Steadily becoming a saint, the immortal officials hired me to tend the horses

Under the veil of night, Gu An swiftly moved through the mountains, heading in the opposite direction from where he had previously slain Lin Futian. This time, he planned to break through a hundred miles away.

Throughout the month, he had observed that no Disciples of Law Enforcement Hall patrolled after midnight.

As he traveled, rows of prompts suddenly appeared before Gu An's eyes:

[You have successfully seized Bitter Root Grass (Tier 3) with 6 years of life span]

[You have successfully seized Bitter Root Grass (Tier 3) with 7 years of life span]

[Your life span has broken through one hundred thousand years for the first time, activating the Life Span Deduction feature]

[Life Span Deduction: Consume life span to deduce the laws of cause and effect in the Great Dao and destiny; the life span consumed depends on the consequences deduced]

Life Span Deduction?

Gu An's brows furrowed; he smelled a conspiracy.

This was aiming to trap his life span!

Could it drain his life span in an instant?

Gu An decided to test the waters fleetingly. When the new function appeared, he gained some insight and knew how to use it.

The so-called deduction was actually using life span to ask questions.

In his heart, Gu An silently asked, "Using Life Span Deduction, does Jiang Qiong currently want to kill me?"

About two breaths of time passed.

[It requires 300 years of life span, do you want to proceed with the deduction?]

No!

Too expensive!

Gu An outright refused, but this trial reassured him significantly.

At least Life Span Deduction would inform him in advance how much life span would be required, allowing him to avoid being drained of life span all at once.

Gu An ceased probing and focused on traveling.

This feature should be used sparingly, as spending life span to explore the unknown seemed temporarily unworthy to him.

On the road ahead, Gu An was extremely cautious, continually spreading out his Divine Sense to avoid encountering another Nascent Soul cultivator.

The night was silent.

Along the way, although he saw no demon beasts, he could see traces of wild animals, mostly herbivores like wild rabbits and mice.

About fifty miles away from Mystic Valley, Gu An suddenly spotted a White Spirit Rat.

In the forest, this creature was entangling a rabbit, trailing behind the rabbit's tail and sniffing forward every now and then as the rabbit hopped.

It resembled a large dog chasing a rabbit.

How humiliating...

Gu An pretended not to see and quietly left without disturbing the White Spirit Rat.

"No wonder this fellow always runs out, even its movements are like a rabbit's…"

Gu An recalled the scene he had just witnessed and could not help but laugh and cry.

The White Spirit Rat had indeed been misraised, fortunately, he still had Sky Dragon.

Thinking of Sky Dragon's majestic figure, Gu An felt his mood improve.

Half an Ancient Hour later, Gu An arrived in a dense forest, where the overlapping leaves were so thick that even those flying above could not see him.

Gu An sat down under a large tree, took a deep breath, and summoned his Attribute Panel.

Looking at his life span of one hundred thousand and three years, his face showed anticipation.

One hundred thousand years of life span, truly wealthy and powerful, this time he could properly enhance his various attributes.

First, he would enhance his Spirit Root, maybe invest a bit more since this was the hardest to improve.

How much life should he invest?

After hesitating for a moment, Gu An decided to be bold and directly spend ten thousand years!

[You invest ten thousand years of life span into evolving your Spirit Root through cultivation]

[You contemplate the nature's spiritual energy for one hundred years, your Five Elements Spirit Root Perception Power improves]

[You contemplate the nature's spiritual energy for two hundred years, your Five Elements Spirit Root Perception Power improves]

…

[You contemplate the nature's spiritual energy for two thousand years, finally catching a glimpse of the True Meaning of Heaven and Earth. Your Spirit Root undergoes a baptism of Heaven and Earth, your Five Elements Spirit Root Qualification begins to transform, with your Wood and Earth Spirit Roots becoming notably outstanding]

…

[You contemplate the nature's spiritual energy for four thousand years, your Five Elements Spirit Root Perception Power improves]

[You contemplate the nature's spiritual energy for five thousand years, feeling the Five Elements Arcane between Heaven and Earth. You resonate with the elements, and your Spirit Root Qualification undergoes a qualitative change, transforming into a Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Root]

…

[You contemplate the nature's spiritual energy for eight thousand years, finally capturing a trace of the Wood Spirit Law of Heaven and Earth. Your Wood Attribute Spirit Root undergoes a transformation, becoming a Top-Grade Wood Attribute Heavenly Spirit Root]

[You contemplate the nature's spiritual energy for ten thousand years, your Five Elements Spirit Root Perception Power improves]

Rows of prompts crazily appeared, so many that Gu An dared not blink.

