Hermit in the Mountains

Back on the mountain, before sunset, Gu Changsheng built a simple cowshed behind the wooden house, near the mountainside, and settled the old cow there.

I cut two or three bundles of tender grass, along with some fresh fruits and vegetables picked from the field, for the old ox's dinner.

He stroked the old ox's massive head, and with a thought, a wisp of vibrant "Power of Glory" entered the ox's body.

He controlled the 'Power of Glory' to circulate within the bull's body until a single trace of 'Power of Glory' was completely absorbed before releasing his right hand.

He let out a breath, easing his somewhat fatigued mental energy.

His actions were like manipulating spiritual energy to cleanse the marrow of an old ox, requiring even more effort than refining spiritual energy.

The old ox ate its fodder and shook its head, feeling a warm sensation inside, and let out a joyful low moo.

"Moo—"

Seeing that the old ox's essence had increased, Gu Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. Although his cultivation level was low, he was able to control his internal magic power to cleanse the marrow of others by relying on his special perception and traction.

Tomorrow, I can try using rhubarb to guide the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cleanse my marrow and see the difference in the cleansing effect between the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the internal mana.

Before leaving, Gu Changsheng gave the old ox a name. He patted the ox, which was focused on eating grass, and said, "Ox, from now on you will be called Green Ox."

"Legend has it that Laozi had a green ox spirit who attained enlightenment under his command. I hope that one day you can become the legendary green ox spirit."

The old ox didn't understand the meaning behind Gu Changsheng's words, but nodding was enough. "Moo..."

After descending the mountain and buying a cow, Gu Changsheng returned to his cultivation.

The next day, as dawn broke and the sun began to warm up, the white snow covering the Qinling Mountains slowly melted away.

In the living room of the wooden house, by the fireplace, Gu Changsheng held Dahuang and closed his eyes to rest, sensing the spiritual energy points around him.

He guided the spiritual energy points of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth into Da Huang's body in turn, observing which spiritual energy was most suitable for Da Huang.

The five elements' spiritual energy was quickly expelled from Da Huang's body, with less than 10% being consumed at most. As a result, Da Huang had no five elements' inherent constitution.

Currently, excluding the five elements, only the wind element remains untested in the air. Apart from the special withering and flourishing attribute he cultivates, no other elemental spiritual energy points have been detected yet.

Gu Changsheng guided the transparent light spots into Da Huang's body, relaxed his mind, and allowed Da Huang's body to absorb the wind attribute spiritual energy on its own.

The divine sense observed that the wind-attribute spiritual energy spots were rampaging through Da Huang's body for several minutes, and when they were expelled, the wind-attribute spiritual energy spots dimmed by half.

There is a play.

He continued to guide the wind-attribute spiritual energy points into Da Huang's body, allowing Da Huang's physical body to passively absorb the spiritual energy on its own.

Sometimes Dahuang can passively absorb 50% of the wind spirit energy, and sometimes it can only absorb 30% or 40%.

The only certainty is that Da Huang has the aptitude to cultivate wind attributes.

Gu Changsheng once again guided the wind-attribute spiritual energy points into Da Huang's body. This time, he actively intervened to ensure the orderly flow of wind spiritual energy within Da Huang's body, tempering Da Huang's physical form.

Enjoying the nourishment of spiritual energy, Dahuang comfortably lay down on Gu Changsheng's legs and fell asleep, its tongue lolling out, leaving a small damp patch on Gu Changsheng's cotton pants.

Gu Changsheng controlled the wind spirit energy to circulate within Da Huang's body until Da Huang's physical body could no longer absorb it before releasing the control of the spirit energy spots.

He tried several more times to determine the efficiency range of rhubarb in absorbing and converting wind spirit energy.

Without external help, Dahuang can only absorb 10% of the spiritual energy from the wind particles through its own breathing. With his guidance, it can passively absorb 30% to 40%. If he manipulates the spiritual energy to simulate a cultivation technique and circulates it within Dahuang's body, it can absorb up to 70% of the spiritual energy.

