"Master, have you finished introducing the Five Elements Longevity Art? Can you pass it on to me now?"

Lin Hao asked eagerly.

The soul of the Longevity Immortal, observing his disciple’s impatient expression, gently shook the three-foot-tall tower floating before him.

A piece of animal skin scroll flew out from the tower, landing right in front of Lin Hao.

"Disciple, this is the Five Elements Longevity Art."

The Longevity Immortal's soul continued, "You should memorize it first."

"Okay, I got it," Lin Hao replied.

In the mysterious space, Lin Hao unrolled the animal skin scroll.

Powerful and vigorous words appeared before his eyes:

‘Spirit Qi enters the body, flows through the Ren meridian... then passes through the Du meridian...’ The scroll recorded the meridian pathways needed to cultivate the Five Elements Longevity Art.

"This is so complicated! It’s several times more complex than the Xuan Yue Sect’s Xuan Yue Qi Refining Technique, which only uses a few meridians!" Lin Hao thought.

With his excellent memory, it took Lin Hao some time to memorize the meridian paths.

About fifteen minutes later, he looked up from the scroll and said, "Master, I’ve memorized everything inside."

"Mm, your memory is quite good," the Longevity Immortal’s soul said, "The technique has been passed to you. Now, as I am but a remnant soul and have nothing left, I will give you this Eternal Longevity Tower as a token of my apprenticeship."

The Eternal Longevity Tower looked like a treasure, and Lin Hao’s heart leapt with joy. He immediately expressed his gratitude, "Thank you, Master."

"Disciple," the Longevity Immortal’s soul continued, "I need a drop of your life essence blood to make the tower recognize you as its master."

The soul warned, "This process may hurt a little, but bear with it."

"Buzz!"

Before Lin Hao could respond, the three-foot-tall tower trembled lightly, and a beam of light shot towards him, entering his chest.

"Poof!"

Lin Hao felt as if his heart had been pierced; the pain was unbearable.

Fortunately, the pain disappeared after a brief moment.

The light from the tower left his chest, carrying a drop of bright red blood, and returned to the tower.

Immediately after, Lin Hao felt a mysterious connection with the Eternal Longevity Tower.

"This is the spiritual artifact recognizing its master! How amazing!" Lin Hao thought, sensing the familiar presence coming from the tower.

"The Eternal Longevity Tower was originally an immortal artifact," the Longevity Immortal’s voice echoed again, "but during a great battle, it was severely damaged and downgraded to a superior-grade spiritual treasure."

The Longevity Immortal’s soul continued, "Although the tower’s offensive powers were destroyed, it can still aid you in your cultivation."

"Please, Master, tell me more about how to use this spiritual treasure."

Lin Hao asked respectfully.

"This spiritual treasure is quite simple to use. It has two main functions. The first is to accelerate your cultivation speed. For example, when others absorb a spirit stone, they only absorb about half of its spiritual energy. The rest gets wasted."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Longevity Immortal’s soul explained, "But with the Eternal Longevity Tower, you can absorb all of the energy from a spirit stone, without wasting a single bit."

Lin Hao’s eyes lit up. With this treasure, a single spirit stone could be used as if it were two.

"Master, what is the second function of the Eternal Longevity Tower?" he asked.

"The second function…" the Longevity Immortal’s soul paused for a moment, "is to turn waste into treasure."

"For example, if you have a low-grade Qi Supplementing Pill that’s a failed batch, you can place it into the Eternal Longevity Tower along with some spirit stones. The tower can turn it into a high-quality pill."

The Longevity Immortal’s voice continued, "The Eternal Longevity Tower can improve not only the quality of pills, but also spiritual herbs and magic tools."

"For example, a low-grade spiritual herb, if you add a few low-grade spirit stones into the tower, can be transformed into a mid-grade herb."

"Even a regular sword, if you give it spirit stones, the tower can enhance its quality, turning it into a magic weapon…"

After hearing the Longevity Immortal’s soul describe the functions of the tower, Lin Hao understood that the Eternal Longevity Tower was an incredibly powerful treasure.

