觅长生 (Immortal Life): Beginner-to-Advanced Guide

An English-language guide to 觅长生 (Mì Chángshēng, sometimes rendered "Immortal Life" or "Seeking Immortality"), the Chinese xianxia cultivation RPG by Chalcedony Network: how cultivation realms and lifespan work, the five-element combat system, breakthrough minigames for 筑基, 金丹 and 元婴, crafting, sects, and what's happening with the sequel.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the 1.0 stable branch (1.0.039 stable, January 2024; last content update 1.0.042 on the test branch, April 2024). The developers have moved on to a sequel. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Language note: The Steam store lists Simplified Chinese only — there is no official English. This guide gives Chinese terms alongside English translations so you can match them to the UI. Many players use Steam Workshop mods; check the Workshop for current community translation projects before buying if you don't read Chinese.

What Kind of Game Is It?

觅长生 is a turn-based, single-player open-world cultivation RPG set in 宁州 (Ningzhou), one province of the 九州 (Nine Provinces) world. Your cultivator's life can span more than 2,000 in-game years. Time is the central resource: closed-door cultivation, learning techniques, crafting pills and traveling all consume days, months or years. If you reach the end of your lifespan (寿元) before breaking through to the next realm, you die.

It entered Early Access on Steam in late 2019 (its first Steam update notes date from December 27, 2019) and reached 1.0 on January 12, 2023. After the main story updates ended, the developers continued with sect storylines and bug fixes through 2024, then shifted to developing 觅长生 2.

Quick Start

• Save constantly and use multiple slots. The official wiki's breakthrough guides repeat "存档！存档！存档！" (Save! Save! Save!). Breakthroughs can fail catastrophically.
• Time is your real currency. Plan months ahead. Know when your lifespan runs out and how long each breakthrough prep will take.
• Learn the five elements (五行). 金 Metal, 木 Wood, 水 Water, 火 Fire, 土 Earth. Combat uses spiritual qi (灵气) of these elements; generation and restraint cycles matter.
• Pick techniques (功法) and abilities (神通) that match your spiritual roots (灵根). Your roots decide which qi you gain efficiently.
• Alchemy (炼丹) is not optional. Every major breakthrough requires specific pills. Get a furnace (丹炉) and start learning recipes early.
• Join a sect. Sects (门派) give quests, techniques and story. The five sects are 竹山宗, 化尘教, 离火门, 星河剑派 and 金虹剑派.
• Use the wiki's simulators. The official BiliGame wiki includes an alchemy simulator (炼丹模拟器), a crafting simulator (炼器模拟器) and an enlightenment simulator (悟道模拟器). Use them to plan instead of burning materials.
• Don't brute-force fights above your realm. Cross-realm battles are extremely hard by design.

Cultivation Realms

Realm | Pinyin | English

炼气 | Liànqì | Qi Refining

筑基 | Zhùjī | Foundation Establishment

金丹 | Jīndān | Golden Core

元婴 | Yuányīng | Nascent Soul

化神 | Huàshén | Spirit Transformation

The official wiki lists these five realms; 化神 is the top playable realm, even though the store blurb talks about the journey "from 练气 to 飞升" (ascension).

Each major breakthrough is its own hand-designed mini-level (a puzzle-like battle against your own qi). Preparation — pills, secret techniques (秘术) and enlightenment (悟道) — determines success and the quality of the result.

Core Systems

Spiritual roots and qi

Your 灵根 (spiritual roots) set which elements your cultivator absorbs most readily. In combat and breakthroughs, you draw qi of various elements each turn; abilities cost specific combinations. Techniques and Dao comprehension boost your affinity.

Combat

Combat is turn-based with five-element qi. Each 神通 (divine ability) needs certain qi to cast, and qi interacts through generation and restraint — which can add bonus effects. Techniques (功法) and 大道 comprehension amplify this. The store description highlights that abilities, techniques, talents, Dao, treasures (法宝) and pills stack into a deep combat system with many challenge fights.

Tips:

• Build a deck-like set of abilities that share qi types, so you rarely draw useless qi.
• Keep at least one qi-conversion or qi-generation tool to smooth out bad draws.
• Treasures (法宝) add powerful effects; craft or buy them before tough fights.

