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

Liu Xing calmed himself down and reviewed the gains and losses of this transaction. Since the mission had been automatically canceled once someone claimed it, he returned to the mission office and posted another request for the Oolong Grass. This time, however, the exchange price was only spirit stones, not demon cores. He only had one Level 4 demon core left, a Lion's Mane Jellyfish, which he saved for later use.

After issuing the task, he returned to his cave. This time, he aimed to refine the Oolong Pill and attempt a breakthrough to the late stage of Foundation Establishment. Back in the cave, he checked on Jiao Jiao and Duo Duo, both of whom were deep in sleep, cultivating. He himself sat cross-legged, concentrating his mind and calming his breath, silently practicing Qigong to optimize his condition. Then, he took out the necessary herbs for refining the Oolong Pill and began to refine the elixir. Three days later, with Liu Xing's masterful alchemy skills, he successfully refined two furnaces of elixirs, yielding twelve dark green pills imbued with spiritual energy. Liu Xing hurriedly filled a jade bottle with them, then poured out a pill and examined it carefully. The pill was top-grade, and he was very satisfied with his improved alchemy skills.

Next, Liu Xing began to take his medicine and cultivate. He dropped the Oolong Pill into his mouth and swallowed it. Immediately, a surge of medicinal power, driven by the technique, flowed through his eight extraordinary meridians, stimulating his dantian and meridians. His previously stagnant cultivation finally began to slowly improve. It was indeed effective, and Liu Xing was overjoyed. After taking three Oolong Pills in succession, he finally touched the bottleneck that would allow him to break through the late Foundation Establishment stage. Based on previous experience, breaking this barrier would require even greater medicinal power. So, he downed five elixirs in a row. Nearly bursting, he finally broke through the barrier and successfully entered the late Foundation Establishment stage.

After breaking through his bottleneck, Liu Xing continued practicing the next level of Wind and Cloud Power. He had already thoroughly comprehended the new level, and only needed to follow the new path after achieving a breakthrough. Six months later, his cultivation finally stabilized. During this time, he continued to take Oolong Pills for cultivation, but found that their potency had greatly diminished, far less effective than before the breakthrough. He felt a pang of fear. Had he developed a resistance to the pills so quickly? After taking several pills in a row, he had to accept the reality that the Oolong Pills were no longer effective for him.

Liu Xing fretted for a moment, then gave up. This was a test from heaven; he needed to find a new elixir. So he turned his attention to another recipe, the "Spirit Marrow Pill." Gathering the key ingredient depended on luck, so he'd slowly search for it later. He composed himself, took out his bamboo flute, grasped it, and, invigorating his energy, his spiritual energy poured out like a bursting dam. Within two breaths, it was drained, and the energy, transformed by the flute, quickly returned to his body. After another three months of consolidation, Liu Xing had firmly established himself in the late Foundation Establishment stage. He felt his magical power now far surpassed that of an early Core Formation cultivator, and only just shy of a mid-Core Formation veteran.

Despite consolidating his mana, he remained unsatisfied and continued to use his increased spiritual power to refine his spirit through the Gangfeng technique. The agony of extracting his soul and refining his spirit returned, but Liu Xing gritted his teeth and persevered. Six months later, his spiritual awareness had reached the level of a mid-stage Jindan cultivator. His released spiritual awareness could cover an area of ​​thirty kilometers, a truly impressive feat.

His cultivation concluded here. Nearly two years of arduous, closed-door training had greatly advanced his cultivation, bringing him a great deal of inner satisfaction. To advance further, he would need the power of new elixirs. Liu Xing began to plan again, aiming to collect more elixir recipes. He first went to the mission hall and changed his request for Oolong grass to one for Level 4 Tianmu Beast bone marrow and 500-year-old Red Ganoderma lucidum. His identity token held 20,000 points, which he planned to use to continue reading paid books. Meanwhile, he would continue attending classes at the academy.

"Senior Brother Liu, I haven't seen you for two years. Your cultivation level... have you broken through to the late stage of foundation building?" A classmate he used to know was greeting him, and suddenly sensed that he had broken through, and immediately screamed as if he had seen a ghost.

"My fellow brothers, don't be surprised. I have been stuck at a bottleneck for decades. This time, I accidentally obtained a magical medicine and was able to break through by refining a few pills. It was also a great luck." Liu Xing explained modestly, and did not become proud and complacent because of his realm improvement.

"Could it be that Senior Brother Liu has exchanged for the Oolong Grass?" They all knew the news that Liu Xing announced in the mission hall.

"That's right!" Liu Xing admitted frankly.

"Senior Brother Liu is indeed blessed with great fortune, which is really enviable. Congratulations to Senior Brother for his successful breakthrough. He is expected to achieve Dan." Everyone congratulated Liu Xing.

"Thank you, everyone. I have quite a bit of experience in the art of prohibition. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I will do my best to answer them within my ability." Liu Xing hurriedly thanked them and changed the subject. He had a wealth of knowledge, so he wouldn't lose anything by using it to make friends with fellow disciples in the sect and build good relationships.

"That's fantastic! Senior Brother Liu's mastery of deducing prohibitions is truly profound, and we can't even begin to compare ourselves to him. It would be a great opportunity for us to have him guide us." Seeing that Liu Xing, despite his breakthrough, remained approachable and eager to help, everyone felt less jealous and began to ask Liu Xing for advice on their daily problems. These problems, while difficult for others to understand, presented no difficulty to him. He could often easily explain them, simplifying complexities and providing concise and insightful explanations that suddenly opened their eyes and made them wonder why they hadn't thought of them before.

The Jindan-stage instructor came in and noticed the students gathered around Liu Xing, so he quietly watched from the side. He was impressed by how quickly, efficiently, and cleverly Liu Xing answered everyone's questions, many of which he hadn't even considered. He thought, "This kid has a tremendous talent for restraints, but it's a shame his spiritual roots are so weak." The teacher casually used his spiritual sense to check Liu Xing's cultivation and was stunned. He'd actually broken through to the late Foundation Establishment stage—it was incredible. He figured it made sense that he'd been stuck at the peak of the middle stage for decades, building up a deep foundation, and then, by chance, had struck it rich. He had a pretty good guess. Without the Blood Demon's blood and the Oolong Pill, Liu Xing's cultivation wouldn't have been able to improve at all.

Everyone was so engrossed in Liu Xing's sharing of his answers that they didn't realize the teacher had arrived for a moment. With a chorus of excuses, they dispersed, returning to their seats and quietly awaiting the teacher's start. The teacher glanced at Liu Xing and, without a word, began the day's lecture. Liu Xing immediately took to the subject. While the teacher's explanation seemed simple to him, he was, after all, at a higher level. Simple questions always offered him new insights. Revisiting the past to learn new things—the ancients were right.