Divine Root Bone

The tranquil and elegant Qingning Cottage fell into complete stillness. A gentle mist drifted through the air, and pure spiritual energy seeped into every part of the body, soothing the soul. Only Zhang Yang and Lin Wanqing remained in the courtyard.

Lin Wanqing looked up at the young man beside her and sighed softly, "So the path of cultivation is full of rules and differences. Lifespan is limited, resources are vastly different, and the higher you go, the more difficult it becomes. Just now, Senior Sister of Internal Affairs mentioned the difference in innate talent. With my low-grade innate talent, I'm afraid my cultivation will hardly make any progress in this lifetime."

Zhang Yang was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and a sense of bewilderment arose in his heart.

Since he began his training at a young age, his deceased mentor had only ever offered a simple assessment of his cultivation: "It's not bad." He never explained in detail the differences in the quality of one's innate talent, nor did he ever reveal the true extent of his abilities.

Throughout the entire Qingyun Sect, this small sect on the eastern border, in all its traditions, all its scriptures, and all the elders' understanding, innate talent is divided into only four levels: ordinary, low-grade, high-grade, and supreme.

As for the ranks above that, they are only vaguely recorded in a few strokes in the corners of ancient books, seemingly mythical or fabricated. For thousands of years, no one in the Qingyun Sect has seen, verified, or investigated them. For a small sect like theirs, they are too far away and not even within the scope of cultivation knowledge.

From childhood to adulthood, Zhang Yang only felt that his cultivation was slightly faster than his fellow disciples, which he attributed to his hard work and diligence.

He nodded slowly, silently comparing his thoughts with what his senior sister in the internal affairs department had just said, trying to understand the huge gap between the three levels of innate talent.

Low-grade aptitude is the most basic type, like Lin Wanqing's. They absorb spiritual energy slowly and sluggishly, and ninety percent of the spiritual energy entering their bodies is impurity. After a hundred years of cultivation, most of them are stuck in the early stage of Qi Refining and have no hope of Foundation Establishment in their lifetime. This is the mainstream aptitude of outer disciples.

With superior physical constitution, he is already a pillar of the inner sect. His breathing is steady and even, with few impurities and few bottlenecks. He can reliably break through to the Foundation Establishment stage within a hundred years of lifespan.

With top-grade innate talent, he is already the pinnacle of the Qingyun Sect, and even extremely rare in the Four Great Domains. There are only a handful of such individuals in the entire sect. His cultivation speed, comprehension talent, and meridian capacity far surpass ordinary people. He is the future that the sect focuses on cultivating.

Even the strongest innate talent only saves time compared to others, allowing for faster cultivation and more efficient absorption of spiritual energy.

"You first regulate your breathing and stabilize your Qi in the courtyard, while I go into the meditation room to meditate for a while."

Zhang Yang suppressed the jumble of thoughts in his mind and spoke softly to Lin Wanqing.

Lin Wanqing nodded obediently and slowly stood in front of the breathing platform in the courtyard, intending to use the abundant spiritual energy of the inner sect to slowly hone her weak initial stage of Qi Refining spiritual power.

Zhang Yang turned and walked into the closed meditation room, closed the door, locked it, and activated the basic concealment restrictions inside the meditation room.

He sat cross-legged in the very center of the Spirit Gathering Array, palms facing upwards, preparing to steadily solidify the foundation he had just established by drawing Qi into his body. He still habitually suppressed his cultivation speed, wanting only to cultivate step by step steadily. However, he had no idea that the terrifying talent hidden within him was already beyond human control.

next second!

An invisible suction force, almost domineering, tyrannical, and all-consuming, suddenly exploded from the meditation room!

There were no signs, no warnings!

The pure spiritual energy that was slowly circulating in Qingning Xiaozhu was instantly drained!

The spiritual mist that lingered in the courtyard disappeared completely in the naked eye, and even the fine spiritual energy carried in the wind was completely plundered!

Lin Wanqing, who was breathing lightly in the courtyard, suddenly stiffened!

She felt the spiritual energy around her evaporate into thin air in an instant. The spiritual power that had been flowing into her body suddenly stopped, and her meridians became dry and sluggish. The wisp of spiritual power that had just flowed was stuck in her meridians and could not move!

"W-What's going on?!"

Lin Wanqing's pretty face turned deathly pale, her eyes filled with disbelief and horror as she stared blankly in the direction of Zhang Yang's secluded meditation room.

This is so weird!

The once abundant and rich inner sect spiritual veins were completely depleted in a short moment!

And this is just the beginning.

The terrifying devouring power was not limited to just a quiet little house!

An invisible vortex of spiritual energy spread wildly along the roots of the underground spiritual veins, instantly engulfing the entire inner sect area with Qingning Xiaozhu as its center!

The inner gate's individual courtyards, meditation pavilions, and breathing platforms all instantly evaporated from the year-round spiritual mist!

Countless core disciples of the inner sect who were meditating and cultivating all shuddered!

Everyone encountered the exact same situation:

The spiritual energy in his body instantly disappeared, his meridians suddenly became stagnant, his cultivation was directly blocked, and the circulation of his energy was completely interrupted!

"Where's the spiritual energy?!"

"Why has all the spiritual energy suddenly disappeared?!"

"My cultivation is completely stuck! I can't absorb any spiritual energy at all!"

"Strange! How could the inner sect's spiritual veins suddenly dry up?!"

