What is an immortal?

Yuan Ming approached slowly, only to feel a refreshing aura greet him, intangible and formless, yet making him feel relaxed and carefree, with all distractions in his mind disappearing instantly without a trace.

He reached out a hand, gently stroking the bamboo, feeling its warm touch like jade, a nameless joy rising in his heart.

Beside the Bitter Bamboo, flowers competed to bloom, spirit grass was lush and green, all thriving under the protection of the World Tree, each plant uniquely precious, as if a treasure designed by nature for this place.

The Five Elements Child was carefully tending to these spirit plants by the tree, sensing Yuan Ming's arrival, he immediately turned around and respectfully greeted Yuan Ming.

"How is the Bitter Bamboo growing?" Yuan Ming smiled and waved his hand, indicating to the Five Elements Child not to stand on ceremony.

"The Bitter Bamboo has grown to thirteen thousand years old, thriving vigorously," the Five Elements Child replied, with a hint of pride on his face.

He then meticulously reported on the situation of other transplanted spiritual medicines, knowing the growth status of each like the back of his hand, Yuan Ming listened and nodded frequently, praising the Five Elements Child for his skill in cultivating spirit plants.

The two chatted while slowly strolling around the World Tree, inspecting the lush landscape of this spiritual medicine area.

Suddenly, Yuan Ming's brow slightly raised, his gaze fell on a figure not far away.

"Why is she here?" Yuan Ming pointed at the figure, somewhat surprised to ask.

Qiu Nu was seen sitting cross-legged, eyes closed while cultivating, her cultivation aura was much stronger than before, already reaching the Late-stage Core Formation level.

"Five years ago, Qiu Nu successfully advanced to Level 4 Spirit Plant Master, Senior Ye Xinyao thought her skills had surpassed her own, so she recommended her here for me to continue mentoring," the Five Elements Child quickly explained.

"In just fifteen years, she became a Level 4 Spirit Plant Master, her talent is indeed extraordinary," Yuan Ming remarked with admiration.

"Not only that, she has been with me for only five years, yet she's already learned most of what I know. If not for the limitation of her cultivation, she might have already become a Level 5 Spirit Plant Master. With such talent, surpassing me is only a matter of time," the Five Elements Child agreed, showing some emotional reflection on his face.

Yuan Ming was even more surprised by what he heard.

It's essential to know that the Five Elements Child, as one transformed from spirit plants, has innate advantages in cultivating spirit plants, yet Qiu Nu can surpass him in this aspect, which cannot merely be explained by her Wood Attribute Heavenly Spirit Root.

Recalling Qiu Nu's innate divine ability to communicate with plants, Yuan Ming couldn't help but feel a touch of curiosity.

Generally, the Heavenly Spirit Root provides inherent advantages only in cultivation, but awakening an innate divine ability often indicates a mutation in the spirit root or possessing a special spiritual body.

Originally, Yuan Ming didn't pay much attention to Qiu Nu's situation, upon seeing her have the Heavenly Spirit Root, he entrusted her to Ye Xinyao's tutelage.

Now driven by curiosity, he couldn't help but start wondering whether he had overlooked something back then?

At this moment, Qiu Nu also awoke from her cultivation, saw Yuan Ming and the Five Elements Child before her, and hurriedly stood up to greet them with respect.

Yuan Ming pondered briefly, then once again probed with his divine sense, meticulously examining Qiu Nu's spirit root situation.

A moment later, a look of astonishment appeared on his face.

"Hmm? Your spirit root… although not significantly improved, it seems there indeed has been an enhancement?" Yuan Ming asked in surprise.

"Can a Heavenly Spirit Root also be improved?" Qiu Nu appeared confused upon hearing this, asking in bewilderment.

"Legend has it that above the Heavenly Spirit Root is the Immortal Spirit Root, whose potential is ten times that of the Heavenly Spirit Root. However, the situation of spirit root advancement is extremely rare, let alone for a Heavenly Spirit Root. During this time, have you consumed any Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures?" Yuan Ming explained briefly before asking further.

