Longevity: Start by practicing the ruthless way

"Master, something terrible has happened! I don't know who destroyed our fields! All the crops on our fifty acres have been ruined!"

Someone ran in from outside shouting.

The Lin family's patriarch's eyes widened in disbelief, his voice trembling as he said, "That's fifty acres of land! Fifty acres! And it's all ruined?!"

Someone else ran in, yelling, "Oh no! Our Lin family's ancestral tomb... our ancestral tomb has been dug up!"

The Lin family's Patriarch suddenly turned around and shouted, "What did you say?!"

The man knelt on the ground and repeated, "Our ancestral grave has been dug up! Even our ancestor's coffin has been opened!"

The head of the Lin family collapsed to the ground, filled with grief and anger, and cried out to the sky: "Oh God! What sin have I, Lin Tiannan, committed? My ancestral graves have been dug up. How can I face my ancestors in the afterlife..."

He felt dizzy and his vision went black before he passed out.

The man and the dog had already gone away, leaving behind only a legendary story in Tingfeng Town: [an unknown female hero, out of hatred for evil, attacked the Lin family mansion at night with a big dog].

Three months later, Gu Chi brought the big black dog back to the blacksmith shop in Suiye City. This was the only place that could be considered home since they came to this world.

In Gu Chi's view, the coffin shop in Tingfeng Town in the past and the house built in Panlong Mountains were just temporary residences, without the feeling of home.

The banyan tree in front of the door is still green and evergreen, and seems to have grown a little bigger.

Gu Chi pushed open the door, and the dust in the room made her cough.

She looked at the familiar old wooden rocking chair, and something seemed to touch her heart. Then she smiled brilliantly and said softly, "Mr. Wu, we are back."

"Mr. Wu, Sister Gu Chi brought me back to see you." The big black dog also barked twice.

A spring breeze caressed my cheeks, and the old rocking chair swayed gently twice.

"Old Black, clean up the place inside and out."

"Ok!"

The man and the dog started to work, cleaning every corner carefully and making the blacksmith shop look brand new.

A neighbor passing by saw the door of the blacksmith shop open. He was startled at first, then shouted inside, "Is that Miss Gu back?"

Gu Chi poked half of his head out, smiled and greeted, "It's Aunt Huang, good morning!"

"I thought the blacksmith shop had been robbed." Aunt Huang patted her chest, breathed a sigh of relief, and then laughed and scolded, "Look, girl, you didn't even come to my house to tell me you were back. Have we grown distant? You and Dahei used to come to my house to eat rice cakes every New Year and other festivals. Remember?"

In Suiye City, various kinds of rice cakes are made during festivals, but Old Wu only knows how to forge iron and cannot make those things. Therefore, every time, Aunt Huang will specially make some extra rice cakes and send them to the blacksmith shop, or directly invite them to her house to eat. She is a very kind neighbor.

Gu Chi scratched his head and laughed, "It was just a sudden impulse that I wanted to come back and take a look. I didn't plan to stay for long, so I didn't think of disturbing you, Aunt Huang."

Aunt Huang said, "Well, since you're back this time, please stay a little longer. The neighbors have missed you a lot during the years you were away. Besides, some of the ironware in my house is broken, so I'd like to trouble you to refurbish it."

Gu Chi thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, then Aunt Huang, please tell the other neighbors that if you have broken ironware at home, you can bring it to me for refurbishment or remaking. I'll give you a 20% discount if you're an old friend!"

"Okay, okay! I'll go inform everyone right away!"

Aunt Huang smiled from ear to ear and immediately set out to spread the news that Gu Chi had returned.

Gu Chi's blacksmithing skills are well-known in Suiye City. For example, the bone-cutting knife she made for Butcher Wang took five years to make a small notch, and the quality is absolutely guaranteed.

Soon after, a large group of people swarmed in and surrounded the blacksmith shop. Among the crowd were people Gu Chi knew and some were unfamiliar faces.

"Hey, after all these years, how come you haven't changed at all, little girl Gu?"

"Hey! Don't tell me, it seems like nothing has changed."

“Why do I feel like I’m getting younger and younger?”

Many neighbors who knew Gu Chi were looking her up and down, exclaiming in amazement.

Hearing these voices, Gu Chi's heart suddenly contracted. He relaxed his body and mind for a moment and even forgot that he was an immortal!

