Mortal: I have a Spirit Gathering Cauldron

Deep within the Ling Shi Mine in Huangfeng Valley, Taiyue Mountains, Jianzhou.

In the dimly lit mine tunnel, only a few low-grade moonstones on the walls emitted a faint glow. The air was filled with the damp smell of earth and a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy, the unique aura of the raw spirit stone ore buried in the rock strata.

Lin Feng bent over, his pickaxe striking the rock wall in front of him again and again. Each strike precisely avoided the vein's path, aiming to extract the ore without damaging its integrity. This was a movement he had repeated countless times over the past three years, so skillful that he could do it with his eyes closed.

"bite--"

With a crisp sound, a fist-sized piece of raw ore broke off from the rock wall. Lin Feng caught it and examined it for a while. The surface of the ore faintly emitted a layer of pale white spiritual light, indicating it was a low-grade spirit stone ore, of average quality.

He tossed the raw ore into the storage bag at his waist and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The storage bag was the lowest grade, with only a square foot of space, standard equipment for outer disciples of Yellow Maple Valley. It was currently half-full of raw ore, his entire day's harvest.

According to the valley's rules, outer disciples are required to submit a certain amount of spirit stone ore each month; any excess can be converted into contribution points or kept as spirit stones. For the past three years, Lin Feng has converted any surplus into contribution points each month, solely to exchange for Qi Gathering Powder.

One bottle of Qi Gathering Powder requires 120 contribution points to redeem.

After deducting his share from mining earnings each month, the remaining amount converted into contribution points was only five or six points. Adding in the occasional odd jobs he took on, he finally accumulated one hundred and twenty points over three years.

Three days ago, he went to Baijitang to exchange for a bottle of Qi Gathering Powder.

At this moment, the bottle of Qi Gathering Powder lay quietly in his storage bag, containing three pale blue pills the size of longan fruits, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

"One last run, then we're done," Lin Feng muttered to himself, his voice sounding particularly weak in the empty mine tunnel.

He was thirteen years old, thin and pale, looking a year or two younger than his actual age. His gray outer disciple robe was already somewhat faded.

This is the daily life of an outer disciple of Huangfeng Valley.

Lin Feng's parents were peripheral members of a small cultivation family affiliated with Huangfeng Valley. They were ordinary mortals without spiritual roots, yet they had given birth to a child with spiritual roots. After Lin Feng was born, tests showed that he possessed four spiritual roots: metal, water, earth, and fire, which made him a "genius" within this small family.

The Lin family has been an affiliated family of Huangfeng Valley for hundreds of years. Their ancestors once produced a Core Formation cultivator, but unfortunately, they haven't produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the last two hundred years.

Out of consideration for their ancestral bond, Huangfeng Valley accepted Lin Feng, who possessed a pseudo-spiritual root.

He had hoped to climb the social ladder to a major sect. However, four spiritual roots were utterly insignificant in Yellow Maple Valley; any random outer disciple possessed two or three spiritual roots, and some were even geniuses with unique spiritual roots. Lin Feng was assigned to the lowest-ranking mining team, where he worked for three years.

Three years.

For more than a thousand days and nights, he repeated the same work every day: going down into the mine, mining, handing over the ore, receiving the most basic fasting pills, cultivating, and then going down into the mine again.

His cultivation speed was outrageously slow. With his four spiritual roots and a lack of sufficient medicinal aids, it took him three years to barely reach the bottleneck of the third level of Qi Refining. To break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, he needed the medicinal power of the Qi Gathering Powder to help him.

He saved up for three years before he could exchange it for a single bottle of Qi-gathering powder.

"That's enough." Lin Feng put away his pickaxe, dusted himself off, and said, "There's no point in digging any further. I'll go back and go into seclusion today."

He walked out of the mine tunnel, and as he passed other miners' tunnels, he could occasionally hear clanging and hammering sounds coming from inside. Several familiar outer disciples saw him finish work early and cast puzzled glances at him, but Lin Feng simply nodded without explaining further.

When I emerged from the mine, it was already dusk.

