Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 143 Getting to Know Akaishi
After paying homage to Chen Zhaohu's grave, Li Ji quietly waited for Chishi Sanren to return.

During my visit, I took a walk around the gathering place and found that many houses were empty. There were no longer old men lazily basking in the sun on the streets, nor children playing and fighting.

Except for some young and strong hunters who were reluctant to leave the rich monster resources in Fallen Dragon Ridge, most of them had already left.

Even the mansion that Chen Zhaohu was quite proud of in the past had already fallen into disrepair after being uninhabited and unrepaired for many years.

"Senior, I'm interested in joining the family. I wonder if you have any advice?"

"Uncle Chen, Dad said that you are his guides. He has just arrived here, and without your guidance, it will be difficult for him to embark on the path to immortality. So, please don't act like this anymore." Although he has said it many times, Chen Qingling still did not change.

In the cultivation world, the idea that cultivation is respected and the most accomplished are prioritized is difficult to change, especially for low-level cultivators like Chen Qingling who have struggled hard to emerge from the gathering place.

"Brother Li is grateful and has a noble character. We two brothers are very grateful to him, but the rules cannot be broken." Chen Qingling said respectfully.

Li Ji'an smiled and shook his head, no longer dwelling on the issue. However, he was somewhat puzzled by what he had said: "What do you mean, Fellow Daoist Chishi?"

Although some of the independent cultivators in Cangyun Prefecture recruit disciples with the intention of finding a servant to do odd jobs, most of them still treat it as a legacy and will not easily terminate this relationship unless there is a major conflict.

"Master has no objection to this and supports me."

"Huh? Then why are you like this?" I thought that there was a rift between Chen Qingling and Chishi Sanren, or that he was expelled from the sect, but from what he said, it seemed that they were quite harmonious.

A trace of helplessness crossed Chen Qingling's face. "Senior, you may not know this, but Master is a sincere man and a good elder. He promised me to take care of me, and he has always done so. He has saved me from danger countless times. However... with his character and behavior, I really don't see any hope..."

Hearing this, Li Ji'an couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Before leaving the Yan family in the previous life, I heard Chen Zhaohu complain.

I regret entrusting Chen Qingling to Chishi Sanren.

He spends the whole day either exploring the mountains or digging caves.

"Master loves to explore ruins and search for ancient tombs. I was very eager to do so at first, after all, there are so many opportunities... But today, I finally understand that Master is different from ordinary cultivators. He doesn't do this for the opportunity to cultivate.

But I am now old and have not much time left to live, and I have lost all hope of making further progress. If this continues, my Chen family will completely lose the hope of becoming an immortal.

"Before I saw what you've achieved today, I was a little hesitant, but now, I'm determined," Chen Qingling said firmly.

Li Ji'an could understand his decision, as he saw hope for the next generation in himself.

However, he caught other information in his words: Isn't Chishi Sanren searching for ancient tombs and exploring ruins for the opportunity to practice?
"If not for cultivation resources, then what for?" Li Ji'an asked in surprise.

Having been in this world for more than seventy years, he has become familiar with the conditions of the wasteland.

The reason why this place has not been occupied by any of the major sects is mainly due to the results of land reclamation more than 500 years ago.

Most of them are tombs of independent cultivators, with a small number of family relics, and the spiritual veins are also average.

It is speculated that this place was not a very good place to go in ancient times. Apart from scattered tombs, it was difficult to gain much. Compared with the second-level monsters that existed there, the risks and benefits were disproportionate.

"I don't know what Master is looking for, and Master is obviously different from normal cultivators. Maybe it's true as the rumors say, Master has been deep in ancient tombs for many years, and his sea of consciousness has been eroded by evil spirits, causing mental problems." Chen Qingling said without any hesitation.

This also indirectly reflects Li Ji'an's information collection on the Red Stone Wanderer. He has appeared in the public eye in the wilderness for more than a hundred years, and has never attacked anyone. Even when he was hunted by the Zheng family during those years, he almost always ran away.

Apart from occasionally going to the United Market to buy some wilderness survival supplies, he spent most of his time deep in the Fallen Dragon Ridge.

He is very kind to others, and even when meeting ordinary people in the gathering area, he is always friendly.

This information was collected bit by bit by Li Ji'an during his years in the Yan family in this life.

It was based on this that I decided to make friends with Akaashi Sanren in person.

After a moment of silence, Li Ji'an passed over the topic and suggested to Chen Qingling, "If you want to join the family and pass on your legacy, the current situation in the wasteland is chaotic and it's not a good place to go."

Chen Qingling is now in the middle stage of Qi training and is considered a backbone force in the Wasteland Family. Moreover, he joined the family with a different surname, so at this time he is sure to have no chance of escaping the fate of fighting on the front line.

However, given his age and the experience he had gained following Chishi Sanren over the years, it would be difficult for him to survive.

However, Li Ji'an understood his intention in asking this question, which was to help him inform the Yan family and avoid going to the front line.

