A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Five months later, in a quiet room in Guiyuan Pavilion.

A low shout rang out, and the figure in a green robe sitting cross-legged on the bed slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the surging and vigorous blood energy within his body once again, a slight look of disappointment flashed in Zhou Ping's eyes as he got up and ended his body-refining cultivation of the past few months.

"Unfortunately... although the blood energy in my body is becoming more vigorous, the damaged foundation does not seem to have improved. I can always sense a faint sense of lack."

Since learning that his Dao foundation was damaged, Zhou Ping has become increasingly aware of that vague sense of inadequacy in his subsequent cultivation. It is indescribable and inexplicable. Perhaps this is what cultivators often refer to as the mysterious spiritual perception.

Zhou Ping came to a few mature spiritual herbs, paused to observe them for a while, then turned to look at the other side and found that the spiritual seeds he had just planted last month had already sprouted new buds.

These spirit seeds were purchased casually while he was collecting auxiliary medicines for the Blood Emperor Pill. Although they were ordinary, they would be of great use to him.

Due to the need for body tempering during this period, all the spiritual water prepared by Chenxiang was used to accelerate the ripening of the Blood Emperor Grass and a number of auxiliary medicines. There was no surplus to share with these spiritual seeds, so they had to be allowed to sprout and grow naturally.

Five months have passed in the blink of an eye, and it's time to test the results of my cultivation.

Then, Zhou Ping slowly stretched out his arm, pulled off his sleeve, and suddenly swung his other hand. A cold light appeared from his fingertips, and with a crisp "ding," a white mark appeared on his outstretched arm. Apart from that, there was nothing else unusual.

In his other hand, he put a short blade that gleamed with a cold, menacing light back into his storage bag.

"After nearly half a year of arduous training and consuming a large amount of Blood Emperor Pills, my body refinement cultivation has finally reached the mid-stage level described in the book, corresponding to the mid-stage Qi Refining realm of a cultivator. Ordinary sharp blades can hardly break through my physical defenses."

Zhou Ping looked at the white marks on his arm; the sharp blade hadn't even scratched him. He nodded in satisfaction.

With the foundation laid by consuming the Black Scale Pill a few years ago, and now possessing the Blood Emperor Pill, his body-refining speed has increased by leaps and bounds with the support of a large number of pills. In just five months, he directly reached the level of a mid-stage first-level demon beast, and ordinary swords and sharp weapons will no longer be able to harm a single hair on his head.

"I never imagined that my body refinement cultivation would so easily catch up to the level of the Azure Origin Technique. This Blood Emperor Pill is truly exceptionally powerful!"

Recalling the scene when he first swallowed the Blood Emperor Pill, Zhou Ping couldn't help but frown slightly. The tearing sensation of his body under the powerful medicinal effect still made him shudder and remained fresh in his memory.

Therefore, it seems that after consuming the Black Scale Pill to its limit, the cultivator's physical body should have entered the threshold of body refinement cultivation, that is, the initial stage.

Even with his foundation in the early stages of cultivation, he still suffered so much pain when taking the Blood Emperor Pill. I wonder if cultivators who haven't taken the Black Scale Pill would explode and die if they swallowed the Blood Emperor Pill directly.

"This Blood Emperor Pill, refined with a century-old medicinal elixir, can continue to enhance my body refinement realm, and can at most help me cultivate to the peak of the late stage of body refinement. Now, five months have passed since the beginning of my seclusion, and I'm afraid I don't have much more time to continue my arduous cultivation. It would be best to return to the sect first, and the matter of body refinement will have to be put on hold for the time being."

After thinking it over, Zhou Ping gave up the idea of ​​continuing to cultivate. Most of the tasks required by the Azure Lotus Profound Sect were to be completed once a year, while some slightly simpler tasks required to be completed twice a year.

His mission with Qin Changqing was one of the more difficult ones among the many missions, so he had about a year of free time. Half a year has now passed, and with the time spent on the way back to the sect, it's time to leave Jiyun City.

"But some preparations should still be made before leaving."

Zhou Ping nodded secretly, then took out the agarwood, mixed the newly generated smoke into spiritual water, and poured it all over the newly sprouting spiritual plants without hesitation. After doing this, he clapped his hands and walked out of Guiyuan Pavilion. He still had some things to buy, so there was no need to rush back to the sect.

Because of his months of dedicated cultivation, Zhou Ping naturally missed the last Guiyuan Auction, but apart from feeling a little regretful, he didn't care too much.

After all, given his financial resources, he could only be a spectator anyway. It's better not to go, so as not to be dazzled by the treasures and disturb his peace of mind.

More than ten days later.

After making all the necessary preparations, Zhou Ping went to the Spirit Mountain Realm to bid farewell to Uncle Yun and set off on his journey back to the Azure Lotus Profound Sect.

After leaving Uncle Yun's residence, a small and exquisite storage bag appeared in his chest pocket. It was quite cute, but it was not a gift for him.

It was Gu Caiwei who entrusted her master to give it to Uncle Yun two months ago when she returned to Bihua Xuanzong. As for who it was to be given to, Zhou Ping could guess without asking that it must be his handsome and dashing Senior Brother Qin.

She originally intended to give it directly to Zhou Ping, but unfortunately, the latter had not settled in the Spirit Mountain Realm and was unaware that he was hiding in the Guiyuan Pavilion. Helpless, she had no choice but to trouble his master.

Now that he is returning to his sect, this matter of personal affection naturally falls to him, the rightful owner.

"Since we're going to return the profits from selling the fox-crow spiritual materials to Qin Changqing anyway, this one more thing is just a side effect."

Before leaving the Spirit Mountain Realm, Zhou Ping changed his clothes, put on a straw raincoat, and even put on the animal skin mask again.

He is now extremely wealthy, with nearly a thousand spirit stones just from Qin Changqing's collection alone, so how could he not be exceptionally cautious?

Although he had been in seclusion for five months, the lure of such a great deal of profit inevitably attracted the attention of others, who couldn't forget him. Therefore, Zhou Ping had long been prepared to change his appearance.

Zhou Ping's premonition seemed to be quite accurate. Not long after he stepped out of the Spirit Mountain Realm, several divine senses secretly swept over him.

Unlike the other rogue cultivators who were paying attention to him, the owners of these divine senses were hidden in the crowd, clearly scrutinizing him carefully. Any cultivator would be enraged by such blatant offense.

Zhou Ping let out a cold snort, then suddenly looked at the crowd, his handsome face filled with anger.

When everyone saw his strangely handsome appearance, they were all secretly amazed and their mouths dropped open.

At that moment, as if they had confirmed something, those divine senses all retreated in unison, disappearing into the crowd of cultivators without ever showing themselves again.

After staring coldly for a moment, Zhou Ping flicked his sleeves and walked towards the outer city. During this time, worried about being followed, he lingered in several markets for a long time before finally taking his identity token and leisurely leaving the city gate.