Hermit in the Mountains

Gu Changsheng's eyelashes trembled slightly, and his tightly closed eyes slowly opened, revealing a flash of emerald green and gray-black.

His expression was neither sad nor happy, except for a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth. Perhaps it was influenced by the "withering and flourishing artistic conception", or perhaps this breakthrough was something he had expected.

He sat quietly on the branch, gazing down at the vast expanse of dead wood, as if he were one of his own kind.

Suddenly, a high-pitched cry came from afar.

Gu Changsheng came to his senses and carefully observed the changes within himself.

He flipped his palm up and down, his five-centimeter-long gray-white fingernails gleaming coldly in the sunlight, and the nails on his two thumbs tapped together, producing a crisp metallic clanging sound.

He ran his right thumb across his left palm and felt no pain whatsoever. A white mark appeared where his fingernail had touched the mark, but it disappeared a few seconds later.

He raised his hands, twirled his white hair between his fingers, grabbed a white hair and tugged at it. It was very resilient, ten times more resilient than ordinary hair.

Looking at the tuft of white hair beside his left ear, Gu Changsheng sighed.

"well-"

Looking himself up and down, he was incredibly lucky that apart from his nails growing longer and harder, and his hair growing longer, whiter, and becoming more resilient, there were no other unusual changes.

Some changes also occurred within the body; the skin contained a layer of "withered and flourishing armor" similar to tree rings, which could increase the body's defense, resilience, and recovery ability.

Calling it "copper armor" is no exaggeration; actively activating the "Withering and Flourishing Armor" makes it impervious to ordinary sword and blade attacks.

This also explains why he makes a metallic scraping sound when his fingernails rub against each other, and why he doesn't feel pain when his fingernails scratch his skin.

There are six places where the withered and flourishing armor is not covered, which are called the six leaks (mouth, nose, ears, eyes, etc.), and it cannot be considered a body without leaks.

As his cycles of decay and transformation increase, achieving a flawless body won't be too far off.

His internal energy and blood surged, and his physical strength increased, reaching a force of a thousand jin, which could be considered as half a step into the extraordinary realm.

If we must make a comparison, his cycle of flourishing and decay can be considered a minor realm.

This was his first time completing the transformation from decay to prosperity, which can be considered the skin-refining stage in the body-refining realm.

His cultivation path was rather unique; he went directly to the perfection of skin refinement without going through the stages of entry, minor success, major success, and perfection.

After familiarizing himself with the changes, Gu Changsheng braced himself on the damp tree branch and leaped down from the three-meter-high branch.

"Bang—"

He jumped barefoot to the ground, instantly bending his knees to dissipate the force and straighten his legs. The Rooting Technique was passively triggered, and he stood firmly without swaying at all.

Having forged a copper skin, he could jump barefoot from a height of three meters without feeling any pain, and the icy cold could not freeze his feet.

With his qi and blood surging and the copper skin protecting him, he could stand barefoot on the snow without feeling the cold on his feet, and his whole body felt warm.

He glanced back into the depths of the Qinling Mountains. Once his cultivation had broken through a few more times and all the ice and snow had melted, that would be the time for him to enter the mountains to search for treasure.

Gu Changsheng withdrew his gaze and hurried toward the wooden house, walking briskly along the way, leaving behind a trail of footprints.

He had just arrived near the cabin when he heard Big Yellow's welcoming barks, and soon he saw Big Yellow hopping and running towards him.

"Woof woof woof..." (Master, Master...)

Dahuang ran to Gu Changsheng's feet, wagging its tail, and ran and jumped around him once.

"Woof woof woof..." (Master, you're finally back.)

Gu Changsheng smiled. "Dahuang is so smart, it even came out to greet me. Let's go home."

"I'll make you some delicious cured meat."

"Woof woof woof..." Big Yellow said with a fawning expression, sticking out its tongue and panting, occasionally shaking its body to shake off the cold snowflakes.

