"Those bastards! They actually captured so many cultivators just to turn them into corpse puppets!"

"It's absolutely disgusting!"

Lin Chang'sheng stared at the forty-three corpse puppets, sighing to himself. If only the two Foundation Establishment disciples of Yanyue Immortal Sect hadn't been here just now, he could've captured the souls of the three Corpse King Sect disciples and stuffed them into the Myriad Souls Banner!

What a pity.

No soul capturing before, so now their souls have scattered.

"Alright, let's find another spot and max out my array experience points first!"

Lin Chang'sheng made up his mind, packed up all his stuff, and shot off at high speed.

Soon after.

Lin Chang'sheng arrived at a mountain peak fifty li away, whipped out an array practice kit, and started grinding for experience points again.

Three days passed.

[Five Elements Array—Perfection]

[Cloud Mist Array—Perfection]

[Tiger Killing Array—Perfection]

[Illusionary Array—Perfection]

"Finally perfected! The effort these past few days was totally worth it!"

Lin Chang'sheng saw the red notification pop up on his system panel and couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.

[Detected: Perfection-level arrays Five Elements Array, Illusionary Stone Collection Array, Cloud Mist Array, Tiger Killing Array, and Illusionary Array. You can spend 10 Spirit Stones to fuse them into a new array. Would you like to fuse?]

Just then, a red notification popped up again on Lin Chang'sheng's panel.

"Fuse!"

Lin Chang'sheng instantly clicked 'confirm'.

[Great Dao is Simple: Fuse Perfection-level arrays (Five Elements Array, Illusionary Stone Collection Array, Cloud Mist Array, Tiger Killing Array, Illusionary Array) in progress... Fusion successful... Acquired Array: Tiger Killing Death Array!]

Lin Chang'sheng confirmed it—after less than a moment, another red notification popped up.

"Tiger Killing Death Array?"

Seeing the finalized array, Lin Chang'sheng's eyes lit up.

From the name alone, it sounded badass—he wondered how powerful it really was?

At the same time...

A surging stream of information poured into Lin Chang'sheng's mind, merging instantly with his consciousness.

It was the array formation method for the Tiger Killing Death Array!

Tiger Killing Death Array: Powered by Spirit Stones, the souls of five fierce tigers form the core. The five tiger souls persist endlessly, crazily tearing and biting at anyone trapped inside, forcing them into constant defense until their magical power is exhausted and they die!

"Damn, this array is crazy. If I set it up in my West Garden Elixir Shop, it'll add another layer of protection. Plus, I can keep collecting arrays, fuse them in, and keep powering up my Tiger Killing Death Array!"

Reading through the layout and effects, Lin Chang'sheng's eyes shone with anticipation.

.......

Celestial Lake City.

The east side.

A huge expanse of interconnected great halls, all towering and grand—luxurious in every way. This was the main territory of Celestial Lake City's largest clan, the Dugu Family.

In the highest great hall of the Dugu Family...

An old man in green, about fifty years old and at the peak of Qi Refining Ninth Layer, sat cross-legged on a pillow, eyes shut in cultivation.

Just then, a middle-aged man about forty rushed in, bowed deeply at the hall's entrance, and said, "Father, both the Wang and Jiang families have spent a fortune inviting Zhang Han—Alchemist Zhang—from Celestial Lake Marketplace, as their special guest alchemist to refine elixirs for their families!"

"The pills made by Alchemist Zhang blow ours out of the water, to the point that it's seriously impacting our medicine sales!"

"Looks like the Wang and Jiang families can't stand being left out anymore!"

Old Dugu Cheng narrowed his eyes as he opened them, voice heavy, "Feng'er, here's what you should do. You go invite Alchemist Zhang to refine medicine for our Dugu Family too—make him our official guest alchemist!"

"What salary should we offer him, Dad?"

Dugu Feng asked.

He'd found out that the Wang and Jiang families had paid a hefty price to get Alchemist Zhang to make pills for them.

"What salary?"

