Chapter 12: Gaining Some Renown

Since twenty-eight years ago, when Guagua unexpectedly developed a soul-shielding ability after devouring tens of thousands of parasitic soul ants and ascending to the late first stage, his spiritual awareness had been impossible to detect. Whenever any soul-related presence touched him, it would pass by as if naturally repelled.

Moreover, over the years—especially during the first few years of his second life when he had just entered the Yan family and was raising the queen ant in the depths of the wilderness according to Li Ji’an’s teachings—countless parasitic soul ants born each year became his meals, steadily enhancing this ability. Even now, with spiritual awareness comparable to mid-foundation building stage, he could not sense so much as a trace even if the presence was right behind him. And at this very moment, that being was deeply hidden thirty feet underground!

“A divine favored one? Or some other mysterious divine phenomenon I don’t understand?”

“Was Grandma You’s adoption of him accidental, or was it because of this divine trait?”

“His reluctance to bring Xiao Qiao along to the sect—was it due to a premonition of not escaping unscathed, or fear of being discovered for his divine power?”

In an instant, countless thoughts flooded Li Ji’an’s mind.

“Xiao Qiao, can you see it?” Calming himself, Li Ji’an approached the courtyard and cautiously asked.

Xiao Qiao looked up slightly and then nodded.

“Where is it now?” Li Ji’an commanded Guagua through their spiritual pet contract to move beneath the neighboring courtyard.

Xiao Qiao’s gaze immediately shifted.

“And now?”

After several tests, everything was confirmed. During this process, Li Ji’an fully opened his spiritual awareness, leaving no trace of energy unchecked, but he sensed no soul power from Xiao Qiao. Nor did he find any abnormalities in her not yet fully developed dantian.

“Then…”

Just as he was about to continue probing, terror suddenly flashed in Xiao Qiao’s eyes, and she instinctively moved away.

“Calm down, Xiao Qiao. Uncle means no harm.” He stopped probing right away.

“Guagua~” He called Guagua out.

“Gua~” The moment Guagua emerged from underground, a rare smile appeared on Xiao Qiao’s face.

“Big toad.” She reached out to touch Guagua.

“Gua~” Guagua immediately turned his back on her, rolling his eyes in a very human-like manner.

Li Ji’an laughed and patted Guagua’s head. “He’s not a big toad; he’s a big frog named Guagua.”

“Guagua.” Xiao Qiao called softly again.

“Gua~” This time Guagua reluctantly turned around.

Li Ji’an left them alone and returned to his cultivation chamber.

When Grandma You came to bid farewell today, he had just consolidated the ninth level of Qi Refining and was preparing to try crafting a late first-stage teleportation talisman with richer, purer magical power.

His reason for prioritizing the teleportation talisman was its unparalleled escape utility.

Back in the Yan family’s herb garden days, Yan Kongyi’s self-made early first-stage minor teleportation talisman could instantly transport dozens of miles, which had long made Li Ji’an envious.

However, in the cultivation world, with various escape techniques, qi manipulation, flying artifacts, as well as spiritual awareness tracking and soul sensing, dozens of miles were far from enough.

But the late-stage teleportation talisman Li Ji’an aimed to make now was sufficient for escaping from Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Even the low-grade version could instantly travel three hundred miles.

The talisman material required a top-grade Lixuan branch, costing ninety spirit stones just for materials—quite expensive.

If he hadn’t spent six years thoroughly studying and improving the talisman arts inherited from Yan Kongyi, he wouldn’t have dared to use such materials for practice.

However, because Xiao Qiao unsettled his mood, he didn’t continue; his mental state affected not only cultivation but all his craft.

He carefully stored the talisman materials and settled his mind.

After a long moment, he exhaled slowly, his mood gradually restored.

Feeling the stabilized ninth-level Qi Refining magic power within him brought comfort and silent admiration.

From his past life’s first steps into cultivation to now, stabilizing the ninth level of Qi Refining, he had a deeper understanding of the hardships involved.

Especially after hearing some ancient legends over the years, he longed for the ancient times.

It was said that many relics unearthed recently indicated that in the ancient era, the laws of heaven and earth were natural and perfect. Human cultivators, even without extraordinary aptitude or heavenly favor, could absorb spiritual energy and refine magic power just like now, but with the assistance of Dao luck, and the spiritual energy’s attributes were different. They barely needed many external objects; simply absorbing spiritual energy to refine magic power was effective both in speed and potency.

Nowadays, ignoring the two bottlenecks in the Qi Refining stage, cultivators with the same spiritual root, conditions, and cultivation method had drastically different outcomes depending on whether they had medicinal supplements.

