Life Spring of Five Hundred Years of Lifespan

The Life Spring stage is different from the Qi Sea.

In the unknowable depths of the Qi Sea lies the Life Spring.

Some say the Life Spring is the fountain of life; once opened, one can live securely to the natural limit of human longevity.

Some can live to one hundred and twenty, while others can even reach one hundred and thirty.

Moreover, this is not a frail, bedridden existence; one can maintain eighty percent of their strength until the end of their days.

Furthermore, the Life Spring is not only cultivated during the fourth stage of the Ascending Dragon; it must be maintained throughout all subsequent cultivation.

Yu Xiu did not have much of a feeling regarding longevity. The fourth stage of the Ascending Dragon, the Life Spring, could at most grant a lifespan of one hundred and twenty or thirty years, yet he currently possessed a lifespan exceeding five hundred years.

This is no joke; the combined lifespans of four Life Springs might not even equal his own.

I wonder if a Shadow Demon will manifest this time.

Yu Xiu was filled with anticipation.

But his expectations were once again met with disappointment.

Within his Qi Sea, surging internal Qi churned ceaselessly, flowing into the indescribable depths of the Qi Sea where a faint, ethereal spring eye seemed to pulse with the breath of life.

Life Spring!

Yu Xiu's heart stirred as he carefully perceived the process.

As the internal Qi surged, the once-ethereal Life Spring became increasingly clear, and the breath of life it exhaled grew ever more concentrated.

In the end, this dense breath of life merged with his internal Qi, driving its transformation into true Qi.

However, Yu Xiu differed from the average practitioner just entering the Life Spring realm; his lifespan was too long, already exceeding five hundred years.

Manifested within the Life Spring, his breath of life was exceptionally vast and thick, to the point that his true Qi was terrifyingly pure.

According to the teachings of his cultivation manual, the younger one is when stepping into the Life Spring, the purer and more formidable the true Qi becomes.

Because youth represents a longer remaining lifespan, the breath of life within the Life Spring is naturally more concentrated.

If two people practice the same technique, the difference in true Qi quality and strength between one who promotes to the Life Spring at sixteen and one who promotes at seventy is like heaven and earth.

A sixteen-year-old's Life Spring is more than ten times superior to a seventy-year-old's.

Ultimately, the key to the Life Spring realm lies in the vastness of one's vitality; the longer the lifespan, the stronger the Life Spring.

A five-hundred-year-old Life Spring realm practitioner—from ancient times to the present, Yu Xiu was likely the only one.

If a sixteen-year-old's Life Spring true Qi quality and strength were ten times that of a seventy-year-old's, then Yu Xiu's Life Spring was more than twenty times superior to that of a sixteen-year-old.

This was no exaggeration.

[Realm: Ascending Dragon Fourth Stage, Life Spring: First Layer (189/1000)]

The Life Spring is complete!

However, to Yu Xiu's disappointment, no Shadow Demon had manifested.

He had missed out on another spiritual treasure.

From breaking through the second stage of Qi Circulation, entering the third stage of the Qi Sea, and now the fourth stage of the Life Spring, less than two months had passed in total.

Shadow Demon, why haven't you gestated again?

How disappointing!

Yu Xiu felt quite regretful, but he quickly cast the thought aside.

After entering the Life Spring, the first order of business was naturally to claim a free Life Spring realm cultivation technique and a sword art.

There is an interesting detail here: the identity token representing an inner sect disciple needed to be updated.

He pulled the token, which felt like ink-jade and was translucent black, from his robes. On the front were the six characters for "Qingwei Sword Sect Inner Sect" written in a flowing, dragon-like script.

On the back were the two characters "Yu Xiu."

He circulated the true Qi within his body, slowly pouring a strand into the token.

In an instant, the ink-black, translucent color shifted, turning a vibrant cyan.

He did not know what material the token was made of to be able to change according to his Qi.

Yu Xiu did not dwell on it. He put away the updated token, stepped out of his room, and headed straight for the Library Pavilion.

