Hao Yu spent most of his days cultivating, dedicating twelve hours daily to refining Qi. The remaining time wasn’t wasted either—he indulged in books, not just The Lonely Wanderer, but also practical texts like the 'The Thousand-Year Petal: Rare and Ancient Spiritual Herbs', 'The Immortal's Garden: A Guide to Cultivating Spiritual Plants' etc. These books had detailed information about spiritual flowers and herbs from all across the world.

Winter had arrived, cloaking the valley in heavy snow. Hao Yu stood at the edge of the medicine garden, directing Du Bin and Bing Ning as they cleared snow from the paths. At the perimeter of each garden, special talismans generated warmth, protecting the spiritual plants from frost.

But these talismans had limits. Once their power expired, snow would reclaim the garden in less than ten minutes.

“Faster, Du Bin! You’re moving like a mortal!” Hao Yu called out with a teasing smirk.

“I’m trying, Senior Brother!” Du Bin groaned, his breath visible in the cold air.

Bing Ning rolled her eyes. “You’re too soft on him, Senior Brother. He’s never going to improve at this rate.”

Hao Yu chuckled but didn’t press further. As he watched them work, his thoughts drifted to a growing dissatisfaction—his medicine garden wasn’t enough anymore. He needed more herbs, more production, and more land.

When spring comes, I’ll expand the garden. A bigger harvest means a bigger lifespan.

.......

Spring arrived, melting the snow and revealing a landscape ripe for cultivation. At dawn, Hao Yu led Du Bin and Bing Ning up the mountain.

“Chopping down trees is also a form of cultivation,” Hao Yu explained, hands clasped behind his back. Dressed in simple white robes, he looked every bit the dignified senior. “You’ll use your spiritual energy, and when it’s depleted, you’ll refine Qi to recover. It’s a win-win.”

The two juniors nodded, though Du Bin’s face betrayed a hint of reluctance. “So… we’re cultivating by chopping trees?”

“Yes,” Hao Yu replied with a straight face. “Call it Forest Dao Training if it makes you feel better.”

While Du Bin grumbled, Bing Ning got straight to work. The two of them, despite being cultivators, were still in the early stages, and it took them half a day to clear a single patch of land.

Once the area was cleared, Hao Yu carefully distributed seeds for the third-tier herb, Azure Flame Petal. As they planted, Hao Yu’s mind wandered, already planning what other herbs he could grow here in the future.

By sunset, the group was heading back down the mountain, chatting and laughing.

“Senior Brother,” Du Bin began hesitantly, “do you think we’ll ever become strong enough to enter the outer sect?”

“You will, if you keep working hard,” Hao Yu replied sincerely. “Everyone has their own journey in cultivation. You just need to keep moving forward.”

He listened as both Du Bin and Bing Ning shared their goals. Du Bin’s ambitions were simple—he wanted to grow stronger to protect those he cared about. Bing Ning, however, remained vague, her reasons clouded by something she wasn’t ready to share.

A month passed since they planted the Azure Flame Petals. One quiet night, under a sparse canopy of stars, Hao Yu sat cross-legged on his bed, staring at his attribute panel.

[Name: Hao Yu]

[Lifespan: 18/3051]

[Spiritual Root: Dual Element Spiritual Roots (Lifespan can be used for evolution)]

[Cultivation: Ninth Level of Qi Refining (Lifespan can be used to improve cultivation)]

[Techniques: Heavenly Spirit Refinement Art (Mastered), Alchemy Technique (Beginner) (Lifespan can be use to increase the proficiency)]

Should I push my cultivation level higher using lifespan?

He hesitated. Cheng Lao could refine Foundation Establishment Pills, and as a responsible master, he’d probably give Hao Yu one if he asked. But that would raise questions Hao Yu wasn’t ready to answer.

No. It’s better to rely on myself. Play it safe.

With that, Hao Yu decided to invest lifespan to advance his cultivation.

[Special Notice: Cultivation is a real process. Transforming the ethereal into the tangible will consume more lifespan than regular cultivation.]

[You focus on refining Qi for one year. Without a Foundation Establishment Pill or a fortunate opportunity, you fail to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.]

Hao Yu’s eye twitched as the words appeared. Fail?

But he didn’t stop. He continued to invest lifespan, year after year.

Failure.

Failure.

Failure…

After four attempts, his calm façade cracked. Frustration boiled over.

“Damn it! I don’t believe this!” he growled. “Let’s go for a hundred years!”

Throwing caution to the wind, Hao Yu invested one hundred years of lifespan into his cultivation. If he failed this time, he swore he’d toss his entire book collection into the alchemy furnace!

[You refine Qi for ten years. With your deep mastery of the Heavenly Spirit Refinement Art, you forcefully attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm but fail.]

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[You refine Qi for fifty years. With your deep mastery of the Heavenly Spirit Refinement Art, you forcefully attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm and succeed.]

........

[You refine Qi for one hundred years. Your cultivation breaks through to the Fourth Layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]

Lines of notifications flashed before Hao Yu’s eyes like stars in the night sky.

"Finally!" he thought, a grin tugging at his lips.

But his joy was short-lived. A sudden surge of heat swept through his body, and a chill ran down his spine.

"Wait a second..." His smile vanished. "This... this isn’t good."

The Heavenly Spirit Refinement Art activated automatically, drawing in spiritual energy like a whirlpool in the ocean.