But he can't.

The Yan family does not belong to Yan Qingwan alone. If he really speaks, it will make Yan Qingwan embarrassed.

Moreover, Yan Qingwan reported two years ago that the foundation-building pill had already been used.

He also followed his own advice and gave Yan Qing the opportunity to compete. Otherwise, as a member of the side branch and a son-in-law, Yan Qing would not be eligible to compete for the Foundation Establishment Pill in this generation.

But unfortunately, Yan Qing did not pass the family's moral test. When it comes to defending the family's honor to the death and fighting for the family's honor and disgrace all his life, Yan Qing is not determined.

In the end, it was a descendant of Yan Kongyi's lineage who was in the late stage of Qi training who got this opportunity.

And two years ago, he successfully built the foundation after overcoming numerous difficulties.

During the critical period of foundation building, three foundation builders from the Zheng family attacked. However, the Yan family had a clan protection formation, so they did not think of forcibly interrupting the foundation building. They just wanted to disrupt and destroy the state of mind of the people who were trying to build the foundation.

The two ancestors of the Yan family stopped them and called on the other four families in the alliance for help.

As a result, the other four families arrived late, only arriving when Yan Xiao was almost successful.

If Yan Xiao had not been so calm, and if the Foundation Establishment Pill and the opportunity to establish foundation had not come so suddenly and easily, causing him to feel very little pressure, he might have really been ruined by the Zheng family.

From then on, the Yan family in the wasteland had three people who had established the foundation, becoming the foundation-building family in the entire wasteland second only to the Zheng family.

In addition, the ancestor of the Zheng family was seriously injured by bandits and has been struggling to survive ever since. The Yan family is almost on par with the Zheng family in terms of top combat power.

However, the Yan family was under greater pressure with the addition of a foundation-building cultivator. After the third foundation-building cultivator appeared in the Yan family, the other four families in the previous alliance immediately formed a new four-family alliance to prevent the Yan family from becoming the second Zheng family.

After all, the Yan family's ancestral spiritual vein land is not as big as the Zheng family's. They cannot afford to support three foundation-building people in the family, so they will definitely seize other second-level spiritual vein lands.

At this point, the Wasteland has changed from the previous three-way balance of power to the current "four forces under one roof". In addition, the three members of the Yan family have just established their foundation and their foundation is insufficient. The overall clan strength is almost at the bottom compared to the other three parties.

"But..." Chen Qingling was a little disappointed.

However, Li Ji'an immediately added, "Let me ask Chishi Sanren first. If possible, perhaps I can take you north. Thousands of miles north of the wasteland lies the Liu family, one of the five great families. There are many families nearby, and it's relatively stable."

"Okay, thank you, senior." Chen Qingling was immediately delighted.

When he had the idea of leaving, most of the wandering cultivators here had already left. Now that bandits were active in the wilderness, he didn't dare to travel alone for fear of being drafted.

Chishi Sanren would never leave the wasteland, let alone escort him far away.

When Li Ji'an spoke at this moment, he was already very satisfied.

Half a month later, Chishi Sanren returned from purchasing.

Li Ji'an finally met this legendary cultivator from the wilderness.

"I have long admired the name of Fellow Daoist Chishi. Today my wish has come true. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Chen Qingling stepped forward in time to introduce the two. Just as the rumors said, Chishi Sanren was very kind.

"I don't deserve your kindness, Fellow Daoist Li." But he didn't talk much and seemed not very sociable.

Li Ji'an met him in the name of paying tribute to a deceased elder, and thanked him on behalf of Chen Zhaohu for taking care of Chen Qingling over the years. He got to know him very smoothly and it didn't seem abrupt at all.

Then he used three second-level forbidden-breaking talismans to please him, hoping that he could help find and hunt the golden-armored beast.

For those who have been exploring ruins for years, nothing is more exciting than the forbidden talisman.

Whether it is a ruin or an ancient tomb, most of them have restrictions, and the most difficult step is to break the restrictions, so Li Ji'an was already prepared when he decided to make friends with Chishi Sanren in person.

The moment Chishi Sanren saw the forbidden talisman, his eyes lit up and he was filled with desire.

He spent all year in the wasteland, and because the resources in the wasteland were limited, even during the most prosperous years of the United Market, it was difficult to buy a second-level forbidden talisman.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I frequently visit Fallen Dragon Ridge and have even seen a rank-two golden-armored beast. Your talisman..."

"Oh? As long as fellow Daoist helps me get the demon core of the golden-armored beast, in addition to these three forbidden-breaking talismans, I will also give you a bottle of Qi-accumulating Pill." Li Ji'an was a little surprised.

I originally mentioned the Golden Armored Beast just to keep in touch with it, but I never thought that it actually knew the whereabouts of the Golden Armored Beast. It was a pleasant surprise.

In the Daze Mountains, he did not dare to take risks and would rather offer a reward. After all, there were countless second-level monsters and even a third-level monster king.

