Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 263: Preparations

Qingyun Courtyard’s gates were tightly shut, and its Formations were fully activated.

Fang Hao sat cross-legged in the quiet room. Though his face was still somewhat pale, his eyes had regained their former sharpness, even adding a layer of depth from experiencing a life-and-death struggle. Returning from the brink of death, his desire for power and alertness toward danger had reached unprecedented heights.

"Temporarily safe? Heh, I’ve likely just entered a more magnificent cage," he sneered. The Emperor’s words sounded fair, but everyone knew this "Trial by the Three Judicial Departments" was a mere facade. The Sun Family’s power was immense, deeply rooted in the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court; framing him would be as easy as turning over a hand. The so-called "protection" was merely to stop the Sun Family from killing him openly for now; their clandestine methods would likely only be more numerous and poisonous. Once "conclusive evidence" was found and the verdict delivered, the Imperial Family would simply go along with it.

Waiting for death? That wasn’t Fang Hao’s style.

"Time. I need time to recover, and even more time to prepare." A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. Fortunately, he still had his greatest reliance—the qiankun ring Immortal Cave, which could alter the flow of time!

He first spent a few days, enduring his injuries, to rearrange the interior and exterior of Qingyun Courtyard. He unhesitatingly brought out the Formation Plates and flags he had previously purchased or scavenged from the Secret Realm. Layer upon layer of composite Formations—for defense, warning, illusion, and even those with sharp counter-attacking killing intent—armed the small Qingyun Courtyard to the teeth. While they couldn’t withstand a Nascent Soul Old Monster’s forceful attack for long, they were enough to stall for time and create a commotion as a warning.

After finishing this, he immediately hid inside the qiankun ring Immortal Cave. One day outside was ten days inside the cave! This was currently his greatest advantage!

Under the ten-fold time dilation, Fang Hao began his frantic preparations.

Alchemy! He brought out all the remaining Materials suitable for Alchemy, including those collected from demon creatures. He didn’t care for high rank, only for practicality and quantity! rejuvenation pills for healing, Spirit Recovery Powder for rapid spiritual energy restoration, Blood Burst Pills for temporarily stimulating potential, detoxification pills, poison-warding pills, and even some niche pills with peculiar effects—he threw everything he could think of into the furnace to refine. With the Chaos Derivation Art’s exquisite control over flames and his prior Alchemy experience, his success rate was quite high. Soon, batches of Medicinal Pills were refined and categorized.

Talisman crafting! Offensive Fireball Talismans, Ice Spike Talismans, and Gold Sword Talismans; defensive vajra talismans and Earth Wall Talismans; supportive divine movement talismans, Invisibility Talismans (low-rank, limited effect), and Mind-Scrambling Talismans to disrupt Divine Sense... He pushed his not-particularly-profound Talisman-making skills to the limit, consuming a large amount of blank Talisman paper and Demon Beast blood ink to produce several thick stacks of Talismans. In a critical moment, throwing these Talismans out could produce unexpected results.

Repairing Magical Artifacts! The silver light shuttle was the key to escaping. It had been severely overtaxed previously, and its spiritual runes were somewhat dim and damaged. He found the Materials he had stored for repairing flying artifacts and carefully nurtured and mended it, restoring the silver light shuttle to its peak state. He even used some fire-attribute Materials stripped from a Magma Lizard, which slightly increased its speed.

And most importantly, repairing the Puppet "Old Gold"!

Taking the severely damaged "Old Gold" from the depths of his storage ring, he looked at the large hole in its chest, its drooping arm, and its dim spiritual core. Fang Hao took a deep breath and took out the fragment of the heavenly craft puppet manual to study it carefully once more.

Although this fragment was incomplete, the methods for refining, repairing, and driving Puppets recorded within were exquisite, far exceeding the crude methods he had encountered before. It gave him great inspiration, especially regarding the repair of core spiritual runes, the connection of energy circuits, and how to use special Materials to enhance Puppet performance.

"earth core jade marrow... I have it! It’s the best for repairing spiritual cores and stabilizing energy sources!"

