Divine Root Bone

Since successfully breaking through to the fifth level of Qi Refining and steadily entering the mid-stage of Qi Refining, Zhang Yang has always kept the words "concealing his strength and concealing his aura" in his heart. He spends his days in seclusion at Qingning Xiaozhu, suppressing the terrifying devouring instinct within him that could drain the entire sect's spiritual veins, and refusing to reveal the slightest abnormality. Three days ago, the Internal Affairs Hall delivered his monthly cultivation spirit stones according to the special allowance for exceptional disciples. Inside the wooden box, one hundred low-grade spirit stones and twenty high-grade spirit stones were neatly arranged. He deliberately closed the door of his meditation room to prevent any outsiders from peeping in, and personally tested the true cultivation difference between different grades of spirit stones.

He first took three low-grade spirit stones and held them in his palm, slowly activating the sect's basic breathing technique to draw in spiritual energy. The low-grade spirit stones were grayish-white and dull, their inner spiritual energy containing a large amount of impure and chaotic energy. After the spiritual energy flowed into his meridians through the blood vessels in his palm, most of the impurities would firmly adhere to the meridian walls, requiring additional consumption of his own spiritual energy to slowly cleanse and remove them. After absorbing all three low-grade spirit stones, his dantian was only slightly full, resulting in meager cultivation gains and a slow, sluggish pace.

He then switched to a high-grade spirit stone, holding it between his fingers. The moment he touched the warm, lustrous white stone, a rich and pure spiritual energy surged forth, containing very few impurities, requiring almost no effort to purify. In just half an incense stick's time, the spiritual energy accumulated by this single high-grade spirit stone had caught up with the total of the three low-grade spirit stones he had just used, clearly demonstrating the vast difference in cultivation efficiency between the two.

Zhang Yang secretly confirmed his senior sister's earlier statement: the claim that one high-grade spirit stone was worth dozens of low-grade spirit stones was no exaggeration. The special innate ability hidden within him was still subtly restless, wanting to swallow all the spiritual power in one gulp just by getting close to the spirit stone. However, he kept it locked deep in his dantian, only daring to slowly and restrainedly absorb the spiritual energy, deliberately mimicking the normal absorption speed of an ordinary high-grade innate cultivator, refusing to reveal any abnormal absorption phenomena.

Lin Wanqing from the neighboring courtyard often came to chat with him. Thanks to the ten high-grade spirit stones Zhang Yang had given her, the stagnation in her cultivation caused by her low-grade aptitude had been greatly alleviated. However, even with the continuous support of the high-grade spirit stones, her cultivation progress was still far behind Zhang Yang's. Every time she saw Zhang Yang's spiritual power surge after just a short period of meditation, a trace of helplessness would flash in the girl's eyes. The difference in talent caused by her aptitude was insurmountable from the very beginning. Seeing this, Zhang Yang would often give her some low-grade spirit stones, trying his best to help her make up for the lack of resources and slightly mitigate the huge gap caused by her aptitude.

While peacefully meditating within the tranquil abode during the day, the undercurrents surrounding the mountains were already quietly stirring.

The day before yesterday, when Zhang Yang was in seclusion to break through, he single-handedly drained the entire sect's spiritual veins. The strange scene of the mountain mist suddenly dissipating and the underground spiritual veins flowing backward to converge on the inner sect's Qingning Xiaozhu not only alarmed the seven Foundation Establishment elders and the Foundation Establishment peak ancestor who was in seclusion in the back mountain, but was also seen by the Black Fiend Demon Sect spies lurking deep in the mountains.

The Black Fiend Sect had long coveted the spiritual veins of this mountain range, sending spies to infiltrate the outer perimeter and secretly gather intelligence. The unprecedented large-scale depletion of spiritual veins that day instantly aroused intense suspicion among the spies.

Deep in the dense forest, several spies dressed in dark, close-fitting clothes and surrounded by a chilling, sinister aura crouched in the bushes, gazing into the direction of the inner gate and whispering amongst themselves.

