Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

Li Ji'an only smiled faintly.

After bidding farewell to Master Jade Pill, Li Ji'an returned to the Spirit Peak, took a short rest, and then took out the talisman materials given to him by the Si Shui Commerce Association.

This batch of talisman materials was planned for a year's supply, which he could complete in eight months. However, the agreement with the Si Shui Commerce Association included an extra four months for travel time. If he traveled alone from Biyun Sect to Celestial River Immortal City, riding a top-quality flying boat at full speed, three months would suffice, leaving him plenty of time.

However, on this journey to Celestial River Immortal City, most of the talismans had already been liquidated, and he had also used up a Flame Talisman and a Tier Three Heavenly Thunder Talisman. Now, he urgently needed trump cards to boost his confidence.

After meticulously nurturing all the talisman materials with magical power one more time, Li Ji'an looked at the room full of high-grade Second Tier talisman materials, feeling a sense of excitement. Since he began making talismans, he had never fought such an affluent battle.

For the next half month, Li Ji'an was almost entirely immersed in talisman drawing.

With the assistance of the Magical Refilling Pill, Li Ji'an skillfully drew six upper-grade talismans and two top-grade ones within half a month.

The six upper-grade talismans were to complete the task.

The two top-grade ones were to supplement his trump card collection.

One was an Ice Talisman, and the other a Thunderfire Talisman. The former had a restraining effect on Demon Cultivators like Xue Ling'Er who wielded Blood Spirit Power, as it could freeze their blood energy, preventing them from operating smoothly.

The latter had a restraining effect on all Yin attribute techniques.

On this day, Gugu finally returned to Spirit Peak after an entire journey using Earth Escape.

Li Ji'an immediately stopped making talismans and followed Gugu down to the underground hideout.

This underground hideout was dug out by Gugu years ago for itself, to transform its bloodline after consuming the Sacred Beast Pill.

Not only was it located within the Spirit Peak's grand array, but Xiaoqiao had also specially gathered the power of the earth to form a barrier, making it hard for outsiders to detect.

"Spit it out!" Li Ji'an first ordered Gugu to spit out Du Haizang, who had only a thread of life left.

This was the matter Li Ji'an was most concerned about at present.

He now clearly knew that a mark had been placed on his Sea of Consciousness by someone, but he did not know who did it or how it was done, and this must be clarified.

Looking at Du Haizang, who was motionless on the ground, Li Ji'an stretched out his hand and infused him with Wood Spiritual Vitality.

Before long, Du Haizang, whose body was almost entirely covered in injuries, opened his eyes in confusion.

"This... you..."

After a while, he finally regained his senses from a near four-month coma.

"You treacherous villain!" He had also realized his own state.

"Is this the conduct of you self-proclaimed righteous cultivators?"

Du Haizang thought he was well concealed, being only a Foundation Establishment late-period cultivator but possessing a Quasi-Gold Corpse Puppet, with True Pill level combat strength, yet he had been thwarted by this seemingly ordinary mid-period Foundation Establishment cultivator.

When he first activated the premium flame talisman of Second Tier late period, he was already somewhat surprised, as per his knowledge of the Celestial Cyan Domain cultivation realm, such talismans were not something that typical mid-period Foundation Establishment cultivators could possess.

Who would have thought he actually had a genuine Tier Three Heavenly Thunder Talisman!

Apart from the direct descendants of the highest levels of the Ten Thousand Laws Palace and the six great sects, he did not believe anyone else of similar cultivation had the opportunity.

"I have never claimed to be righteous!" Li Ji'an smiled faintly.

"Pah!" Du Haizang spat contemptuously, but he didn't even have the strength to spit out saliva.

Li Ji'an collected his smile: "Don't waste time, answer my questions, and I may grant you a quick death."

"Hmph! Don't count on it."

"That's not up to you!" Li Ji'an was too familiar with such situations and immediately stirred his Qi and Blood Power, drilling strands meticulously into Du Haizang's body.

"Ah!"

"Kill me!"

With his Dantian shattered and his cultivation completely crippled, how could Du Haizang withstand Li Ji'an's precise control of Qi and Blood Power?

Before mastering the Soul Searching Secret Technique, this was his unique Great Memory Recovery Technique.

"Who are you? Where do you come from? Why are you here?"

"I am Du Haizang, Quasi-Saint Child of the Corpse Puppet Sect in the Boundless Domain, sent by my master to find and eliminate the murderer of my Master's reared Gold Corpse, and to verify the authenticity of the Core Formation Pill Formula." Du Haizang replied in fear.

"Reared Gold Corpse?" Hearing this, Li Ji'an's expression instantly tensed.

"Is the Liu Family ancestor who practices Demon Technique your master's doing?"

"Yes, yes."

"Who is your master? What is his realm?"

"My master is the Golden Puppet Holy Monarch, at the Early Stage Nascent Soul!" Du Haizang answered under duress from the pain, yet when speaking of his master, he still showed a proud and mocking expression.