This is the upper limit of Dahuang's cultivation aptitude. Dahuang can only absorb 70% of the spiritual energy carried by a grain of wind attribute, and the remaining 30% can only be expelled from the body and return to the world.

Gu Changsheng didn't know if there were any other ways to improve absorption efficiency; he could only discover them in the future.

The wind-attribute spiritual energy in the world is even thinner than the five elements spiritual energy, and it is unknown whether it will increase in the future.

For nearly four months, he had been observing the concentration of spiritual energy in the surrounding world, and there had been no change.

Villages, towns, and cities are filled with various chaotic energy fields, which prevent spiritual energy from entering. Only in the wild can spiritual energy be seen.

Of all the people, animals, and plants he encountered during this period, only the rhubarb and the blue ox seemed to have an affinity with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Apart from him, Yang Dashan's youngest son is the only human who can resonate weakly with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. His affinity is so weak that it may be less than one percent, let alone the minimum threshold of 10% conversion rate for mastering cultivation.

Gu Changsheng did not interfere; he planned to observe the changes in Yang Xiaoshan's spiritual affinity over a long period of time.

Coming to his senses, he tossed Big Yellow onto the mat, got up, and went behind the wooden house to test the Green Ox's cultivation aptitude.

Half an hour later, Gu Changsheng returned to the living room, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes slightly, and mentally sorted out his own, Dahuang's, and Qingniu's cultivation aptitude.

He created his own unique and living technique, which has no reference value.

Since the 'pseudo-Dao Seed' he created transformed into the 'True Dao Seed', he or the 'Dao Seed' in his sea of ​​consciousness can achieve perfect absorption and transformation of 'Purple Qi', 'Emperor's Dew', 'Power of Withering and Flourishing', and 'Wood Spiritual Qi', which means that his cultivation talent is unprecedented and unparalleled.

The disadvantages are also obvious: the cultivation resources required are several times that of cultivators of the same level.

Dahuang possesses wind attribute cultivation aptitude, with the highest aptitude being 70%.

The Green Ox possesses earth-attribute cultivation aptitude, with a maximum aptitude of 50%.

Gu Changsheng did not adopt the spiritual root grade classification commonly used in novels, but instead chose an easy-to-understand aptitude grade.

Based on the efficiency of absorbing and converting spiritual energy, from low to high, they are:

First grade, second grade, third grade... tenth grade, there are ten grades of basic cultivation aptitude.

However, cultivation aptitude is only one part of cultivation. In the future, some people or animals may awaken special physiques or bloodlines.

Perhaps one can obtain rare and precious materials to change one's innate physical constitution;

Perhaps some exceptionally talented or insightful individuals will create a method similar to the "Seed of the Dao".

The novel contains countless imaginative cultivation ideas, such as becoming a saint through reading, becoming a god through offering incense, and achieving enlightenment through luck... (Please feel free to add more).

As the saying goes: "Talent determines the starting point, cultivation method determines the direction, resources determine the speed, the Dao heart determines how far one can go, and supreme opportunity is the breakthrough point to break through the norm."

The spiritual intelligence within the "Tao Seed" was enhanced with Gu Changsheng's specific knowledge of basic cultivation aptitude.

A new page of cultivation notes has been added to the "Kuruo Daojing" (Scripture of Withering and Flourishing), recording the classification of the attributes of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the classification of basic cultivation aptitude.

The section on spells records two innate talents: Rooting Technique and Withering Armor.

The general principles of cultivation are a set of mantras.

A single mysterious pearl is planted innately, and two green sprouts emerge from the soil.

Sprouting branches and leaves to receive sweet dew, its trunk soars into the clouds and enters the vast sky.

Flowers bloom and bear fruit throughout the three thousand worlds, fallen leaves return to their roots and return to the beginning of time.

The cycle of flourishing and decay is inherent in nature; the truth lies in the green mountains, not elsewhere.

The mantra elucidates the essence of the "Way of Withering and Flourishing," which is also the realm he pursued.