Chapter 91: First Encounter with Cultivation (Middle) Additional update time remains unchanged

  After seeing off Li Zhanggui, Xiao Ziyang did not go out for a meal; he locked the door and returned to his room.

  The trunk that was brought out of the Wenfu had long been abandoned on the road. Xiao Ziyang packed 300 purple gold coins, two books, 27 spirit stones, a palm-sized inheritance treasure mirror instrument, two sets of clothes, and a three-inch small box containing several different masks into a package.

  Xiao Ziyang opened the package and took out "The Five Elements Taoist Techniques for Beginners" and began to read it carefully.

  The book begins by explaining what spiritual roots are.

  Linggen is a person's innate talent for cultivating immortality, which can be divided into five categories based on the Five Elements: Metal Linggen, Wood Linggen, Water Linggen, Fire Linggen, and Earth Linggen. Based on cultivation speed, it can be divided into nine grades. In terms of the difficulty of foundation building and elixir formation, it can be divided into Tianlinggen, Diligen, Renlinggen, as well as miscellaneous Linggen that do not enter the mainstream.

  As for the spiritual root, Xiao Ziyang had always thought that only cultivators would have it, and it was extremely rare. However, according to this book, everyone actually has a spiritual root, and each person has at least five spiritual roots on their body. If one is missing, they will die in the womb, with no exceptions.

  The spiritual root is like another pair of eyes and hands for the cultivator. The cultivator can only sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth through the spiritual root, and each type of spiritual root can only sense the corresponding spiritual energy. Similarly, one can only absorb the corresponding spiritual energy with the corresponding spiritual root.

  For every additional spiritual root of the same kind within a cultivator's body, their ability to sense and absorb spiritual energy will double.

  For example, if a person has one strand of fire spirit root, and they practice the corresponding sensory method, and their surroundings have sufficient spiritual energy density, and their mind is quiet enough, then it's very likely that they can sense the fire spirit energy between heaven and earth and absorb it. If this person has two strands of fire spirit root, then sensing fire spirit energy will be twice as easy, and the absorption speed will also be twice as fast.

  However, different spiritual roots will affect each other when sensing the spiritual energy; for every additional different spiritual root in a cultivator's body, one of the spiritual roots' ability to sense the heavenly and earthly spiritual energies will be cancelled out due to the mutual interference between the mixed spiritual roots.

  For example, if a person has both a fire spirit root and a wood spirit root, then this person will lose the ability to sense both of these two kinds of heavenly and earthly spiritual energies due to the mutual influence of the two spirit roots.

  For example, a cultivator with three fire spiritual roots and two wood spiritual roots would have the same ability to sense fire spiritual energy as one with only two fire spiritual roots due to interference from the different spiritual roots. Similarly, their ability to absorb wood spiritual energy would be the same as that of a cultivator with only one wood spiritual root.

  The number of spiritual roots on a person's body is at least five. However, it will never exceed nine at most. Since the method of testing spiritual roots was developed in the immortal cultivation world, no one has ever been found to have more than nine spiritual roots in their body.

  Masters divide the spiritual roots into nine grades, with the first grade being the highest, referring to masters who possess nine identical spiritual roots, and the ninth grade being the lowest, referring to masters who only have an effect equivalent to one spiritual root.

  The book gives an example, if a cultivator has a total of eight spiritual roots in his body, four fire spiritual roots, three wood spiritual roots, and one water spiritual root. After subtracting the spiritual roots that are cancelled out by the mutual influence of the three mixed spiritual roots, this person is both eighth-grade fire spiritual root and ninth-grade wood spiritual root. This person can cultivate both fire-based dao techniques and wood-based dao techniques; of course, his efficiency in cultivating fire-based dao techniques is twice that of wood-based dao techniques.

  Although everyone in this world has a spiritual root, the vast majority of people are complete with all five elements, each with one way.

  So, although everyone has a spiritual root, those who can cultivate immortality and possess even the lowest ninth-grade spiritual root are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, one in ten thousand.