When the last prompt appeared, he immediately activated the Life Span Barrier.

In an instant, the grass beneath his feet shimmered with a ghostly glow, and even the trees behind him emitted a bit of green light, illuminating the area inside the barrier suddenly.

Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Root!

Gu An became excited.

The Heavenly Spirit Root was the strongest he had ever heard of, even the Ji Family's Ji Xiaoyu could not compare.

Heavenly Spirit Roots were often of a single attribute, but the pace of cultivating with a single attribute was incomparably faster than with Dual Spirit Roots, even to the point of being worlds apart.

According to Li Ya, a Heavenly Spirit Root was Heaven and Earth's favored child, only born either through great fortune or after generations of effort by a family over thousands of years, could such a Spirit Root be nurtured.

Currently, in the Taicang Dynasty, there was only one Heavenly Spirit Root Cultivator, residing within the Supreme Sect. Exact details were not disclosed by Li Ya.

Gu An suspected Li Xuandao was also a Heavenly Spirit Root, just very well hidden.

As Gu An pondered, the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth began to flood into his body, making him itch all over, yet bringing an indescribable sensation of comfort.

Let's invest another ten thousand years!

With such an abundance of life span at his disposal, Gu An suddenly felt ten thousand years was not much to spend.

Thus, he invested another ten thousand years of life span into his Spirit Root, and rows of prompts crazily appeared before his eyes.

Spirit Root Perception Power improves!

Spirit Root Perception Power improves!

Gu An looked at the identical prompts, his Daoist heart beginning to tremble.

Something was amiss!

Trouble!

Big trouble!

Until the five thousand-year mark, his Earth Spirit Root had transformed into a Top-Grade Heavenly Spirit Root.

For the next five thousand years, there was only an increase in the perception power of his spirit root, like an abyss, continuing until the end.

Gu An's heart bled.

He practiced the Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill—relying on the Wood Spirit Root was enough—which meant, the investment of the next ten thousand years wouldn't increase his cultivation speed again.

Spirit roots were destined from birth, and in reality, there was no known cultivation technique for enhancing spirit roots. His advancement from an ordinary Five Elements Spirit Root to a Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Root was already inconceivable.

No way!

Spend again!

He couldn't let these ten thousand years be wasted!

Gu An gritted his teeth and invested another ten thousand years of life span.

More prompts quickly popped up, and Gu An's expression had already darkened.

After investing ten thousand years, the Fire Spirit Root transformed into a Top-Grade Heavenly Spirit Root.

It couldn't be that it takes ten thousand years to improve just one spirit root, could it?

Gu An once again invested ten thousand years of life span into his spirit root. The spiritual energy from nature flowed into his body more abundantly, and now grey and red lights also appeared around him.

Dozens of prompts later, Gu An's Water Spirit Root transformed into a Top-Grade Heavenly Spirit Root.

Would gathering all Five Elements induce a qualitative change?

Gu An continued investing ten thousand years of life span.

Eventually, his Metal Spirit Root also transformed into a Top-Grade Heavenly Spirit Root. In the Attribute Panel, the spirit root section directly changed to Top-Grade Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Root.

Gu An looked at his remaining lifespan, his gaze becoming vacant.

Fifty thousand years of life span, just like that...

After the rush, Gu An felt an unprecedented emptiness in his heart.

The Earth Spirit Energy rushed crazily into his body, plunging his physical body into a bizarre state—itchy and warm but without any discomfort.

Countless Light Stars floated around him—red for fire, green for wood, blue for water, yellow for metal, grey for earth—resplendent like a galaxy, dazzlingly brilliant.

Gu An's expression was dazed, his thoughts chaotic.

Time sped by swiftly.

An Ancient Hour later, Gu An completed the transformation of his spirit roots. He only felt that the entire world had become wonderfully fresh, this abrupt surge of perception invigorating his spirit.

