Living as a Mortal: Grinding Experience Starting from the Underworld

My body hurts so much!

All spiritual power gone!

Zhang Feng suddenly woke up to find himself in a muddy mess, surrounded by darkness, with faint blue flames in the distance.

Is this the land of the dead?

Zhang Feng struggled to get up, but fortunately he had taken precautions and had not put the flying sword in his storage bag.

He also took out a backpack containing pills, leather armor, and other supplies in advance.

That's right, Zhang Feng knew where he was.

He wasn't a local; twenty-seven years ago, he transmigrated into the world of the anime "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" that he had watched before.

He became an orphan on the Cold Island of the Chaotic Star Sea.

He thought he would soar through the chaotic star sea like the protagonist, but he never expected that just one thing—a pseudo-spiritual root—would plunge him into despair.

Zhang Feng was taken in as a disciple by Zhang Guihe, a rogue cultivator from Suihan Island, when he was a child. At the age of seven, he was found to have pseudo-spiritual roots in the four elements of water, fire, earth, and wood.

He lost his qualification to become a disciple of his master, but fortunately, Zhang Guihe did not have many disciples, so he was able to obtain the most basic resources for cultivating immortality.

It took him twenty years of diligent practice to reach the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

If you want to go further and reach the Qi Refining Perfection and Foundation Establishment stages, you can only do so through your own efforts.

After all, Zhang Guihe was only a cultivator in the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

Twenty years of impoverished and arduous self-cultivation have tempered his character.

At first, he even considered going to sea to try his luck and earn some resources.

But the expensive teleportation array kept him stuck on the Cold Island.

As for finding Old Demon Han and storming the Void Heaven Palace, his cultivation level was too low, and he dared not even consider it.

So he gradually gave up the idea of ​​going out.

I never expected that I would be betrayed by my fellow travelers while doing missions around Suihan Island.

Fortunately, after learning the specific description of the ghostly figure, he thought of the ghostly mist and the possibility of being swallowed by it, and made preparations in advance.

Zhang Feng sighed inwardly; his pseudo-spiritual root talent had once again fallen into the Netherworld.

This is it for my whole life!

I really have to live like an ordinary person now!

Surprisingly, Zhang Feng felt no discomfort whatsoever, which makes sense.

In his previous life, he was a mortal. In this life, although he has a pseudo-spiritual root, he has no heaven-defying opportunities and is almost the same as a mortal.

Zhang Feng reached into his backpack, fumbled for some healing pills he had prepared beforehand, and popped them into his mouth to relieve the pain in his body.

A moment later, Zhang Feng silently put on the leather armor and drew his flying sword, a high-level magic weapon bestowed upon him by his master when he broke through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Zhang Feng named it "Feiying" because it resembled the shimmering moonlight when it flew.

People have to live. Even if you can't become a highly skilled immortal, being a mortal with superb martial arts skills is not bad either.

Since his cultivation level stopped improving, Zhang Feng began learning ordinary martial arts as a precaution.

This can come in handy now.

"Ding!"

Suddenly, a panel that only he could see appeared in Zhang Feng's mind.

Name: Zhang Feng

【灵根天赋：水（40/100）、火（20/100）、土（25/100）、木（25/100）】

[Cultivation Level: Qi Refining Level 13 (50/1300) (Under Sealing)]

[Technique: Langshui True Essence Technique (Proficiency 21/300)]

【技艺：渔猎（熟练32/100）水遁术（熟练9/100）驱物术（熟练3/100）】

Suddenly! Zhang Feng's mind, which had been calm for decades, was suddenly stirred.

Twenty-seven years, a full twenty-seven years.

Before he turned eighteen, he fantasized about this moment all the time.

But as time went by, he gradually accepted that he was just a rogue cultivator without any special opportunities or talents.

He began to abandon his fantasies and focused on completing tasks to accumulate spirit stones, hoping to pursue the possibility of pseudo-spiritual root foundation building in his lifetime, so that he could die without regrets.

But now the panel suddenly appears in front of you.

mortal!