The setting sun cast its golden rays upon the peaks of Yellow Maple Valley, turning the maple leaves covering the mountainsides a vibrant crimson. In the distance, the main peaks were shrouded in a misty aura, with pavilions and towers faintly visible nestled among the clouds. Those were the residences of the inner and core disciples, where the concentration of spiritual energy was several times that of the outer disciples.

Lin Feng's residence was a small, secluded attic in the outer sect disciples' area. Calling it an attic was a stretch; it was really just a wooden hut of less than ten square meters, with two floors. The lower floor served as a living room and storage room, while the upper floor was the bedroom. The furniture was pitifully sparse: a wooden plank bed, a wooden table, a chair, and nothing else.

He closed the door, pasted a low-grade soundproofing sticker behind it, and checked again to make sure the windows were tightly closed. Only after confirming that everything was in order did he climb up to the second floor and sit cross-legged on the wooden bed.

He took out the small porcelain bottle from the storage bag, uncorked it, and placed three Qi-gathering pills upside down in his palm.

The pill is pale blue with a thin layer of reddish halo on the surface. It has a clear and refreshing fragrance that invigorates the spirit.

"Three Qi Gathering Pills should be enough to break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining." Lin Feng took a deep breath, put two pills back into the bottle, and put one in his mouth.

As the pill entered his stomach, a warm medicinal power instantly spread. He closed his eyes and guided the medicinal power through his meridians according to the Qi circulation route in the "Yellow Maple Valley Basic Techniques: Nourishing the Origin Chapter".

The Qi Cultivation Technique is a required cultivation method for outer disciples of Yellow Maple Valley. It is moderate and peaceful, without any extraordinary features, but its strength lies in its stability. Lin Feng has been cultivating it for three years and has already mastered the Qi circulation route.

The medicinal power transformed into a warm current, slowly advancing along the meridians. Starting from the dantian, it passed through the perineum, ascended along the Du meridian, passed through the three gates, entered the Niwan point, and then descended along the Ren meridian, returning to the dantian. After one complete cycle, a small portion of the medicinal power was absorbed, and the concentration of spiritual energy in the dantian noticeably increased.

Lin Feng did not stop and continued to circulate his cultivation technique.

The second great cycle, the third great cycle...

After the third Qi-gathering pill entered his abdomen, the spiritual energy in his dantian was already at its peak, like a balloon that had been inflated to its limit and could burst at any moment.

"Now!"

Lin Feng suddenly unleashed all his spiritual power, rushing towards the bottleneck of the fourth level of Qi Refining.

"boom--"

A sharp pain exploded from his dantian, as if someone were stirring his body with a red-hot iron rod. His meridians were stretched painfully by the spiritual energy, and every inch of them groaned in unbearable agony. Lin Feng's face turned deathly pale, large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

The pain lasted for an unknown amount of time, perhaps the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, perhaps an hour. Just when he felt he was about to give up, a slight "crack" sound came from his dantian, as if something had shattered.

Immediately afterwards, his dantian expanded dramatically, nearly doubling in size. His meridians also became wider and stronger, allowing spiritual energy to circulate smoothly and freely without any stagnation.

Fourth level of Qi Refining.

Breakthrough.

After confirming this fact, Lin Feng's last wisp of consciousness finally gave way, and he fainted.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Feng regained consciousness.

He opened his eyes and saw the familiar wooden ceiling. It was already bright outside, and sunlight shone through the paper window, casting a blurry shadow in the room.

His head still ached, as if he'd been hit with a hammer. He raised his hand to rub his temples, but suddenly a massive stream of information surged into his mind, rushing in like a flood bursting its banks.

"ah--"

Lin Feng clutched his head, curling himself into a ball. The information seemed to have existed deep within his mind for a long time, only now being unsealed.

He saw another world.

Skyscrapers, bustling traffic, mobile phones, computers, the internet...

Lin Feng, a young man, was an ordinary office worker who worked from nine to five and worked overtime until he went bald. He finally saved enough for a down payment, but died suddenly in his rented room the day before he was to buy the house.

Then, he appeared here.

Yellow Maple Valley, a sect dedicated to cultivating immortality.