If he hadn’t had enough medicinal aid over the past six years, he might barely have broken through to the eighth level of Qi Refining.

The key point was that quality of pills also affected magic power and potential.

If he only took authentic or mid-grade pills, considering tolerance and pill toxicity, he probably wouldn’t have reached his current level.

Fortunately, his soul was strong, aptitude exceptional, and his pill-making skill barely sufficient.

But as a result, he had hardly saved any spirit stones in six years.

Fortunately, now that he had stabilized the ninth level, further consolidation no longer required large amounts of top-grade pills, so he could start saving spirit stones again little by little.

Accumulating materials for Foundation Establishment pills.

After a while, he opened the talisman scrolls he had drawn over the past few years.

The seven mid-stage talismans he had when leaving the Yan family were sold at other workshops; now only five remained.

One was a late-stage top-grade Golden Blade talisman, capable of unleashing an all-out attack with peak metal-element magic power at Qi Refining’s summit. Compared to Yan Hongsheng’s clan peak level, it could almost instantly break through magical shields and injure the body.

One was a mid-stage top-grade teleportation talisman, capable of instant escape over a hundred miles, which he planned to replace with the late-stage teleportation talisman once completed.

One was a late-stage premium freezing talisman—the only late-stage premium talisman he had in six years. It was relatively simple and based on many basic cold wind talismans he had drawn before. Once activated, it could freeze a target within a ten-foot radius. Depending on the strength of the target’s protective shield, it could freeze Yan Hongsheng’s level of shield for three breaths, then continue to slow them down.

One was a late-stage top-grade Golden Bell talisman, stronger than the Golden Blade talisman’s one-hit attack.

The last was a late-stage top-grade Water Curtain talisman, capable of area defense and trapping enemies. He mainly wanted to compare it with a similar talisman used by a clan cultivator who brought them to this cultivation world years ago, which was probably a late-stage low-grade talisman.

These five talismans replaced the previous seven core talismans, making the Qi Refining stage nearly worry-free.

“Now I should have enough magic power to craft second-stage talismans, but unfortunately, I have no second-stage inheritance,” Li Ji’an said with slight disappointment as he stored the talismans.

Higher-stage talismans had greater power and value. Second-stage talismans, known for offensive prowess and ease of concealment, were regarded as strategic assets among factions and were hard to obtain.

By nightfall, Li Ji’an went out and saw Xiao Qiao playing happily with Guagua.

In seven years of knowing her, this was the first time he saw Xiao Qiao smile so joyfully.

Li Ji’an decided to have Guagua accompany Xiao Qiao back next door as a personal guard.

A month passed in a flash, but Grandma You still hadn’t returned.

That day, Li Ji’an received a message from Yan Qingwan.

Over six years, Yan Qingwan had occasionally sent messages, now proactively describing the chaotic situation in the wilderness and confirming Li Ji’an’s timely departure was wise.

She also revealed the cause of the great turmoil in the wilderness.

Back then, the Zheng family had the strong support of the Liu family, which enabled them to decisively open the war.

Initially, the Zheng family almost fought alone against seven families. Since the seven were wary in advance, after hitting the weakest family, the other six quickly joined in.

The first battle nearly caused great losses to the Zheng family, but at the crucial moment, a second-stage illusion array saved them.

Later, with a single second-stage killing array, they annihilated two Foundation Establishment ancestors from other families.

Now the Zheng family occupied three second-stage spiritual vein territories and, relying on the Liu family’s formations, had a balanced relationship with the other five families.

Yan Qingwan said the situation was gradually stabilizing.

Li Ji’an furrowed his brow.

The Liu family’s formation deployment seemed aimed at ultimately controlling the wilderness.

Otherwise, with their family’s strength, assisting the Zheng family to wipe out the other seven families would be no problem.

Now, they appeared to be deliberately letting the Zheng family and others wear each other down.

Shaking his head, Li Ji’an dismissed further thoughts.

What he could imagine, the other families in the wilderness could as well, even the Zheng family.

How things would ultimately develop was hard to say.

However, this move by the Liu family made Li Ji’an more suspicious that they were the family who once bred blood slaves.

The Immortal Bestowed Dynasty’s northern border beyond the sandstorm zone was the wilderness. If the Liu family occupied the wilderness, they would be even closer to the dynasty.

Three months later.

Grandma You still had not returned.

That day, Li Ji’an took Xiao Qiao out to buy daily necessities.

“Master Li, going out?”

“Master Li!”

“Greetings, Master Li!”

For several consecutive years, Li Ji’an had ranked among the top alchemists, gaining considerable fame in the Immortal City.

Along the way, many greeted him.

