Mortal: The Path to Immortality

Manager Yan, riding his magical artifact, led Nan Zhu over several mountain peaks and finally landed in front of a valley shrouded in gray mist.

"Young friend Lu, this is the Valley of Abandoned Spirits." Steward Yan patted his sleeves, his expression somewhat complicated.

Looking around, the vegetation was lush, and birds occasionally flew by. It seemed no different from any other valley. However, the air in the valley was filled with a faint, lingering smell of decaying herbs.

"People have lived here before, but they all moved away afterward. There were indeed rumors of monsters here in the old days, but no one has ever seen one with their own eyes; those are all ancient history," Steward Yan responsibly instructed.

"Living here alone is indeed a bit dangerous. Be more vigilant. Oh, by the way, since you're in charge of this medicinal garden, remember to hand over the monthly medicinal plants to the sect on time." With that, he handed a bag of medicinal seeds to Lu Nanzhu.

Lu Nanzhu bowed and followed behind, listening carefully to Steward Yan's instructions. He agreed repeatedly and then accepted the medicine seeds with both hands.

Manager Yan seemed to feel that he would lose face if he didn't give any thanks after receiving the bag of spirit stones, so he took out a set of array flags and array plates from his storage bag and handed them to Lu Nanzhu.

"This is a defensive formation I used in my early years. Although it's a secondhand piece of equipment that's been used many times, and its defensive power is barely enough to withstand a full-force attack from a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, it's more than enough for early warning and defense against wild beasts in the mountains. You can keep it."

Lu Nan quickly accepted the gift with both hands, his face full of gratitude: "Thank you for your help, senior."

Manager Yan waved his hand, unwilling to linger in the desolate valley. After giving his instructions in a hurry, he mounted his magical artifact and fled as if escaping.

Watching Steward Yan's retreating figure, Lu Nanzhu abandoned his humble expression and immediately spread his divine sense to carefully examine this "territory" that belonged to him.

In a sunny spot in the valley, he discovered a pavilion built of bamboo. Due to years of neglect, the bamboo had turned a dark brown color, and the pavilion was built very tall, with several thick bamboo sections supporting it from the bottom, making it look like a bird's nest perched in mid-air.

"It's built so high, it seems the snakes, insects, and rodents here are really rampant."

In front of the attic, several plots of land, overgrown with weeds, lay scattered about, their outlines still faintly visible in what was once a medicinal herb garden. Unfortunately, due to long-term abandonment, the soil had become as hard and dry as stone.

Lu Nanzhu didn't mind; on the contrary, he found the place quiet and perfect for him. He quickly went up to the pavilion, cleared a space, and then set up the defensive formation that Steward Yan had given him around the pavilion.

As several array flags flew out, a faint light enveloped the pavilion.

After settling everything in, Lu Nanzhu immediately began his cultivation. He sat cross-legged and began practicing in this valley where spiritual energy was scarce.

After a while, night fell, and the valley became cold and damp.

Lu Nanzhu had already circulated his energy for several cycles. With his keen senses and divine awareness, he noticed some faint sounds coming from the shadows on the mountain, and he could vaguely sense some spiritual energy coming from the source of the sounds.

"Squeak—squeak—"

That wasn't the sound of the wind; it sounded like the echoes of some wild beast in the woods.

Whenever Lu Nanzhu got up, wanting to see what was going on by the moonlight, the sounds would stop abruptly, and the spiritual energy could not be sensed, as if they had never appeared.

He didn't pay much attention to it and just continued his cultivation step by step.

Several days later, Lu Nanzhu stood under the eaves of the pavilion, frowning as he stared at the medicinal garden below. The few plots of medicinal garden that he had just painstakingly renovated and sown with medicinal seeds now looked as if they had been ravaged by wild boars. The once budding seedlings had been completely devoured, and even the "spirit moss" that was originally used to accelerate the ripening of medicinal herbs in the field had been licked clean.

"I thought that since the spiritual energy in this place is thin and the quota for handing over medicinal herbs has been reduced by 40%, I wouldn't have to worry about this medicinal garden." Lu Nanzhu approached the medicinal garden, squatted down, and picked up a smear of wet mud with a special smell between his fingertips. "I never expected that it would attract a group of uninvited guests."

For several nights in a row, Lu Nanzhu kept watch in the shadows. Every time night deepened, those faint sounds would arrive as expected, accompanied by faint fluctuations of spiritual energy. These beasts were very alert. As soon as Lu Nanzhu extended his divine sense, an extremely faint sound came from the ground, and those figures disappeared without a trace, like drops of water falling into the sea and vanishing into the hard earth and rocks.

