I rely on learning to achieve immortality.

"The Hu family? Which Hu family?"

Xu Zhou didn't know much about the forces in the cultivation world, so he asked.

Li Zelei knew this about him, so he explained, "It's the Hu family, whose base is located on the border of Yan State. Their cultivators have unusual methods. I've never seen them before and suffered some losses, which is why I'm injured like this."

"Don't the sects care?"

Even if Xu Zhou knew very little about the outside world, he still vaguely remembered that in the cultivation world, most families, apart from a few aristocratic clans, only had a few Foundation Establishment cultivators in charge. They shouldn't dare to provoke a force like the Golden Flame Sect, which had Core Formation cultivators among its members.

Li Zelei sighed: "Things are a bit complicated."

Although the Hu family is just an ordinary family, they seem to have some powerful backers. And the person who injured me holds a high position in the Hu family, so... the sect can't really help in this regard.

Xu Zhou was speechless for a moment.

He had a vague feeling that his Golden Flame Sect had handled this matter rather poorly.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Li Zelei said helplessly. "You've been living inside the sect for so long, you don't know, but things are quite chaotic outside right now. The elders inside the sect have been having a lot of trouble lately."

"What's going on?" Xu Zhou's heart tightened upon hearing this.

Li Zelei smiled wryly: "It has nothing to do with us, but recently there have been rumors that an ancient cultivator's cave ruins are located near the Mu Kingdom, so many cultivators have come to explore it."

Xu Zhou wasn't curious about any cave ruins or anything like that, and he wasn't going to join the crowd anyway. He simply asked, "Who are these people?"

"I heard that the original owner of that cave was a Core Formation cultivator, so most of the people who have come here are Foundation Establishment cultivators. It is said that there are even fake Core Formation cultivators who have come, but I don't know if it's true or not."

Li Zelei sighed and said, "In short, try not to go out during this period."

He lowered his voice and said, "There have already been rogue cultivators making moves within the territory of the Mu Kingdom. The most recent one was only a thousand miles away from the Golden Flame Sect, and it seems that Foundation Establishment cultivators were also involved."

Xu Zhou's face darkened: "The sect hasn't reacted at all?"

"Those people came with great force. If the sect reacts too strongly, it will be accused of abusing its power. After all, these Foundation Establishment cultivators may have powerful backers. It's best not to offend them if possible."

Li Zelei shrugged and said, "However, once the ruins are explored, or after a few years when the turmoil subsides, it should be safe."

Xu Zhou nodded, his worries gradually dissipating.

After all, it was just a disturbance caused by a historical site, and it wouldn't affect the sect. As long as he didn't leave the sect, he would be safe.

He then inquired, "How are your injuries? Will they affect your foundation?"

"Oh, that's too much to ask, junior brother."

Li Zelei laughed and stretched his arm, indicating that his injury was almost healed: "Fortunately, the injury was treated in time, and there were people in the sect who treated me, so my foundation wasn't damaged. It looked scary, but once the injury heals, everything will be normal again."

Seeing that his expression didn't seem fake, Xu Zhou breathed a sigh of relief.

The two hadn't seen each other for a long time, so they took the opportunity to chat. Xu Zhou didn't say much, mainly listening to the other person recount the turmoil and interesting stories from the outside world.

After half a day, Li Zelei got a little tired of talking, so the two stopped talking.

Li Zelei came to the Scripture Pavilion in search of a powerful technique to cultivate. He had been injured because his skills were inferior to others, and he wanted to find a suitable way to protect himself so that he would not repeat the same mistake in the future.

As he was choosing a technique, he turned to Xu Zhou beside him and said, "Although you are an alchemist and don't need to go out much, it's still better to learn a useful technique for self-defense. It's better than not having enough time when you need it later."

Xu Zhou pondered for a while, then nodded and said, "That's true. After mastering alchemy, one needs to go out and learn some. I really should learn some."

He hadn't intended to learn protective techniques, but the thought of Li Zelei's still-healing injuries made him somewhat wary.

The path of cultivation cannot be safely completed simply by hiding in the alchemy room.