Of course, his fame was still only minor within the Qi Refining stage.

There were benefits. Two years ago, a merchant guild that specialized in auctions once commissioned him to prepare special pills for an auction and invited him to attend several auctions.

This broadened his horizons and completely extinguished any thoughts of buying Foundation Establishment pills on the market.

According to that merchant guild, good Foundation Establishment pills never appeared at auctions, and if they did, prices were exorbitantly high.

Genuine top-grade pills increased the success rate of Foundation Establishment by 20%, mid-grade by 30%, but this 10% difference caused a near doubling of price, truly reflecting the cultivation world’s fierce competition for the slightest chance at immortality.

Therefore, his plans for Foundation Establishment cultivation boiled down to two paths: first, refining the pills himself, with the biggest problem being insufficient alchemical fire.

The other was finding a second-stage alchemist to help craft them.

But both paths required rare herbs. According to the auction house, although Foundation Establishment pill materials were scarce, they were not impossible to obtain for lower-level cultivators.

Later, Li Ji’an confirmed this with Zhao Shuyao, who affirmed it.

However, prices were still high.

She also comforted him not to rush the pill material problem and to focus on cultivation until Tong Yaoyao returned from the guild headquarters trial.

It was then Li Ji’an learned that Tong Yaoyao’s clan guild was not in the Tian Cang Domain but in another cultivation domain to the far northwest, isolated beyond the Lost Forest.

After finishing their shopping with Xiao Qiao, they stopped by the Peaceful Inn.

He sat in the same corner as before.

The difference was that now, occasionally, others came to socialize.

After half a day, the cultivator who had spoken of the spiritual flames near the eastern Fire Mountain precipice over two years ago still had not appeared.

“This should rule out the possibility of deliberate entrapment,” Li Ji’an felt relieved.

Though that person had just mentioned it casually, Li Ji’an had since scoured nearly all ancient texts in Immortal City related to the spiritual flames.

He even spent a hundred spirit stones buying intelligence reports on the flames.

Spiritual flames had existed since ancient times and still persisted.

It was said that the third-stage pill king of the Wanfa Palace in Tianyuan Prefecture had fused a spiritual flame into their dantian.

According to the records, spiritual flames were the spirits of heaven and earth.

More precisely, they were the transformed essence of fire-element holy spirits born of the world’s natural forces.

They possessed the traits of fire-element holy spirits but lacked their intelligence, making them immortal and indestructible.

Discovered accidentally by ancient alchemists as cultivatable within the dantian, when refining pills, their divine power was far closer to the world’s spiritual mechanism than ordinary fire-element pill fire, making them precious and sought-after by alchemists.

Though devoid of intelligence, spiritual flames still followed a nature of seeking benefit and avoiding harm and belonged to the spirits of heaven and earth, roaming mountains and great veins, making encounters rare.

The good news was that ancient alchemists, after countless attempts, found a method to capture spiritual flames using a containment talisman that isolated spiritual energy—a mid-stage talisman sufficed.

Li Ji’an had practiced the containment talisman over the years and successfully crafted several.

Returning home that day, his communication talisman vibrated.

Xiao Changfeng finally replied.

Two years ago, upon hearing of the spiritual flames, Li Ji’an had been intrigued.

But fearing a trap and unfamiliarity with the area, he hesitated.

Once, during a conversation with Xiao Changfeng, he learned that Xiao’s hometown was nearby, so he mentioned that if he ever went back, they could go together.

With disciples from the Blue Cloud Sect accompanying, there would be fewer troubles.

Xiao Changfeng’s reply stated he had just returned from training in the northern Da Ze mountain range and planned to visit his hometown soon, inviting Li Ji’an to join.

Over the years, Xiao Changfeng had advanced to late Qi Refining three years earlier than Li Ji’an but delayed further progress to accumulate contributions for Foundation Establishment pill exchange, leading to only reaching ninth level last year.

With superior spiritual roots and frequent dueling to hone magic power, his cultivation progress had nearly been matched by Li Ji’an.

However, his dueling experience far surpassed Li Ji’an’s.

Without his trump cards, Li Ji’an might not defeat him.

Of course, this referred to situations without external tools; with artifacts or secret techniques, it would be different.

“Uncle Li, dinner’s ready.” That evening, Xiao Qiao prepared a sumptuous late-night meal with Guagua.

They had bought the beast meat in Immortal City that day, and Li Ji’an had taught her how to braise it.

Since having Xiao Qiao, Guagua was well-fed, and while she cooked, he helped out, creating a harmonious scene.

Two months later, Grandma You still had not returned.

One day, after eighteen years apart, Xiao Changfeng finally stood before Li Ji’an once more.