Big Yellow followed Gu Changsheng around happily, sometimes running ahead to clear the way and sometimes running back.

Inside the kitchen, Gu Changsheng, having broken through his cultivation level, prepared to treat himself and cooked several dishes.

There are dishes such as stir-fried cured pork with chili peppers, dried beef, radish soup, smashed cucumber, stir-fried spinach, and fried eggs.

After eating and drinking his fill, Gu Changsheng didn't rush into cultivation; instead, he went to feed the chickens first.

Roll up your trousers, go barefoot to the fields to weed, then clear the land ahead of time.

He actually used less than two mu of the ten mu of mountain land he rented. One mu is about 666 square meters, which is not small. One mu is about 20 meters by 30 meters in size.

The three rooms are only about 60 square meters, and the vegetable garden covers a little over one acre.

As he cleared the land, he surveyed the surrounding environment. The place he rented was located in a gentle mountain area at an altitude of about 500 meters.

He only rented ten acres, while the flat areas have at least 50 acres.

Looking at the hillside, there were no large trees, the tallest of which were only two or three meters high, and they were scattered sparsely without forming large patches.

He looked around at the towering mountains, frowned, and stopped digging.

He leaned on his hoe, looking around at his surroundings, pondering what kind of trees would be best to plant around his dwelling to enclose it.

Trees have a very slow growth cycle, which is measured in years.

He thought of bamboo as a plant that grows quickly and tall.

After digging for an hour, Gu Changsheng called it a day, put his farm tools back in the warehouse, and washed the mud off his feet at the door while wearing plastic slippers.

He returned to the living room, sat barefoot by the stove, added a few pieces of smokeless charcoal, and then took out a small table and a notebook to start researching bamboo information.

If you're unsure what to do, ask "Doubao"; if you want to see real photos, go to "Douyin" (TikTok). You don't even need to search for information on search websites.

He entered the suggestion phrase "bamboo over ten meters tall, needs to be cold-resistant", and soon the answers to related questions popped up.

He saw a familiar and famous bamboo, but this bamboo was famous in the online literature circle.

It is the famous "Ten Thousand Year Golden Thunder Bamboo" in Han Paopao's hands in "A Mortal's Journey to Immortality".

There is indeed a plant in the real world with the same name, "Golden Thunder Bamboo," and it also has a twin brother called "Gold Inlaid Jade Bamboo."

These two brothers are cold-resistant, can grow to about ten meters long, and are very distinctive.

The eldest, 'Golden Thunder Bamboo,' has a golden-yellow culm and light gold vertical stripes at the nodes.

The second one, the "Gold-Inlaid Jade Bamboo," also has a golden-yellow culm with a turquoise longitudinal groove, hence the name "Gold-Inlaid Jade."

Gu Changsheng immediately determined that these two types of bamboo could be planted. In addition, he could guide the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, so he might be able to cultivate "Ten Thousand Year Golden Thunder Bamboo" in the future. Even a hundred-year-old material would be enough to refine flying swords.

As Chinese people, every young person has a dream of flying on a sword. No matter how common or not swords are, they are more prestigious than weapons like knives, spears, clubs, hammers, axes, and bells. You may not use them, but you must have one.

That evening, Gu Changsheng let the 'Dao Seed' absorb the 'Moonlight Power' to cultivate on its own, while he began to deduce minor spells for cultivating spiritual herbs.

His cultivation of the "Path of Withering and Flourishing" was perfectly suited to the profession of a spiritual plant master, allowing him to directly accelerate the ripening of herbs and spiritual medicines with the "vitality of flourishing."

In the early stages, it can only accelerate the growth cycle, but that's enough.

He began to recall the ripening-enhancing spells that had appeared in the cultivation novels he had read.

Such as "Spring Breeze and Rain Technique", "Rejuvenation Technique", "Eternal Youth Technique", "Dew Condensation Technique", etc.