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

After Liu Xing sorted out his gains and losses during this period, he settled down to retreat with peace of mind.

He had only mastered the Turtle Breathing Technique to a minor degree, but it had already played a significant role in this journey through the secret realm. Now that he had settled down, he decided to first cultivate this auxiliary technique to its full potential.

The principles of the Turtle Breathing Technique are, first, to still spiritual energy and eliminate fluctuations, and second, to conceal mana, preventing it from being detected by divine consciousness. During normal movement, the body's mana will slowly circulate, and spiritual energy will flow through the meridians, constantly emitting spiritual energy fluctuations. The Turtle Breathing Technique is designed to address this problem.

When practicing the technique, one's magical power becomes frozen, motionless. As long as one doesn't use their power, no spiritual power fluctuations occur. In the world of immortal cultivation, spiritual power fluctuations are often used to sense each other's positions and assess the strength of one's magic power. Imagine if one's spiritual power were like a block of ice, without any fluctuations, it would be undetectable and easily overlooked. Cultivation requires a gradual process, first gradually reducing spiritual power fluctuations and then fully controlling them. The difficulty increases with each successive stage. At the lowest level of a technique, it's undetectable to those of the same realm. At the highest level, it can barely conceal itself from those of a higher realm.

The Turtle Breathing Technique's second greatest ability is to conceal mana. This technique activates a special component of spiritual energy, causing the body's mana, flesh, and soul to become transparent and eventually vanish. The higher the degree of transparency, the higher the realm; the greater the percentage of disappearance, the higher the realm. At the highest level, the person becomes completely transparent and disappears completely, invisible to the naked eye and imperceptible to the spiritual consciousness, as if standing before them were a mass of air. Similarly, achieving complete disappearance becomes increasingly difficult as one progresses. At a minor level of mastery, one can vanish from the presence of those of the same realm. At the highest level, one can remain undetected for up to a hundred meters from those at a higher realm. The closer the distance, and the greater the difference in cultivation level, the easier it is to be discovered.

The ancient cultivator who created this technique was truly brilliant, with so many ingenious ideas. By combining the reduction of spiritual energy fluctuations with the ability to vanish transparently, he achieved the goal of concealing his form. While it didn't contribute to increasing mana, it was a powerful aid in a cultivator's survival. Liu Xing spent five months cultivating this technique to the highest level, and as his level rose, the power and effectiveness of the Turtle Breathing Technique would increase.

He then pulled out the Xuan Yin Sutra to contemplate. The secret techniques targeting the primordial spirit within were extremely practical and would provide valuable insights for strengthening his own spiritual power in the later stages. He had previously used the soul-searching technique on the old man and Niu Xiong who had attempted to ambush him, but due to his lack of mastery, he shattered their souls and gained limited information. Therefore, he decided to delve deeper into this. The Ju Yin Bowl contained numerous spirits, perfect for experimentation. After three months of dedicated practice, he had strengthened his abilities in dividing the spirit, cultivating it, capturing it, collecting it, controlling it, and searching it. A soul without a body is extremely fragile. Before achieving the Nascent Soul stage, it cannot remain external for long; it will vanish in a moment. The spirit is the cultivator's command center, and the body is the operating body. The two complement each other. A spirit without a body is vulnerable, and a body without a spirit is nothing more than a corpse, inert. Therefore, cultivators will try every possible means to increase the strength of their souls, protect their souls from being harmed, and at the same time keep their personal privacy from being discovered.

Next, he began studying the secret art of Blood Escape. He had personally witnessed the Xuanyin Sect's young master perform this spell, which instantly increased his speed tenfold, making it an essential skill for escaping. Liu Xing had already mastered most of it during his escape, and now he was taking time to further cultivate it. After six months, he finally completed it. Now, taking Blood Burning Pills to stimulate his blood essence, he could instantly increase his speed tenfold. However, the cost was a third of his own blood essence, and the aftereffects were terrifying, so he couldn't use it unless it was crucial to escape.

Liu Xing discovered that the magic techniques offered a deeper understanding of the soul, essence, and one's own potential, providing valuable insights for future advancements. Therefore, he secretly reminded himself not to underestimate the magic techniques and to focus on collecting the secrets of magic techniques to improve his overall strength.

Next, he took out his main cultivation technique, "Ice and Water Art," and carefully re-examined it from levels one to twelve. He had already mastered the entire technique, but this re-examination brought him new insights. He integrated previously ambiguous points one by one, and widened some meridians that had not been opened or widened enough. He practiced the techniques from levels one to twelfth for several cycles, until his mind and body were connected. After a year of reviewing the technique, he felt that his magic power had deepened. The Ice and Water Art had finally reached the Great Perfection stage, and his own Qi training stage magic power had reached a point where it could not be further improved. If he had a Foundation Establishment Pill at this time, he could immediately establish his foundation.

To refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, with his current level of cultivation, he needed to use a Ground Fire Alchemy Room, which could only be rented from a human cultivator's territory. Therefore, refining the Foundation Establishment Pill would take some time. He had all the materials on him anyway, so there was no rush. Stable firepower during alchemy was also key to success. He had a lot of raw materials on hand, but he also had to maximize his success rate, as collecting materials was not easy.

After mastering all his techniques to perfection, he began practicing basic spells. He practiced Water Bullet, Water Arrow, Water Light Shield, Water Rope, Ice Block, Ice Cone, Ice Shield, Ice Armor, and Ice Flame—spells that complemented the Ice and Water Technique. He practiced them all, repeatedly. While he couldn't cast them instantly, they took less time to activate and were more powerful.

Re-practicing basic spells was also a preparation for crafting even more powerful talismans. He produced a large amount of talisman paper, a Heavenly Wolf brush, and used the blood of a desert lizard to create talisman ink. The desert lizard was a second-level demon beast, and talismans drawn with its blood possessed the power of a full-strength attack from a cultivator at the twelfth level of Qi Refining. He channeled his Qi into his Dantian, channeling spiritual energy through the brush and pen, creating an ice cone talisman in one stroke. He held the talisman between two fingers and carefully examined it. The fluidity of the lines and the intensity of the spiritual energy fluctuations were both of the highest quality. He then reached outside the cave and activated the talisman, striking a massive rock. With a resounding boom, the rock shattered, its power truly astonishing. A cultivator at the twelfth level of Qi Refining would absolutely need his full attention to withstand such a talisman attack. A cultivator below the ninth level without a superior defensive tool would likely be killed in a single blow.

Liu Xing was very pleased with the power of this talisman. Since it was drawn from the lizard's blood essence, he called it the Lizard Talisman. He estimated its market value to be fifty spirit stones. So, over the next six months, he drew nearly a thousand Lizard Talismans, until the lizard's blood essence was completely consumed.