"True Monarch's Corpse Cultivation?"

Thump~

Li Ji'an's heart skipped a beat, truly taken by surprise.

He never expected the Liu Family ancestor was actually involved with a Demon Monarch of the Demon Realm.

A Nascent Soul Stage True Monarch, was a figure far beyond his reach, against whom he dared not harbor even the slightest thought of resistance now.

"What on earth is happening?" Li Ji'an's expression grew more solemn.

"I don't know about Master's situation, I was just ordered to come..."

Li Ji'an furrowed his brows, reverse-engineering the connection between the two.

Based on the known information, he deduced that the Liu Family Ancestor started practicing that "Immortal Golden Body Technique" two hundred years ago. Due to insufficient talent in body cultivation, he resorted to the inhumane act of devouring talented martial artists with abundant Qi and Blood Power. Afterward, he further tempered with the Yin Vein...

"Could it be... that the 'Immortal Golden Body Technique' is a ploy by the Golden Puppet Holy Monarch?"

"Raising Gold Corpses? Did he deliberately allow the Liu Family Ancestor to obtain that technique, wait for him to accomplish the practice, then harvest him to refine into a Gold Corpse Puppet?"

"How can he ensure that the Liu Family Ancestor would definitely cultivate to the Golden Body level? Or is it... he spreads a wide net?"

"Surely not few people have obtained that 'Immortal Golden Body Technique' in the Celestial Cyan Domain! Perhaps many Cultivation Realms have had this technique placed in them."

...

In an instant, Li Ji'an figured out the intricacy of this matter and broke into a cold sweat.

"So close!"

He almost couldn't resist cultivating when he first got the technique.

Had it not been for his current cultivation reaching the mid-stage of the second tier body cultivation, along with the future opportunities, he might have started cultivating at that time.

"How did you sense me?" Li Ji'an composed his thoughts and asked again in a deep voice.

"It... it's the Sacred Bone given by Master. He once left an imprint in the sea of consciousness of that fellow from the Liu Family. If anyone destroys his corpse, the imprint will transfer; once the Sacred Bone is activated, it can sense the imprint left by Master."

"How far is the range?"

"My cultivation is insufficient; I can only sense within a hundred zhang."

"How can it be completely removed?"

"Besides Master personally erasing it, the only other way is through death and soul dispersal which can self-dissolve!"

"How many people have come together from the Boundless Domain for this trip?"

"Forty-nine!"

"Tell me about the situation in the Boundless Domain!"

...

-------------

After sealing their vitality and closing their sea of consciousness again, Li Ji'an sat in place with his eyes closed in deep thought.

The Nascent Soul True Monarchs at the pinnacle of the Great Marsh Cultivation Realm made him feel an unprecedented sense of crisis.

Fortunately, now the two domains are mutually vigilant, and the Nascent Soul True Monarch of the Ten Thousand Laws Palace absolutely cannot easily come to the Celestial Cyan Domain.

Otherwise, he would be anxious to rejuvenate on the spot.

"Sacred Bone?" After calming his mind, he remembered Du Haizang and the Blood Spirit Saintess's storage pouch.

There were only three items remaining in Du Haizang's storage pouch.

The first was a top-grade Nether Water Jade Purification Bottle, which had a restraining effect on mid-tier Fire Element Techniques during Foundation Establishment. It had been used in actual combat that day but could only barely resist without overpowering against my second-tier later period premium Flame Talisman.

The second item was a piece of dark jade.

Upon careful inspection, Li Ji'an found that aside from some Yin Sha Qi within, no other use was discovered.

The Yin Sha Qi inside was similar to when Du Haizang had just transformed into a Corpse Puppet.

Li Ji'an deduced that this might be a container for storing corpse energy during the refining of the Corpse Puppet.

After having Little Fire Spirit clean out the remaining corpse energy, the dark jade immediately turned crimson, with some Fire Spirit Power retained within.

This material is clearly not of mundane origin.

The final item was the section of residual bone that Du Haizang mentioned.

The residual bone was dark gold, resembling a rib, containing a powerful aura but free from corpse energy, instead possessing righteous yang and strength.

"Why does activating this bone allow it to sense the mark in my sea of consciousness?" Li Ji'an carefully observed the residual bone for a while but still had no clue.

Then, he tried injecting a thread of Wood Magic Power.

Buzz.

As expected, as soon as he injected a thread of magical power, a faint sense of trance arose in Li Ji'an's sea of consciousness.

Continuing to increase the magical power stimulation, the golden radiance in the sea of consciousness gradually emerged, creating a faint resonance with the residual bone.

He quickly stopped the magical power stimulation, causing the golden radiance mark in the sea of consciousness to settle once again into the depths.

Afterward, he tried many times, trying to find the principle and loopholes of the mark, but found nothing.

"How could I, at my current level, see through the means of a True Monarch?"

"If an ordinary cultivator were marked by a True Monarch's imprint, they likely would have no choice but to await death."