Cultivating immortality in the seas, I created an immortal island of eternal life.

When Old Man Ma swam ashore, his face was as white as paper.

He lay on the rocks, panting heavily. The knotted trouser leg at the broken leg had come undone at some point, revealing the white, mushy limb.

"Uncle Ma." Gao Yao walked over and squatted down.

Old Ma didn't look at him; his gaze was fixed on the two people on the ground.

"I should have done it sooner," he muttered to himself before turning to look at Gao Yao.

"The people on the ship are the ones driving them from behind the scenes," Old Ma said in a slightly hoarse voice. "They've got their eyes on you; they think you have a secret."

Gao Yao nodded: "I know."

Old Ma was taken aback for a moment, then smiled wryly: "You're quite composed."

"Thank you, Uncle Ma." Gao Yao looked at him and thanked him solemnly.

"I've paid back everything I owed," Old Ma interrupted him, leaning on his cane as he walked to the rocks and sat down. He took out his pipe and tried to light it several times before finally succeeding.

He took a drag of his cigarette, the smoke dissipating in the night.

"That night on the mudflats, four people died," Old Ma said again, his voice low. "Only the three of us were left. I thought we could find out something, but we almost lost our lives instead."

He paused, then took another drag of his cigarette.

"Later I realized that with just a few of us worthless nobodys, we wouldn't be able to find anything by just loitering around on the periphery."

"If we're going to investigate, we have to go inside and investigate."

Gao Yao understood: "You want to participate in the autumn examination?"

Old Ma nodded and exhaled a puff of smoke: "There's no way to hide. We might as well go in and see what kind of monster that sect is hiding."

He turned his head and looked at Gao Yao.

"Hey kid, you're participating too, right?"

Gao Yao nodded.

"Then we'll see you in the autumn exams." Old Ma stood up, leaning on his cane, and limped towards the seaside. "Don't hold back then."

As Gao Yao watched his retreating figure, he suddenly asked, "Uncle Ma, who exactly are you?"

Old Ma paused for a moment, but didn't turn around.

"A person who wants an explanation."

The sound drifted over, but was quickly dispersed by the sea breeze.

Then, Old Man Ma disappeared into the night.

Gao Yao stood still, watching the shuttle boat still burning on the distant sea, its flames gradually fading.

......

Time is something that cannot be counted in detail.

Gao Yao travels between Turtle Reef Island and Fish Farm every day, cultivating, learning talisman making, and handling the work at the Material Processing Workshop. His days are packed full, and even a moment to catch his breath feels like a stolen moment.

One night, when he came out of his cave and squatted by the fishpond to wash his face, he suddenly realized that there was less than a week left before the autumn examination.

His cultivation level had just barely reached the threshold of the sixth level of Qi Refining the night before.

To be honest, the night of the breakthrough didn't go smoothly.

The Qi-Nourishing Pill had long been consumed. Although the supply of Jade Spirit Liquid and Spirit Eggs had never stopped, once the Qi vortex in the dantian had solidified to a certain extent, it was like a fish that had eaten its fill, no longer moving no matter how much it was fed.

Gao Yao was stuck at the fifth level of Qi Refining for seven or eight days. Every night he sat cross-legged and practiced his Qi cultivation. His spiritual energy circulated through his meridians again and again, but he was just one step away from the final goal.

Later, he simply stopped insisting and went to the materials processing workshop to process a few spirit fish skins and draw a few talismans, clearing his mind for half a day.

When the night was deep and quiet, and the sea breeze made the hut creak, he sat back down in his cave and focused his mind on his dantian.

This time it went smoothly. The cyclone seemed to have finally gathered enough energy, then suddenly contracted and exploded, spreading along the meridians to the limbs and bones.

The familiar throbbing pain lasted only a few breaths before being replaced by a warm current.

Sixth level of Qi Refining.

He had finally stepped one foot over the threshold that Wang Yao required.

But Gao Yao should be clear that the sixth floor is only a qualification for registration.

In the autumn examination hall, there will probably be quite a few opponents like Old Man Ma who are at the seventh, eighth, or even ninth level of Qi Refining.

He opened the "Kun Yuan Hua Sheng Gong" (Emerald Origin Transformation Technique) chapter on fetal breathing given to him by Wang Yao, and after a cursory glance at the description of the seventh level of Qi Refining, his brows furrowed into a knot.

The seventh level of Qi Refining is called the Fetal Breathing Realm.

The core of this realm is to open up the meridians and acupoints of the whole body, close the external acupoints and open the internal acupoints, and realize the so-called body breathing, which means that without relying on the mouth and nose and the outside air, the true qi circulates on its own, and the pores of the whole body can breathe in and out spiritual qi.

The benefits are obvious.

At this stage, cultivators can survive for extended periods underwater or in harsh environments such as poisonous miasma, no longer restricted by breathing through their mouths and noses.

