Chapter 8: Beginning Cultivation

"Very good."

After He Zhi clicked accept, he looked at the pop-up window and smiled faintly.

Now that he was the Grand Elder of Qingxuan Sect, taking cultivation resources from the sect no longer gave him any reservations!

He was the most powerful person in the entire Qingxuan Sect—he could take whatever he wanted!

As for guarding the sect, that was no problem.

After all, He Zhi was incredibly powerful in the cultivation world. If external enemies attacked again, he would just enter and throw another punch.

At this moment, He Zhi felt quite excited.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would soon be able to begin cultivating.

Without delay, He Zhi immediately moved his perspective, passing through the array formation to arrive at the entrance of the treasury deep within Qingxuan Sect.

The treasury was guarded by an incredibly solid array formation, but it certainly couldn't stop He Zhi.

Entering inside, He Zhi discovered it wasn't very large—clearly Qingxuan Sect was not a wealthy sect.

The treasury was divided into many compartments. Some compartments held wine bottles, some held fruits, and others contained books and jade slips.

Seeing those books and jade slips, He Zhi knew this was exactly what he needed.

He Zhi looked at the text on the book covers and found they were the same as ancient Great Xia script—he could actually read them.

This put He Zhi completely at ease.

After some observation, He Zhi found a book titled "Essential Knowledge for Cultivators" and returned to reality.

He flipped through this book a few times—it was a general knowledge book introducing various common knowledge about cultivation.

He Zhi currently knew too little about the cultivation world, so this book was extremely important and needed to be read first.

As for cultivation techniques, He Zhi wasn't in a hurry.

After all, the treasury was his to take from freely—what was the rush?

"Time to read!"

After returning to reality, He Zhi spread out "Essential Knowledge for Cultivators" on the table, calmed his mind, and slowly opened it.

He knew he was opening a great door.

The magical cultivation world was waiting for him behind that door!

Then, He Zhi carefully read the book with complete concentration.

Soon, He Zhi learned a lot of important information.

This cultivation world was called the Cangling Great World.

The Great World truly lived up to its name—vast and boundless, with no one able to explore its boundaries.

Within the world were many expansive continents with countless cultivators.

The region where Qingxuan Sect was located was in a remote corner at the far east of Haoyang Continent.

This place was remote and barren, but it was suitable for the survival of weak sects like Qingxuan Sect.

Then, He Zhi began reading about cultivation realms.

Cultivation began with the Qi Refining Stage.

The Qi Refining Stage was divided into nine layers.

After the Qi Refining Stage came:

Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Yin Spirit, Yang Spirit, Primordial Spirit, Body Integration, Grand Ascension, and Tribulation Crossing.

A total of eleven major realms.

Foundation Establishment and the subsequent major realms were each divided into four minor realms: Early, Mid, Late, and Great Perfection.

Next was aptitude.

Cultivation required aptitude, which was determined by spirit roots. Without spirit roots, one couldn't cultivate.

Spirit roots were divided into the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Spirit roots had different grades. Single spirit roots cultivated the fastest, dual spirit roots were second.

Five spirit roots were the slowest and could barely cultivate at all.

There were also other mutated spirit roots. For example, Jiang Rong had a mutated Earth Spirit Root, which was also a spirit root that cultivated very quickly.

After understanding spirit roots, He Zhi looked at cultivation techniques.

Basic Qi Refining Stage techniques were mostly similar—all variations of the "Five Elements Qi Refining Art."

At the end of the book, there were instructions for the Five Elements Qi Refining Art—five chapters in total.

To test what spirit roots one had, you would practice each of the five chapters in turn.

Whichever one you could quickly grasp indicated your strongest spirit root, which you could then focus on cultivating until Foundation Establishment.

After that, there were rough introductions to spiritual fruits, spiritual wine, spiritual herbs, spiritual pills, identification of magical artifacts and treasures, and so on.

Many parts of this book were explained very roughly, but at least it covered a wide range of topics.

***

"I see."

A full half hour later, He Zhi let out a long breath.

At this point, He Zhi had sufficient understanding of cultivation and the cultivation world, and had already obtained techniques and resources.

He could begin cultivating.

Of course, he was a person from the real world. Whether he had spirit roots in his body, whether he could actually cultivate, and whether there would be any consequences—all of this was hard to say.

But having come this far, he couldn't be timid.

"According to the book, hold spirit stones in your palm and test each of the five techniques one by one..."

He Zhi recalled the common knowledge from the book, then went to the treasury to search, finding some spirit stones and the five techniques.

During the search process, the Sect Master and others also entered the treasury and took away some spiritual fruits and wine.

However, they couldn't detect He Zhi who was right beside them.

"So these are cultivation techniques? Yi-Wood Rejuvenation Art, Geng-Metal Qi Refining Art..."

He Zhi looked at the five thin books in his hands and quietly flipped through them.

After reading one chapter for a while, He Zhi memorized it firmly.

The techniques weren't long or complicated.

The key was actually the spirit stones. Without spirit stones, one couldn't begin cultivation.

At least in an environment like the real world, this was the case.

Spirit stones were small stones like white jade, cut into squares, emitting a faint glow.

"Yi-Wood Rejuvenation Art!"

He Zhi closed his eyes and recalled the hand seals he had memorized earlier, then held two white jade-like spirit stones and began attempting to enter meditation and cultivate.

This was to test for Wood Spirit Root.

According to the technique, if after one thousand breaths—roughly fifteen minutes—there was still no sensation, it meant you didn't have this type of spirit root.

He Zhi was very patient, waiting quietly. One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

After fifteen minutes, almost right on time, He Zhi finally sensed wisps of energy flowing from the spirit stones into his body.

"So I do have Wood Spirit Root, but it seems the strength isn't very good."

He Zhi shook his head. Only sensing it right at the time limit clearly meant his spirit root wasn't good.

However, at least it proved he did have spirit roots and could indeed cultivate, which was also good news.

So despite having poor spirit roots, He Zhi wasn't disappointed. There were still other spirit roots to test.

***

Over an hour later.

He Zhi's expression was somewhat dim.

"It's actually the worst five spirit roots?"

That's right. After testing, He Zhi discovered his aptitude was the worst.

He had all five types of spirit roots. The five elements were chaotic and interfered with each other. This would make cultivation extremely slow. Normally, it would be impossible to cultivate to Foundation Establishment in a lifetime.

"I already guessed it would be like this."

Despite this, He Zhi still wasn't too disappointed—he had even expected it.

After all, he was originally disabled, with a physique inferior to ordinary people.

If he had tested as a cultivation genius, that would have been strange.

"Forget it. Even with five spirit roots, it doesn't mean I can't cultivate."

He Zhi said softly, looking at the screen.

So what if he had five spirit roots?

He had an entire sect supporting him!

In the cultivation world.

At this time, after over an hour of discussion, the Qingxuan Sect Master had gathered all the disciples of Qingxuan Sect before the Elder Hall to make offerings to He Zhi!

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Proofreader & Editor: Fat Goose 🪶