At the moment he sneezed, Bai Xiaochun also woke up. His consciousness was still immersed in the heavily injured state before his fainting. As soon as he regained awareness, he instinctively grabbed his left arm and let out a painful scream. But just as the scream started, it abruptly stopped. He looked down at his left arm in surprise, then at his body, feeling here and there, even lifting his shirt to check his fair and tender belly.
"Why are there no wounds?" Bai Xiaochun's eyes showed fear. He recalled what the village elder had said: when a person dies, their soul enters the underworld. Now, there were clearly no wounds on his body, which meant he was only a soul left… He trembled as he looked around, finding the place utterly desolate. The ground's grass and trees were withered, and Chen Heng's corpse was nowhere to be found.
Looking further out, the surroundings were filled with mist, and only a small area was visible. The distance was blurred. A strong aura of death permeated the air, chilling him to the bone.
"I'm done for... I've lived a cautious life for so many years, and now I lost my life this time..." Bai Xiaochun was completely certain, his spirit falling apart. With a mournful face, he wailed in despair.
"I haven't even had the chance to repay Du Lingfei with my body… Brother Hou also made me a solemn promise… No one knows I'm Turtle Grandpa yet, and I still haven't eaten enough Spirit-Tail Chicken… I… I haven't achieved immortality..." The more he thought about it, the sadder he became, tears welling in his eyes.
Just as he was lamenting, suddenly... a cough came from behind him.
The sudden cough startled Bai Xiaochun. He lunged forward, rolled over, and turned around, producing a wooden sword in his hand.
"Who's there?!" Bai Xiaochun shouted sharply. In the spot where he had just been, he saw an old man in a black robe standing like a zombie, staring at him grimly.
The old man exuded a strong deathly aura. His face was pale and wrinkled, as if he had crawled out of a grave. Combined with the eerie surroundings, he looked truly terrifying.
Seeing this clearly, Bai Xiaochun's body hairs stood on end. Countless tales of ghosts and spirits came to mind. But soon, he remembered he was already dead, so he instantly calmed down. He raised his chin and snorted, standing up from the ground.
"Alright, you're a ghost, I'm a ghost, I'm dead anyway, so what's there to fear?" Bai Xiaochun walked in front of the old man and circled him, making a sizzling sound.
"You're a ghost from this nameless mountain range, right? Don't be nervous. I just happened to die passing through here. I'll leave soon. Sigh, I wonder if after becoming a ghost, I can keep cultivating immortality and become an eternal ghost," Bai Xiaochun said, sighing sadly.
The black-robed old man frowned, looking at Bai Xiaochun and spoke hoarsely, "Do you want to die that badly?"
Bai Xiaochun was stunned. Suddenly, he seemed to realize something and bit his tongue hard. The pain surged through him. Unable to believe it, he bit again. This time, tears streamed down his face from the pain. His expression turned into wild joy. He jumped about and shouted to the sky,
"I'm not dead!!! Haha! I, Bai Xiaochun, have unmatched cultivation and am invincible under heaven and earth! How could I die!"
He excitedly grabbed the old man's arm, but his hand passed right through, grasping only air. Even when touching the old man, he felt a strong chilling coldness.
His body froze, staring blankly at the old man with wide eyes, letting out a piercing scream as he backed away sharply.
"Ghost!!!" Earlier he thought he was dead and felt indifferent, but now he was truly terrified. Stories of vengeful ghosts demanding lives flooded his mind.
He retreated to the edge of the mist, where an invisible barrier prevented him from escaping. Leaning against it, trembling and holding his small wooden sword tightly, his eyes wide open, his thoughts raced. Finally, he pitifully looked at the black-robed old man.
"If you have any unfinished wishes, Grandpa, I, Bai Xiaochun, will definitely help you fulfill them..."
The old man's face looked strange as he carefully examined Bai Xiaochun. He felt this young man was unlike anyone he had seen before, and slowly a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.
"Perhaps, only a person with such a character is suitable for practicing the immortal longevity technique..." the old man murmured softly, feeling at ease. Shaking his head with a smile, he turned and drifted toward the distance.
"The Immortal Longevity Technique is divided into the Immortal Scrolls and the Longevity Scrolls. Among them, there are five Immortal Scrolls and five Longevity Scrolls… The one you cultivate is the most widely spread — Immortal Scroll One, the Immortal Skin. Your iron skin has reached completion, and copper skin is partial," the old man's voice faded but echoed in Bai Xiaochun's ears.
"The Immortal Scroll breaks through the five shackles of life, and the Longevity Scroll breaks the five eternal seals."
"Train hard. If you can reach the level of Immortal Golden Skin, you will touch the first shackle of life. Whether you can break through it depends on your fate."