Since there aren't many classic texts available for study right now, learning some magical arts and supernatural powers wouldn't be a bad idea.

Later, at Li Zelei's suggestion, he chose a book called "Fundamentals of Five Elements Magic" and a book called "Wind Control Escape Technique". The former was used to familiarize himself with the basics of combat, while the latter was specifically for learning how to escape.

Longevity magic was not strong after all, and he was not a competitive person. Learning escape techniques and knowing how to run away to save his life was enough for him.

He exchanged for quite a few books this time, among which "Wind Control Technique" is a rather profound secret technique that requires a high number of contribution points.

If it were him a decade or two ago when he was just starting out, he probably would have been stuck staring at these classic texts. However, after more than a decade of accumulation, he had saved up a considerable number of contribution points, which he could easily exchange for.

This also made him realize that relying on deep learning to get through the time was quite beneficial.

After exchanging the books, Xu Zhou bid farewell to Li Zelei.

On his way back to Baicaotang, he briefly flipped through the books in his hand.

The historical records and scriptures are relatively thin; reading through them all won't take much time. However, the other two magical texts will likely take about half a year to learn.

However, half a year isn't a very long time. After he has fully mastered it, he will still need to find more classical texts to study.

Xu Zhou couldn't help but feel a little troubled.

The library didn't have much of value to learn, and even if he learned a lot of those techniques, he still needed time to practice them. Where could he find suitable sources of knowledge?

As he pondered, he thought of Li Zelei's previous injuries and suddenly had an inspiration.

There's an old saying in the cultivation world: alchemy and medicine are inseparable.

"If I remember correctly, in addition to the alchemy tradition, the Hundred Herbs Hall also has some medical traditions. However, medicine is extremely difficult to learn, and its prospects are not as good as alchemy, so not many people study it. I had overlooked it before."

"It is said that when alchemists have no hope of advancing in their later years, they will also study some medical arts, so as to gain insights from other fields. This is indeed a promising path."

He made up his mind that once he finished reading the classics he had, if he could not find any other better sources of knowledge, he would apply for a medical lineage.

...

Xu Zhou returned to his room and carefully perused the books he had read, finally making up for his lack of knowledge about the cultivation world.

The Golden Flame Sect, where he resided, was located in the Mu Kingdom, the mortal realm he had come from. The neighboring Liang and Yan Kingdoms also had similar sects, whose power was comparable to that of the Golden Flame Sect.

However, in the vast world of cultivation, the Golden Flame Sect is merely a small force, lacking even a Nascent Soul cultivator. Had it not been for its remote location, it would have long since disintegrated amidst the turmoil.

The Golden Flame Sect remained relatively well-behaved, refraining from rashly attempting expansion and choosing instead to remain confined to a small corner of the world.

In some ways, it might actually be a way to ensure long-term survival.

As for the Hu family that injured Li Zelei this time, they are a cultivation family located on the border between the Mu Kingdom and the Yan Kingdom, with two Foundation Establishment cultivators in charge.

The old patriarch of the Hu family was once an inner disciple of the Golden Flame Sect and had some connections within the sect. Therefore, when conflicts arose between younger members of the clan and low-ranking disciples like Li Zelei, the sect turned a blind eye.

Xu Zhou could only sigh inwardly at this.

This wasn't the first time the sect had been unfair; he'd gotten somewhat used to it.

Both he and Li Zelei have too low a status in the sect now, so even if they wanted to do something, they have no way to exert their influence.

This matter can only be noted down for now, and we will deal with it slowly later.

He finished reading through these books, then took out the two books on magic and began to study them intently.

The cultivation world is more dangerous than he imagined. If he wants to go far on the path of immortality, he still needs to master a way to protect himself.

Most of the other alchemists at Baicaotang are like Xu Zhou. Although they rarely engage in magical combat, they still learn some techniques, which might come in handy at a crucial moment.

After carefully reviewing the materials, Xu Zhou gained a general understanding of the characteristics and ingenious uses of these basic techniques.

He ultimately chose to focus on practicing two basic spells.

