Cultivating immortality relies on spatial abilities; defying fate to become the protagonist.

Chapter 190 The First Heaven, Mortal Realm
Seeing this, Gu Shihan also tried to chop at another branch, but the result was the same.

She gritted her teeth and said somewhat dejectedly, "It seems Xingbai was right, we are indeed very weak here."

Duan Siqi said with a bitter face, "Then what should we do? How are we supposed to survive? We also need to find Nangong Yi and the others. We don't even know how they are doing."

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Shihan said, "Let's not worry about anything else for now and find a safe place to stay."

Xingbai jumped to the ground, sensed the surroundings, and took the initiative to lead the way. After all, it was a spirit pet and was more sensitive to auras.

After walking for a long time, they came to a valley where there was a dilapidated hut.

As they approached, an aged voice came from inside the house: "Outsider, come in."

The two people and the fox entered the house and saw an old man with white hair sitting on a futon.

The old man looked at them and slowly said, "You shouldn't be here. You must have been accidentally caught in the spatial turbulence and ended up here. This is the mortal realm of the first level of the Immortal Realm. Hmm, you have the light of cultivation techniques on you. What have you done?"

Gu Shihan hurriedly asked, "Senior, do you have a way to let us return to our original place or improve our strength?"

The old man smiled and said, "Going back will be difficult, but improving your strength is not impossible, as long as you can withstand the trials."

Duan Siqi said without hesitation, "We will try no matter what."

The old man nodded in satisfaction, his gaze meaningful, and pointed to a mountain peak in the distance, saying, "Do you see that mountain peak? There is an abandoned Immortal Spirit Pool there. Go up there yourselves and cultivate in the pool for ten to thirty days to convert the spiritual power in your bodies into Immortal Spirit Power. Then you can start cultivating."

The two exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with determination. Gu Shihan spoke first: "Thank you for your guidance, senior. We will head there immediately."

The three headed toward the mountain peak indicated by the old man. The mountain path was rugged and difficult to traverse, and small celestial beasts occasionally appeared around them, but they were only focused on reaching the Celestial Spirit Pool as soon as possible and did not pay much attention to them.

Ten days later, the two people and the fox arrived at the Immortal Spirit Pool at the top of the mountain.

The Immortal Spirit Pool has little water, less than three inches deep, and appears calm and clear, radiating a pure power.

Xingbai reminded them from the side, "Although this pool of water is helpful for cultivation, the power it contains is too domineering. You must be careful. Absorb a little, and then convert a little. Yutong and the others can also come out to cultivate; they need to convert their energy as well."

"Alright!" Gu Shihan waved her hand, and Yu Tong and Xiao Hei left the space, revealing their true forms in a corner of the pool and lying down.

Duan Siqi also took her contracted beast, the Golden-Winged Roc, out of the Spirit Beast Bracelet.

Gu Shihan took a deep breath and stepped into the pool. Instantly, a sharp pain spread throughout her body, but she gritted her teeth.

Seeing this, Duan Siqi and Xingbai also entered the pool. The immortal spiritual power entered their bodies, forcing the spiritual energy out of their bodies inch by inch. The pain was caused by the rejection of the immortal spiritual energy when it entered their bodies.

As time passed day by day, the two humans and four beasts endured immense pain in the pool, none of them uttering a sound, stubbornly persevering.

On the twentieth day, Duan Siqi suddenly shone brightly, successfully converting the spiritual power within her body into immortal spiritual power.

Three more days passed, and Gu Shihan's spiritual energy conversion was completed.

"Shi Han, how did your cultivation level drop? You're only at the seventh level of the Golden Core stage now. No, mine dropped too, I'm only at the sixth level of the Golden Core stage now. How could this be?" Duan Siqi couldn't accept it and kept talking.

"Siqi, you didn't feel your cultivation level drop, but did your body's resilience increase? Let's continue cultivating here for a while longer, and improve our cultivation as much as we can."

"I heard from Xingbai that there are quite a few people in the Immortal Realm with good aptitude and cultivation from birth. Our current cultivation is far too weak; it's difficult to even save our lives," Gu Shihan said after thinking for a moment. "Aren't we going to look for them?" Duan Siqi asked.

"We definitely need to find the person, but are we really that weak to even attempt to find them?" Gu Shihan sighed.

Duan Siqi nodded silently after hearing Gu Shihan's words, and the two of them continued to cultivate in the pool with peace of mind.

More than half a month passed, and although their cultivation level had increased, it was still not very high.

One day, just as they were concentrating on their cultivation, the water in the surrounding pool suddenly began to churn violently.

Immediately afterwards, a dazzling golden light shot out from the bottom of the pool, accompanied by a melodious celestial melody.

The two were astonished, and then they saw an old man living in a valley slowly emerge from the golden light.

"You juniors have such perseverance in cultivating here. I am the guardian immortal of this place, and I will grant you an opportunity! Take care of yourselves!"

The old man gently raised his hand, and several beams of spiritual light entered the foreheads of the two men respectively.

In an instant, they felt their cultivation bottlenecks loosen considerably, and their understanding of immortal techniques deepened.

"Thank you for your help, senior." Gu Shihan and Duan Siqi bowed respectfully.

The old man smiled and nodded, then disappeared. This incident greatly boosted Gu Shihan and the others' confidence, and they resolved to continue their cultivation efforts until they were strong enough to search for the person again.

"Shi Han, should we stay here and continue cultivating? I've looked around the area, and this is the only place with a relatively dense concentration of immortal spiritual energy; the other places are not as good as here," Duan Siqi said.

"So we'll stay here for a while."
Gu Shihan looked around and replied, "That's good. This place is relatively safe and conducive to our cultivation."

In the days that followed, they absorbed the spiritual energy of immortals day and night without stopping.

However, the peaceful cultivation time did not last long. One night, three mysterious people dressed in black quietly approached this cultivation place.

They exuded malice and clearly had ill intentions.

Gu Shihan was the first to notice something was wrong and whispered to Duan Siqi, "Be careful, something's up." The two of them stood up alertly.

The leader of the black-robed men sneered, "You think this opportunity is so easy to obtain? This Immortal Spirit Pool was something we were secretly guarding, yet you've taken advantage of it. If you don't want to die today, hand over your storage treasures."

"What a beautiful young lady! Brother, let's take her back. She's just a couple of Golden Core cultivators. Shouldn't she behave herself?" The tall, thin male cultivator in black robes said with a lewd grin.

"Shi Han, do you know what their cultivation level is?" Duan Siqi asked in a low voice.

Gu Shihan transmitted her voice: "Xingbai said he is a Nascent Soul cultivator. We're in trouble this time! If we have a chance to escape, we should escape. Don't fight him head-on! Do you see that cliff over there? If we can't beat him, we'll run there. Xingbai will be there to meet us."

"Ok!"

The black-robed leader snapped impatiently, "Enough nonsense! Hand over your storage treasures and come with us obediently!"

Gu Shihan calmly said, "Seniors, this Immortal Spirit Pool is not your private property. Everyone cultivates here based on their own abilities. Why be so aggressive?"

(End of this chapter)