Eternal Life by Daily Divination

A deafening BOOM echoed. The entire array merely trembled slightly, showing absolutely no signs of being broken.

The Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s expression grew increasingly grim.

"Am I truly going to be trapped and left to die here today?" he wondered.

Unwilling to give up, he spat out a massive number of treasures. While resisting the Array Power, he frantically bombarded his surroundings. But it was all in vain. Eventually, his trump cards were exhausted, and he could no longer fend off the array.

The berserk Array Power manifested into a heavy hammer and smashed down with crushing force.

BOOM!

The Fire Cloud Divine Lord vomited a spray of blood. Terrifying cracks fractured across his entire body as he was smashed deep into the earth.

Li Chang’an had pulled his punch for this strike. Otherwise, the Fire Cloud Divine Lord might have been beaten to death right then and there.

"COUGH... COUGH, COUGH..."

The Fire Cloud Divine Lord struggled to fly out of the deep pit. His body swayed as he barely managed to steady himself, his aura having weakened to the absolute extreme. His lips trembled as if he wanted to speak, but he only vomited another mouthful of crimson blood.

"I... I refuse to accept this!" he rasped, staring at Li Chang’an with a mouth full of blood. "If you were truly a peerless powerhouse, it wouldn’t matter if I submitted to you. But you’re just relying on the Array Power! If you didn’t have this array, what right would you have to make me surrender?"

"It seems you haven’t been beaten enough," Li Chang’an said indifferently.

In an instant, he blurred into an afterimage. The very next second, he arrived right in front of the Fire Cloud Divine Lord and threw a vicious punch.

BANG!

The Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s entire body jolted. He was sent flying backward, slamming heavily against the edge of the array. Spitting out several massive mouthfuls of blood, he stared at Li Chang’an in utter disbelief.

"Impossible. You... how are you also an expert in body refining? Why hasn’t your physique mutated at all?"

Through that single punch, he could clearly sense that while Li Chang’an couldn’t compare to him on the Path of Body Refining, his strength far exceeded the Tier Three Limit.

"Who said the Path of Body Refining must inevitably lead to bodily mutation?" Li Chang’an looked at him calmly, his expression aloof. "Fire Cloud, your horizons are too narrow. You cannot see the higher, broader world."

Hearing this, the Fire Cloud Divine Lord trembled all over. In that moment, he finally understood Li Chang’an’s origins. As the master of the entire Fire Cloud Secret Realm, he naturally knew that his domain was not some Cultivation Immortality Realm, but merely a small secret realm.

"Are you someone from the Cultivation Immortality Realm?"

"Indeed."

Upon receiving a positive answer, the unwillingness in the Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s eyes gradually dissipated. He knew very well that the various methods of the Cultivation Immortality Realm far surpassed anything in the Fire Cloud Secret Realm. The array and body refinement were likely only a small fraction of the strength Li Chang’an had revealed.

He struggled to his feet, walked slowly over to Li Chang’an, and dropped to one knee. "I am willing to submit."

"Good."

Li Chang’an nodded slightly and shot out a streak of green light. In the blink of an eye, the Fire Cloud Divine Lord became one of his Wood Seed Puppets.

Li Chang’an inspected his entire body and found that his level of mutation was quite high; certain parts were truly no different from a Demon Beast’s. He extracted the treasures hidden within the Divine Lord’s body and examined them closely. Because of the previous battle, a massive number of treasures had already been ground into dust by the array. Only a very few low-value items remained.

Soon, Li Chang’an found the Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s Body Refining Technique.

[Fire Cloud Immortal Body]

This Body Refining Technique could be cultivated up to the Tier Four Early Stage.

"Cultivating this technique doesn’t require Demon Beast Essence Blood or various Spirit Medicines. It only requires enough Fire Cloud Crystals, making the cultivation process much simpler." Li Chang’an calmed his mind and flipped through it carefully.

His current Body Refining Technique could only be cultivated to the Tier Three Peak. The contents of this manual could give him a little inspiration. Of course, he had no intention of switching to cultivate this technique.

"It’s a pity the side effects are too severe. You’d turn into a complete monster. What would be the point, even if you broke through to Tier Four?" Li Chang’an shook his head slightly, feeling a bit regretful.

The Fire Cloud Divine Lord, however, said, "For supreme power, even turning into a monster is acceptable."

"You just didn’t have a choice," Li Chang’an countered. He was certain that if there had been a better technique, the Fire Cloud Divine Lord naturally wouldn’t have practiced this Fire Cloud Immortal Body.

A short while later.

Li Chang’an retracted the Tier Four Array and utilized the Power of Earth Element to repair the damage caused by the battle. Following that, he arrived in front of the Fire Cloud Divine Hall and began refining the entire structure.

Although the tier of this divine hall had reached Tier Four Low Grade, it was rather mediocre in all aspects. It lacked active offensive capabilities, and its defense couldn’t compare to the Profound Spirit Turtle Shell Li Chang’an wore. To him, only the materials were somewhat decent.

"Once I possess Tier Four Artifact Refining Skills, I’ll extract the Tier Four Materials from this divine hall and refine them into another treasure." Li Chang’an stepped into the divine hall and sat at the highest seat.

His eyes deep and profound, he looked down at the Fire Cloud Divine Lord and began his interrogation. "Fire Cloud, do you know of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty?"

"I do," the Fire Cloud Divine Lord answered honestly.

He told Li Chang’an that the Fire Cloud Divine Hall was actually a treasure of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty. It was just that, back in the day, it hadn’t been called the Fire Cloud Divine Hall, but rather the "Great Jin Immortal Dynasty Fire Cloud Secret Realm Government Office."

"I once heard my ancestors say that the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty is the master of this entire secret realm, and our lineage are merely servants managing the secret realm for the dynasty.

"However, for some unknown reason, the officials of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty suddenly left and never returned to collect the Fire Cloud Crystals..."

The Fire Cloud Divine Lord recounted everything he knew. Many of these matters weren’t recorded in any texts but had been passed down through his lineage generation by generation. After the officials of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty departed, his lineage had completely taken control of the entire secret realm.

Their earliest patriarch had established a rule—they were to continue mining Fire Cloud Crystals but were forbidden from using them casually. All Fire Cloud Crystals had to be stored in the Treasure Vault, reserved for when the Great Jin’s Immortal Envoys came to collect them.

However, as time went by, the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty’s officials never returned. During this period, the Fire Cloud Secret Realm experienced countless upheavals, and the Fire Cloud Divine Hall’s rule was destabilized several times.

At one point, a rebel leader gathered the forces of the entire secret realm and led hundreds of Golden Core experts, fighting their way right outside the Fire Cloud Divine Hall. Left with no choice, the Fire Cloud Divine Lord of that generation was forced to utilize the treasures left behind by the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty to slaughter all the invaders.