Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

On the third night after Jiang Tianzheng broke in, Chen Yuan stood in front of the rock wall again.

He doesn't have the jade talisman, so the door won't open for him.

But he had another way—the Chaos God Crystal in his palm glowed faintly in the darkness, and from deep within the crystal, wisps of gray mist slowly seeped out, climbing up the rock wall like living things.

The stone door silently melted away, not opened, but "swallowed." Wherever the gray mist passed, the blue rocks turned into fine sand and fell down, revealing a hole just big enough for one person to pass through.

Chen Yuan squeezed in sideways.

The staircase was deathly silent; the glowing ores on the walls were all dark, with only the faint light of the Chaos Crystal illuminating the three steps beneath his feet. He walked slowly, stepping carefully on the edge of each step to avoid making a sound.

When you get to the wooden door, the hole in the center of the door panel is still there, with jagged edges, like a wound torn open by a wild beast.

Chen Yuan stopped at the entrance of the cave, but did not go in immediately.

He first extended his right hand, palm facing inward. The Chaos Divine Crystal warmed slightly, and a wisp of gray mist drifted into the doorway, circled a few times in the air, and then drifted back.

There was no warning.

Chen Yuan ducked and crawled through the hole.

It was darker in Changchun than last time. The pale blue light curtain overhead was as dim as if covered with a layer of gray, and the Spirit Plant Forest was immersed in an almost solidified gloom. Those towering trees, vines, and flower clusters had all become blurry silhouettes.

He walked directly towards the cluster of ghost flowers.

Deep within the flowerbed, the seven soul lamps still burned. But their blue light was weaker than it had been three days ago, like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

Chen Yuan bypassed the stone platform and continued walking inside.

There is a path behind the flower bushes.

A narrow path, hidden by dense flower stems, wound its way deeper into the secret realm. He squeezed in sideways, the purplish-black petals brushing against his cheek, their cool, sticky texture like that of a dead person.

After walking for about half an incense stick's time, a third door appeared ahead.

It was neither a wooden door nor a stone door, but a movable door naturally woven from countless vines. The vines twisted and coiled, and a pale green light peeked through the gaps.

Chen Yuan stopped in front of the door, his left hand resting on the vines.

The power of the five-colored stars flowed down his arm and seeped into the vines. This time, he did not investigate, but rather "soothe"—like a beast tamer stroking a restless wild beast, using the gentlest method to allow these living vines to slowly loosen and recede.

The rattan door slid silently to both sides.

The sight behind the door made Chen Yuan's breath catch in his throat.

This was a hemispherical space, not large, about ten zhang in diameter. Hundreds of luminous green crystals were embedded in the dome, casting a cold, eerie light. In the center of the ground was a pool about three zhang square—no, not a pool.

It is a pool of blood.

The dark red liquid swirled slowly in the pool, its surface covered with a layer of sticky oil. At the bottom of the pool lay more than a dozen skeletons, some humanoid and some animaloid, their bones blackened from being submerged in water.

But Chen Yuan's gaze was fixed on the very center of the blood pool.

There was something floating there...

A withered, charred tree root-like object, about the thickness of an arm, was covered with cracks, resembling a riverbed that had dried up for thousands of years. One end of the root was still connected to several thin threads, the other ends of which were embedded in seven crystals at the edge of the blood pool.

Chen Yuan recognized those seven crystals.

Chaos Crystals—or rather, faded, withered versions of Chaos Crystals. Each one is the size of a pigeon egg, but its surface is dull and gray, without any luster, and there are no nebulae flowing inside the crystal; it is as lifeless as a stone.

At the other end of the withered tree root, extending above the blood pool, floats a fist-sized, pulsating blue light.

Each time the ball of light pulsated, the withered tree roots would twitch, drawing up a stream of dark red liquid from the pool of blood, transporting it upwards along the root body, and injecting it into the ball of light.

The light cluster thus maintained a faint glow.

But it's merely "maintaining".

Chen Yuan stared at the withered tree root, Gu He's words flashing through his mind: "The 'Yi Wood Longevity Technique'... plunders the life force of others to nourish oneself..."

This is not the core of any grotto-heaven.

This is Mu Shoujing's innate spiritual root—a withered, dying innate spiritual root that can only survive by plundering the life force of his disciples and being nourished by the blood pool.

"Have you seen enough?"

The voice came from behind.

Chen Yuan froze, then slowly turned around.

Mu Shoujing stood at the doorway, wearing that dark blue robe, his face expressionless. He looked thinner than three days ago, his eyes deep-set, but his gaze was frighteningly bright.

