Starting with Taoist priests from Maoshan to cultivate immortality

Jiang Yu could no longer suppress his desire to cultivate. He turned the gray-white hourglass upside down, placed it in front of him, and opened his storage bag.

Six thousand spirit stones were neatly arranged to one side.

Jiang Yu thought:

"The use of the hourglass of time is not difficult. Just inject a trace of spiritual energy into it, and the rest will open automatically."

Jiang Yu focused his mind and calmed his spirit, generating a wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertips, which he placed at the top of the hourglass.

Instantly, the originally grayish-white hourglass emitted a strange light.

The spirit stone beside it began to dim and become transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye, and in less than three breaths it turned into powder and dissipated.

"That's way too fast!"

Jiang Yu's eyes widened.

Although he was mentally prepared for the speed at which the Sands of Time would consume spiritual energy.

But when it actually happened, his heart still clenched suddenly, and he felt extremely distressed.

There's a difference between thinking about it and actually experiencing it.

He originally thought he had a lot of spirit stones, but it seems he will use them all up in just a few days of cultivation.

After absorbing all the spiritual energy, the hourglass of time emitted a pale golden light.

The sand inside emitted a hazy rhythm of time, and the flow of time within a meter around it began to slow down.

"How amazing!"

Jiang Yu stretched his palm out of the circle, and the air outside seemed to move 12 times faster.

"It's truly amazing. I can't waste any more time. I need to get right into my cultivation."

Jiang Yu pondered for a moment and said:

"Everything breathing in here is spirit stones."

He waved his hand, and the Chaos Pearl appeared in his palm.

As spiritual energy was infused into it, the Primordial Chaos Pearl shone with an intense, deep blue light.

It dissolved as if burned, turning into a pool of liquid, and flowed into Jiang Yu's body from his forehead.

Jiang Yu gasped:

"So cold!"

The liquid that the Chaos Pearl transformed into was as cold as ice.

However, he had already anticipated that changing his own spiritual root was going against the will of Heaven, and the suffering he would endure would be immense.

Jiang Yu gritted his teeth:

"No matter the cost, I will improve."

"For the sake of achieving immortality, I will not even flinch at the hardship or exhaustion."

"what!"

Jiang Yu let out a painful howl.

The pale blue liquid suddenly became scalding hot, surging into his spiritual root. Jiang Yu forced a frown.

"I was yelling, not frowning."

"snort!"

Jiang Yu let out a sigh. The Chaos Pearl felt like a dull knife cutting flesh, constantly scraping away at his spiritual root.

After the scalding hot knife finished scraping, the bone-chilling coldness rapidly cooled down. The contrast of hot and cold, expansion and contraction, made Jiang Yu's entire body feel as if it were being torn apart.

Sweat dripped from his forehead, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

Jiang Yu could no longer bear it and quickly waved his hand, and 1 spirit stones appeared before him.

He activated the "Shangqing Zhengqi Jue" and frantically absorbed spiritual energy.

As spiritual energy entered, a gentle aura neutralized the violent energy of the Chaos Pearl.

Although Jiang Yu was still in pain, he felt much better.

Jiang Yu let out a soft breath:

"No wonder the Chaos Pearl requires tens of thousands of spiritual energies. If it were used directly, no one could possibly last until it was completed."

As time went by, Jiang Yu's spiritual root began to tear and reshape itself continuously.

An hour later, a day had passed in the area created by the hourglass of time.

Jiang Yu expelled pools of black impurities from his spiritual root with each breath.

Two hours later, two days later, five-colored spiritual light began to circulate within Jiang Yu's body.

Wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, water generates wood, and so on, endlessly regenerating until they return to the primordial state.

With the impurities expelled, Jiang Yu was no longer in pain.

He had already used up most of the spirit stones; without their support, he would never have been able to last another two days.

Although it was only halfway done, Jiang Yu could already sense the changes in his Primordial Spiritual Root.

His original mixed spiritual root absorbed spiritual energy at a snail's pace, but now, although it is only in its initial stages, the speed has increased by 50%.

Jiang Yu clasped his hands and returned to his original state, pondering for a moment before saying:

"Next comes the most important part: the dantian."

"Changing one's spiritual root is about preserving and cultivating one's original essence, but changing one's dantian is the fundamental solution."

On the third day, five-colored rays of light began to converge into the dantian.

Blue, white, red, yellow, and black—five colors intertwine, rotate, compress, and merge.

Jiang Yu felt a chaotic battle raging within his body, his spiritual energy churning like a raging flood.

He is like a reef in the sea, holding fast to only one point with all his might.

Finally, a yellow light spot the size of a longan condensed, its five colors swirling, before returning to chaos.

Jiang Yu opened his eyes, looked inward at his body, and sensed the changes within:

"The Primordial Spiritual Root... is complete!"

At this point, only about 500 of the 1 spirit stones on the ground remained.

With a gentle wave of his hand, Jiang Yu caused all the spirit stones to form a circle, overflowing with pure spiritual energy, which Jiang Yu greedily absorbed by circulating his magic.