"I...time traveled?" Lin Feng murmured to himself, his voice hoarse.

No, that's not right. He didn't transmigrate; he awakened memories of his past life. This body was originally his, but he had no memories of his past life from childhood, growing up like an ordinary native of the cultivation world. It wasn't until he broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining that the intense stimulation broke the seal, and his memories of his past life returned.

Lin Feng sat there blankly for a full quarter of an hour before he could barely process this fact.

Then his first reaction wasn't shock, nor excitement, but rather:

"I've already transmigrated, how come I'm still a beast of burden?"

In his past life, he was a 996 office worker; in this life, he's a 007 miner. So, no matter which world he's in, he's always a low-level laborer?

Lin Feng took a deep breath and began to sort through his memories of this life.

In this life, his name is Lin Feng. He is thirteen years old, an outer disciple of Huangfeng Valley, with four spiritual roots and a cultivation level of the fourth level of Qi Refining.

Yellow Maple Valley... Yellow Maple Valley?

Why does this name sound so familiar?

Lin Feng frowned, searching his memory. In his previous life, as a fan of online novels, he had read countless cultivation novels, one of which left a particularly deep impression on him.

The Legend of Mortal Cultivation.

The protagonist, Han Li, is an ordinary mortal with mediocre talent. Relying on a small green bottle and extraordinary willpower, he rises from a lowly servant in the Seven Mysteries Sect to the pinnacle of cultivation. The core idea of ​​the entire book is:

In the realm of seniors, one should develop stealthily.

Fellow Daoist, stay put and don't be reckless.

In this ant-infested world, give me a piece of tape.

Yellow Maple Valley was the sect where Han Li initially belonged.

The seven sects of Yue Kingdom: Hidden Moon Sect, Yellow Maple Valley, Pure Void Sect, Spirit Beast Mountain, Heavenly Palace Fortress, Blade Transformation Valley, Giant Sword Sect...

Elders Li Huayuan, Lei Wanhe, and Hong Fu...

Chen Qiaoqian, Dong Xuan'er, ...

As familiar names surfaced from his memory, Lin Feng's pupils suddenly contracted.

"No way..."

He suddenly jumped out of bed, paced back and forth in the room barefoot, his heart pounding as fast as a CPU fan running at full speed in his past life.

"This is Yue Kingdom, Huangfeng Valley. Jingzhou of the Seven Mysteries Sect is thousands of miles away... I wonder what time it is now, whether Han Li has joined the Seven Mysteries Sect yet, and whether he has obtained the little green bottle..."

Lin Feng stopped, his expression complex.

After a long while, he finally stopped thinking.

He confirmed that he had transmigrated into the world of "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality".

Moreover, he was an ordinary outer disciple of Huangfeng Valley, a miner, with four spiritual roots, no background, no resources, and no powerful backer.

"Damn it..." Lin Feng couldn't help but swear, "I've already transmigrated, and they made me look like a beast of burden? Couldn't they have made me look like Han Li? Or at least a Nascent Soul or Deity Transformation cultivator! What the hell is a miner?"

He slumped back onto the bed and began to take stock of his "assets".

He was at the fourth level of Qi Refining, possessed four spiritual roots, and was an outer disciple. His storage bag contained several low-grade spirit stones, two sets of clothes, a mining pick, several low-level fireball talismans, two barely low-level Qingye flying magic weapons, and the Cold Moon Blade.

Gone.

that's it.

The only saving grace is that he's in Yellow Maple Valley, which is Han Li's first sect. If he handles things properly, he might be able to snag some opportunities.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng suddenly remembered something very important.

The Azure Origin Sword Technique.

Han Li's signature cultivation technique, the most powerful technique he cultivated from the human realm all the way to the spirit realm, requires a wood spirit root to cultivate.

And myself...

Lin Feng closed his eyes and looked inward at his spiritual root.

Above the dantian, four illusory spiritual roots of different colors floated: a golden metal spiritual root, a blue water spiritual root, a yellow earth spiritual root, and a red fire spiritual root.

Metal, Water, Earth, Fire.

The missing element is wood.

"..."

