Chapter 223: Three Levels Up
The method of immortality is indeed not a field that a young immortal cultivator can get involved in.

Once again, I overestimated my own abilities.

Although he paid the price for overestimating his own capabilities, Li Zhi no longer had the self-reflection he had before.

Instead, I feel eager to try.

With the improvement of cultivation and the growth of Taoism, the understanding of "overestimating one's own abilities" is also undergoing earth-shaking changes.

If you pursue safety in everything, you may have a chance to become an alternative enlightened being in the future, but there is no possibility of surpassing the limits, breaking the restrictions of heaven and earth, and becoming a strong person at the level of the Emperor of Heaven.

Cultivation is actually a process of continuous trial and error.

Li Zhi's understanding of "using the false to cultivate the true" has also reached a higher level.

If a monk does not even dare to make assumptions, then he can only move forward along the path defined by others and will never have the possibility of surpassing his predecessors.

The Tao is invisible, formless, and without substance. There has never been a truly "correct" path leading to the end of the Tao.

The so-called method of cultivation is nothing more than the path that our predecessors have taken.

Although this was a bit reckless, Li Zhi was very happy, which showed that he had not essentially lost the courage to explore.

I did not give up exploring new paths just because I had taken the wrong path several times before.

Only by keeping your original intention can you achieve a good beginning and a good end.

At the same time, Li Zhi's experience this time also made him understand why the predecessors had repeatedly reminded in the "Incarnation Immortal Medicine Longevity Method" that one must pay attention to safety when the primordial spirit and the elixir are combined.

Indeed, the only thing history tells us is that humans never learn from history.

The mistakes made by our predecessors will surely be made again by our descendants.

This is human nature, and it is also the belief that future generations can constantly surpass their predecessors.

If you give up when you encounter a mistake, you will never see the wonderful scenery after correcting the mistake.

Li Zhi is such a person.

Although the warnings from predecessors all had reasons, he still subconsciously wanted to know the real reason behind them.

The predecessors who left warnings never made public the reasons for their mistakes.

Just like in the mortal world, every outrageous rule must be accompanied by an outrageous thing, but outrageous things always arouse people's curiosity.

You must never be afraid of making mistakes when practicing. Only by constantly making mistakes can you broaden the path you have taken and truly find the end of the road.

Taboos are meant to be broken.

Otherwise there is no need for taboos to exist.

Spiritual practice is like a journey without an end. Whether you are willing to travel in the sky where you can fly freely, or to travel on the safe road paved by predecessors, the scenery you can see will definitely be very different.

Although the roads left by our predecessors connect almost all the scenic spots, is there nothing to see between the scenic spots?

Li Zhi's mind unconsciously became curious about the path of cultivation, and he wanted to see the scenery beyond the road.

However, it is still too early for Li Zhi to see the scenery beyond the road.

Now, he was just standing at the starting point of the avenue, far from being able to see the scenery beyond the road.

Just as he had mentioned when he was chatting with the old master of Qishi Mansion, there are three stages of cultivation: the first is seeking the Tao, the second is practicing the Tao, and the third is controlling the Tao.

Today, Li Zhi is still in the initial stage of seeking the truth.

The myriad things in the world are like a beautiful woman wearing only a veil. If you look closely, you can see the beautiful scenery behind the veil.

As long as you look carefully, you will eventually be able to see the true face of the beauty behind the veil.

However, it is impossible to get close to a "beauty" because you are not yet able to lift the veil on her.

Only after the slashing of the sword, can you peel off the veil on the beautiful woman layer by layer and see where her beauty lies.

Li Zhi likened the Great Dao in the stage of seeking the Tao to a beautiful woman. In the end, no matter whether one achieves Taoism in an alternative way or attains enlightenment and becomes an emperor, without exception, one will see through the "beauty" inside and out, and there will be no secrets left.

But whether or not one can make a "beauty" even more beautiful depends on one's own means.

When it comes to transforming and sublimating "beauty", there is no doubt that a strong man at the emperor level is more adept at it than a strong man at the alternative enlightenment level.

Li Zhi now was like a naughty child. Before he could see clearly how beautiful the "beauty" behind the gauze was, he rashly lifted a corner of the gauze and crawled in.