His eyes were full of surprise as he said:

"The absorption speed has increased by two times, and as a result, the amount of spiritual energy stored in my dantian has also increased by two times."

This terrifying improvement filled him with jubilation.

The various magical artifacts and Taoist techniques he uses now consume more and more spiritual energy, and he often feels powerless.

Now, having obtained the Primordial Spiritual Root, the symptoms have been effectively alleviated.

Jiang Yu couldn't help but think:

"The Primordial Spiritual Root is only a mid-to-high grade spiritual root. I wonder what kind of cultivation methods those Earth Spiritual Roots and Heaven Spiritual Roots require."

He clenched his fist and silently vowed in his heart:

"One day, I will replace my own spiritual root with the best one in the world."

Boom!

Jiang Yu's heart pulsed. The transformation of his body by the Primordial Spiritual Root allowed him to absorb nearly ten thousand spirit stones, and a considerable amount of spiritual energy remained.

With continuous absorption, he felt that his realm was trending towards another level.

Jiang Yu pondered:

"If I don't seize this opportunity to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, when will I ever get another chance?"

The living pill he had previously taken also played a significant role in transforming his spiritual root.

Whenever he hits a bottleneck, the mysterious energy it releases allows him to quickly find a way to break through it.

"No wonder He Yingying was so surprised when she saw this pill. It seems I underestimated it."

Continuing to circulate the "Shangqing Zhengqi Jue," a smile appeared on Jiang Yu's lips:

"This speed boost is so exhilarating!"

This training lasted for a full day.

With the help of donation points, everything fell into place naturally.

Jiang Yu's cultivation level broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, which greatly increased the range of his divine sense and improved the speed of spiritual energy recovery.

Now, he uses the special skill of the Mysterious Talisman True Body, Ten Thousand Talismans Return to One, and can use it three or four times in a row.

Having reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, Jiang Yu clenched his fist.

He has made another step forward in Foundation Establishment. At his current cultivation speed, it's time to accumulate materials for Foundation Establishment Pills.

Huang Shan mentioned before that he has a lot of Foundation Establishment Pills. I wonder if I can buy one from him, which would save a lot of time.

Another one is that the "Qing Nang Dan Jing" records a special method for refining Foundation Building Pills, which requires three times the amount of materials as ordinary Foundation Building Pills.

Jiang Yu stroked his chin. If his finances allowed, this would be better.

However, even a regular Foundation Establishment Pill costs tens of thousands of spirit stones, so three times that would be thirty thousand spirit stones, which is too expensive.

Jiang Yu originally thought he was already very wealthy, but the spirit stones he spent on cultivation were too many, so he had to think of other ways to quickly amass wealth.

Of course, although he spent a lot of spirit stones, Jiang Yu's strength was naturally much greater than that of ordinary cultivators.

With his cultivation at the seventh level of Qi Refining, combined with the magic treasures and Dao techniques he possessed, fighting against cultivators in the early stages of Foundation Establishment was a piece of cake.

Four hours, or four days, have passed in the hourglass.

Jiang Yu put 6000 spirit stones into it, and there were still two days left. He planned to use the remaining two days to cultivate Taoist arts and write talismans.

First and foremost is the Gangbu, one of the signature skills of the Maoshan Taoists.

"The 'gang' refers to the handle of the Big Dipper."

"At its peak, it can shift its form and position, reaching for the moon in the heavens."

The Nine Heavens Divine Steps is a high-grade Xuan-level footwork technique, named after the Nine Heavens, and is divided into nine forms.

With Jiang Yu's current cultivation level, he can learn the first move, "Stepping onto the Clouds".

Once the first move is mastered, the steps become light and agile, each step covering three zhang (approximately 10 meters), as if walking on clouds.

Jiang Yu felt a surge of excitement after reading the introduction to the Nine Heavens Divine Steps.

If he can master the skills, he will have more options when facing attacks from powerful enemies.

It can be used for both offense and defense.

"Those who perform the steps of the Big Dipper are the essence of flying to the heavens, the spirit of treading the earth, and the true nature of man, so that the three powers (heaven, earth, and man) are in harmony and the nine energies are in sync."

Jiang Yu silently recited the incantation and began to circulate it within the cave.

However, he forgot one thing: the hourglass only slows down the passage of time within a meter.

If his steps are too large and he breaks through the field created by the Hourglass of Time, the spirit stones and time he spent will be wasted.

Fortunately, Jiang Yu had good self-control. After a day, he had mastered the footwork of the first move of the Nine Heavens Divine Steps. Moreover, due to the restraint, his self-control was further enhanced.

Whoosh!

Jiang Yu lightly touched the ground with his toes and instantly stepped into the depths of the cave entrance. Then, with another step, he transformed into a phantom and returned to the field.

Jiang Yu exclaimed in surprise:

"Although I'm only at the beginner level, among those cultivators of the same level, even if they work themselves to death, they still can't catch up with me."

"Once I've accumulated enough Dao power over a few days and reached the pinnacle of my cultivation, ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators won't even be able to touch me."

