Saint Who Lay Low

Under the night sky, Gu An swiftly darted through the forest, moving in the opposite direction of the place where he had killed Lin Futian. This time, he intended to break through a hundred miles away.

Over the past month, he had observed that the Law Enforcement Hall disciples did not patrol after midnight.

As he advanced, a series of prompts suddenly appeared before Gu An's eyes:

[You have successfully absorbed 6 years of lifespan from Bitterroot Grass (Third Grade)]

[You have successfully absorbed 7 years of lifespan from Bitterroot Grass (Third Grade)]

[For the first time, your lifespan has exceeded 100,000 years, unlocking the Lifespan Divination feature]

[Lifespan Divination: By consuming lifespan, you can deduce the great Dao, cause and effect, and fate. The amount of lifespan consumed will be determined by the complexity of the cause and effect being deduced.]

Lifespan Divination?

Gu An frowned; he immediately sensed a trap.

Was this a ploy to drain his lifespan?

Could it deplete all his lifespan in one go?

Gu An decided to try it out cautiously. When new system functions appeared, he always had an innate understanding of how to use them.

This divination was essentially asking questions using lifespan.

Gu An silently inquired in his mind, "Use Lifespan Divination. Does Jiang Qiong intend to kill me?"

Two breaths passed.

[This divination requires the consumption of 300 years of lifespan. Do you wish to proceed?]

No!

Too expensive!

Gu An instantly refused. However, this experiment reassured him somewhat.

At the very least, Lifespan Divination would notify him beforehand about how much lifespan would be consumed, preventing any sudden depletion of all his lifespan.

Gu An decided not to experiment further and focused on his journey.

He would avoid using this feature as much as possible; consuming lifespan to explore the unknown didn't seem worth it for now.

On the road ahead, Gu An remained cautious, keeping his divine sense constantly active to avoid running into any Nascent Soul cultivators again.

The night was quiet.

While he didn't encounter any demonic beasts, he did notice signs of wild animals, most of them herbivores like rabbits and rats.

About fifty miles from Xuan Valley, Gu An suddenly spotted the White Spirit Mouse.

In the forest, the creature was pestering a rabbit, following its every hop while sniffing it from behind, like a big dog chasing after its prey.

How pitiful...

Gu An pretended not to notice and quietly slipped away, not disturbing the White Spirit Mouse.

"No wonder this little guy keeps running off all the time, even moving like a rabbit..."

Recalling the scene he had just witnessed, Gu An couldn't help but laugh to himself.

The White Spirit Mouse had been spoiled, but fortunately, he still had the proud Sky Dragon.

Thinking of the Sky Dragon's majestic form, Gu An's mood brightened.

After the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Gu An arrived at a dense forest. The overlapping branches and leaves formed a thick canopy, making it impossible for anyone flying above to see him.

Gu An sat cross-legged beneath a large tree, took a deep breath, and summoned his status panel.

Seeing his lifespan surpassing 100,000 years by three years, anticipation filled his face.

One hundred thousand years of lifespan—it was truly abundant! This time, he could significantly improve his various attributes.

Let's start by enhancing my spiritual roots, and I'll invest generously since this is the hardest to improve.

How many years should I invest?

Gu An hesitated for a moment, then decided to be bold and invest a full 10,000 years!

[You invest 10,000 years of lifespan into evolving your spiritual roots.]

[You comprehend the natural world for 100 years. Your sensitivity to the Five Elemental Spiritual Roots has increased.]

[You comprehend the natural world for 200 years. Your sensitivity to the Five Elemental Spiritual Roots has increased.]

...

[You comprehend the natural world for 2,000 years and finally grasp a hint of the true essence of the world. Your Five Elemental Spiritual Roots undergo a transformation, with wood and earth spiritual roots becoming more prominent.]

...

[You comprehend the natural world for 5,000 years and resonate with the Five Elemental Laws of the world. Your Five Elemental Spiritual Roots undergo a qualitative transformation, becoming Five Elemental Heavenly Spiritual Roots.]

...

[You comprehend the natural world for 8,000 years and finally capture a hint of the Law of Wood. Your wood spiritual root transforms into a supreme wood-attributed Heavenly Spiritual Root.]

[You comprehend the natural world for 10,000 years. Your sensitivity to the Five Elemental Spiritual Roots has increased.]

One after another, notifications rapidly popped up, with dozens in total, making Gu An reluctant to even blink.

When the final notification appeared, he immediately activated his Lifespan Barrier.

In an instant, the ground beneath him began to glow with a faint green light, and even the trees behind him emitted tiny green glimmers, illuminating the barrier.

Five Elemental Heavenly Spiritual Roots!

Gu An was ecstatic.

Heavenly Spiritual Roots were the most powerful spiritual roots he had ever heard of, far surpassing the likes of Ji Xiaoyu from the Ji family.

Heavenly Spiritual Roots were usually attributed to a single element, but their cultivation speed was far beyond anything dual-element spiritual roots could achieve.

According to Li Ya, Heavenly Spiritual Root cultivators were favored by heaven and earth. Such individuals were either born with immense luck or were nurtured over generations by powerful families, only appearing after centuries of effort.

The Tai Cang Dynasty currently had only one cultivator with Heavenly Spiritual Roots, residing within the Tai Xuan Sect. Li Ya hadn't mentioned their name.

Gu An suspected that even Li Xuandao possessed Heavenly Spiritual Roots but had concealed it well.

As Gu An pondered this, the spiritual energy of the heavens and earth began surging into his body, causing an itching sensation, mixed with an indescribable comfort.

Let's invest another 10,000 years!

Feeling wealthy in terms of lifespan, Gu An suddenly thought that 10,000 years wasn't such a big deal.

