Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

Following Chen Zhaohu's directions, the five of them soon arrived at their destination.

A fence about half a person's height surrounded a black, ink-like boulder about ten feet tall.

A person was dozing off outside the fence.

As Li Ji'an and the others approached, the person immediately opened their eyes, but after glancing at the five of them, closed them again.

After all, their target customers were mainly children, at most around fifteen years old, and the five in front of them were clearly past that age.

"Excuse me!"

Li Ji'an's words surprised the person.

"Testing spiritual roots?"

Li Ji'an nodded.

"Ten taels of spirit sand per person."

Li Ji'an weighed out fifty taels of spirit sand and handed it over.

"You're all testing?" The person was even more surprised.

Then they suddenly understood.

The five in front of them were probably from some settlement far from the Immortal Market.

Without another word, they took the spirit sand and opened the fence for them.

"Just press your hand here, and the spirit root testing stone will sense the spiritual root sensitivity in your body. One imprint lighting up is one wisp of spiritual essence."

"Thank you!"

Li Ji'an didn't hesitate and stepped forward to press his hand on it.

He knew the others were nervous and uneasy, so he would go up first to set an example and slightly lower their expectations, making it easier for them to accept the results later.

Buzz~

As his palm pressed against it, he immediately felt a chill from the black stone.

The next moment, bright imprints began to appear where his palm was pressed.

First to light up was a golden imprint shaped like a small sword, with only one wisp.

After that, a small tree imprint appeared, also with only one wisp.

Water ripple imprints, flame imprints, small mountain imprints... appeared one by one.

Except for the flame imprint, which had two wisps, the others all had one wisp.

Li Ji'an calmly accepted this.

It was as expected.

The four behind him had heavy expressions.

First and foremost was Zhao Shuyao, because she was the same age as Li Ji'an and had lived in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty the longest. According to Chen Zhaohu, her spiritual roots had been delayed the longest.

If Li Ji'an was like this, how could she be any better?

"I'll go!" Seeing the other three hesitating, Zhu Linxian took a deep breath and stepped forward.

She and Zhang Tiezhu were the youngest, becoming immortal seedlings at seventeen, and now just eighteen, making them the most hopeful.

"Eight wisps! Linxian's highest sensitivity is actually eight wisps!"

As the spiritual essence above Zhu Linxian's palm appeared, Zhang Tiezhu was overjoyed.

The spiritual essence sensitivity for the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were two, two, eight, four, and one respectively.

"Good!" Dong Jiangling and Zhao Shuyao also clenched their fists and exclaimed.

Li Ji'an raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised. According to Chen Zhaohu, staying in a spirit-depleted land would not only prevent the growth of innate spiritual roots but also gradually deplete them.

If that was the case, what level would Zhu Linxian's spiritual root talent be if she hadn't been born in a spirit-depleted land?

It should be more than just middle-grade.

Upper-grade spiritual root?

Was a Golden Core seed being wasted like this?

Li Ji'an immediately felt a sense of 'an orange born in Huainan becomes a trifoliate orange when transplanted to Huaibei'.

Hearing the cheers, the person outside the fence looked over.

"..."

"What's there to cheer about for low-grade spiritual roots?"

"Heh~ Maybe they're celebrating reaching the minimum requirement for the Wu family to recruit a son-in-law."

After calming down, Zhang Tiezhu and the others also realized.

Yeah, it was just the lowest grade of spiritual roots, what was there to cheer about?

Compared to their original reputation as one-in-ten-thousand geniuses in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty, this was indeed a bit of a blow.

However, this also gave them hope.

At least it wasn't a complete end to their hopes of cultivating immortality, as Chen Zhaohu had said.

Afterward, the three of them went up to test one by one.

As expected, they were all low-grade spiritual roots.

Zhang Tiezhu's highest was the earth spiritual root, sensing six wisps of spiritual essence.

Dong Jiangling's highest was four wisps of spiritual essence, the metal element.

Zhao Shuyao's highest was three wisps of spiritual essence, the wood element.

Based on the spiritual root test results of several people, Li Ji'an basically had a good idea, which largely confirmed what Chen Zhaohu had said: the longer they lived in the spirit-depleted land, the worse their spiritual roots became.

"Big Brother Li, we all have spiritual roots, we can all cultivate immortality!" Zhang Tiezhu was quite excited.

"That's right! Anything is possible," Li Ji'an encouraged.

Before long, the five of them returned to Chen Zhaohu's courtyard.

After learning about the five people's test results, Chen Zhaohu also glanced at Zhu Linxian in surprise.

But in the end, he shook his head regretfully.

"What? Linxian's spiritual roots are already close to middle-grade spiritual roots, is that still not good enough?" Seeing his reaction, Dong Jiangling was a little anxious.

"That's right, a talent close to middle-grade spiritual roots can barely be considered middle-grade in our Fallen Dragon Ridge wilderness, but... it's a bit too late to have not even entered the threshold of cultivation at eighteen," Chen Zhaohu explained.