At this point, the hourglass of time has one day remaining.

After breaking through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, Jiang Yu was able to refine first-grade high-quality talismans.

In addition to upgrading the mid-grade talismans he had previously crafted, Jiang Yu was also able to craft some new talismans.

Because the materials he had were not perfect, he could only refine one or two new talismans.

Jiang Yu stroked his chin and said:

"Looks like I'll have to go to Xuanfuzhai again when I have time."

Jiang Yu took out the materials for drawing talismans, opened the levitating needle, and began to draw them little by little.

In one day, he successfully drew 20 first-grade low-rank talismans and 100 first-grade mid-rank talismans.

If the disciples of the True Talisman Sect were to see this, they would be utterly astonished.

This refining speed is truly terrifying.

A True Talisman Sect disciple at the same level as Jiang Yu could, at most, refine twenty mid-grade talismans even if he worked non-stop all day.

Jiang Yu refined so many in one go; even a true disciple in the True Talisman Sect might not be able to do that.

The power of the first-tier mid-grade talisman, "All Talismans Return to One," is unknown.

Jiang Yu estimated that it would be difficult for ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivators to stop him.

As for the new talismans, they are the Water Snake Talisman and the Golden Armor Talisman.

The Water Serpent Talisman is a high-grade Tier 1 talisman that can summon a water serpent to attack enemies.

Jiang Yu chose it because it could be used in conjunction with the Heavenly Thunder Pestle and the Palm Thunder, and the power they generated could be superimposed.

The Golden Armor Talisman is a first-grade high-quality defensive talisman. Jiang Yu chose it because it can be paired with the high-quality Vajra Talisman to create a double layer of defensive power.

In addition, with the defensive magic artifact "Mysterious Origin Heavy Water Shield" obtained from Lin Xiao, it would be no problem to withstand even the full force of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

When the hour ended, the hourglass returned to its grayish-white color.

As the time field disappeared and Jiang Yu once again sensed the flow of time in the outside world, he felt a slight discomfort.

He carefully put the hourglass away.

This strange object has no weaknesses except for its high consumption of spiritual energy.

Jiang Yu became somewhat addicted after just one practice session.

Looks like I need to keep earning spirit stones. If I come here for six hours every day, won't my cultivation speed skyrocket like a rocket?

It was now the beginning of Chen Shi (7-9 AM).

The Heavenly Mandate Treasure Talisman shone brightly with golden light, and three lines of information appeared before Jiang Yu's eyes:

"Dangerous mission: [Catch the demon and slay the evil], to kill the demonic body with the painted skin."

"Ultimate mission [Worldly Affairs]: Investigate the cause of the disappearance of the Rock Gate."

"Daily task: Do a good deed every day, rescue an innocent girl from Rock Mountain."

Jiang Yu frowned slightly as he looked at the task that appeared on the Heavenly Mandate Treasure Talisman.

"A painted-skin demonic body?"

"What the hell?"

"Didn't I already blast him to smithereens?"

"Could there be another group of 'painted skin ghosts'?"

Jiang Yu was completely baffled by this task.

He then looked at the second task: the entire Rock Gate had disappeared?

He had previously promised Zhao Lei and Tu Meng that he would attend his master's birthday celebration.

However, because I was trapped in the ghost realm of Tianmen Mountain these past few days, I missed the deadline.

It seems something happened to them during this time. He should hurry over and check on them as soon as possible.

Jiang Yu stood up and waved his hand, removing all the defenses blocking the cave entrance.

With a single hand gesture, a blazing talisman appeared in his hand.

Boom!

The boulder blocking the cave entrance shattered, and Jiang Yu stepped out.

The weasels resting outside the cave heard the noise and suddenly stood up.

Laoshu and the others arrived at the cave entrance:

"Has something happened to Brother Jiang?"

Then they saw Jiang Yu stepping out.

Huangshan was slow to realize what had happened and initially thought it was an earthquake.

Upon realizing it was Jiang Yu who was behind it, it transformed into a gust of sand and flew over.

He looked at the shattered boulders and complained:

"Brother Jiang, why didn't you just walk out quietly? Why did you make such a commotion?"

Jiang Yu smiled slightly:

"That would be cool."

The weasels were speechless:

"You're handsome, but you've ruined the entrance to our hideout."

"Um?"

Jiang Yu then noticed that the gap left in the hole was just big enough for the weasel to squeeze in.

"None of that matters." Jiang Yu waved his hand awkwardly and said hurriedly:

"Well, I have something important to attend to, so I'll take my leave now."

He called Yingning, who was looking after Linghua, and prepared to leave.

To protect the flowers and plants, Yingning transplanted them directly into flowerpots.

Laoshan realized what was happening and quickly jumped onto Jiang Yu's shoulder:

"Wait, let's go together."

Lao Shu tapped his cane, trying to stop him:

"You little brat, get back here right now!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yu grabbed Ying Ning's hand and quickly stepped forward.

Huangshan transformed into a gust of sand and arrived before Jiang Yu, saying:

"Brother Jiang, wait a moment, I have a secret to tell you."