Dugu Cheng snorted, "If he's just selling pills at Celestial Lake Marketplace, we're fine with that. But by refining elixirs for the Wang and Jiang Families, he's shaking up the power balance among the clans here in Celestial Lake City. Making him refine pills for us is giving him a way out—if he doesn't know what's good for him, well, tough luck."

"Understood, Father!"

Dugu Feng nodded, turned, and left.

......

Celestial Spirit Mountain Range.

A thousand-zhang tall peak.

Halfway up the mountain was a crack—inside, a stone cave about five zhang wide.

A young man, maybe twenty, handsome and steady-looking, sat cross-legged with a little white fox snoozing at his side.

This youth was none other than Lin Chang'sheng.

After fusing the Tiger Killing Death Array, Lin Chang'sheng set up a cave mansion here, planning to train hard for a while—tempering the magical power in his dantian and seeing if he could break through to Foundation Establishment!

After all...

His Cultivation Experience Points were already at their peak—just a little bit more and he'd break through.

"Let's do some cultivation and see what happens!"

Lin Chang'sheng took out an Essence Pill and swallowed it, then grabbed a Spirit Stone in each hand and started circulating the Five Elements Pure Yang Technique, silently drawing in the surging spiritual energy.

The spiritual power from the Spirit Stones and Essence Pill was absorbed by the Five Elements Pure Yang Technique, steadily transforming into magical power in his dantian.

At this moment—

Lin Chang'sheng felt like his dantian was a container, already pushed to its limit. But he kept running the Five Elements Pure Yang Technique, letting waves of magical power scour his meridians and dantian!

With the technique in action, Lin Chang'sheng noticed—at this point in his cultivation, the Five Elements Pure Yang Technique was slowly expanding and strengthening his meridians!

The growth was slow, barely noticeable unless you paid close attention.

"Keep cultivating—does it really work?"

Seeing this, Lin Chang'sheng's eyes lit up—hope flooding in.

The Spirit Stones in his hands turned to ash, so he pulled out two more and kept running the Five Elements Pure Yang Technique.

......

Time ticked by.

In the blink of an eye, half a month went by.

One day, inside Lin Chang'sheng's closed-off cave...

A massive aura exploded outward!

The overwhelming pressure shook stones loose from the cave's walls, sending rocks raining down. The little white fox, startled, darted into the corner and started squeaking, "Ying ying ying!"

"Finally broke through to Foundation Establishment! Hell yes!"

Lin Chang'sheng leaped to his feet, staring at his own hands—eyes blazing with excitement.

Now, his dantian felt like a boundless ocean—his magical power had gone from a misty state to liquid, and the space in his dantian had expanded almost ten times over!

And his Divine Sense was now ten times stronger than it was in the Qi Refinement Stage.

Once he spread his Divine Sense, everything within a dozen li was instantly laid bare—nothing could hide from his 'sight'.

"Looks like it's all thanks to Heaven and Earth Qi. With a Flawless Dao Foundation, I can break through without even needing a Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Lin Chang'sheng murmured.

[Great Dao is Simple: Cultivation level advanced—panel refresh!]

Just then, a red notification popped up on Lin Chang'sheng's system panel.

"Huh? Panel refresh?!"

Seeing the alert, Lin Chang'sheng's eyes went wide. He remembered last time the panel refreshed—it was when he first formed a trace of magical power. What new changes would come with this breakthrough?

With a thought, Lin Chang'sheng opened his panel.

[Great Dao is Simple: Foundation Establishment Level]

[Lin Chang'sheng: 21/257]

[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Stage (First Layer 1/1000)]

[Cultivation Technique: Five Elements Pure Yang Technique (Perfection), Golden Bell Shield 11th Level (15618998/15625000), Barbarian Blood Technique (Sixth Transformation Perfection)]

[Magic: Taiyin Formless Slash (Perfection), Meteor Fire Rain (Perfection)]

[Light Body Technique: Wind and Thunder Movement (Perfection), Bone Transformation Technique (Perfection)]

[Alchemy: Divine Essence Pill (Perfection), Foundation Establishment Pill (Perfection)]

[Spend a certain amount of Spirit Stones to simplify techniques, spells, divine powers, etc.]

[Status: None]

"Huh? My maximum lifespan went up to 257!"

