Mysterious mirror hanging high

Seeing Jing Yu remain silent, Bai Xiao continued, "Fellow Daoist Yiyuan, forgive my bluntness, but the most powerful Great Immortal in your domain is seriously injured and missing. I don't know how his condition is. Even if he recovers completely, I'm afraid he won't show up until he reaches Nascent Soul stage."

"The Tang family and the Beast Taming Sect, two major Yuanying-level forces, have joined forces to invade the Yunchuan region. Even if the True Lords of the two families cannot take action, considering only the level of the Jindan Zhenren, even if their number may not be as large as the Yunchuan region alone, if we talk about combat power..."

Bai Xiao shook his head and said, "Daoyou, it's best to prepare early. It's time to pack your bedding. While you can still run, quickly head to a nearby realm where the righteous path reigns supreme and seek shelter."

----

After exiting [Illusionary Realm], Jing Yu had just opened the door to the retreat room when he saw Zhao Yuanxi rushing towards him with a rather grim expression:

"Uncle, I just took your token and went to the Yuwen family to inquire. The checkpoints west of the Yunchuan Territory have been completely blocked by the Beastmaster Sect's cultivators. It's said that the sky is full of patrolling war eagles. All trade routes have been cut off. Escape from the west into the Tianhe Territory is probably blocked."

Jing Yu frowned and said, "That's bad. To the south of [Yunchuan Territory] is [Tiannan Territory], the headquarters of the demonic cultivators. Going there would be a trap. To the east is the Endless Sea, without even an island. To the north is the wild land of [Shiwan Mountains], which is even more dangerous. It is said that there are many Jindan demon beasts and even Yuanying-level demons in the depths of the mountains! It is absolutely unacceptable to go there."

"Now the west is blocked again... Alas, I'm afraid I won't be able to leave in the short term."

In fact, Jing Yu didn't really care about the invasion of the Yunchuan Region by the demon cultivators. Even if the entire Yunchuan Region fell and became a demon land, he could just use the [Ku Du Xuan Guang] to escape underground and hide for a thousand or eight hundred years, without anyone noticing, and it wouldn't affect his physical training at all.

But Zhao Yuanxi is still here. If the whole territory is really destroyed one day, my niece will probably have a hard time.

"Forget it, let's take it one step at a time." Jing Yu pondered, "How is your cultivation going now?"

Zhao Yuanxi bowed and said, "A few days ago, the bottleneck in the middle stage of Qi training loosened a little. I tried to push forward and luckily broke through. Now I have reached the seventh level of Qi training."

"Okay, okay, you're thirty-nine now. At this rate, if you just lay a solid foundation and take steady steps, it won't be difficult to complete your Qi training before you're sixty. Then you can try to build your foundation!"

Jing Yu nodded and said, "The Tiannan Demon Sect has invaded the Yunchuan Region. The Qigong cultivators are helpless and can only build an immortal foundation to have some self-defense power."

Zhao Yuanxi, however, had another hidden worry: "There's nothing wrong with advancing in realms and improving one's cultivation. Isn't that what cultivators cultivate for? I'm afraid that by the time I've reached Foundation Establishment, I'll be drafted by the Free and Easy Alliance and sent to an even more dangerous area!"

Jing Yu raised an eyebrow: "With a great war imminent, every bit of improvement in cultivation is valuable."

"Just focus on your cultivation and build your foundation. My uncle has connections within the Xiaoyao Alliance. As long as the demon cultivators haven't reached the walls of Xiaoyao Immortal City, I won't sit idly by and watch someone push you to your doom."

After Zhao Yuanxi left, Jing Yu returned to the retreat room, sat down cross-legged, took out a bottle of elixir that could enhance his foundation-building skills from his storage bag, poured out a pill, sucked it into his mouth, and began to silently refine the medicinal power in it.