He had only walked a few steps when he saw Zhao Hong, Xu Rou, Liu Qingchuan, and Shan Yu—the four others who had entered the inner sect with him—approaching from the opposite direction.

They appeared to be in high spirits, their expressions filled with excitement and joy.

Since they had entered the inner sect together, their bamboo huts were located in the same area, making them neighbors.

"Brother Yu!" Zhao Hong, his face glowing, cupped his hands in greeting from afar.

"Brother Zhao, Lady Xu... what brings you all here?" Yu Xiu returned the gesture.

Still stuck at the first layer of the Qi Sea! Yu Xiu's gaze swept over the four of them, noting that while their strength had not remained stagnant, the improvement was minimal.

Fortunately, before heading out, Yu Xiu had used his Hidden Edge sword heart to conceal his cultivation, otherwise, seeing it would have been quite a blow to Zhao Hong and the others.

"I sought guidance from a few senior brothers on my cultivation techniques and gained a great deal," Zhao Hong said with a smile, clearly very satisfied with her own progress.

"They say the Qi Sea is difficult to cultivate, but in truth, as long as one has enough contribution points to invite senior brothers or sisters who practice the same techniques to provide guidance, even with our aptitude, we can still advance with great vigor," Xu Rou added, seemingly still immersed in the guidance she had received from that senior sister.

"In less than a month, we have already mastered the first volume of our techniques, and we have traveled quite far along the path of entry," Liu Qingchuan did not say much, but the confidence in his eyes was still visible.

"At this rate, we won't need ten years; in five or six, we should be able to open our Life Spring and step into the fourth stage of Ascending Dragon," Shan Yu also spoke up, a rare occurrence, with a high-spirited fighting intent faintly visible between his brows.

Zhao Hong suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Brother Yu, how has your cultivation been progressing lately? Why haven't I seen you seeking out senior brothers who practice the same techniques for guidance?"

Still stuck on the first volume? Yu Xiu thought to himself, having mastered the technique the very first time he read it.

Now that he was already at the Life Spring realm, he had no need for anyone else's guidance.

However, not wanting to discourage the four of them, he simply shook his head: "I lack contribution points, so how could I seek guidance from senior brothers or sisters? I can only explore and cultivate on my own."

Zhao Hong felt a sense of regret for Yu Xiu: "You really should seek someone's guidance; it would make your cultivation progress at least twice as fast, if not more."

Xu Rou suddenly chimed in: "That's right, back when we first joined, many senior brothers and sisters invited us to join their factions. I noticed a few of them were quite enthusiastic, even willing to find people to guide us in our techniques and sword arts. They weren't even in a rush to pressure us to join, and they offered to take us on missions to earn contribution points. It might be worth considering!"

"After all, we don't have many contribution points left!"

Hm? Not in a rush to recruit people, willing to provide guidance, and even taking people on missions to earn points? Yu Xiu's heart stirred.

Isn't this a scam?

Conditions like these are basically only met by con artists.

But Zhao Hong, Xu Rou, and the others hadn't offended anyone, and their aptitude was good; perhaps someone was willing to invest in them to secure their future...

Yu Xiu thought for a moment and vaguely sensed that this matter might have something to do with him, though he couldn't be certain.

"Once our contribution points are exhausted, we will have barely consolidated our Qi Sea realm, so we could go out to earn some points for our cultivation," Zhao Hong agreed.

Shan Yu and Liu Qingchuan didn't say much, merely nodding.

"Brother Yu, will you join us when the time comes?" Zhao Hong looked at Yu Xiu.

"We'll see when the time comes." Yu Xiu thought about it, not in a hurry to refuse.

If it truly was that fellow Fang Jiming pushing all of this behind the scenes, just to get him to step out of the inner courtyard, then after some time had passed, once he broke through the fourth stage of Ascending Dragon—the Life Spring—and stepped into the first of the Great Four Stages, he could give Fang Jiming a massive surprise!

You want me to step out of the inner courtyard? Then I shall step out and show you!

Using the Great Four Stages to strike at the Ascending Dragon stages—a reverse slaughter of the lower cultivation!