Then, as expected, he was taught a lesson by the "beauty".

Li Zhi's soul had only been in the body of the Ancient Tea Tree for a few days when he was almost assimilated by the Taoist rhyme of the Ancient Tea Tree.

This is the price of enjoying the "beauty" in advance.

From this perspective, it is a terrifying thing that the Green Emperor's spirit can suppress the gods in the Desolate Tower.

The Huangta is a genuine immortal weapon, a magical weapon that possesses the true laws of immortality.

One can imagine how high Qingdi’s spirit and Taoism are.

No wonder that since ancient times, the ultimate pursuit of ordinary cultivators is just to become an emperor.

The strong ones at the level of emperor are the main group who study the method of immortality.

It’s not that ordinary cultivators don’t want to study the method of immortality, but that they don’t have the qualifications.

According to Li Zhi's understanding, if one wants to study the method of immortality, one must at least become a quasi-emperor, or even an alternative person who has attained enlightenment.

Otherwise, it would be more cost-effective to study how to break through the current realm and prolong life instead of studying the method of immortality.

It’s different when your cultivation reaches the Quasi-Emperor level.

The difference in lifespan between cultivators at the first and ninth levels of the Quasi-Emperor realm is actually not that big, both are around ten thousand years.

Even after becoming an emperor, his life could only be extended by about another 5,000 years.

However, the life span of an ordinary emperor will never exceed 20,000 years, and is usually around 15,000 years.

Of course, this is the natural lifespan when there are no fatal injuries on the body.

If there is injury, it will be counted separately.

Even if they have achieved great saintly bodies and have immense combat power, and are said to be able to challenge the great emperor after achieving great perfection, in fact, their lifespan is the same as that of ordinary quasi-emperors, which is around 10,000 years, and there is nothing special about them.

It can only be said that since there is no immortal matter between heaven and earth, all living beings have finally achieved "equality" to a certain extent.

After this experience, Li Zhi finally understood why the Taoist of Longevity used only one kernel of the elixir of immortality to cultivate the semi-divine medicine and test the method of longevity through the elixir of immortality.

The elixir of immortality can naturally grant immortality, but if the quasi-emperor wants to transform himself into the true elixir of immortality, his cultivation level is still far from enough.

Even the Great Emperor cannot do it; one must at least be an Immortal King-level expert.

As for obtaining an alternative form of longevity by parasitizing on the elixir of immortality, it is actually a delusion. Even if it is the true spirit of a great emperor, it will be slowly assimilated by the laws within the elixir of immortality, and eventually completely become the nutrition of the elixir of immortality.

We cannot ignore the true origin level of those elixirs of immortality just because they have degenerated in this world.

Unless one possesses an immortal soul at the level of an Immortal King, it is simply wishful thinking to imitate the fake medicine seller and seal oneself inside the elixir without being affected by it.

However, demigod medicine is different. In fact, demigod medicine can achieve immortality. Without the influence of external forces, demigod medicine may live for tens or even millions of years.

Much longer than the time that the King of Medicine can live.

The best semi-divine medicine in the world is the one cultivated from the core of the elixir of immortality.

Although it has become a semi-divine medicine and cannot achieve true immortality, but existing for a million years is already an extremely long period of time.

Lying in the Coffin of Life, Li Zhi kept recalling what he had done in the Immortal Mountain before, and he still felt excited.

Not only did he get to experience the thrill of the immortality method in advance, but even everything he did in the Immortal Mountain was something to be happy about.

Since ancient times, no powerful immortal dared to stroll around in the Immortal Mountain.

Neither the descendants and subordinates of the Supreme who are sealed in the Immortal Mountain are allowed to do so.

However, Li Zhi traveled to almost all areas outside the Immortal Mountain, and treated the Immortal Mountain as a fairy mine, directly seizing a large number of fairy treasures.

This kind of harvest can almost be compared to the action of the Great Saint Body directly intercepting an immortal mountain from the Immortal Mountain as a place of practice.

Of course, the influence of the two is not comparable, but Li Zhi believes that no matter whether it is the Great Saint Body, the Void Emperor, or the Beginningless Emperor, they definitely did not mine in the Immortal Mountain back then.

