Hermit in the Mountains

Halfway up Changsheng Peak, amidst the white mist, atop a wooden house in the center of a bamboo forest, a 1.2-meter-tall, colorful rooster crows towards the east.

"Coo coo coo... Oh—"

As the rooster's loud crowing faded, a wisp of mist appeared in the east, and a faint ray of light illuminated the horizon.

Inside the wooden house, Gu Changsheng finished refining the Primordial Sun's 'Purple Qi'. It was already quite bright outside.

He finished his practice and walked barefoot onto the floor towards the outside. He opened the wooden door, and wisps of white mist flowed into the living room, gently blowing up his temples before falling back into place.

Gu Changsheng condensed spiritual liquid to feed his three pets and infused several herbs with the "power of glory".

The wild ginseng he cultivated showed faint signs of evolution. He planned to observe it for a few days and then try to catalyze it. If successful, he would obtain a spiritual ginseng. If he failed, he would continue to cultivate new ginseng plants.

With the successful experience of Dahuang, and given that his main cultivation method of withering and flourishing magic is suitable for cultivating plants, there is a high probability that he can successfully cultivate spiritual ginseng.

Gu Changsheng took a walk around the mountain and was very satisfied with the good growth of various trees and herbs. He then turned around and returned to the wooden house.

Gu Changsheng returned to the living room and took out all the raw materials for forging the magic sword, placing them on the table.

The Earth Core Copper and Deep Sea Cold Iron are the size of basketballs, and the case is covered with pits and bumps.

Gu Changsheng placed his hands on the Earth Core Fire Copper. With a thought, a knot on the root of his right hand fell off. The knot instantly unfolded and became a nine-inch-long thread.

Suddenly, the silk thread split in two. The emerald green silk thread rolled back into small knots and flew back to its original root, while the grayish-brown silk thread flew out from Gu Changsheng's right hand and surged into the fire copper at the earth's core.

Gu Changsheng used his divine sense to control the 'Dryness Power' to travel around the Earth Core Fire Copper Surface once, twice, until the 'Dryness Power' had traveled around the entire Earth Core Fire Copper Surface.

He noticed cracks appearing on the Earth Core Fire Copper watch case, and his eyes lit up. "Something's changed."

He then used his "Desert Power" to move around the surface of the Earth Core Fire Copper while using his Dharma Eye to observe the changes inside the copper ore.

A transparent cavity is formed between the two hands, encasing the copper ore, and the cavity itself has pressure.

The sun was high in the sky when the copper ore that was originally the size of a basketball in Gu Changsheng's hands shrunk to the size of an apple, with fragments of various sizes scattered on the table.

He looked at his masterpiece and smiled with satisfaction.

He used the properties of his "Desertification Power"—contraction, settling, and annihilation—to refine the copper ore, forcing out impurities, redundancy, and void energy from within it.

By compressing the volume and increasing the effective molecular concentration of copper ore, the unstable structure decays and disintegrates, ultimately leaving behind refined copper.

The whole process is essentially a process of extraction and compression.

Gu Changsheng closed his eyes to restore his internal magical and spiritual power, and continued to purify the deep-sea cold iron.

It took a day to obtain two pieces of Earth Core Fire Copper and Deep Sea Cold Iron, each the size of an apple.

The following day, Gu Changsheng activated the growth, nourishment, and enrichment properties of the "Power of Glory" to awaken the inner potential of the Earth Core Fire Copper and Deep Sea Cold Iron.

The active substances inside are guided to recombine, allowing it to evolve spirituality. Only when it evolves spirituality can it be considered a spiritual material and used to forge magic swords.

After absorbing nine strands of "Glory Power," the Earth Core Fire Copper and Deep Sea Cold Iron stopped absorbing, as if they had eaten their fill.

Gu Changsheng discovered that nurturing could not achieve the same level of sustainability as purification. He put away the two pieces of purified ore and turned his attention to the heartwood of three withered trees that had come back to life.

He fell into deep thought, his mind conflicted, unable to make a move.

Using heartwood as the core might not provide enough hardness, while using refined copper or iron as the core lacks the "power of decay and growth".

He sighed softly, "If I can't figure it out, I won't think about it anymore."

After collecting the heartwood, Gu Changsheng took out his phone and sent a message to Zhang Yuanfu, asking him to collect ten tons each of Earth Core Fire Copper and Deep Sea Cold Iron, one ton of heartwood from the revived dead tree, and one hundred Twin Lotus flowers.

The other party can seek cooperation with the official authorities, using the Lesser Elixir as the transaction fee.

Gu Changsheng changed the cooperation model, no longer cooperating with the National Spirit Bureau in alchemy, but directly trading the pills for the items needed by the other party.