"I've been in the foundation-building stage for thirteen years now, and I've already accumulated more than half of the merits for the early stages of foundation-building. My spiritual roots are top-notch, so it's unlikely I'll encounter a small bottleneck before the Golden Core stage. I estimate that I can break through to the middle stage of foundation-building in ten years!"

Having made up his mind, Jing Yu took out a set of formation flags and reinforced the formation around the retreat room. This was the beginning of his longest retreat since establishing his foundation...

----

[Year 610 of the Changsheng calendar]

Jing Yu, who had been sitting in silence for a long time, suddenly opened his eyes. A gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and his exposed skin was covered with bursts of glass-like light. Finally, the light dissipated. He raised his slender right hand with a jade-like luster and wiped it across his chin. The messy beard that had not been trimmed for several years disappeared in an instant.

Then Jing Yu performed a dust-removing spell, washed his whole body, tied up his long hair casually, and stood up.

"Finally, I have reached the second level of the Treasure Body through the [Bitter Crossing Sutra]!"

Twenty-one years have passed since the demons invaded the Yunchuan region.

Jing Yu successfully entered the middle stage of foundation building in the ninth year without encountering any small bottlenecks. He continued to hone his cultivation thereafter. He estimated that another ten years would be enough to enter the late stage of foundation building, and it would not be too difficult to complete the foundation building before the age of 150.

It often takes an ordinary cultivator thirty to forty years to accumulate magic power even in a small realm, not to mention the bottlenecks between small realms. It is common to be stuck for more than ten to twenty years. It is even common for those with poor aptitude and luck to be stuck at a bottleneck throughout their lives.

Jing Yu just started on the path to immortality late. If he had drawn Qi into his body since childhood and not wasted any time, he wouldn't dare to replicate Lu Yingzhao's miracle of forming a pill in a hundred years, but it wouldn't be difficult for him to form a pill around the age of one hundred and twenty.

However, the progress in body refining was slower. Even though there was no shortage of precious medicines for body refining, Jing Yu had just broken through to the second level of the treasured body and reached the body refining level of the middle stage of foundation building.

After reaching the second level of the treasure body, Jing Yu could add another monster organ. After comparing many options, he finally chose an organ that enhanced attack and assistance.

He flipped his hand over, and an eyeball that seemed to be made of pure gold appeared in his palm.

[Golden Toad Demon Eyes]!

A crack suddenly appeared on Jing Yu's forehead, and the eyeball made of pure gold automatically embedded into the crack. Suddenly, a third golden vertical eye appeared on Jing Yu's originally smooth forehead.

boom!

The golden toad's eyes instantly emitted a bright and clear light, which was exactly the [Xuan Lingguang]!

The next moment, Jing Yu waved his finger, and the vertical eye closed slightly, and the mysterious spiritual light disappeared. When it opened again, the original bright light turned into a grayish [Kudu Xuanguang], which wore away a large hole in the ground of the retreat room.

"This [Golden Toad Demon Eye] originally came from the [One-Eyed Golden Toad]. All of this demon beast's magical powers are based on this demon eye. It can greatly enhance magical powers such as Dharma Light, and it also has some effects on preserving truth and dispelling delusion."

Jing Yu tried it and found that it really had a beneficial effect on both the [Chanxuan Lingguang] and [Kudu Xuanguang] magic lights.

The [Mysterious Spiritual Light] emitted by the [Golden Toad Demon Eyes] has greatly enhanced the effect of delaying and detaining people, and it is faster to start, and the speed of the magic light has also increased. The most important thing is that you don't have to summon the mysterious mirror in your dantian to the top of your head and show it off every time you use this spiritual light.

The enhancement effect of [Ku Du Xuan Guang] is even more obvious. Originally, [Ku Du Xuan Guang] only had a strong restraint on the earth element, and its own offensive power was mediocre. Now, after the enhancement, it has finally reached the level of the secret magical powers of the big sects, and it is considered to be somewhat threatening to the genius monks of the same level.