Finally, I Can Cultivate Immortality! (Seeking Collection and Recommendations)

"What is that?"

"A black leopard over thirty meters tall?"

When the Black Leopard surged with demonic power and revealed its true form, a profound sense of danger from the deepest depths of his soul alerted Zhou Hao to its presence instantly.

Even knowing that this world held immortals, demons, and monsters, Zhou Hao was still shocked to see a black leopard as tall as a ten-story building standing before him.

In that split second of distraction, the Black Leopard waved a paw, forming a tornado that surged toward Iron Ox.

"Brother Iron Ox!"

Seeing that the Iron Ox Tribe had suffered no losses earlier, Zhou Hao had not revealed his trump card of controlling objects with divine sense, choosing instead to use the skirmish with the Black Armor Guards to hone his fist techniques and weapon skills.

But now, he could no longer hold back.

Rumble—

A wall of earth, ten meters high and over a meter thick, suddenly erupted from the ground to stand before Iron Ox.

Though the wind-driven debris pelted the wall, sending clods of dirt flying, the stones could not reach Iron Ox, at least not until the wall collapsed.

At the same time, Zhou Hao flicked his wrist, launching the Cold Iron Dagger.

Whoosh!

The Cold Iron Dagger instantly turned into a phantom.

Squelch! The head of the Black Armor Guard standing before him was pierced clean through.

Under the control of Zhou Hao's divine sense, the Cold Iron Dagger continued at an astonishing speed, piercing through one skull after another!

"Ah!!"

"No!"

"Argh!"

In the blink of an eye, all twenty-plus Black Armor Guards surrounding them had their heads pierced by the Cold Iron Dagger!

For a moment, blood and brains splattered everywhere.

The sight of the bodies falling almost simultaneously made the scene appear incredibly eerie.

Even the Great Demon Black Wind, who had been puzzled by the sudden appearance of the earth wall, was startled.

"A Xiantian Qi-refiner?! Is that a flying sword? But I don't sense any fluctuations of true essence?"

It was common knowledge among all cultivators that those at the Houtian stage possessed only internal energy and no true essence, making them unable to activate magical treasures even if they possessed them.

As for divine sense, it was a phenomenon that only manifested once a soul had grown sufficiently powerful.

It was rare even among Purple Mansion cultivators; it was a technique reserved for those at even higher realms.

Although Black Wind was a Great Demon, he was only at the early Xiantian stage. Having never even seen a Purple Mansion cultivator, he could not possibly recognize divine sense.

Is the Cold Iron Dagger a magical treasure? Is Brother Zhou a Xiantian being?

Thoughts raced through the mind of Iron Ox, who had just escaped a brush with death.

Zhou Hao kept his eyes locked on the massive black leopard and said to Iron Ox, "Brother Iron Ox, you and Xiangcao go back and help Brother Zhamu and the others. Leave this Great Demon to me."

"Alright, Brother... Brother Zhou, take care of yourself!"

Knowing he would be of no help here, Iron Ox immediately turned and ran toward Xiangcao.

"Brother!" Xiangcao cried out, rushing over in excitement upon seeing that Iron Ox was unharmed.

"Let's go, quickly." Iron Ox grabbed Xiangcao, and the two dashed toward the campsite.

"Zhou Hao, he..." Xiangcao looked back.

Before the thirty-meter-tall Great Demon Black Leopard, Zhou Hao looked as small as an ant.

"We're saved this time. Brother Zhou must be a Xiantian being. If we stay, we're just throwing our lives away against that Great Demon. Let Brother Zhou handle it."

Iron Ox didn't slow his pace, speaking rapidly, "We can only hope Brother Zhou kills the Great Demon; otherwise, we're all dead today."

A Xiantian being!

They were the pinnacle of existence in any tribe, and even among the five hegemon powers of the Great Wild Plains, they were core members of the upper echelon!

That someone so young could be a Xiantian being convinced Iron Ox that Zhou Hao's background was extraordinary and that he must possess transcendent methods.

"The one who was being hunted by the Wild Wolf... is a Xiantian being?" Xiangcao couldn't help but look back once more.

The thin silhouette in the distance appeared increasingly majestic in her eyes.

Yet, Zhou Hao, who was being viewed by everyone as a majestic figure with an extraordinary background, was feeling quite nervous.

He was no Xiantian being!

If he truly were a Xiantian being, would he have needed to obtain cultivation techniques from Iron Ox and Xiangcao?

I can only rely on controlling objects with my divine sense, Zhou Hao thought to himself.

His Innate Taiji Fist and internal energy were useless against a behemoth of this scale.

"Black Wind, kill him!" Motai Jie roared.

Although he was wary of Zhou Hao's sudden outburst of power, Motai Jie knew that he had already offended the man today.