The entire inner sect was instantly in an uproar. Countless disciples stood up and rushed out of their rooms, their faces full of surprise and doubt as they looked around to find the source of the disappearing spiritual energy.

But the terrifying phenomena continued!

The power of devouring surged once more, sweeping outwards and covering the entire Qingyun Sect!

The outer sect training area, the martial arts arena, the spirit fields in the back mountain, the side servants' quarters...

The spiritual energy in all areas of the entire sect was sucked out instantly, as if by a giant maw of heaven!

Countless outer disciples were interrupted from their meditation, their faces filled with terror, and cultivation throughout the entire Qingyun Sect came to a complete standstill!

The entire sect, with its countless tributaries of spiritual veins, is frantically flowing back, converging, and compressing towards Qingning Xiaozhu!

If it were an ordinary cultivator, they would know that even with the best innate talent and full cultivation, it would be impossible to shake the entire spiritual veins of the sect in the slightest.

But at this moment, the spiritual vein cycle that had been running for a hundred years in the Qingyun Sect was forcibly reversed by one person!

The commotion was so great that it instantly alarmed all the top figures in the sect!

Main Peak Hall!

The seven elders, all at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, suddenly opened their eyes. Their seven profound gazes pierced through the clouds and locked onto the direction of the Qingning Pavilion in the inner sect!

"Spiritual veins reversed!"

"The entire sect's spiritual energy has been extracted in a single point!"

"This speed of absorbing spiritual energy... is terrifying! It's something no one with top-tier talent could achieve!"

The seven elders were greatly shocked; they had never seen such an outrageous phenomenon in their entire lives of cultivation!

Meanwhile, deep within the sect, the Foundation Establishment Peak Ancestor, who had been in seclusion for many years and was the sect's last trump card, suddenly awakened his dormant consciousness after many years!

An aged and awe-inspiring mental fluctuation swept across the entire Qingyun Mountain, stirring up a monstrous wave in the heart of the ancestor!

"Single-point absorption! Reversing the spiritual veins! Absorbing all the spiritual energy of the entire sect in one fell swoop..."

"This child's innate talent... is absolutely not of the four grades: ordinary, inferior, superior, or supreme!!"

The patriarch, the sect leader, and the seven elders were all in a state of shock!

They had guarded this small border sect for hundreds of years, witnessing countless talents and geniuses, but today's scene completely overturned their lifelong understanding of cultivation!

The Qingyun Sect has a history of thousands of years, and ancient records only mention three levels of innate talent. However, the talent that Zhang Yang is showing has completely transcended all common sense that they have come to know!

Everyone was utterly horrified, yet no one showed up or approached.

The group of high-ranking officials remained hidden deep within the main peak, their minds focused on Qingning Xiaozhu, exchanging frantic private conversations, filled with amazement, horror, and utter disbelief.

The most shocked, stunned, and disbelieving people in the entire Qingyun Mountain were...

It's Lin Wanqing, who's just a stone's throw away!

She was standing in the next courtyard, the closest and feeling the deepest impact!

She watched helplessly as the spiritual energy in the courtyard instantly dropped to zero, as the spiritual mist in the entire inner gate dissipated, and as the spiritual energy from the entire mountain frantically converged towards the meditation room next door!

She was only of low-grade aptitude, making it difficult for her to absorb spiritual energy. At this moment, there was no spiritual energy around her at all, her meridians were dry and painful, and she was completely frozen in place, her eyes wide open, her mouth slightly agape, her face filled with extreme blankness and shock.

She was completely stunned!

The boy who was just chatting with me turned around and went into seclusion for a moment, which caused such an earth-shattering phenomenon!

He single-handedly drained the spiritual veins of the entire Qingyun Sect!

This terrifying, domineering, and unbelievable cultivation speed is a realm she has never dared to touch in her entire life, not even in her imagination!

At the same time, in the meditation room.

Zhang Yang himself was completely unaware of the earth-shattering commotion outside.

He felt that his cultivation today was exceptionally smooth, with spiritual energy flowing into his body continuously and endlessly, cleansing his meridians and filling his dantian.

A massive amount of pure spiritual energy was frantically piling up, surging, and being compressed in the dantian!

One layer of Qi Refining!

Second level of Qi Refining!

Refinement level three!

Unimpeded and unstoppable, he instantly reached the peak of the third level of Qi Refining!

The dantian was swollen to its limit, the spiritual power was thick and boundless, the blood and qi in the whole body were burning hot, and the meridians were widened several times!

At this moment, he only needs one last opportunity to break through the shackles and step into the fourth level of Qi Refining!

He remained oblivious.

Unbeknownst to him, he had drained the entire sect's spiritual veins.

Unbeknownst to them, all the disciples on the mountain were shocked.

Unbeknownst to them, the sect's patriarch and elders were all terrified by his talent.

Unaware of their own inherent abilities, they had already surpassed the understanding and knowledge passed down through thousands of years of the Qingyun Sect!

He had a vague feeling that his cultivation today was ridiculously fast, far exceeding any time in the past. With a hint of doubt in his heart, he prepared to consolidate his peak cultivation at the third level and wait for an opportunity to break through to the next level.

Outside the mountain, the winds and clouds surged; inside, everyone was filled with dread.

At this moment, all the leaders and disciples of a small, remote sect witnessed the earth-shattering power of a hidden dragon quietly awakening!