Chronicles of the Green Vine: A Mortal’s Path to Immortality

This shop, called Guangyuan Zhai, was rather secluded, located on a street corner. Zhang Ling chose this bookstore to avoid attracting the attention of those who might be interested in him.

Stepping inside, the interior was dimly lit, but many bookshelves were filled with books. It looked a bit old, but he didn't mind, as long as the information inside was comprehensive.

At this moment, there wasn't a single customer in the shop.

"Hehe, big brother must be here to buy cultivation techniques."

Suddenly, a clear and melodious voice came from behind a bookshelf. Turning his head, he saw a girl of about twelve or thirteen years old walking out from behind the shelf.

The girl was dressed in a red and emerald green dress, her hair tied into two small buns, holding a glowing stone in her hand, and giving him a sweet smile.

"No, do you have books that record common knowledge of the cultivation world here?"

"Hehe, big brother is a rogue cultivator, right? The first row is full of books recording common knowledge for cultivators." The girl's round eyes sized Zhang Ling up and down as she giggled.

Looking at the girl, Zhang Ling couldn't help but touch his nose, feeling a little embarrassed. He didn't expect that as soon as he entered, he would be seen through by a little girl.

"These are all books on common knowledge of the cultivation world. Big brother can look at them as much as you like. It's only two spirit stones a day."

"Ahem, Yan'er, what nonsense are you talking about again?" An old man in a gray robe appeared behind the girl at some point.

The old man tapped the girl's head and then looked at Zhang Ling.

"Grandpa."

"Haha, fellow Daoist, don't listen to my granddaughter's nonsense. You can look at these books as much as you like. The fee is one spirit stone per day, and there is a free supply of spiritual tea." The old man stroked the girl's head and said to Zhang Ling with a smile.

"You little girl, if you didn't raise the price randomly, my bookstore wouldn't be so deserted."

"Hmph, Grandpa, I work hard to attract customers every day. It's clearly because the location you chose has bad feng shui, and you're blaming Yan'er."

The old and the young were bickering in front of Zhang Ling without any reservations, leaving Zhang Ling at a loss for what to do.

However, he had already noticed that both of them were cultivators. The old man's strength had at least reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, and the girl also had a cultivation base of the third level.

"Haha, fellow Daoist, you're laughing at us. Please come inside quickly."

Then the old man introduced him to the books, and before long, Zhang Ling had a general understanding of them.

They included mountains and rivers, cultivation anecdotes, biographies of cultivators, ancient legends, and of course, the basic information about the cultivation world that he needed.

Zhang Ling sat at a desk near the window, holding a copy of the 'Qiyun Fengwu Zhi' and began to read it.

This was a travelogue by a cultivator named Qiyunzi. This person was a cultivator from more than three thousand years ago. His strength had reached the Golden Core stage. This book recorded his life and experiences.

After cultivating the cultivation technique, Zhang Ling's spirit improved day by day, and his memory also greatly increased. He could remember anything he had read once or twice.

He finished reading the travelogue in half an hour, and then he picked up a yellow book and began to read it.

"Big brother, there's no use in reading these. Many of these books are legends. No one knows if they are true or false."

The girl came to Zhang Ling's side at some point, glanced at the book in his hand, and said with a pout, "I know what big brother is looking for."

"You know?"

"You wait, Yan'er will go get it for you."

Before long, the girl brought three or four thick books and placed them in front of him.

'Cultivation Hundred News', 'Hundred Refinements Heavenly Fate Record', 'Cultivation Compendium'. The books the girl brought were all very old.

"Big brother, you should read this 'Hundred News' first. It records the knowledge for those who are just entering the cultivation world. Then read the 'Hundred Refinements Heavenly Fate Record'. This one records common cultivation problems, and then read this one."

The girl explained to him eloquently, as if she knew everything like the back of her hand. Her clever appearance made Zhang Ling find it a bit funny.

Zhang Ling also nodded and took the books to read. The first page of 'Cultivation Hundred News' introduced what a cultivator is.

According to records, in ancient times, humans lived on this continent. There were countless demons and monsters. It wasn't until cultivators appeared and drove out the demons that humans were able to exist. It was the cultivators who taught the world and spread civilization that allowed the human race to exist.

Those powerful cultivators who created the cultivation civilization have long disappeared and become legends, but they created the path of cultivation and are revered as immortals by later generations.

Legend has it that immortals are immortal and have endless lifespans, as long as heaven and earth. This is the ultimate goal pursued by countless cultivators: longevity.

Although cultivators control the power of heaven and earth and are revered as immortal masters by mortals, they are not immortals. They are just people who have embarked on the path of cultivation.