But in Fallen Dragon Ridge, there are not many second-level monsters, and with the trump cards of Gua Gua and Talisman, we are confident that we can escape safely.

"This... I am not good at fighting, and I am not sure that I can kill the second-order golden-armored beast..." Chishi Sanren looked embarrassed, but his eyes did not leave the forbidden talisman.

"I don't want you to kill him alone. Let's work together and add two more talismans to break the ban!" Li Ji'an said decisively.

Chishi Sanren was clearly interested. "However, can I also exchange the elixir for... two forbidden-breaking talismans?"

"Huh?" Li Ji'an was a little surprised. The Yunqi Pill is a must-have pill for cultivators in the early stages of foundation building. One pill is worth two hundred spirit stones. This bottle has ten pills, with a total price of two thousand spirit stones.

A second-level forbidden-breaking talisman would cost at most five hundred spirit stones.

Has he given up on his cultivation?

Subconsciously, Li Ji'an's spiritual sense, comparable to that of the late foundation building stage, swept over.

The sense with him was correct. He was in the early stage of foundation building, and even his magical aura was similar to his own. He did not disguise himself, and did not hide his cultivation level.

This also made him feel more at ease to enter Fallen Dragon Ridge with Chishi Sanren.

After the remuneration was agreed upon, Chishi Sanren was very satisfied and even a little impatient.

However, Li Ji'an first talked to him about Chen Qingling.

Just as Chen Qingling said, Chishi Sanren supported his idea of leaving.

Finally the deal was reached and Chen Qingling was waiting here.

After Li Ji'an and Chishi Sanren reached a deal, he came back and took him away.

On that day, Chishi Sanren couldn't wait to go to Fallen Dragon Ridge with Li Ji'an.

"Fellow Daoist Chishi, the spiritual energy here is chaotic. Take this pill to maintain your magic power." On the way, Li Ji'an handed him a bottle of first-level spiritual replenishing pill.

Chishi Sanren refused again: "You don't have to be polite, Fellow Daoist Li. I don't like taking pills."

Li Ji'an's expression changed slightly.

It is unreasonable that his magic power has hardly changed during the entire flight.

Ordinary cultivators will not be able to absorb spiritual energy to replenish their magic power if they stay in a spiritually poor area or a place with chaotic spiritual energy for a long time.

If it is not replenished for a long time, not only will the strength decline, but there is even a risk of the cultivation level falling.

Based on what he had learned previously, Li Ji'an had always believed that the reason why Chishi Sanren was able to stay in Fallen Dragon Ridge all year round was because of the elixirs.

After pondering for a moment, Li Ji'an did not ask any further questions in order to prevent him from being unhappy.

Which casual cultivator who can build a foundation doesn’t have some secret opportunity?

From then on, Chishi Sanren remained consistent throughout the journey. He would only answer when Li Ji'an took the initiative to speak, and he never asked any questions.

Until ten days later,
"Fellow Daoist Li, I have seen that second-order golden-armored beast several times before in the mountain stream twenty miles ahead. This area should be its territory." The Red Stone Wanderer landed on a huge red rock and pointed ahead.

Fallen Dragon Ridge is mostly a pile of red rocks. Legend has it that an ancient dragon was killed here and the dragon's blood seeped into the rocks.

The name of Chishi Sanren also comes from this.

"Fellow Daoist, can you confirm whether it is a second-stage early stage demon beast?" Li Ji'an's spiritual sense was fully activated, and the spiritual sense of the late foundation building stage could cover an area of 20 miles in radius.

However, the golden armored beast has not been found yet.

In addition to its iron-hard armor, the Golden Armored Beast is also good at digging holes in mountains.

"I am sure."

"Okay, in that case, let's split up and try to surround and kill them as soon as possible," Li Ji'an suggested.

"Okay!" Chishi Sanren said briefly and then flew away in another direction.

After it walked away, Li Ji'an released Gua Gua.

Gua Gua was obviously excited to be back here again.

It had been hunting here for eight years and was very familiar with the atmosphere here.

However, it was only a first-level monster back then and did not go too deep.

Soon, Guagua dived into the ground and sneaked forward.

With Gua Gua's current talent for concealment and the transformation of his soul shielding, almost no monsters of the same level can detect it.

While sharing Gua Gua's vision, Li Ji'an's spiritual consciousness was always watching Chi Shi San Ren. This acquaintance and close interaction gave Chi Shi San Ren a very strange feeling to him.

On the surface, he seemed easygoing, sincere, and frank, but he gave Li Ji'an a feeling of unreality.

It seems like everything is just appearance and there is no real emotion.

Just as Li Ji'an and Chishi Sanren were searching for the golden-armored beast, Zheng Tianxiang's face changed from gloomy to bright in the northwest direction of the wasteland, on the only way from Jinhuang Immortal City to the Yan family.

"According to the time, he should have arrived long ago. Could it be that he is not coming to the wasteland?"

"Hmph, could it be that he sneaked in from another direction out of guilt?"

(End of this chapter)