One is "Ice Crystal Technique," and the other is "Wood Vine Technique."

His longevity magic is of a balanced nature, allowing him to freely cultivate and use any of the five elements' techniques, but its weakness is that most of them are of average power.

The reason for choosing the Ice Crystal Technique is that it is one of the more powerful basic spells. The ice spikes released by this technique have considerable killing power, enough to make the enemy concentrate on dealing with it.

The only drawback is that it requires gathering yin and cold energy before it can be used, which can easily cause it to fail at crucial moments.

But Xu Zhou has a way to make up for the shortcomings.

He has a deep understanding of medicine and knows several kinds of yin medicinal materials and their corresponding medicinal properties. When combined, they can be used to make a kind of yin spiritual water. When splashed at a critical moment, it can immediately gather a large amount of yin energy.

This was a formula he accidentally derived from several tests he conducted while repairing the Snow Lotus, and others may not know it.

As for the Wood Vine Technique, it is a defensive technique commonly chosen by alchemists at Baicaotang. As long as they carry some medicinal herbs rich in wood elemental energy, they can use these herbs to cast spells in critical moments, which can also increase the speed and power of the spells.

Xu Zhou couldn't help but sigh at this, realizing that even alchemists like them, who weren't good at hands-on work, still had some trump cards up their sleeves and shouldn't be underestimated.

...

Xu Zhou learns magic very quickly. He originally thought it would take several months, but since he decided to specialize in two of them, he only needed to briefly look at the other magics and didn't need to spend too much time on them.

In this way, he mastered the two techniques in just one month.

Since then, Xu Zhou has set aside half an incense stick's time each day to practice his magic.

He had only just begun cultivating the [Longevity Technique], and his magical power was already limited. Each day, he would cast either an Ice Crystal Technique or a Wooden Vine Technique, barely managing to create a few ice spikes before his magical power was almost completely depleted.

But he wasn't impatient, letting his magic power recover slowly over time, and he could continue the next day.

The process of practicing magic is somewhat tedious, and it cannot slow down the loss of lifespan.

But whenever Xu Zhou thought of Li Zelei's injuries, he persevered.

As his mastery of magic deepened, he suddenly had a new idea.

One day, while preparing Yin-type spiritual water, he suddenly had a whimsical idea and decided to add a herb he had never used before, wanting to see if the Yin-type spiritual water he used would enhance the power of the Ice Crystal Spell.

However, things didn't go as planned. His subsequent use of the Ice Crystal Spell was much less powerful, and the ice spikes he released were too soft, shattering the moment they hit the wooden target.

But this failure did not discourage Xu Zhou; on the contrary, it amazed him.

Unexpectedly, simply changing one ingredient had such an impact on the power of the spell.

This made him vaguely realize that there might be a connection between magic and alchemy.

Xu Zhou then made several more revisions.

In most cases, the power of the Ice Crystal Technique was much weaker than before, and in the very few remaining cases, the Yin energy even went out of control, almost causing the user to be injured.

Xu Zhou was not discouraged, but continued to try.

He knows too many medicinal herbs, and their properties might affect magical techniques. Anyway, researching this is a learning process in itself; currently, he lacks a stable source of knowledge, so he might as well focus on this path and give it a try.

Surprisingly, this trial actually yielded results.

In one attempt, the power of the Ice Crystal spell was greatly reduced, and it exploded into a puddle of ice mist the moment it hit the target.

This result should have been considered a failure, but Xu Zhou's eyes lit up.

The icy mist spread extremely quickly, covering an area of ​​several feet around the target in an instant, and remained there for a long time.

If it were an ordinary cultivator, once trapped in this icy mist, they would probably not even be able to discern their direction for a short period of time.

Moreover, obstructing the view is secondary...

If poison could be added to the ice mist, once hit by such an ice crystal, the enemy would likely find it difficult to pursue them.

Realizing he might have touched the threshold of optimizing his spells, Xu Zhou's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately began researching a new Yin-type spiritual water formula.

He had a premonition that the ice crystal spell he would use in the future might be very different from what he imagined.