Chapter 125: The Theory of Spiritual Roots

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As they walked, the two men chatted. Though it seemed like a casual conversation, it was more accurately Han Li asking questions and the young man providing answers. Han Li subtly extracted various pieces of common knowledge about the cultivation world from the young man, who remained completely unaware he was sharing information. For instance, cultivators are divided into three major stages based on their realm: the Lower Realm, Middle Realm, and Upper Realm.

The Lower Realm comprises five stages: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Transformation. The Middle Realm has three stages: Void Refinement, Body Integration, and Mahayana. The Upper Realm, in essence, consists of just one final hurdle: Tribulation Transcension. Successfully passing this stage allows one to ascend to the Immortal World, achieving longevity comparable to heaven and earth. However, while it sounds simple, true cultivation is an incredibly distant aspiration! Not to mention advancing through all three major realms, even within the initial Lower Realm, according to the young man, no one in the entire Yue State has ever reached the highest Spirit Transformation stage. Those who have reached or lingered in the Nascent Soul stage are also exceedingly rare, numbering only a few old monsters blessed with profound fortuitous encounters.

According to the young man, a cultivator's lifespan is intimately linked to their cultivation realm. Each advancement significantly increases one's longevity. In the mundane world, mortals who live past a hundred are considered exceptionally long-lived. However, for a cultivator who successfully establishes their Foundation, living over two hundred years is quite normal. If someone is fortunate enough to form a Golden Core, there's a strong possibility of living to four or five hundred years. And if another miracle occurs, granting you incredible luck to condense and refine a Nascent Soul, then congratulations! Celebrating a thousand-year birthday wouldn't be impossible!

As the young man in white spoke, he couldn't help but smack his lips, greatly envying those old monsters who could live for eight hundred or a thousand years – ten times the lifespan of an ordinary person! Han Li listened, dumbfounded. Although he had vaguely guessed that cultivators would live longer than ordinary people, he never imagined it would be so preposterous. 'A lifespan of over a thousand years? Wouldn't that make one a thousand-year-old turtle?' Han Li couldn't help but think with a touch of malice. 'But if those in the Nascent Soul stage can live so long, wouldn't cultivators in the Spirit Transformation stage, or even the Middle and Upper Realms, be ridiculously long-lived?' Han Li finally couldn't resist and subtly probed the question.

'Who knows?' the young man replied casually. 'Maybe they live even longer, or perhaps they become truly immortal? According to rumors, any cultivator who genuinely reaches the Spirit Transformation stage and cultivates this realm to grand perfection must leave our world and go to another, higher-level space. No one knows what kind of space or world it is, and no one has ever returned.'

'If no one has ever returned, then how are these realms beyond Spirit Transformation defined?' Han Li pondered, feeling a bit frustrated. However, he figured this young master wouldn't be able to explain it clearly, so he refrained from asking.

Beyond the divisions of cultivation realms, Han Li also gained a general understanding of the cultivation sects and families within Yue State. While the young man knew nothing of other regions, he spoke clearly and methodically about the cultivation sects of Yue State. From him, Han Li learned that there are a total of seven major and minor cultivation sects in Yue State: the Masked Moon Sect, Yellow Maple Valley, Spirit Beast Mountain, Pure Void Sect, Blade Transformation Manor, Heavenly Gate Fortress, and Giant Sword Sect. Among these, the Masked Moon Sect is the strongest, with Spirit Beast Mountain closely behind. The other sects are all fairly similar in strength, with no significant disparities. If these cultivation sects are the towering trees supporting the entire cultivation world of Yue State, then the cultivation families are like various branches and vines intertwined with them, needing to rely on these sects to survive within the cultivation world.

The young man mysteriously stated that the ancestors of any established cultivation family were once disciples of these sects, continuing their bloodline. The reason for this lies in the 'spiritual root,' a common attribute among all cultivators. Most cultivators don't fully understand what a 'spiritual root' is, but they all know that if a person doesn't possess one, they shouldn't even dream of cultivating. Without a spiritual root, one cannot sense spiritual energy, let alone cultivate spiritual power. Yet, people born with a spiritual root are incredibly rare among ordinary folk—perhaps one in ten thousand, or even tens of thousands. Even so, only a small fraction of those with spiritual roots actually embark on the path of cultivation; the vast majority live out their lives in mediocrity. This is because finding individuals with spiritual roots is incredibly difficult; they are too sparsely distributed, causing a major headache for cultivation sects hoping to recruit widely.

Moreover, simply possessing a 'spiritual root' doesn't necessarily meet the requirements of a cultivation sect, as spiritual roots vary greatly in quality. Generally, spiritual roots are divided by the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Most people's spiritual roots are a mix of five or four multiple attributes. While these individuals can sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, their cultivation effectiveness is dismal. They can typically only cultivate the basic five-element Qi Condensation stage techniques to the third or fourth level before making no further progress, usually with no hope of ever reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in their lifetime. Therefore, spiritual roots with five or even four attributes are referred to as 'pseudo spiritual roots' by the cultivation world, to differentiate them from 'true spiritual roots,' which have only two or three attributes and allow for much faster cultivation.