"Master." Chen Yuan heard his own voice was dry.

"Who let you in?" Mu Shoujing walked in slowly, her boots making no sound as they touched the ground.

"This disciple...is curious."

"Curious?" Mu Shoujing walked to the edge of the blood pool, leaned down to look at the withered tree root in the pool, and said, "Curious enough to break through my triple restrictions and make your way here?"

He straightened up and looked at Chen Yuan.

"Chen Yuan, have I been too lenient with you?"

Chen Yuan did not respond.

The Chaos Crystal in his right palm began to heat up—not as a resonance, but as a warning.

"That thing in your hand," Mu Shoujing's gaze fell on his right hand, "is it refined from the Bloodthirsty Spirit Vine? I recognized it at first glance. A variant of the Blood Fiend Vine, it devours flesh and blood to grow, and finally turns against its master—but you actually refined it into a crystal."

He took two steps closer.

"How did you do that?"

"Just lucky," Chen Yuan said.

"Just lucky?" Mu Shoujing laughed, his dry laugh echoing in the empty cave. "My seven disciples are all more talented and have had more opportunities than you. They refine spirit pets, magic weapons, and all sorts of rare and precious materials, but not one of them can refine something like a 'crystal'."

He stopped three steps away from Chen Yuan.

"What exactly are you?"

Chen Yuan remained silent.

"Not going to tell?" Mu Shoujing wasn't annoyed. "It's alright. Once I refine you into the blood pool and extract your life force to nourish my spiritual root, all your secrets will naturally be mine."

He spoke calmly, as if he were discussing what to have for dinner.

Chen Yuan suddenly spoke up: "Those seven senior brothers and sisters... are they like that too?"

"Them?" Mu Shoujing glanced back at the skeletons in the blood pool. "Liu Muyun was the most rebellious; he struggled the most when his life force was drained, so he died the fastest. Zhao Hongyu was obedient, but unfortunately, her foundation was too weak, and she only lasted three months. Sun Hai..."

He paused.

"Sun Hai is the smartest. He guessed it long ago, and knelt down begging me, saying he was willing to give up 70% of his chance of survival just to stay alive. I agreed. And guess what happened?"

Mu Shoujing turned her head and looked at Chen Yuan.

"He poisoned my spiritual root while I was sacrificing my life force. It was a kind of insidious poison that specifically corrodes wood-attribute spiritual roots. Although I discovered it in time and removed most of it, the remaining bit... still caused my spiritual root to wither away even faster."

He walked to the edge of the blood pool and reached out to touch the withered tree root.

"So I refined him into the blackest bone in the blood pool. So he could see how his master, relying on the lives of his fellow disciples, had survived to this day, bit by bit."

Chen Yuan looked at his fingers as he stroked the spiritual root—dry, trembling, with age spots covering the back of his hand.

A Golden Core cultivator should have a lifespan of eight hundred years and an ageless appearance. But Mu Shoujing looked like an old man on his deathbed.

"Why?" Chen Yuan asked.

"Why?" Mu Shoujing repeated, as if she had heard a funny question, "Chen Yuan, what is the purpose of your cultivation?"

"For...immortality?"

"Yes, immortality." Mu Shoujing nodded. "But the path to immortality is fraught with obstacles. Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation... each obstacle kills ninety-nine percent of people. I've been stuck in the late Golden Core stage for three hundred years, three hundred years!"

His voice suddenly rose in pitch, exploding through the cave.

"Three hundred years ago, I was also a famous genius in the Southern Wilderness. I reached the Foundation Establishment stage at forty, the Core Formation stage at one hundred, and the late Golden Core stage at three hundred. Everyone said that I would definitely become a Nascent Soul before I turned five hundred."

"And then?" Chen Yuan asked.

"And then?" Mu Shoujing laughed, a laugh tinged with madness. "Then, in order to break through my bottleneck, I ventured into an ancient secret realm. Inside, I obtained a fragment of the *Yi Mu Longevity Technique*, thinking I had struck gold. I returned and secluded myself for a hundred years, finally breaking through to the Golden Core Perfection stage—"

He suddenly lifted his shirt.

There was a fist-sized hole in his chest. It wasn't a wound, but a gaping hole that stretched straight through his back, left after all the flesh and blood had disappeared. At the edge of the hole, the charred flesh twitched slightly, as if it were still burning.

