Hermit in the Mountains

Inside the wooden house, Gu Changsheng sat cross-legged, closed his eyes to rest, his body straight, his thumb pinching his middle finger, and his hands naturally placed on his lap.

A transparent spiritual aura surrounded him, and he seemed to glow under the sunlight, like an enlightened master comprehending immortal arts.

The transparent spiritual energy flowed, creating a faint airflow, like a gentle breeze that stirred his shoulder-length hair.

Gu Changsheng's mind flashed rapidly through his life and experiences over the past 30 years, but his memory remained in the present. He let out a soft sigh, uttering the impermanence of life.

"well!!!"

"The person of yesterday is no longer me; the person of today welcomes a new journey."

With a single sentence, he severed ties with the past, regained his composure, and focused his attention back on his middle dantian.

The emerald green seed suspended in his dantian was the result of his three months of secluded cultivation.

The "Ku Rong Dao Jing" is a special cultivation method that can be practiced automatically. It condenses a seed of life-bound Ku Rong Dao that can autonomously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

During these three months, he devoured a vast amount of electronic ancient books, imaginative plots from novels, and videos on Douyin (TikTok) by various bloggers analyzing the essence of cultivation...

His ability to access the internet in the mountains is thanks to the country's robust infrastructure development and Huawei's leading 5G communication technology.

Online knowledge may be censored or false, but its sheer quantity and imaginative ideas make it irresistible.

He doesn't expect the knowledge he finds online to help him cultivate himself; for him, it serves as a source of inspiration, a reference point, and a way to broaden his knowledge.

Thanks to the vast knowledge of the Internet, he was able to create the cultivation method of the Life-Decline and Flourishing Dao Seed.

He had no idea how far this technique could go in the future, what its shortcomings were, or whether it would lead to a dead end. He could only take it one step at a time.

He used the power of the Yin spirit to draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body, opening up his middle dantian, where he condensed his natal seed of life and death.

He did not follow the traditional path of cultivation: body refinement, qi cultivation, foundation building, golden elixir formation, etc.

He took a different approach, using the Yin spirit as his soul, essence and blood as his flesh and blood, spiritual energy as his power, and spiritual roots as his bridge, to create a pure energy seed to replace his cultivation.

Referencing the tree growth cycle from seed to germination to seedling to mature tree to flowering to fruiting, and finally to seed production, the cycle of growth and decay repeats itself.

Each time a 'seed' sprouts, it marks a breakthrough in his cultivation.

This is the core principle of his Daoist scripture on decay and prosperity, which does not concern itself with life and death, but only governs decay and prosperity.

A cultivation technique that controls the laws governing the rise and fall, decay and revival of all things.

It does not directly involve "death" that takes lives, but rather accelerates or reverses the process of "from prosperity to decline, and from decline to prosperity".

This is a path without teachers, without experience to refer to, and with an unknown future.

Gu Changsheng could have followed the traditional path of cultivation, guiding Qi into his body, strengthening his foundation, refining himself, and opening up his Qi Sea and Dantian to enter the Qi Refining realm.

This path is very suitable for him as he condenses his Yin spirit. He doesn't even need any cultivation techniques. He can rely on the power of his Yin spirit to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refine it into magical power.

As the power of the Yin Spirit increases, the efficiency of refining spiritual energy will also increase.

Unfortunately, his innate root is a single-attribute wood element, so he follows the traditional path of cultivation, focusing on life and healing. He has strong survival abilities but weak attack power.

He didn't know what Blue Star would become in the future. If Blue Star's spiritual energy were to explode one day, he, with his wood spiritual root, would probably miss the opportunity to stand at the forefront.

He didn't dislike the Wood Spirit Root, nor did he think it would limit his development; rather, he lacked sufficient military strength to protect himself.

Cultivation resources are ultimately scarce resources, and resources are a condition for survival no matter what world they are in.