Although the things that Li Zhi dug out from the Immortal Mountain were no longer worthy of the attention of the supreme beings.

But if outsiders knew about this, they would definitely be shocked.

"I mined in the Undying Mountains."

This sentence may even be used by Li Zhi as a catchphrase to attack others in the future. Even Master Yuan Tianshi doesn't have such courage.

Compared with his previous experience in the Immortal Mountain, the damage he suffered after cutting off his soul was so minor that it was not worth mentioning.

He had collected more than one medicinal herb that could heal the injuries of the soul in the Immortal Mountain.

Although he had cut off part of the soul before, he did not damage the origin of the soul, so it was not a Taoist injury.

After directly swallowing a medicinal herb that can nourish the soul, the damage to the soul had already recovered.

Lying in the Coffin of Life, Li Zhi was not only adjusting his own state, but also gaining enlightenment.

How big is the difference between attaining enlightenment while sitting under an ancient tea tree and attaining enlightenment with your soul residing under the ancient tea tree?

I am afraid that no one can answer this question except those great emperors who have left their immortal marks on the ancient tea trees of enlightenment.

Now Li Zhi can tell you the answer clearly.

The difference is like the difference between a mortal body and a chaotic body.

At the moment when his soul entered the ancient tea tree of enlightenment, he seemed to have truly merged into one with the universe and all things in it. The universe and all things in it were clearly visible in his eyes.

Now, just recalling the feeling of true unity with the Tao made Li Zhi enter the deepest state of enlightenment.

His cultivation level seemed to be forcibly elevated, and before he knew it, he had reached the seventh level of the second level of immortality.

Then, unknowingly, his cultivation entered the eighth level of the second level of immortality.

It was not until the eighth minor realm of the second level of immortality that this rapid advancement of cultivation slowed down, and then he continued to consolidate his foundation.

Because the eighth and ninth small realms of the second level of Immortal Realm seem to be just two adjacent small realms, but in fact there is a huge invisible gap between them.

The second ninth level of the immortal realm signifies a state of perfection, while the second eighth level of the immortal realm is actually a peak.

Most of the older generation of powerful cultivators in the world are actually stuck at the eighth level of the second level of the Immortal Realm, unable to make any progress. Even after their lifespans are exhausted, they are still unable to reach the ninth level of the second level of the Immortal Realm.

Those who can reach the ninth level of the second level of immortality are all blessed with both talent and opportunity.

For a cultivator standing at the ninth level of the second level of the Immortal Realm, the five secret realms in his body are already in a perfect state. This is the first time that a cultivator has been able to develop the five secret realms to an extreme state.

If one is unable to cut through the Dao, one's cultivation will stagnate, and one will never be able to unearth more of the divine treasures of the physical body. One can only rely on various external powers to strengthen oneself.

However, no matter how much magic power one has accumulated, if one cannot achieve the Dao of Cutting, the magic power cannot be transformed, and the five secret realms cannot continue to transform and evolve, and one will always be at the level of an ordinary cultivator.

For cultivators, beheading the King of Dao is a huge qualitative change.

In fact, not only is the transformation to the King of Killing Dao a one-time change, but every breakthrough into a new realm in the future will be a qualitative change.

They are all qualitative changes that can allow the five secret realms of the cultivators to continue to evolve.

Every breakthrough to a new realm is like raising the limit of what one can achieve, giving the cultivator more room for maneuver.

Lying in the coffin of life, Li Zhi, who was constantly wandering under the land of the Central Region, kept thinking about the cultivation of the second level of immortality.

The first immortal cultivates his divine consciousness so that the second immortal can better explore the secrets of the human body and release its potential.

The more potential that can be tapped in this process, the higher the level of cultivation and the stronger the magic power.

Now Li Zhi has already tapped into some of the potential of the Lunhai Secret Realm and released some of the potential of the Dao Palace Secret Realm.

The potential of the Four Poles Secret Realm and the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm has yet to be developed.

But even so, his cultivation level has soared to the eighth level of the second level of immortality.

Li Zhi couldn't imagine how vast his magic power would be and how profound his Taoism would be if the potential of the five secret realms was fully tapped.

