I am the sacred tree, evergreen for eternity.

The area outside the simple thatched huts was filled with members of the Xia clan.

They were dressed in animal skins and grass clothes of various colors and heights, and they surrounded Yu Su's feet.

All the Xia clan members looked up at the tribe's totem and the chief kneeling before it.

Under the sunlight, the trunk of the tree god reflected and radiated light.

When Hong stood up from beside the tree roots, everyone saw the change in him.

His body was no longer hunched and stooped, his muscles were no longer withered and emaciated, and his movements were no longer slow and trembling. He was like a beast that had just awakened, agile, steady, and full of power.

"Look! This is a cultivation method bestowed by the Tree God!"

"Let us mortals also transcend our limits—"

"Body-forging Technique!"

Hong raised his remaining arm in a fist, swept his inspiring gaze across everyone, and uttered a powerful statement.

"The Tree God also bestowed upon us the spiritual energy of the earth veins needed for cultivation, giving everyone the opportunity to embark on the path to extraordinary achievements."

"From this day forward, humanity will no longer be forever trapped in a state of lowliness and weakness."

"One day, the Xia family will have its own legend!"

After he finished speaking, he pounded his chest with one hand, knelt down in front of Yu Su, pressed his cheek to the ground, and his expression and behavior were almost crazy.

Hong wasn't the only one who went crazy.

"The tree spirit has bestowed its power!"

These five words spread like wildfire, instantly igniting the entire tribe.

"The tree spirit is merciful!"

"The tree spirit is immortal!"

"May the Xia family live on forever!"

People roared and raised their arms, their voices merging into one that echoed through the valley, startling the birds and beasts in the distant forest.

During the years that Yu Su was asleep, the hearts of the Xia clan were indeed unsettled, and some young people even began to question the authority and power of the tree god.

Although Hong could use his authority as leader to forcefully suppress the controversy, he was unwilling to do so, just as the Tree God, as a totem and a belief, never forcibly issued divine decrees to command people.

Hong was so eager to announce this shocking news because he wanted everyone to once again submit to the sublimity of the Tree God, and more importantly, he wanted to select the elites who were capable of cultivation as quickly as possible.

however.

Xia's joy did not last long.

The practice of body-building techniques is far more demanding than people imagine.

Despite Hong's painstaking efforts, he managed to organize that esoteric information into a script that his people could understand.

Although Yu Su opened up a spiritual space of over a hundred feet, enough for all members of the Xia clan to try cultivation.

Although every member of the Xia clan devoted themselves to understanding the techniques and sought the methods with all their might.

Ninety percent of the clansmen still couldn't even get past the first hurdle.

Gas extraction.

Sensing the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, one draws it into the body, guides it along specific meridian pathways, and ultimately condenses it at the heart, igniting the flame of life.

It sounds simple, but it's incredibly difficult to do.

In the first year, out of more than a thousand people in the tribe, less than a hundred were able to sense spiritual energy.

The following year, only half of those dozens of people were able to absorb spiritual energy into their bodies.

In the third year, only ten people were able to guide spiritual energy to ignite the fire within their hearts.

Those ten lucky individuals who successfully entered the Qi Gathering Realm attributed everything to the blessings of their faith in the Tree God.

Those who couldn't sense the spiritual energy knelt by the tree roots all day, thinking it was because their piety wasn't enough, or that they had done something wrong to anger the tree god.

But Yu Su did nothing, did not bestow any miracles, and did not grant anyone any "favor".

He had expected this.

The path to transcendence is narrow and cannot accommodate too many people.

Moreover, the current method of body forging, while described as a path, is actually still just an exploration and experiment.

According to his calculations, breaking through the bloodline barrier requires going through three major stages—

【Gathering Qi】: Sensing spiritual energy, drawing it into the body, condensing it in the heart, and igniting the flame of life.

【Body Refinement】integrates spiritual energy into flesh, bones, and meridians to temper the body, strengthen the physique, and transcend the limits of ordinary physical strength.

[Breaking Limits] After reaching the pinnacle of body refinement, one uses spiritual energy to break through the innate forbidden shackles within their bloodline.

The ultimate goal of breaking through limits is to elevate one's bloodline and enter the realm of the extraordinary.

But when he himself broke through the bloodline barrier and transformed from an ordinary elm tree into an extraordinary giant tree, he was forced to stop.

"There should still be a road ahead..."

Yu Su examined himself. His body was gradually evolving into a transcendent being, but the earth's spiritual energy remained at a primitive stage, lacking the motivation to leap to a higher level.

This conflicted with the divine beasts and monsters he had previously encountered.

"Indeed, the path I have pioneered is far from perfect."

"I haven't found the key to the sublimation of the earth's spiritual energy yet."

Yu Su touched the threshold of the extraordinary, but when he crossed that threshold, he discovered that it was only the starting point of a much longer and deeper path.

He passed on the Dharma to the Xia family.

On one hand, it is a response to the tribal totem—a way of repaying the devout faith.

On the other hand, and more importantly, he wanted to use Xia's cultivation to verify and correct his deductions.

Ten people's spiritual practice represents ten different paths, which will lead to ten different outcomes.

Yu Su's senses enveloped them, tracing every path of spiritual energy flowing through their blood.

He is also studying.

He learned the secrets of the interaction between spiritual energy and the human body from these mortals he personally taught.

As a tree, its woody structure, life mechanism, and spiritual energy circulation are completely different from those of flesh and blood.

He needs the Xia family, he needs these living, breathing, growing humans to help him fill in that blank piece of the puzzle.

From beginning to end, Yu Su never truly regarded herself as a god.

He was nothing more than a tiny being struggling to survive in the desolate mountains and seas.

Those members of the Xia clan who embarked on the path of cultivation felt that they were chosen by the Tree God and bore a special mission.

Their strength is growing day by day.

Those at the Qi Gathering Realm are twice as fast as the fastest hunters, three times stronger than the strongest warriors, and have sharper perception than the most acute old hunters.

They can see in the dark, move silently through dense forests, and smell their prey from miles away.

Those ferocious beasts that once required the entire team to hunt can now be dealt with by a single person.

They gradually became the main force in hunting, and every expedition they went on brought back a full load.

Hong gave these pioneering trailblazers a name.

"Totem Walker"

"Those who embody the will of the Tree God, never stopping, never resting."

The gazes of the other tribesmen towards them shifted from initial envy to admiration.

Hong naturally became the leader of the travelers.

He was the first person to enter the Qi Gathering Realm and the first person to enter the Body Refinement Stage.

After he infused his spiritual energy into his body and began to temper his flesh and blood, his left arm, which had been severed by the venomous fangs of the demonic python and disappeared for several years, actually grew back.

He raised his newborn arm and spread his five fingers in front of his people.

Sunlight filtered through his fingers, illuminating his weathered yet resolute face.

At that moment, the tribe's envy of the traveler reached a new level.

Those clansmen without cultivation talent, watching the increasingly powerful cultivators, gradually transformed their admiration into a complex emotion that was hard to describe.

The invisible wall of talent subtly divided the Xia clan into two worlds—

Traveler, and mortal.