In my twilight years of cultivating, I became a Supreme Daoist of the Longevity Path

"The stinking fishmonger who has been living in the old shack on the west side for over a month now, have you found out his relationship with the Luo family?"

"Brother Xu, I've looked into it. Hisss... indeed, there turns out to be a slight connection, and it's not trivial either.

It is rumored that the waist badge in the hands of the man surnamed Chen was personally given by Miss Luo Bing from the Luo family. Despite it being the lowest level badge, but..."

"Miss Luo is an esteemed disciple of the Miaoyin Sect, possessing top-notch spiritual roots, isn't she already a high-level cultivator at the 8th or 9th level of Qi Cultivation?

It seems she returned to the Luo family last month, and Old Master Luo even held a banquet. The timing matches with this Chen's... Tsk. Why would Miss Luo take interest in a mortal? What kind of fish is he selling that he could establish a connection with Miss Luo?"

In the loose cultivator region, within a six-story tower, two individuals were sitting and chatting by the window. One of them, a man dressed in luxurious purple robes, was lost in thought before nodding.

"If it's just an ordinary Luo family badge, it's nothing noteworthy and not worth the effort of recruiting this mere mortal.

However, since he is related to Miss Luo, we must take it seriously. Immediately go and recruit him before our competitors get wind of the information."

"Understood!"

"Also, take a spirit stone as a token of courtesy. If he agrees to join us, as long as he becomes a cultivator in the future, get him a better place to live. He shouldn't stay in the slums anymore."

"Understood! But Brother Xu, there's one more thing, Old Lin has been found, already dead. His decomposing body was found in one of his old hideouts in the birch forest by Spirit Moon Lake. However, it can be seen that he was killed by a direct attack."

"Dead…?"

The man in the lavish attire suddenly looked grim, his cold gaze sweeping the landscape outside the window, he mused, "Old Lin was only second-level Qi cultivation, which was relatively low-ranked. He nonetheless had a low-ranking magical artifact I provided and a second-level Golden Light Shield talisman in hand. Within this small territory, only core loose cultivators from other factions could have killed him. Who could it be?"

"Brother Xu, do you think it might have been done by someone sent by that fellow surnamed Qian from Hutong Street? We have been at odds with Hutong Street over a few resource points, I heard he was preparing to break through to the sixth level of Qi Cultivation recently. Could he have succeeded already..."

...

Inside a simple wooden house in the slum.

Chen Dengming was dripping with sweat. His well-defined muscles were glistening with tiny beads of sweat, like layers of greasy sheen.

He was in a particularly strange position, the true Qi in his body was constantly moving along several pathways, causing steam to rise all over his body and miniscule tremors of spiritual energy around him.

"Three hundred and ninety-ninth time..."

After about fifteen minutes, he exhaled deeply, succumbing to fatigue, and lay prone on the ground. Only after a while did he manage to stand up and scrutinize the display panel intently.

"A martial artist at the eighth level of the Innate Realm, Chen Dengming

Life Span: 82/148

Spiritual Root: Gold, Wood (Low-grade 87/100)

Martial Arts: 'Chen Family Martial Arts Compendium' (Complete 29/100)

Dao Techniques: 'Gu Refining Chapter' (Mastered 0/100), 'Three Elements Gathering Spirit Skill' (Beginner 3/100)"

"Puff, thirty-nine days have passed. It seems with my spiritual root aptitude, I need to practice ten times a day, and it will take ten days of practice just to barely increase my proficiency in the Three Elements Gathering Spirit Skill."

"At this rate, even in the ideal scenario, I would still need more than nine hundred and sixty days to reach the first level of the Qi Cultivation realm. It's too slow."

Chen Dengming looked at the information displayed on the panel, sighed inside, and wiped off his sweat with the towel on the chair before picking up a pen and paper to practice writing.

Yes, practicing writing.

Although the language of this cultivation world is similar to that of the Nanxun Kingdom, with only slight differences in dialect, the written language is significantly different.

As such, Chen Dengming had to relearn how to write.

Fortunately, even though he was a bit older, as an innate realm martial artist, read and remember, if not photographic memory. He was quick to catch on to the new writing system and mastered most of the characters in just one month.

Ever since he officially received the right to reside in the loose cultivator gathering area, he had been undergoing recovery and training in his house and practiced writing The Art of War by Sun Tzu in his leisure time.

He would occasionally cook some spirit rice to maintain good relations with his neighbors and inquire about the world of cultivation and surroundings, so as not to isolate himself.

