Hermit in the Mountains

The next day, Zhang Tianhu took the raw materials needed for alchemy to Changsheng Peak, chatted with Gu Changsheng for a few words, and then left in a hurry.

Gu Changsheng spent two days refining nine Grade 2 Qi-Nourishing Small Spirit Pills and nine Grade 2 Yang-Boosting Small Spirit Pills, and then spent three days refining eighteen Grade 6 Yang-Boosting Small Spirit Pills.

The second-grade minor spirit pill is planned to be given to Zhang Tianhu a month later. He can then find an excuse to delay the time and focus on his cultivation for a while. A month will be enough time for him to break through his cultivation level.

The sixth-grade Yang-tonifying pill was intended for Yang Dashan and Zhang Yuanfu to use in their cultivation. He didn't expect that the Yang-tonifying pill would be so suitable for Zhang Yuanfu, who was cultivating internal alchemy, and Yang Dashan, who was cultivating traditional martial arts.

Later, Gu Changsheng asked Zhang Yuanfu to collect a large number of internal alchemy and martial arts classics. After reading a large number of related ancient books, he understood the connections between them.

The art of internal alchemy emphasizes the internal cultivation of essence and qi, which involves absorbing spiritual energy to strengthen the innate essence and qi within the body, thus generating essence and qi. When the essence is full, one can then refine the essence into qi and enter a new realm.

Zhang Yuanfu is currently in the Foundation Establishment and Self-Refining stage. He has taken the real Peiyuan Lingdan (Primordial Essence Elixir), but the Peiyuan Xiaolingdan (Minor Primordial Essence Elixir) is no longer effective. However, the Buyang Xiaolingdan (Minor Yang Elixir) has a single medicinal effect that can satisfy the need to strengthen his essence and qi.

Gu Changsheng predicted that when Zhang Yuanfu completed the Foundation Establishment and Self Refinement, he would give him a Yang-Boosting Pill to help him break through to the Refining Essence and Transforming Qi realm, thus officially opening the door to cultivation.

Yang Dashan needs to expend a lot of energy every day to practice Bajiquan, and the essence of energy is the body's vital energy. The effect of the Yang-tonifying pill is precisely to nourish vital energy.

The Yang-Boosting Pill can double Yang Dashan's efficiency in practicing Bajiquan every day, greatly accelerating his training speed.

Gu Changsheng would also give them a drop of Wood Spirit Liquid every week, which could repair their bodily functions and prevent damage.

His efforts and resources were not in vain. The two of them were still able to cultivate even without spiritual roots. Although they could not be considered true cultivators, they at least had the hope of cultivation.

Gu Changsheng also roughly understood the true function of spiritual roots. As a bridge to communicate with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, cultivators with spiritual roots can directly refine spiritual energy and store it in their bodies or use it to temper their physical bodies.

This is the path he has taken, except that the 'Decline and Flourishing Dao Seed' has replaced his spiritual root, and the 'Decline and Flourishing Power' floating around the 'Decline and Flourishing Dao Seed' in his sea of ​​consciousness has another name.

Spiritual power—

The term "spiritual power" was coined by Gu Changsheng himself to distinguish it from the spiritual energy of the outside world.

"Reiki" is the ownerless energy of heaven and earth;

"Spiritual power" is the energy that belongs to the cultivator himself.

He discovered a barely perceptible aura of his own within the "Power of Withering and Flourishing," which allowed him to use this power more freely, as smoothly as if he were controlling his own limbs.

When borrowing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, one needs to consume one's own spiritual power as a guide and mental power as control, which consumes a large amount of spiritual and mental power.

After spending a week refining the pills, Gu Changsheng devoted himself entirely to cultivation, occasionally venturing into the mountains to find secluded places for breakthroughs.

He had a feeling that this breakthrough was not simple, and he also wanted to test whether his guess was feasible.

Time passed little by little, and the 'Withering and Flourishing Dao Tree' in Gu Changsheng's sea of ​​consciousness entered the fruiting stage.

At the end of the month, in the living room of the wooden house, Gu Changsheng was explaining things to Yang Dashan and Zhang Yuanfu.

"I'm going into seclusion for a while. I don't know when I'll come out. Don't contact me during this time, and don't let anyone come up the mountain."

"When Zhang Tianhu inquires about the progress of his alchemy, all of you should reply that I am currently engaged in alchemy. Refuse all visits from other individuals."

After explaining the situation, he gave the two the Yang-Nourishing Pills he had prepared, saying, "Each box contains nine Yang-Nourishing Pills. You can use them for cultivation."

"I hope your cultivation levels will have improved when I emerge from seclusion."

Gu Changsheng took out four boxes of small spirit pills that he had prepared in advance from the cabinet and pushed them in front of Zhang Yuanfu. "Yuanfu, you can put out one of the small spirit pills from time to time, so that outsiders will think that I am refining pills and that I am running out of stock."

Zhang Yuanfu's face showed no smile, but rather a grave expression. "Peak Master, is there any danger in your seclusion this time?"

Gu Changsheng smiled without saying a word and waved for the two to leave.

