Zhang Jianguo looked at the palms of his hands.
"I'm getting older," he sighed.
Nascent soul cultivators live up to 1000 years but still age and eventually die.
Zhang Jianguo is already 900 years old and has only about 100 years left.
His body, which remained young for centuries, has been aging lately.
He could only sigh.
Even after nearly a millennium, he has only reached the mid-nascent soul stage, with no chance of reaching the divine spirit realm.
He could buy a life extension pill if he spent all his wealth. However, even the best life extension pill, the Heavenly Favor Pill, would only increase his lifespan by 50 years.
He would not spend all his belongings on that pill; he prefers leaving an inheritance for his son, Zhang Zhong.
Zhang Zhong is not his only child; he had many children, wives, and concubines throughout his years.
As the years passed, his wives and concubines died out of old age; as for his children, most of them married, leaving behind grandchildren for him, and eventually died.
Only Zhang Zhong had good cultivation talent among his children and has survived until today.
Now, Zhang Zhong is a core formation cultivator and is 300 years old.
"With my inheritance, Zhong'er can reach the nascent soul stage," he thought.
The lifespan of a core formation cultivator is 400 years, and Zhang Zhong's cultivation base is already at the peak of core formation; he is only waiting for the opportunity to take the last step.
The last step is challenging, and many have died from this step in the past.
The lack of a nascent soul pill is the main reason for many failures.
When Zhang Jianguo broke through to the nascent soul stage, he did it without a pill; he still remembers the horror.
The heavenly tribulation was extremely terrifying; It was just a hair away from destroying his soul and body together.
The nascent soul pill can protect the body and soul, so even in the event of a failure, the cultivator would survive, and after some recovery, they could have another chance.
The pill is extremely expensive; even most nascent souls lack enough capital to buy it.
However, if Zhang Jianguo, an old, mid-stage nascent soul, spent all his belongings on it, he could muster enough money to purchase it.
"If Zhong'er reaches the nascent soul, then I can die in peace," he smiled as he thought of his son.
Just then, a headache came.
"What?" he immediately mobilized his spiritual sense but found nothing.
It was getting more and more intense!
"What is going on?" Just as he felt terrified, he lost consciousness.
...
"What's going on?" he opened his eyes with trouble.
"Huh?" Zhang Jianguo looked at the deep blue screen in front of his eyes, suspended in the air.
"
Lu Sheng – –
Martial Arts: Fire Heaven Cultivation Technique 18th layer (red)+, Bow and Arrow Emperor Technique 20th layer (red)+, Tiger Feet Technique 13th layer (red)+, Heavenly Punch Technique 15th layer (red)+, Seven Elements Art Technique 15th layer (red)+, Explosive Arts Technique 16th layer (red)+, Pill Refining 10th layer (red)+, Horse Riding 7th layer (red)+, Sword Riding 17th layer (red)+, Alchemy 11th layer (red)+, Formation Making 17th layer (red)+, Talisman Making 8th layer (red)+, Puppet Making 9th layer (red)+, Forging 9th layer (red)+, Sword Mastery 17th layer (red)+, Spear Mastery 14th layer (red)+, Mace Mastery 13th layer (red)+, Bow Mastery 21st layer (red)+, etc.
"
"Who is Lu Sheng?" he frowned.
"Am I hallucinating?" he stood up quickly.
A nascent soul cultivator hallucinating is no simple matter.
But even after casting all kinds of protective and investigative spells, the screen didn't go away, nor did he discover anything about the screen.
"What is this?"
He wanted to take out his sword to slash at it, but as he touched the hilt of it, he felt a cold energy rushing.
Its volume was a lot, and it was mysterious.
He instinctively guessed this energy was not harmful, so he didn't resist it.
After a few seconds, the energy flow disappeared as if it never existed.
He took out his sword and looked at it with astonishment.
"What happened to my Shining Blade?"
He looked at it with disbelief.
His sword, named Shining Blade, was an 18th-level magical treasure; even nascent soul cultivators would be tempted by it.
But the sword he holds now is far from the original Shining Blade.
It looks the same, but it's as if it has lost everything that made it powerful.