Just the ability to improve the absorption efficiency of spirit stones alone would cause a huge uproar if anyone in the outside world learned about it.

With its ability to turn waste into treasure, it was clear that this tower was a coveted item, and even the old monsters of the cultivation world would fight to seize it.

No wonder this tower had once been an immortal artifact. Even though it had been downgraded, it was still immensely powerful. Lin Hao couldn’t help but feel his heart racing with excitement.

"Alright, the Five Elements Longevity Art and the Eternal Longevity Tower have been passed to you. As for me, I am but a remnant soul and cannot remain awake for long. I need to enter a period of slumber to rest and recover."

The Longevity Immortal’s soul said, "Before I fall asleep, there is something I must remind you of."

"What is it?" Lin Hao asked.

"I originally used a secret method to influence that girl’s mind to arrange for you to stay in the Xuan Yue Sect’s outer disciple area."

"However, you, in order to avoid being bullied, pulled that girl out to act as your backing, and spread the word that you were talented."

"Now, I’m afraid your fake six-grade fire attribute single spirit root won’t be able to stay hidden for long. Your true one-grade Five Elements spirit root will soon be exposed. You must be mentally prepared."

The Longevity Immortal’s soul continued, "When that happens, they will likely be curious about how your one-grade Five Elements spirit root is cultivating so fast. Just say that you ate a fire-red fruit two years ago, and they’ll probably let it go."

The Longevity Immortal’s soul then fell silent.

"Master, Master…" Lin Hao called several times, but received no response and had no choice but to give up.

He then turned his attention to the three-foot-tall tower in front of him, gazing at it for a moment.

Having become the tower's master, he simply concentrated, and his consciousness withdrew from the mysterious space.

On the wooden bed, Lin Hao, who had been sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes with a look of astonishment on his face.

What had just happened was too strange.

"Was that a dream?" he wondered.

He tried again to communicate with the tower using his mind, and successfully entered the tower’s mysterious space once more.

After several attempts, Lin Hao confirmed that everything that had happened was real.

He glanced at the bed next to him, where the chubby Wang Fu was still sitting cross-legged, meditating.

Lin Hao secretly picked up a water cup not far from his bed. With a flick of his mind, the cup disappeared from his hand and reappeared inside the Eternal Longevity Tower.

In addition to improving the efficiency of spirit stone absorption and turning waste into treasure, the tower had a third function: it could serve as a storage space.

"In the future, I can store important items in the tower," Lin Hao thought.

A moment later, he retrieved the cup from the tower and placed it back in its original position.

"Am I really a one-grade Five Elements spirit root?" Lin Hao murmured to himself.

He then closed his eyes and began cultivating as usual, using the Xuan Yue Qi Refining Technique.

Sure enough, without the spiritual energy being supplied by the Longevity Immortal, Lin Hao felt his cultivation speed had slowed down by at least thirty times, moving at a glacial pace.

At this rate, he thought, he might never reach Foundation Establishment, and even cultivating to the second layer of Qi Refining would be difficult.

"Let me try using the Five Elements Longevity Art, which is specifically designed for Five Elements spirit roots," Lin Hao decided.

He stopped using the Xuan Yue Qi Refining Technique.

Taking a deep breath and clearing his mind, he began to channel the spiritual energy according to the Five Elements Longevity Art, guiding it through the specific meridians in his body.

The meridians involved in the Five Elements Longevity Art were incredibly complex.

Some of the meridians were so fine that when Lin Hao tried to circulate the spiritual energy, it moved painfully slowly.

Moreover, when the energy flowed through certain meridians, he felt sharp, needle-like pains.

His whole body trembled slightly, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through, continuing to cultivate.

After several hours, when the sky outside began to brighten, Lin Hao had finally completed one cycle of spiritual energy circulation using the Five Elements Longevity Art.

"Not bad!" he said, a surprised expression on his face.

The cultivation speed, which had been thirty times slower than before, had now improved. Under the Five Elements Longevity Art, his one-grade Five Elements spirit root was cultivating only six or seven times slower than when the Longevity Immortal had been supplying him with spiritual energy. This was roughly equivalent to the cultivation speed of a one-grade single spirit root.