"Is eighteen too late? Can't you cultivate immortality if you're over fifteen?" Zhang Tiezhu was also emotionally unstable.

"It's not like that. Age is not a limitation to cultivation. Even if you start cultivating at fifty, you still have a chance to ascend step by step!"

"Then why..."

Chen Zhaohu said helplessly, "Do you know why I haven't even entered the threshold of cultivation?"

Hearing this, Li Ji'an was also puzzled: "Brother Chen, you said before that there is always a glimmer of hope, and you also said that your spiritual root talent also has unlimited possibilities, then... why haven't you cultivated?"

"Hehe, do you think you can cultivate just by having spiritual roots?"

"Do you know the four key points of cultivation here?"

Chen Zhaohu sighed: "Land, Law, Wealth, Companion. None can be missing!"

"The spiritual energy needed for cultivation is purest and most abundant only in places with spiritual veins. Outside of spiritual vein lands, spiritual energy dissipates into the sky, and even if there is any, it is already mixed and thin. For example, this place, although it is not like your spirit-depleted land, it is also difficult to support the cultivation of magic power.

And places with spiritual veins have long been occupied by those sects and immortal clans. Even the lowest-level, first-grade, low-grade spiritual vein lands are fought over by countless people, all vying to permanently occupy them and provide a place for their descendants to possibly take another step forward."

"The second is cultivation techniques. Because everyone's spiritual root attributes are different, the required techniques are also different. And it's not just about the spiritual root with the highest spiritual essence sensitivity; the other four elemental spiritual roots also have corresponding influences. Therefore, the most suitable technique is different for everyone. Techniques are as precious as spiritual vein lands. Some families rely on a single technique to rise to prominence."

"As for wealth, you have already seen spirit stones. In addition to being used for transactions and payments, their most essential function is to provide spiritual energy. Even in this spirit-poor land, where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is insufficient for cultivation, you can directly refine the spiritual energy in spirit stones to cultivate.

However, minor cultivators don't need to use them, because once a spirit stone is refined, there's no turning back. If you can't absorb and refine it quickly, it will dissipate into the sky, wasting it. Those who can directly refine spirit stones to cultivate are powerful seniors.

Of course, spirit stones can be used to rent spiritual vein dojos, trade techniques, buy spirit rice, elixirs, magical artifacts... In short, if you have enough spirit stones, you can buy anything."

"As for the last, companion, teacher, fellow cultivators, partner... Cultivation cannot be done behind closed doors, otherwise, it is easy to get into a dead end. Being trapped in a bottleneck is a small matter, but becoming possessed by demons is a big matter. Discussing the Dao and brainstorming is the right way..."

"..." After Chen Zhaohu patiently explained, the four people other than Li Ji'an all had stiff faces.

When they were in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty, firstly, they came from noble backgrounds and had ample resources to supply them, and secondly, they had extraordinary talents, and the royal family actively supported them. They only needed to cultivate diligently and had never really experienced this kind of situation where everything needed to be solved by themselves.

"So, why haven't I stepped into cultivation? Because I don't have these resources. If I want to cultivate, I can only enter the nearest United Market, but the rent there is not cheap, and my spiritual roots are not enough to be favored by those families or sects."

As he spoke, Chen Zhaohu looked at Zhang Tiezhu again: "This is also why I said it's a pity for this girl. If she were within fifteen years old, her talent close to middle-grade spiritual roots would definitely have a chance to enter a certain family. But now, she has lost her value for cultivation."

——

Over the next month, the five of them gradually adapted to this settlement and also verified everything Chen Zhaohu had said.

On this day, Zhu Linxian, who had been silent for many days, finally couldn't bear it anymore.

"Even if it's difficult, I'm going to try!"

"That's right, the longer we wait, the more we waste time. If we don't try, how will we know it's impossible!" Zhang Tiezhu had long been eager to try.

The two of them were the most hopeful and the youngest, and had not experienced too much social hardship.

"If we grow old and die here like this, then why did we come to this immortal world? Not to mention seeking revenge on that animal family," Zhao Shuyao was also unwilling.

"Yes! Even if we die, we have to try!" Dong Jiangling's eyes were fierce, and his attitude was firm.

Li Ji'an looked at them and understood very well.

Life is but a dream, a fleeting moment!

They only had this one life, they couldn't wait any longer.

Most importantly, if they couldn't cultivate immortality in their current lives, how could it compare to their world-shaking fame in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty?

"What are you planning to do?"

"The Yan family is recruiting reclamation laborers. I'm going to try it. If I have the opportunity to stay in the Yan family, I can enjoy the first-grade, high-grade spiritual vein dojo and the Yan family's cultivation techniques," Zhang Tiezhu said firmly.

"I'm going to the Immortal Market to look for opportunities!" Zhu Linxian was the most unwilling.

"A spirit pill shop is recruiting receptionists, and I want to try it." Zhao Shuyao made this decision with great difficulty.

"I'm also going to go to the market to take a look first."