Hermit in the Mountains

Gu Changsheng was reflecting on the changes brought about by his own breakthrough.

The glass destiny plate within the primordial space shrank tenfold, but its hardness increased tenfold, allowing Gu Changsheng's life level to leap forward.

The birth chart is small and exquisite, crystal clear, with a root of destiny sitting in the very center.

The chart is engraved with thirty life wheels, with the outermost three being grayish-brown and the inner twenty-seven being emerald green.

Each life wheel represents ten years of lifespan; grayish-brown represents lost lifespan, and emerald green represents current lifespan.

The twenty-seven emerald green life wheels correspond to Gu Changsheng's remaining lifespan of two hundred and seventy years. This breakthrough will increase his lifespan from two hundred and forty years to three hundred years, a surge of sixty years.

What surprised Gu Changsheng the most was the extent of his strength improvement, which led to the development of entirely new innate abilities.

This breakthrough resulted in a tenfold increase in divine sense, which could cover a radius of 100 meters, and perception could cover a radius of 1,000 meters.

The power of divine sense and the rooting technique merged to create a new soul-type innate divine ability, a soul divine ability called "Eye of Withering and Flourishing" engraved within the root of the Dao.

【Eye of Withering and Flourishing: Passive effect of the Eye of Withering and Flourishing - Three-dimensional sensing network - It is transformed into a new supernatural power by the fusion of the rooting technique and the power of divine sense. The power of divine sense can cover a radius of 100 meters, and the perception can cover a radius of 1,000 meters.

Active Effect - When actively activated, the left pupil turns grayish-brown, and the right pupil turns emerald green; one can see the existence of special rules such as cause and effect, fortune, karma, merit, and destiny, but can only see them; those with too low a cultivation level are not allowed to touch them.

His physical strength increased more than threefold, reaching 30,000 jin.

The original "Withering and Flourishing Armor" evolved into a physical innate divine power, and a protective divine power called "Withering and Flourishing Calamity Armor" was engraved in the root of the Dao.

【Withered and Flourishing Armor: Passive Effect - The armor is hidden under various organs of the body, forming ring-shaped armor to protect the body.

Active Effect - When activated, it forms a protective armor around the user. The armor is grayish-brown with emerald green patterns engraved on it. When attacked, it reflects 10% of the attack power back to the enemy, similar to a thorn armor effect. When the armor is damaged, it is repaired by the emerald green patterns.

The "Power of Withering and Flourishing," also known as the "Spiritual Power of Withering and Flourishing," has undergone a transformation. The spiritual power cultivated contains Gu Changsheng's original imprint, hence it is called "Magic Power."

Gu Changsheng mainly cultivates the withering and flourishing attribute, which can also be called "withering and flourishing magic power". The magic power no longer floats around the root of the Dao, but a wisp of magic power turns into a small lump hanging on the root of the Dao.

As the 'Spiritual Power of Withering and Flourishing' transforms into 'Magic Power of Withering and Flourishing', Gu Changsheng can consume his own magic power to cast spells, which can be used for defense, protection, speed enhancement, etc.

The appearance of magic power explained why Gu Changsheng was unable to condense a spirit seal for an attack spell outside his body; the crux of the matter lay in this exclusive magic power.

The Gathering Word Technique primarily uses the power of divine sense to gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It does not form a specific attribute spell seal, but merely alters the state of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, transforming particles into larger particles, and finally condensing into a visible spiritual liquid.

To cast true spells, cultivators need to develop their own unique magical power, which allows them to communicate with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cast specific spells.

The Dao Seed's ability to automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth has also evolved into a breathing aid, called "Root of Heaven and Earth".

【Root of Heaven and Earth: Passive effect - autonomously absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and moon, the energy of mountains and rivers, and the energy of the void.

Active Skills - Consciousness-based active intervention can temporarily control passive effects and also amplify their energy absorption efficiency tenfold.

Gu Changsheng was pleased with the evolution of the withering and flourishing magic power, the withering and flourishing magic eye, the withering and flourishing tribulation armor, and the heaven and earth root evolution innate divine abilities. He had already mastered these abilities before, but now they were more refined, more comprehensive, and more functional.

The new supernatural ability that appeared after breaking through to a new realm shocked Gu Changsheng. He had been wondering whether outsiders could learn the "Benming Dao Seed Method," and the appearance of the new supernatural ability perfectly solved his concerns.

【Original Dao Guide: Consumes a trace of one's own origin to condense a non-attribute, illusory Dao Guide, which can be bestowed upon others.】

Those who possess the Dao Guide can visualize a real seed and nurture it with their own soul, spiritual root (innate essence), life essence, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They have achieved the transformation from the illusory to the real, nurtured their own Dao seed, and embarked on the path of cultivation.

Condensing Dao Guidance has drawbacks; after consuming his source power, he needs to spend a lot of time recovering, which will affect his cultivation speed.

Note: The maximum number of Dao guides that can be condensed is nine. If the limit is exceeded, the original source cannot be restored to its original state, resulting in a loss of the original source and forming Dao damage.

The Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Dao is forty-nine, and humanity escapes to one. Merit can shorten the recovery time of one's origin and repair Dao injuries, but merit is hard to come by.

After sorting out the changes brought about by the breakthrough, Gu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes. The pitch-black cave was as bright as day in his eyes, and the surrounding environment was clearly visible.

Even through layers of rocks, one can still hear the roar of the waterfall outside the cave and the sound of water crashing against the stones.

Gu Changsheng looked himself up and down, and when he saw the layers of grayish-brown dead skin, the black viscous liquid, the large amount of hair falling off his shoulders and feet, and the twenty fingernails, he shuddered.

Fortunately, he had cultivated a flawless body and his aura was perfectly unified, so he didn't need to breathe through his mouth and nose. Otherwise, the smell attacking him would have made him nauseous.

He gazed ahead, muttering to himself, "I wonder how long I'll be in seclusion. Should I try to deduce the spells first, or should I return to Changsheng Peak?"

Gu Changsheng strode towards the cave entrance, stood in front of the sealing stone, raised his right hand and slapped the stone.

The "Withering and Flourishing Armor" wrapped around Gu Changsheng's right hand like a gauntlet. The moment his palm touched the stone, a terrifying force instantly sent the stone flying.

"boom--"

With a loud bang, the rocks blocking their way seemed to be made of foam, and pieces of rock weighing hundreds of kilograms flew outwards.

Dozens of stones tumbled down the cliff with a thunderous roar.

Gu Changsheng started playing a soccer game, blocking the stones flying out one by one.

"Bang... bang... bang..."

Hundreds of kilograms of rocks are as light as a football under his absolute strength.

At this moment, his physical strength reached 30,000 jin, a full 15 tons, and a casual strike was like a heavy truck crashing into him.

At the foot of the waterfall, Gu Changsheng washed away all the filth from his body and walked to the shore, soaking wet.

With the thought arising, he performed the Gathering Word Technique, and the Dao Seal of the character "Gathering" appeared behind him.

Gu Changsheng hummed in agreement, and with a thought, the Dao seal behind him moved to the front.

The character "聚" (gather) was now visible to the naked eye. My first thought was, "Could it be because of my exclusive magical power?"

Gu Changsheng renamed the spiritual seals engraved within the Dao Root and those formed by innate supernatural powers as "Dao Seals".

He said he'd study it further when he got back, and waved his hand, "Feng Lai—"