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

Lu Zaian did not rashly touch the hidden restriction, but instead guided Jiang Tianzhan's scattered fragments of memory one by one and pieced them together.

His consciousness, like a shuttle weaving a net, traveled meticulously and cautiously through the chaotic sea of ​​souls.

About half an incense stick later.

Jiang Tianzhan's cloudy eyes suddenly cleared.

"I...what's wrong with me?"

He looked down blankly at his slightly trembling hands, his fingertips curled up as if trying to grasp something.

"Father?!"

Jiang Feng's tearful call brought him back to reality.

In an instant, the chaos of the past two months and the recent upheavals flooded into my mind like a tidal wave—

Family crisis, personal injury, imprisonment by the Song family, witnessing the Battle of Qinglongjin...

Those images and sounds that he had seen and heard with his own eyes, yet could not understand or react to.

The connection is finally clear.

"The Song family... is destroyed, Feng'er is back..." he murmured, his eyes instantly filling with tears. He suddenly stretched out his arms and hugged his son tightly.

"Feng'er! My Feng'er!"

The father and son embraced, their sobs and whispers mingling as they expressed their relief and grief at surviving the ordeal.

"Cough cough."

Lu Zaian coughed lightly, interrupting their emotional exchange.

Jiang Feng, as if waking from a dream, quickly helped his father up and explained in a low voice:

“Father, it was this Senior Lu who bestowed the spiritual fruit and used his great magic to reshape your soul, which allowed you to regain consciousness. Senior Lu’s Daoist name is [Master of Yunli Mountain].

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tianzhan immediately straightened his robes, bowed deeply to Lu Zaian, and spoke with sincerity and reverence:

"Jiang Tianzhan thanks the Mountain Master for saving his life!"

Although his cultivation level was low, he could clearly sense the aura of the old man in front of him, which was as deep and imposing as a mountain peak, something he had never seen before in his life.

Lu Zaian accepted the bow without hesitation, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke:

"When I was piecing together your memories just now, I discovered that a very subtle restriction had been placed on one of the fragments. Do you recall anything about this?"

"Restricted?"

Jiang Tianzhan was taken aback, and subconsciously shook his head, "I don't know."

Jiang Feng's heart skipped a beat: "What kind of restriction? Could it be... a remnant of the Song family's methods?"

Lu Zaian shook his head:

"If it was the Song family who did it, it would be simple; I could just wipe it off easily."

However, this restriction is quite profound, and even I find it somewhat troublesome. The person who set up this restriction must be at least at the Core Formation stage in cultivation.

"Core Formation?!"

Jiang Feng exclaimed, "Could it be Qingming Zhenren? But when did he...?"

"No."

Lu Zaian denied it again.

“I am familiar with Qingming’s aura. The method of this restriction… is unlike the style of the Northern Sky Region.”

His gaze turned to Jiang Tianzhan.

"So I'm asking you, have you ever come into contact with other Core Formation cultivators? Or do you have any vague memories of them?"

Jiang Tianzhan pondered deeply, but ultimately shook his head:

"I have no recollection of it. I have wasted my life and only reached the Qi Refining stage. How could I possibly have met such a person?"

"It seems that you may have forgotten this restriction, along with the memory it sealed within it."

Lu patted his chin and pondered.

"Mountain Lord, is this restriction harmful to my father?" Jiang Feng asked anxiously.

"Judging from its condition, it has existed for at least several decades without incident. If it weren't for this reshaping of its soul, probably no one would have noticed it."

Lu Zaian said slowly,

"That is precisely why I cannot predict good or bad fortune, and that is why I am asking you for advice."

"I... I really can't remember." Jiang Tianzhan's face also showed confusion and curiosity. "Mountain Lord, can this restriction be lifted?"

"can."

Lu Zaian nodded, but his tone was serious.

"However, along with lifting the seal, I will also gain access to the sealed memories. You need to think this through."

Lu Zaian has his own principles for doing things.

Soul-searching experience – Lu Zaian always used this method only against his enemies.

But he respects the wishes of those who receive assistance.

"Untie it, Mountain Lord."

Jiang Feng and his son exchanged a glance.

They chose to believe Lu Zaian.

Even if the memory truly holds a tremendous secret, even one related to the opportunity to form the Golden Core, repaying the life-saving grace in this way is only right, as they trust the mountain lord's character.

"it is good."

Lu Zaian said no more, closed his eyes slightly, and began to circulate the secret technique of "Ghostly Netherworld Tribulation".

His divine sense once again probed into Jiang Tian's Battle Soul Sea, transforming into an extremely condensed ray of dark light, piercing the memory fragment with the restriction attached like a fine needle.

Suddenly, countless fine and intricate purple runes lit up on that sesame-seed-sized fragment of memory, weaving together into a net to resist the intrusion of external forces!

"Chichi—!"

The ghostly light collided with the purple talisman, producing a subtle yet invisible sizzling sound, as if ice and fire were clashing.

Lu Zaian's consciousness remained as steady as a rock, and the ghostly light suddenly became deeper, like ink drops falling into water, slowly eroding and dissolving those tough runes.

The process was silent yet perilous, a delicate contest between two different levels of spiritual power.

