Heavenly Spirit Root!

Li Qingshan looked at the Spirit Testing Stone Ye Lingshuang held out to him. The smooth, warm jade felt both unfamiliar and familiar beneath his fingers.

Memories of testing his spiritual root a hundred years ago surged into his mind in an instant.

A trace of complicated emotion flickered through his clouded eyes—nostalgia for the past, and a helpless sigh over his own fate.

At a hundred years old, testing again would only add to his sorrow.

He had wanted to decline, but when he saw Er Ya's bright, sparkling eyes brimming with expectation and pleading, the words of refusal lodged in his throat.

Fine. He would fulfill the child's wish.

His aged, withered hand, covered in wrinkles and age spots, trembled almost imperceptibly as it slowly closed around the Spirit Testing Stone.

At first, nothing happened.

The Spirit Testing Stone lay as silent as a dead object, just as it had a hundred years ago.

A contemptuous curve rose at the corner of Zhang Ming's mouth, as if he had expected this all along. Ye Lingshuang also shook her head slightly, preparing to take back the Spirit Testing Stone.

However, just as Ye Lingshuang's fingertips were about to touch the Spirit Testing Stone, and Li Qingshan was about to let go—

Bzzz!

A hum far more majestic and crystalline than the one from Er Ya's test suddenly rang out!

The Spirit Testing Stone shook violently in Li Qingshan's hand, like a star awakening from slumber!

Then, an indescribably pure beam of azure light shot into the sky!

The pillar was not a single color. It contained a Dao rhythm that embraced all things and nurtured life, like that wisp of primordial clear qi from when heaven and earth first opened!

It lacked the sharpness and agility of gold and blue, yet possessed a vast, majestic, inexhaustible power!

The beam soared into the heavens, instantly reaching the astonishing height of nine chi and nine cun!

The entire Peach Blossom Village was enveloped in that pure and powerful azure light. Even the peach blossoms drifting through the air seemed to stop falling, their petals touched by a sacred halo.

The villagers were left dumbstruck by this sudden miracle. One after another, they dropped to their knees, murmuring prayers beneath their breaths.

"This... this..."

The contempt on Zhang Ming's face froze instantly. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and his gaping mouth could have fit an egg. "Nine chi and nine cun? Pure azure Dao rhythm? This... this is the legendary Heavenly Spirit Root?! And... a wood-attributed Heavenly Spirit Root?"

For the first time, violent emotion appeared on Ye Lingshuang's cool, beautiful face. Her lovely eyes were filled with incredulous shock!

A tremor seeped into her restrained voice. "It truly is a Heavenly Spirit Root! Its affinity... its affinity is at least above eighty? How is this possible?! In a hundred-year-old mortal?"

The village entrance fell deathly silent. Only the lingering hum of the Spirit Testing Stone and the pure azure light piercing heaven and earth silently proclaimed a fact enough to drive anyone mad.

This hundred-year-old man, already at death's door, possessed the supreme talent found in fewer than one in a million cultivators—one that could drive any sect mad: a Heavenly Spirit Root!

Li Qingshan himself was stunned as well.

He felt the warm yet boundless power flowing from the Spirit Testing Stone in his hand. An indescribable vitality seemed to be traveling up his arm, seeking to pour into his body, which had long since dried up and decayed.

Yet that vitality was like a battering ram striking a thick, crumbling wall riddled with cracks. It could not penetrate at all, only lingering and dissipating along the surface of his body.

His heart was a jumble of flavors—shock, wild joy, but more than anything, an utterly absurd bitterness.

"A... Heavenly Spirit Root?"

Li Qingshan muttered hoarsely, his voice dry and rough, as though he were chewing on words that did not belong to him.

"Yes! A Heavenly Spirit Root! Old sir, you possess a Heavenly Spirit Root that appears only once in ten thousand years!"

Zhang Ming was so excited that his words came out in a jumble. The way he looked at Li Qingshan had changed completely, burning with fervor and excitement as if he were gazing upon an unparalleled treasure.

"You... you..."

Ye Lingshuang also recovered from her shock. As she looked at Li Qingshan's aged, declining face and sensed the life force within him, nearly exhausted, the delight in her eyes was swiftly replaced by deep regret.