As for a single-attribute spiritual root, it is called a 'Heavenly Root' by the cultivation world, meaning a favored child of heaven. Anyone with such a spiritual root, regardless of its attribute, cultivates two to three times faster than those with ordinary spiritual roots. Furthermore, upon reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, they don't face the bottleneck associated with entering the Core Formation stage and can easily begin forming a Golden Core. If their astonishing cultivation speed makes other cultivators exceptionally envious, then the Heavenly Root holders' ability to form a Golden Core without a bottleneck makes other cultivators so jealous they could almost vomit blood.

One must understand that if only one out of ten Qi Condensation cultivators can enter the Foundation Establishment stage with the help of a Foundation Establishment Pill, then among a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, not even one might successfully form a Golden Core and enter the Core Formation stage. Such a vast disparity in the success rate of Core Formation inevitably makes other cultivators intensely covet the unique advantages of Heavenly Roots. Thus, whenever a Heavenly Root individual appears, they are often fiercely contended for by various cultivation sects. After all, this is akin to effortlessly securing a grand expert at the Core Formation stage for their sect, greatly increasing its strength.

However, the appearance of such an extraordinary spiritual root as a Heavenly Root is almost negligible, with one typically discovered by a cultivation sect only once every few centuries. On the other hand, another type, though not a Heavenly Root and not belonging to the five-element spiritual roots, is the 'variant spiritual root,' which has a higher chance of appearing, typically once every two or three decades.

The so-called 'variant spiritual roots' refer to spiritual roots where two or three five-element attributes are mixed, transformed, and sublimated. Examples include 'lightning spiritual roots' formed by the variation of earth and water spiritual roots, and 'ice spiritual roots' formed after the variation of metal and water spiritual roots. Of course, there are also other variant spiritual roots like 'dark spiritual roots' and 'wind spiritual roots.' Although cultivators with variant spiritual roots don't have the talent to bypass the Core Formation bottleneck, their cultivation speed is in no way inferior to those with Heavenly Roots. Moreover, if they can find cultivation techniques that match their attributes, these individuals are often formidable experts, generally capable of matching three or four ordinary cultivators of equivalent strength. Therefore, individuals with variant spiritual roots are also highly welcomed by all major cultivation sects.

However, in the past, let alone extraordinary talents like 'Heavenly Roots' and 'variant spiritual roots,' which cultivation sects rarely found, even ordinary 'true spiritual root' individuals were extremely difficult for sects to locate. After all, members of cultivation sects couldn't possibly pull out every child from every household in the mundane world for testing! One must understand that only one person in ten thousand might be born with a spiritual root, and among five or six people with spiritual roots, only one might possess a true spiritual root. Thus, under these harsh conditions for recruitment, it was even rumored in the history of the cultivation world that some smaller sects were reduced to a mere handful of members, almost causing their entire lineage to be cut off.

Faced with this embarrassing situation, some dedicated individuals diligently researched and finally discovered that 'spiritual roots' are extremely prone to appearing in individuals with the same bloodline. For example, if one parent possesses a spiritual root, their child has a one-fourth chance of also having a spiritual root. Naturally, if both parents are spiritual root holders, the probability of their offspring possessing spiritual roots is even greater; it's not uncommon for all their children to have spiritual roots.

The discovery of this fact greatly excited those dedicated individuals. Driven by them, many young disciples from various sects were dispatched by their elders to settle down and start families in the mundane world. After they had children, they would return to their sects to continue cultivating. In this way, when these cultivation sects later lacked disciples, they would directly select children with spiritual roots from the families of their own disciples, and the ratio of true spiritual roots greatly increased. Thus, the major problem of a shortage of disciples in cultivation sects was finally alleviated.

Although the probability of spiritual roots appearing in ordinary people remained low, overall, the number of people with spiritual roots grew. Households with a spiritual root bloodline continually produced new spiritual root disciples. Over time, as these families branched out and expanded, they gradually formed today's cultivation families. These cultivation families might not possess advanced cultivation techniques, but they were not lacking in slightly shallower cultivation methods, gradually becoming outer extensions of various cultivation sects, also possessing a certain degree of independence. Therefore, every cultivation family is generally supported by a cultivation sect, and thus should not be underestimated.

The young man in white hadn't spoken so freely in front of anyone for a long time. The feeling of being listened to so attentively made him feel compelled to share, greatly increasing his goodwill towards Han Li. He thus unhesitatingly spilled out all the cultivation world information he knew, seemingly showing off in front of Han Li. Han Li, naturally, was delighted to listen, occasionally interjecting a few remarks to encourage the young man to speak even more animatedly. But unfortunately, the misty slope, perpetually shrouded in fog, was not too far from the small village. After walking for several hours, the two still arrived at the foot of the slope. Such a short journey greatly displeased Han Li. He hadn't heard nearly enough about the cultivation world and wished they could turn back and start all over again. However, he knew this was impossible, so he could only watch the young man, who had now fallen silent, staring eagerly into the mist.

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