He has already prioritized the alchemy simulation plan after the weapon crafting and formation simulation tasks.

After cultivating and perfecting the Withering and Flourishing Sword Technique and the Visualization Method, deducing the weapon refining method, setting up formations, cultivating spirit pets and spirit medicines, it is only then that it is time to perfect the alchemy method.

After sending the message, I turned on airplane mode, turned around, and tossed my phone into the back drawer.

Gu Changsheng turned around and sat cross-legged, his hands naturally hanging down on his knees. He closed his eyes slightly, calmed his mind, and entered a state of cultivation.

He began to perfect the Dao Seal of the Withering and Flourishing Sword Technique in his sea of ​​consciousness. By evening, he would turn his mind to cultivation. In the morning, after refining the primordial 'purple qi', he would stop his practice and begin to perfect the sword technique again.

Sunrise and sunset, the cycle repeats itself.

Three days later, Gu Changsheng finally perfected the Withering and Flourishing Sword Technique.

Gu Changsheng did not test his new sword technique on Changsheng Peak. Instead, he rode his blue ox ten kilometers into the depths of the Qinling Mountains and found a valley with sparse vegetation.

Gu Changsheng stood with his hands behind his back ten meters away from a stone wall, raising his right hand in a sword-pointing gesture in front of him.

"The Withering and Flourishing Sword Technique... Begin..."

As the sword pointed forward, three layers of Dao patterns appeared in mid-air and began to rotate, capturing wood spirit particles from all directions and rapidly converging towards the sword technique's Dao seal.

The surrounding wood elemental particles transformed into nine pale blue threads that flowed into the Dao seal.

A pale blue spiritual sword, one meter long and three fingers wide, slowly emerged from the Dao seal.

The moment the pale blue magic sword took shape, Gu Changsheng flicked his right sword finger towards the stone wall in front of him.

"Wood Spirit Sword... Go..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pale blue magic sword flew out with a "whoosh" and pierced into the stone wall in the blink of an eye.

"boom--"

A loud bang echoed through the valley.

The stone wall was blasted into a crater 30 centimeters in diameter and 10 centimeters deep, and fragments of rock of varying sizes flew in all directions, falling everywhere with a crackling sound.

A blue ox grazing in front of a lush green patch of grass was startled and let out a "moo." It turned its head to look for the source of the explosion. When it saw that the explosion was coming from near its owner, it stopped running away and turned back to continue eating the tender new grass.

Gu Changsheng was not satisfied with the dent he had created. He used his divine sense to control the Dao Seal and unleash its second form.

"The Sword of Withering...draws..."

The life force within the absorbed wood elemental energy was devoured by the "Power of Withering" and transformed into "Power of Withering".

A grayish-brown magic sword, one meter long and three fingers wide, emerged from the Dao seal.

Gu Changsheng pointed his right sword finger toward the right side of the pit.

"go......"

The gray-brown magic sword pierced through the air and instantly stabbed a meter to the right of the crater.

There was no loud noise, and no flying debris.

When Gu Changsheng scanned the stone wall with his divine sense, he found only a crack that was half a meter deep and three fingers wide.

The stone appeared to have been weathered, with white stone powder accumulating in the cracks.

The wooden spirit sword was like a physical attack, its spiritual energy striking the stone wall directly.

The withered sword seemed to pierce through the attack, and the ultimate "withered magic power" instantly annihilated the organic matter on the stone wall, turning it into powder.

The "Power of Withering" focuses on maximizing damage.

In the following moments, it sounded as if blasting was going off in the valley.

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

The sound of explosions echoed through the valley in succession.

The ox grazing nearby heard the third explosion. Seeing its owner's enthusiasm, it wisely ran 500 meters away to continue grazing, avoiding the pain to its ears.

Gu Changsheng tested the power of the sword technique every ten meters he retreated, until he reached the maximum attack range of the sword technique.

He stands a hundred meters away, and the attack power of the sword technique will be halved at that distance.

He also discovered that the current sword technique's maximum attack range is only one hundred meters. Once the magic sword exceeds one hundred meters, it will quickly disintegrate, and the energy will return to the world.

This sword-testing technique consumed half of Gu Changsheng's magic power. He had tried everything he needed to. He walked to the stone wall and touched the various dents he had made. He could still sense the residual aura of wood spirit energy and withered magic power.

The power of the withered magic within it has endured for a long time and is still slowly eroding the surrounding stone walls.

Gu Changsheng found the blue ox, leaped onto its back, and rode away from the valley, leaving behind a landscape of scarred rock walls.

Perhaps in the future, someone will discover the stone wall, thinking it is an opportunity left by some great being, and stop to study the sword marks on it.