Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

Day 7 of the demon hunt.

Veteran demon hunter Zhou Wen set off with the demon hunting team, and good news kept coming.

Zhou Wen's extensive experience brought the team a great deal of benefit.

They discovered the lair of a first-tier demon beast horde and harvested many demon beast cubs and various spiritual plants.

After a successful start.

In the days that followed, the team made great progress.

On the fifteenth day, an accident occurred within the team.

Zhou Wen was injured; they had encountered a second-tier demonic beast.

Led by the veteran demon hunter Zhou Wen, the team collected over twenty spiritual plants, some of which were over a hundred years old, with minimal casualties.

This wasn't the first time any of the teams had encountered a second-tier monster, but Zhou Wen's team suffered the least damage and gained the most.

Yu Lanhua and Lu Nian fought against several second-tier monsters in half a month.

They only killed a few of the weaker second-tier demonic beasts.

They selectively avoided the other worthless monsters, marked the valuable ones, and then used various means to steal or plunder the spiritual plants and minerals in the monsters' territories.

Second-tier monsters are much stronger than I imagined.

Chen An also fought back, assessing his own strength.

Around the twentieth day.

Zhou Wen was kidnapped by a woman in red.

Ye Hongyi recognized Zhou Wen.

Under a dead tree.

Zhou Wen and Ye Hongyi stared at each other silently.

Ye Hongyi looked worried and said, "Grandpa Zhou, you're so old, why do you still have to risk your life like this!"

Zhou Wen looked at Ye Hongyi, his eyes filled with tears. He felt very happy to be able to see Ye Hongyi again.

Zhou Wen was abandoned as a child and was busy cultivating his spiritual power when he grew up, so he did not start a family. In his old age, the only people who lingered in his memory were Ye Hongyi's grandfather, Ye Yunshan, and the younger generation of the Ye family.

With the Ye family wiped out, Zhou Wen could do nothing, and he couldn't find out who was responsible.

When rogue cultivators kill, it's often because they lack logic.

One by one, the people he knew died, and the only person left who could still maintain contact with Zhou Wen was Ye Hongyi.

Zhou Wen suppressed the tears in his eyes and forced a smile, saying, "Ye girl, it really is you. Am I dreaming?"

Ye Hongyi grabbed Zhou Wen's hand and said, "Grandpa Zhou, I am Ye Hongyi, I am Ye Yatou. Grandpa Zhou, come with me. If you continue hunting demons, you will die."

Zhou Wen shook his head and said, "If I don't come out, how can I see you, girl? Being able to see you before I die is enough for this old man to die without regrets."

"I, Lao Zhou, have spent my whole life hunting demons. Dying in the Demon Beast Mountain Range is my final resting place."

Ye Hongyi's body trembled slightly as she took out a pill and fed it to Zhou Wen, then gave him a sip of water.

Zhou Wen looked up at the sky and said softly, "Girl, there's something I need to tell you."

"The great war between sects is about to begin, and the cultivation world is in turmoil."

"If you have nowhere to go, go find Uncle Chen from the Demon Hunting Team. You should know him."

"If a great war breaks out, there will be nowhere for rogue cultivators to escape. No matter how far they flee, they will still be drawn in."

Ye Hongyi frowned and said, "Grandpa Zhou, I know Chen An, but he has reservations and is not very willing to accept a rogue cultivator like me."

Zhou Wen chuckled and said, "I found out about you when the demon-hunting team investigated you. I spoke with Uncle Chen, and he will accept you."

"As for what the future holds, I don't know."

"However, I must warn you in advance."

"Even if we don't cooperate, we absolutely cannot afford to offend Uncle Chen."

"He is the most ruthless sect cultivator I have ever seen, even more so than a rogue cultivator. Don't be deceived by his outward kindness. If you don't intend to follow him, don't even think about scheming against him."

"Girl, you can't outsmart him."

"If it's a collaboration, it's best to be sincere and establish a relationship based on shared interests."

Ye Hongyi's expression changed several times.

Zhou Wen wouldn't harm her.

So she's really going to go find Chen An?

And what about the sect war?

There seems to be no other option.

After Zhou Wen finished saying what he wanted to say, he said, "Girl, I should go back now. I've spent my whole life hunting demons, and I don't want to die of old age or illness."

