Why did you provoke that old man? He's a reincarnation of a deity!

The Taihang Mountains span five provinces, with majestic peaks and overlapping ridges.

The deeper they went, the fewer people they saw, the denser the forest became, and the path under their feet disappeared, leaving only hillsides covered with decaying leaves and tangled vines.

Jiang Wangshu followed behind Xiao Nian, his steps steady, after all, he was the Martial King.

"Fourth brother, you're eighty years old, how come you're not tired at all? Slow down." He took a breath.

"Your legs are faster than mine, that's impossible."

Xiao Nian, leaning on his cane, pushed aside a clump of thorns blocking his path.

"Now I'm an eighty-year-old man, you can't outrun me, you're nothing. Just stick close, or I won't look back if you get lost."

Jiang Wangshu pursed his lips, while his roommate in the back row continued to be sarcastic, but quickened his pace.

Black Cloud followed at the very back, its four hooves treading silently on the fallen leaves, occasionally exhaling a puff of white breath from its nostrils.

It felt comfortable all over, as if it were soaking in warm water. What it didn't know was that Xiao Nian had deliberately chosen a path with a spiritual vein, which was why the spiritual energy was so abundant.

Xiao Nian's steps suddenly slowed down.

He stopped in front of a crooked old pine tree and took a deep breath.

"North," he said, raising his cane and pointing into the depths of the forest. "Go that way."

"How did you know?" Jiang Wangshu leaned closer and saw only dense tree trunks and layers upon layers of tree canopies. There was no path at all. His nemesis classmate always seemed to be looking for this kind of path.

"Spiritual energy." Xiao Nian lifted her foot and continued walking.

"The spiritual energy here overflows from the north, and its concentration is 30% higher than in other directions. You can't feel it, but I know it."

Jiang Wangshu quickly caught up and couldn't help but ask:

"What exactly does spiritual energy look like? I'm still a bit confused about all those cultivation things you mentioned before."

Xiao Nian said as she parted the bushes:

"Let me give you an example. Your current martial arts cultivation level is True Qi Martial King, right?"

"Um."

"When martial arts cultivation reaches the True Qi Realm, a core of True Qi will condense in your dantian. It is the product of highly concentrated Qi and blood throughout your body."

"If you use your mental power to guide that core of true energy, allowing it to simultaneously contain the yang of blood and qi and the yin of mental power, it will form a Tai Chi-like structure, where qi and spirit merge together. That thing is called dan."

"Once the pill is completed, it will be very easy for you to become a cultivator. At that time, your upper limit will be higher than that of a Martial Emperor who has broken through the limit. Once you become a cultivator, you will be a Foundation Establishment cultivator, barely able to hold your own against a Martial Emperor who has transformed into a Qi Transformation Realm."

Jiang Wangshu listened with wide eyes.

He had never seen these theories in any martial arts manual, but when Xiao Nian told him about them, for some reason, he believed them!

"Why are you telling me all this?" he asked.

"Do you want to cultivate immortality?"

Jiang Wangshu paused, stunned for two seconds.

He originally thought he would follow the path of martial arts to the end in this life, tempering his body, opening his meridians, clearing his meridians, cultivating true qi, transforming qi into qi, breaking through limits, climbing step by step.

He never considered that there was another way.

"What?" she asked tentatively.

"If you want to learn, I'll teach you!" Xiao Nian's voice drifted over from the front. "How much you learn depends on your comprehension."

"No, aren't you a Martial Emperor who has broken through limits? How come you know about the supernatural cultivation stuff? I've never seen you say that you've taken Zhang Tianshi as your master."

Xiao Nian didn't know how to explain it. He couldn't very well tell Jiang Wangshu that he had a thousand years of cultivation experience and that he was honest about everything.

"Stop talking nonsense, just say you want to learn."

Jiang Wangshu decisively quickened her pace to catch up.

"Okay! I'll learn."

On the next stretch of mountain road, Jiang Wangshu began his first lesson in cultivating immortality.

As Xiao Nian walked, she spoke, starting with sensing spiritual energy, then moving on to guiding energy into the body, and explaining the principles of the circulation of spiritual power throughout the body.