Forget being a mortal! I, Zhang Feng, am determined to cultivate immortality, to establish my foundation, to leave Suihan Island and explore the Chaotic Star Sea, and to seize that sliver of opportunity at the Void Heaven Palace…

Zhang Feng's thoughts gradually became unrestrained, drifting off to who-knows-where.

Whoosh! A cold wind blew by.

Zhang Feng suddenly shivered; the biting cold wind of the Netherworld woke him up abruptly.

My decades-long cultivation of a calm state of mind almost shattered at this moment.

Suppress your elation and keep your mind at peace. If you can still cultivate steadily even without the right opportunity, how can you be so overjoyed when you do have one?

This is the Netherworld, devoid of any spiritual energy. Even with the interface, one cannot be certain whether they can ascend Storm Mountain and leave the Netherworld.

After all, not everyone has a spiritual aura.

After sitting down and calming down for a quarter of an hour, Zhang Feng finally focused his attention on the control panel.

The Yinming Land is ravaged by the destructive energy of the Netherworld, and cultivation is sealed.

The Langshui True Essence Technique was a Qi Refining stage cultivation method taught by Master Zhang Guihe. He was only a nominal disciple and could not learn the Foundation Establishment stage cultivation method that his master practiced.

Seeing the proficiency level next to the technique, Zhang Feng gained a better understanding of the panel's function.

Running the exercise will increase proficiency, but I don't know what the effect will be when proficiency is at its maximum.

However, there was no word about sealing at the end of the technique, which puzzled Zhang Feng. Could it be that the technique could continue to operate without spiritual power?

The skills he possessed were only those he cultivated to become an immortal; techniques he learned from mortal martial arts, such as hidden weapons and sword moves, were not recorded on it.

"Roar~"

A beastly roar interrupted Zhang Feng's exploration of the noodle board.

A deep roar echoed from the stone forest, and faint flames flickered to life.

Zhang Feng's expression tightened. There were Yin beasts in the Yin Netherworld, and this stone forest might be their lair. He had just awakened his experience panel and didn't want to die, nor could he afford to die.

The most urgent task is to try to find the villagers who came here to collect their catch.

Follow the villagers into the human settlement in the Dark Land, and it's not too late to test it once you reach a safe environment.

As for the three Li siblings who betrayed their oath, and his junior sister Mei Xin, he would talk about them when he was alive.

"Ah~"

A scream rang out from the distance to Zhang Feng's left.

Zhang Feng stared intently and saw a ball of fire tearing at a human figure.

As the flames fell, the figures instantly burst into flames.

In the darkness, the firelight shone especially brightly.

Looking at it, Zhang Feng saw that the Yin Beast was about the size of a water buffalo from his previous life, and its aura was equivalent to that of a low-level level one demon beast.

It has a very large head, surrounded by long, fiery red hair.

It is a fire-scaled beast, capable of spontaneously spewing flames from its mouth.

That's how that cultivator was burned to death.

The distance was quite far, and Zhang Feng could only see the firelight and figures in the distance; the specific movements were flickering and blurry.

Zhang Feng carried the backpack on his back, held a sword in his right hand, concealed hidden weapons and flying blades on his belt, and had several poison smoke pellets on his chest.

He always considers unexpected events very carefully.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have survived for so many years on this impoverished, frigid island.

"Big brother, second brother, save me, save me!"

A familiar voice came from behind him, and Zhang Feng lowered his body to look in the direction of the sound.

Another fire-scaled beast was chasing after a human figure.

She is the youngest sister of the Li family.

Zhang Feng held his breath. He might be able to get rid of one Fire-Scaled Beast with his mortal martial arts, but two were beyond his capabilities.

He could only hope that the Fire-Scaled Beast hadn't noticed him.

"Ah, little sister, you're thinking of your elder brothers now! Why didn't you think of them on the funeral ship?"

The Li brothers' voices suddenly came from the shadows, their words filled with intense resentment.

Zhang Feng was slightly startled. The sound echoed in the stone forest. Only then did Zhang Feng realize that the two people were hiding not far from him, just three or four zhang away.

Fortunately, Zhang Feng hadn't made a sound since waking up, otherwise he would have been exposed to the Li brothers.

The group had almost been at each other's throats outside Suihan Island.

They'd kill each other if they met.