More than ten years later.
Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes. His deep gaze was as still as a lake.
Yet the aura around him was far stronger than before his seclusion.
Mysterious Immortal Early Stage!
Although he had successfully broken through, Lu Changsheng wasn't particularly happy.
He had already been just one step away from the Mysterious Immortal Realm, so breaking through with the help of the Nine Heavens Spirit Liquid was only natural.
But after reaching the Mysterious Immortal Realm, he could clearly feel how much harder it would be to advance further.
It had taken him only about a hundred years to cultivate from an Earth Immortal to a Mysterious Immortal.
But the difficulty of advancing from Mysterious Immortal to Golden Immortal, and then to Taiyi Golden Immortal, would rise sharply.
Not to mention the Daluo Golden Immortal Realm and Quasi-Saint Realm beyond that.
If he cultivated step by step like other cultivators,
then by the time the thousand-year agreement with Yunxiao came due, whether he could become a Taiyi Golden Immortal would still be anyone's guess.
[Congratulations, Host, on breaking through to the Mysterious Immortal Realm. You have received a random reward: Purple Heaven Spirit Sword Art. System function unlocked: Alchemy Function]
The Realm Break Reward arrived right on schedule.
The Purple Heaven Spirit Sword Art was a sword technique.
Though it wasn't particularly profound, it was exactly what Lu Changsheng needed right now.
At present, he had mastered only two divine abilities.
The Indestructible Thunder God Body focused more on defense, leaving the Nine Heavens Thunder Eyes as his only real offensive ability.
He had the Ling Yun Jian but no sword technique to go with it, so he couldn't bring out the full power of this Xiantian Lingbao.
Now that he had the Purple Heaven Spirit Sword Art, the Ling Yun Jian's power would undoubtedly surge.
But compared to the Purple Heaven Spirit Sword Art, what truly delighted Lu Changsheng was the Alchemy Function unlocked by the system.
In fact, when he had broken through to True Immortal and unlocked the Artifact Forging Function, he had wondered whether the system might also have an Alchemy Function.
He hadn't expected it to actually unlock now.
For Lu Changsheng, alchemy and artifact forging were very different.
Even setting aside whether he had the materials for artifact forging, he might be able to forge a Magic Treasure on the level of a Xiantian Lingbao if he did.
But the power of a Magic Treasure was ultimately an external force.
If some Daluo Golden Immortals or Quasi-Saints learned that a Mysterious Immortal like him possessed a Xiantian Lingbao, he would surely attract trouble he didn't need.
Lu Changsheng understood the principle that a man's wealth was a crime in itself.
At the moment, improving his own cultivation was more important than acquiring Magic Treasures.
And pills were undoubtedly a shortcut to cultivating faster.
So the question was: what kinds of pills could the system make, and how good would they be?
When Lu Changsheng voiced his doubts, the system immediately answered.
[The system's alchemy level is equivalent to the Host's cultivation. For details, check the System Pill Library.]
Lu Changsheng immediately summoned the System Pill Library.
One Light Screen after another appeared before him.
After browsing through them, Lu Changsheng couldn't help but be astonished.
The system's collection of pills was far more extensive than he had imagined.
There were pills to improve cultivation, pills for a temporary burst of power, poisons, and all kinds of others.
Each pill also came with its Pill Recipe and the current probability of successfully refining it.
Of course, because of his limited cultivation, many pills appeared as unreadable "???" entries.
Lu Changsheng couldn't help feeling speechless.
Sure enough, cultivation was the most important thing, no matter the circumstances.
After searching the library for a long while, Lu Changsheng finally settled on several pills best suited to his current cultivation.
Of those, the Five Revolutions Golden Spirit Pill was the most suitable.
It could not only strengthen his Mysterious Immortal cultivation but also improve his comprehension.
"System, make me two Five Revolutions Golden Spirit Pills."
[Refining Five Revolutions Golden Spirit Pills] [Ding! Refinement of the Five Revolutions Golden Spirit Pills failed due to a lack of materials.]
Lu Changsheng froze.
"It needs raw materials too?"
[The system requires the corresponding materials to refine pills.]
Lu Changsheng was dumbfounded.
But on second thought, that made sense. If the system could conjure pills out of thin air, that would be absurd.
So what was he supposed to do now?
He checked the Pill Recipes for the pills he had chosen and found that he didn't even have enough materials to make the least demanding one.
The good news: the system had unlocked the Alchemy Function.
The bad news: he had no materials.
He had celebrated too soon.
Wait, if he had no materials, he could just go look for them.
He might not know where to find the alchemy materials he needed.
But the system still had its Treasure Hunting function.
He could simply have it search nearby for the materials needed to make those pills.
[Searching the surrounding area according to the Host's requirements.] [Two Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons reside near the edge of the East Sea. Their dragon cores can be used to refine Yin Yang Spirit Merging Pills.]
A few breaths later, the system finally gave him an answer.
Hearing it, Lu Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief.
The Yin Yang Spirit Merging Pill wasn't the most suitable pill for a Mysterious Immortal, but it wasn't bad either.
It would be a good option if he could refine it.
Wait, why did the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons sound so familiar?
He was sure he'd heard of them somewhere.
Lu Changsheng searched through the many novels he had read before transmigrating, looking for information about the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons.
As he thought it over, he remembered.
In the original Honghuang, the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons had been born when the Ancestral Dragon sensed the Yin Yang Two Energies. After growing stronger, they wreaked havoc near the East Sea, until Sect Leader Tongtian killed them.
Sect Leader Tongtian had eventually forged the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors from their corpses and bestowed them upon Yunxiao.
At this point in time, Sect Leader Tongtian clearly hadn't killed the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons yet.
But since he needed their dragon cores, he had to take them to refine the pills.
A thought suddenly occurred to Lu Changsheng.
If things went smoothly, perhaps he could gain something else on this trip besides the dragon cores.
Just as he was about to head for the dragons' location, he suddenly remembered something.
"What cultivation level are the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons near the edge of the East Sea?"
The incident at Lingganhu was still fresh in his memory.
The Profound Sand Python, a Golden Immortal, had truly taken him by surprise.
If Huanglong Zhenren hadn't "helped," it was anyone's guess whether he could have obtained the Xuanling Fruit.
This time, he had to learn everything he could about the area near the East Sea in advance.
[The Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons are currently at the Golden Immortal Peak and are about to attempt a breakthrough to Taiyi Golden Immortal.]
Lu Changsheng's expression darkened slightly.
Golden Immortal Peak?
With his current cultivation and abilities, he could fight an ordinary Golden Immortal. But two at the Golden Immortal Peak would be troublesome.
Still, the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons were about to attempt a breakthrough to Taiyi Golden Immortal. That was an opportunity.
If he could strike while they were breaking through, taking them down would be much easier.
"Besides the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons, what other cultivators are in the area?"
[The Host's current cultivation is insufficient to obtain more information.]
Lu Changsheng was truly helpless.
But on second thought, whether or not there were other cultivators there, he still had to go!
He had a chance against the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons at the Golden Immortal Peak. But if he let them break through to Taiyi Golden Immortals, it would be much harder for a Mysterious Immortal like him to win.
He would go first and see. With the Spirit Capturing Pearl protecting him, his life shouldn't be in danger.
Lu Changsheng immediately set off for the edge of the East Sea.
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