Immortality and cultivation: Heaven rewards diligence, and success is inevitable.

"With all five elements of the Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—you possess top-tier aptitude," said Steward Lin.

"Then why are the major sects unwilling to accept disciples with five spiritual roots?" Jiang Shi asked.

Jiang Shi possesses five spiritual roots, and he had previously sought to be accepted into the various sects of Canglin City, but none of them were willing to take him in.

In the end, it was only thanks to two valuable spiritual herbs that I was able to enter the Qingyun Sect's common courtyard.

Previously, Manager Lin had said that Jiang Shi's five spiritual roots were useless.

"That's because cultivating with five spiritual roots requires a huge amount of resources. The resources needed to cultivate one cultivator with five spiritual roots are equivalent to cultivating ten cultivators with three spiritual roots."

"Unless it's a powerful family or the son of an elder, who else would be willing to cultivate five spiritual roots?" Steward Lin explained to Jiang Shi.

"If that's the case, why did you take me as your apprentice, sir?" Jiang Shi asked.

"I'm taking you on as my apprentice, but I won't spend any resources to train you. You'll have to work for any resources yourself," Manager Lin said in a deep voice.

"For those with five spiritual roots, let alone breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, even breaking through to the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage would require an enormous amount of resources, which is beyond my ability to help."

"But I can bestow upon you the cultivation techniques and protect your safety. In this courtyard, no one will hinder your practice."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shi remained silent for a moment before asking, "What does the master need me to do?"

"Not bad, not bad, you are indeed a smart person." Manager Lin nodded in approval.

"If you become my disciple, I will help you in your cultivation. Then we will have a master-disciple relationship, and I value your comprehension and skills."

"When you become an outer disciple and meet my daughter, you must do your utmost to help her if she needs anything."

Manager Lin spoke earnestly, his eyes gleaming.

"To be honest, I don't only value you. I've already taken more than a dozen senior servants as my disciples."

"Some of them have already broken through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and have been accepted into the outer sect."

Manager Lin's words were true. His daughter's name was Lin Yanyi, she was eighteen years old, an outer disciple of the Qingyun Sect, and she had already reached the seventh level of Qi Refining.

It's not impossible for him to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage and enter the inner sect in the future.

Manager Lin extorted money and recruited apprentices in the courtyard, all to pave the way for his daughter's future.

The path of cultivating immortality emphasizes wealth, companions, methods, and location.

For ordinary people to achieve Foundation Establishment is extremely difficult. Without a powerful backer, unless they encounter a miraculous event, it is simply impossible.

Manager Lin was just a scion of a declining aristocratic family, whose inheritance had long been exhausted.

Now that he has no chance of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he places all his hopes on his daughter.

He took in many ordinary disciples from humble backgrounds who were just menial laborers.

Even if these disciples enter the outer sect, they are like trees without roots, unable to compete with disciples from other aristocratic families.

They could only band together for warmth and rely on Lin Yanyi's command.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shi was filled with thoughts; he was indeed most in need of cultivation techniques.

Moreover, they were controlled by others; Manager Lin was the local tyrant of the courtyard.

He has made his point so clear now; if we don't agree, things won't end well.

"Master, please accept my bow." Jiang Shi is a decisive person.

Since that's the case, we might as well agree directly, take the benefits first, and deal with the rest later.

Seeing this, Manager Lin nodded and smiled, watching Jiang Shi finish the ceremony.

Then he said, "Since you have become my disciple, you are one of us. You can move to this Jia Courtyard and you will have the opportunity to practice in my training room once a month."

Manager Lin's training room has many wonders, and it is especially beneficial for low-level cultivators like Jiang Shi, who are at the second level of Qi Refining.

This is one of the benefits one can receive as a disciple of the forest steward.

"This is a low-grade Yellow-level cultivation technique called 'Water Spirit Technique.' You may accept it." Steward Lin patted the brocade pouch at his waist, and a stone slip appeared out of thin air.

This is a storage bag, and it's quite valuable.

"Water Spirit Technique? Another low-grade Yellow-level technique." Jiang Shi felt somewhat disappointed.

This Yellow-grade low-rank cultivation technique is the worst, just like the "Wood Spirit Technique".

Even if he cultivates to perfection, he will probably only be able to reach the third level of Qi Refining.

He became Lin's disciple in the hope of obtaining better cultivation techniques, let alone heaven-level or earth-level techniques.

Even a low-grade Xuan-level technique would be better than these "Wood Spirit Technique" and "Water Spirit Technique".

"Originally, I should have bestowed upon you the Yellow-grade superior cultivation technique, 'Fire Nourishing Technique,'" Manager Lin explained, guessing Jiang Shi's thoughts.

"But you have already cultivated the Wood Spirit Technique, and you have already reached the perfect state."

Manager Lin, with his high level of cultivation, saw through Jiang Shi's current level at a glance.

"If I were to teach you other levels of cultivation techniques, it would cause an imbalance of your five elements and lead to qi deviation."

"Now you should first cultivate the Wood Spirit Technique, then the Water Spirit Technique, and then I will teach you the Earth Spirit Technique, the Fire Spirit Technique, and the Metal Spirit Technique."

"Once you have mastered all five skills and reached perfection, you will have a great chance of breaking through to the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shi suddenly realized that there was such a saying about the cultivation of the five spiritual roots.

It is likely that these five basic low-grade yellow-level cultivation techniques—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—were created by our predecessors for the five spiritual roots.

"However, cultivating all five techniques to perfection requires too many resources. Most sects are unwilling to train such practitioners," Manager Lin added.

"Thank you, Master, for passing on your skills. I will remember it," Jiang Shi said sincerely.

Regardless of what kind of person Manager Lin was, these words were indeed a great help to him.

"Come back when you break through to the third level of Qi Refining, and I'll pass on the next cultivation technique to you."

"You may step down today."

Jiang Shi thanked him again and left.

After Jiang Shi left, Steward Lin sat on the prayer mat, closed his eyes, and remained silent for a long time.

"Yanyi, I did all this for you."

Manager Lin suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes were bloodshot, and his kind and gentle appearance from before was gone.

The training room became cold and damp.

Jiang Shi walked out, holding the stone tablet in his hand.

The two experienced handymen came over.

"Jiang Shi, what did Steward Lin say to you?"

The two men, one on the left and one on the right, blocked Jiang Shi's path.

"Manager Lin has already accepted me as his apprentice. Oh, no, I should call him master now," Jiang Shi said in a deep voice.

"What?!" The two were startled by what they heard. In the past, only those menial disciples who had the opportunity to break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and enter the outer sect could be taken in as disciples by Steward Lin.

Like that guy surnamed Li, who has already reached the third level of Qi Refining and is now at the Great Perfection stage, and was only taken in by Manager Lin a few days ago.

Jiang Shi has only been a disciple for a short time, how could he have already been accepted as a disciple by Steward Lin?

The two senior servants were dumbfounded.

"Senior brothers, I'm moving into the First Academy today. Do you have any spare rooms available?" Jiang Shi asked.

Jiang Shi is taking advantage of the situation, leveraging the influence of Manager Lin.

"Yes, yes." The two experienced servants instantly changed their tune and enthusiastically led Jiang Shi to find a place to stay.