He looked at the screen.
The many '+' signs, all red before, became green.
He focused on the Fire Heaven Cultivation Technique 18th layer and looked at the green '+' sign beside it.
The screen became blurred.
"What happened?" he is a bit afraid.
This deep blue screen is a mystery that a nascent soul couldn't see through; it can only be that a hostile divine spirit cultivator is messing with the affairs of his Purple Mountain Sect.
He decided to leave and inform the Great Elder immediately.
But, as he was about to fly on one of his other swords, the screen returned to normal, and at the same time, Zhang Jianguo felt a terrifying qi within his body!
"Nascent stage late stage!?"
His mind went blank.
He had been trying and failing to reach the Nacant soul late stage for years.
But just now, he reached it with ridiculous ease.
He sat down and cultivated for a while longer to consolidate his realm, then opened his eyes and stared at the panel, this time, with excitement.
"I don't know what it is, but this thing is absolutely a peerless treasure! It is the reason I managed to break through!"
He took out all of his belongings and touched them one by one.
Once in a while, he received a massive amount of cold energy.
Some older weapons he kept since childhood had more, and his newer weapons gave less.
"Is this about mental energy?" He realized the energy he could get was not dependent on the weapon's power; instead, it was more about how long he had it.
In any case, after an hour, he touched all he had in his spiritual ring.
Spiritual stones, pills, and, in general, anything common had no cold energy.
Zhang Jianguo looked at the screen; the many green '+' signs pleased him.
The most important is the Fire Heaven Cultivation Technique; it was the earth-level cultivation skill given to him by the Purple Mountain Sect when he reached the nascent soul stage.
He focused his attention on it and unconsciously triggered '+.'
The screen went blurry.
Zhang Jianguo watched worriedly; after a few seconds, the screen cleared again, and at the same time, the quantity of qi in his body exploded and became more than three times stronger than before.
"Nascent soul peak!"
He felt unreal! In one night, he went from nascent soul middle stage to peak!
Who would believe that?
It would have taken centuries if he had wanted to cultivate it naturally!
He looked at the screen, and his eyes went wide.
"
Lu Sheng – –
Martial Arts: Fire Heaven Cultivation Technique 20th layer (green)+, etc.
"
"The plus sign is green!" He swallowed deeply and, without thinking much, concentrated on the '+' sign.
Becoming a divine spirit cultivator was always a dream; now, the opportunity is right before him, so how could he hesitate?
The screen blurred again, and after one minute, it became clear again.
"
Lu Sheng – –
Martial Arts: Fire Heaven Cultivation Technique 21th layer (red)+, Bow and Arrow Emperor Technique 20th layer (red)+, Tiger Feet Technique 13th layer (green)+, Heavenly Punch Technique 15th layer (green)+, Seven Elements Art Technique 15th layer (green)+, Explosive Arts Technique 16th layer (green)+, Pill Refining 10th layer (green)+, Horse Riding 7th layer (green)+, Sword Riding 17th layer (green)+, Alchemy 11th layer (green)+, Formation Making 17th layer (green)+, Talisman Making 8th layer (green)+, Puppet Making 9th layer (green)+, Forging 9th layer (green)+, Sword Mastery 17th layer (green)+, Spear Mastery 14th layer (green)+, Mace Mastery 13th layer (green)+, Bow Mastery 21st layer (red)+, etc.
"
Astonishing Qi, far stronger than the qi of a nascent soul cultivator, spread within his body and completely transformed his essence.
The process was not painful; on the contrary, it was the most enjoyable experience one could imagine.
His body underwent a fantastic change, and his whole demeanor changed.
His aging face became younger again, all wrinkles disappeared, and his expression, skin, bone, hair, etc, improved far beyond how they were.
Zhang Jianguo opened his eyes after consolidating his cultivation and thought doubtfully, "What about the tribulation?"
He looked at the sky and wondered.
Terrifying heavenly tribulation would appear when one breaks through to the Divine Spirit realm.
Just now, if the tribulation had come, the sect Great Elder would have had no choice but to come here personally and help defend against the tribulation because if he didn't, the whole sect might have been severely damaged.
