In the space, Xiao Fei watched the Wood Spirit Fruit tree for a while. The green fruit at the top of the small tree had still not ripened.
According to the sect's ancient texts, the Wood Spirit Fruit took 3,000 years from flowering to maturity.
Even with 20 times the time in the space, it would still take 150 years.
He didn't know how many years this fruit had been bearing, so he couldn't estimate the ripening time.
After watching for a while, he picked a few leaves from the Wood Spirit Fruit tree and dug up a ginseng plant that was over 200 years old, along with more than a dozen auxiliary materials.
He planned to refine pills using the leaves of the Wood Spirit Fruit tree to replenish vitality and promote bodily recovery.
He took these spirit herbs out of the space.
The residence he built for himself in the lakebed space was large, with a dedicated alchemy room.
There were also several rooms specifically for storing zombies and raising Fire Iron Ants.
It was more cost-effective to raise the Fire Iron Ants outside the space.
Raising them in the space with 20 times the time consumed a lot, and the Fire Iron Ants also had a lifespan limit, so their lifespans were depleted too quickly.
Xiao Fei fed the Fire Iron Ants some pills refined from Dragon's Breath Grass, then entered the alchemy room.
During his years in Eagle Mountain Kingdom, his alchemy skills had not lagged at all.
Every day, he would dedicate at least an hour to studying the art of alchemy in the space, and his attainments in alchemy improved daily.
Now, refining Tier 2 pills was as simple as eating and drinking, and he had accumulated a large quantity of Tier 2 pills in the space.
There was no other way; he couldn't eat pills as food himself.
As for selling the pills for spirit stones, that was indeed his initial thought, and he had done so.
However, in this evil cultivation kingdom, earning money honestly made him an easy target for robbery, and his life was often in danger.
After several experiences, he decided to adapt to local customs and simply rob when he lacked resources.
He found this "zero-cost shopping" to be incredibly addictive.
Since adapting to the customs of Eagle Mountain Kingdom, his life had become increasingly comfortable, and he no longer worried about spirit stones or resources.
As long as he had the strength, he could rob anything.
Therefore, he had a surplus of spirit herbs, spirit wine, and pills in his space – a happy predicament!
At this moment, Xiao Fei sat peacefully before the alchemy furnace.
After pondering for a while, he mentally mapped out the main structure of the pill. Only then did he start the fire and gradually add the spirit herbs into the furnace.
Although there was no pill recipe, and he designed it entirely based on the properties of the herbs, the refining process was still extremely smooth. Two hours later, the pill was out of the furnace.
Opening the lid, he found four pills in this batch.
Xiao Fei picked up the pills and carefully examined them with his divine sense.
They were roughly as he had envisioned, but there were still many shortcomings. He could further improve the pill recipe next time he refined it.
Any mature pill recipe was constantly improved and perfected through use.
Xiao Fei sat beside the alchemy furnace and directly consumed one pill.
The pill was smooth as it entered his mouth, easily sliding down his throat and into his abdomen, where it slowly released its vitality.
This vitality was first absorbed by his stomach and intestines. His previously dry, purplish-black stomach and intestines were transformed by this vitality, gradually becoming moist and elastic, and the purplish-black color slowly receded.
After one day, the pill was completely refined, and a small section of his intestines had fully recovered to a vibrant state.
In the following period, Xiao Fei continuously improved the pill recipe, making the structure of various medicinal materials more reasonable and enhancing their efficacy.
It took nearly a year for the pill recipe to truly take shape. Xiao Fei named this pill the Vitality Pill.
It had no special effects, only restoring vitality.
If a dying person took it, it could give them a few more breaths before death.
Xiao Fei took the Vitality Pill daily, and his physical condition improved day by day.
Another five years passed. One day, Xiao Fei was meditating in the cultivation room. Vitality flowed within his body. Apart from his fangs, there was no longer any trace of him being a zombie.
Just then, his fangs slowly retracted, disappearing back into his mouth and returning to their normal tooth shape.
At this point, his body had fully recovered its vitality, becoming indistinguishable from an ordinary living person.
However, he had, after all, been a zombie once, and he had refined the corpse qi using the Primordial Chaos cultivation technique.
His current body should be somewhere between a living person and a zombie.
He possessed all the functions of a living person and could integrate into normal society as a living person, at least regaining the ability to marry and have children.
At the same time, he could transform into a zombie form at will, mingling with ghosts and evil cultivators, committing evil deeds, and bringing disaster to the world.
Just as Xiao Fei recovered all his vitality and was about to conclude his cultivation, the sea of his dantian suddenly shook violently.
"Rumble!"
The Primordial Chaos spiritual power in his dantian churned, surging like a tsunami.
Xiao Fei quickly held his mind steady and fully circulated the "Primordial Chaos Five Elements Technique."
It took a full month before Xiao Fei gradually finished his cultivation.
He had only recently broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage before being captured by the sect leader and refined into a zombie.
After becoming a zombie, his physical strength surprisingly reached the late Foundation Establishment stage.
However, his spiritual power cultivation had remained stuck at the early Foundation Establishment stage, unable to advance.
The moment his body fully recovered its vitality, the long-suppressed spiritual power surged forth, directly breaking through the early Foundation Establishment stage to reach the middle stage.
Now, his physical strength was equivalent to the late Foundation Establishment stage, and his spiritual power cultivation was at the middle Foundation Establishment stage. His combat power had been elevated by another level.
With a significant increase in strength, Xiao Fei was in a good mood. He stood up, looked in the mirror, and then walked out of his small courtyard.
The space at the bottom of the lake was a relatively flat grassland. It was unclear where the light source came from; there was no day or night, and it was always as bright as daylight. The grass grew exceptionally lush.
As he walked towards the grassland, a pale hand suddenly stretched out from the grass and grabbed his ankle.
Then, a pale face with blood flowing from its seven orifices emerged from the grass.
"Second Sister, you're trying to scare me with your ghost act again!"
"What do you mean 'trying to scare me'? I am a ghost, terrifying and fierce!"
Xiao Lan said, then made several more鬼脸 (ghostly faces), some ferocious, some terrifying.
"Your body seems to have fully recovered!"
Xiao Lan floated around Xiao Fei, circling him a few times, and found that he was indeed a living person now.
"Yes! I've recovered!"
The two of them, one sitting on the grassland and the other floating in mid-air, chatted for a long time.
"Second Sister, I plan to go out and scout the outside. Wait for me here!"
He had hidden in this space for several years and didn't know if the cultivators outside had all died. He intended to investigate.
Even though he didn't lack cultivation resources in his daily life, he didn't have any treasures that could help him break through to the Golden Core stage.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator only had a lifespan of over two hundred years, and he was already fifty or sixty years old.
He didn't know if his current physique would allow him to live for over two hundred years without dying.
However, in the path of cultivation, one either advances or retreats. He had to find a way to break through to the Golden Core stage.
If he could find a way, he would still need to venture out in the future.