After all, it is well known that the End of Dharma Era is somewhat different from a completely magic-depleted environment. Sometimes the End of Dharma Era does not mean a complete absence of Spiritual Energy, but rather a significant reduction in the concentration of Spiritual Energy in the air.

For example, it's like the oxygen molecules used to maintain survival in the air have greatly decreased. In such situations, large individuals might suffocate to death due to not being able to absorb enough oxygen molecules in time. Cultivators are similar in this regard; when the Spiritual Energy they rely on for survival dwindles, they can only passively head towards extinction.

Even though the concentration of Spiritual Energy is reduced, there's still a tiny bit remaining. As long as one can expand the range of absorption, they can still extract a certain amount of Spiritual Energy for self-restoration.

However, it might exaggerate from absorbing Spiritual Energy from a surrounding area of tens of square meters to absorbing only a tiny bit from an area of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of meters for survival.

At this point, external Spiritual Energy circulation comes into play, as it can significantly increase the range of Spiritual Energy absorption by cultivators when combined with internal circulation, extracting the remaining bit for sustenance.

Therefore, upon entering the End of Dharma Era, merely establishing an internal Spiritual Qi circulation would only seal oneself to reduce Spiritual Energy consumption and leakage, thereby extending survival time to a certain extent in hopes of the arrival of the Spiritual Qi Recovery Era.

Whereas establishing an external circulation allows one to absorb Spiritual Energy from the outside while sealing oneself, further extending survival time, greatly increasing the chance of surviving until the Spiritual Qi Recovery Era.

Simultaneously, being able to act as a super Spirit Gathering Array due to this external Spiritual Energy circulation, cultivators' cultivation speed and spiritual energy gathering speed will increase significantly after entering this stage.

Indeed, because promotion in rank also leads to a substantial increase in cultivation difficulty, actually, the time required for promotion in rank still tends to become longer.

For example, previously, when cultivating, one could gain 1 experience point per second, requiring 1000 points for promotion. After normal promotion, it grows to gain two experience points per second.

Now, one gains five experience points per second but requires 10000 points for promotion. Naturally, it is unlikely for cultivation speed improvement to lead to faster promotion; rather, this improvement is ultimately a relative improvement. Relying solely on this improvement for faster promotions is akin to wishful thinking.

Simultaneously, besides reducing metabolic rate and establishing an external Spiritual Energy circulation, as the degree of energy quantification of Zhang Yanhang's body deepens, various vulnerabilities on his body are further disappearing.

At the Fourth Tier, Zhang Yanhang could barely immunize small damage like a disappearing heart or broken spine, but now even if his head gets blown off, he won't die on the spot, although this is somewhat exaggerated.

Specifically speaking, if the whole head is blown off, indeed, it would result in death. However, if approximately two halves of brain tissue can still remain above the neck, then it's not much of a problem. As for a merely squashed head or being hammered straight into the chest, there's equally little concern, it's entirely okay.

Similarly, originally Zhang Yanhang could only immunize small damage from a broken spine, but now even if his spine is entirely extracted for making yak's spine stew, no big issue, he can regenerate quickly.

Therefore, in a way, Zhang Yanhang now won't die even if he's bisected or chopped in half from the middle.

Although reaching this degree is already impressive, it is still far from the pseudo Undying Body of Divine beings whose heads can be entirely destroyed, and even whose bodies can be completely smashed yet can regenerate using Divine Power.

However, achieving that degree of regeneration, Zhang Yanhang feels even at the Sixth Tier, he might find it difficult. After all, fundamentally, such a pseudo Undying Body requires Divine Power and Divine attributes; if he lacks these, merely achieving this through promotion is certainly challenging.

Therefore, Zhang Yanhang feels he might even try acquiring Divine attributes later, although he couldn't get Divine attributes last time from the God of Flesh and Corruption, he thinks it surely was due to insufficient power—great strength performs miracles, strength makes bricks fly.

Now, after promoting to the Fifth Tier, his strength should at least increase tenfold or more, perhaps he might attempt destruction and the acquisition of Divine attributes.

