Stepping onto the path to immortality, it all begins with buying the daughter of a disgraced officia

[You used both kindness and severity to subdue the unruly villagers of Qingshan Village, completing the "Minor Fame" achievement!]

[Bestowed: The Turtle Breathing Technique!]

[Turtle Breathing Technique: Conceal your aura and hide your inherent abilities!]

As soon as he returned home, the Longevity Chart appeared before Su Mu's eyes. As the text appeared, a new piece of information suddenly appeared in his mind: the incantation for the Turtle Breathing Technique!

According to the Longevity Chart, those who cultivate this technique can conceal their aura and hide their inherent strength. Unless the opponent's realm far surpasses their own, they will definitely be able to detect their aura!

Su Mu's lips curled slightly. With this method, coupled with his own appearance, things would be much easier in the future!

Who would really care about a man in his sixties or seventies?

"My husband!"

When Ye Qingyan and Shen Yanran saw Su Mu arrive home, they immediately went out to greet him, their faces beaming with smiles and their voices exceptionally pleasant, exuding maximum emotional value!

Especially Ye Qingyan, who was completely different from them when they first met.

Ye Qingyan was once described as a rose with thorns, but now she can be described as a lotus with gentle tenderness!

Shen Yanran, on the other hand, hasn't changed much, except that she's become a bit more proactive than before. At least in her heart, she has gradually accepted Su Mu and the reality of being married.

"Madam, this is for your self-defense. It's a spirit stone; just pull the trigger and you can instantly kill your enemy!"

Su Mu handed the Heavenly Crossbow to Ye Qingyan and patiently taught him how to use it.

Besides being activated by spiritual power, the Heavenly Crossbow can also be activated by spirit stones. Each spirit stone can launch ten attacks, making it the perfect weapon for Ye Qingyan's self-defense.

Then, Su Mu handed Ye Qingyan ten spirit stones. If some rogue cultivators had seen this, they would probably have been quite annoyed.

They barely get a few spirit stones throughout the year; to Su Mu, they're just tools to be used as ammunition.

"Thank you, my husband." Ye Qingyan leaned in and pecked Su Mu on the cheek, then immediately ran away, clearly embarrassed.

Seeing this, Shen Yanran felt inexplicably displeased, but she didn't hide it. Instead, she said it quite frankly, "Husband, why does Qingyan have it, but I don't? Humph!"

She pouted, looking angry, and glared at Su Mu with her hands on her hips.

"Cough cough cough..." Su Mu coughed awkwardly a few times, then quickly laughed it off, "How could that be? How could your husband forget you?"

As he spoke, Su Mu took out the Annihilation Sword from his storage bag and handed it to Shen Yanran. "This sword is not bad, but it is still just an ordinary sword. He already has a low-grade spiritual sword, so the Annihilation Sword is not very useful to him. It's perfect to give it to Shen Yanran!"

Besides, I didn't buy it with my own money, so I don't feel bad about it.

"A sword? Husband, how did you know I could practice swordsmanship?" Shen Yanran's face suddenly lit up with joy. She quickly took the Annihilation Sword from Su Mu, showing no shyness whatsoever. Just like Ye Qingyan, she hooked her arms around Su Mu's neck and kissed him on the lips. "Husband, thank you!"

"..."

Su Mu was at a loss. Who would have thought that Shen Yanran, who looked so weak and frail, was actually a female sword cultivator? No wonder she was the daughter of a general.

Now, Su Mu knows their identities completely, but this also makes him feel unprecedented pressure.

Shen Yanran's status is acceptable, but most importantly, Ye Qingyan, as the daughter of the former Prince of Anbei, knows what she is burdened with.

As her husband, it's only natural that he should share her burdens, and even avenge her!

Of course, more importantly, they have a common enemy: Blood Wolf Stronghold!

The sky grew completely dark.

Ye Qingyan and Shen Yanran went to heat up the dishes, while Su Mu took advantage of the break to go to the side room to prepare for cultivation.

He still had several thousand spirit stones left, and he was going to Dragon Ridge Mountain tomorrow. The mountain was full of monsters and was bound to be extremely dangerous. He had to be fully prepared, and his cultivation strength was the most important guarantee!

Not long after!

Su Mu took out the remaining two thousand spirit stones and began to cultivate by circulating the Five Animal Frolics internal breathing technique, absorbing the spiritual energy from the spirit stones!

hum-

As he circulated his energy, a force slowly drew the spiritual energy from the spirit stone out, gradually entering Su Mu's body. After swirling around him for a moment, it finally surged into his dantian!

At this moment.

The spiritual energy in the pile of spirit stones surged like a living spring, and a light blue halo appeared around Su Mu's body. He activated the Five Animal Frolics internal breathing technique at full speed, carrying strands of spiritual energy into his meridians.

