Traveling through time to cultivate immortality: a life and death test

Liu Xing first went to the Tongda Chamber of Commerce to complete an alchemy mission. After not seeing each other for two years, Chang Qing was still the same. He was very happy to see Liu Xing and started chatting enthusiastically.

"Congratulations, brother, on your great progress in magic power." Chang Qing felt that Liu Xing's magic power had improved again. It seemed that the two years of retreat were very fruitful, so he congratulated Liu Xing.

"Brother Chang, thank you for your praise. My improvement in cultivation is not worth mentioning. I don't know when I can break through." Liu Xing said dejectedly. He didn't need to pretend that his advancement was difficult.

"Brother, you are still young. You need to practice step by step. Don't be too impatient." Chang Qing felt that Liu Xing seemed a little anxious and quickly spoke to comfort him.

"By the way, recently the Huanxi Sect has been looking for the whereabouts of the fourth-level monsters. They are probably going to go out to sea to hunt monsters. It may be related to Brother Dongfang's high price for buying back the fourth-level monster pills." Chang Qing changed the subject and talked about another thing.

"Oh, there is such a thing. That's great. I was just worried that I couldn't get the fourth-level demon pill." Liu Xing was stunned for a moment and thought of many things in an instant.

"Brother, it's best not to get your hopes up. The Happy Sect is average, and they might not be able to hunt a Level 4 monster. If too many people go, the monster will hide and not appear. If too few go, it'll just be food. Unless their leader personally goes, but a Jindan senior has a lot of things to do, he probably won't go out and hunt a Level 4 monster." Chang Qing reminded Liu Xing, noting his pessimism about the Happy Sect's plan. He hadn't imagined that Liu Xing himself was the one gathering information about the Level 4 monster.

"Well, demon pills are hard to come by, so let everything take its course." Liu Xing replied indifferently.

"I'm glad you can keep a normal mind, brother. By the way, I really thank you for the Qiling Pill you gave me. My stupid dog has finally become smarter and now cooperates with me more and more tacitly." Chang Qing turned around and talked about the gift of the pill a few years ago, and his gratitude was beyond words.

"It would be the best if I could help Brother Chang. The elixir should be given to those who are destined to receive it. There is no use for the Qi Ling Pill to stay with me. Brother Chang has taken a lot of care of me in the past few years. To be honest, I owe Brother Chang more." Liu Xing saw that Chang Qing's attitude was very sincere, and knew that he was sincere. His previous worries were relieved.

"I am grateful for your loyalty, brother." Chang Qing thanked again.

Liu Xing chatted with Chang Qing for a while before taking his leave. He still had much to do and couldn't afford to linger here for too long. Returning to his cave, he carefully reviewed his performance and changes over the past few years. His abilities had begun to slowly unleash, especially since Nie Xiaoqian knew the most about them, and Chang Qing had the most intimate knowledge of his financial resources and alchemy skills. For now, they were both relatively reassured. Furthermore, he had transformed into various forms and purchased supplies from various shops. While the quantities were substantial, they had likely not attracted any attention. Nie Xiaoqian's sale of magical instruments, large purchases of materials, and collection of Level 4 demon beasts meant that those within the Huanxi Sect were undoubtedly aware of his junior sister's unusual behavior. Whether or not he would be exposed depended on how well Nie Xiaoqian concealed the truth. Purchasing Level 4 demon pills at such high prices and gathering information about demon beasts was a bit blatant, inevitably drawing attention from all sides, though none had directly led to him. However, he still had to be more cautious in his future actions. He had to carefully discern the truth from falsehood regarding the whereabouts of Level 4 demon beasts, lest he fall into a trap set by others.

After thinking through many things, he started to get busy again. First, he processed the second- and third-level monster corpses collected by Nie Xiaoqian, and prepared to refine them into top-grade magic weapons. It took him half a year, and he kept summarizing and reviewing in the middle. He would rather move slowly to ensure the success rate. It was this diligent and dedicated spirit of research that made his weapon refining skills steadily improve, with a success rate of up to 90%. He saw more than a dozen top-grade magic weapons in front of him, including swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks and forks, all of which were full of spiritual energy and powerful. He did not plan to sell these magic weapons, but to keep them for his own use. When he went out to sea to hunt monsters, he would definitely suffer some damage, so he had to prepare more magic weapons.

Over the past few years, he has been refining elixirs, weapons, and puppets, while also continuing his research on forbidden techniques. In particular, he has studied the fragments of "Ten Ancient Forbidden Techniques" he obtained from an underground exchange. He has studied them countless times, translated all the ancient texts within, and finally mastered the layout of three forbidden formations. They are the "Blue Sea Tide Rising Formation" trapping formation, the "Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Origin Formation" killing formation, and the "Hidden Formation" concealing formation. As for the materials needed to refine the formation plates and flags, he has collected dozens of sets from various shops in Haibin City over the years, spending a huge amount of spirit stones. In fact, after taking stock of his wealth, he only has about a thousand medium-grade spirit stones and 10,000 to 20,000 low-grade spirit stones left. The rest of his money has been exchanged for various cultivation supplies.

Restrictions primarily utilize the characteristics of the natural environment, harnessing its forces to achieve their desired effects. Array plates and flags primarily direct these forces according to the terrain. This requires a profound study of the art of restrictions, as well as a mastery of refining techniques. Liu Xing's dedication to studying these techniques proved immensely effective at this moment. Consequently, he spent six months successfully refining over twenty sets of array plates and flags, with most of the materials destroyed. The primary culprit wasn't damage during the refining process, but rather inadequate crafting of the restrictions. The crafting of restrictions requires tight control, a seamless integration of each step, and the elimination of any errors. It's similar to his initial learning of talisman drawing, except that engraving restrictions is a thousand times more complex, a completely different endeavor. He gazed upon his six-month masterpiece with satisfaction, mentally formulating a plan to lure, trap, and slay the Level 4 demon beast.

After refining the first set of array plates, he even went to a sparsely populated area in the suburbs to test the power of the restriction. Even with his own full-strength attack using a top-grade magical instrument, equivalent to the attack power of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he only caused the restriction to waver. The Jade Sea Rising Array, which he personally presided over, trapped Jiao Jiao within, leaving it with no chance of escape. Liu Xing calculated that the array's power should be enough to hold a Level 4 demon beast for two quarters of an hour. With others nearby to assist and disrupt the attack, it could hold it for perhaps an hour.

The power was a bit weak, but that was limited by his limited mana. If he had reached the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, his chances of success would be much greater. However, time waits for no one. Natural cultivation or slowly acquiring a fourth-level demon core would likely take decades and might not be enough. He must take the initiative now and strive for a breakthrough as soon as possible.