After all, in the Ashen World power system, Zhang Yanhang is inevitably interested in becoming a Divine.

Unsure if due to deepened energy quantification degree or body's slower metabolic rate acting together, Zhang Yanhang feels his lifespan saw substantial growth after promoting to the Fifth Tier.

Speaking of lifespan, presently, the most direct way for Zhang Yanhang to check lifespan is surely the Infinite Life Talent Effect.

[Infinite Life]

[Quality: XXX (0/177147)]

[Ability One: Unwearied—Constitution +19.]

[Ability Two: Energetic—Physical Strength +760%.]

[Ability Three: Longevity—Life Span +500 years +20 years×112 (+12)[Constitution]=2740 years (+240 years).]

[Ability Four: Longevity—When remaining lifespan exceeds 1000 years [currently 5720 years (+2240 years)], increases 5720 years (Life Span)×0.2%=1144% (+448%) Attack Power, increases 5720 years (Life Span)×0.2%=1144% (+448%) Defense Power.]

[Ability Five: Heavenly Mandate—Luck +1, when remaining lifespan exceeds 10000 years [currently 5720 years (+2240 years)], each extra 10000 years of lifespan increases Luck by 1, current extra Luck Value bonus [0].]

"After promoting to the Fifth Tier, due to unlocking new rank limits, Ability Three Longevity provides new Constitution Attribute bonuses, although, even though I currently have 118 Constitution Attributes, because of yet unlocking main attribute maximum disparity causing six points of Constitution Attributes to overflow.

This further leads to only calculating 112 Constitution Attributes for XXX Infinite Life Talent Effect.

It's just that, after all, it is a high conversion coefficient of twenty years of life per point of Constitution Attribute. Even though it's only twelve points, it still provides me with an extra 240 years of life, and raises the total life span provided by Longevity from the original 2500 years to 2740 years."

Of course, the overall increase in life span is more important. After careful examination, Zhang Yanhang found that, including Longevity, he actually increased his life span by as much as 2240 years in total this time, raising his total life span instantly from the original 3480 years to 5720 years.

"Finally reached this point, didn't I? Now, I alone can directly live for five thousand years."

Zhang Yanhang recalls that the Xia Dynasty established by Yu the Great was probably around 2500 BC or so, which is only 4500 years ago, and before that, there seemed to be a Yu Dynasty ruled by Shun, the Shun of Yao, Shun, and Yu.

It was because Shun abdicated to Yu the Great that Yu the Great founded the Xia Dynasty, followed by the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty.

However, to be honest, the Yu Dynasty, after all, is ancient. Instead of being a country, it is more like a prototype of a country formed after the peak of an ancient tribal system.

No matter how you look at it, the title of Yu Shun shows that the Yu Dynasty did exist. It was just the last peak of the tribal era, while the Xia Dynasty fully transformed into an advanced country practicing slavery.

But the Yu Dynasty probably existed for only a hundred years. Even adding it, it's only 4600 years, still not five thousand years.

Thus, you have to continue tracing history backward, and before Yu Dynasty, there was the legendary Ancient Tang Kingdom, founded by Yao from the days of Yao, Shun, and Yu. Because he established the Ancient Tang Kingdom, Yao was also called Tang Yao.

The history of the Ancient Tang Kingdom was equally brief since it was already at the peak of the tribal system, starting to develop into a country prototype like Yu Dynasty. Therefore, Yao probably only ruled for about seventy years before abdicating to Shun, who then abdicated to Yu the Great, roughly making a hundred years.

Even like that, it's only around 4800 years, and tracing even further back, there is no country prototype at all, turning completely into a tribal chaotic warfare period. However, it is well known that the further back in history, the more abundant the Spiritual Qi was and the denser the mystical aura.

Other than Yao and Shun, two of the Five Emperors, further back were Emperor Ku (Ku) and previously mentioned in mythological tales, the Heavenly Emperor Zhuanxu, and the last one was Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan. Even though Emperor Ku had little presence, from him onward, the mythological aura began to grow dense.

