After reinforcing the cave's defenses, Zhang Ling immediately began preparing for his seclusion. First, he made several trips to the sect's library, where he found several prescriptions for Foundation Establishment stage pills. These prescriptions were quite valuable, costing him over a thousand spirit stones. Then, he made several more trips to the sect's market, collecting the spirit herb seeds and seedlings needed for these prescriptions. In the current cultivation world, although some prescriptions are circulating, most are suitable for Qi Refining cultivators, while pills suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators are much more precious. Even if there are some ancient prescriptions passed down, the spirit herbs required are mostly difficult to find, and some have even become extinct, making them difficult to refine. Even in the Hao Yuan Sect's library, he only found a few prescriptions suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators. These prescriptions do not exist outside, and are mostly the result of countless improvements by the sect's talented alchemists who are proficient in alchemy. It is basically impossible for them to spread to the outside world. This is the sect's intangible property, because pill research is difficult. Even with the most basic ancient prescriptions, it is not easy to find spirit herbs that can replace the missing ones, and not only the spirit herbs, but also the proportion of spirit herbs is the most difficult. Some precious spirit herbs even require special medicinal primers. After learning about the specific details of the pill recipes, Zhang Ling tried his best to collect some pill recipes for his own use. After all, possessing a mysterious pearl that can accelerate the maturation of herbs, how could he not make the most of this advantage? However, after searching around, not many were suitable for him. The three types of pills, the Essence Nourishing Pill, the Spirit Gathering Pellet, and the Blood Qi Powder, were the ones he carefully selected after much consideration.

The Blood Qi Powder is an ancient prescription, and although the spirit herbs used are not rare, they require a lot of age. A total of nine different spirit herbs are used. Among them, the second-grade medicinal age accounts for a large part, and the age requirement is also hundreds of years. This is a pill that he specifically sought to replenish blood and qi, and it is also a type of pill used in the Mysterious Soul Refinement Art. The Essence Nourishing Pill is a pill suitable for the mid-Foundation Establishment stage to increase cultivation, and the Spirit Gathering Pellet is an even more precious pill, suitable for mid- to late-stage cultivators to assist in cultivation. These two types of pills can also be exchanged for spirit stones and contribution points in the Hao Yuan Sect, which is one of the sect's benefits. In addition, there is the Heavy Earth Pill, a supplementary pill for the Dry Earth Skill, this special pill. For this reason, it took him more than a month to collect the spirit herbs needed for these pills. Among them, several spirit herbs are rare herbs among the second-grade spirit herbs, and the most difficult to collect is the third-grade spirit herb Earth Spirit Flower, the main ingredient of the Heavy Earth Pill. A seedling of the Earth Spirit Flower with three or four years of medicinal age cost hundreds of spirit stones. After preparing the spirit herbs, Zhang Ling directly opened up a small medicinal field in the cave. Although it is not large, it is enough to cultivate several rare spirit herbs. In addition, there is a mu of medicinal field outside the cave planted with many auxiliary spirit herbs, which is enough for him to use. By doing so, he can cultivate herbs without worrying about being discovered during his seclusion, and he can be completely self-sufficient. With the medicinal garden, he felt relieved to accelerate the maturation of the spirit herbs while refining pills with the Innate True Fire. Although the Innate True Fire is a bit inferior to the Earth Core Fire, it is at least safe. After refining several kinds of pills, he began to seclude himself. With an Essence Nourishing Pill down his throat, Zhang Ling once again experienced the abundant spiritual power in the pill. Such an amazing effect naturally allowed his cultivation to progress rapidly. At the same time, he also spent most of his time every day cultivating the Mysterious Soul Refinement Art. After using the Blood Qi Powder, the assimilation of the strange vines on his body also progressed rapidly. Until after more than half a year, a two-zhang-long cyan vine grew out again on his left arm. What was strange was that blood-colored runes appeared on the newly grown vine. These were the blood runes that Wei Shen had planted in his body. After initially assimilating the vines, he began to resolve these blood runes. This step involved no small danger. During the cultivation process, he almost went into Qi Deviation several times. Fortunately, with the assistance of the Spirit Concentration Incense and the fact that he also practiced the Nameless Spirit Refinement Art, his divine sense was stronger than that of ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, allowing him to avoid danger. …… Cultivation knows no time, and five years passed in the blink of an eye. The gate of Zhang Ling's cave, under the cover of the Six甲 Soul Confusion Formation, had not been opened since the beginning of his seclusion.

Until this day, Zhang Ling was sitting cross-legged in the quiet room of the cave, in a state of closed-eye meditation. His body was wrapped in a cocoon of cyan and red vines, and wisps of blood qi were emitted from time to time. If other cultivators saw it, they might have thought he was practicing some kind of demonic secret technique. After half an hour, a sudden explosion came from the quiet room. Then came Zhang Ling's loud laughter. At this moment, his upper body was naked, and his chest was a patch of black and red. A green vine, as thick as two fingers, on his left arm suddenly stretched out. It waved like a blood-colored long snake. The Mysterious Soul Spirit Refinement Art is indeed strange. The vine is now like his arm, completely under his control. This feeling was not there before. After he was parasitized by the vine, his heart and left arm would feel numb, itchy, and tingling from time to time. He always felt like there was a foreign object in it, but now he no longer had that feeling. Now it is like having an extra arm, this is the strangeness of the Mysterious Soul Refinement Art. Zhang Ling's eyes were cold as he shook his arm, and the vine quickly waved a few times in the air, turning dark brown with a layer of black light attached to it. The discolored vine swayed, turning into a black shadow and hitting the stone wall on the side, and suddenly a deep groove appeared on it. Zhang Ling was not surprised by this. He commanded the vine to retract. This discolored vine was the manifestation of him guiding the baleful qi in his body into it. The vine attached with baleful qi has increased in power a lot, more powerful than a top-grade magic weapon. And the main body has also become much tougher and not easily damaged. And there are other wonderful uses. These are all thanks to the Mysterious Soul Spirit Refinement Art. But now he has only initially completed the guidance of baleful qi, and this secret technique has only barely reached minor accomplishment. Every few days, the baleful qi will erupt once, each time causing him great pain, but he believes that if he cultivates this secret technique to great accomplishment, he will definitely be able to control these baleful qi. In the following time, he only needs to cultivate step by step. At the same time, in the past few years, his Dry Earth Skill has also cultivated rapidly. With the supporting Heavy Earth Pill, the progress is very fast. At this moment, the earth spiritual power in his dantian is extremely condensed. After retracting the vine, Zhang Ling suddenly put his hands together in front of his chest, and then quickly pinched a few magic seals. Suddenly, a yellow translucent yellow light appeared in his hand. With a wave of his hand, this group of yellow light flew out and landed on the ground. The ground seemed to have been hit hard, and a large pit appeared, and the surrounding soil and rocks were shattered inch by inch. This is the Dry Earth Skill's accompanying secret technique, 'Heavy Essence Profound Light'. This secret technique can also be initially cast. But now the power is not strong, and with his current strength, he cannot maintain this technique for a long time even if he uses it with all his strength. But this technique also has wonderful uses. When fighting against enemies, if it is suddenly cast, it can not only suppress the cultivator's magic weapon to a certain extent, but also greatly affect the action if it is hit by it. Now his strength is much stronger than when he first advanced to Foundation Establishment. With these methods, he truly feels that he is now a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. Then he left seclusion. He originally wanted to seclude himself for a longer period of time, but unfortunately, the pills he had prepared before were almost used up. This is also a major reason why he had to stop cultivating.