So, he invested another 10,000 years into his spiritual roots, and once again, a stream of notifications appeared before his eyes.

Spiritual root sensitivity increased!

Spiritual root sensitivity increased!

As he saw the repeated notifications, Gu An's heart began to waver.

Something's not right! This is bad!

At the 5,000-year mark, his earth spiritual root transformed into a supreme Heavenly Spiritual Root.

Beyond that, the remaining 5,000 years only resulted in slight increases in spiritual root sensitivity, like a bottomless pit.

Gu An felt his heart ache.

He cultivated the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, and his wood spiritual root was the most important. This meant that the extra investment of 10,000 years wouldn't further accelerate his cultivation speed.

Spiritual roots were typically set at birth, and there had never been a method for improving them through cultivation in the real world. That Gu An had advanced from ordinary Five Elemental Spiritual Roots to Five Elemental Heavenly Spiritual Roots was already unbelievable.

No!

I have to invest more! I can't let that 10,000 years go to waste!

Gritting his teeth, Gu An invested another 10,000 years into his spiritual roots.

Once again, notifications flashed rapidly, and Gu An's expression darkened.

After another 10,000 years, his fire spiritual root had transformed into a supreme Heavenly Spiritual Root.

Was it really taking 10,000 years to enhance just one spiritual root?

Gu An invested another 10,000 years, and the surrounding spiritual energy became even denser. Now, red and gray light particles appeared around him.

Dozens of notifications later, his water spiritual root transformed into a supreme Heavenly Spiritual Root.

If I complete the Five Elements, will something special happen?

Gu An continued investing another 10,000 years.

Finally, his metal spiritual root transformed into a supreme Heavenly Spiritual Root, and his status panel now displayed "Supreme Five Elemental Heavenly Spiritual Roots."

Gu An stared at his lifespan, his gaze dazed.

50,000 years of lifespan... gone...

After that impulsive spending spree, Gu An felt an overwhelming emptiness in his heart.

The spiritual energy of the earth surged into his body, bringing him into a strange state where he felt itchy yet warm, but not uncomfortable.

Floating around him were countless light particles: red for fire, green for wood, blue for water, yellow for metal, and gray for earth. The scene resembled a radiant starfield.

Gu An's thoughts were scattered, and his emotions conflicted.

Time flew by quickly.

An hour later, Gu An completed the transformation of his spiritual roots, and everything in the world suddenly seemed fresh and new. This abrupt sensory shift filled him with an exhilarating clarity.

This sensation was too wonderful!

Suddenly, Gu An no longer regretted spending 50,000 years of lifespan.

The Supreme Five Elemental Heavenly Spiritual Roots were unmatched in the Tai Cang Dynasty. As for whether they were the best in the entire world, Gu An couldn't say, as he still didn't fully comprehend the scale of this world.

Gu An took a deep breath and focused on the techniques section of his status panel.

Should I invest in improving my techniques?

He feared that after reaching a certain stage, the cost of further improving his techniques might skyrocket. Moreover, now that he had supreme spiritual roots, and his Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique wasn't weak, how long could he keep focusing on building foundations?

What if tomorrow a Divine Transformation demonic cultivator ambushed him?

Better to focus on cultivation directly!

With these new spiritual roots, they had better not disappoint!

Starting with a solid investment—10,000 years into cultivation should do the trick. After all, cultivation is of utmost importance, worthy of a large investment!

Let's go!

[You invest 10,000 years of lifespan into evolving your cultivation]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 10 years. Using your high proficiency in the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcefully attempt a breakthrough to Divine Transformation. You begin to undergo the Five Elemental Tribulation but fail.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 100 years. Using your high proficiency in the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcefully attempt a breakthrough to Divine Transformation. You begin to undergo the Five Elemental Tribulation but fail.]

...

Watching the repeated "Tribulation failed" messages pop up, Gu An's expression remained calm.

A tribulation every hundred years—he could live with that.

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

Thankfully, things didn't turn out that bad.

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 2,700 years. Using your high proficiency in the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcefully attempt a breakthrough to Divine Transformation. You undergo the Five Elemental Tribulation and succeed. You have broken through to Divine Transformation Stage 1.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 3,000 years. You have broken through to Divine Transformation Stage 2.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 3,200 years. You have broken through to Divine Transformation Stage 3.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 3,400 years. You have broken through to Divine Transformation Stage 4.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 3,700 years. You have broken through to Divine Transformation Stage 5.]

...

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 5,000 years. You have broken through to Divine Transformation Stage 9.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 5,200 years. Using your high proficiency in the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcefully attempt a breakthrough to the Void Crossing Realm. You begin to undergo the Mysterious Nether Tribulation but fail.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 6,400 years. Using your high proficiency in the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcefully attempt a breakthrough to the Void Crossing Realm. You begin to undergo the Mysterious Nether Tribulation but fail.]

...

Here we go, failing again!

A tribulation every 200 years—Gu An could live with that too.

At the same time, he pondered a new question. It seemed that spiritual root aptitude didn't determine the likelihood of success during tribulations.

Could it be that one's overall strength was the key to passing tribulations?

Spells, divine abilities, formations, secret arts, magical artifacts…

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 9,600 years. Using your high proficiency in the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcefully attempt a breakthrough to the Void Crossing Realm. You begin to undergo the Mysterious Nether Tribulation but fail.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 9,800 years. Using your high proficiency in the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcefully attempt a breakthrough to the Void Crossing Realm. You successfully undergo the Mysterious Nether Tribulation. You have broken through to Void Crossing Stage 1.]

[You cultivate by drawing in Qi for 10,000 years. Your cultivation has improved.]

Gu An looked at his status panel. He still had nearly 40,000 years of lifespan remaining, and a smile spread across his face.