Possibly due to the waist badge from the Luo Family, no one came to cause trouble for him, and his life was quite peaceful.

This made him utterly relieved, secretly believing that killing that old cultivator wouldn't cause too much trouble.

However, the one thing still making him feel rushed was his cultivation progress.

Since moving into the shanty house, he had started practicing the 'Three Elements Gathering Spirit Skill'.

But the gold overcomes wood aspect of his spiritual roots was no joke.

Whenever he managed to gather the surrounding spiritual energy, the gold element energy would ambush the wood element energy and dissipate the energy, resulting in mutual loss, with the wood element suffering most."

This resulted in him being able to absorb very little spiritual energy. After cultivating for more than thirty days and practicing the "Three Elements Spirit Gathering Skill" ten times a day, totaling to over three hundred and ninety practice sessions, the proficiency level of the "Three Elements Spirit Gathering Skill" had only increased by three points.

However, a silver lining was that after learning this cultivation technique, his lifespan increased directly by ten years, extending his life expectancy to 148 years.

Considering his current rate of cultivation, it seems that he needed at least two to three years to break through from the Innate Eightfold to the Qi Cultivation stage, which was indeed too long.

"The stage after the Innate Eightfold is Qi Cultivation. Even though it's only a single giant boundary away, it's a difference like night and day. In this Cultivation World, I must immediately become a cultivator if I want to have some status and ability to survive..."

Chen Dengming threw the towel on the table, contemplating anxiously in his heart.

It wasn't surprising that he was in a hurry.

Moving from the mortal world to the Cultivation World, he had instantly transformed from a big shot in the martial world to a cannon fodder in the Cultivation World.

He thought that as long as he cultivated slowly, he would eventually rise to the top.

However, an unexpected battle with a seasoned cultivator made him realize that those who desire peace must prepare for war, and weakness is the greatest sin.

If he wanted peace, he must become stronger.

"It seems... Without sacrifice, there's no gain. I should consider practicing the 'Life-Shortening Cultivation Enhancement Skill'."

Chen Dengming took a deep breath, finished a cup of water in the room, calming his emotions.

In fact, his current situation wasn't too bad.

Although he was still unsure about the cultivation speed of other cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots.

But referring to his many years of experience, he could almost imagine that no one would be faster than him.

Because he had a cultivation panel, his brain seemed to have been enhanced during cultivation.

As long as he diligently cultivates, it would naturally enhance his understanding of the cultivation techniques, thereby increasing the proficiency level of the technique. Hence, there would be rewards with efforts.

Therefore, he could increase the proficiency level of a technique every ten days of cultivation. After more than nine hundred days, he should naturally be able to breakthrough.

For others to experience the same seamless and unhindered progress like him where improvement is guaranteed with practice, is simply impossible.

So, his cultivation speed was not particularly slow, he was just not satisfied enough.

"If I attempt to practice the 'Life-Shortening Cultivation Enhancement Skill', it will enhance the quality of my spiritual roots, and the speed of cultivation will increase again. I can cautiously give it a try..."

After motivating himself.

According to the cultivation technique of the "Three Elements Spirit Gathering Skill", Chen Dengming adopted another peculiar posture and continued to cultivate.

In this strange posture, his muscles seemed to be stretched tight, his attention highly focused, his body began to tremble and sweat, with the Essence, Qi, and Spirit highly concentrated.

An incense stick's time later.

Chen Dengming fell to the ground feeling weak and had muscle spasms, but his Innate True Qi began to rapidly circulate within his body, eventually returning to his Dantian, becoming purer and transitioning towards spiritual energy.

"Four hundredth time..."

The data information of the "Three Elements Spirit Gathering Skill" in the panel also changed.

"Three Elements Spirit Gathering Skill (Initial learning 4/100)"

As the proficiency level of the "Three Elements Spirit Gathering Skill" changed, the "Chen Family Martial Arts Compendium" also improved, and its proficiency directly increased to 30.

This cultivation method refined by Chen Dengming by integrating the learning of various schools, was based on the martial arts compendium.

Now he cultivates the Dao of Immortality.

Under the supreme principle, this method is gradually becoming complete.

Perhaps in the future, it will become a cultivation compendium that completely fits his transition from the martial path to the Dao of Immortality.

This way, step by step, he will eventually reach the peak of the Dao of Immortality.

"Bang, bang ——"

At this moment, the thin and shabby door was knocked, and a soft feminine voice came from outside.

"Mr. Chen, are you home? I have something to disturb you!"~

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