taiyin Immortal Sect.

Although it's not easy to tell who is truly one of us and who is just pretending to be one of us.

Moved by what he felt, he softly asked Wang Qing:

"Fellow Daoist, do you know what this is?"

No one answered.

Wang Qing, who was behind him when he entered, had disappeared without a trace.

He turned around abruptly, and only then did he realize that the dark room he was in was much larger than he had imagined.

The walls and ceiling, covered with runes that supposedly transmit magical powers, only occupied a small corner of this dark room.

At the far end of this dark room stood a towering, imposing ice wall.

Wang Qing stood in front of the ice wall, listening to Yan Cheng's rapidly approaching footsteps, but she remained oblivious.

He was fixated on staring at the shadowy figure of a cultivator sitting idly at the core of the incredibly thick ice wall.

Until Yan Cheng suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring intently at her from a short distance away.

The female cultivator slowly turned her head, and her bright, clear eyes shone with azure-gold light.

Yan Cheng suddenly formed a hand seal, and within the field of vision of [Cave Illumination], only a sharp and dazzling golden light shone within the ice wall.

Even though it is trapped by solid ice, its brilliance remains undiminished.

This place is a cave dwelling belonging to the category of "Cold Qi". Since it is inscribed with the transmission runes related to the Daoist lineage, it will naturally make this sealed room more cold than the coldest ice field outside due to the influence of its imagery.

However, it was far from enough to condense an ice wall of this size, let alone freeze such a strong golden aura for a long time!

Only the [Frosty Qi] magical power at the Foundation Establishment level is sufficient to condense such an ice wall.

"The sharp golden energy sealed by this ice wall, though extremely weakened at this moment, is clearly still an aura of the same Foundation Establishment level."

Yan Cheng suddenly understood:

"It was that Foundation Establishment cultivator who broke through the iron gate's restrictions!"

He suddenly realized that his rash decision to enter this place in order to escape the pursuit of a few mere Yin Sha clones was probably the biggest mistake he had made recently.

When Foundation Establishment cultivators enter this place, they will be suppressed by the restrictions above the Corpse Raising Institute, and their strength will inevitably be reduced.

This dark room is an important place for storing the Heavenly Corpse Dao's Cold Qi inheritance, so it must have additional restrictions for other Dao Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Even though the Foundation Establishment cultivator who broke through the iron gate's restrictions was incredibly powerful, he was powerless to resist in this [Cold Qi]'s home turf and was thus sealed inside the ice wall!

Of course, this was just a reasonable guess by Yan Cheng, since he did not find any related restrictive runes here.

How this guy inside the ice wall ended up in such a state is not important to him.

The important question is, is this guy dead or alive...?

Yan Cheng really didn't want to face a Foundation Establishment cultivator whose identity and stance were unclear, and who was very likely filled with anger because he had been frozen for a long time.

What made him even more uneasy was that the aura emanating from the person in the ice wall, who appeared to be a Foundation Establishment cultivator, was exactly the same as the azure-gold light emanating from Wang Qing's eyes at that moment.

The next moment, his doubts became reality.

As the light in Wang Qingtong's eyes shone brightest, the previously blurry ice surface suddenly became clear.

The ice wall was as clear as spring water, and sitting cross-legged within it was a female cultivator clad in golden armor, with a refined and elegant demeanor.

Her deeply furrowed brows and eyes were like swords, as sharp and intimidating as the gleaming golden sword on her lap.

Although their temperaments were very different, their faces were exactly the same as Wang Qing's.

Yan Cheng blinked slightly, and all the doubts she had held for days vanished.

There is no cave dwelling at all.

"This guy didn't ask me to bring her here so he could run away."

From the very beginning, this was her destination!

He whispered:

"I see."

"Does 'returning to the Foundation Establishment stage' mean not cultivating back to the Foundation Establishment stage in this body, but rather returning to the Foundation Establishment body from your previous life?"

Wang Qing tilted her head slightly, and for the first time, a smile appeared on her beautiful face, which was usually either cold and aloof or harboring resentment.

"Haven't you always thought you were very smart?"

"Some things, once you learn them too late, are practically the same as never knowing them at all!"

The next moment, the azure light finally revealed its true form from the dantian between her eyebrows.

It is a bronze lion head ornament with bright gold accents on the eyes.

At the same time, related messages also appeared on the Hidden Immortal Mirror deep within Yan Cheng's consciousness:

【Name: Blue-faced Golden Beast Pendant】

Category: Ritual Implements

[Description: One of the breakthrough gifts given by the "Hancheng Academy," a sect in the southern part of the Northern Territory, to its Foundation Establishment cultivators; capable of holding a wisp of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's remnant soul.]

Under special conditions and with the aid of techniques and artifacts, it can assist a remnant soul in residing in the upper dantian of a Qi cultivator.

The moment Wang Qing spoke, Yan Cheng unleashed the puppet-binding silk wrapped around his wrist, firmly binding the female cultivator's limbs.

However, this did not stop the bronze pendant from transforming into azure-gold light, instantly disappearing into the ice wall and vanishing from the lower abdomen of the golden-armored female cultivator.

The next moment, the valiant female cultivator clad in golden armor opened her eyes, her gaze shining with an incomparably cold and sharp golden light.

The ice wall, as thick as a boulder, began to crumble inch by inch from the surface.

The golden-armored female cultivator gripped the golden sword on her lap and slowly straightened up.

A supreme and awe-inspiring power poured out from those golden eyes, instantly filling the entire room.

This was the ultimate pressure brought about by the difference in rank. Even though Yan Cheng's rank was at the peak of Qi Refining, he still had no room to resist in front of a resurrected Foundation Establishment cultivator!

He moved swiftly, his back pressed against the still-marked steel door of the dark room.

The unusual light reflected in the Hidden Immortal Mirror made him keenly aware of something amiss.

However, before he could verify his thoughts, a loud bang was heard, and one side of the dark room was smashed down by an inexplicable force from the outside.

The golden-armored female cultivator, bearing Wang Qing's face, didn't pay attention to Yan Cheng, but instead gazed at the boundless darkness beyond the hole in the wall, a slight smile playing on her lips:

"You're here?"