This feeling was too marvelous!

He suddenly felt that investing fifty thousand years of lifespan wasn't a loss after all.

A Top-Grade Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Root could certainly stand out in the Taicang Dynasty, and as for the whole Mortal World, he wasn't sure, because he had no idea how big this part of the world was.

Gu An took a deep breath and looked toward the cultivation techniques in his Attribute Panel.

Should he invest in cultivation techniques?

He feared that enhancing the techniques to a certain stage would result in investments exceeding expectations. Moreover, he already possessed a Top-Grade Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Root and his Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill wasn't lacking either. How long should he keep building the foundation?

A Divinity Transformation Realm demon cultivator might ambush him tomorrow!

Upgrade cultivation level directly!

New spirit roots, don't disappoint me!

Start with another ten thousand years, for cultivation level is of utmost importance and worth investing heavily in!

Begin investing!

[You invest ten thousand years of lifespan for evolutionary cultivation on cultivation level]

[You practice energy absorption for ten years, and with the great accomplishment of your Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill, you forcibly assault the Divinity Transformation Realm, beginning Tribulation Crossing. You do not endure the Five Elements Heavenly Tribulation, and the tribulation fails]

[You practice energy absorption for a hundred years, and with the great accomplishment of your Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill, you forcibly assault the Divinity Transformation Realm, beginning Tribulation Crossing. You do not endure the Five Elements Heavenly Tribulation, and the tribulation fails]

...

Seeing the continuous failed tribulation prompts, Gu An's expression remained calm.

Failing the tribulation once every hundred years, he could accept that.

He didn't believe he could fail a hundred times!

Fortunately, the situation wasn't as bad as he thought.

[You practice energy absorption for two thousand seven hundred years, and with the great accomplishment of your Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill, you forcibly assault the Divinity Transformation Realm, beginning Tribulation Crossing. You endure the Five Elements Heavenly Tribulation, the tribulation succeeds, and you break through to the first layer of the Divinity Transformation Realm]

[You practice energy absorption for three thousand years, and your cultivation level breaks through to the second layer of the Divinity Transformation Realm]

[You practice energy absorption for three thousand two hundred years, and your cultivation level breaks through to the third layer of the Divinity Transformation Realm]

[You practice energy absorption for three thousand four hundred years, and your cultivation level breaks through to the fourth layer of the Divinity Transformation Realm]

[You practice energy absorption for three thousand seven hundred years, and your cultivation level breaks through to the fifth layer of the Divinity Transformation Realm]

...

[You practice energy absorption for five thousand years, and your cultivation level breaks through to the ninth layer of the Divinity Transformation Realm]

[You practice energy absorption for five thousand two hundred years, and with the great accomplishment of your Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill, you forcibly assault the Void Crossing Realm, beginning Tribulation Crossing. You do not endure the Mystic Dark Heavenly Tribulation, and the tribulation fails]

[You practice energy absorption for six thousand four hundred years, and with the great accomplishment of your Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill, you forcibly assault the Void Crossing Realm, beginning Tribulation Crossing. You do not endure the Mystic Dark Heavenly Tribulation, and the tribulation fails]

...

Okay, failing again!

Failing a tribulation every two hundred years, Gu An could accept that.

At the same time, he pondered a question: the quality of spirit roots seemed not to determine the success rate of tribulation.

Could it be that one's own strength was the key to tribulation?

Spells, divine skills, formations, secret techniques, magic artifacts, and more...

[You practice energy absorption for nine thousand six hundred years, and with the great accomplishment of your Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill, you forcibly assault the Void Crossing Realm, beginning Tribulation Crossing. You do not endure the Mystic Dark Heavenly Tribulation, and the tribulation fails]

[You practice energy absorption for nine thousand eight hundred years, and with the great accomplishment of your Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill, you forcibly assault the Void Crossing Realm, beginning Tribulation Crossing. You endure the Mystic Dark Heavenly Tribulation, the tribulation succeeds, and your cultivation level breaks through to the first layer of the Void Crossing Realm]

[You practice energy absorption for ten thousand years, and your cultivation level increases]

Gu An checked his Attribute Panel again, with nearly forty thousand years of lifespan remaining, which made the corners of his mouth turn upward.