Chapter 1

In the Huaxia Divine Land, within the Qishan Realm, at the back of Fengming Mountain, Feng Roshan stood before an ordinary small courtyard in a common little valley, took a deep breath, and once again adjusted his neatly pressed robe, ready to knock on the door.

"Roshan, come in."

Before he could respond, the two wooden doors opened on their own without any wind.

"Yes. Roshan pays respects to the Ancestor."

Inside the room, an elderly man in his sixties or seventies sat cross-legged on a mat. He was the only Golden Core Ancestor of the Feng family, Feng Nantian. Beside him was a small stove with a vigorous charcoal fire, occasionally crackling. The water in the kettle had just boiled. In front of him was a tea table made of an unknown material, with a purple clay teapot, two porcelain cups, and a clay jar on it.

"Sit down and have a cup of tea first."

"Thank you, Ancestor, for the seat."

Feng Roshan watched as the elder skillfully poured water and brewed the tea. As the faint aroma of tea filled the air, his heartbeat gradually returned to normal.

"Try it."

"I dare not, Ancestor."

"You're not like yourself! Be more relaxed. You can't even brew tea, so I wouldn't let you do it for me, wasting my good tea."

The elder closed his eyes, looking as if he was in a trance. Feng Roshan cautiously took a sip and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"What? Is the tea not good?"

"I don't drink much tea, so I can't really tell the difference. But the tea from the Ancestor seems to have very little spiritual energy, which is different from what I expected."

"Ha ha, you're an interesting kid. My tea isn't lacking in spiritual energy; it has none at all. It's just ordinary tea for mortals, though a bit more precious. I've been a Golden Core for over two hundred years; I don't need the little bit of spiritual energy in spiritual tea. Drinking tea is just a way to relax."

Feng Roshan was taken aback.

After that, the room was silent except for the occasional crackling of the charcoal.

After a long while.

"Xiaoshan, are you resentful of the Ancestor?"

"Ah, I dare not, Ancestor." Feng Roshan straightened his back.

"Hmm, you dare not."

Feng Roshan didn't know how to respond, and for a moment, the room was so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.

"Being afraid doesn't mean you don't have feelings. You just don't dare to express them."

"I..."

"You don't need to explain. In the family, strength determines treatment. The more potential you show, the more resources the family will invest in you. Now that you've reached the Foundation Establishment stage, your treatment will naturally be different. This has always been the way of the family, whether it's fair or not."

"Yes, I understand, Ancestor."

Seeing the elder's calm demeanor, Feng Roshan's anger subsided.

"Do you understand your own talents? Your five elements are balanced, slightly favoring wood and fire. You practice the Spring Rain Technique. To be honest, the family's resources can't really support you. We can't afford to invest much effort in you. It's normal to have some feelings about the family, especially since they've spent almost no resources on your cultivation over the years. You managed to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, so you must have had some fortuitous encounters, right?"

"Yes, Ancestor. Ten years ago, I discovered the cave of an ancient Foundation Establishment cultivator on Xiaozhou Mountain. There were seventeen spiritual herbs in the medicinal garden, none of them rare, but all over a thousand years old. I refined twelve of them and managed to reach the Foundation Establishment stage by chance. Here are the remaining five, as a gift to celebrate the Ancestor's advancement to the middle stage of the Golden Core. May the Ancestor soon achieve the Nascent Soul stage and attain the Great Dao."

"These are your filial piety. I'll take one, and then I'll be at ease, and you can be at peace. As for the Nascent Soul stage, heh heh."

Feng Nantian casually picked up a Wind Ling Grass.

"This 1,500-year-old Wind Ling Grass is quite rare. Keep the rest and refine them when you have the time, to avoid any unforeseen circumstances. You refined twelve? What level were you at then? How long did it take? Tell me more."

"Yes, Ancestor." Feng Roshan took out a jade slip and placed it on the tea table.

"The boy's talent is ordinary. I was 25 years old and at the 8th level of Qi Condensation. The seventeen spiritual herbs were all of similar age. I first refined two with a wood attribute, spending one year and nine months to reach the 10th level of Qi Condensation. Then I refined two with a fire attribute, spending four years and two months to reach the peak of the 12th level of Qi Condensation. For the Foundation Establishment, I refined eight, including three with a wood attribute, two with a fire attribute, and one each with a metal, water, and earth attribute. It took another year to reach the Foundation Establishment stage by chance. After returning, I followed the patriarch's instructions to stabilize my realm. The details are all here, Ancestor, please take a look."