But, contrary to Zhang Jianguo's expectation, the whole process went so smoothly that nobody noticed anything.
He looked at his youthful hands and wondered.
"Am I really a divine spirit cultivator?"
It felt like a dream.
He slapped himself and cut his hand with a knife, but he didn't wake up. It is reality.
"HAHAHAHA," he laughed uncontrollably.
He had been thinking of leaving an inheritance because he could not advance.
As long as he can advance, who cares about Zhang Zhong? In any case, as long as the father breaks through, the son also benefits.
Finding a nascent soul pill would not be difficult with the power of a divine soul cultivator.
In this world, there are six cultivation realms: Qi gathering, foundation establishment, core formation, nascent soul, divine spirit, and void.
After one reaches the void, they must ascend to the Earth immortal world.
But that is only in theory.
Nobody in the last 10,000 years has ever reached the void cultivation base, let alone ascending to the Earth immortal world. Now, with this deep blue screen, he might be the first person who ascends in 0,000 years!
He stood up and started walking.
He had been in a close cultivation room.
Close cultivation rooms are isolated, so nobody probably detected anything of what happened inside.
As he opened the door, an inner disciple responsible for collecting payment ran to him and bowed, "Elder Zhang!"
Zhang Jianguo smiled and took out a high-quality spiritual stone and gave it.
"Elder Zhang, elders of the sect do not need to pay," he said hurriedly.
"It's for you! Take it," Zhang Jianguo smiled.
"Elder Zhang, this is too much!" he bowed respectfully.
"It is an order, take it, and use it to improve your cultivation!" Zhang Jianguo said.
The inner disciple responsible, Tao Zian, bowed and took it with a shaking hand.
This high-grade spiritual stone is more valuable than 10 years of his allowance.
"Take care!" Zhang Jianguo said and left.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" his laugh was coming from far away.
Tao Zian frowned and thought, "It seems the elder has had success in cultivation."
Then he smiled and looked at the high-grade spiritual stone.
With this, he could reach core formation!
He put it in his space ring; it was a gift from the elder, so nobody within the sect would dare steal it.
Tao Zian isn't planning to keep it a secret.
He should shout it all around, make sure everyone heard that he, Tao Zian, received a gift from elder Zhang!
Nobody would ever dare to provoke him with that kind of background!
He waited patiently for his shift to finish while thinking about the bright future!
...
After walking for a while, Zhang Jianguo reached his mountain peak.
Each elder would get one mountain peak exclusively for themselves.
His mountain peak is called Master Formation Peak.
Disciples interested in formations would come here to study and contribute to the sect.
He took out his token.
The formation recognized it and teleported him directly to the main room. Looking around, he sighed and sat down. This place is home for him, so he relaxed a bit.
"Now, I have to collect items! Old items that people cared about a lot," he thought.
He already knew a lot about how the deep blue interface works.
Anything that was old and he cared about a lot had lots of energy, while things he didn't care about were worthless with no energy.
He thought, "Maybe mortal antique shops?"
He called one of his direct disciples, Shao Huiling.
After a while, a knock came, and with his permission, Shao Huiling entered. She was a girl looking around 18, looking like an average Asian girl.
She wasn't one of those jade beauties, but her talent in formation was extremely amazing.
Zhang Jianguo believed she could surpass him in less than 500 years.
He calculated according to the deep blue interface.
She is just over 100 years old, but her formation level is already at the 14th layer, better than when he was 100.
She bowed deeply and said, "Yes, master?"
Zhang Jianguo took a few high-grade spiritual stones and started talking, "Go and buy all antique items from mortal cities around the sect. It doesn't matter if they look ugly or damaged; just buy them and bring them to me."
She came forward, taking the spiritual stones, and said, "I will do it immediately," then she respectfully left.
As for asking for the reason, as a disciple, her job was obeying, not asking.
Zhao Jianguo nodded.
He likes this disciple of his.
She is the type of person who is right to the point, without all the nonsense pleasantries that only waste time.
With it done, he started looking at his room, thinking of items with cold energy and his divine soul cultivation.