Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 720 Refining a Magical Treasure! January has arrived!

This formation took Chen Fan a full three hours to complete. When the last array pattern was imprinted, a thin layer of frost covered the surface of the jade slip, and the cold air emanating from it lowered the temperature in the quiet room by several degrees.

He put the jade slip containing the Xuanbing Sealing Formation aside and picked up the third blank jade slip.

This formation is not meant to trap enemies, but rather it is a sixth-grade escape formation used to save one's life.

The Escape Formation is one of the most complex formations recorded in Ouyang Ye's Array Dao Experience. It can instantly teleport people within the formation to dozens of miles away.

Although the teleportation distance is not far, its advantage lies in its extremely fast activation speed. It can be activated instantly by simply infusing spiritual power, making it an excellent means of escaping in times of crisis.

Chen Fan was extremely cautious when setting up this formation.

The teleportation array involves spatial laws; even a slight deviation in the array patterns could lead to teleportation failure or even send a person into a spatial rift. He used the Fixed Character Technique to repeatedly deduce each array pattern several times, and only began to imprint it after confirming that there were no errors.

Even so, it still took him most of the day.

After imprinting all three sixth-grade formations, Chen Fan put the three jade slips into his sleeves and then put the remaining three blank jade slips back into his storage bag.

These three array jade slips are different from ordinary array flags. They are pre-printed finished products, which can be set up instantly by simply infusing spiritual power, without the need for on-site setup.

Although it can only be used once, it can be enough to turn the tide of battle at a crucial moment.

After doing all this, Chen Fan took out the Black Soul Banner again.

After devouring a large number of remnant souls in the Land of Dead Souls, the Black Soul Banner's rank had broken through to the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and the soul array on the banner's surface had also repaired all its hidden injuries. He took out three thousand-year-old top-grade magic crystals and used the Nascent Soul spiritual flame to melt them into the purest demonic energy, which he then poured into the banner bit by bit.

The dark red light on the banner became even more intense after absorbing the demonic energy of the top-grade magic crystal, and the howls of the millions of souls within the banner grew even louder.

The tempering process lasted for a full seven days.

When the last wisp of demonic energy was completely absorbed by the banner, the blood-red light on the surface of the Black Soul Banner had changed from dark red to a deep red that was almost ink-like.

Although its rank remains at the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, the banner's toughness and the refinement of its soul power have improved significantly. Even if a remnant soul at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul realm were to reappear before it, the Black Soul Banner could easily suppress it.

Chen Fan tucked the Black Soul Banner back behind his back, then pulled Eleven from his waist and placed it flat in front of his knees.

Eleven had already been refined once in the Land of Dead Souls, and three extremely faint artistic conception patterns had appeared in the gray-white sword light on the sword body, and its grade had also stepped into the early stage of the Nascent Soul stage.

He stroked the sword repeatedly several times, but ultimately made no further changes.

Eleven and he were of one mind, and the three realms of intent were integrated into the sword. Every thrust of the sword was imbued with the power of cause and effect, life and death, and determination.

Although its grade is not as high as the Black Soul Banner, the power it can unleash in his hands is by no means inferior to any mid-stage Nascent Soul magic weapon.

Chen Fan sheathed Eleven and summoned the Golden Cicada from his sleeve.

For more than a year, the cicada had been sleeping quietly in the sleeve, occasionally waking up to rub against Chen Fan's fingers with its tentacles before going back to sleep.

Its aura became increasingly restrained and profound. The bottleneck of the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage was so thin that it was almost transparent. It was only one step away from breaking through to the Divine Transformation stage.

Chen Fan extended a finger and gently touched the golden cicada's carapace, transferring a wisp of immortal-demon fusion power into its body.

A golden light flashed around the cicada, and it emitted a faint but excited buzzing sound before falling back into slumber. It had accumulated enough power and only needed a trigger to break through.

After doing all this, Chen Fan put the golden cicada back into his sleeve, closed his eyes, and began to meditate and regulate his breathing.

Time flies like water, and more than half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

For the past six months, Chen Fan did not continue his seclusion to break through his bottleneck, but instead devoted his time to refining the artistic conception of the three gates.

In the quiet room, he practiced the sword moves eleven times in a row, pushing the coordination of cause and effect, life and death, and stillness in each sword strike to the extreme.

Sometimes, a single thrust of the sword can simultaneously block the opponent's retreat, dismantle their defense, and precisely strike their weakest point.

Sometimes, a single sweeping sword strike can combine three forces at the same point, unleashing power far exceeding one's own cultivation level.

Chen Fan had also practiced in the spirit field several times.

Using Black Emperor and Black Wind as hypothetical enemies, they certainly wouldn't actually fight them; they would simply surround them with sword intent, letting the dog and horse feel the oppressive aura of the three realms.

After being tormented twice, Black King refused to cooperate anymore. As soon as he saw Chen Fan draw his sword, he tucked his tail between his legs and hid behind the Dragon Beard Fruit Tree.

Black Wind wasn't too afraid, but its restless nature made it impossible for it to stay still. Before the sword intent even reached it, it had already run away and disappeared.

Eunuch Wei squatted on the edge of the field, watching this scene. Surprisingly, he didn't speak sarcastically; he simply squinted for a long time before finally uttering a single sentence:

"Your sword intent is much stronger than it was back in the palace. Although I don't know much about swords, I can see that every thrust you make now carries an indescribable force. That force is neither spiritual power nor demonic energy, but rather something that naturally exists between heaven and earth."

Chen Fan sheathed his sword without explanation.

Although Eunuch Wei did not understand the artistic conception, he had lived for decades and still had some insight.

That "something that has always existed between heaven and earth" is the prototype of the fusion of the three realms of artistic conception!

It is not a simple superposition of the three forces of cause and effect, life and death, and destiny, but a unity of the three at a higher level.

However, this unification is not yet complete.

Chen Fan could sense that he was just one step away from completely integrating the three realms of artistic conception.

That step no longer requires arduous practice, but rather a stroke of luck.

A year is contained within the bowl, but only a month is outside.

As the time agreed upon by Daoist Huoyuan approached, Chen Fan stood up from the meditation room.

He tucked the eleventh item into his waistband, the black soul banner into his back, and the golden cicada into his sleeve. He then carefully sorted and stored the jade slips and pills containing the arrays. With a thought, he left the golden bowl space.

Everything in the ruins of the stone palace remains as it was.

The three formations remained intact, and the bone fragments at the entrance were still in the same position. Chen Fan retrieved the formation flags one by one and then crawled out through the entrance.

The gravel plain remained deathly silent.

A ghostly green aura flowed slowly beneath the dome, and the distant wreckage of a flying ship appeared and disappeared within it.

After scanning his surroundings with his divine sense and confirming that there were no other cultivators present, Chen Fan headed back the way he came towards the stone building of Daoist Huoyuan.

After walking for about half an hour, the three gray stone buildings came into view.

Unlike a month ago, there were two more people in the open space outside the stone building.

One of them was an extremely burly, bald man, wearing a suit of animal hide armor. His bare arms were bulging with muscles like dragons, and his skin was bronze, covered with dense, blood-red totems.

With his cultivation at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, the aura emanating from his body was as fierce as fire, yet it also carried a faint, almost imperceptible, bloody scent.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, with a huge, crimson axe lying across his knees, its blade faintly glowing with blood.