Without wasting a moment, Hao Yu leapt from his bed and shot out the window like a startled rabbit. His movements were swift and precise, his figure a blur in the dim moonlight. In mere moments, he was scaling a nearby cliff with the agility of a mountain monkey.

The world around him seemed to buzz with energy. The spiritual energy of the heavens and earth converged toward him, forming an ominous vortex in the night sky.

"If this happened back at the courtyard...someone might have noticed the commotion." Hao Yu thought. Du Bin and Bing Ning might not notice, but Cheng Lao? That old man would sense it immediately.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Hao Yu leapt from the cliff's peak and plunged into the dense forest below. Landing lightly on a tree branch, he used it as a springboard to propel himself deeper into the wilderness. The branches creaked under his weight, and leaves fell like scattered stars in the dark woods.

The vortex of energy followed him relentlessly, growing stronger with each passing second. Trees swayed violently, their roots trembling in the soil.

"This disturbance is way too big!" he cursed inwardly.

After darting through the forest for miles, he finally stopped under a towering tree, its gnarled roots providing a small clearing. Sitting cross-legged, he closed his eyes and focused, circulating the surging energy within his body.

Pain tore through his meridians as the violent spiritual energy coursed through him, transforming his dantian into a miniature cyclone.

"This hurts more than I expected!" he thought, his face contorting in pain.

But there was also excitement bubbling within him.

"To break through from the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining to the Fourth Layer of Foundation Establishment in one go... this lifespan thing really works!" His thoughts turned triumphant, though his body screamed otherwise.

As he continued to meditate, the tempest of spiritual energy around him intensified, shaking the very forest. The wind howled like a beast, and fallen leaves danced wildly in the air.

"If a hundred years of lifespan can take me this far... What about a thousand? Could I reach the Golden Core Realm? Maybe even Nascent Soul?" Hao Yu’s mind wandered into grand fantasies.

But the roaring vortex around him brought him back to reality.

"This is ridiculous. At this rate, I might accidentally summon a wandering cultivator—or worse, a sect elder!"

The thought of being caught by a powerful cultivator made him shiver more than the storm of energy around him.

Hao Yu focused on steadying his cultivation. During these breakthroughs, if other cultivators showed up, it could mean disaster.

Hao Yu always planned for the worst. His survival depended on it.

"I need to be more cautious!" he muttered, his tone sharp.

He made up his mind. From now on, he would only invest a year of lifespan into cultivation per day. Gradual progress was better than reckless leaps.

Time passed swiftly. The night wind howled through the forest, rustling the trees as Hao Yu sat cross-legged, focusing on stabilizing his breakthrough. His robes flapped like restless wings in the storm of spiritual energy.

Finally, he felt a shift within his dantian.

Foundation Establishment success!

A triumphant smile crossed Hao Yu's face, but it was fleeting. His dantian, now a deeper well of spiritual power, churned with newfound strength. His muscles and bones felt sturdier, his senses sharper. Yet, the transformation was far from over.

Dust and leaves swirled violently around him. His aura surged, growing more intense by the moment.

Foundation Establishment, Second Layer!

Foundation Establishment, Third Layer!

Hao Yu didn’t feel excited. His nerves were taut, his eyes scanning the forest. Breakthroughs like this weren’t subtle, and if anyone stumbled across him, it could spell trouble.

The Heavenly Sword Sect spanned hundreds of miles but the medicine garden was isolated. But there were still roaming cultivators. Surely, the commotion wouldn’t reach anyone too powerful... right?

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Hao Yu’s heart sank.

A powerful aura was approaching from the distance.

"No, no, no, this is exactly what I didn’t want!"

The storm of spiritual energy around him made moving difficult. He was still transitioning from the third to the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment. Running wasn’t an option; whoever was approaching would catch up in moments.

His mind raced. This wasn’t just trouble—it was life or death.

The aura grew closer. Hao Yu gritted his teeth, suppressing the rising panic. When the individual was within five hundred metres, he/she stopped—only a mountain separated them.

Hao Yu, hidden deep in the dark forest, stood utterly still. Dust and debris swirled around him, obscuring his form like a natural camouflage. His white robe, faintly glowing in the moonlight, blended eerily into the misty night.

For a moment, relief washed over him. The figure hadn’t approached further.

"They’re cautious too," Hao Yu realized. "They’re not sure what’s causing this disturbance and don’t want to provoke the wrong person."

Still, the tension didn’t fade. He couldn’t hear what he/she was doing on the other side of the mountain, and the thought of their possible actions kept him on edge.

Minutes passed, each one feeling like an eternity. Finally, the aura began to fade. The individual turned and flew away, leaving the area without incident.

Hao Yu exhaled deeply, his chest heaving as relief flooded through him.

“That was way too close...”

His breakthrough to the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment was complete, but the thrill of success was overshadowed by the fear of what could have been.

"This can’t happen again," he muttered, shaking his head. "I was lucky today, but if it had been a powerful cultivator... I wouldn’t have lived to see dawn."

He wasted no time. Once the spiritual energy vortex subsided, he rose to his feet and sprinted back to the medicine garden.

The cold night air whipped against his face as he ran, but it couldn’t cool the fiery determination in his heart.

"From now on, I’ll stick to the plan. Small, careful steps. No more gambling with my life."

The forest grew silent behind him, but Hao Yu couldn’t shake the lingering feeling of danger.