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Chapter 20: Spiritual Roots' Transformation, Ascension to the Nascent Soul Realm
🕑 Added 2024-12-08 08:53:56 +0000 UTCThe night sky was still, with the occasional cry of birds piercing the silence. The mountain forest lay in quiet darkness.
Gu An sat in meditation within the Lifespan Barrier, enjoying the moonlight.
Tonight's moon was beautiful, reflecting his current mood perfectly.
His cultivation had already reached the fourth layer of the Core Formation Realm, and the end was in sight.
He planned to keep pushing until he broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm. After that, he would invest in a supreme technique, as the Gale Phantom Kick
was no longer sufficient for him.
What kind of Nascent Soul Realm grand cultivator would rely on legs?
It had to be the sword!
Gu An decided to favor the Li Family Seven Swords. Once he reached Nascent Soul cultivation, he needed offensive techniques to match.
Yes, he would assume that Cheng Xuandan's master was a Nascent Soul grand cultivator!
Gu An always preferred to overestimate his enemies—this way, the chances of defeat would be minimized.
After the cultivators who had been battling earlier left without returning, Gu An relaxed completely.
He was now a Core Formation cultivator, giving him considerable authority in the Outer Sect's territory. Even if someone were to stumble upon him, they wouldn’t stand a chance against his kick!
With another surge in cultivation, Gu An reached the fifth layer of the Core Formation Realm, and his spiritual awareness grew stronger.
The Core Formation Realm was a world apart from the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The difference in spiritual power and divine sense was immense. Now, Gu An's divine sense could be concentrated into a powerful force, capable of striking with immense impact.
Reaching the Core Formation Realm made him feel like a true cultivator.
If the Core Formation Realm was this powerful, how strong would the Nascent Soul Realm be?
Gu An was eager to keep using his lifespan to advance.
He held off for now, waiting until his cultivation reached the sixth layer of the Core Formation Realm before checking his status panel again.
His eyes were drawn to his spiritual roots.
He had previously tried to enhance his spiritual roots, but it had been a waste, leaving a psychological scar. He feared it was a bottomless pit, so he shifted his focus elsewhere. After all, deducing techniques also improved spiritual root aptitude.
Now that he was strong and had plenty of lifespan to spare, it was time to try again.
After waiting for his cultivation to settle, Gu An invested 2,000 years of lifespan directly into his spiritual roots.
[You invested 2,000 years of lifespan into your spiritual roots for cultivation.]
[You comprehended the natural world for 100 years, and your Five Element Spiritual Roots' perception has improved.]
[You comprehended the natural world for 200 years, and your Five Element Spiritual Roots' perception has improved.]
...
[You comprehended the natural world for 1,000 years, capturing a thread of heaven and earth's true essence. Your Five Element Spiritual Roots underwent a heavenly baptism, transforming into Second-Class Mortal Roots, with Wood Spiritual Root being the most prominent.]
[You comprehended the natural world for 1,200 years, and your Five Element Spiritual Roots' perception has improved.]
...
[You comprehended the natural world for 2,000 years, capturing a second thread of heaven and earth's true essence while sensing the earth's veins. Your Five Element Spiritual Roots underwent a heavenly baptism, transforming into First-Class Mortal Roots, with Wood and Earth Spiritual Roots being the most prominent.]
One after another, the notifications appeared before Gu An.
When he saw the earlier messages about the Five Element Spiritual Roots, his heart began to ache.
He had underestimated it!
This really was a bottomless pit!
But when he saw that all his Five Element Spiritual Roots had reached First-Class status, his mood improved slightly. However, the pain lingered—especially since his Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique had already pushed his Wood Spiritual Root to First-Class.
But he couldn’t think like that!
Instead, he reasoned that it had taken him 1,000 years of comprehension with the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique to enhance just one spiritual root to First-Class. To push all five to First-Class might have taken 5,000 years.
So why not cultivate techniques for the other four attributes?
You have to experiment to find the perfect path.
As Gu An reflected on his decisions, the earth’s spiritual energy surged again. This time, instead of improving his cultivation, it was refining his muscles and bones.
Pain!
Gu An felt a level of pain he had never experienced before. He gritted his teeth and bore it.
To distract himself, he focused on his status panel.
It was clear that improving his spiritual root aptitude was the hardest task. It made sense—enhancing spiritual roots was akin to breaking through one's lifespan limit, while cultivation was akin to increasing current lifespan. Breaking through one's natural limits was the hardest challenge.
No matter how hard you worked, surpassing what was ordained by heaven was far more difficult.
This was also why Tai Xuan Sect valued geniuses so highly. Dual Spiritual Root cultivators like Ji Xiaoyu were far more important to the sect than even a Core Formation cultivator.
For ordinary people, the fewer spiritual roots, the higher the aptitude. If someone’s total aptitude was capped at 100, dual roots would receive 50 each, but if they had five roots, each would only receive 20. Being well-rounded often meant mediocrity.
But Gu An was different now. By improving his spiritual root aptitude, it was as if he had raised the cap on his total aptitude.
It was unfortunate that he couldn’t invest lifespan directly into specific spiritual roots. The other roots didn’t help much with the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, so although his cultivation speed had improved, the change wasn’t dramatic.
One thing he did notice, though, was the prefix “Mortal” on his First-Class aptitude.
Could there be “Holy” or “Spirit” roots?
Gu An’s thoughts wandered, and at the same time, the consumption rate of the Lifespan Barrier began to slow. From the beginning of his breakthrough until now, it had consumed 134 years of his lifespan.
As his spiritual roots continued to improve, Gu An became more sensitive to various attributes of spiritual energy, altering his perception of the world around him.
The pain was gradually replaced by a sense of wonder!