Over the past three months, he has compiled a simple list of knowledge points about spiritual practice.

The "Dharma companions, wealth, and place" often mentioned in ancient books refer to external conditions for spiritual practice.

"Dharma" refers to the methods of cultivation, including techniques, mental methods, formulas, alchemy, and array formations, etc.

A good exercise method can improve efficiency and speed, allowing you to go further.

"Companion" refers to like-minded spiritual partners who learn from each other, exchange experiences, and support and protect the Dharma.

They can verify with each other whether there are any shortcomings or deviations in their own practice, and can promptly discover and correct them.

Wealth is the foundation of spiritual practice; it is the material resource needed for spiritual practice.

As the saying goes, "Without wealth, one cannot cultivate virtue."

Practicing martial arts requires a lot of money, let alone the elusive path to immortality.

"Earth" refers to a place for cultivation, such as a blessed land or a sacred mountain palace. Places rich in spiritual energy are conducive to enlightenment and are also safe and secluded.

One cannot simply cultivate in any place. If someone breaks in and interrupts one's breakthrough at a crucial moment, the consequences range from "going into demonic possession" and losing all one's cultivation to "perishing of one's Dao and being condemned to reincarnation."

A secluded place of cultivation, rich in spiritual energy, is a blessed land that every cultivator dreams of.

In addition to these four external elements of spiritual practice: wealth, companionship, Dharma, and environment.

There are also the internal conditions for cultivation: "innate talent and physical constitution" and "Daoist mind and comprehension".

"Innate talent and physical constitution" are prerequisites for cultivation, referring to "innate spiritual root" and "special physique".

The "innate spiritual root" can be seen as the affinity with spiritual energy, a bridge connecting the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, determining whether a cultivator can perceive and absorb spiritual energy, and determining the efficiency of a cultivator in refining spiritual energy.

Over the past three months, through numerous attempts, he discovered that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth possesses attributes, with attributeless spiritual energy making up the majority.

He possesses a wood spirit root, making him the most efficient at absorbing wood-attribute spiritual energy. He also consumes less mental energy when drawing spiritual energy into his body and suffers the least loss during the conversion of spiritual energy.

Next is the elemental aura, which is more balanced and peaceful, lacking the heat of fire, the sharpness of metal, the heaviness of earth, the vitality of wood, and the gentleness of water.

Attributeless spiritual energy is like a universal experience; it can be absorbed regardless of the attribute of the spiritual root, but it doesn't have any outstanding features.

Earth and water spiritual energy are the most suitable for cultivators with wood spiritual roots to refine and absorb, except for wood spiritual energy. Earth and water are the best energies to nourish trees.

Countless cultivation novels share a common premise: without spiritual roots, one usually can't even get close to the threshold of cultivation.

This is not just a casual remark.

Without spiritual roots, you can embark on the path of cultivation with great willpower and abundant resources, but how far can you go?

There is a paradox here: if you have no cultivation or strength, where will you get the massive resources to cultivate? Sects and families will not invest in people without spiritual roots, so the input and output are not proportional.

If you lack strength, no matter how many resources you possess, you'll just be seen as a resource dumping ground by other cultivators.

"Murder and arson bring wealth and honor."

"You hoard food, I hoard guns; your food is my food."

These two short sentences illustrate that only those with real strength can protect what they possess; otherwise, you are merely temporarily holding onto resources for others.

Gu Changsheng's Yin spirit flew from the upper dantian sea of ​​consciousness into the middle dantian sea of ​​qi, entering his natal seed of life and death.

In an instant, the transparent vortex around his body swelled three times, expanding its range to a radius of ten meters, and the spiritual energy entering his body also increased three times.

With the blessing of the Yin spirit, the efficiency of the Dao seed in attracting, refining, and absorbing spiritual energy increases threefold.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of Big Yellow barking came from outside the wooden house.

"Woof...woof woof...woof woof woof..." (Master, master, someone's coming, someone's coming.)