Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

Time flies like an arrow, and four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Wu Fan's cultivation has reached the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining, only one step away from the late stage of Qi Refining.

However, this seemingly minor step may become a lifelong shackle for countless cultivators, with many stuck at this point for years or even decades, unable to make any progress.

Especially for cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots, breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining is an invisible bottleneck.

If resources are scarce, it would take about thirty years just to cultivate to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Furthermore, cultivators need to be nine years old to begin their cultivation journey. By this calculation, it would take until they are nearly forty years old to reach the sixth level of Qi Refining perfection. This does not even take into account the time that might be wasted in breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refining. If they are delayed for several more years at the threshold of the late stage of Qi Refining, it is highly unlikely that they will reach the perfection of Qi Refining before their blood and qi decline at the age of sixty.

Without a solid foundation in Qi cultivation, any attempt to establish a foundation in this life would be futile.

In fact, cultivators do not necessarily need to reach the Qi Refining Perfection stage to attempt the Foundation Establishment stage. They can attempt to break through once they reach the late stage of Qi Refining, but the success rate is so slim that it is almost negligible.

The Foundation Establishment stage requires passing three trials, one of which is the Mana Trial. This trial involves compressing gaseous spiritual energy into liquid true essence, much like filling a cup in the dantian with liquid spiritual energy to pass the trial.

Those who have not reached the Qi Refining Perfection stage have insufficient spiritual power. Forcing a breakthrough will only result in failure. At best, they will be injured and their cultivation will be delayed; at worst, their foundation will be damaged, resulting in more harm than good.

Fortunately, Wu Fan currently possesses the aptitude of a mid-grade spiritual root and is also endowed with thirty-five strands of spiritual energy, making his breakthrough to the late-stage Qi Refining bottleneck not too difficult.

He secretly sensed that he could advance smoothly within a year without any external assistance.

If supplemented with breakthrough pills, it can force a breakthrough immediately.

Wu Fan had originally intended to do so, but ultimately suppressed his thoughts.

Because the once-in-a-decade disciple-acceptance ceremony of Falling Star Valley is less than half a year away, and he has already obtained the recommendation letter from the Bai family, he will be leaving in a few days.

Breaking through at this moment would be tantamount to revealing too much potential.

In the eyes of powerful clans, reaching the late stage of Qi Refining at such a young age might be common, but in the Bai family, he is already a promising talent with the potential to establish a foundation (although the Bai family would not give him a Foundation Establishment Pill).

In addition, he is already proficient in alchemy. If he were to show signs of advancement, it would be hard to guarantee that the Bai family wouldn't consider forcibly keeping him, which would only cause more trouble.

It's better to avoid trouble, so Wu Fan decided to wait until he left the Bai family before attempting a breakthrough.

Anyway, it won't take much longer. I can use this time to hone my magic power and make my foundation more stable.

In these four years, Wu Fan's gains went far beyond just improving his cultivation.

His mastery of the Five Elements Dao Techniques was already unparalleled. Not to mention comparing it to the Five Elements Dao Techniques performed by Foundation Establishment cultivators, there were very few cultivators of the same level of Qi Refining, and even some late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, who could surpass him in their understanding of the Dao Techniques.

In terms of body tempering, by relying on the spiritual herbs he obtained by "fleecing" the Bai family, and by constantly soaking in these large quantities of spiritual herbs and even directly consuming some of them, his physical body has reached the perfect level of the third stage of body tempering.

The reason why he did not continue to advance was twofold: firstly, body refinement was not his main focus, so he had limited time to invest in it; secondly, the body refinement techniques he had were simply too crude.

Wu Fan secretly resolved that he would find a superior body-refining technique when he had the time, and for now he could only use body-refining as an auxiliary method.

Of all these gains, the most remarkable progress was in alchemy.

He has now firmly entered the ranks of first-grade high-level alchemists. Although he can only refine ordinary first-grade high-level pills for the time being, he has already far surpassed his peers in the Bai family.

Even more surprisingly, during his years of studying Taoist alchemy, he discovered a new function of the Five Elements Beads.

Whether it was because the Five Elements Beads originally had this wonderful use, or because his own fire element origin had made a breakthrough, now the Five Elements Beads can not only absorb the power of origin, but he can also actively mobilize the origin within the beads to export it for external use.

Previously, when refining a first-grade high-level barrier-breaking pill, Wu Fan first used the Five Elements Bead's keen perception of the origin to remove impurities from the pill to its limit, and then infused it with a trace of the Five Elements Bead's origin power to test it.

When the elixir was produced, it possessed a quality he had never encountered in his alchemy career.

It is by no means a fine product, but rather a near-flawless top-grade elixir.

He repeatedly sensed the pill, but there was not a single impurity in it. He even suspected that the pill was the legendary flawless pill. However, whether he had seen it with his own eyes or heard about it, no one in the Chu Kingdom had ever refined a flawless pill, so he dared not draw any conclusions.

Only some alchemical texts record that the impurities in top-grade pills should not exceed 30%. Wu Fan judged that the impurities in this pill were far below this standard, so he temporarily classified it as top-grade.

This batch of four top-grade Breakthrough Pills is precisely the source of his confidence in breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Four pills of this quality, if consumed, would be enough to allow even a pig to advance its cultivation level.

Wu Fan vaguely sensed that the wondrous uses of the Five Elements Beads' source power were not limited to improving the quality of pills; they might also have miraculous effects on spiritual plants and herbs. However, he only had a wisp of wood element source power at hand, and rashly drawing it out might cause the Five Elements Beads to revert to their former state, and his own spiritual roots might also decline. He could only wait until he had accumulated enough wood element source power before making another attempt.

He was even curious about what strange changes would occur if this primordial power were applied to living beings, but he dared not test it on himself, and there was no suitable subject around him, so he could only put it aside for the time being.

Wu Fan had a very fulfilling four years and gained a lot.

In his spare time, he would either enjoy tea with Niu Dazhuang, or contemplate the moon alone in the courtyard at night, or play chess and discuss philosophy with the steward of the alchemy room. Occasionally, he would go to Yunxi Market to inquire about some news and collect some supplies. During this time, he also visited his second uncle.

His second uncle remained as warm and caring as ever, but to his slight surprise, his cousin Wu Xiaowan became much more affectionate towards him.

Perhaps it was because his cultivation had improved, or perhaps it was because his cousin had grown older and valued family ties more, or perhaps it was because she had started her own family and become a mother, and her mindset had changed. Wu Fan did not delve into the reasons, but simply accepted this closeness and would occasionally offer some advice on cultivation and family matters during their conversations.

Only Bai Ruanyu, after they confessed their feelings to each other in the camellia field that day, has never seen her again.

Yunxi Mountain isn't very big, so you'd normally run into it all the time. This deliberate avoidance speaks volumes.

Wu Fan understood; it seemed that Bai Ruanyu did not want to see him again.

Now, Wu Fan only hopes that she can let go as soon as possible, and he also silently wishes her all the best in the future.

Just as he was pondering this, Niu Dazhuang's extremely cheerful shouts came from outside the courtyard.

Wu Fan immediately stood up, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

The two had already agreed to spend a few days together before he left the Bai family, since it would be difficult for them to meet so freely again after he went to Falling Star Valley.

"They're here!"

Wu Fan responded loudly and pushed open the door to go out.