The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

On the animal skin scroll, there were only a few lines of hastily written words: "Descendants of the Yan family, seeing this is like seeing the person. I have cultivated for two hundred years, but failed to break through to the Core Formation stage. Now I am a dying man. Therefore, I have hidden the two treasures, the Purple Cloud Sword and the Green Wood True Cover, in my ancestral home in Jiayuan City, Lanzhou."

"If a descendant of the Yan family can cultivate the technique to the first level, it means that he or she possesses spiritual roots. He or she can go to the ancestral home, use the Yan family bloodline to activate the formation, and take away two treasures as protective treasures."

"May an outstanding descendant of my Yan family break through to the Core Formation stage, then I, your ancestor, will die without regret."

"Written by Yan Chengjiao, the sixteenth patriarch of the Yan family."

After reading the animal skin scroll, Wan Xiaoshan gritted his teeth, casually threw it on the ground, and said viciously, "Another fake treasure map."

"It seems that Qingwen intends to spread this treasure map to lure rogue cultivators to Jiayuan City."

"They probably laid an ambush in Jiayuan City a long time ago."

Yang Qingyuan, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. He used his left hand to cast a spell to pull the animal skin roll into his sleeve.

Seeing this, Wan Xiaoshan kindly advised, "Brother Yang, what are you doing?"

"Have you forgotten the lesson you just learned?"

"We almost lost our lives because I found a treasure map at Wu Jiuzhi's stall at the Tainan Small Fair earlier."

"This Qingwen pretended to bid against me for the treasure map. I didn't have enough spirit stones, so I had no choice but to come and explore for treasure with him."

"Who knew that this treasure hunt was actually planned by Qingwen and Wu Jiuzhi from beginning to end?"

"I suspect this animal hide scroll is also bait for Qingwen's trap."

After considering it in his heart, Yang Qingyuan disagreed with Wan Xiaoshan's opinion. He vaguely remembered that after Qingwen established his foundation, he did have a set of top-grade magic artifacts made of beads, called the Azure Wood True Cover.

He had searched through Qingwen's storage bag but couldn't find it, which was probably because Qingwen hadn't retrieved it yet.

Therefore, this treasure map may be real, and Qingwen obtained the Qingmu True Cover through it.

Thinking of this, Yang Qingyuan said, "It's alright. Anyway, I'm going to leave Tainan Valley to attend the Ascension Conference at Tianwu Terrace. Jiayuan City is also in Lanzhou, so it shouldn't take too long."

Wan Xiaoshan frowned and replied, "So Brother Yang is going to Tianwu Terrace to participate in the Ascension Conference of the Seven Great Sects of Yue Kingdom."

"Brother Yang, there are cultivators at the Ascension Ceremony who have reached the Qi Refining Perfection stage, which is the thirteenth level of Qi Refining. Their strength far surpasses that of Qingwen, who is at the late stage of Qi Refining."

"Moreover, families like ours that specialize in cultivating immortality will send well-prepared members to participate in the Ascension Ceremony."

"After all, the seven major sects offered seventy Foundation Establishment Pills to the winner."

"This Foundation Establishment Pill is a treasure that any Qi Refining cultivator would dream of."

"Several of our Wan family members have reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and they are already heading to Tianwu Platform with top-grade magic artifacts bestowed upon them by the family."

"Although Brother Yang is highly skilled, his cultivation level is only at the sixth level of Qi Refining. He has no chance of winning against these true elites."

"This road is completely impassable."

Yang Qingyuan waved his hand and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Brother Xiaoshan."

"Have you not heard that Heaven never closes off all paths?"

"The cultivation resources of Yue Kingdom are monopolized by the seven major sects. If we want to advance further, we must take the risk at the Ascension Conference."

Upon hearing this, Wan Xiaoshan felt a surge of admiration for Yang Qingyuan. He then cupped his hands and said, "Brother Yang saved my life earlier, and I will never forget it."