"Earth Escape?" A hint of surprise flashed in Lu Nanzhu's eyes. "A mere few beasts that don't even reach the highest rank can actually master this kind of supernatural ability."

Since forcibly seizing it didn't work, they had to resort to strategy. Lu Nanzhu returned to the attic, closed the door behind him, and took out a few dull-colored seeds of the Bewitching Spirit Grass from his storage bag. Then he began to work on them with his small inkstone.

After daybreak, Lu Nanzhu arrived at the herb garden, tidied it up briefly, and then scattered the specially prepared purple grass seeds into the soil. Afterward, he spread "spirit moss," which is used to accelerate the ripening of medicinal herbs, on top of it.

After settling everything in, Lu Nanzhu returned to the pavilion to cultivate in seclusion.

The next morning, before the mist in the valley had completely dissipated, Lu Nanzhu pushed open the door and went downstairs. In the herb garden, dozens of small mice, about the size of a fist and covered with fine golden fur, were lying haphazardly, in a deep coma due to the effects of the medicine. They were now lying on their backs, their short limbs twitching occasionally.

Lu Nanzhu picked up a golden rat that was still unconscious, running his fingertips over its body, his eyes filled with astonishment. The spiritual energy within this little beast was mixed yet extremely resilient, not even remotely comparable to a level one demon beast; at most, it was a wild animal capable of communicating with spiritual energy. However, to have learned the earth-遁 (earth-escaping) technique in the spiritually sparse Abandoned Spirit Valley was clearly no ordinary creature.

"This is quite a rare breed. Since it's in my hands, I'll keep it for now," Lu Nanzhu muttered to himself, and casually put the mice into the spirit beast bag he had previously bought from the market.

Over the next few days, Lu Nanzhu settled completely into the valley. During the day, he diligently tended the herb garden; at night, he secluded himself in the pavilion, practicing asceticism and taking medicine. Until this day, he finally had a moment to look at the long-treasured, withered fruit that resembled a walnut.

This withered fruit, obtained by chance from the Transmission Hall, is very likely the "Wind Spirit Sacred Fruit" recorded in "The Legend of Fuyao," which can cleanse the marrow and transform the bones.

Lu Nanzhu casually added a few more spirit stones to the formation, took a deep breath, and then took out a small inkstone, placing the withered fruit steadily in the center of the dark blue inkstone. As the strange inscriptions on the edge of the inkstone, which were neither gold nor wood, lit up one after another, a dark blue stream of light instantly pulled his consciousness back into that secret realm.

In the secret realm, the spirit tree still stood majestically. However, to Lu Nanzhu's surprise, when he used to deduce spirit plants, the tree was always covered with transparent fruits representing countless possibilities, but this time, only one fruit hung alone on the entire spirit tree.

He carefully probed his consciousness into the transparent fruit. In an instant, a phantom appeared before his eyes. After consuming the fruit, the person's figure moved like a willow catkin in the wind, walking on air. Each step was accompanied by an extremely sharp phantom turning. This level of agility perfectly matched the description in "The Legend of Fuyao" of how the "Wind Spirit Sacred Fruit" improved one's physique.

"Why is there only one fruit?" Lu Nanzhu wondered.

Could it be that this withered fruit was originally devoid of life, and the small inkstone could only "bring it back to life," but could no longer deduce mutated offspring? Or is it that the bloodline of such ancient treasures is inherently extremely domineering and stable, and cannot tolerate the slightest mutation?

Lu Nanzhu pondered for a while, finally suppressing his distracting thoughts. His immediate priority was to cultivate this fruit and improve his mediocre body.

He exited the secret realm and took the pale blue seed that had regained its vitality from the inkstone. To prevent the rats from stealing it again, he casually dug a hole in the shade directly below the pavilion shrouded by the array, took out a clump of "spirit moss" and covered it to accelerate the tree's maturation.

Under the nurturing of the spirit moss, in just a few days, a lush green sapling broke through the soil and bore a crystal-clear fruit that seemed to emit the sounds of wind and thunder.

Lu Nanzhu immediately picked the fruit and ate it. The fruit melted in his mouth, and a spicy heat surged up his throat and into his lower abdomen. He felt his whole body become hot, as if he were in a boiling cauldron. But before he could react, the heat suddenly changed, turning into countless streams that surged and crashed through his meridians. The throbbing pain, as if his meridians were being torn apart, made him break out in a cold sweat.

Immediately afterward, the throbbing pain subsided, replaced by an intense coolness. Finally, this extreme alternation of heat and cold gradually subsided, and Lu Nanzhu found his body becoming unusually light, as if he could take off on a whirlwind with a mere leap.

That subtle sense of control over the flowing air convinced him that he was qualified to cultivate the "Legend of Fuyao".