Lin Feng stared at the sky speechlessly.

It's like playing an RPG game where you know there's a top-tier skill book somewhere, but the system says "Your class cannot learn it." That feeling is even worse than getting a bad gacha pull.

The Azure Origin Sword Art! That's the Azure Origin Sword Art! Sword Shadow Splitting Light, Three Revolutions of Replenishing Yuan Technique, Great Geng Sword Formation... Just thinking about these skills makes my mouth water. But because I don't have a Wood Spirit Root, I don't even qualify to enter the beginner's level.

"God, are you kidding me?" Lin Feng said with a wry smile. "Would it kill you to have a wood elemental root? Even a five-elemental root would be fine!"

He lay back down on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

He transmigrated to the world of "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality," but without the Wood Spirit Root, he couldn't cultivate the Azure Origin Sword Technique; he knew the plot, but he was just a lowly Qi Refining Level 4 henchman, not even daring to leave his sect; he knew where the little green bottle was, but with his cultivation level, traveling thousands of miles would be like delivering himself to the ground.

Let alone demonic beasts, even a random Qi Refining late-stage cultivator could easily crush him.

"Isn't this still being a beast of burden?" Lin Feng chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I was a beast of burden in my past life, and I'm still a beast of burden in this life. So I'm destined to be one? Others get a dragon-slaying sword at the start of their transmigration, but I get a pickaxe. Are you a brother who's going to come and dig me up?"

He turned over and buried his face in the pillow.

The pillow was stuffed with his old clothes; it was hard and uncomfortable against his face.

After a moment of silence, he turned back, his eyes gradually becoming firm.

In his past life as a programmer, he deeply understood a principle: don't fight against the requirements, find the optimal solution. If the system asks you to add a feature, you can't say "this can't be done," you have to say "it can, but it will take time." Similarly, if heaven gave you four spiritual roots but not the wood spiritual root, you can't say "I'm not playing anymore," you have to say "okay, then I'll try a different approach."

"Fine, whatever," Lin Feng muttered. "At least... I have memories of my past life and know how the story unfolds. As long as I don't act recklessly and focus on developing my abilities, I might still have a chance. Han Li also has four spiritual roots, and he became a Dao Ancestor. I... I don't need to aspire to be a Dao Ancestor. How about I become an Immortal first?"

He sat up and began to seriously consider his next steps.

First, the timeline needs to be confirmed.

We will make the necessary preparations based on the timeline at that time.

Secondly, it depends on one's own cultivation.

To establish your foundation, you must have Foundation Establishment Pills.

While his level four Qi Refining wasn't the lowest among the outer disciples, he wasn't particularly strong either.

It's almost impossible for someone with only one's own spiritual talent to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill from a sect.

The most stable way to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills is through the Crimson Forbidden Land.

Before the next opening of the Crimson Forbidden Land, he must raise his cultivation to the late stage of Qi Refining, preferably to the twelfth level or above, in order to be qualified to enter the Crimson Forbidden Land to compete for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Finally, and most importantly, save your life.

Lin Feng knew all too well that in the world of Mortal Cultivation, recklessness was the greatest cause of death.

Han Li survived to the end not because of talent, but because of caution.

"Be careful and cautious, develop stealthily," Lin Feng set himself this eight-character principle.

He stood up, walked to the window, and opened it.

The morning sunlight streamed in, illuminating his young face. In the distance, the main peak of Yellow Maple Valley was shrouded in mist, exuding a spiritual aura, with cranes faintly visible flying by. The scenery was indeed beautiful, much better than the office buildings of his previous life—at least there was no PM2.5.

"A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, here I come." Lin Feng took a deep breath of spiritual energy, feeling refreshed. "In my past life I was an ox or a horse, in this life... at least I am an ox or a horse with ideals."

"If Han Li can become a Dao Ancestor, it's not unreasonable for me to become an immortal, is it?"

He clenched his fists, turned around and went back to the bed, sat cross-legged, and began to consolidate his Qi Refining Level 4 cultivation.

Deep within his dantian, an inconspicuous, ancient cauldron floated quietly, emitting a faint glow.