"No, I've been continuously cultivating near the World Giant Tree, never left nor secretly consumed any spiritual medicine." Qiu Nu mistakenly thought Yuan Ming was suspecting her of stealing spiritual medicines, hurriedly shook her head in explanation:

Yuan Ming frowned slightly, suddenly raised his palm, and slowly infused a stream of the Power of Ten Thousand Wood Origin into Qiu Nu's body.

Instantly, a strong suction emanated from within Qiu Nu's spirit root, like a giant beast awakened, greedily devouring this power.

Subsequently, her spirit root once again improved, the extent far exceeding before, and even the speed of absorbing spiritual energy doubled.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming was enlightened.

He pondered slightly, deciding to continue infusing the Power of Ten Thousand Wood Origin into Qiu Nu, wanting to explore exactly to what limits her spirit root could absorb.

In no time, Qiu Nu's spirit root had consecutively absorbed thirteen streams of the Power of Ten Thousand Wood Origin.

When the fourteenth stream of power surged in, the strong suction abruptly vanished, replaced by a mysterious force surging within Qiu Nu's body.

At this moment, spirit light suddenly appeared around Qiu Nu, with the spiritual energy outside rushing into her body like a flood, producing a whistling wind sound.

She was stunned, hurriedly sat cross-legged, running the cultivation technique to regulate the spiritual energy.

Meanwhile, Yuan Ming withdrew his palm, quietly observing the changes in Qiu Nu.

After a moment, the spirit light on Qiu Nu's body gradually faded, she opened her eyes, revealing an expression of surprise and joy.

"Lord, my spirit root has truly advanced!" Qiu Nu excitedly stood up, eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Compared to before, how has it changed?" Yuan Ming asked curiously.

He too was seeing the legendary Immortal Spirit Root for the first time, wanting to know whether besides faster cultivation speed, it possessed any other special features.

"Now, my connection with Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy has strengthened by several times, and I have also awakened a new Divine Skill!" Qiu Nu replied joyfully.

Before Yuan Ming could speak to inquire, she took the initiative to squat down and gently buried a seed she took from her side into the soil.

Then, she hovered her hand above the seed, and a beam of green spirit light shot from her palm, enveloping the seed within it.

In just the span of a breath, Yuan Ming was astonished to see the seed break through the soil, quickly growing a bud, and blooming in the wind, exuding a rich floral fragrance.

"This Divine Skill is called Green Wood Mysterious Light, and it can forcibly mature Spirit Grass. But each time it is used, a certain amount of lifespan must be sacrificed. One year of lifespan can increase the medicinal efficacy of Spirit Grass by ten years," Qiu Nu explained.

"Not bad, but your lifespan is ultimately limited and should not be overused," Yuan Ming cautioned.

"Rest assured, Master, this is just an ordinary flower, and maturing it only consumed a few days of my lifespan," Qiu Nu quickly said.

Yuan Ming nodded and attempted to inject a wisp of Ten Thousand Wood Origin Power into Qiu Nu's body, but seeing her Spirit Root had stabilized and was no longer absorbing or altering, he stopped.

He gave Qiu Nu some guidance on her cultivation, instructed the Five Elements Child to continue teaching her the knowledge of a Spirit Plant Master, and then left the World Tree, heading to the Extreme Fire Realm.

Within the Extreme Fire Territory, it was sparsely populated, with only two people residing.

One of them was Dian Xiaosan.

When Yuan Ming arrived, he was meditating with closed eyes, practicing a simplified version of the "Moonlight Technique," completely unaware of Yuan Ming's arrival.

Yuan Ming took a careful look at Dian Xiaosan and found that his Soul Power had reached the peak of the Spoken Witch level, just half a step away from the Realm of Life Witch.

He couldn't help but marvel in his heart; the improved "Moonlight Technique" was indeed extraordinarily powerful, sacrificing the ability to possess Divine Skills, but the advancement in realm was truly astonishing.