"I will go to my elders to ask Brother Yang for some protective treasures."

"This way, Brother Yang will have a better chance of participating in the Ascension Ceremony."

Yang Qingyuan pondered for a moment, then carefully said, "It's quite a coincidence, but I do urgently need a treasure. I wonder if the Wan family has one?"

"Oh? What treasure?" Wan Xiaoshan was on high alert, but at the same time, he was also very nervous, afraid that the other party would ask for a treasure that he could not produce.

Yang Qingyuan replied directly, "Treasures for testing spiritual roots, such as talismans and magical artifacts."

Wan Xiaoshan laughed it off and said, "I thought it was something else."

"Our Wan family has a compass specifically for testing the spiritual root attributes of young children. We'll test it for Brother Yang later and you'll know."

"However, Brother Yang, you shouldn't have too high expectations."

"Spiritual root aptitude is innate. More than 70% of cultivators have pseudo-spiritual roots, and only 20% have true spiritual roots."

"As for heterogeneous spiritual roots and celestial spiritual roots, they are even rarer."

Yang Qingyuan did know about the classification of spiritual roots.

Spiritual roots are divided into five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Most people's spiritual roots are a mixture of five or four of these elements.

Although these people can sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, their cultivation results are dismal. They can only cultivate the basic five elements techniques of the Qi Refining stage to the third or fourth level before they can make no further progress and have no hope of crossing the Foundation Establishment stage in their lifetime.

Therefore, spiritual roots with a mixture of five or four attributes are also called "pseudo-spiritual roots" by cultivators.

Those with two or three types of spiritual roots can cultivate more quickly and are known in the cultivation world as "true spiritual roots".

As for a single spiritual root with only one attribute, it is called a "heavenly spiritual root" in the cultivation world. Its cultivation speed is several times that of ordinary spiritual root cultivators, and it can also ignore the bottleneck before forming the Nascent Soul stage.

However, such outstanding talent is naturally rare; only one cultivator with a heavenly spiritual root can be found every hundred years.

There is another type of spiritual root, which has a higher probability of appearing, with one appearing every twenty or thirty years; this is the mutated spiritual root.

The so-called "mutated spiritual root" refers to a spiritual root that is formed by mixing two or three of the five elements and undergoing mutation and sublimation, such as the "lightning spiritual root" that is produced by the mutation of "metal spiritual root" and "water spiritual root".

Cultivators with "mutated spiritual roots" may not have the talent to bypass bottlenecks, but if they can find a cultivation method that matches their attributes, they will most likely become outstanding masters, generally equivalent to three or four ordinary cultivators of equal strength.

"Tap tap tap~"

Just as the two were talking, footsteps suddenly came from outside the cave.

"Oh no! Could it be that Qingwen's helpers have arrived?" Wan Xiaoshan's face turned deathly pale instantly.

As soon as he finished speaking, an old man dressed in a blue robe quickly walked into the cave.

The old man was tall and thin, with broad shoulders and long arms, and had a somewhat otherworldly air about him, but his face was covered with bluish spots, which was quite startling.

But that wasn't the scariest thing. What made Yang Qingyuan feel suffocated was that the aura emanating from the old man far exceeded the Qi Refining stage, and he was most likely a Foundation Establishment expert!

"Could it be the protectors of the Black Fiend Sect?" Yang Qingyuan's heart skipped a beat.

But when Wan Xiaoshan saw the old man in the blue robe, he was not frightened at all. Instead, he laughed loudly and said, "It's Uncle Qingyan!"

"Very good!"

After saying that, Wan Xiaoshan went to greet him.

Upon seeing this, Yang Qingyuan realized that the old man in the green robe in front of him was none other than the Valley Master of Tainan Valley, a Foundation Establishment expert known as "Valley Master Qingyan".