Feng Roshan gently patted his storage bag, took out a jade slip, and placed it on the tea table.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad."

Feng Nantian didn't look at the jade slip, but his face showed a smile, though it was unclear whether he was praising Feng Roshan's talent or the action of recording the details in the jade slip.

"What is your Lifebound Spirit Tree? What is your Lifebound Spirit Skill?"

Feng Roshan couldn't help but show a bitter smile.

"Ancestor, my Lifebound Spirit Tree is a Soul Nourishing Tree, and my Lifebound Spirit Skill is the Spirit Loss Stab."

"Soul Nourishing Tree! Spirit Loss Stab! Ha ha ha, you, I don't know whether to say your luck is good or bad."

Feng Nantian couldn't help but laugh.

"Use half your strength to stab me. Don't worry, you won't hurt me."

"Yes, Ancestor."

Feng Roshan didn't make any obvious movements, but he focused his mind and glared fiercely at Feng Nantian. His face then turned pale. Feng Nantian's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he pondered for a moment.

"Hmm, not bad. If you catch an unprepared Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivator, it won't have much effect. Against a Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivator, it will cause a brief moment of distraction. Against a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator, it will cause a full moment of distraction. If used well, it's quite effective. But if the opponent is prepared, the backlash will be quite severe. In the future, be cautious and use it sparingly, and only when you're sure of a kill, to avoid being discovered by those with ulterior motives."

"Thank you, Ancestor, for your guidance. I understand."

"This is a Soul Warming Jade. It can slightly accelerate the recovery of your spirit, and it also provides a small benefit to your spirit in daily use. I've worn it for many years, but it's no longer useful to me. I'll give it to you as a gift."

"Thank you, Ancestor, for the gift."

Feng Roshan respectfully took a crystal-clear jade pendant, feeling the warmth and the faint green hue in the milky white jade. He thought to himself, "It's better to be under a big tree. This Soul Warming Jade probably costs over a thousand spirit stones, and he just gave it away casually."

"Your talent, if it were before the Great War between humans and demons, would be quite good, suitable for practicing the Spring Rain Technique of our Feng family. But in the Huaxia Divine Land, with its 3,000 realms, our Qishan Realm is a small realm with low cultivation standards. It was one of the most brutal battlefields in the past, leading to extremely thin spiritual energy. Now, various heavenly materials and treasures have been almost completely depleted. To be honest, even the major sects in the realm might not have the resources for you to reach the Golden Core stage. However, your successful Foundation Establishment has greatly exceeded your father's expectations. Your father, though without a spiritual root, is said to be brave, decisive, and outstanding in both literature and martial arts. I've heard your two older brothers are also quite good. A year ago, your father was appointed as the city lord of Licheng, and your brothers are also in Licheng. You can visit them when you have the time."

Feng Nantian took another sip of tea and remained silent for a long time, as if savoring the tea or trying to recall the impression of his mortal descendant.

Feng Roshan was a collateral descendant of the Feng family, a cultivation family in the Qishan Realm of the Huaxia Divine Land. His father, Feng Mu Bai, and his mother, Wang Jing, as well as his older brother, Feng Rulong, and his second brother, Feng Ruhu, all lacked spiritual roots and could not cultivate. However, Feng Roshan had all five elements of spiritual roots: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Unfortunately, in the current Huaxia Divine Land cultivation world, five-element spiritual roots are considered very inferior. The speed of refining spiritual energy is much slower compared to cultivators with dual spiritual roots, let alone those with single spiritual roots. Moreover, it is said that breaking through bottlenecks is even more difficult, and most five-element cultivators never reach the Foundation Establishment stage, spending their lives in the Qi Condensation stage.

In ancient times, there were many cultivation techniques suitable for five-element cultivators, but the cultivation conditions were very strict, requiring a large amount of heavenly materials and treasures and massive resources. In the Huaxia Divine Land, very few people dare to attempt cultivating ancient techniques anymore.

In fact, not only five-element cultivators, but almost all ancient cultivation techniques face the problem of resource scarcity. Because of this, a large number of ancient cultivation techniques have been lost in the long river of history.

Generation after generation, cultivators have gradually modified and innovated cultivation techniques to make them suitable for the current environment. However, due to the slow cultivation speed of five-element cultivators, fewer high-level cultivators have appeared, and thus fewer suitable cultivation techniques have been developed, leading to a vicious cycle that has almost turned five-element cultivators into a tragedy in the cultivation world.

