Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

After an unknown amount of time, Wu Fan slowly opened his eyes. His mind stirred slightly as he probed into his Yellow Court, sensing the changes in the Five Elements Beads. A hint of helplessness appeared on his face.

These few century-old spiritual herbs can each sell for several hundred low-grade spirit stones on the market. The four herbs together are worth more than two thousand low-grade spirit stones, which can be considered a considerable windfall.

Even after absorbing all the Five Elements Pearls, the flower buds inside the pearls only slightly unfurled, the green petals opened a tiny gap, and the spiritual energy in the spiritual root increased by only two strands.

"This is using up way too many spirit stones..."

Wu Fan couldn't help but smile wryly. "Enhancing the fire element essence of the Five Elements Pearl can also increase cultivation speed. This wood element essence is useless right now and will soon be used for experiments. If the experiment results are acceptable, that's fine, but if the effect is minimal, then this whole ordeal is like throwing a gold ingot worth more than two thousand low-grade spirit stones into the water. It will only cause a slight splash, not even a clear sound."

Although I felt sorry for her, my mind was already made up to try it.

Wu Fan took out another spiritual herb from his storage bag.

That was a ten-year-old Qi-Harmony Grass, which he originally intended to use as material to refine a first-grade high-quality Qi-Harmony Pill.

He held the astringent herb in his hand, slowly closed his eyes, and his mind once again connected with the Five Elements Beads in the Yellow Court.

Soon, a wisp of faint green energy drifted out from the Five Elements Bead, hovering in mid-air along the runes on its forehead, and the green petals inside the bead also closed slightly.

"go."

Wu Fan lightly touched it with his fingertip.

The wisp of green energy immediately began to drift slowly, approaching the Qi-gathering Grass in his palm—three inches, two inches, one inch...

It finally burrowed steadily into the Aikido grass.

The next second, a strange sight occurred.

After absorbing the essence of the wood element, countless tiny green lights instantly floated around the Aikigrass, like fireflies dancing in the sky, dazzling but not blinding.

The shimmering discs swirled for a moment before being absorbed into the body of the Harmony Grass. The spirit grass, which was originally only half an arm's length long, began to grow rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Its stem kept growing, gradually reaching a height of more than half a person.

The emerald green leaves gradually deepened in color, eventually approaching ink, with a faint sheen around the edges. Small bumps gradually appeared on the surface of the leaves, filled with rich spiritual energy, and the fragrance of spiritual herbs could be smelled from afar.

A moment later, the growth gradually stopped, and a plump and spiritually rich Harmony Grass appeared in Wu Fan's hand.

Wu Fan's eyes widened, his face filled with shock, and he exclaimed in disbelief:

"This...this is actually a hundred-year-old Aikido?!"

He quickly stepped forward, carefully observing the bulges on the leaves, and then focused intently on sensing the spiritual energy within them, his tone full of surprise:

"That's right, it really is a hundred-year-old Aikido herb! Judging from the abundance of spiritual energy, it's probably around 130 years old!!!"

Wu Fan couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

"Good heavens! This Wood Element Essence can not only accelerate the growth of spiritual plants, but its effects are also incredibly powerful! Just a wisp of it can accelerate a ten-year-old Harmony Grass to a hundred-year-old one. From now on on my path of cultivation, no matter what high-age spiritual herbs I need, as long as I have the Wood Element Essence, won't I be able to accelerate their growth myself?"

"In this way, as long as we find the seeds of rare spiritual herbs, those high-aged spiritual herbs will no longer be a problem, and we can also take care of the materials for alchemy and weapon crafting, becoming self-sufficient."

The more he thought about it, the happier he became. Even with his calm and composed nature, he couldn't help but feel a little elated at this moment.

However, this smug feeling didn't last long. Wu Fan quickly regained his composure, holding the hundred-year-old Harmony Grass in his hand, his expression becoming calm again, and he began to carefully calculate the energy he had just consumed.

Having just absorbed the spiritual medicine and condensed a slightly larger amount of the wood element's original spiritual essence, when it was used to accelerate the growth of the spiritual herbs, it converted about one-fifth of the original essence's effects.

While such a consumption of spirit stones wasn't unbearable, it was still a considerable expense for him, who was still in the Qi Refining stage.

But then, thinking of the incredible effects of this wood elemental source, this small amount of consumption was nothing.

It should be noted that even a Golden Core cultivator who practices the top-tier Wood-element healing technique would have to spend five hundred years of their own lifespan to mature a spiritual herb over a hundred years. However, a Golden Core cultivator is at least a hundred years old when they form their core, and at most, they have about four hundred years of lifespan remaining. Who would needlessly sacrifice hundreds of years of their own lifespan for a spiritual herb that only lasts a hundred years?

It's better to be patient and let it grow naturally.

After all, for cultivators who pursue longevity, lifespan is the foundation of their existence. Even a fool wouldn't do something that is not worth the loss.

With these Five Elements Beads, he accomplished this feat by consuming only "some spirit stones," which was tantamount to seizing an incredible opportunity.

Although century-old spiritual herbs are not particularly hard to find in the market nowadays, this ability to accelerate growth is probably not very useful in the short term. It is estimated that it will be necessary to rely on it when one reaches the Golden Core stage. However, this surprise still warmed his heart, and he felt that the Five Elements Pearl's trump card had become even stronger.

It's just unknown how many years the Five Elements Pearl could directly increase if it were to be upgraded again and the Wood element essence was used to accelerate the growth of the spiritual medicine.

As Wu Fan pondered, his mind began to wander.

After a moment, he composed himself, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

After all, the experiment is not over yet.

The ripening effect of the wood element has been verified, but its effects of nourishing life and healing wounds have not yet been tested.

Healing oneself is not something to be taken lightly. That wisp of wood element essence is extremely precious. Minor injuries can be treated with elixirs, but serious injuries are even more dangerous to risk one's own body for experimentation.

He would rather never have the chance to use this healing ability in his lifetime.

In this way, only the nourishment of life remains.

Wu Fan focused his mind on sensing the faint green origin within the Five Elements Pearl in the Yellow Court, and a vague guess formed in his heart.

The nourishment that this elemental source of wood provides to living beings is probably more than just physical replenishment; it may also subtly improve their spiritual root aptitude, though the effect may not be as miraculous as that of the Five Elements Beads.

We'll have to try it to find out how effective it really is.

A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he came up with an excellent test subject.

It was that silly-looking Zhao Fu, who was still fast asleep.

This little guy is still in the juvenile stage of tiger-type demon beasts. His own bloodline aptitude has not been fully activated. Moreover, wood generates wind, and Zhao Fu already has wind attribute bloodline. The nourishment of the wood element will definitely have the greatest effect on him.

"You're getting off easy, you little thing."

Wu Fan chuckled softly, turned around and walked to the edge of the bed. Looking at Zhao Fu, who was curled up and fast asleep, he gently tapped its little head with his fingertips.

As if disturbed from a sweet dream, Zhao Fu groggily raised his little paw and scratched the spot where he had been hit. He then shrank his head further into his arms, his little nose twitching slightly. He slept even more soundly, completely unaware of the opportunity that was about to arrive.