The Valley Master of Qingyan Valley released her divine sense, scanning the cave and detecting traces of a battle. She guessed that a major battle had broken out there and hurriedly asked Wan Xiaoshan, "Nephew, what happened?"

Wan Xiaoshan then recounted his previous encounter with Qingwen and Wu Jiuzhi, and pointed to Yang Qingyuan beside him, introducing him as, "Uncle, this is my savior, Brother Yang Qingyuan. Although he is a rogue cultivator, he fought beyond his level and killed two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators."

Upon hearing that Wan Xiaoshan was in danger, the Valley Master of Qingyan Valley frowned and his face darkened. He first glanced at Yang Qingyuan, greeted him, and said, "It is quite rare for a rogue cultivator to be able to kill a cultivator at the late stage of Qi Refining. Even some disciples from aristocratic cultivation families cannot do this."

Yang Qingyuan immediately cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Valley Master Qingyan is too kind. I was just lucky."

The Valley Master of Qingyan Valley seemed unwilling to say more to Yang Qingyuan. He then turned to Wan Xiaoshan and coldly reprimanded him, "Nephew, when you encountered that rogue cultivator Han Li in Tainan Valley, your uncle warned you to be careful and avoid associating with rogue cultivators of unknown origin."

"Now you've learned your lesson, haven't you?"

"If your seventh sister hadn't found me and told me you'd secretly slipped out of the valley, I'd still be completely in the dark!"

"Fortunately, my pet golden-haired rat remembered your scent, otherwise I would never have been able to find you."

"Alright, come back to the valley with me."

"If you encounter another unscrupulous cultivator with malicious intentions, even if you had nine lives, it wouldn't be enough to kill them."

Yang Qingyuan blinked, naturally understanding the implied meaning in Qingyan Valley Master's words, and thought to himself, "This old man is not honest; I'm the only rogue cultivator here..."

"They actually used the term 'malicious' to describe me."

Wan Xiaoshan nodded, then asked the Valley Master of Qingyan, "By the way, Uncle."

"Do you possess any treasures for testing one's spiritual roots?"

"I promised Brother Yang that I would test his spiritual root as a way of thanking him."

Upon hearing this, the Valley Master of Qingyan stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Very well, if the rogue cultivators find out that you are a person who does not repay kindness, then no one will help you if you encounter danger in the future."

After saying that, he stretched out his right hand and swiped it across the black storage bag on the right side of his waist.

A colorful talisman appeared in his hand.

"This talisman is called the Spirit Sensing Talisman, which can test a cultivator's spiritual root." Valley Master Qingyan handed the talisman to Yang Qingyuan and introduced it, "In a moment, I will activate this talisman. If several colors of light rise from your body, that indicates the number of your spiritual roots."

"For example, the five spiritual roots are gold, green, blue, red, and yellow."

Yang Qingyuan interjected, asking, "What if it's a different spiritual root?"

Valley Master Qingyan scoffed and explained, "Another spiritual root?"

"Only one person with the aptitude for a unique spiritual root appears every twenty or thirty years."

"None of our Qi Refining stage disciples in Tainan Valley have a unique spiritual root."

"You don't actually think that person is you, do you?"

Upon hearing this, Wan Xiaoshan, fearing that Yang Qingyuan would be embarrassed, chimed in, "Brother Yang, if it is a different spiritual root, it will have different characteristics. For example, an ice spiritual root will have frost condensing."

"You don't need to worry about missing anything."

The Valley Master of Qingyan Valley grew impatient and immediately began chanting incantations to activate the Spirit Sensing Talisman.

The spirit-sensing talisman transformed into a beam of light and entered Yang Qingyuan's body.

But then, something completely unexpected happened.

Silver-white arcs of lightning crackled and popped around Yang Qingyuan's body, illuminating the cave with intermittent light.

"This is?!"

The Valley Master of Qingyan Valley and Wan Xiaoshan both stared wide-eyed, looking utterly astonished.

"Lightning Spirit Root!"

"How is this possible?"