Immortality and Cultivation: This old man seeks enlightenment through mere survival.

Time flies, and six months later...

.........

Lu Zaian sat cross-legged in the mine, motionless.

Like a solidified stone sculpture.

In reality, he was focused on deducing the method of crafting second-tier puppets.

In addition, Lu Zaian's powerful spiritual sense enabled him to multitask.

A wisp of divine consciousness was separated, controlling twelve first-tier high-grade wooden crocodile puppets to crawl and traverse through the mine tunnels.

These twelve wooden crocodile puppets.

This is Lu Zaian's masterpiece of the past six months.

Click-clack—bang-bang—!

The Wood Crocodile Puppet crushes the Water Core Stone with its powerful bite force.

Then, like busy little bees, they transported the spiritual objects extracted from the raw stones to Lu Zaian's side.

The twelve wooden crocodile puppets acted simultaneously.

The speed of mining has been greatly increased.

Lu Zaian also received a lot of good things.

Among them was another second-tier spiritual item.

It was a piece of meteorite iron.

Meteorite Iron is incredibly hard and can be used to forge second-tier magic weapons.

Of course, Lu Zaian planned to use it for another purpose.

That is to refine a second-tier puppet!

That's right, Lu Zaian has been exploring for half a year.

Finally, I have gained a basic understanding of how to craft second-tier puppets.

I'm about to try it now.

Lu Zaian took out the carcass of the male crocodile king first.

raging--!!

A deep blue flame ignited in Lu Zaian's left palm, as ethereal and dreamlike as water.

This is the "Innate True Fire" that only Foundation Establishment cultivators can possess.

Regardless of the spiritual root attribute of a cultivator, they can possess innate true fire after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

This greatly facilitated Foundation Establishment cultivators in studying their skills.

Alchemy, weapon crafting, puppetry, array plates, and so on... all require the use of flames for crafting.

Otherwise, Lu Zaian would have to find a place with earth fire, or buy high-grade spirit fire charcoal...

"However, I can not only use innate true fire, but I can also transform my qi and blood into flames."

Suddenly, a crimson flame rose from Lu Zaian's right palm, ferocious and bloody.

This is the Qi and Blood Transformation Flame Technique for Foundation Establishment Body Cultivation.

"By combining two elements, I can create my own path in the art."

Qi and blood transforming into flames is suitable for refining flesh and blood.

The innate true fire is suitable for refining spiritual plants and spiritual ores.

Lu Zaian first used his Qi and Blood to transform into flames and refine the corpse of the male crocodile king.

To restore joint mobility to a previously stiff corpse.

And to unleash the lingering malevolent energy within the corpse.

The next step is to use innate true fire to melt the meteorite iron into molten iron and then refine it into the male crocodile king's body.

This makes its scales and flesh even harder.

Then, various first-tier spiritual materials are added as aids, and two different flames are used in rotation to refine it for forty-nine days!

.........

Forty-nine days later.

A powerful and ferocious crocodile king puppet lay silently on the ground.

It looked exactly like the Wood Crocodile King when it was alive, only its aura was more profound...

"It's finally done!"

The Crocodile King Puppet is a second-tier low-grade puppet.

Although he cannot use demonic power.

His powerful physique alone was enough to put him on par with a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

Lu Zaian did not intend to turn the other female crocodile carcass into a puppet, as there was no suitable second-tier spiritual object available.

On the contrary, the spiral horn, crocodile teeth, and scales on the corpse are all good materials for refining magical artifacts.

Selling them would earn you over two thousand spirit stones...

"The puppetry technique has reached the second-tier low-grade level and cannot be improved for the time being."

It's time to improve other aspects...

.........

in the following time.

In addition to cultivating his magical power every day, Lu Zaian also began to study alchemy and formations.

Another year has passed in the blink of an eye...

Lu Zaian raised both his alchemy and formation skills to the first-tier high grade.

The reason why it cannot break through to the second tier.

That's because there weren't any suitable second-tier spiritual items for Lu Zaian to practice with.