"Awesome!"

Reading the new numbers, Lin Chang'sheng's eyes lit up. He remembered at Qi Refinement Ninth Layer peak, his max lifespan was 147. So advancing to Foundation Establishment boosted him by 110 years!

Foundation Establishment cultivators can live 257 years!

So what about Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divinity Transformation... What would the lifespan be then?

If my cultivation keeps rising, maybe I really can achieve immortality?

After all, in the cultivation realm, who doesn't want to live forever?

Right now—

Lin Chang'sheng was more eager than ever to reach the next realm.

"I should refine a top-grade magical artifact and finally try out flying on a sword!"

Lin Chang'sheng hurried to check his storage bag.

He currently had four top-grade magical artifacts: the saber given by Ji Ruyan, a copper bell from the sect as a reward, an ancient sword from Murong Tian's storage bag, and a fan!

The ones from Ji Ruyan and the sect were off-limits—he was still in disguise as Zhang Han and couldn't use them.

So he could only use the ancient sword and fan from Murong Tian. Of course, even if he couldn't use the others right now, he could still refine them for future emergencies—just needed to wipe out any witnesses if he ever did pull them out!

Lin Chang'sheng laid out all four top-grade magical artifacts and picked up the ancient sword first.

The sword's name: Jinghong (Startled Swan Sword).

Pure white throughout, three feet three inches long, radiating an icy gleam!

His Divine Sense instantly enveloped the Startled Swan Sword. As he delved deeper, he glimpsed all the restrictions and arrays engraved on the sword.

Lin Chang'sheng knew—the more restrictions and arrays embedded, the more powerful the artifact!

He steadily imprinted his Divine Sense onto the sword's arrays and restrictions, making the magic sword slowly bond with him!

Time passed.

After three days, Lin Chang'sheng opened his eyes and stared at the sword in front of him, fire burning in his gaze.

"Rise!"

With a thought, Lin Chang'sheng's Divine Sense activated—the Startled Swan Sword floated into the air, shooting ahead, swooping, slicing, chopping, and slashing in the air, generating sharp whistles as it cut through with every move.

"Grow!"

Lin Chang'sheng summoned the sword back, sent a burst of magical power inside—and instantly, the sword expanded in the wind, growing to five zhang long and five feet wide—a massive pure-white giant sword. Lin Chang'sheng leapt atop it, and with his Divine Sense controlling it, he skimmed low above the cliffs.

"Whoa, this feels amazing!"

"I finally pulled off sword flight!"

Lin Chang'sheng steered the Startled Swan Sword over peaks, treetops, lakes—his Divine Sense and surging magical power made the sword feel stuck to the soles of his feet, flipping and soaring in the air smoothly, totally under his control!

After more than an hour, Lin Chang'sheng returned to the clifftop.

"Artifacts may be mostly used by Qi Refining cultivators, but some broke-ass Foundation Establishment ones use them too!"

"Still, I've gotta get myself a spiritual artifact to use as my main weapon!"

Lin Chang'sheng stared at his top-grade Startled Swan Sword and muttered.

After spending so long in the cultivation realm, he finally had it down:

Qi Refining cultivators use magical artifacts.

Types: Lower Grade, Middle Grade, Upper Grade, and Top Grade, four tiers.

Foundation Establishment cultivators use spiritual artifacts—the difference is that a spiritual artifact contains an artifact spirit!

Spiritual artifacts also come in four tiers.

Lower, Middle, Upper, Top Grade.

"Let's refine the other three magical artifacts too before anything else!"

Lin Chang'sheng made up his mind—with a wave of his hand, the copper bell, long saber, and fan appeared in front of him.

"Let's start with the long saber!"

Lin Chang'sheng's eyes flashed. Truth be told, he preferred sabers.

After refining the Startled Swan Sword, refining the top-grade long saber was way faster—just two days to finish.

[Detected: Top Grade Magical Artifact Startled Swan Sword and Top Grade Magical Artifact Cloud-Splitting Saber. You can spend 500 Spirit Stones to fuse them into a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact. Would you like to fuse?]

Right then, another red notification popped up on Lin Chang'sheng's panel.

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