"Peak Master, rest assured, we will take good care of Longevity Peak." The two put away the wooden box, left a message, and left the living room, turning to leave.

Gu Changsheng watched the two leave, then called over his three pets and instructed them not to run around and to guard the house.

As night fell, Gu Changsheng took two bottles of Wood Spirit Liquid and left under the cover of darkness, his figure disappearing into the mountains and forests.

Along the way, Gu Changsheng activated his full perception, sensing all movement within a radius of 100 meters. He avoided all animals and hurried toward his destination.

Twenty kilometers into the Qinling Mountains, Gu Changsheng arrived at his secluded retreat.

Inside the dark, damp cave, Gu Changsheng sat cross-legged on a rock, while the sound of a waterfall cascading outside filled the air.

The secluded place he found was behind the waterfall, just like the Water Curtain Cave of the Monkey King. Unfortunately, his Water Curtain Cave was small, dark, and damp.

Gu Changsheng sat on the rock for a few minutes, then got up and moved the stones that had been prepared in the cave to seal the entrance.

Several stones, each weighing several hundred kilograms, were neatly stacked at the entrance of the cave. Once the last stone was placed, the noise outside the cave was reduced by more than half.

Gu Changsheng continued to pile up the second layer of stones, and only stopped after the third layer. At this point, the sounds outside were very faint.

He clapped his hands to shake off the dirt, turned around and went back into the cave, where he sat cross-legged on a rock to regulate his breathing and enter a meditative state.

The cave is very pristine, less than ten square meters in size and about two meters high.

Gu Changsheng did not modify the cave; he simply moved stones to seal the entrance and placed a large amount of dead wood inside.

Gu Changsheng sat cross-legged, closed his eyes to rest. In the dark cave, he could not see the sunrise or sunset, and he forgot the passage of time.

Suddenly, Gu Changsheng opened his eyes wide, his gaze filled with confusion, and muttered to himself.

"It just feels like something's missing, like something's missing."

Gu Changsheng was completely baffled. He sat cross-legged on the rock, staring blankly into the dark cave.

After an unknown amount of time, Gu Changsheng's right hand, which was dangling on his knee, slid down and his palm touched his foot.

His eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands and feet. "Hahaha... I see..."

"It's darkest under the lamp! It's darkest under the lamp!"

"I'm so used to going barefoot that I've forgotten the art of grounding myself, and it just feels weird."

Gu Changsheng made a few self-deprecating remarks, stretched out his feet and stepped onto the damp ground, then stood up.

He felt the earthy energy flowing into his feet and smiled, "This is more like it!!!"

He took out two jade bottles from his sleeve, opened the lids, bent down, and stuck the jade bottles containing the Wood Spirit Liquid into the ground, twisting them a couple of times to fix them in the soil at his feet.

"Perfect--"

Gu Changsheng returned to a standing position, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his posture upright like a pine tree.

He closed his eyes, regulated his breathing and entered a meditative state, emptied his mind, and devoted himself entirely to cultivation.

Invisible particles of pale blue, light blue, and colorless spiritual energy poured into the cave where Gu Changsheng was from all directions.

The earth's energy inside the mountain seemed to find its home, surging into Gu Changsheng's body and flowing upstream along his meridians into his sea of ​​consciousness.

A transparent, rotating funnel appeared above Gu Changsheng's head, and specks of spiritual energy flowed through the funnel into his Baihui acupoint and into his sea of ​​consciousness.

The 'Withered and Flourishing Dao Tree' in Gu Changsheng's sea of ​​consciousness devoured the surging spiritual energy and earth energy.

The familiar purple aura of the early morning sun surged into the Dao Tree, and the nine root systems began to dissipate.

From root to branch, the Dao tree dissipates section by section, and the accumulated energy flows into the "withering and flourishing Dao fruit".

This time, the energy of the 'Withering and Flourishing Dao Tree' did not transform into the 'Withering and Flourishing Armor'; it was all absorbed by the 'Withering and Flourishing Dao Fruit'.

The 'Power of Withering and Flourishing' within his sea of ​​consciousness was simultaneously devoured.

In the hazy sea of ​​consciousness, only a quail egg-sized 'Seed of Withering and Flourishing' remained.

Suddenly, a drastic change occurred. The "Desiccated Seed" seemed to have lost too much water and became shriveled, with cracks appearing on its surface.

At the same time, Gu Changsheng's physical body was also changing. His skin lost its luster, nasolabial folds appeared on his face, and his jet-black hair quickly turned white.

Gu Changsheng's appearance was rapidly aging.

The "Withering and Flourishing Armor" within his body was rapidly dissolving, and his vital energy was declining at an alarming rate... Even the deepest part of his destiny chart was changing.

The outermost emerald green growth rings seemed to be eroded by some force, their vitality slowly disappearing, until finally the growth rings completely lost their vitality and turned into a grayish-brown growth ring.

The emerald green growth rings gradually faded to grayish-brown from the outside in...

The emerald green growth rings represented Gu Changsheng's lifespan; now, the rings had lost all vitality, signifying that Gu Changsheng's lifespan was rapidly dissipating...