Perhaps, the second level of the Immortal Realm is the realm where the gap between various Taoist bodies and ordinary cultivators is truly widened.

After all, the potential of the human body is not only related to the practice method, but most importantly to the physique of the practitioner.

It is a different story if someone is like Li Zhi, who has used several kinds of elixir fruits and immortal treasures to undergo a complete transformation.

His potential is so vast that it is absolutely beyond people's imagination.

I'm afraid that even if the prince of heaven absorbed the essence of an eye of creation, he might not dare to say that his potential is superior to Li Zhi.

His experience is truly unique.

It is even stronger than the foundation of the Holy Body.

While Li Zhi was lying in the coffin practicing, he didn't know that he had been searched by the strong men in the Immortal Mountain.

It can only be said that the human-shaped elixir of immortality and the coffin of life are a perfect match. Their effect of shielding the secrets of heaven and obscuring vision is comparable to that of imperial weapons.

Li Zhi lay in the Coffin of Life for four months. During this period, after searching for the existence in the Immortal Mountain in vain, he fell into a deep sleep again.

But that doesn't mean no one is looking for Li Zhi's whereabouts.

The news of his killing of that group of ancient creatures had already spread privately.

It also attracted the attention of a top holy land in the Central Region, because among the monks captured by the ancient creatures, there were several children of the holy land's elders.

In order to thank Li Zhi, that holy land has sent many monks to the major cities in the Central Region to wait for Li Zhi to show up.

At this time, Li Zhi was still lying in the Coffin of Life, wandering under the land of Central Region.

After completing his deep enlightenment, Li Zhi was not in a hurry to get out of the coffin to transcend the tribulation, but began to evolve the Taoist Palace Secret Realm and tap into its potential.

The juice of the ancient tea tree that I had taken a sip of before was simply the elixir of enlightenment, full of mysterious Taoist nature.

After refining the immortal liquid, Li Zhi directly infused the essence of Taoism into the secret realm of the Taoist Palace.

After absorbing the essence of Taoism, the divinity of the five great Dao Palace gods was sublimated again, and their affinity to the Tao was directly raised to a higher level.

Then the gods of the five major Taoist temples began to evolve their respective companion immortal trees.

The companion fairy tree after the re-enactment is completely different from the five fairy trees that were previously imitated.

Within the divine treasure of the heart, the former Nine-Colored Divine Fire Tree has now turned into a one-foot-tall Red Fire Taoist Tree. Thanks to the Immortal Fire Seedling that Li Zhi had previously comprehended, the Red Fire Taoist Tree, in addition to flames, also possesses infinite Dao runes.

Inside the liver's divine storage, the former ginseng fruit tree has now turned into a small green sapling, emitting a rich green light, as if it possesses the power of immortality.

Within the divine treasure of the spleen, Li Zhi, because he had obtained the Nine Heavens Xirang, finally realized a trace of the origin of earth after contemplation, and evolved the companion fairy tree into a loess Taoist tree with earth attributes.

The purple gold Taoist tree in the divine treasure of the lungs was evolved by Li Zhi after he obtained the secret of the word "soldier" with the Taoist flavor of the Qilin Immortal Medicine as its foundation.

The Baishui Dao Tree in the Divine Storage of the Kidney is a water Dao Tree that evolved after Li Zhi comprehended the waters of various spiritual springs and divine springs in the world, based on the Dao rhyme contained in the fruit of the Pantao Immortal Elixir.

The red fire Taoist tree within the heart's divine storage; the green wood Taoist tree within the liver's divine storage; the yellow earth Taoist tree within the spleen's divine storage; the purple gold Taoist tree within the lung's divine storage; the white water Taoist tree within the kidney's divine storage.

The five re-evolved companion fairy trees fully demonstrated Li Zhi's profound understanding of the Five Elements and were no longer simple imitations and plagiarisms as before.

After the Five Elements Dao Tree took shape, Li Zhi began to practice the Five Gods Life-Nourishing Technique to regulate the connection between the Taoist gods and the accompanying fairy trees.

Afterwards, Li Zhi combined the secret methods in the Taoist Palace Volume of "The Western Emperor Sutra" to strengthen the connection between the five Taoist palace gods and the five Taoist palaces, making the Taoist palace secret realm more harmonious.