"void crystal dust... I have it! Although it’s not the best space-attribute material, integrating it into joints and energy channels can increase the Puppet’s flexibility and energy transmission efficiency!"

"And these hard bones, scales, and lava cores taken from the Demon Ape and Magma Lizard... Although the Devilish Qi needs to be dealt with, the Materials are excellent and can be used to repair the torso!"

"Plus some metal essence and Star Sand left over from before..."

Fang Hao’s eyes lit up. He had enough basic Materials; the key was technique and understanding. He immersed himself in the profound knowledge of the fragment of the heavenly craft puppet manual, combining it with his previous experience repairing "Old Gold" to deduce and simulate repeatedly.

Time passed bit by bit inside the Immortal Cave as Fang Hao devoted himself entirely, without sleep or rest. He first used the Chaos Qi of the Chaos Derivation Art to carefully strip and refine the Devilish Qi and Impurities from those demon Materials, retaining only the purest and toughest essence. Then, following the methods in the manual, he cautiously disassembled the damaged parts of "Old Gold," repairing, replacing, and reinforcing them bit by bit with the processed Materials.

Repairing the spiritual core was the most critical and delicate step. He carefully refined the earth core jade marrow into liquid and dripped it into the cracks of the spiritual core. Then, using his own essence blood and Divine Sense, along with the special spiritual runes from the manual, he guided the jade marrow’s energy to slowly permeate and seal the cracks, redrawing and reinforcing the core spiritual runes. This process was extremely taxing on the mind; a slight mistake could ruin everything or even destroy the spiritual core. Fang Hao concentrated fully, fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.

Next was the repair of the torso and arms. He used a mixture of the Demon Ape’s hard bones and metal essence to mend the hole in the chest, and reinforced the joints and key defensive areas with Materials refined from the Magma Lizard’s scales and lava core. Finally, he integrated a small amount of void crystal dust into the energy transmission channels, making them smoother and more stable.

When the final spiritual rune was lit, and he reconnected the repaired parts to the main body and struck the activation incantation—

Buzz!

In the quiet room, the long-silent body of "Old Gold" suddenly jolted! Its previously dim surface instantly lit up with the familiar, even more solid and brilliant golden light! The damaged area on its chest was now covered with sturdy dark-gold bone and red scales, its severed arm was reconnected, and slight spatial fluctuations rippled around its joints. An energy surge far more powerful and stable than before radiated from "Old Gold"; it had recovered to its peak Middle Nascent Soul Stage combat power, and its defense and flexibility seemed even better than before!

"It’s done!" Fang Hao breathed a long sigh of relief, a weary but gratified smile appearing on his face.

Just as Fang Hao finished repairing "Old Gold" and hadn’t yet had time to catch his breath or familiarize himself with its new state, a hidden warning Restriction he had placed at the outermost perimeter of Qingyun Courtyard was suddenly triggered! It wasn’t an attack, but someone attempting to pry with their Divine Sense—and it was extremely stealthy and powerful!

"They’re here!" Fang Hao’s eyes turned cold. He instantly put away "Old Gold" and all the refined items, flashing out of the qiankun ring Immortal Cave and returning to the quiet room of Qingyun Courtyard.

He noiselessly approached the window and looked outside through the Formation. In the distant sky, several obscure Divine Senses swept around Qingyun Courtyard like tentacles, filled with investigation and surveillance. One of them, cold and powerful with undisguised malice, was none other than the Sun Family Old Ancestor!

"As expected, they can’t hold back anymore," Fang Hao sneered. He knew the Sun Family would never wait for some "Trial by the Three Judicial Departments"; they would certainly use various means to pressure him, search for "evidence," or even strike secretly. Since he had been hiding in the courtyard for a few days, the Sun Family must have become anxious.

He held his breath and concentrated, suppressing his aura to the limit. With the help of the quiet room’s isolation Formation, he was like a motionless stone. The Divine Senses outside swept around a few more times but found nothing unusual and seemed to withdraw unwillingly.

But Fang Hao knew this was only temporary. The Sun Family’s surveillance would only grow stricter. He had to leave the Heavenly Capital before the Sun Family found "conclusive evidence" or became desperate!