"Backlash from the cultivation technique." Mu Shoujing lowered his robe, his voice regaining its calm. "When the 'Yi Wood Longevity Technique' is practiced to a deep level, it requires a massive amount of life force to support it. When I broke through, I drained the life force of the plants and trees within a hundred miles, but it still wasn't enough. So it started to drain mine—my flesh and blood, my lifespan, and my natal spiritual root."

He pointed to the withered tree root in the pool of blood.

"See that? That's my spiritual root. Three hundred years ago, it was lush and vibrant, full of life. And now? It looks like a broken piece of burning wood."

Chen Yuan looked at the severed spiritual root, then at the empty hole in Mu Shoujing's chest.

"So you need life," he said slowly. "You need the life force of others to nourish your spiritual roots and sustain your life."

"Yes." Mu Shoujing nodded. "At first, I extracted herbs and plants. But the vitality of herbs and plants was too weak; ten thousand spiritual plants couldn't compare to a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Later, I extracted demonic beasts. Demonic beasts had abundant vitality, but too many impurities that would pollute the spiritual root. Finally, I discovered..."

He paused.

"The most useful thing is people. Especially cultivators who practice wood-attribute techniques, have a solid foundation, and are full of vitality."

"So you take on disciples," Chen Yuan said, "those with good talent in the wood element, raise them in the Everlasting Spring Realm, use the abundant spiritual energy to nurture their vitality, and when the time is right, then..."

"Just pick the fruit," Mu Shoujing continued, "like picking peaches, extract their vitality and infuse it into my spiritual root."

He walked up to the seven dim Chaos God Crystals and picked one up.

"This belongs to Liu Muyun. When he was building his foundation, a 'Azure Wood Source Crystal' condensed within his body, which is considered a pseudo-spiritual crystal. When I extracted his life force, I also refined this crystal."

He picked up another one.

"This belongs to Zhao Hongyu. She didn't condense a crystal, but she had a wisp of 'Yi Wood Origin' in her body, which I solidified into a crystal."

One by one, he said, recalling the past.

Seven apprentices, seven crystals. Each one was once a living person, with a name and a story.

They're all dead now.

"Do you know what the most ironic thing is?" Mu Shoujing put down the last crystal and looked at Chen Yuan. "I lived for more than three hundred years thanks to their life force. But for those three hundred years, I have been suffering from the pain of my spiritual root withering away every moment. It's like countless needles are piercing my bone marrow, and every breath I take hurts."

He walked up to Chen Yuan, reached out, and placed his hand on Chen Yuan's shoulder.

"Chen Yuan, you are also of the wood element. Your vitality... is stronger than all seven of them combined. I can feel a power within you, a vitality so immense that it makes me tremble."

He leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"Give me that power. I can make your death quicker, unlike them, who spent decades soaking in a pool of blood, watching themselves turn into bones."

Chen Yuan didn't move.

He looked down at Mu Shoujing's hand on his shoulder—the hand was trembling, not from excitement, but from weakness. A late-stage Golden Core cultivator, so weak that he couldn't even steady his hand.

"Master," Chen Yuan slowly began, "have you ever thought about...?"

"What have you been thinking about?"

"I've thought about stopping." Chen Yuan raised his head, looking into Mu Shoujing's eyes. "I've thought about prolonging my own life without taking other people's lives."

Mu Shoujing was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Laughter echoed through the cave, manic, shrill, like the howl of a night owl.

"Stop?" He laughed until tears streamed down his face. "If I stop, who will prolong my life? You? Would you be willing to share your life with me, so I can live a few more years?"

Chen Yuan remained silent.

"Look," Mu Shouji stopped laughing, wiping away tears from the corners of his eyes, "it sounds nice. But when it comes to you, aren't you just as reluctant?"

He released his grip and took two steps back.

"But it's okay. If you can't bear to part with it, I can take it myself."

He raised his hand and formed a hand seal.

The blood pool began to boil.

The withered tree root in the pool twisted wildly, its trunk pulling out countless fine threads that rushed towards Chen Yuan like a spider web.

Chen Yuan did not dodge.

He stood still, raised his right hand, palm facing up.

The Chaos Crystal burst forth with a blinding gray light.

In the light, a dark gray vine burst forth from the skin, reaching out to meet the fine tendrils—

Two vines collided in mid-air.

There was no loud noise, no explosion. Only a faint, teeth-grinding sizzling sound, like cold water being poured into hot oil.

Mu Shoujing's expression changed.

He watched as the dark gray vine, like a red-hot branding iron, burned and devoured the fine threads drawn from his spiritual root one by one, his pupils contracting violently.

"What...is this?"

Chen Yuan did not answer.