That brilliance was like an epiphyllum blooming for a single night—dazzling, yet destined to be brief.

"What a pity... it is too late..."

Ye Lingshuang's voice carried deep regret, like a bucket of ice water extinguishing Zhang Ming's excitement. "At a hundred years old, your blood and qi are depleted, your meridians shriveled, and your sea of consciousness muddied... Even with a Heavenly Spirit Root, what can you do? The hurdle of drawing qi into your body alone will likely consume the last of your life force, let alone Foundation Establishment or core formation... How unfair the Heavenly Dao is, to reveal such heaven-defying talent only when your lamp is out and your oil is dry!"

Her words were like a blunt knife, cutting open the cruel reality beneath that dazzling curtain of light.

Zhang Ming immediately calmed down as well. The fervor faded from his face, leaving only profound regret and helplessness.

That was right. He was already a hundred years old, with little lifespan remaining. Even with a Heavenly Spirit Root, it would be difficult for him to travel far on the path of cultivation.

"No! That won't happen!"

Er Ya ignored all of that. She clutched Ye Lingshuang's sleeve tightly, tears covering her little face as she sobbed, "Fairy sister, please! Grandpa Qingshan has a spiritual root now, the very best Heavenly Spirit Root! Take him with us too! Please!

He can definitely cultivate! The stories he tells are so wonderful, and he understands so many principles. He can definitely do it! Please, take him with us! If he doesn't go, then I won't go either!"

Er Ya's tearful pleas carried a child's stubbornness, yet they were filled with sincere emotion.

Looking at Er Ya's reddened, tear-filled eyes, then at the calm acceptance of fate in Li Qingshan's gaze, Ye Lingshuang struggled inwardly.

If she brought back a hundred-year-old Heavenly Spirit Root, what would the sect think?

This was almost certainly an investment doomed to bear no fruit.

But Er Ya had a high-grade spiritual root and was the sect's hope for the future. Her wishes had to be considered.

Moreover, allowing a Heavenly Spirit Root to remain lost among mortals, even if he was destined to achieve nothing great, seemed like a desecration of the Heavenly Dao.

In the end, Ye Lingshuang let out a soft sigh. "Fine. Li Qingshan, for Er Ya's sincere heart, and for the sake of your... Heavenly Spirit Root, I can bring you back to the Spring Autumn Sect."

"Really?"

Er Ya lifted her head in delighted surprise.

"But you must understand."

Ye Lingshuang looked at Li Qingshan sternly. "The sect's resources are limited. It cannot invest too much in someone... in the twilight of life. You may only enter as an outer disciple.

"Furthermore, the sect's rules are strict. Outer disciples must take on menial duties. If your lifespan runs out within the sect, do not bear any resentment. Are you willing?"

Li Qingshan looked at the immortal cultivator standing before him, at Er Ya crying her heart out, then at the complicated and reverent looks of the villagers around him.

A hundred years had slipped away, and he had accomplished nothing. He had thought the yellow earth would soon reach his neck, yet at the end of his life, he saw a crack opening in the immortal gate he had once dreamed of entering, though that crack was narrow and covered in thorns.

A faint light flashed through his clouded eyes before fading back into calm.

He smiled slightly. The wrinkles on his face unfolded like dried tangerine peel, carrying the open-mindedness of one who had weathered countless years. "This old man... is willing. Many thanks, Fairy, for granting this."

"Er Ya, thank you too!"

Li Qingshan smiled and patted Er Ya's little head.

"That's wonderful! Grandpa Qingshan, we can cultivate immortality together!"

Er Ya cheered and threw herself excitedly into Li Qingshan's arms.

"Go say goodbye to your mother."

Li Qingshan sighed softly.

Er Ya nodded obediently and ran into her mother's embrace. Both of them wept until they were drenched in tears.

The surrounding villagers were all deeply moved.

Although Er Ya could now cultivate, they vaguely understood that immortals and mortals belonged to different worlds. Once she left, meeting again would be difficult.

And so, beneath the complicated and reverent gazes of Peach Blossom Village's villagers, Ye Lingshuang brought out a small spirit boat. Carrying Zhang Ming, Er Ya, and Li Qingshan, it transformed into a streak of light that shot into the sky, leaving that peaceful mountain village behind.