Enlightenment (悟道)

Comprehending the Dao unlocks passive bonuses. An important early one referenced in the wiki guides is 耐药 (Drug Tolerance), which lets you consume more pills during breakthroughs — for example, doubling the number of 筑基丹 you can use.

Alchemy (炼丹)

Pills power everything: breakthroughs, healing, stat gains. The game lets you freely modify and optimize recipes (丹方). The wiki's alchemy simulator shows outcomes before you commit herbs. Buy herbs from shops (such as a herb pavilion in town) or gather them.

Crafting (炼器)

Freely combine materials to forge treasures. Material properties decide the result; plan with the crafting simulator.

Trading and prices

Item prices vary by region and by NPC preference. Buy low in one city and sell high in another — a reliable way to fund your cultivation.

Cave dwelling (洞府)

You can own a 洞府 with spirit fields (灵田) to grow herbs — a long-term, passive supply of alchemy ingredients.

Relationships

You can befriend any NPC, discuss the Dao (论道), and form a Dao partnership (道侣) for dual cultivation (双修) benefits.

Breakthrough Walkthroughs

筑基 (Foundation Establishment)

According to the official wiki beginner guide, success means reaching 100 in 压缩灵气 (compressed qi).

Preparation:

• 6 × 筑基丹 (12 if you have 耐药)
• Temporary weight pills of a single element: 5 if you have a 天灵根 (heavenly single root, match its element), 8 otherwise
• A grade 2 or higher furnace (grade 3+ recommended)

Process:

• Save.
• Enter the breakthrough screen's preparation phase and consume your 筑基丹.
• Use techniques like 运气术 and 聚气 to cycle qi, converting mixed qi into your weighted element.
• Prioritize compressing six of the same element, then three plus three combinations.
• On the final round, spend everything to reach 100.

Better prep raises the cap:

Setup | Max qi | Bonus HP

6 pills, no 洗髓 | 135 | 70

6 pills, with 洗髓 | 138 | 76

12 pills, no 洗髓 | 150 | 100

12 pills, with 洗髓 | 153 | 106

Every point of compressed qi above 100 converts into 2 bonus HP, which is why 耐药 matters so much.

金丹 (Golden Core) — aim for 九品

Golden Core grade matters enormously: later realms double the core's attributes and rely on its qi capacity. The wiki calls the top result 九品金丹 (nine-grade Golden Core).

Core types:

Type | Distribution | Bonus

纯属性金丹 (pure) | One element at 5 or more | +20 weight, +2 qi absorption

双属性金丹 (dual) | 4 + 4 + 1 | +10 weight each, +1 absorption per type

混元金丹 (mixed) | Anything else | +2 random qi

Preparation:

• Pills: 6 × 聚顶丹, 1 × 朝元丹, 3 × 凝X丹 per element you want (the 凝 pill of that element)
• Secret techniques: 大周天吐纳, 小周天吐纳, 逆行经脉 (all required), plus either 气沉丹田 or 抱元守一
• A grade 4 or higher furnace

Process (nine rounds): gather the three flowers (三花聚顶) in the early rounds while balancing qi ratios; stack 朝元丹 in the middle without exceeding your qi limit; condense into the core (凝液成丹) and use 逆行经脉; then finish with technique support.

Warnings from the guide: 筑基 temporary weight pills can't replace the 凝 pills; don't use 气沉丹田 in the final round (save 调息 instead); and getting the early ratios right prevents cascading failure.

元婴 (Nascent Soul)

The wiki guide covers two types:

• Ordinary 元婴: requires a 九品金丹. 清心咒 is mandatory; 分神术 is optional but lowers requirements.
• 四锻 (quad-tempered) 元婴: consume 4 × 锻脉丹 beforehand (needs 耐药). Much harder, but grants a large max HP bonus. Needs extra pills (护脉丹, 大醒神丹, 大活络丹), element pills, and sect-specific secret techniques.

The key mechanic is the 心魔 (heart demon), which deals damage each turn. You progress through emotional stages — 色念, 惧念, 贪念, 傲念, 怒念, 悲念, 思念 — to 通达. After 通达, demon damage drops by 3 per turn; once it reaches 0, you can form the Nascent Soul freely.

