After paying his respects to his master once more, Li Yu began striving to break through the Celestial-Mortal Barrier inside the bamboo house, following the method recorded in the "Lishen Art".
The white mineral left behind in his master's bundle was actually called a "Spirit Stone".
This was a type of stone rich in spiritual energy, existing only within spirit veins that had naturally dried up since ancient times and were buried deep underground.
Spirit Stones were divided into three grades: one hundred low-grade Spirit Stones equaled one middle-grade Spirit Stone, and one hundred middle-grade Spirit Stones equaled one high-grade Spirit Stone.
Spirit Stones could not only be used during cultivation to directly absorb their spiritual energy for one's own use, but they could also serve as an energy source in array formations.
In this era where spiritual energy was far inferior to that of ancient times, the spiritual energy contained within Spirit Stones was pure and far exceeded the concentration in the open air.
Their importance to cultivators went without saying, making them naturally the hard currency of the cultivation world.
At this moment, Li Yu was holding a Spirit Stone in his hand. Naturally, given Situ Kong's mortal status, this was bound to be a low-grade Spirit Stone.
Yet the fact that Situ Kong had been able to leave behind three low-grade Spirit Stones for Li Yu reflected his supreme martial arts prowess in the pugilistic world and no small fortuitous encounter.
As the Spirit Stone slowly turned transparent, the majority of the spiritual energy within it was absorbed by Li Yu into his already opened acupoints and meridians.
Now he only needed to follow the method in the latter part of the "Lishen Art", protected by the pure spiritual energy provided by the Spirit Stone.
He had to guide the primordial breath out from the acupoints, converge it at one point, and smash open the final major acupoint connecting the main meridians to the dantian—commonly known as the "Celestial-Mortal Acupoint".
Opening this acupoint meant a separation between the celestial and the mortal, making one forever distinct from ordinary mortals of the world.
With a crisp "click" sound, it felt as though something had shattered.
Empowered by the spiritual energy within the Spirit Stone, Li Yu spent a full day finally breaking through the shackles.
The very instant spiritual power came into existence within his dantian, it connected with the main meridians, reaching the Mudpill Palace located beneath the glabella.
A faint white mist instantly appeared. Li Yu knew this was the Spiritual Sense formed in the Mudpill Palace through the transformation of spiritual power, as mentioned in the "Lishen Art".
As the saying went, "A single breath in the dantian connects to the Mudpill, from this moment the immortal parts ways with the mortal man."
With spiritual power in the dantian and Spiritual Sense in the Mudpill Palace, the essence of life had begun to transform, setting cultivators apart from mortals from this point forward.
In this era, the lifespan of an ordinary person was around sixty years, whereas as the lowest tier of cultivators, Qi Refining Stage practitioners saw their lifespans change as their cultivation progressed.
A practitioner at the Great Circle of Qi Refining could live up to one hundred and twenty years, achieving a true renewal of the sixty-year cycle.
A practitioner at the Great Circle of Foundation Establishment would see their lifespan double to two hundred and forty years.
A Peak Golden Core practitioner would enjoy a lifespan of four hundred and eighty years.
As for a practitioner at the Great Circle of Nascent Soul, with a lifespan approaching a thousand years—coupled with special cultivation techniques and longevity-enhancing spirit pills—living for a millennium was entirely unproblematic, making them true thousand-year-old monsters in name and fact.
Li Yu suddenly felt an unbearable, strange itch all over his body. His pores opened, and black impurities were expelled from within him.
Because the presence of spiritual power in his dantian meant that Li Yu could now be considered a cultivator at the 1st Layer of Qi Refining.
The thin spiritual power in his dantian would begin to spread throughout his entire body, subsequently storing itself within his flesh, bones, and blood. During this storage process, the spiritual power would purge the impurities from his flesh, bones, and blood out of his body.
Because spiritual power accumulated not only in the dantian but also stored itself within the body's flesh, bones, and blood, it served to strengthen the cultivator's physical body.
To better preserve itself, the spiritual power would automatically clear out unsightly elements, making it virtually impossible for cultivators to fall ill.
As the spiritual power in the dantian increased, more spiritual power was stored throughout the body. Although the spiritual power of the 1st Layer of Qi Refining was thin, it was sufficient to thoroughly cleanse the marrow and wash the body once.
Peeling off his stinking clothes, which were stuck to his skin, Li Yu immediately lay down in the small stream in front of the door.
