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

Jiao Jiao began to recount the contents of the mysterious jade pendant to Liu Xing, especially the part about the restrictions. Liu Xing listened intently. This great demon in the Divine Transformation Stage had been in human form for thousands of years. Their intelligence and knowledge were comparable to those of a human in the Divine Transformation Stage, both possessing exceptional talent. While the restrictions they had casually set up were simplified to prevent younger demons from being unable to decipher them, they still proved challenging for lower-level cultivators or demons lacking a solid foundation in restrictions and limited vision. Because simple restrictions could easily be breached by ancient beasts or other species, the Dragon Scale Fruit's protective barrier was far more complex than any other barrier in the secret realm. The crucial element in breaking the barrier was the bloodline of the double-winged dragon; without it, even a great demon in the Transformation Stage would be unable to break it with brute force. Therefore, Liu Xing first ruled out brute force.

Tens of thousands of years ago, it would have been simple to find the entrance to the barrier and drip Jiao Jiao's blood into it. But tens of thousands of years later, the world had changed, and the barrier had undergone a slight shift, rendering the entrance impossible to find. This was something the great demon who had transformed into a spirit could not have foreseen. His descendants were unfilial, and it took tens of thousands of years for a later generation to discover his painstaking arrangements.

Therefore, the first step in breaking the restriction was to find the entrance. The jade pendant's message didn't elaborate on the arrangement, describing it only as a conventional spirit-locking and concealing formation. With limited information, Liu Xing could only deduce it based on his own knowledge and understanding of the restrictions. However, at least he could determine it wasn't a trap or killing formation, so he didn't have to worry about a counterattack. This saved him a lot of trouble and allowed him to act boldly and experiment with various methods.

After so many days of wandering, Jiao Jiao finally encountered a forbidden barrier. Liu Xing took this as a starting point and began his research. He touched the barrier with both hands, slowly infusing it with spiritual energy, feeling the pulse of the forbidden magic. Then, he closed his eyes slightly, calmed his mind, and deduced it bit by bit.

As the saying goes, the aura exuded by a handsome guy who works hard makes his little fans completely irresistible. Jiao Jiao is in this state at the moment.

"So handsome!" it thought infatuatedly.

"What is the relationship between him and the master in my dream? Why do they have the same aura, yet are they somewhat different?" It was very confused. She wanted to enter the dream again and ask the master.

Perhaps it was exhaustion from the recent days of hard work, or perhaps Liu Xing's familiarity had lowered its guard. She had actually fallen asleep on the stone. Liu Xing, while studying the restrictions, kept a constant eye on his surroundings, a survival habit he had developed. He sensed Jiao Jiao's sleep, and his eyes dropped to the ground. Jiao Jiao wasn't just clueless, she was also a bit dazed. If he had any ill intentions, wouldn't it be instantly fatal? The dragon's demon core and its treasures were all excellent materials for refining top-grade magical instruments. He also reaffirmed Jiao Jiao's lack of defense against him, confirming the authenticity of her previously described familiarity. If Jiao Jiao had been acting to deceive him, she wouldn't have put her life in their hands now to further conceal her guilt. It was unnecessary and unacceptable. Therefore, he concluded that Jiao Jiao's previous words and actions were true, and his heart was much relieved. He became even more resolute in his plan to get him out. Jiao Jiao was still sleeping soundly, with the ambergris on his face flowing onto the stone, making him look adorable. Liu Xing smiled and felt more at ease.

Jiao Jiao slept for a whole day and night, the most restful sleep it had had in decades. When it awoke and opened its eyes, it saw Liu Xing still busy at work. However, Liu Xing wasn't closing his eyes to deduce the formation. Instead, he was inserting cone-shaped magical instruments into different parts of the barrier, fiddling with something he couldn't fathom. Furthermore, for the first time, it didn't dream. The flute fairy it had always dreamed of was gone. It felt incredible. Could it be because of this dear person? Was he being guided eastward just to meet this person? It felt like it had found the answer.

Moreover, before bed, it had drifted off without realizing it. Upon waking, it remembered it was still in a strange and dangerous place, with a stranger from another race beside it. It had fallen asleep so carelessly. If the stranger had harbored evil intentions, wouldn't it be its fate? It was only now that it remembered, and it was terrified. It didn't know why it, normally so cautious, had let its guard down here. Something must be wrong when things aren't going well. Could it be because of him? With him around, it felt safe and secure, and it was possible to fall asleep without realizing it. Jiao Jiao not only glanced at Liu Xing a few more times, but also felt a sense of peace within her.

Another day and night passed, and after rejecting thousands of hypotheses, Liu Xing finally found a clue. He discovered a subtle pattern within the vast network of restrictions: a path of energy, requiring bloodline power to activate, that faintly led to the source of a stream a kilometer away—the top of a waterfall. Because no energy had flowed into his bloodline, no power had been generated, and the path of this crucial force, the key to breaking the restriction, remained elusive. Liu Xing used a process of elimination, gradually deducing the correct path for this force, combined with mana, to break the restriction. This intensive process took a considerable amount of time, but after this confrontation with the formation set by a senior in the Spiritual Transformation Stage, he felt that his understanding of the art of restrictions had made a qualitative leap.

Liu Xing flew toward the distant peak of the waterfall, Jiao Jiao following closely behind. From afar, Liu Xing attacked the formation at the bottom of the abyss. Suddenly, a tiny, inconspicuous point of light drifted faintly at the source of the waterfall. Liu Xing's heart pounded with joy; this was it. Jiao Jiao also understood now that this was the entrance to the forbidden zone, and without Liu Xing's command, she dripped her blood toward the light in unison.

Silently, a portal of light opened at the bottom of the distant abyss. Overjoyed, the man and the demon flew towards the portal, which automatically closed upon entering. Looking at the pristine space before them, they discovered a bottomless pool. To the left of the pool lay a small, yellow hillside, on which sat an orchard laden with vibrant dragon-scale fruit. Jiao Jiao beamed with joy at the abundance of fruit. Consuming these fruits regularly would double her cultivation speed and further purify her dragon bloodline. Even more surprising to Liu Xing was a Qingling fruit tree growing to the right of the pool, bearing enough ripe fruit to refine over a dozen Foundation Establishment Pills. This delighted him greatly.