The Spring Rain Technique of the Feng family is also an ancient cultivation technique suitable for five-element cultivators. It requires the cultivation of all five elements and the understanding of the principles of mutual generation and mutual inhibition of the five elements. The most despairing part is the need to refine a large amount of life essence from spiritual herbs of sufficient age, which the technique calls "vitality."

Cultivators of the Spring Rain Technique will grow a Lifebound Spirit Tree in their dantian after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. Cultivators not only need to accumulate spiritual energy but also absorb the life essence of spiritual herbs, trees, and grass to grow together with the Lifebound Spirit Tree to break through bottlenecks and advance to higher stages.

Absorbing the life essence of herbs is different from refining pills. Refining pills involves combining the spiritual energy of herbs in a pill furnace using special refining techniques to form pills. A single furnace can produce many pills. For example, the most commonly used Essence Enhancing Pill for Qi Condensation cultivators can be refined from eight herbs by a skilled Qi Condensation cultivator in half an hour, with a success rate of about 90%, and up to 36 pills can be produced in one batch.

Of course, cultivating a pill refiner is very difficult. Not only does the cultivator need to have a talent for pill refining, but the initial investment is also beyond the means of most small families. The Feng family has only one Foundation Establishment pill refiner and three Qi Condensation pill refining apprentices.

Absorbing the essence of herbs cannot be done with a pill furnace; it can only be done by the cultivator's spirit and spiritual energy refining the herbs and simultaneously running secret techniques to absorb the life essence of the herbs. It is also possible to refine multiple herbs at the same time and absorb their essence while refining them into pills, called "heart refining." However, this requires very high spiritual energy and spirit.

For example, when Feng Roshan tried heart refining to produce Essence Enhancing Pills at the 10th level of Qi Condensation, he could only produce one pill at a time, and it took more than two hours, with a success rate of less than 10%.

However, because heart refining is completely controlled by the cultivator, it allows for adjustments to the ratio of the five elements' spiritual energy in the pills, making them more suitable for the cultivator's constitution and more effective than standard mass-produced pills.

For example, the Spirit Recovery Pill for restoring spiritual energy, the Spirit Recovery Pill that Feng Roshan specially refined for himself has a similar total amount of spiritual energy to the Spirit Recovery Pills sold in the market, but the spiritual energy in the pills needs to be refined. It takes about two hours to completely refine a Spirit Recovery Pill from the market, while his Spirit Recovery Pill takes only about 15 minutes.

In fact, the original Spring Rain Technique did not consider refining herbs into pills; it only involved absorbing the life essence of herbs. Later, due to the increasing rarity of various herbs, cultivators were reluctant to waste the spiritual energy in the herbs after absorbing the life essence, so they developed the heart refining technique to refine pills. The main purpose was still to understand the principles of mutual generation and mutual inhibition of the five elements, and the efficiency of using spiritual energy was naturally low, but it was better than nothing.

Over the years, Feng Roshan occasionally used heart refining to refine pills for reliable friends. The pills went to the friends, and he gained resources for absorbing life essence. Otherwise, relying solely on his own collection of herbs, it would be impossible to achieve such a fast cultivation speed. However, due to the low success rate of heart refining, such opportunities were rare.

Ancient techniques are ancient techniques. Although the attack and defense techniques accompanying the Spring Rain Technique are not outstanding and can even be considered quite poor compared to some top-tier techniques developed later, compared to other techniques, the spiritual energy is much denser and more substantial, and the body's recovery ability is astonishing. Cultivators also have a slightly longer lifespan than other cultivators of the same level. Most importantly, the Lifebound Spirit Tree comes with a Lifebound Spirit Skill, which, compared to techniques, does not require hand seals and has a very short preparation time, making it difficult to detect in battle and often a cultivator's trump card.

It is said that the growth of the Lifebound Spirit Tree is closely related to the cultivator's advancement. A well-grown Lifebound Spirit Tree can reduce the difficulty of breaking through bottlenecks. However, Feng Roshan did not dare to have too much confidence in this.

The Feng family also had no relevant records.

This is a common phenomenon in the cultivation world. The techniques of ancient times are indeed powerful, but the cultivation conditions are very strict, and the requirements for cultivators are extremely high. Modern techniques, while not as powerful in terms of raw power, consume less spiritual energy and are more efficient in using spiritual energy.