At the same time, the Immortal Phoenix Seal, which was refined with the Five Elements Divine Gold, also exuded the power of the Five Elements, blending with the power of the Five Elements within the secret realm of the Taoist Palace.

The Taoist Palace made the secret realm more harmonious. Li Zhi's Taoist Palace therefore exuded a sense of harmony and perfection, as if the Taoist Palace secret realm had been evolved to the current limit that it could reach. The mysterious sound of the Tao continued to resound through the Taoist Palace secret realm, as if it was comprehending the Tao of heaven and earth at all times.

After being fed back to himself, Li Zhi's soul became more spiritual, and the sacred aura on his body became stronger.

It's almost on par with the body of the God King.

After tapping into the potential of the Taoist Palace Secret Realm, Li Zhi's Taoism was getting closer and closer to the ninth level of the second level of Immortal.

Then, he ended his practice.

After walking out of the Coffin of Life, Li Zhi came to a vast primitive wilderness.

Afterwards, he deactivated the four Heaven-deceiving Dao patterns on his robes, allowing his aura to be captured by heaven and earth.

Li Zhi collected all four types of Heaven-Deceiving Patterns that were circulated in the world when he was in the Qishi Mansion, and engraved them on the robes when he was refining them.

As the power of the four kinds of Heaven-Deceiving Dao Patterns disappeared, Li Zhi's breath was immediately captured by heaven and earth.

The terrifying thunder came directly to the door.

It seemed to be related to the place he chose to undergo the tribulation. After the tribulation appeared, it was finally different from the previous times.

The massive amount of divine thunder pouring down from the thunder pool directly evolved into a triple thunder barrier in the thunder sea for Li Zhi to break through.

It seems like a man-made trial level, filled with various training items.

Although they were transformed from thunder, each of the heavenly gates was lifelike and extremely powerful.

Even Li Zhi had to spend a lot of effort to pass those levels.

I don’t know where Lei Chi copied this technique from, but it is much more complicated than the simple thunder and lightning before.

Li Zhi was in the Thunder Gate, just like fighting monsters and leveling up. He passed through one gate after another and finally reached the final boss, which was the edge of the Thunder Pool.

After comprehending the laws of heaven and earth copied in the Thunder Pool, Li Zhi placed the five great instruments of Tao in his body into the Thunder Pool for refining.

Finally, after seven days, Li Zhi, who had successfully passed the triple thunder tribulation, became a genuine top-notch powerful person at the eighth level of the second level of the immortal realm.

Calculating the time, it has been a year and a half since I left the Southern Region and came to the Central Region.

His cultivation level also soared from the fifth level of the second level of the Immortal Realm to the perfect eighth level of the second level of the Immortal Realm. This progress in cultivation was enough to make Li Zhi proud.

All in all, it has only been six years since he entered the level of a great immortal.

Although it is not as fast as Ye Fan, who, under the help of the Sun Saint Emperor, advanced from the second small realm of the second level of immortality to the eighth small realm in just four years.

However, the speed at which his cultivation level increased has allowed him to catch up with all the geniuses of the time.

Be it the Central Emperor, the Southern Demon, or the Northern Emperor, none of them have been killed yet.

Even compared with the descendants of ancient emperors, he is not inferior at all.

Moreover, when he was going through the thunder tribulation, he still felt that he had some strength left, and it seemed that it was not impossible for him to force his way through the ninth level of the second level of the immortal realm.

But Li Zhi did not do so. He wanted to achieve a natural breakthrough to the perfect realm of the second level of immortality instead of forcing a breakthrough.

Li Zhi vaguely felt that after he broke through to the ninth level of the second level of the Immortal Realm ahead of time, it seemed to be very disadvantageous for him to continue to practice more wheel sea phenomena.

When the calamity clouds dissipated, Li Zhi stood on a auspicious cloud, waving his whisk, and the powerful aura on his body began to disappear rapidly.

Today's Longevity Locking Body Technique can not only lock up his vital energy, but also lock up his realm to a certain extent, which can consolidate his foundation.

But before Li Zhi could leave, he saw a golden-winged Roc with a terrifying aura flying towards him.

(End of this chapter)