If Zhou Hao did not die, then he would be the one to perish.

"So what if you are a Xiantian? Many Xiantian beings have died at the hands of our Motai Clan!"

BOOM!

A massive leopard paw, large enough for several men to wrap their arms around, descended from above and slammed directly toward Zhou Hao.

SWISH!

The Cold Iron Dagger transformed into a streak of cold light, stabbing toward the giant paw. However, the resistance from the paw's thick, multi-inch-deep pads was immense; the dagger only managed to pierce slightly before it could go no further.

The terrifying force of the paw's strike caused the air to emit a piercing sonic boom, exploding outward like a cannonball.

"Dodge!"

Even though the paw had not yet touched him, Zhou Hao already understood its power.

This was absolutely not something a mortal body could withstand!

Sshhh, sshhh, sshhh~~~

The surging air waves alone caused fine, blade-like lacerations to appear all over Zhou Hao's body.

SWISH!

Zhou Hao leaped backward.

Invisible divine sense exerted force upon the shoes he wore, allowing him to nimbly leverage the air itself. His speed surged several times over, and with a few kicks against the empty air, he flashed more than twenty zhang away.

BANG!!!

The earth trembled.

A massive crater several zhang wide appeared where Zhou Hao had been standing just a moment before.

"Haha, you are not a Xiantian being." The great demon Black Leopard let out a wanton laugh.

If he were truly a Xiantian being, he wouldn't be relying solely on a single dagger artifact. Furthermore, when the blade had pierced its paw earlier, Black Wind had not sensed a shred of true essence coming from it.

"Though I don't know how you manage to control a dagger like an artifact, you are a dead man today." Black Wind roared and lunged forward.

What would it be like to have a ten-story building crash down from the sky?

Zhou Hao had no choice but to retreat again.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Although the Black Leopard was massive, the innate agility of a feline made its lunges incredibly swift.

Every strike caused the entire earth to rumble with a deafening roar, leaving behind deep craters.

Zhou Hao applied his divine sense to his shoes, his clothes, and even the flying clods of dirt, allowing him to turn nimbly in the air like a bird and evade the Black Leopard's repeated lunges.

Under the control of his divine sense, the Cold Iron Dagger also turned into a streak of cold light, stabbing frantically at the Black Leopard.

However, the beast was enormous, and its hide and fascia were dense and thick. As soon as the Cold Iron Dagger pierced the skin, it was clamped by the leopard's muscles and squeezed out, unable to penetrate any deeper.

I must strike its vitals. If I only dodge, I'll be finished the moment it lands a hit.

With a thought, Zhou Hao used his divine sense to manipulate the surrounding soil and rocks, sending them flying toward the Black Leopard's head.

The scattered weapons of the Black Armor Guards also rose from the ground, commanded by his divine sense to transform into countless streaks of light, surrounding the Black Leopard like a net.

"These mortal scraps can't even break my fur," Black Wind sneered.

The hide of a Xiantian great demon was incredibly tough; nothing short of a divine weapon could pierce it.

The Black Leopard planted three of its paws on the ground and raised the fourth, swatting away the incoming blades, rocks, and dirt like it was shooing flies.

As for the smaller rocks and clods it couldn't reach, the Black Leopard didn't even bother; it swatted what it could and let the rest strike its body, where they amounted to nothing more than a bit of dust.

Opportunity! Zhou Hao's gaze sharpened, and he focused every ounce of his divine sense into a single point.

The dozens of blades and weapons that had been flying nimbly suddenly went limp, leaving only a clod of dirt about half a meter in diameter to accelerate toward the Black Leopard's head.

SNAP!

The giant paw smashed the clod into powder, and within the flying dust, a streak of cold light suddenly pierced toward the Black Leopard's eye.

"Oh no!"

The Black Leopard tried to twist its head to dodge, but the strike, fueled by the entirety of Zhou Hao's divine sense, made the Cold Iron Dagger nearly twice as fast as before.

SPLAT!

The Cold Iron Dagger pierced the leopard's eyelid, punched through the eyeball, and drove deep into its skull, where a single sweep shredded its brain into mush.

The Black Leopard's remaining eye widened into a perfect circle. While the vitality of a Xiantian great demon was formidable—it could survive even after its heart was pierced—the head was its greatest vital point.

Let alone a common demon beast, even the most extraordinary divine beasts would almost certainly die if their skulls were pierced while at the Xiantian realm.

BOOM~~~

The massive corpse of the Black Leopard crashed to the ground, the tremendous tremor audible from ten miles away.

...Over at the temporary camp.

Iron Ox, Zhamu, and the others were watching the battle between Zhou Hao and the Great Demon while hacking away at the Black Armor Guards.