The meridians were slightly swollen from being filled with spiritual energy, but with the blessing of the Turtle Breathing Technique to conceal the aura, not a trace of it leaked out; it simply formed a closed loop within the body.

The vortex of energy within his dantian grew increasingly turbulent, and each influx of spiritual energy solidified the vortex, causing the more than two thousand spirit stones to dim at a visible rate.

Su Mu frowned slightly, causing the qi vortex to impact the barrier of the seventh level of Qi Condensation. The barrier trembled and showed signs of breaking.

He exerted his strength suddenly, pouring all the remaining spiritual energy into his dantian. The qi vortex suddenly surged, "Break!"

hum-

A soft tremor emanated from within, and the barrier shattered in response.

The spiritual energy surged and reconstructed the dantian, the energy vortex condensing into a pale blue light cluster, which steadily resided within it.

As the last trace of spiritual energy was absorbed, Su Mu slowly opened his eyes, a glint of shrewdness flashing in them.

He raised his hand to sense the surging spiritual power within his body. He had already firmly stood at the peak of the seventh level of Qi Condensation. His aura became increasingly restrained, and only the weight of his spiritual power indicated the perfection of his breakthrough.

"call--"

He exhaled a breath of stale air.

Su Mu frowned deeply. "Strange, why does it feel so difficult to break through?"

Two thousand spirit stones, and he only broke through two major realms? That shouldn't be the case!

"Could it be because of the immortal bones?"

Su Mu vaguely remembered reading in a novel in his previous life that the stronger one's innate talent, the more cultivation resources one needed. If that were true, he would probably need even more cultivation resources to break through next, and spirit stones alone would obviously not be enough!

"Aww—"

At this moment, Su Yang squeezed through the crack in the door and ran in from outside, coming to Su Mu's side and rubbing against his thigh.

Upon seeing the little guy, Su Mu remembered that he had obtained the essence blood of the Crimson Fang Tiger, which was perfect for Su Yang's cultivation!

Devouring the essence and blood of fellow demonic beasts is undoubtedly Su Yang's best secret medicine!

"Little guy, come here."

Su Mu took out a jade bottle from his storage bag. Inside the bottle was the scalding hot blood essence of the Crimson Fang Tiger, a fourth-order demon beast. Even a single drop of it could be felt to be scorching hot through the bottle!

"Aww!"

Su Yang seemed to sense something, raised its head, and stared at the essence blood in Su Mu's hand with its huge eyes. It couldn't help but lick its tongue, and it seemed that, driven by its instinct, it wanted to devour the essence blood in Su Mu's hand!

Immediately, Su Mu uncorked the jade bottle, and scalding crimson essence blood gushed out, carrying the violent aura of a fourth-order demon beast, condensing into a dancing drop of blood in his palm.

Upon seeing this, Su Yang's eyes turned bloodshot. He let out a low growl and moved closer, swallowing the blood droplet with a flick of his tongue.

In an instant, a faint red aura burst forth around Su Yang, and a series of cracking sounds came from his body. His body, which was originally half-grown, expanded several sizes at a visible speed, and his fur became more fluffy and shiny, with faint red-gold patterns. A tiny tiger-shaped mark even appeared between his eyebrows.

Its muscles were tense, and it let out a suppressed growl. Its limbs stomped on the ground involuntarily. Its blood essence and tiger blood fused violently, and violent spiritual energy clashed in its meridians, but Su Mu secretly protected its heart meridian with his spiritual power.

Before long, Su Yang's movements slowed down, his eyes drooped, and the heat in his body subsided, leaving only the tiger mark between his eyebrows still flickering slightly.

It shook its head, its limbs went limp and it curled up on the ground, its breathing gradually becoming long and even, and it fell into a deep hibernation.

Su Mu bent down to investigate and found that its aura was becoming increasingly deep and concentrated. Its bones and demonic power were quietly transforming during its dormancy, and it had already begun to take the shape of a second-tier demonic beast. It was just waiting to wake up and then it would experience a qualitative leap.

"This aura... peak first tier... almost reaching second tier demonic beast!"

Su Mu was astonished. He hadn't expected that Su Yang would grow so much from his childhood just by consuming a drop of essence blood. If he were to consume an entire head... the effect would be unimaginable!

Unbeknownst to him, a bold idea began to sprout in Su Mu's mind...

He decided to go into the mountains tomorrow, taking Su Yang with him, hoping it might accelerate its growth.

After all, his mother's inner core is still sealed inside his body. If he refines it, he might be able to break through to the Gathering Yuan Realm in one fell swoop!

Once the Golden Core is formed in the Gathering Yuan Realm, spiritual energy can be materialized and condensed into spiritual energy battle armor, which strengthens defense and greatly enhances combat power!

"My lord, dinner is ready!"

Just then, Ye Qingyan's voice came from the main house. He responded, gently picked up Su Yang, and walked towards the main house.

...