Hermit in the Mountains

Gu Changsheng hovered on his sword a hundred meters above the mountaintop, a ray of light from the east piercing the misty night.

A gentle morning breeze brushed past, causing Gu Changsheng's clothes and black hair to sway in the wind.

Gu Changsheng used his divine sense to capture a few wisps of the 'purple aura' of the early sun and refined them into his body in an instant. Looking down at the endless mountain range below, he sighed and said, "When I reach the summit, I will see all the mountains below."

He symbolically refined a few wisps of the nascent sun's "purple aura" and recited those bold verses.

"Riding the wind on a sword, I vanquish demons across the land."

"Hahaha.........."

The moment the words were spoken, a gray-brown transparent protective aura appeared around Gu Changsheng, and the Withered Glory Sword carried him straight into the morning mist in the mountains.

With feet on flying swords, his body moved like a swallow, covering a thousand miles in an instant.

Gu Changsheng strode through the morning mist above the Qinling Mountains on his sword, like a ray of sword light piercing the clouds. He glanced at the mist below, and the rising sun in the east shone on him, as if he were wearing a golden robe.

Sword light is like my body, traversing the heavens and earth.

After casting aside all the clouds and mist, I soar alone into the blue sky.

With Gu Changsheng's cultivation breaking through three times in a row, his flying speed on his sword broke the speed of sound.

Gu Changsheng transformed into a sword light and hurtled towards the depths of the Qinling Mountains, creating a sonic boom that cleared a space in the morning mist beneath his feet.

It left a trail of grayish-brown and emerald green in its mouth, which disappeared after a while.

In one minute, Gu Changsheng penetrated 24 kilometers into the Qinling Mountains, reaching a speed of 400 meters per second. This was not the limit of flying on a sword; 500 meters per second was the true limit.

Gu Changsheng did not attempt to reach his maximum speed, firstly because it would consume both his mana and physical strength, and he did not want to walk back after having his fun.

Activating the flying sword consumes mana, and activating the Withering and Flourishing Armor consumes physical strength. Gu Changsheng's physical strength can ignore the shockwave generated by the sonic boom, but his clothes cannot.

Just thinking about flying naked made Gu Changsheng shudder; he didn't want to leave behind such a glorious legacy.

Who knows if there are satellites overhead taking pictures? If someone is photographed naked, it would be incredibly embarrassing to the whole world, leading to social humiliation and even causing inner demons when trying to break through to the next level of cultivation.

Gu Changsheng descended, leisurely making his way back, staying about twenty meters above the mountain peak.

Deep in the Qinling Mountains, the vegetation was even more lush, and several mutated giant trees, each a hundred meters tall, were discovered. Gu Changsheng scanned them with his divine eye and realized that the giant trees had only grown to a huge size after absorbing spiritual energy, and had not yet evolved into spirit trees.

Along the way, Gu Changsheng observed the mountains and forests below. His divine sense swept over many plants and animals containing spiritual energy, but he did not go down to pick or hunt them. To be honest, he didn't care for them.

They only contain spiritual energy, so they can't be considered spiritual herbs or spiritual beasts. They don't know how much spiritual energy they need to absorb to evolve.

Instead of wasting time, he would rather go back to Changsheng Peak to assess his gains on his own territory. As he left, he scanned the entire mountain with his divine sense and found that some of the vegetation had evolved into spiritual plants.

With this in mind, Gu Changsheng sped up and flew towards Changsheng Peak, leaving only a faint flight path in the air.

Gu Changsheng returned to Changsheng Peak and landed in front of the wooden house. After landing, he waved his hand and the Kuru Sword flew back to the living room and landed on the table.

As the divine sense spread out, the changes in Changsheng Peak came into view, with white plum blossoms and pink peach blossoms blooming brightly at the top and bottom of the mountain.

The King of Plum Blossom Trees and the King of Peach Blossom Trees stand in the very center of the forest, two meters taller than the surrounding ordinary plum and peach trees, creating a scene of outstanding beauty.

The King of Agarwood Trees is not particularly tall; it grows horizontally, and its trunk is twice as thick as the surrounding agarwood trees.

