17: Chapter 17 The Life Spring with a Lifespan of Five Hundred Years

The Life Spring Realm is different from the Qi Sea Realm.

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

Some say the Life Spring is the source of life; once opened, one can securely live to the natural end of one's lifespan.

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

And this isn't about living to one hundred and twenty or thirty in a frail, decrepit state; it means maintaining eighty percent of one's strength until the end of one's days.

Furthermore, the Life Spring is not just something cultivated during the Four Stages of Ascending Dragon; it must be continuously refined throughout all subsequent cultivation.

Yu Xiu didn't have much of a feeling about lifespan. At the Ascending Dragon Fourth Stage, the Life Spring could at most allow one to live to one hundred and twenty or thirty, yet he already possessed a lifespan exceeding five hundred years.

No joke, the combined lifespans of four Life Spring cultivators might not even compare to his.

'I wonder if a Yin Demon will manifest this time.'

Yu Xiu was filled with anticipation.

But his anticipation was in vain.

Within the Qi Sea, rolling internal Qi surged ceaselessly, then poured into an indescribable place deep within the Qi Sea, where a faint, ethereal spring eye seemed to exist, with the aura of life drifting about.

'Life Spring!'

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

As the internal Qi surged, the originally ethereal Life Spring became increasingly clear, and the aura of life that gushed forth grew ever thicker.

In the end, the dense aura of life merged with the internal Qi, driving the transformation of the internal Qi into True Qi.

However, Yu Xiu was different from normal cultivators who had just entered the Life Spring Realm; his lifespan was too long, already exceeding five hundred years.

Manifested within the Life Spring, this meant his aura of life was exceptionally vast and thick, to the point that his True Qi was terrifyingly pure.

According to the descriptions in the Cultivation Technique, the younger one is when entering the Life Spring, the purer and more powerful the True Qi will be.

Because youth means a longer lifespan, the aura of life within the Life Spring will be thicker.

If cultivating the same Cultivation Technique, the difference in True Qi quality and strength between someone who advances to the Life Spring at sixteen versus someone who does so at seventy would be 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.

Throughout history, Yu Xiu is likely the only one to reach the Life Spring Realm at five hundred years of age.

If one says a sixteen-year-old's Life Spring has True Qi quality and strength more than ten times that of a seventy-year-old's Life Spring...

...then Yu Xiu's Life Spring would surpass a sixteen-year-old's by more than twenty times.

This is not an exaggeration at all.

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

'Life Spring is complete!'

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

He had missed out on another spiritual object.

From breaking through the Second Stage of Qi Circulation, entering the Third Stage of Qi Sea, and now entering the Fourth Stage of Life Spring, in total, it had been less than two months.

'Yin Demon, why haven't you gestated again yet?'

A bit disappointing!

Yu Xiu felt quite regretful, but quickly put it out of his mind.

After entering the Life Spring, the first thing to do was naturally to go and claim a free Life Spring Realm Cultivation Technique sword manual, as well as a Life Spring Realm sword technique.

There was an interesting thing here, which was that the identity token representing an Inner Courtyard Disciple needed to be updated.

He took out the identity token from his bosom, which had a texture like black jade and was bright black throughout; on the front were the six characters for 'Qingwei Sword Sect Inner Courtyard' written in a vigorous, dragon-flying-phoenix-dancing style.

On the back were the two characters for 'Yu Xiu'.

True Qi circulated within his body, and he slowly poured a stream of True Qi into the identity token.

Instantly, the original ink-black, bright color changed, turning cyan.

He didn't know what material the identity token was made of, to be able to change according to his Qi aura.

Yu Xiu didn't dwell on it, put away the updated identity token, and left his room, heading straight for the Scripture Pavilion.

He had only walked a few steps after leaving his room when he saw the four people who had entered the Inner Courtyard with him—Senior Brother Zhao Hong, Senior Sister Xu Rou, Senior Brother Liu Qingchuan, and Senior Brother Shan Yu—walking towards him.

It seemed that all four of them had expressions of excitement and joy.

They had entered the Inner Courtyard together, and their bamboo houses were located in the same direction, making them neighbors.

"Brother Yu." Senior Brother Zhao Hong, beaming, greeted him from afar with a cupped-fist salute.