  Linggen is not only divided into nine grades, but also divided into three categories: heaven, earth and human. The so-called heavenly linggen refers to cultivators who have only one kind of linggen in their body.

  Two kinds of spiritual roots mixed together are called earthly spiritual roots. Three kinds of spiritual roots mixed together are called human spiritual roots. Four or more kinds mixed together are called miscellaneous spiritual roots.

  The reason for this division is related to the two major difficulties in the cultivation of immortals, namely building the foundation and forming the elixir.

  Ji Zhu is referring to the practice of Qi Gong practitioners transforming their entire body's Fa Li into True Yuan through secret methods.

  Zhenyuan is named as it implies, yuan means one; zhen means pure; pure and unique is the biggest characteristic of Zhenyuan.

  Therefore, a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage who wants to condense his Fa power into True Yuan must have extremely pure Fa power. However, if a cultivator has multiple types of spiritual roots within him, then no matter how careful he is when absorbing spiritual energy, he will inevitably absorb other types of spiritual energy, leading to impure Fa power. If these Fa powers are not refined in time, they will seep into the meridians and bones, making them impossible to eradicate.

  So, the cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage spend a lot of time refining and purifying the mixed spiritual energy after each absorption, but this refinement and purification can only be done to a certain extent.

  The internal Qi of a cultivator below the level of Di Ling Gen always contains some impurities, and the more impure the Ling Gen is, the more impurities there are. The more impurities there are, the greater the obstacles encountered during foundation building will be.

  Heavenly Spirit Root cultivators do not have this worry. Heavenly Spirit Root cultivators only have one type of Spiritual Root in their body, and even if they want to absorb other types of Spiritual Energy, it is impossible. Therefore, the magical power of Heavenly Spirit Root cultivators is absolutely pure. The foundation-building of Heavenly Spirit Root cultivators is like water flowing into a ditch, ten times easier than that of other cultivators.

  Even if the cultivator below the Di Ling Gen succeeds in building the foundation, it doesn't mean that the impurities in the Fa power are gone. These impurities still exist within the Zhen Yuan and will supposedly hinder the cultivator's formation of the elixir, with this hindrance being more severe than their hindrance to building the foundation.

  The book also makes a brief introduction to the practice and realm of Xian cultivators. No matter what kind of practice the practitioner practices, their realm is divided into six realms: practicing Qi, building foundation, golden elixir, yuan ying, transforming spirit, and combining body, each with further subdivisions.

  For example, the Qigong period is divided into nine stages: nourishing Qi, practicing spirit, condensing method, responding to sensation, pure method, changing tendons, tempering bones, washing marrow, and warming nourishment.

  The foundation-building period is further divided into four stages: Huayuan, Xiyuan, Ningyuan and Wangdan. Among them, the Huayuan period is also called the initial stage of foundation building, Xiyuan is the middle stage of foundation building, and Ningyuan is the later stage of foundation building.

  The Golden Elixir period is divided into four stages: Nourishing the Elixir, Condensing and Refining, Polishing, and Embryonic Breathing. Among them, Nourishing the Elixir is also called the initial stage of the Golden Elixir, Condensing and Refining is called the middle stage of the Golden Elixir, and Polishing is called the later stage of the Golden Elixir.

  There is no detailed introduction in the book "Yuanying Zhishang".

  For every boundary that a cultivator breaks through, apart from their magical powers greatly increasing, what's more important is that the cultivator's lifespan will also greatly increase.

  The lifespan of a Qi Refining stage cultivator is only slightly longer than that of an ordinary person. If there are no accidents, most Qi Refining stage cultivators can live for over a hundred years.

  The lifespan of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is twice that of a Qi Refining cultivator, reaching two hundred years.

  The Golden Elixir period cultivators increased even more, reaching a lifespan of five hundred years.

  The lifespan of a Yuanying period cultivator can reach up to 1,500 years.

  These few chapters belong to the transitional phase and may be a bit dull. Please bear with it for now, something exciting is coming soon!!