The three bamboo kings also grow horizontally. Their bamboo stalks are as thick as water buckets and their colors are more vibrant, making them stand out even when hidden deep in the bamboo forest.

The three pets, smelling Gu Changsheng's scent, converged on the wooden house. Da Hong flew out from the tall mulberry tree next to the house and landed steadily ten meters away from Gu Changsheng.

Da Hong completed its evolution on its own without Gu Changsheng's help, mainly thanks to the primordial 'purple qi' it absorbed every day and the accumulation of daily spiritual energy. When it encountered the spiritual energy tide, it completed its transformation from mortal to spirit.

After Da Hong evolved into a spirit beast, his gliding ability was upgraded to flight ability.

After landing, Da Hong walked up to Gu Changsheng and stuck out her head, begging for praise.

"Coo, coo, coo..." (Master, Master...)

The green ox emerged from behind the wooden house and walked up to Gu Changsheng.

"Moo—" (Greetings, sir!)

Big Yellow leaped out of the bamboo forest and ran all the way to Gu Changsheng. With a sideways turn and a sudden stop, it came to a cool and steady stop at Gu Changsheng's feet.

Big Yellow's face switched to a fawning mode, wagging its tail and panting.

"Woof woof woof........." (Master, Big Yellow is reporting for duty.)

With a smile, Gu Changsheng reached out his right hand and patted the heads of the three pets in turn. "Not bad, not a single one has fallen behind. They are indeed my pets."

"Especially Big Red, which completed its evolution on its own without my help. Keep up the good work."

As he praised them, his discerning eye swept over the three types of pets; they should now be called spirit pets.

A space, or rather a dantian, appeared in the lower abdomen of each of the three spirit pets, with a few wisps of sparse spiritual energy floating inside.

The spiritual energy within the Yellow Dantian is transparent, the Crimson Dantian is light red, and the Green Ox Dantian is light yellow, corresponding to their respective wind, fire, and earth spiritual roots.

Gu Changsheng used his divine sense to communicate with Da Huang and Da Hong in turn, but they were still not intelligent and could not communicate with him verbally.

He focused his attention on the green ox and communicated with it through its sea of ​​consciousness.

"Niu'er, can you control the release of spiritual energy from your lower abdomen?"

"Reporting to Master, I have tried. No matter how I try to bring it out, it is blocked by an invisible wall, and the spiritual energy can only flow within my body."

"How much of the 'Green Ox Carrying a Mountain' picture I sent you do you remember?"

"Reporting to Master, I found that I remembered everything when I woke up today. As long as I calm down, it will come to mind."

"That's good. You should think about the Green Ox Carrying the Mountain Diagram more often; it will improve your cultivation."

"Yes, sir, I understand." Qingniu replied and nodded.

Gu Changsheng then transmitted his voice to Da Huang, urging him to think more about the pattern in his mind.

I reassured Da Hong and will explain the visualization techniques to him in a while.

Although the two of them couldn't communicate, they could basically understand what he was saying.

He waved his hand, "Go back and practice according to the visualization method I taught you."

Big Yellow raised its right paw and placed it on the dog's head, "Woof woof woof..." (Yes, Master, Big Yellow received!)

"Coo coo coo..."

"Moo—"

The three spirit pets turned and left one after another. Big Yellow ran into the bamboo forest, Big Red flew back to the mulberry tree, and Green Ox returned to the cowshed.

Gu Changsheng returned to the living room, picked up his phone from the drawer, sat cross-legged on the cushion, unlocked the phone, and turned off airplane mode.

"Ding, ding, ding........"

Missed calls, text messages, and WeChat messages are displayed in red numbers.

He sent a message to Yang Dashan and Zhang Yuanfu, asking them to come up the mountain.

After sending the message, he opened TikTok to browse the latest trending news.

Gu Changsheng had just joined Douyin when a topic about wild plants suddenly went viral and topped the trending search list.

Below the topic, countless netizens are discussing whether spiritual energy is reviving and whether Earth is about to enter an era of cultivation.

Official media outlets have stepped in to debunk the rumors, offering the same explanation: changes in Earth's magnetic field have caused the resulting magnetic energy to promote plant growth.

Finally, please do not believe or spread rumors, and wait for the official announcement of the latest research results.