When they saw the mountain-like Great Demon collapse, their faces flushed red with excitement.

The usually composed Zhamu roared in exhilaration: "The Great Demon is dead! We won!"

"Haha! We won!"

"Brothers," Iron Ox shouted as he saw the remaining Black Armor Guards attempting to flee, "slaughter these bastards from the Black Hand Tribe! Don't let a single one escape!"

"Kill!"

The warriors of the Iron Ox Tribe were invigorated, following Iron Ox as they frantically cut down the retreating Black Armor Guards.

"Ah!" "No!" "Spare me!"

Having killed so many warriors of the Black Hand Tribe today, and with a Great Demon dead, this blood feud was set in stone. Leaving even one alive would be a future disaster, so Iron Ox and his men showed no mercy.

"Run!" Motai Jie frantically kicked his heels into the belly of his Black Sly Beast.

Stung by the pain, the Black Sly Beast lashed out with its hooves and bolted into the distance.

"Trying to run?" Zhou Hao's divine sense stirred.

Puff!

The Cold Iron Dagger emerged from the other eye of the Black Leopard and flew rapidly toward the panicking Motai Jie.

"I am the Young Master of the Black Hand Tribe! My father is Motai Xiao! You cannot kill me!" Hearing the sharp whistling wind behind him, Motai Jie shrieked, "If you kill me, none of you will live! You will all die..."

Splurt!

The Cold Iron Dagger pierced straight through Motai Jie's skull.

"The Young Master of the Black Hand Tribe? Then you deserve to die even more," Zhou Hao said coldly.

Killing him meant that even if the Black Hand Tribe investigated, it would take time.

But if he let him go, was he supposed to wait for him to bring even more experts to take revenge?

"Why aren't you running?" Zhou Hao asked, looking at the middle-aged man who hadn't fled but was instead kneeling on the ground.

"Spare me, my lord! Spare me!"

Renzha prostrated himself on the ground, his voice trembling. "I know all the intelligence on the Black Hand Tribe. My lord, you killed Motai Xiao's spirit beast and his son; he will definitely come for revenge. As long as you don't kill me, I will tell you anything you ask."

"You'll tell me anything?" Zhou Hao's heart stirred. "Do you know any Qi Refinement techniques?"

"Qi Refinement techniques?" Renzha was stunned, not knowing why this lord had suddenly shifted to cultivation methods, but he answered quickly, "Qi Refinement techniques are the most important foundation of any tribe and are never passed on to outsiders. Even if a tribe occasionally grants them to their warriors, they are always abridged, simplified versions. This lowly one... this lowly one does not have any!"

"It seems I have to go to Jade Dragon City."

Zhou Hao was somewhat disappointed and was about to use the Cold Iron Dagger to finish the man off when he suddenly heard him shout loudly: "My lord, I know! I know of a Gods and Devils body-refining technique!"

"Gods and Devils body-refining?" Zhou Hao's eyes lit up.

He had heard Iron Ox and Xiangcao mention before that the path of immortality was divided into two: besides Qi Refinement, the other was Gods and Devils body-refining.

Moreover, the school of Gods and Devils body-refining was said to completely crush Qi Refinement at the same stage!

Of course, the methods for Gods and Devils body-refining were even more precious; even if a large tribe possessed them, they would only be bestowed upon family members and loyal servants raised from childhood.

"Where is it?" Zhou Hao asked urgently. "What is the technique?"

"It is the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, known as the number one technique for Gods and Devils body-refining," Renzha said quickly. "It is inside Motai Jie's Mustard Stone. I have seen him take it out before."

"The number one technique for Gods and Devils body-refining... Chiming Nine Heavens Map?" Zhou Hao was stunned. "That sounds a bit familiar?"

Forget it!

He could finally start his path to immortality!

To answer a few questions:

1. The timeline of this story is before Ji Ning.

2. The protagonist has lived two lives. After dying in his first life, he was reincarnated with his memories into a small world similar to Earth within the Desolate Era universe.

After his master died, while he was sorting through the relics, he was enveloped by the light emitted from the shattered Taiji Stone Diagram and transmigrated to the current Xia Clan Great World.

3. The early plot will not involve the original work too much; if it does, it will only be side threads. I will only slowly intervene after the major events of the original work's mid-stage appear.

4. This is Suifeng's second attempt at writing a book, so I am treating it more like a new work. Even if you haven't read the original, you should be able to understand it.

5. Some less important settings might be changed according to my understanding and needs.

If you want to nitpick the details and argue about whether to step with the left foot or the right foot, let's just skip it...

Writing a book is really mentally exhausting, and Suifeng doesn't have that much energy. My friends, please forgive me!

Finally, I ask for the support of both new and old friends!