It is very scary in the mortal world that a person's appearance has not changed at all in nearly twenty years.

Fortunately, she was still very young when she first came to the blacksmith shop. Twenty years later, she didn't look old and could explain it away.

"Uncles and aunts, you may not know that I have learned some medical skills over the years and have a method to maintain my youthful appearance. Therefore, there has not been any significant change in my appearance. I am still as beautiful and charming as ever, and everyone loves me."

People voluntarily omitted the conceited words that followed her sentence and focused on the two key points: "self-taught medical skills" and "methods for maintaining youthful appearance."

"Is this true? Gu girl, you really know medical skills? And you taught yourself without anyone teaching you?"

Gu Chi nodded and said, "At that time, I bought a medical book and a collection of various medicinal herbs at a roadside stall. I have been reading them slowly over the years and have learned a little bit."

As soon as these words came out, Gu Chi was met with admiring eyes and thumbs-up.

Medical skills are not easy to learn. People without brains cannot learn them at all. Even those with brains and famous teachers need ten years to get into the field.

Gu Chi just bought a medical book and a collection of medicinal materials at a roadside stall, and figured out a set of methods to slow down facial aging by himself. This was like a fairy tale and too unrealistic.

Is she really a genius?!

"Gu girl, you see, everyone on our street is an old friend. Why don't you share your method of maintaining your youthful appearance with everyone?"

"Yes, yes. I'm only thirty now, and the men in my family are already complaining about my age and lack of looks. In a few years, I don't know how they will complain about me again. Gu girl, just tell the aunts and sisters."

The eyes of a group of elderly women around were shining.

Gu Chi looked at everyone and said, "I can prescribe a health-preserving prescription for you aunts. You can just take the medicine according to the instructions. But the most important thing is your attitude. As long as you are optimistic and have expectations for life, you can live younger and younger without taking any medicine."

Not long after, the long-silent iron melting furnace roared again, and the long-lost sound of blacksmithing could be heard in the blacksmith shop. However, Gu Chi only opened the shop for three days. After helping the neighbors refurbish their ironware in their homes, he stopped accepting orders.

At this time, they were tinkering with the essence condensed from the [Root of Tao] this month in the backyard of the blacksmith shop, and discovered another use and effect of this essence.

"As expected, this [Root of Tao] is indeed not as simple as we imagined!" Gu Chi was surprised.

The essence of the fundamental Tao can bring spring back to life, revitalizing dead things and transforming them into living things. But what if it were applied to living things? What would the effect be?

With such doubts, Gu Chi placed two drops of essence condensed from the root of the Moon Dao on a herb.

This herb, which was originally only as tall as a finger, grew about 25 centimeters taller at a speed visible to the naked eye after absorbing the essence of the root of Tao, which is equivalent to one year's growth!

"It can bring dead things back to life, and the effect on living things is to purify them and increase their growth years. This is another major discovery, Old Black!"

Gu Chi was ecstatic and shook the big black dog's shoulders hard. The effect was simply amazing.

If Big Black Dog hadn't taken the initiative to propose the idea, she wouldn't have added longevity points to the option of [Root of Tao], and would have considered other attribute options because she didn't understand its meaning.

If it weren't for the big black dog, they would never have discovered this trap even if they waited forever.

Gu Chi knew that the greatest requirement for spiritual medicines in the world of immortal cultivation was the age of the medicine. The older the medicine, the purer its medicinal properties and the higher its value.

With the blessing of [The Root of Tao], they can simply ignore the age of the medicine when making requests for spiritual medicines in the future, because if the age is not enough, they can add it themselves!

Gu Chi returned her thoughts to cultivation. She looked down at the big black dog and said, "Old Black, have you ever felt that after we reached the second stage of Qi training, the speed at which we absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth has not only become slower and slower, but has also become more and more difficult, as if something is blocking us?"

The big black dog nodded. He had the same feeling. When guiding the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to circulate within his body, he always felt a sense of discomfort.

Gu Chi pinched his jaw and said, "Could it be that we have hit a bottleneck? But we are only at the second stage of Qi training. We have just taken the first step. How can we hit a bottleneck so soon?"

Gu Chi felt it was a bit ridiculous. Were her and the big black dog’s qualifications really that bad?

"It's okay, Sister Gu Chi. We have plenty of time. As long as we have enough time to accumulate knowledge and strength, we can break through any bottleneck."

