He fell off a cliff but unexpectedly gained a cultivation inheritance.

After successfully refining a mid-grade Earth-rank Qi Cultivation Pill, Zhang Bufan did not rush to mass-produce it. Instead, he temporarily set aside alchemy and continued to focus on digesting the Core Formation stage inheritance memories of Xuanqing Daoist. Previously, he had focused on studying alchemy-related content, but now, in his spare time, he was sorting through the scattered cultivation theories one by one. The detailed classification of spiritual roots was quite different from the common understanding in the Pangu cultivation world, completely overturning his inherent understanding of "cultivation aptitude".

In the common knowledge that has circulated in the Pangu cultivation world for tens of thousands of years, spiritual roots are only divided into five basic attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. These are further classified according to the number of attributes: mixed spiritual roots (five attributes), pseudo-spiritual roots (four attributes), true spiritual roots (three attributes), earth spiritual roots (two attributes), and heavenly spiritual roots (single attribute). As for the special spiritual power characteristics that occasionally appear during cultivation, they are all categorized as extensions of the corresponding basic attributes, without any more detailed classification. However, in the inherited memories of Xuanqing Daoist, the classification of spiritual roots is much more precise, centered on two key dimensions. This not only fills the knowledge gap in the Pangu cultivation world but also resolves Zhang Bufan's long-standing doubts.

The first dimension is the subdivision of spiritual root attributes—besides the five common attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, there are also various mutated spiritual roots, all of which evolve from basic attributes under special natural environments or innate endowments. These are namely lightning spiritual roots, wind spiritual roots, ice spiritual roots, yang spiritual roots, and yin spiritual roots. These mutated spiritual roots are not independent of the basic attributes, but rather advanced mutations of the corresponding attributes. Their potential far exceeds that of ordinary spiritual roots, and when cultivating suitable techniques, they can unleash double the combat power. However, in the Pangu cultivation world, due to the break in inheritance and limited understanding, these mutated spiritual roots have always been confused with the basic attributes: lightning spiritual roots are classified as metal spiritual roots, wind spiritual roots are merged into wood spiritual roots, and ice spiritual roots are regarded as water spiritual roots; yang and yin spiritual roots are even rarer and are often mistakenly identified as ordinary fire and earth attribute heavenly spiritual roots.

The inherited memories explicitly state that the cultivation aptitude of mutated spiritual roots is inherently half a level higher than that of ordinary celestial spiritual roots. However, due to the lack of corresponding exclusive cultivation techniques in the Pangu cultivation world, cultivators can only forcibly cultivate basic attribute techniques, which greatly suppresses their potential, ultimately bringing them to parity with celestial spiritual root cultivators. Just as an ice spiritual root cultivator cultivating a water attribute technique can steadily advance, they cannot fully utilize the original power of the ice spiritual root. If they could switch to cultivating an exclusive ice attribute technique, their control over ice and cultivation speed would experience a qualitative leap.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Bufan suddenly recalled the battle in the Kunlun Secret Realm—when he fought against Bai Qingyao, the Holy Maiden of Yaochi, the spiritual power she released was imbued with a bone-chilling coldness, not the kind of coldness that ordinary water-elemental cultivators could control, but rather an almost primordial power of ice. At the time, he only thought it was because Bai Qingyao cultivated a special water-attribute technique, but now, comparing it with his inherited memories, he suddenly realized that Bai Qingyao was not the rumored "water-attribute celestial spiritual root," but rather a rare ice-elemental spiritual root. It was only because Yaochi did not have a dedicated ice-elemental technique that she had always cultivated with water-elemental techniques. Even so, she was still able to rank among the top of the younger generation, which shows the terrifying potential of a mutated spiritual root.

He then thought about it. The Xuanqing Daoist's inherited memories contained several ice-attribute cultivation techniques, ranging from basic beginners to advanced supernatural abilities, far surpassing the existing techniques in the Pangu Immortal Cultivation World. However, he and Bai Qingyao were not related, having only met once and been rivals. Naturally, he had no reason to give her the techniques. At most, if they met again in the future, he would at least avoid misjudging her strength.

The second dimension of spiritual root classification is the "spiritual root grade" system, which is completely absent from the Pangu cultivation world. The inherited memories clearly record that regardless of the attribute, spiritual roots are divided into grades, from lowest to highest: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade. The grade of a spiritual root directly determines a cultivator's affinity for the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. The higher the grade, the faster the absorption of spiritual energy and the higher the purity of the condensed spiritual power. This is the fundamental reason why cultivators with the same heavenly spiritual root have vastly different cultivation speeds—most heavenly spiritual root cultivators are only mid-grade or high-grade, while top-grade heavenly spiritual roots are extremely rare. More importantly, the importance of spiritual root grade often surpasses even the attribute itself. Even with ordinary five-element spiritual roots, if one can reach the top-grade level, the cultivation speed can far surpass that of mid-grade or low-grade heavenly spiritual roots.

What excited Zhang Bufan even more was that while the attribute of one's spiritual root is predetermined and cannot be changed throughout one's life, the grade of one's spiritual root can be gradually improved through rare and precious materials. He instantly understood that the reason why the immortal peaches in the Xuanqing Secret Realm could significantly improve cultivation aptitude was that the underlying logic was to nourish the spiritual root and improve its grade, rather than simply replenishing qi and blood. He himself originally had a mixed spiritual root with five attributes, which was considered the worst aptitude in the cultivation world. However, due to long-term consumption of immortal peaches, the grade of his spiritual root had been forcibly raised to the highest grade, which allowed him to catch up with and even surpass ordinary cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots in terms of cultivation speed.

Besides spiritual root attributes and grade, the inherited memories also mention another key factor affecting cultivation speed—physique. The silver fish of the Xuanqing Secret Realm, its core function is to nourish meridians, temper the physical body, and improve physique, complementing the immortal peach's effect of enhancing spiritual root grade. However, physique modification has a strict time limit: only before the Core Formation stage, before the physical body has been reshaped by the power of the Golden Core, can it be improved through external intervention; once the Core Formation is successful, the physical body undergoes a complete transformation, and the physique is completely fixed. Afterward, it can only sublimate naturally with the advancement of cultivation realm, with no further possibility of improvement through external means.

Zhang Bufan secretly reviewed his own situation, feeling increasingly fortunate. Although he was limited by his mixed spiritual root of five attributes, placing him at the bottom in terms of attribute level, the grade of his spiritual root had been improved to the highest level by the Immortal Peach, and his physique had reached its peak under the long-term nourishment of the Silver Fish. In addition, his divine soul had surged after forming his core, and his cultivation techniques were exquisite. The combination of these three advantages allowed him to not only catch up with cultivators of the Heavenly Spiritual Root, but even surpass them with the support of resources.

Having reviewed these theoretical concepts, Zhang Bufan's understanding of the path to immortality became increasingly clear. He silently memorized these common-sense principles, intending to examine the spiritual root grades and attributes of Yue Ling'er, Ye Qingxue, and Liu Yan'er in the future, adjusting their cultivation methods accordingly. He also planned to share some basic knowledge with the sect's disciples when they had accumulated enough experience, helping them find the right direction in their cultivation. After all, only by enabling the sect's disciples to truly understand their own aptitudes could they better unleash their potential and accumulate more strength for the rise of the Immortal Sword Sect.