Pitfalls: too many meridians (经脉) cause qi overflow that damages your Will (意志); the guide suggests keeping meridians at 49 rather than 50 to 53 for predictable calculations; and herb availability differs by sect, so plan pills accordingly.

Sects and Story Content

Sect | Notes from official patch notes

竹山宗 | Sect quests continue after 化神; a 2024 patch fixed quest submission after 化神 and the final 幻雾阵 challenge retry

化尘教 | Post-quest continuation added in October 2023: after the earlier sect quests, a message from 澹台仙 arrives between years 100 and 200, continuing the 化尘教 and 云秋兰 story

星河剑派 | An epilogue added in the April 2024 test build triggers around year 503 via a message talisman (传音符)

离火门 | One of the five sects

金虹剑派 | One of the five sects

Cities and regions you'll hear about include 逸风城, 武陵城, 云汐城, 天星城, 广陵城 and the 无尽之海 (Endless Sea).

Test Branch and Saves

From the official announcements:

• Join the test branch: Steam Library, right-click 觅长生, Properties, Betas, select testbranch. No code needed.
• Save locations: stable saves are in the game folder under MCSSave; test saves are under MCSSave_TestBranch. Cloud saves let you move between branches.
• Test builds may have balance swings, bugs or save corruption.

Troubleshooting

• Game won't launch on Intel graphics: The developers traced most launch failures to Intel's newer GPUs (Arc/Xe discrete and integrated, and Intel Core Ultra CPUs). Update your Intel graphics driver from Intel's site.
• Mobile version: Not planned. The developers explained the original was built on Unity 2018 with Mono, and porting would conflict with sequel development.

觅长生 2 (Sequel) — What's Known

From the developers' 2026 updates:

• Early Access launch planned when it reaches a reasonable level of completion, then continued development with player feedback.
• Set in the same 九州 world, many years after the first game, with a more sandbox world.
• Combat moves from turn-based to top-down 2D real-time, but deliberately low on execution demands — builds and character development matter more than reflexes.
• A new numeric progression layer; cross-realm fights become much harder.
• Alchemy is largely retained; crafting is redesigned; a new talisman-making system (制符) and a new 论道 system.
• Dynamic shop prices driven by player and NPC actions.
• No release date announced as of July 2026.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Not saving before breakthroughs. The single most common way to lose a run.
• Letting lifespan run out. Track your 寿元 and breakthrough timing.
• Rushing 金丹 with a low-grade core. Core grade shapes everything after.
• Ignoring 耐药. It effectively doubles your pill budget in key breakthroughs.
• Burning herbs on untested recipes. Use the alchemy simulator first.
• Fighting above your realm. Cross-realm fights are tuned to be brutal.

Advanced Tips

• Plan the 九品金丹 route from 筑基. Choose techniques and roots with your target core type in mind.
• Trade between regions. Price differences are a steady income stream.
• Farm your 洞府 fields. Long-term herb supply saves years of shopping trips.
• Use a 道侣. Dual cultivation and Dao discussion accelerate progress.
• Explore the Workshop. The developers ran a 2025 event honoring Workshop mod authors; the modding scene is active.

FAQ

Is there an English version? No official English — the store lists Simplified Chinese only.

Is the game finished? Yes. It reached 1.0 in January 2023, and later updates were sect storylines and fixes. The team is now building the sequel.

What's the most important breakthrough? 金丹, because its grade doubles into later realms. Aim for 九品.

How do I join the test branch? Steam Properties, Betas, select testbranch (no code). Saves are separate but cloud saves let you switch.

Why won't it launch? Most reported cases involve Intel's newer graphics drivers. Update from Intel's website.

When is 觅长生 2 coming out? No date has been announced; the developers plan an Early Access launch first.

Sources

• 觅长生 on Steam
• 觅长生 Steam news (patch notes and development updates)
• 觅长生 official wiki (BiliGame)
• 觅长生 wiki: 筑基 beginner guide
• 觅长生 wiki: 九品金丹 beginner guide
• 觅长生 wiki: 元婴 beginner guide