For the first time, the big black dog said such a meaningful statement, and even used the idiom "slow accumulation and sudden burst of energy"!

Gu Chi shook his head slightly and said, "Old Black, you're taking things for granted. This statement is true for other things, but it doesn't work when applied to cultivation."

She stood up, hands clasped behind her back, and gazed into the distance, leaving a faint silhouette behind the big black dog. She said, "The most important thing on the path of cultivation is talent. When a talented person encounters a bottleneck and stops, they only need a little guidance and perhaps they will immediately realize the truth and continue to stride forward."

"Those with less talent, when they encounter bottlenecks in the early stages of cultivation, can indeed use time to accumulate strength and then leverage momentum to overcome them. However, in the middle and late stages, this method no longer works."

"The path of cultivating immortality becomes increasingly difficult as one progresses. Auxiliary items like elixirs will provide less and less help. When you reach that level, achieving success depends on the single word 'enlightenment'."

"Oh?" The big black dog tilted its head.

"What do you mean by enlightenment?" Gu Chi smiled slightly, pointed to the sky with one hand and the ground with the other, and said, "Of course, it is to comprehend the great principles of heaven and earth and what one desires in one's heart."

"Ordinary people may sit there their entire lives and still be stuck in the same place. Even when their energy is exhausted and their lamps are extinguished, they still find it difficult to comprehend anything. Understanding is something that is difficult to make up for through the accumulation of time."

Having said that, Gu Chi sat down again, patted the big black dog on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Don't be discouraged. Our talents are not necessarily worse than others. It's just that we don't have famous teachers to guide us. When we encounter any problems, we can only rely on ourselves to slowly tinker and study. Sometimes we don't even know when there is a problem in our practice. It's not an exaggeration to say that we are groping in the dark, groping in the dark."

In the following days, they continued to practice according to the mysterious method on the blue iron. Days passed one after another, until half a year later, a deafening roar sounded in the sky above Suiye City.

"It's thundering! Lao Hei, hurry up and come out to collect the clothes!"

Gu Chi ran out of the kitchen yelling, holding an unfinished chicken leg in his hand, but when he looked up, his eyes froze.

Standing high in the sky are immortal cultivators dressed in Taoist robes, flying in the air with swords.

"Fuck Lao Hei! It's a big scene. Stop eating and come out to see it. If you miss it, it will be difficult to see it again!" Gu Chi shouted hurriedly.

"Where is it?" The big black dog brought out the bowl of food, looked up at the sky, and exclaimed in amazement.

The streets of the city were crowded with people. Everyone was frightened by the loud noise and ran out to check.

"Immortal! It's an immortal!"

"Hurry up and kneel down to kowtow to the Immortal Master!"

Everyone knelt on the ground, kowtowing and praying for blessings. Their awe and fear of the immortal cultivators came from the absolute disparity in strength.

"Is this... a fight?" Gu Chi rubbed his eyes, turned over and jumped onto the roof, hoping to see more clearly.

Although it was right above his head, it was still several thousand meters in the air, so even Gu Chi, a cultivator at the second stage of Qi training, could not see it clearly.

"Two groups are really fighting!" Gu Chi quickly ran back to the kitchen, took out his bowl of rice, and jumped back to the roof. This kind of grand scene witnessed with his own eyes was much more exciting than watching a movie. Even without popcorn, it was still very delicious to eat with rice.

Above the sky, a divine cloud swept across the sky, and the clouds in all directions disappeared. The sound of violent explosions cut through the sky, deafening. When the people in Suiye City below saw that something was wrong, they no longer knelt down and kowtowed to pray for blessings. Instead, they scattered and ran back home to hide.

It is said that when gods fight, mortals suffer, and no one wants to be the one caught in the crossfire.

Gu Chi had just started his journey to immortality, and he had no idea about the combat effectiveness that each stage of his cultivation should have. He couldn't tell what realm those cultivators were in, and he was very envious of them.

This battle between the immortals came and went suddenly, and was over in less than half an hour. It was stopped by a loud voice.

The voice was as loud as thunder, shocking everyone's heart, and it only said one word: "Get out!"

With just one word "get out", the two groups that were fighting fiercely froze in an instant, and then turned into long rainbows as if fleeing into the distance, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Is this the end? I haven't seen enough."

Gu Chi and the big black dog looked unsatisfied and didn't feel satisfied at all.