Chapter 443 - 275: Five Years of Advancement, Changes in the Song Territory
Chapter 443: Chapter 275: Five Years of Advancement, Changes in the Song Territory
"Finally, an Upper Grade Spirit Root."
Lin Changheng took a deep breath, his eyes filled with visible emotion.
’A hundred years.’
He recalled when he was eighteen, just starting his cultivation journey. His mottled Fire Spirit Root, with its meager nine wisps of Spiritual Charm, had been casually judged a "Mixed Spirit Root" at the Spirit Testing Conference—a cold, heartless verdict that deemed his future a waste of time, his path hopeless.
His family and the Sects alike had shaken their heads and turned him away.
Lin Changheng’s spirited heart, which had believed his suffering was over and his time had come, was instantly shattered by cruel reality and thrown into the dust.
Fortunately, the Xu Family of the Black Water River extended an olive branch; otherwise, Lin Changheng could only have become a wandering, unattached Loose Cultivator.
Not only would his life have lacked stability, but he would also have been cut off from the Alchemy Dao, considered the foremost of the Hundred Arts.
In the years that followed, the limitations of his Spirit Root became painfully obvious.
After eleven years of cultivation, Lin Changheng was still trapped at the Second Layer of Qi Cultivation.
He watched as others effortlessly broke through barriers he considered insurmountable, and in his own internal turmoil, he was forced to swallow the bitter pill of resentment time and time again.
Resources, opportunities, aptitude... he held no advantage in any of these. The only thing he could rely on was the six-word principle: ’Never slack off for a moment.’
Fortunately, the Primordial Cauldron had awakened. Now, these fifty-one wisps of Spiritual Charm were the greatest testament to his century of lonely perseverance.
He slowly withdrew from his Introspection and opened his eyes. The wild joy was gone from his gaze, replaced by a quiet flame burning brightly.
’An Upper Grade Spirit Root is just the beginning.’
But in this Cultivation Realm, it was enough to be called... a genius.
If he had possessed a Spirit Root of such talent back then, no matter his future development, even the Five Great Sects and Daoist Schools couldn’t have refused him. They would have vied to take him in.
But no matter how great a genius, they couldn’t compare to the Lin Changheng of today, who possessed the Primordial Cauldron, because his Spirit Root could evolve infinitely.
With enough time and steady progress, Lin Changheng was confident he could advance all the way to an Earth Spirit Root, a Celestial Spirit Root...
To possess a Spirit Root of unprecedented talent!
...
For some reason, the image of Mo Zhaoli surfaced in Lin Changheng’s mind.
Li’Er’s own Spirit Root talent had her Spiritual Charm stuck at exactly fifty wisps.
Although she had been accepted into the Purple Extreme Sect, her Spirit Root wasn’t considered impressive among the disciples.
She had to fight tooth and nail to achieve her current strength and status.
Now, Lin Changheng’s Spirit Root had surpassed hers in a single leap. Their Cultivation, which had been on par, would now see the gap between them continuously widen in the future.
...
HUMMM—
Lin Changheng calmed his heart and mind and began to circulate the Jade Void Brilliance Scripture, which he had already cultivated to the Perfection Realm.
Now that his Spirit Root had evolved, he intended to try again.
He wanted to see for himself the effects of an Upper Grade Spirit Root.
The moment he began circulating the technique, a drastic change occurred!
In the instant his Divine Sense spread out and all five senses opened, what he "saw" was not the mist-like, free-floating Fire Element Spiritual Qi of the past, which he had to struggle to gather and guide.
Instead, what appeared were countless joyous, leaping, fiery-bright motes of red Spiritual Light. Like sprites answering an unseen summons, they seeped out of the Void and swarmed toward him effortlessly, without any need for him to guide them, surrounding his body completely.
"Marvelous..."
Lin Changheng murmured. This was the power of an Upper Grade Spirit Root—it was no longer the "cultivator seeking the Qi," but the "Qi responding to the cultivator"!
With a mere thought, he began guiding it according to the Technique.
His Upper Grade Fire Spirit Root, with its fifty-one wisps of Spiritual Charm, trembled slightly, as if transforming into a powerful conductor for Fire Element Spiritual Qi.
The dense Fire Element Spiritual Qi in the surroundings immediately became incredibly docile, as if obeying a royal decree, and began to flow along the meridian pathways of the Jade Void Brilliance Scripture—pathways far more complex and profound than those of ordinary Cultivation Techniques.
The refining process was unexpectedly smooth!
It was also faster and more efficient.
Wherever the Spiritual Qi passed, his meridians felt a gentle, searing heat, as if they were being nourished and tempered by the purest essence.
What surprised him even more was that, for an Upper Grade Spirit Root, the subtle circulation techniques within the Jade Void Brilliance Scripture, and the many nodes of Spiritual Qi that required a divided focus to control, now felt completely natural.
Before, he had to rely on a high level of understanding to guide and control it.
Now, however, it was as if his Spirit Root possessed a certain Spiritual nature, able to automatically adjust the flow and properties of the Spiritual Qi to perfectly match the requirements of the Cultivation Technique.
This was the difference between being Active and Passive.
Cultivation had transformed from a type of "hard labor" that required all his mental energy into something almost as instinctual as "breathing." Of course, this was just a rough analogy, a figurative summary of its nature. Lin Changheng estimated that he would only truly achieve this "breathing" effect when he reached the Celestial Spirit Root.
...
A single Grand Circulation was complete.
Lin Changheng slowly withdrew his power and opened his eyes. A sharp glint of light flashed through them and vanished, and for a moment, the room itself seemed to brighten.
He carefully assessed the results. Just from this one Cultivation session, his efficiency had increased by thirty percent!
Furthermore, the Magical Power he cultivated was even more pure and condensed, carrying a trace of the unique, brilliant, righteous aura of the Jade Void Brilliance Scripture, making his foundation incredibly solid.
It was comparable to having been preliminarily refined by the Red Sky Profound Flame.
Moreover, the generation efficiency of Red True Essence was also thirty percent higher.
CRACKLE...
With practiced ease, Lin Changheng guided a newly generated wisp of Red True Essence directly into the Red Sky Profound Flame.
It was instantly devoured by the Flame, becoming fuel for its evolution.
He could feel the power of the Red Sky Profound Flame faintly increasing once more.
’So... this is the world of a genius.’
Lin Changheng whispered softly, his heart filled with a torrent of emotions, and his path forward was now brighter than ever!
...
By this time, the eastern horizon had turned the pale white of a fish’s belly as the morning sun prepared to rise.
A ray of dawn light pierced through a hole in the hall roof, landing perfectly in Lin Changheng’s outstretched palm.