"Fate has brought us together. I gift you a pill to slightly advance your Immortal Skin from copper skin to completion, and a jade slip which records the Immortal… second scroll, Immortal Vajra!"
"This Immortal Longevity Technique… it's extraordinary!" The old man had disappeared, his figure indistinct. As his voice lingered, two rainbows suddenly flew over, floating in front of Bai Xiaochun.
Bai Xiaochun was shaken, staring blankly at the departing figure of the old man. At this moment, he fully understood why he hadn't died and why his injuries had healed — it was all thanks to this man.
And the reason... was because of the Immortal Longevity Technique he cultivated.
Though Bai Xiaochun feared death, he valued gratitude highly. Knowing his wounds had nearly killed him, his body trembled as he took a deep breath and knelt heavily in the direction the old man had left.
"Thank you, senior, for saving my life and passing on your skill. Please tell me your name..." Bai Xiaochun shouted loudly.
"I am… the Tomb Keeper," the old man's voice came from the merging of heaven and earth, weak and aged, carrying memories as if from countless years ago, barely audible.
At the same time, the mist barrier around them cracked and shattered with cracking sounds, instantly dissipating. The enclosed space reconnected with the outside world. The wind blew, lifting Bai Xiaochun's long hair as he looked into the distance silently for a long time.
"Immortal Longevity Technique… five shackles of life, five eternal seals?" He murmured softly, these were things he had never heard before.
After a moment, Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath. Looking at the floating pill and jade slip before him, he took the jade slip and scanned it with his spiritual sense. Inside were the records of the Immortal Second Scroll.
After putting away the jade slip, his gaze fell on the pill. Although he was a pharmacist apprentice, he couldn't identify the pill's grade. Carefully inspecting it, he was cautious. He knew if the black-robed elder wanted to harm him, there were many ways to do it. So this pill could only be beneficial, not harmful.
After some thought, he looked around, then stored the pill and headed outside. Walking through the forest, his expression was full of emotion, recalling the fierce battle with the Luo Chen family, which still left him shaken.
"I wonder how Senior Sister Du and Senior Brother Hou are doing… Did they escape?" Bai Xiaochun pondered but didn't take out the jade slip to communicate, worried that if the Luo Chen family was not wiped out, the jade slip's signal might cause trouble. He felt inside his storage bag and pulled out Feng Yan's Wind-Traveling Boat. With a slight move, he found it was usable again.
His eyes lit up with joy, guessing something. Not in a hurry to leave, he found a cave in the mountains to rest. Inside, he took out the turtle-patterned cauldron and began refining the pill given by the black-robed elder.
Soon the pill shimmered with silver light, showing three spiritual markings. Bai Xiaochun's eyes gleamed with determination as he swallowed it. Upon swallowing, a roar erupted inside his body, as if a fire suddenly exploded and transformed into an indescribable vitality, rapidly spreading throughout his body.
His body trembled, biting his teeth to endure as he activated the Immortal Longevity Technique, slapping his body. Gradually, his skin changed from black to copper-colored. The copper color deepened until he almost looked like a bronze man.
The power inside surged violently, stirring strongly in his heart.
But the pill's effect didn't end. After Bai Xiaochun refined it three times, the pill seemed to reach a shocking quality. At the moment his entire skin turned copper, he suddenly trembled violently. Cracking sounds echoed in his ears as if something was breaking.
His skin developed cracks, more and more, densely covering his whole body. The pain grew intense, but with his endurance, silver light appeared within the cracks!
The Immortal Skin is divided into four levels: Iron, Copper, Silver, and Gold!
Even the black-robed elder hadn't predicted that this pill would push Bai Xiaochun's Immortal Skin beyond copper to another breakthrough.
The roaring echoed inside Bai Xiaochun for several days. His skin cracked more and more until, like shedding old skin, the old pieces fell off. Underneath was clearly silver skin.
After another ten days, when the last piece of cracked skin shed, Bai Xiaochun's entire body emitted silver light. Though faint, his eyes also flickered with silver light.
His body shifted swiftly, causing an astonishing sound of air being sliced. His speed was at least twice as fast as before!
His eyes flashed with wild joy. Clenching his right fist, he struck a nearby rock with a thunderous boom. The rock shattered instantly — not into chunks but into powder!
This power was several times greater than before.
Bai Xiaochun was thrilled and took a deep breath. At this moment, he was confident that if he fought Chen Heng again, he would not suffer such a severe defeat.
Testing further, he found his defense extraordinary. His full silver Immortal Skin made even the wooden sword he refined three times unable to harm him at all.
Feeling invigorated, Bai Xiaochun saw that after not activating the Immortal Longevity Technique, his body returned to its fair, clean appearance. He changed clothes, then sped off into the distance with pride.