Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age

Even if we're broke, the sect wouldn't press Lu Chang'sheng for repayment just because of this second-grade early-stage magical artifact.

In fact, they'd love for Lu Chang'sheng to not pay it back—it'd be another favor they could call on.

Once you reach Foundation Establishment Realm, the Immortal Contract you signed earlier doesn't carry much weight anymore. The main constraint of this low-grade contract is the jump from Qi Cultivation to Foundation Establishment. Once everyone's made that leap, there's not much holding you back.

At most, it'd be for the next Great Realm advancement.

But that means the person has reached late Foundation Establishment, and cultivators at that stage are already a threat to a small Domain Immortal Sect like Good Beast Sect. Normally, they'd bend over backwards to appease you, terrified you'll leave. They wouldn't dare bring up the topic of a minor magical artifact.

In short, Lu Chang'sheng has already become Good Beast Sect's prized treasure.

The magical artifact Lu Chang'sheng picked was a pretty standard sword-type artifact, called the Separation Fire Sword.

Perfectly suited for an alchemist like him who loves playing with fire.

Pair it with Sword Control Technique, and it's a match made in heaven.

"It's not always better to know more magic. Even the most gifted have limited energy."

Sword Control Technique is an Escape Technique—great for fighting and fleeing. Even at late Foundation Establishment, it won't lose its value.

Tiger Flood Dragon Technique is a Body Technique, boosting his combat strength significantly.

Then there's Spiritual Needle for Divine Sense. This spell is only top-grade, but since it deals with spiritual sense, its tier isn't as strictly limited as other magics. As long as your basic spiritual sense is strong enough, even at the Foundation stage, it can pack a punch.

Last is the Immortal Technique—the Cyan Essence Immortal Technique.

This spell comes from Heaven-Burning Valley, a Nascent Soul lineage. Maybe it's not their core technique, but it's at least on par with the sect-defending Immortal Technique of a sect like Good Beast Sect. At the Foundation stage, it's still perfectly usable. No need to swap it out.

Good Beast Sect's Door Guardian Immortal Technique is called 'Beast Essence Technique,' a Golden Core technique you can cultivate up to the Golden Core stage.

Lu Shanshi hesitated to switch cultivations for good reason.

There are definitely upsides to switching to Beast Essence Technique. First, it's a complete set—you won't need to switch techniques again when advancing to Golden Core.

Plus, thanks to his status in Good Beast Sect, he'd have no trouble getting all the chapters except the Golden Core one—the Foundation Establishment and Qi Cultivation Chapters come easy.

But there are drawbacks too.

Magical power gained from Beast Essence Technique isn't as robust as Cyan Essence Immortal Technique.

In the Spirit Realm, there's a strict rule for switching techniques—switching down keeps the lower-level power, switching up still keeps the lower-level power.

Take Beast Essence Technique and Cyan Essence Immortal Technique: the quality of Cyan Essence Immortal Technique is definitely higher than Beast Essence Technique.

So, if you switch to Beast Essence Technique, it means the magical power cultivated by Cyan Essence Immortal Technique in Lu Chang'sheng's body will have leftovers, and when that happens, the excess simply disperses away.

Of course, some cultivators seize the chance to channel that leftover power, creating a clone outside their body—basically a bonus combatant.

If someone switched from Beast Essence Technique to Cyan Essence Immortal Technique, that's switching up—the magical power from Beast Essence Technique gets converted to Cyan Essence Immortal Technique power, but you'll lose magical power rank, and your realm drops.

So switching techniques is super troublesome—if you don't have to, no one does it.

Next, what happens after advancing to Golden Core?

If you don't have a Nascent Soul-level Immortal Technique, you'll just have to switch to a higher-tier technique anyway, wasting time and effort. Might not be any better than focusing on Cyan Essence Immortal Technique.

Most importantly, the more you switch, the heavier the toll on your cultivation.

Even if the records in Good Beast Immortal Sect don't spell it out, Lu Chang'sheng isn't about to test that the hard way.

"Of all the Immortal Techniques I've encountered, Cyan Essence Immortal Technique is definitely the best. No need to swap to anything else."

"As for the Golden Core Chapter of Cyan Essence Immortal Technique, I'll check Heaven-Burning Valley or maybe the major domains later. If that fails, I'll look for an alternative high-quality Immortal Technique. That could work."

"But first, I have to build up strong enough power."

Lu Chang'sheng wasn't about to stumble blindly forward. Foundation Establishment may be a big deal in a Small Domain, but out in the major domains, it's barely enough to get noticed.

······

A few days later, a Foundation Establishment battle erupted in Good Beast Immortal City.

The magical power fluctuations were so intense, you could feel them even through the Mountain Guardian Spirit Array.

The bursts came and went quickly; by the time Lu Chang'sheng soared to the Mountain Gate, the fight was already over.

That evening, he headed to the main peak and found Yan Yu and the others beaming with pride.

This ambush was a resounding success—they killed two lone Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivators in Good Beast Immortal City.

With Yan Yu and another mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator there, they caught the enemy completely off guard and came out on top.

That ambush made everyone in Good Beast Immortal Sect feel like it was New Year's.

These days, most disciples were forced to hunker down inside the Mountain Guardian Spirit Array. No way their morale hadn't suffered.

Now the higher-ups took down two enemy Foundation cultivators, and everyone could breathe a little easier—the mood improved a lot.

Still, anyone with half a brain knew things couldn't go on like this; otherwise, the sect wouldn't last much longer.

Some sharp-minded disciples were already mentally prepping themselves for what to do if the mountain's spirit array broke.

Lu Chang'sheng felt some anxiety too, but as one of the only three Foundation cultivators in the Alchemy Institute, he knew a few things behind the scenes, so he managed to keep his cool.

"You don't need to worry so much. The Mountain Guardian Spirit Array is linked to the spirit vein beneath us. As long as the spirit vein doesn't run dry, it won't weaken. Good Beast Sect's spirit vein is the top second-tier vein in Guangnan Domain. It'll take at least fifty years to deplete it."

In the Alchemy Institute, Sect Leader Yan Yu consoled Lu Chang'sheng.

After their successful ambush, Yan Yu immediately moved to calm everyone, starting with the Alchemy Institute—the sect's prized asset.

The Institute produces pills; it's the lifeblood of any Immortal Sect. If the Institute collapses, the sect collapses.

And as the strongest second-grade alchemist besides Dean Huang Yun, Lu Chang'sheng was now sitting in a place of honor, ranking just below Huang Yun and Yan Yu.

Zhong Mountain looked on and sighed.

How long had it been since he'd competed with Lu Chang'sheng for the Little Fire Cloud Beast? Now, Lu Chang'sheng was sitting above him.

Just goes to show, you shouldn't compare yourself to others—it'll drive you crazy.

Zhong Mountain was lucky—he didn't lose his life at Purple Ice Lake.

The Alchemy Institute's other Foundation cultivator, Wu Feng, wasn't so lucky.

He Feng gazed at Lu Chang'sheng chatting happily with the sect bigshots, a complicated look in his eyes.

"Fellow Daoist Lu is now leagues ahead of you. For now, he's the one the sect needs to rely on. Don't overthink it."

After the gathering, Huang Yun pulled He Feng aside for a private chat.

During the Purple Ice Lake mission, He Feng failed to break into Foundation Establishment, leaving him disappointed. Meanwhile, Lu Chang'sheng advanced and showed exceptional talent in the Alchemy Dao. Even though Huang Yun favored He Feng, there was nothing he could do.

"In the future, make sure to get along with him. Don't let him get the wrong idea."

He Feng winced inside, feeling his heart clench a little.