Finally, with a barely audible cracking sound, the purple rune network crumbled and vanished without a trace...

The sealed memories flooded into Lu Zaian's senses like a tidal wave, and simultaneously appeared in Jiang Tianzhan's own mind—

It was a riverside bathed in moonlight, with weeping willows swaying gently. The young Jiang Tianzhan was strolling side by side with a graceful woman, chatting and laughing, their affection evident.

Suddenly, three dark figures appeared like ghosts, seemingly offering the woman some advice.

The woman's gentle aura suddenly changed, and a terrifying magical power soared into the sky, revealing her to be a Core Formation cultivator!

She shielded Jiang Tianzhan behind her and faced three powerful enemies of the same level. Her eyes shone brightly with purple light, and two strange and dazzling purple beams shot out!

Where the beam of light passed, space seemed to distort, and the three Core Formation black figures were forced back by the attack, clearly suffering a hidden loss.

Subsequently.

Without hesitation, the woman once again used her strange pupil technique. The purple light gently enveloped Jiang Tianzhan, who was in a daze due to his injury, sealing his related memories and creating the illusion that he had been attacked by a monster and had died.

Finally, she took one last, deep look at the unconscious Jiang Tianzhan, then her figure transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the horizon.

"What amazing eye technique..."

Lu Zaian felt a chill run down his spine.

The sight of Zi Tong forcing back three Core Formation cultivators with a single strike amazed him.

He was increasingly puzzled: when did Core Formation cultivators become so common?

Judging from the intimate manner between the woman and Jiang Tianzhan, she must be Jiang Feng's mother.

But if Jiang Feng's mother is truly a Core Formation Realm cultivator, how could the Jiang family be just a small Qi Refining clan living in a remote corner?

At this moment, Jiang Tianzhan suddenly clutched his head and let out a low, painful roar:

"Wan'er!"

Countless long-buried emotions and memories surged back, overwhelming his mind and causing his face to turn pale and his body to tremble slightly.

"Father! What's wrong?!" Jiang Feng hurriedly helped him up.

"As expected... she's Jiang Feng's mother?" Lu Zaian realized. "It seems this 'Wan'er' girl's identity is far from simple; at the very least, she's not from the Northern Sky Domain..."

Jiang Tianzhan, who had been experiencing intense emotional turmoil, gradually calmed down.

He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to tell his son the truth.

Feng'er has already established her foundation and is their flesh and blood; she has the right to know all of this.

“Mother…” Jiang Feng was stunned after hearing his father’s account.

After he turned five, he never saw his mother's face again. His father always told him that his mother had unfortunately encountered a powerful monster and died while she was out.

Little did we know there was more to the story.

"So...it's very likely that Mother is still alive?"

A bright light suddenly flashed in Jiang Feng's eyes, and his tone was extremely firm.

"I'm going to find her!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Zaian's eyes twitched almost imperceptibly.

'I'm out of ideas, what kind of cliché fantasy male protagonist script is this?'

A weak father, a mysterious mother, and a seemingly useless child who rises to prominence...

He inwardly grumbled, though it was a family matter, but having already done Jiang Feng a favor, he didn't want to see him act rashly, so he offered his advice:

"Your mother is not from the Northern Sky Domain. She is likely from the Maple Birch Domain or the Clear River Domain, and her background may be related to that."

She chose to seal her memories and fake her death because she didn't want to involve you and your son.

"Your strength is still weak. If you rashly pursue them, and your whereabouts are exposed, it may bring you death, and you will also betray your mother's good intentions."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement and eagerness, and solemnly bowed:

"Thank you for your guidance, Master. It was my oversight."

Today, my father can be cured;

Then I learned that my mother was still alive.

This is already a double celebration.

Jiang Feng secretly memorized his mother's distinctive purple pupil technique, and had already made up his mind:

Once the Jiang family has established a firm foothold in the Tianqing River area and the situation in the southwest region becomes clear, they will set off for the Fenghua Domain!

While honing his skills and improving his cultivation, he secretly inquired about his mother's whereabouts.

The northern airspace is relatively barren, and he is still young and has his own ambition. He should seize that opportunity to improve his strength more quickly!

Lu Zaian observed Jiang Feng's expression and guessed what he was thinking, so he said no more.

Everyone has his own life.

If he hadn't possessed the [Longevity Body], he probably would have already ventured into more prosperous realms.

Why have we ended up like this, confined to a corner, having to be secretive and cautious even when acquiring resources?

However, these days are almost over.

On Su Xuanhuo's side, the optimization experiment of alchemy is progressing very rapidly.

In at most two more months, the jade ore will be able to be forged into the [Yin Yuan Pill].

At that time, a large supply of high-quality second-tier Yin Yuan Pills will be available, like popping candy, greatly increasing his mana accumulation speed.

"By the way, the spiritual item for Core Formation—the [Li Huo Spirit Elixir]—should be prepared for Su Li within the next few years..."

(Jiang Feng will have more plot developments related to the main character later on, so I've expanded on that here.)

In the past, many fantasy novels featured male protagonists experiencing these things, but here the protagonist has an immortality cheat, observes everything from the sidelines, invests in good deeds everywhere, and becomes an observer or a mentor, which makes the story quite unique.

Of course, the story is inevitably clichéd.