"The Ninth Princess..." Fang Hao frowned slightly. When Sun Tianlin was killed, Ninth Princess Mu Fenghua and her two guards were present; this was the greatest hidden danger. Although he trusted Mu Fenghua not to betray him proactively, if the Sun Family pressured her through Empress Sun, or found those two guards... those guards might not be able to withstand the Sun Family’s methods.

"I must leave as soon as possible! Delays bring trouble!" Fang Hao made up his mind. He did a final check of his status: his cultivation was stable at the Late Golden Core Stage, nearing Perfection; his Physical Body was powerful, and his injuries were healed; he had plenty of Medicinal Pills and Talismans; the silver light shuttle was repaired; "Old Gold" was preliminarily restored and usable; and the battle heaven axe was being nurtured in his Dantian, in good condition.

He spent a bit more time setting up a small trigger-based illusion Formation and a delayed spiritual energy explosion point in the quiet room. If someone forced their way in, it would immediately trigger illusions and an explosion; though it wouldn’t harm a master, it was enough to create chaos and serve as a warning.

The night deepened, and dark clouds obscured the moon.

Fang Hao changed into an inconspicuous night suit and checked all his items once more, adjusting his state to its peak. He took a deep breath, a look of determination flashing in his eyes.

It was time.

He didn’t use the main gate, nor did he climb over the wall. He quietly opened an extremely hidden gap in Qingyun Courtyard’s Formation, just large enough for one person. Like a shadow blending into the night, he utilized the Shadowless Evasion Technique and the Ethereal Art, suppressing his aura to near nothingness. He noiselessly slipped out of Qingyun Courtyard and followed a pre-planned route, avoiding main streets and patrol teams, as he crept toward the southwestern city wall of the Heavenly Capital, where the defenses were relatively weak and supervision was loose.

His plan was simple: use the night and his concealment skills to quietly sneak out of the Heavenly Capital, then immediately flee far away, leaving the Mingling Empire’s den of trouble. He would find a place to hide, digest his gains from the Secret Realm, increase his strength, and wait until the heat died down.

However, he still underestimated the Sun Family’s determination to kill him and the divine abilities of the Sun Family Old Ancestor.

Just as he had left Qingyun Courtyard by less than a hundred feet and his figure was blending into the shadows of a dim alley—

"Hmph! Little thief, you really couldn’t keep your cool! Trying to flee?"

A cold snort filled with killing intent rang out above his head like a thunderclap! Along with the snort, a terrifying Spiritual Pressure, like Mount Tai pressing down, instantly enveloped and locked onto the alley where he was!

The Sun Family Old Ancestor’s figure appeared in the night sky above the alley like a ghost, looking down coldly as if watching a rat with nowhere to run. He had actually been hiding in the darkness, personally monitoring the area! The moment Fang Hao left the range of the courtyard’s Formation, he had been detected!

Almost at the same time the Sun Family Old Ancestor appeared, over a dozen figures lit up in the surrounding darkness. Each had a strong aura, the lowest being at the Middle Golden Core Stage, with several at Perfected Golden Core! They had already laid out an inescapable net, surrounding this area so tightly that not even a drop of water could leak through!

"Fang Hao! You have defied the imperial decree and fled without permission; your crime is increased by one degree! Surrender now!" a Sun Family Elder at the Perfected Golden Core stage shouted harshly, his eyes full of triumph and cruelty. They had long expected Fang Hao to flee and were just waiting for him to walk into their trap!

Fang Hao’s heart instantly sank to the bottom. The worst-case scenario had happened! He was cornered in the city by a Nascent Soul Ancestor and over a dozen Golden Core elites!

He slowly stepped out of the shadows and looked up at the Sun Family Old Ancestor in the night sky. His face was expressionless, but in the depths of his eyes, a cold flame began to burn.

Surrender? That would be seeking death!

It seemed that slipping away quietly was impossible.

In that case, there was only... fighting his way out!

He clenched his fists inside his sleeves. Inside his Dantian, the battle heaven axe trembled slightly, letting out a silent hum, as if it were longing for something.

The night wind howled, and killing intent was biting. A life-and-death escape within the imperial capital was about to begin.