Especially the Yellow Emperor, who successively defeated Chi You and Emperor Yan, with Zhang Yanhang's current Three-Headed Six-Armed figure and Eight Arms and Eight Feet stemming from Chi You, hence showing that during that era, the density of Spiritual Qi might have been at its peak and then gradually declined.

Nonetheless, at least this decline in Spiritual Qi was not severe by the time it reached Yu the Great, as it is well known that Yu the Great had a Sea Measuring Ruler in hand, and this ruler, after Yu succeeded in controlling the waters, was planted at the bottom of the sea as the Ocean Stabilizing God Needle, later taken by Sun Wukong as the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

Of course, while Emperor Ku had little presence, he established the important 24 solar terms, vital for agricultural peoples, and the story of the Phoenix's visitation also originated from him, similarly showing that during that era, the density of Spiritual Qi was high enough even to sustain phoenixes.

Moreover, there are various other stories, like elevating the ground height directly during floods, commonly referred to as raising the altitude, which wouldn't be possible without Spiritual Qi, as with higher ground, floods naturally ceased.

Thus, Emperor Ku was also called Gao Xin, with "Xin" being his title before ascending to kingship; he was given the title Marquis Xin when he was just five as a nephew to Zhuanxu, suggesting that inheriting the throne was quite reasonable.

And by the era of Zhuanxu, the five thousand years of history would have already been complete, but Zhang Yanhang now has more than five thousand years of life, with a total of 5720 years now.

"Considering the Yellow Emperor practiced cultivation, living for a few hundred to a thousand years shouldn't be a problem, thus meaning that if I were to live with my current life span, I'd likely survive from the Yellow Emperor's era through to the 21st century."

But that's just for now. If Zhang Yanhang's life span increases further, then he certainly would enter the era of the Three Sovereigns, namely Suirenshi, You Chao Family, and Shennong, which spans at least several thousand years, given the lengthy development process from kindling fire to building houses and clearing fields for farming.

"If calculated this way, besides the 240-year life span increase from Longevity, I have gained 2000 years of life through Rank promotion or rather promoting Limitless Universe Skill."

As Zhang Yanhang recalled, when promoting to Fourth Tier, he gained eight hundred years of life. According to previous experience, each rank promotion tends to double the life span increase, so under normal circumstances, promoting to Fifth Tier should have simply increased life span by sixteen hundred years.

The extra four hundred years, Zhang Yanhang deduced, are likely a byproduct of the lowered metabolism rate he achieved.

"By calculating this way, it indeed shows the diversified and incredibly practical benefits of the energy quantified body."

As his rank continues to rise, Zhang Yanhang increasingly senses the colossal gap between tiers, showing without a vast amount of correlated bonuses and professional skills harbored in him that crossing ranks to vanquish enemies would indeed be exceedingly difficult.

"Previously, it seemed as though having ten thousand years of life was a lot, but unexpectedly, upon just getting promoted to Fifth Tier, I already have a life span of 5720 years. Calculating this way, I'm only four thousand years away from reaching ten thousand years of life, likely achievable by Sixth Tier at latest."

It can only be said that Zhang Yanhang underestimated the speed of his life span increase, or rather the specialized degree to which the Limitless Universe Skill under the Eastern Cultivation System enhances life span.

"Moreover, besides the automatic life span increase upon rank promotion, I can go and seek heavenly materials and earthly treasures that extend life span."

No matter what, Zhang Yanhang aims to rapidly increase his life span to ten thousand years, getting that additional Luck Value bonus, as Luck Value is genuinely significant to him.

"Additionally, aside from the pure life span increase, Ability Four of Infinite Life also provides a part of Attack Power Bonus and Defense bonus based on the newly increased life span."

When Zhang Yanhang initially had only a life span of 3480 years, Infinite Life merely offered a 696% Attack Power Bonus and Defense bonus, while now, it has surged directly to a 1144% Attack Power Bonus and Defense bonus, equating to a one-time rise of 448% in both bonuses.