Finally, Gu An’s body stopped absorbing spiritual energy, and his status panel reflected his new First-Class Five Element Spiritual Roots. Without standing up, he immediately invested another 2,000 years of lifespan into his cultivation.
The fear of failing tribulation lingered in his mind, so he decided to go all out. If he only invested 1,000 years and got stuck at the ninth layer of the Core Formation Realm, he would probably cough up blood.
It was a real possibility!
After failing tribulation, it took about fifty years to recover before he could attempt again. In reality, failing a tribulation would result in serious injury or even death, and recovery time was necessary.
Moreover, the Nascent Soul tribulation would surely be even more difficult, likely leading to more failures!
Here we go!
[You cultivated for 100 years and reached the seventh layer of the Core Formation Realm.]
[You cultivated for 200 years and reached the eighth layer of the Core Formation Realm.]
[You cultivated for 300 years and reached the ninth layer of the Core Formation Realm.]
[You cultivated for 400 years, using the great mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique to forcefully challenge the Nascent Soul Realm. You began the tribulation but failed to survive the Three Mystical Heavenly Tribulations.]
...
[You cultivated for 1,500 years, using the great mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique to forcefully challenge the Nascent Soul Realm. You began the tribulation but failed to survive the Three Mystical Heavenly Tribulations.]
[You cultivated for 1,600 years, using the great mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique to forcefully challenge the Nascent Soul Realm. You finally survived the Three Mystical Heavenly Tribulations, successfully breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm.]
[You cultivated for 1,800 years and reached the second layer of the Nascent Soul Realm.]
[You cultivated for 2,000 years and reached the third layer of the Nascent Soul Realm.]
Damn it!
He had failed twelve times!
By the sixth failure, Gu An’s heart had sunk, and by the tenth, he was seeing stars.
Thankfully, he eventually succeeded in reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.
Was the Nascent Soul Realm really that hard to break through?
Gu An despaired as he realized why lifespan consumption for evolution-based cultivation was higher than actual consumption.
Evolution-based cultivation was like bare-bones training. Normally, you would take pills and use formations to gather spiritual energy—both of which could assist with tribulation, not to mention the magical effects of rare treasures.
Once again, spiritual energy from the heavens and earth surged toward him, and the consumption rate of his Lifespan Barrier increased.
Gu An settled his heart and began to enjoy the improvement of his cultivation.
…
As the first rays of sunlight illuminated the world, Medicine Valley slowly brightened. Standing atop a mountain, Gu An overlooked the autumn-colored forest. His robes fluttered in the wind, and the sunlight bathed him, making him appear as if he were about to ascend to immortality.
He had formed his Nascent Soul, becoming a true Nascent Soul cultivator!
To reward himself, Gu An decided to increase his outward cultivation by one level, bringing it to the fourth layer of the Qi Refinement Realm. From now on, he would raise it one level per year, stopping at the ninth layer, so he wouldn’t be summoned away.
Unable to resist, he opened his status panel again.
[Name: Gu An]
[Lifespan: 22/4502]
[Spiritual Roots: First-Class Five Element Spiritual Roots (Wood and Earth prominent) (Can invest lifespan for evolution-based cultivation)]
[Cultivation: Nascent Soul Realm, third layer (Can invest lifespan for evolution-based cultivation)]
[Techniques: Fire Control Technique (Unmastered), Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique (Mastered), Dragon Force Divine Essence Art (Mastered), Alchemy (Beginner) (Can invest lifespan for evolution-based cultivation)]
[Skills: Gale Phantom Kick
(Mastered), Li Family Seven Swords (Unmastered), Eight Directions Step (Unmastered) (Can invest lifespan for evolution-based cultivation)]
Gu An planned to invest in the Li Family Seven Swords next, and then he would continue storing lifespan, aiming to save up to 100,000 years before using it.
For now, though, he would take a few days to rest and calm his excitement.
With his Nascent Soul cultivation, he could easily go to Tai Xuan Sect to obtain a respectable position with great benefits. But the thought of the sect sending him out to slay demons, fight against the demonic sects, or worse, dealing with inner conflicts quickly snuffed out that idea.
Sticking to his original goal was the key to success!
No matter who came to persuade him otherwise, he would remain entrenched in Medicine Valley!
Occasionally, he might search for some rare treasures, but he would never shift his focus away from Medicine Valley.
A higher position might bring faster gains in lifespan, but the risks would also increase. After all, without enemies, why rush?
Gu An turned and began his descent down the mountain.
Though he could now fly with his Nascent Soul cultivation, he chose to walk down instead.
By the time he returned to Medicine Valley, Xiao Chuan and the others had already emerged from their rooms.
"Senior Brother, you were up on the mountain so early?" Ye Lan greeted Gu An, feeling that he looked even more handsome today, though she couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination.
Gu An smiled. "Just checking on the seedlings. Today, you’ll lead the training session."
Ye Lan nodded in agreement, but before she could ask more, Gu An had already headed toward the pavilion.
Not far away, Wu Xin watched Gu An’s figure, thinking to himself, "There’s definitely something mysterious in the mountains! I’ll find it eventually!"
Gu An ascended the stairs and pushed open the door. As soon as he entered, he saw the White Spirit Rat lying on the table, bloated like a balloon. The Cangteng Fruit was gone.
It was still alive, at least!
Gu An quickly used his lifespan detection on the White Spirit Mouse.
[White Spirit Mouse (First-Stage): 12/120/180]
Hmm?
Its lifespan had increased by 70 years. Initially, the White Spirit Mouse only had 50 years of lifespan.
The Ancient Vine Fruit’s effects were that strong?
Gu An immediately walked over to the wooden cabinet, took out another Ancient Vine Fruit, and began to nibble on it himself.
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