The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

Wan Xiaoshan was startled by the sudden appearance of the lightning arc. His eyes widened like saucers, and he said in an admiring tone, "Brother Yang is truly exceptionally talented!"

"This is the first time I've ever seen a cultivator with a different spiritual root."

"I heard from my elders that cultivators with different spiritual roots can directly join the seven major sects without having to go through the selection process of the Ascension Conference."

"Furthermore, after joining the sect, one will have priority access to Foundation Establishment Pills."

"It's like rising to the top in one step!"

"I never expected Brother Yang to be so talented."

The Valley Master of Qingyan Valley's lips twitched slightly, deeply regretting his earlier cold attitude. He quickly forced a smile and said obsequiously to Yang Qingyuan, "Young friend Yang's talent is unparalleled in my life!"

"Unless something unexpected happens, cultivators with different spiritual roots will definitely be able to successfully establish their foundation and stand on equal footing with me."

"Moreover, the power of lightning-attribute spells far surpasses that of ordinary five-element spells."

"Cultivators with lightning spiritual roots can often fight three opponents at once."

"I really misjudged him."

"By the way, I wonder if young friend Yang is married?"

"I have a granddaughter who is sixteen years old, and she is the perfect age for young friend Yang."

At this moment, the Valley Master of Qingyan Valley no longer had the contemptuous attitude she had shown towards rogue cultivators. Instead, she wanted to win over Yang Qingyuan through a marriage alliance, fearing that her previous cold attitude might have made Yang Qingyuan resentful.

After all, a cultivator with a different spiritual root has a greater than 60% chance of successfully establishing their foundation if they take just one Foundation Establishment Pill, and if they take two Foundation Establishment Pills, then establishing their foundation is a sure thing.

At this moment, the Valley Master of Qingyan Valley already regarded Yang Qingyuan as a cultivator of the same level and dared not underestimate him in the slightest.

When Yang Qingyuan heard that Valley Master Qingyan wanted to marry his granddaughter to him, he was both amused and exasperated. He waved his hand and replied, "Thank you for your kindness, Senior Qingyan. I am flattered."

"I will not consider the matter of a Daoist partner before I reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

Upon hearing this, the Valley Master of Qingyan Valley sighed and said, "That makes sense. After all, losing one's virginity is detrimental to Foundation Establishment."

"What a pity."

"With your talent, young friend, reaching the Foundation Establishment stage is a sure thing. It's just that my granddaughter doesn't have that kind of luck."

But he still didn't give up on winning over Yang Qingyuan, and continued, "My Tainan Valley does have some classic texts about cultivation."

"Young friend Yang, why don't you stay in our Tainan Valley for a while, so that I can show you some hospitality?"

Wan Xiaoshan chimed in, "If Brother Yang is willing to stay in Tainan Valley for a while, that would be wonderful."

"I can go and ask my elders to help Brother Yang reforge his two flying swords."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan was intrigued.

Firstly, he was a rogue cultivator with limited knowledge and urgently needed to fill in the gaps in his understanding of the cultivation world; secondly, he genuinely wanted to reforge the two flying swords.

"Very well, then this junior will trouble Valley Master for a while." Yang Qingyuan bowed.

Upon seeing this, the Valley Master of Qingyan Valley also beamed with joy.

The three immediately returned to Tainan Valley...

A day later, at noon, in Tainan Valley, on the first floor of the Sutra Repository, a dozen sandalwood bookshelves were placed around the room, and there was a desk in the corner.

A dazzling array of books were displayed on the bookshelves, numbering well over a hundred. A quick glance revealed the basic martial arts techniques for metal, such as the "Golden Light Technique," for wood, such as the "Eternal Spring Technique," for water, such as the "Gentle Water Technique," and for lightning, such as the "Thunder Element Technique"...

It even includes introductory materials on various cultivation arts, such as "Collection of Herbs," "Introduction to Formation," and "Introduction to Talismans."

Master Qingyan, quite pleased with himself, stroked his beard and introduced, "These classic texts are the culmination of a century of our Tainan Valley, and they can be described as incredibly diverse."

"People usually study here after my Qi Refining period."

"Young friend Yang, you may freely peruse the books on this floor."

Master Qingyan was well aware that once Yang Qingyuan joined one of the seven major sects, these Qi Refining stage texts would be nothing, but right now they were treasures that the other party desperately wanted, and could be used to invest in this cultivator with the Thunder Spirit Root.

As for the true inheritance of Tainan Valley, that is, the inheritance of the Foundation Establishment stage, it was placed on the second floor, and naturally Yang Qingyuan, an outsider, was not allowed to read it.

"How many books are there?" Wan Xiaoshan, a restless man, couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by the sheer number of books. He said, "Even if we cultivators have photographic memory, it would probably take us years to remember so many things."

"After all, cultivation techniques are not as easy to memorize or understand as mortal classics."

"Especially the various arts of cultivating immortality."

Master Qingyan tugged at his beard and laughed heartily, "Haha, how much you can remember depends on your comprehension, young friend."

"Of course, if you are willing to marry into our Tainan Valley, you can not only read these books anytime and anywhere, but you can also copy them and take them with you."