"I have only one last wish: to die on the road of hunting demons, to die under the claws of demonic beasts."

"Girl, no matter what happens in the future, you must live well and see for me what that immortal path looks like."

Ye Hongyi took the unconscious Zhou Wen back to the demon-hunting team.

The demon-hunting team returned with Zhou Wen.

When Chen An saw Zhou Wen again, the man looked much older than before, as if all his life force had been drained away.

Zhou Wen's injuries weren't serious, but he was too old; these minor injuries were enough to bring him one step closer to death.

"Uncle Chen, I've met that girl Ye Hongyi. She's just as innocent as I was when I first met her."

"Please, Uncle Chen, be more lenient with that girl."

"After I die, all the resources I used to hunt demons will go to my uncle."

Zhou Wen could barely hear what Chen An was saying; he was talking to himself as if he had truly developed dementia.

It is said that in the world of cultivation, anything is possible.

However, cultivators with poor talent are ultimately more unfortunate. Any heaven-defying resources that fall on them are like stones thrown into water, not even making a ripple.

Zhou Wen's talent confined him to his original position, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not make any waves.

Chen An, who possesses three spiritual roots, does not seek rapid breakthroughs. Instead, he uses time to consolidate his cultivation. At the age of sixty, he may be able to successfully break through with just one Foundation Establishment Pill, or at most two.

With the same resources, a cultivator with two spiritual roots can break through before the age of forty, requiring only one Foundation Establishment Pill.

A cultivator with a Heavenly Spiritual Root can break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm before the age of twenty with only a small amount of resources. If their cultivation is stable before the age of thirty, they can also break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm without Foundation Establishment Pills.

Cultivators with four or five spiritual roots face a life full of hardships; most of them are destined to be unable to establish their foundation or even embark on the path of cultivation.

Only a few cultivators with four spiritual roots may have the opportunity to successfully establish their foundation with the support of their family background.

After that, cultivation will stagnate, because even a top-tier Nascent Soul family would find it difficult to support a cultivator with four spiritual roots in their attempt to break through to the Golden Core stage.

If a person with four spiritual roots is blessed with good fortune, and frequently ventures into places of life and death to seize resources from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, they may have the opportunity to condense a golden core.

As for the five spiritual roots, there is only one dead end: to cultivate evil magic and walk the demonic path.

Yu Peiyao's talent was also poor. She was a cultivator with four spiritual roots. Looking at Zhou Wen's old and frail appearance, it was as if she saw her future self. She felt a sense of desolation.

"Does a lack of talent disqualify one from cultivating immortality?" Yu Peiyao asked Chen An.

Chen An did not answer. No matter what he said, it would seem like Versailles, because his talent was not bad. As long as he worked hard, he would have the hope of forming a core, a nascent soul, or even a deity in the future.

Yu Peiyao looked up at the night sky and said softly, "Senior Brother Zheng Ping has achieved Foundation Establishment. Of the three, the one I had the least faith in is the first to succeed."

Chen An said, "Zheng Ping encountered an accident while cultivating the Blood Refining Scripture. He has no way out; he will die if he doesn't reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

Yu Peiyao said, "Let's make a bet. Senior Brothers Liu Hao and Wang Rulong, who do you think will reach the Foundation Establishment stage first? You choose first, and the bet is that half-percent profit."

"If you win, I'll give you back half of the profit; if you lose, you give me another half of the profit."

Chen An turned to look at Yu Peiyao, staring into her eyes as if trying to see through her, and finally said softly, "I bet on Liu Hao."

Yu Peiyao asked in confusion, "Why him? Didn't you say that those who leave no way out are most likely to succeed? Senior Brother Wang Rulong seems to have said something similar, that not breaking through is death. According to your logic, he should have broken through before Senior Brother Liu Hao, right?"

Chen An said, "When I asked Wang Rulong about the Foundation Establishment Pill, he hesitated for too long. In fact, he was not confident. He only decided to risk his life because he knew that Junior Brother Liu Hao had taken the Foundation Establishment Pill."

Yu Peiyao suddenly realized, staring at Chen An with curiosity. After spending these days together, she felt more and more that she and Chen An were the same kind of people.

Chen An gave her half a percent of the profits in the hopes of gaining other benefits in the future.

Yu Peiyao also wanted to benefit from half of her profits in the future.