When Feng Mu Bai chose to have Feng Roshan cultivate the Spring Rain Technique, given his status as a collateral descendant, he had no hope that Feng Roshan would reach the Foundation Establishment stage. He only hoped that Feng Roshan could protect his mortal brothers and nephews for a few more years.

Unexpectedly, although Feng Roshan's cultivation talent was not very good, he was smart and had a good understanding of the five elements. He started cultivating at the age of five and reached the 8th level of Qi Condensation in just twenty years, not much slower than the family's key disciples. At the age of fifteen, he left the family to travel, and now, by chance, he has successfully reached the Foundation Establishment stage, which can be considered a fortunate accident.

"Have you been learning martial arts from mortals, specifically a sword technique? How is your practice going? What do you think?"

Feng Nantian showed a hint of curiosity.

"Mortal martial arts are not easy to learn. I casually learned a few moves of the Dragon Soaring Sword Technique, but I don't find them very useful."

"Hmm, the Spirit Loss Stab has significant side effects. When the time comes, using mortal sword techniques for close combat is not a bad way to fight. Your ability to plan ahead shows that you haven't wasted your time. Keep practicing, regardless of what others think. More preparation can make the difference between life and death."

"I understand, Ancestor."

"What are your plans for the future?"

"Please, Ancestor, give me guidance."

"Hmm, after a year of seclusion, your realm has stabilized. If you wish, you can cultivate in the family for a few years. It's safer, and if you have any questions, it's easier to discuss them with others. Have you already opened your own cave?"

"Ancestor, I have. Do I have to cultivate in the family?"

"Of course not. In fact, I don't recommend you cultivate in the family."

"I don't want to either."

"Hmm, good. Now that you've officially entered the cultivation world, you're still young, with nearly three hundred years of life span. You don't need to worry too much about accumulating spiritual energy, but the cultivation of your Lifebound Spirit Tree is something the family can help you with very little. It's good to go out and explore."

"Yes."

"Do you have any specific plans? If not, I have a task for you."

"I will follow the Ancestor's instructions."

"Our Qishan Realm has a tense relationship with the Qifeng Realm to the east. Over thousands of years, there have been five major conflicts and many small-scale battles. In the Qishan Mountains, which border the two realms, there are constant battles between cultivators from both realms. Both realms have built cities and fortresses on their sides of the Qishan Mountains, and these fortresses require cultivators to defend them. According to the rules of the Qishan Realm's Elder Council, the Feng family has a Foundation Establishment cultivator defense quota. Most families rotate every ten years, and our family is the same. The last time we sent someone was Mu Ren, who will return after a year."

"I've been to the Qishan Mountains many times and am willing to replace Uncle Shiliu."

"Good. In the last major conflict, both realms suffered heavy losses, with many Golden Core cultivators falling. Now, Golden Core cultivators generally don't leave the cities, but there are always dangers. Be very careful."

"Yes."

"Be more cautious in your daily life, even with your own people. Since the death of the Great Elder, our Feng family has been enduring, but the wind will not stop just because the tree wants to be still. Your cultivation of the Spring Rain Technique is no secret, and many people do not want our Feng family to produce a Golden Core cultivator using an ancient technique. The future of the Feng family ultimately depends on you."

"I understand, Ancestor. Please rest assured."

After a long time, a beam of light flashed on a mountain peak of Fengming Mountain, and Feng Roshan's figure appeared outside his newly opened cave.

"Having guidance makes a big difference! In just half a day, I've gained so much. No wonder the disciples of famous sects look down on us scattered cultivators. But according to the Feng family's rules, after being personally guided by the Ancestor, I am now officially a core member of the Feng family. From now on, I'm part of an organization."

Feng Roshan was excited but also felt a mix of indescribable emotions.

The Ancestor had personally guided him in cultivation for half a day, broadening his horizons and greatly benefiting him. Many problems he had struggled with were easily solved by the Ancestor's few words. More importantly, the Ancestor's casual remarks seemed to open a new window to a new world for him. Although the view outside the window was still very blurry, he had a vague sense of his future path.

The road ahead was certainly filled with all kinds of difficulties and obstacles, but compared to the confusion he felt when he first reached the Foundation Establishment stage, it was a world apart. At least he had a general direction to strive for.

But Feng Roshan was no longer in the mood to carefully organize his gains. His heart had already flown a thousand miles away to Licheng.