He explained it very simply, but Jiang Wangshu, with his stubborn mind, sometimes just couldn't grasp it.

"If it weren't for the fact that you're an old friend of mine, I would have thrown you down long ago. Can't you understand the lesson the Celestial Venerable is giving you?"

"You're speaking too fast; I'm trying to remember it all."

"If you can't remember it, don't try to remember it. Just follow your instincts and digest it slowly later," Xiao Nian said, stopping beside a stream.

He turned around and patted Black Cloud's neck. The tall, jet-black horse snorted and obediently lowered its head to nuzzle the back of his hand.

Xiao Nian stroked its glossy mane, her tone softening slightly:

"Black Cloud, I know you're already a level two demon beast. The spiritual energy in the Taihang Mountains is much denser than outside. I brought you here so you could take this opportunity to break through to level three."

"A level three demonic beast is equivalent to a human martial arts master with meridians. Once you reach level three, I can use a secret technique to awaken your intelligence, allowing you to understand human speech and speak. At that time, our communication will no longer rely solely on your nodding or shaking your head."

Hei Yun suddenly raised his head, a glint of light flashing in his bloodshot eyes.

It snorted heavily and then nodded vigorously.

Jiang Wangshu watched from the side and muttered to herself, "Can it understand?"

Xiao Nian patted Hei Yun's neck: "It's much smarter than you."

Jiang Wangshu: "I've tolerated you for a long time, you Limit-Breaking Martial Emperor, I'm determined to defeat you today."

Xiao Nian used her cane to brace Jiang Wangshu's hand. "Are you sure?"

"Hmph, fourth brother, you're just bullying an honest person like me."

The two people and one horse walked upstream along the stream for about half a day. After passing through a crevice in the rocks hidden by vines, Xiao Nian finally stopped.

Behind the crevice in the rock is a natural cave entrance that slopes downwards, with dense moss hanging on the cave walls and water droplets constantly seeping out.

A cool breeze swept over me, a coolness that made my pores open up.

"We're here," Xiao Nian said. "The Spirit Eye is not far ahead."

Xiao Nian took the lead and went into the cave.

Jiang Wangshu followed behind. The cave entrance was narrow, and they could only pass through sideways. After walking about a dozen steps, the cave suddenly opened up.

Underground caves.

A massive dome hangs overhead, with stalagmites of varying lengths hanging down from it, refracting a dazzling light under the faint sunlight filtering through the cracks in the cave entrance.

What's most captivating is the pool of water at the bottom of the cave.

The pool water was crystal clear, but the bottom was covered with colorful minerals, the colors of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple glowing faintly in the dim light.

Jiang Wangshu stood at the cave entrance, her pores instantly opening up: "How comfortable it is here."

"The first spiritual eye of the spiritual vein." Xiao Nian reached out and tested the temperature of the pool's surface. "Underground in the Taihang Mountains, there is a large spiritual vein with three nodes from which spiritual energy overflows. This is the first one."

He looked up and scanned the four walls of the cave: "The concentration of spiritual energy here is dozens of times higher than outside. If you cultivate here, your progress will be at least five times faster than outside."

Jiang Wangshu also walked to the edge of the pool, squatted down, and gently touched the surface of the water.

As the water rippled, the colorful light shimmered and danced, like shattered paint on the lakebed.

"So beautiful."

Xiao Nian gazed quietly at the pool of water, a faint glimmer of light flickering in his old eyes.

This amount of spiritual energy is not even considered inferior among the countless stars in the universe, but on Blue Star, where spiritual energy is depleted, it is already a rare treasure.

"Right here." He stood up and brushed the dirt off his knees. "We'll cultivate diligently these next few days. You should hurry up and take that first step in sensing spiritual energy."

After he finished speaking, he walked with his cane to a flat stone by the pool, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to circulate the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Refining Immortal Technique.

Jiang Wangshu looked at him, took a deep breath, and couldn't help but sigh: If he is not a Martial Emperor who has broken through the limits, who else could he be at such a high level of cultivation?