Chapter 155: Nine-Element Spiritual Root

Immortal Cultivators are divided into many types, including Alchemists, Artifact Refiners, Formation Masters, Talisman Makers, Spirit Planters, Beast Tamers, Corpse Refiners, Sword Cultivators, and so on.

There are many types of Immortal Cultivators, and the corresponding Immortal Cultivation Techniques also differ, but the first step for all Immortal Cultivators is the same: sensing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

Only by first sensing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, guiding it to enter the body through the acupoints, and then following a specific technique to guide the Spirit Qi to circulate through the meridians and refine it into one's own Spirit Power, can one be considered a true Immortal Cultivator.

Only with Spirit Power in the body can an Immortal Cultivator use it as a catalyst to cast mysterious and unpredictable spells.

Meng Yifan sat cross-legged, wanting to calm down, but his mind was filled with distracting thoughts; one moment he was worried that Zuo Moyan's Spirit Core would escape from Wanxiang Tower.

The next moment he was worried that his body would truly mutate into a heartless Zombie.

Then he worried that he had no Spirit Root at all, and that wanting to embark on the path of Immortal cultivation was merely his own wishful thinking.

"Why is my heart so chaotic? Could this be the Heart Demon mentioned in the techniques? But how does one subdue the Heart Demon and stop oneself from letting the mind wander?"

Meng Yifan was very anxious; according to the records in books, if one were in an Immortal Cultivation Sect, there would be specialized meditation chambers equipped with a Calming Formation, which could help a cultivator subdue their heart, maintain peace and tranquility, and prevent distracting thoughts from arising.

Meng Yifan was relying on a remnant scroll and practicing alone; he could only be considered a rogue cultivator, so naturally, he had no conditions to set up a meditation chamber, and he had to rely on himself to enter a meditative state.

Meng Yifan had a Game Panel, and as long as he had Experience Value, he could significantly increase his cultivation, but the first step of cultivation had to be taken by himself.

That is to say, if Meng Yifan did not have a Spirit Root and could not sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, even if he possessed a heaven-defying cheat like the Game Panel, he could not become an Immortal Cultivator.

"Calm down, stop letting your mind wander." Meng Yifan admonished himself in his mind, but as soon as one distracting thought was extinguished, another would instantly arise in his heart; the space between his thoughts seemed completely beyond his control, which caused him great distress.

Liu Zhongyong was right beside Meng Yifan and, seeing that Meng Yifan could not enter a meditative state for a long time, hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yifan, I will show you something that can help you enter a meditative state."

Meng Yifan felt a surge of joy upon hearing this, as he was currently distressed about being unable to enter meditation.

Liu Zhongyong returned to the room and took out a tightly wrapped wooden box; after opening it, inside was a scroll of animal skin painting.

Liu Zhongyong sighed, took out the painting with a complex expression as if recalling many past events, and after a moment, he shook his head, stopped thinking about it, hung the painting on the wall, and slowly unfurled it.

Meng Yifan stared fixedly at the unfurled painting and discovered that the pattern on it was very simple; the overall background was pitch black, with a few circular blank spots in the middle.

This painting gave Meng Yifan a very strange feeling; he vaguely sensed that it contained a profound and mysterious aura, as if it were expounding some kind of ultimate truth of Heaven and Earth.

Those circular blank spots were clearly stationary, yet when Meng Yifan stared at them, he felt as if those white dots were revolving in cycles around a mysterious center.

"Huh!" As Meng Yifan looked at the painting, he suddenly felt his consciousness being drawn into it; it was as if he were seeing a mysterious starry sky, and those blank spots were stars in the cosmic sky, rapidly rotating within it.

He did not know how much time had passed when a star suddenly began to glow and heat up, expanding rapidly like the Greater Yang, and then suddenly exploded, turning into endless cosmic dust.

In an instant, the cosmic dust gathered again to become a star, once again revolving in cycles around that mysterious point just as before.

"To the eternal cosmic sky, the life cycle of a star is but a fleeting moment, and the short life of a human is even more like a flash in the pan, a momentary bloom in the cosmic sky; why be distressed, why worry?"

Meng Yifan had a sudden realization, slowly let go of the distracting thoughts in his heart, and once again circulated his technique to sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

Perhaps due to the blessing of that starry sky painting, this time Meng Yifan quickly entered a meditative state; he opened his mind to sense the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

"These cool auras should be Water-Type Spiritual Energy, these fiery auras should be Fire-Type Spirit Qi; it seems I possess both water and fire Spirit Roots. Huh! These auras containing vitality are Wood-Type Spirit Qi, those containing a heavy aura are Earth-Type Spirit Qi, and those containing a sharp aura are Metal-Type Spirit Qi."

Meng Yifan felt as if he were sitting cross-legged in the cosmic sky; he sensed the Chaos Breath in the surroundings, within which were mixed all kinds of auras.

Meng Yifan had now distinguished the five types of Spirit Qi: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth; after another moment, he sensed a light and agile aura, which must be Wind-Type Spirit Qi, and then he sensed the Lightning and Thunder unique to Lightning Spirit Qi.

"Seven types of Spirit Qi; I actually possess seven Spirit Roots." Meng Yifan was secretly shocked; after a moment, he sensed an aura of sunlight shining down, which must be Yang Spirit Qi, and then he felt a cold aura, which must be Yin Spirit Qi.

"Sensed nine types of Spirit Qi; I have a Nine-Element Spiritual Root." Meng Yifan opened his eyes and ended this meditation.

"Yifan, how is it? Did you sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi?" Liu Zhongyong asked with concern.

"Uncle Liu, I sensed nine types of Spirit Qi," Meng Yifan said.

"Nine-Element Mixed Spirit Root." Liu Zhongyong was somewhat disappointed; one must know that an Immortal Cultivator can only begin cultivation if they possess a Spirit Root, but it does not mean that the more Spirit Roots one has, the better their aptitude for Immortal cultivation.

On the contrary, the more Spirit Roots one has, the worse the aptitude.

If one has a Nine-Element Spiritual Root, it is even called a Waste Spirit Root, while if one only has a single type of Spirit Root, it is called a Heavenly Spirit Root.

Because the Spirit Qi between Heaven and Earth is mixed together, after an Immortal Cultivator circulates their technique, they will absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into their body.

If one has a single Spirit Root, they only absorb a single type of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, which is much more efficient, whereas those with multiple Spirit Roots absorb all the mixed Spirit Qi at once.

Mixing is not as good as being specialized; after absorbing the mixed Spirit Qi, the cultivator still needs to refine the essence and discard the dross, filtering it once more to keep the needed Spirit Qi and expel the unneeded; this process is very difficult and also wastes time.

That is to say, with the same cultivation time and the same cultivation technique, the efficiency of a single-Spirit-Root Immortal Cultivator is nine times that of a Nine-Element Mixed Spirit Root Immortal Cultivator.

If one adds the process of refining the essence and discarding the dross for a mixed-Spirit-Root cultivator, the cultivation speed of a mixed-Spirit-Root cultivator is despairingly slow.

A person with a Waste Spirit Root is destined to be unable to go far on the path of Immortal cultivation.