However, after cultivators reach a certain level of cultivation, they will ascend to other realms to continue their cultivation. The recognized realms of cultivators are divided into lower realms, middle realms, and upper realms.

It is difficult to reach the peak even in the lower realms alone. The lower realms include the Qi Refining realm, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Transformation God stage. It is said that after cultivating to the Transformation God stage, one will ascend to the upper realm.

This is because the spiritual energy of this realm is insufficient and can only support cultivators to cultivate to the Transformation God stage. But according to records, no one has ascended for tens of thousands of years. Transformation God cultivators have also become legends.

Once one embarks on the path of cultivation, no one will easily give up cultivation. One of the biggest reasons is the issue of lifespan.

Few ordinary mortals can live to be a hundred years old, but Qi Refining cultivators can achieve freedom from all diseases and easily live to be a hundred years old. Foundation Establishment cultivators can live to be over two hundred years old. If one is lucky enough to enter the Golden Core stage, then one can live to be five or six hundred years old.

If one has a deep enough opportunity and reaches the Nascent Soul stage, one's lifespan will break through the thousand-year mark. It is not difficult to become a thousand-year-old monster.

These common knowledge of the cultivation world immediately attracted Zhang Ling's attention, and he read it with great interest.

A thousand years of lifespan. One must know that there are not many dynasties in the world that can exceed three hundred years. A Nascent Soul cultivator can live for a thousand years, and the realms after that are unimaginable.

And cultivators who have cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage have terrifying strength. Such cultivators are completely like terrestrial gods. As for the realms after the Transformation God stage, there is no record in the books. It is unknown whether it has not been passed down or has been hidden.

At the same time, Zhang Ling also noticed the issue of cultivator aptitude recorded in these books: "spiritual roots." These two words are very important to any cultivator.

Spiritual roots are the foundation for cultivators to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It is a special medium. Without spiritual roots, one cannot sense spiritual energy, and one cannot draw Qi into the body, so one does not have the aptitude for cultivation.

What exactly spiritual roots are has been studied by countless cultivators since ancient times, and there is no definite answer.

It is only known that spiritual roots are fixed at birth, and a person's spiritual root aptitude basically cannot be changed after birth. There are too few people with spiritual roots among mortals. It can be said that it is one in ten thousand.

Even so, only a small portion of those with spiritual roots can embark on the path of cultivation. The vast majority of people simply live out their lives like mortals.

Generally speaking, spiritual roots are presented as the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Most people's spiritual roots are of the five elements.

The spiritual roots with all five elements have the worst cultivation effect, basically only hovering in the Qi Refining stage. The spiritual roots with four attributes are slightly better, but it is also difficult to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, and there is no value in nurturing them.

Only those with two or three spiritual roots cultivate relatively quickly. These people are also the main personnel recruited by cultivation sects and families.

And that kind of single spiritual root with only one attribute is called a heavenly spiritual root.

People with this kind of spiritual root, no matter what attribute spiritual root it is, cultivate extremely quickly. It is said that there is no Golden Core bottleneck, and it is easy to condense a Golden Core.

Cultivators with heavenly spiritual root aptitude often attract the competition of some cultivation sects. After all, this is equivalent to reserving a Golden Core powerhouse for the sect, which can greatly increase the sect's strength.

However, the probability of heavenly spiritual roots appearing is extremely low. One can only be seen every few hundred years.

In addition to heavenly spiritual roots, there is also a type of mutated spiritual root that is also a dragon among humans. This kind of spiritual root is often a mixture and mutation of multiple attribute spiritual roots.

Common ones include ice attribute aptitude, wind attribute, and thunder spiritual root. There are also rare dark spiritual roots, hidden spiritual roots, etc.

Although different attribute spiritual roots are not as good as heavenly spiritual roots, with the corresponding cultivation techniques, the strength they exert is often equivalent to two or three cultivators of the same rank. Therefore, this kind of spiritual root aptitude is also very popular among cultivators and will be vigorously cultivated by the sect.

"Spiritual root" has always been a question for Zhang Ling. Although he has cultivated earth attribute techniques, he still does not know what his spiritual root aptitude is.

However, this does not hinder his current cultivation. Spiritual roots can only be tested when there is an opportunity.

Zhang Ling stayed in Guangyuan Zhai for a whole day, reading many books related to cultivation.

From this, he had a clear goal for his cultivation. Not to mention anything else, just the lifespan of cultivators is something to yearn for.

Immortality and the pursuit of the Great Dao seem to be the goal of every cultivator.