Of course, such an advancement was just a superficial pretension of incredibleness.

After cultivating this technique, even if one could become a Life Witch, it would be only because of strong Soul Power, with no actual combat ability at all.

Perhaps because he was deeply immersed in the cultivation of the simplified "Moonlight Technique," Dian Xiaosan's practice as a Magic Practitioner had not progressed much, but he was now closer to reaching the peak of Returning to Void.

After a brief inquiry to learn about Dian Xiaosan's cultivation situation, Yuan Ming refrained from additional disturbance and quietly left the place, heading towards the Artifact Refining Hall.

Upon stepping into the hall, the scorching atmosphere immediately made Yuan Ming squint his eyes.

He looked up and saw Xi Hezi sitting in front of the Complete Heaven Exquisite Tripod, with a thoughtful expression on his brow.

Noticing Yuan Ming's arrival, Xi Hezi raised his head, a trace of joy flashing in his eyes, "The timing is just right; I was just about to look for you."

"Could it be that you've encountered some difficulty with the modification of the Complete Heaven Exquisite Tripod?" Yuan Ming asked with concern.

Before going into closed-door training, he had instructed Xi Hezi to carefully select among his Spiritual Treasures to identify those with the potential to advance to Great Perfection Spirit Treasure.

Finally, Xi Hezi chose the Complete Heaven Exquisite Tripod.

"This tripod was already close to the Perfect Realm, and after my meticulous modifications over the years, it is nearly perfect. Now, it only lacks the last kind of seventh-level spiritual material to complete its advancement," Xi Hezi shook his head and said slowly.

"Oh? What spiritual material is it?" Yuan Ming asked further.

"This spiritual material is called Nine-Colored Lotus Seed, known for its miraculous effect of endowing intelligence. Of course, other spiritual materials with similar effects can be used as a substitute, but the Nine-Colored Lotus Seed has the best effect," Xi Hezi explained.

"Endowing intelligence? You intend to help this tripod nurture an Artifact Spirit? I remember last time it only required injecting an Artifact Soul," Yuan Ming expressed some surprise.

"The last Spiritual Treasure was already endowed, so I could directly inject an Artifact Soul. But this tripod hasn't been endowed, making it difficult to bear the Artifact Soul I split off," Xi Hezi said with a bitter smile.

Yuan Ming now understood, and he stopped asking further questions, promising to quickly find the necessary spiritual material, and then left the Shura Palace to return to the City Lord's Hall.

"Relay orders to the other eighteen City Lords that they must personally come to White Emperor City to see me in ten days," Yuan Ming summoned Wang Fulong and commanded in a deep voice.

"Master, according to the rules, the City Lords of each city in the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range cannot leave the city easily. Publicly ordering them to come might be somewhat inappropriate," Wang Fulong hesitated, showing difficulty in his expression.

"The regulation was originally set for the protection of the Pillar Hongjun. Now that the Ten Thousand Demon Country is weakening, allowing them to leave the city temporarily is no harm. Moreover, do you really think those City Lords adhere strictly to the rules, never leaving the city?" Yuan Ming smiled lightly.

Wang Fulong still appeared hesitant: "But..."

"No need for more words," a trace of coldness flashed in Yuan Ming's eyes, he paused and then said slowly:

"Tell them, in ten days, at least one Dharma manifestation Cultivator should be sent to White Emperor City for an audience. Any disobedient or evasive actions, I will personally visit to replace them with a more competent City Lord."

Wang Fulong was intimidated by the majesty in his words, shuddered all over, but then showed a look of joy, agreed in a single word and hurriedly departed.

Just as Wang Fulong left the hall, a familiar voice suddenly rang out, "Haha, not seen for many years, Brother Yuan has become even more awe-inspiring."

Yuan Ming raised his eyebrows, recognizing it was Wulu's voice.

He slightly closed his eyes, using the Eyes of Golden Flame to survey the surroundings.