The speed of spiritual energy recovery will also be greatly improved, and the endurance in battle is far superior to that of the previous realm.

More importantly, after reaching the Great Perfection of the Fetal Breathing Realm, cultivators can truly abstain from grains and no longer rely on the five grains and other food sources. They can maintain their vitality solely through the nourishment of spiritual energy.

In the waters off Luofu, this means that operations can be carried out at sea for extended periods without the need for frequent returns to the island for resupply.

However, Gao Yao had done the math. From the sixth to the seventh level of Qi Refining, there were dozens of meridians and acupoints that needed to be opened. Each step required repeated cleansing with spiritual energy, and the meridians could be damaged if one was not careful.

With his current resources and time, even if he worked day and night, there was absolutely no way he could break through before the autumn exam.

There's no use in rushing.

Gao Yao closed the exercise and turned his attention elsewhere.

Since one's cultivation level cannot be improved in a short period of time, one must focus on other aspects.

The autumn exams assess not only one's level of understanding, but also combat prowess, adaptability, and practical experience—any of these can be fatal.

He took stock of what he had on hand.

Among the attacker's belongings, besides a few mediocre talismans, only the two daggers were somewhat presentable. They were low-grade first-tier spiritual weapons, their blades coated with poison. Although the poison wasn't particularly potent, it could still numb the limbs for a moment after cutting into the skin.

To be honest, those two were quite poor.

The talisman was of ordinary quality, and he carried less than twenty spirit stones and a few ordinary medicinal herbs.

Gao Yao spent a long time searching, but almost didn't break even.

If those two daggers weren't worth some spirit stones, the gains from this counterattack wouldn't even cover the cost of the talismans he used.

He also had Wuling dive down to search the sunken shuttle boat, but unfortunately there was nothing of value in the cabin, and no useful information was found.

Gao carefully put away the dagger and checked all the talismans he had drawn. He had been learning talisman making from Ye Zi for some time now, and his progress was faster than he had expected.

The wooden sword talisman was the first one I learned, and now I can draw it with my eyes closed, with a success rate of about 70-80%. The sharp metal arrow talisman and the earth flow wall talisman are a bit more difficult, but with practice, I've figured out the tricks, and I can draw five or six out of ten successfully.

In addition, Ye Zi taught him two new talismans.

One type is the Ice Cone Talisman, a mid-grade first-tier talisman. When activated, it can condense three ice cones, equivalent to the attack of a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator. It has strong penetrating power and comes with a frost effect.

Another type is the Fish Spirit Talisman, a mid-grade first-tier talisman. It can summon a fish spirit in the sea. Although it is not an offensive tool, it can be used to attract and catch fish, as well as for maritime exploration.

These two types of talismans, one for offense and one for reconnaissance, show that although Gao Yao did not have many magical techniques, he was quite knowledgeable about talismans.

Ye Zi taught him meticulously and never held anything back.

This girl is usually timid, but once she starts making talismans, she's like a completely different person.

His fingers were as steady as nails to the table, the proportions of the spirit ink he mixed were so precise that they could be judged with the naked eye, and the output of spiritual power when drawing runes was so even that it was as if it had been measured with a ruler.

Gao Yao sometimes wondered about her background.

A girl from a fishing village could never possibly have such skills.

Even with talent, without guidance and years of practice, one cannot develop such a level of skill.

Manager Chen said she had real skills, but those words sounded light and casual; the truth behind them was far more complex.

During this time, in addition to cultivating, learning talisman making, and handling the work at the material processing workshop, Gao Yao also made sure to upgrade the buildings on the island.

The talisman-making room that was set up a week ago saved him a lot of effort in learning how to make talismans.

Although it's called a talisman-making room, it's actually just a simple shed built of wooden planks and rocks, not much bigger than a materials processing workshop.

But this place is now his most precious treasure.

[Talisman Crafting Room (Tier 1): Calm your mind and concentrate your energy; slightly increases focus by 10% and slightly increases talisman drawing success rate by 10%]

[Tier 2: Calm Mind and Focus Qi, slightly increases concentration by 20%, slightly increases talisman drawing success rate by 20%, and has a small chance to add special effects]

[Advanced Requirements: 100 years of lifespan, 60 low-grade spirit stones, 20 spirit grasses, and the ability to inscribe a tranquility array]

Without this room, Gao Yao's progress in learning to draw talismans would not have been so rapid.

All preparations are now complete.

My cultivation level is stuck at the sixth level of Qi Refining. I have accumulated about forty talismans, one talisman treasure, and two spirit weapon daggers. As long as I don't encounter any too outrageous opponents in the Autumn Examination, I should be able to get through it.

Gao was packing up his things and preparing to return to his cave to rest when he suddenly heard a splash from the fishpond.

Wu Ling's phantom appeared, its expression somewhat strange.

"saint."

"What's wrong?"

Wu Ling hesitated for a moment, as if he didn't know what to say.

"There's a fish in the pond...something's not right."

......