At the same time, the Shuixin raw stone mine has been almost completely depleted!

Besides acquiring two more second-tier spiritual items, the rest were all first-tier spiritual items.

There's no room for improvement in my skills...

I never expected that in the end my puppetry skill would actually reach the second tier.

Alchemy and formations are actually top-grade first tier…

Deep in the mine.

The space was illuminated by the luminous stones.

Lu Zaian kept his aura contained and sat cross-legged on a rock.

Beside him, there was nothing but a pill furnace, a pile of array plates, and a pile of discarded spiritual materials.

He is a person who can endure loneliness.

Enjoy yourself when it's time to enjoy yourself.

He can also patiently practice asceticism when necessary.

Now that he can no longer improve his skills, Lu Zaian is left with only cultivation.

In terms of techniques.

Lu Zaian was still cultivating the first-tier, mid-grade "Azure Wave Source Notes".

He can no longer keep up with Lu Zaian's cultivation progress.

No matter how Lu Zaian refined the spiritual power, his liquid mana could not increase by a single drop!

Fortunately, after Lu Zaian broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, his body's tolerance to the Xuanbing Han Chongshui improved significantly.

Over the course of nearly two years, Lu Zaian refined another ten drops of Xuanbing Hanzhong Water.

Although his total mana has not increased, it remains at one hundred drops of liquid mana.

However, its power has been greatly enhanced.

Every drop of liquid magic contains a sinister and chilling poison, and is as heavy as a mountain, carrying immense power!

"It's just that the cultivation technique is too rubbish; it needs to be changed..."

Lu Zaian did not have any water-based cultivation techniques suitable for him.

The only top-grade level 3 cultivation technique, "Extreme Spirit Yin Sha Technique".

It was still the ice-based cultivation technique left to him by Han Xiangzi.

Lu Zaian also took it out and studied it over the past year.

He originally intended to draw inspiration from the "Extreme Spirit Yin Sha Technique" to create a second-tier water-based cultivation method suitable for his own practice.

Unfortunately, Lu Zaian's knowledge and experience were still a bit too shallow for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Lu Zaian has not yet reached the level to create his own cultivation techniques.

Therefore, Lu Zaian also decided to return to Huangze City to find higher-level cultivation techniques.

In addition, it allows one to acquire second-tier spiritual resources and advance their alchemy and formation skills to the second tier as well.

Judging by the time, Lu Zaian has been away from the auction, leaving the city and entering the marshland until now.

It has been more than two years.

Before leaving the city of Huangze.

Lu Zaian was just a minor Qi Refining cultivator, and his little bit of fame was only known in the outer city.

And now.

Lu Zaian took stock of his gains and found that he had gradually become more powerful and capable without realizing it.

First, both the physical body and the Dharma body are established, increasing combat power.

Then comes the evolution of the Longevity Body, which possesses the Dao of Change and stronger healing power.

On the surface, his alchemy skills have reached the first-tier superior level.

Secretly, he is also a first-tier high-grade array master and a second-tier low-grade puppeteer.

There's also Xiao Yi, who's in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

In terms of wealth... even disregarding the third and fourth-tier spiritual items obtained in the Black Soil Mountain Secret Realm, it's still comparable to that of an ordinary mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator...

That day, Lu Zaian summoned Xu Yan'er.

Xu Yan also gained a lot during the process of mining the raw stones from the water's core.

His cultivation level has now broken through to the sixth level of Qi Refining.

Lu Zaian instructed:

"There's no point in staying here any longer, Yan'er. Pack your things and get ready to go back to the city..."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yan'er's eyes lit up, revealing an expectant look.

She was not Lu Zaian after all, even if she was determined to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage and revitalize her family.

But so far from human habitation, he spent two years cultivating alone in a mine on a small island.

Xu Yan'er still couldn't quite handle it.

Humans, after all, possess social attributes.

Unless one truly cultivates to become an immortal, one cannot live without a group.

Now that she heard that she could finally return to Huangze City, she was overjoyed.