At the beginning, I cleaned the Sutra Library and completed the incomplete skills.

Saying goodbye to Zhou Huairen and leaving the Miscellaneous Items Area of the Scripture Pavilion, Li Lan felt a pang in his heart.

He understood that if he didn't possess special abilities,

even if he managed to survive this time and stay, his future situation wouldn't be much better than Zhou Huairen's.

Even with the assistance of his special abilities, Li Lan's path ahead wouldn't necessarily be easy.

The remaining forty years of his lifespan were like a Sword of Damocles, hanging over his head and constantly reminding him.

Faster, he couldn't afford to waste much time!

If Li Lan wanted to escape this short-lived curse as soon as possible, he only had two options.

One was to find elixirs or cultivation methods that could extend his lifespan.

But such heaven-defying items were extremely sought after by cultivators of all levels.

Naturally, they weren't something a handyman who hadn't even reached the first level of Qi Refining could hope to obtain.

Thus, only the second, slightly more realistic, path remained: improving his cultivation.

It was said that each time a cultivator advanced to a higher realm, their lifespan would increase accordingly.

Those who entered the Foundation Establishment stage could even extend their lifespan to two hundred years.

Li Lan had no other distractions at the moment.

His only thought was to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage within the limited lifespan of forty years.

For a pseudo-spiritual root with four attributes, this was undoubtedly quite difficult.

But with the "Chaotic Origin Five Elements True Scripture" technique, it didn't necessarily mean that Li Lan had no hope.

However, thinking about these things was still premature.

What Li Lan needed to consider now was how to successfully pass the Dust Cleansing Initiation Ceremony and officially become a qualified outer disciple.

Time was very tight; he had less than a month left to cultivate.

Fortunately, Li Lan had been cultivating the "Chaotic Origin Five Elements True Scripture" for nearly a year, and the spiritual energy in his body had now reached a bottleneck.

He was only one step away from the first level of Qi Refining.

Originally, considering the nature of his spiritual root, he had planned to spend more time comprehending and ensuring he had a full grasp before attempting to break through.

But with the Dust Cleansing Initiation Ceremony imminent, he didn't have that much time to squander.

Without delay, Li Lan decided to try breaking through today.

Just as he was about to step out of the Scripture Pavilion's gate, he ran into a group of people.

The leader had rough, dark skin, resembling an honest and simple villager.

But as he walked, he held his head high and chest out, with a hint of arrogance on his face.

Behind him followed many flattering mortals.

This person was named Tie Niu, and he was from the same village as Li Lan.

The two of them had climbed all the mountains to find the Guangji Temple immortal sect.

However, they were like different handles on the same umbrella, different fates for the same people.

Li Lan had four spiritual roots, while Tie Niu was found to have three.

Although there was only a slight difference in attributes, there was a world of difference in talent.

Tie Niu, with his true spiritual root, cultivated at a rapid pace, and in just a few months, he had already become a first-level Qi Refiner.

Last year, he successfully passed the Dust Cleansing Initiation Ceremony and became a disciple of Elder Jian Chen of the outer sect.

The change in status had gradually distanced the relationship between the two.

Tie Niu no longer followed behind Li Lan, constantly calling him 'Brother Lan' as he used to.

Now, Tie Niu basically treated Li Lan as air.

"Brother Tie Niu, Brother Tie Niu, we're from the same village, can you teach me how to absorb Qi into the body?"

"Brother Tie Niu, is it really impossible to cultivate without spiritual roots? Can you talk to Elder Jian Chen and make an exception?"

"Brother Tie Niu, Brother Tie Niu…"

These mortals were all Tie Niu's fellow villagers.

After he successfully advanced to the first level of Qi Refining, he sent the good news back to his hometown, and these fellow villagers came admiringly.

These people naturally recognized Li Lan as well.

Seeing him here at this moment, they couldn't help but be stunned, and the noise stopped abruptly.

"Oh? You're still in this temple? When Brother Tie Niu returned to his hometown to report the good news last year, he mentioned that you haven't crossed the threshold to become an immortal yet."

"How is it, have you succeeded now?"

One of the reckless youths asked jokingly.

Li Lan didn't respond, but made a Daoist salute to Tie Niu, as if to say hello.

Then, he squeezed past the Scripture Pavilion and left.

"Hey? What's wrong with him? Why didn't he say a word when he saw his fellow villagers?"

"It's fine if he treats me like that, but how dare he treat Brother Tie Niu like that?"

"Doesn't he know that Brother Tie Niu has already been regarded as the most valued disciple by Elder Jian Chen?"

Seeing Li Lan's attitude, the young man immediately spoke indignantly on behalf of his master.

The others, seeing this, also echoed and kicked him while he was down.

"I used to think he was a good person because he had such a good relationship with Brother Tie Niu in the village."

"Now he's putting on this kind of act, I don't know who he's showing his face to, it's really the fickleness of human nature."

"I guess he hasn't succeeded in cultivating, and he's ashamed of himself, so he doesn't have the face to see his fellow villagers."

Tie Niu's expression was indifferent, and he waved his hand, saying:

"If he doesn't pass the Dust Cleansing Initiation Ceremony this year, he will be demoted back to the mortal world."

"From now on, we will be people of two different worlds, and his attitude is no longer important to me."

"You don't have to gossip behind people's backs."

Upon hearing this, the surrounding people immediately changed their tone and began to flatter him.

"As expected of someone who has already attained immortality, Brother Tie Niu's mind is truly broad!"

"Brother Tie Niu's compassionate and indifferent state of mind is something that we mortals can never learn."

"We will follow Brother Tie Niu's words!"

… …

Listening to the noise behind him, Li Lan's mood didn't fluctuate at all.

In the past year, because of his pseudo-spiritual root, he had already tasted the warmth and coldness of human relationships, and recognized the sinister nature of humanity and the cruelty of the cultivation world in advance.

Now, he could already be indifferent to these rumors and gossips, and be calm in the face of honor and disgrace.

Tie Niu's attitude towards him, how others looked at him, none of these mattered.

At this moment, in Li Lan's heart, there was only one thing that mattered most: breaking through to the first level of Qi Refining.

Leaving the Scripture Pavilion, Li Lan returned to his residence.

In a lush bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain, two simple bamboo and wooden houses stood.

These were built by Li Lan and Tie Niu when they first came here, but later, when the latter became an outer disciple, he naturally no longer needed to live here.

Arriving in front of the bamboo house, he carefully checked it.

Seeing that everything was the same as before he left, nothing had changed.

Li Lan was relieved and pushed open the door to enter.

The space inside the bamboo house was very small.

Besides a bed, there was only enough space for one person to stand.

If guests came, there would basically be no room to put their feet down.

However, Li Lan had no friends here, so he naturally didn't have to worry about this problem.

He locked the door of the wooden house.

He didn't waste any more time and immediately sat down cross-legged.

Adjusting his breathing, controlling his state of mind.

According to the descriptions in the technique, he tried to enter a state of emptiness.

Initially, Li Lan couldn't understand what kind of feeling this was specifically.

Moreover, with his pseudo-spiritual root, the four attributes of heaven and earth's spiritual energy that he sensed were unusually chaotic, making it difficult to enter this state.

But after more than a year of hard exploration and experimentation, with the assistance of the "Chaotic Origin Five Elements True Scripture", Li Lan finally slowly learned how to quickly enter the state.

After a long period of running, his body had already formed muscle memory.

Adjusting his state, Li Lan began to concentrate on running the technique in his body, impacting the bottleneck.