The stream water visibly turned black. Having previously been driven by a desire to wash clean as fast as possible due to the overwhelming stench, Li Yu now calmed his mind.
Suddenly, he felt as though heaven and earth had become different; the world suddenly opened up wide, no longer murky.
In the stream, a sesame-sized little stone minnow was frantically swimming upstream to escape Li Yu's "toxic discharge".
In the bamboo house, several ants were laboriously moving a grain of rice he had accidentally dropped. A bit further away on a bamboo stalk, a bamboo viper was lazily flicking its tongue...
Li Yu understood; this was due to having acquired Spiritual Sense.
When he sat refreshed in Situ Kong's bamboo chair, half an hour had already passed.
During this time, Li Yu had grown accustomed to the abruptly manifested Spiritual Sense and a feeling of inexhaustible strength.
In his excitement, Li Yu had forgotten that he hadn't eaten for a whole day.
For cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage, because the magical power within their flesh, bones, and blood was still too thin, it was not yet sufficient to achieve ineduria and go without food. Therefore, ordinary grains remained the main staple for Qi Refining practitioners to replenish their physical strength.
Of course, there were also ineduria pills, higher-grade spirit tea, spirit wine, Monster Beast flesh and blood, and other spiritual foods that could replenish physical strength.
Given Li Yu's current net worth, these were naturally out of reach. What was more, he was still groping in the dark regarding the cultivation world; all his knowledge came entirely from the "Lishen Art", travelogues, and some of his own conjectures.
Reviewing the "Lishen Art" once more to ensure there were no omissions, Li Yu began absorbing spiritual power from the natural world for the very first time in his life.
The spiritual power previously in his dantian had already been used for marrow-cleansing and body-washing, leaving it in a completely empty state.
While breathing in the surrounding spiritual power, Li Yu used his Spiritual Sense to observe himself. All the acupoints and meridians throughout his body were visible at a glance—this was the first time Li Yu had ever used Spiritual Sense.
When he used his Spiritual Sense to observe his dantian, he discovered that the interior of the dantian was a circular space, with walls that were extremely rough and highly unstable.
Li Yu understood that wanting to raise one's cultivation meant polishing the dantian, making the dantian walls smoother and thicker so that they could accommodate more spiritual power.
This was a task requiring persistent, grinding effort. After all, a polished dantian required a certain amount of time to heal on its own before the polishing could continue.
Suddenly absorbing a massive amount of unreasonable spiritual power would inevitably damage the dantian. In minor cases, spiritual power would fail to circulate normally; in severe cases, the dantian would directly shatter, leading to death and the dissipation of one's cultivation.
Having circulated a full seven major heavenly cycles, he managed to absorb merely a wisp of spiritual power. This was because the spiritual power in the mortal world was far too thin; even here in the deep mountains where human footprints were scarce, it was still like this.
Let alone in cities, where there was undoubtedly even less spiritual power. No wonder cultivators were completely unseen in the mortal realm.
"I wonder what kind of fortuitous encounter Master had when he met that surnamed Wang cultivator..." Li Yu couldn't help thinking.
Excitedly absorbing this wisp of heaven and earth spiritual power into his dantian, Li Yu felt his vision go dark, closed his eyes, and let tears fall.
Upon using his Spiritual Sense to perceive it, he found he possessed a Pseudo Spiritual Root with all five elements complete!
He forcefully braced himself, wanting to shout: My fate is up to me, not the heavens! So what if I have a five-element spiritual root? Yet reality was that no matter how hard he braced himself, getting such a result meant that the word "disappointment" fell far short of expressing his state of mind.
Despair? Not really. After all, even a poor spiritual root could still absorb spiritual power, making him far, far better off than an ordinary mortal.
Suppresing the bitterness in his heart, he walked to his master's grave. Such inner misery could only be poured out to the person inside this tomb.
Li Yu sat there for a full day and night. His red-rimmed eyes and dry, peeling lips told the story of just how bleak Li Yu's experiences in this sea of bamboo had been.
Returning to the house to pack his belongings, Li Yu left the place where he had strived for five years without once looking back.
Five years of unwavering persistence had earned him his master's Flying Dagger ultimate technique and impressive swordsmanship. Life still had to go on, and the path of cultivation had only just begun.
Even though his first step was small, rather than letting his years waste away, he would press forward from this moment on!
In the three thousand four hundred and fiftieth year of the Great Chu era, Li Yu descended from the mountains.