"Brother Zhao, Miss Xu... what are you all doing?" Yu Xiu responded with a cupped-fist salute as well.

'They are all still stuck at the first layer of the Qi Sea!' Yu Xiu's gaze swept over the four, discovering that while their strength had not completely stagnated, the improvement was very, very small.

Fortunately, before leaving his room, Yu Xiu had already used Sword Heart Concealing Edge to hide his cultivation level; otherwise, if Senior Brother Zhao Hong and the others saw it, it would have been somewhat discouraging for them.

"We found a few Senior Brothers to guide us in our Cultivation Technique, and the gains were abundant," Senior Brother Zhao Hong said with a smile, clearly very satisfied with his own progress in cultivation.

"They say the Qi Sea is hard to cultivate, but in reality, as long as one has enough contribution points and can hire a Senior Brother or Senior Sister who cultivates the same Cultivation Technique to provide guidance, given our Aptitude, we can still advance vigorously," Senior Sister Xu Rou added, seemingly still immersed in the guidance provided by that Senior Sister.

"Less than a month, and we have already mastered the first part of the Cultivation Technique, and we have already traveled quite far on the path of mastery," Senior Brother Liu Qingchuan didn't say much, but one could still see the confidence in his eyes.

"If we continue like this, within five or six years, we won't need ten years to open the Life Spring and step into the Ascending Dragon Fourth Stage," Senior Brother Shan Yu rarely spoke, but he added this, and one could faintly see high fighting spirit in his eyes.

Senior Brother Zhao Hong suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Brother Yu, how has your cultivation progress been lately? Why haven't we seen you go and ask a Senior Brother who cultivates the same Cultivation Technique for guidance?"

'Are they still struggling with mastering the first part of the Cultivation Technique?' Yu Xiu thought to himself that when he read the first part of the Cultivation Technique, he had already mastered it.

Now, he was already at the Life Spring Realm; why would he need anyone else's guidance?

But he didn't want to discourage the four of them, so he just shook his head: "I lack contribution points, so how could I ask a Senior Brother or Senior Sister for guidance? I can only explore and cultivate on my own."

Senior Brother Zhao Hong felt sorry for Yu Xiu: "You should still find someone to guide you. That way, your cultivation progress will be at least twice as fast, if not more."

Senior Sister Xu Rou suddenly added: "By the way, back when we first entered, many Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters invited us to join their groups. I saw that a few Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters were quite enthusiastic; they were even willing to find people to guide us in our Cultivation Technique and sword manuals, and they weren't in a rush to urge us to join. They could even take us out on missions to earn contribution points. It's actually worth considering!"

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

'Hmm? Not rushing people to join, willing to find people to guide them in Cultivation Technique and sword manuals, and bringing them on missions to earn contribution points?' Yu Xiu's heart stirred.

Isn't this a scam?

These kinds of conditions can basically only be met by scammers.

But Senior Brother Zhao Hong, Senior Sister Xu Rou, and the others hadn't offended anyone, and their Aptitude was good, so perhaps someone was willing to invest in them in exchange for their future...

Yu Xiu thought for a moment and vaguely sensed that this matter might have something to do with him, though it was hard to be sure.

"When our contribution points are exhausted, we will have barely consolidated the Qi Sea Realm, so we can go out and earn some contribution points for cultivation," Senior Brother Zhao Hong agreed.

Senior Brother Shan Yu and Senior Brother Liu Qingchuan didn't say much, just nodded.

"Brother Yu, do you want to join us then?" Senior Brother Zhao Hong looked at Yu Xiu.

"We'll see when the time comes." Yu Xiu thought about it but didn't rush to refuse.

If it really was that guy Fang Jiming pushing all of this behind the scenes just to get him to leave the Inner Courtyard, then after some time passed, when he broke through the Ascending Dragon Fourth Stage Life Spring and stepped into the first of the Great Four Passes, he could give Fang Jiming a huge surprise!

You want me to leave the Inner Courtyard? Then I'll leave the Inner Courtyard and show you!

Using the Great Four Passes to fight the Four Stages of Ascending Dragon, a counter-slaughter of a lower-level cultivator!