"The day before yesterday, the spiritual veins of the entire mountain range suddenly stopped flowing, and all the spiritual energy converged on the two adjacent courtyards of the inner sect. I have never seen such a scene in my many years of wandering and cultivating."

"No matter how hard an ordinary cultivator cultivates, they can at most affect the spiritual veins of a small courtyard. It is absolutely impossible to reverse the spiritual veins of the entire mountain range. There must be an extraordinary young genius hidden in that courtyard."

"Recently, the Qingyun Sect seems to have only accepted a new batch of disciples. Only a young boy and girl were exceptionally admitted to the inner sect's private courtyard. The source of the abnormal spiritual energy is right in that area, so the problem must lie with that boy."

"If that young man's talent is far beyond the ordinary, kidnapping him and presenting him to the sect leader would be enough to make the Black Fiend Sect's strength increase dramatically. At that time, swallowing the entire mountain range would be a piece of cake."

After a brief discussion, the scouts decided that two of them would continue to lie in wait on the outskirts, monitoring the courtyard day and night, while the rest would quietly return to the Black Fiend headquarters to report to the sect leader the strange fluctuations in the spiritual veins and the suspected appearance of a top genius. They planned to find a suitable opportunity to infiltrate the inner sect and secretly investigate Zhang Yang's true situation.

Inside the meditation room, Zhang Yang was still unaware that the evil cultivators outside the mountain had already locked onto him. He continued to play with the high-grade spirit stone in his hand, pondering the huge gap brought about by the four types of root bones.

Ordinary Root Bone: Absorbing spiritual energy is sluggish and slow, with nine-tenths of the spiritual energy being impurities. Most are trapped in the first to third stages of Qi Refining for their entire lives, and even after a hundred years of lifespan, they still find it difficult to reach the threshold of Foundation Establishment.

Low-grade aptitude: The mainstream aptitude of outer disciples, with a moderate absorption rate. With a sufficient supply of low-grade spirit stones every month, they can barely break through to the Foundation Establishment stage at the end of their lifespan.

Superior Root Bone: A backbone member of the inner sect, with decent spiritual energy purification efficiency. With a small amount of superior spirit stones, one can steadily break through to the Foundation Establishment stage within a hundred years.

Top-grade bone structure: The highest level of aptitude that the current bone testing platform can measure. Its cultivation speed and meridian capacity far exceed those of high-grade bone structure. The sect will provide rare top-grade spirit stones to assist in the breakthrough. It can reach the late stage of Qi Refining in a few decades. It is also the limit of the bone testing platform that the sect can bear.

The four grades of innate bone structure create an insurmountable gap, and the absorption power he has displayed, along with the speed at which he breaks through several realms in a single day, suggests that he has already far surpassed the upper limit of top-grade innate bone structure. However, currently, there are no magical artifacts or scriptures within the sect that can identify the grade of his hidden special innate bone structure. When he goes to the main peak's bone testing platform for unified verification and recording of his innate bone structure in the scriptures, an astonishing phenomenon that cannot be concealed will inevitably occur.

Thinking of this, alarm bells rang in Zhang Yang's mind. At present, he only had the mid-stage of the fifth level of Qi Refining, and did not have enough power to protect himself. Once the truth of his own innate talent was exposed, not only would the Black Fiend Church launch a large-scale attack, but other surrounding forces would also covet it. At that time, the entire sect would be plunged into annihilation because of him.

He immediately collected all the spirit stones, locked the wooden box in the wooden cabinet of the storage room, and secretly set all the rules for his future cultivation: when meditating, he would suppress his innate talent and suppress the aura of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator that was naturally present and restrained by early-stage cultivators. He would disguise himself as an ordinary high-grade innate disciple in every word and deed, keeping a low profile and focusing on consolidating his Qi Refining cultivation.

A gentle evening breeze swept through the courtyard, and the spirit-gathering array gradually restored the spiritual energy that had been drained the day before, bringing tranquility back to the secluded abode. The young man concealed his extraordinary talent, patiently enduring loneliness and focusing on honing his skills, waiting for the day when he would be fully capable.