When Yang Qingyuan saw that the Valley Master of Qingyan had brought up the old matter again, he couldn't help but force a smile and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Valley Master. I only need to stay here for ten days so as not to miss the Ascension Ceremony."

"What?!" Wan Xiaoshan was shocked upon hearing this and asked in surprise, "With Brother Yang's talent in the Thunder Spirit Root, there is absolutely no need for him to take risks at the Ascension Conference."

"You can join a sect directly by going to the mountain gate of the seven major sects, and you will be given priority in receiving Foundation Establishment Pills in the future."

Yang Qingyuan, however, had his own plans. He explained, "Even if someone with a different spiritual root takes a Foundation Establishment Pill, the chance of establishing a foundation is only about 60%."

"It's still too low."

Wan Xiaoshan: "..."

Valley Master Qingyan: "..."

Yang Qingyuan continued, "If we can also obtain that Foundation Establishment Pill from the Ascension Ceremony, that will be two Foundation Establishment Pills."

"Then the success rate of Foundation Establishment will exceed 90%!"

This wasn't something he made up. There was a cultivator with the Wind Spirit Root surnamed Lu in Huangfeng Valley who, after receiving one Foundation Establishment Pill from Huangfeng Valley, didn't hesitate to murder his lover Chen Qiaoqian to seize a second Foundation Establishment Pill.

It was around that time that the cultivator surnamed Lu mentioned that it would be safe to take two Foundation Establishment Pills if one had a different spiritual root.

When the Valley Master of Qingyan Valley saw that Yang Qingyuan was going to the Ascension Ceremony, she tried to dissuade him, saying, "Young friend Yang is only at the sixth level of Qi Refining. How can he possibly defeat a scion of a noble family who is at the thirteenth level of Qi Refining and wields a top-grade magic weapon?"

"It's best not to put yourself in danger."

"A 60% success rate in Foundation Establishment is enough to make the rogue cultivators and scions of noble families in Yue Kingdom extremely envious!"

Yang Qingyuan, however, had already made up his mind to participate in the Ascension Ceremony and obtain the second Foundation Establishment Pill.

Seeing that the other party was determined, Wan Xiaoshan stretched out his hand and said, "In that case, Brother Yang, give me the two flying swords, the Crimson Flame Iron, and the Hundred-Year Ironwood. I will go to my elders to refine them for you."

Yang Qingyuan did not refuse. He took out the flying sword and materials from his storage bag and handed them to Wan Xiaoshan.

The Valley Master of Qingyan Valley stopped trying to persuade him and simply said, "If you only have ten days, you can only read one-tenth of the books. I won't waste your time any more."

After saying this, he hurriedly left with Wan Xiaoshan.

Yang Qingyuan watched the two leave the room, then went to the bookshelf and searched it carefully, trying to find the Confucian cultivation lineage.

The "Great Righteousness Nourishing Body Technique" he cultivated only contained the content of the thirteenth level of the Qi Refining stage, and it did not include any Confucian or Taoist magic techniques. Therefore, Yang Qingyuan also wanted to find the complete version of the technique.

However, there wasn't a single book on Confucianism or Taoism on any of the bookshelves.

"It seems that Confucianism has almost disappeared in the Yue Kingdom. It is estimated that only the seven major sects have clues about Confucianism."

Yang Qingyuan couldn't help but sigh and had no choice but to give up. He picked up a book called "Complete Guide to Elementary Thunder Techniques" and started reading.

Spells can be divided into low-level, mid-level, and high-level, and so on, up to high-level.

During the Qi Refining stage, one can only cast basic spells.

Since he couldn't find any Confucian cultivation techniques, Yang Qingyuan decided to learn some thunder techniques.

The magical attributes cultivated through the "Great Nourishing Life Technique" depend on the spiritual root attributes of the cultivator.

Therefore, Yang Qingyuan can use thunder magic. Moreover, since the thunder spiritual root is a mutation of the metal and water spiritual roots, Yang Qingyuan can also use metal and water attribute spells. In addition, based on the principle of mutual generation of the five elements, he can also use spells of other attributes, although they are not as powerful as thunder magic.

For example, Han Li learned wood-attribute techniques at the Seven Mysteries Sect, but he used the Fireball Technique because of the principle of mutual generation of the five elements.

Yang Qingyuan turned the pages of the book and saw that the first spell recorded in the book was the famous spell "Palm Thunder", which belonged to the low-level thunder spell.

Even though it's just a basic spell, in terms of lethality, it already surpasses the basic and intermediate-level spells of ordinary five elements.

However, just as the Valley Master Qingyan described, mastering a spell requires years of study, and ten days is simply not enough time to learn thunder magic.

It should be noted that it took Han Li a full six months to learn the Fireball Technique.

"If only there were a way to improve one's comprehension," Yang Qingyuan couldn't help but sigh.

Suddenly, his expression changed, as if he had made a connection to something. He quickly walked to the desk next to him, sat up straight, spread out the writing implements on the desk, pondered for a moment, and then picked up a brush and wrote a line of words on the paper.

A wise man said: Learning should never cease...