Chapter 115: Spirit Root
Chapter 115: Spirit Root
Space travel could be exceedingly lengthy and dull, especially after the initial novelty wore off.
When Fang Xing grew tired of the monotonous scenery outside his window, he returned to his cabin and decided to seclude himself.
This seclusion, however, merely involved him lounging casually while his consciousness, through the Gate of Multiverses, observed the other 'self' in a different realm.
The Cultivation World.
Underground Base.
"This secret art is truly remarkable, allowing my true self and avatar to communicate consciously, even across two worlds..."
The avatar with sword-like eyebrows and stellar eyes suddenly opened its eyes.
It was currently lying in a pool of blood.
This blood pool was eerie and sinister, its appearance particularly unnerving.
"But I feel that the main contributor is still the 'Gate of Multiverses', acting like a super signal tower, connecting the avatar and the true self. So, it's all thanks to this cheat?"
Fang Xing rose to his feet, climbed out of the blood pool, and casually pointed a finger.
A stream of spiritual power surged forth, transforming into the simplest expulsion spell, summoning a silver sphere.
The nano-protective suit immediately adhered to his body, turning into a silver-white robe.
"This avatar technique is quite something, but it's a pity I can only create one guardian deity. Otherwise, I would have made eight or nine avatars of myself, and then I would truly be invincible..."
He shook his head, slightly disappointed.
After all, the name of this secret art was the 'Golden Lotus Twin Safeguard of the Celestial Mother', and if he wanted to obtain a second avatar, he would likely have to throw this art into the Great Sun Crucible and derive a new secret technique like the 'Triple Safeguard'.
"Thankfully, one is enough for now."
Fang Xing picked up a 'Spirit-Testing Talisman'. He had already tested this body, and it turned out to be a Metal-attribute Divine Spirit Root!
The reason for testing again was that, naturally, after cultivating spiritual power, he immediately started practicing the blood sacrifice secret technique of the Omnipath, refining and enhancing his spirit root daily.
By now, all the consumables had been used up.
After infusing a bit of spiritual power, the talisman shone with a radiant light that enveloped him.
Almost instantly, a golden radiance appeared, shooting straight towards his head, reaching a height of one foot!
Or perhaps, it even exceeded one foot, reaching about one foot and three or four inches!
"The Spirit-Testing Talismans categorize spirit root talent based on the color and intensity of spiritual power. I only have a single color, indicating a single-attribute Divine Spirit Root, and my aptitude even surpasses that of a regular spirit root... But it seems that it hasn't reached a certain limit yet."
Initially, Fang Xing had thought that after blood sacrificing those clones, his spirit root aptitude would ascend to a higher level.
However, it turned out that he had overestimated its effects. While it was indeed slightly better than a Divine Spirit Root, the improvement seemed limited.
"Is it because the raw materials are insufficient, or is there some innate factor missing?"
Fang Xing found this intriguing and wanted to explore it further.
"The raw materials are definitely sufficient. In fact, I doubt there's anyone in the entire Cultivation World with better resources than me... The most they can do is sacrifice their blood relatives, but I'm sacrificing 'myself'. Not only is there zero rejection, but there's also no karmic debt..."
As for whether cultivators could achieve 'cloning', according to Fang Xing's knowledge, it was almost impossible.
In this world, cultivators mostly focused on combat power, and while they had some healing abilities, their expertise in biochemical science was questionable.
At least, to Fang Xing's knowledge, for Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators, regenerating lost limbs wasn't a difficult task.
However, to create a body from nothing or to regenerate it from a single drop of blood was an entirely different matter.
Only a legendary miracle drug that could revive the dead and turn white bones into flesh could accomplish such a feat!
And such a miraculous drug was unlikely to fall into the hands of low-level cultivators; it was more likely to be a high-level cultivator's lifeline!
Why would they give it up in exchange for a Divine Spirit Root body?
For a Nascent Soul cultivator or higher, what value did a Divine Spirit Root hold? Was it more important than their own life?
If they wanted to seize a Divine Spirit Root body, they could easily find one within their sphere of influence or among their sect's disciples, and then perform a Nascent Soul separation to possess the body.
Even those demonic cultivators with their expertise in killing and refining demonic treasures would be clueless about cloning. It was simply not their field of expertise.
After all, if a Nascent Soul cultivator could clone themselves with just a drop of blood and flesh, why would cultivators of both the righteous and demonic paths bother preparing a drop of their own blood and flesh as a backup when they could just seize the bodies of their outstanding Divine Spirit Root disciples after their original bodies were destroyed?
Seizing control of one's own clone would undoubtedly be the best option, with zero rejection.
The only explanation was that they simply couldn't do it.
"For cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage, it might be possible through a combination of coincidence and the use of certain heavenly treasures, but the input-output ratio is disproportionate..."
"As for those at the Nascent Soul stage and above, or even the rumored Immortals... Perhaps they can effortlessly manipulate the laws of creation and nurture countless Divine Spirit Root bodies, akin to cloning... But even for them, it would be of little use."
"They have more convenient means to grant spirits roots to mortals... For an immortal capable of nurturing countless Divine Spirit Roots, creating a spirit root superior to the Divine Spirit Root is but a simple task."
"Hence, at the lower levels, no one has better resources than me."
"Could this be the limit of my spirit root's potential?"
Since that seemed to be the case, Fang Xing didn't dwell on it further.
After cleaning up the blood pool and cultivation chamber, he went to a quiet room nearby and began to meditate.
"To transform from a mortal to a cultivator, one merely needs to use their spirit root to sense the spiritual energy in the void and draw it into their body..."
Fang Xing was already far beyond the first layer of Qi Refinement.
From the very first time he cultivated, he could feel the endless metal-attribute spiritual energy in the void rushing into his body eagerly.
And then, he progressed through the Qi Refining levels with ease—first layer, second layer, third layer—as if it were as simple as eating and breathing.
With a mere meditation session today, he smoothly broke through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining!
As for bottlenecks, he didn't feel even a hint of them.
"It's said that Heavenly Spirit Roots cultivators don't face any bottlenecks before the Foundation Establishment... Seems like it's true!"
"Since my spirit root talent far surpasses the Heavenly Spirit Root, it's only natural that my cultivation speed is this fast..."
Fang Xing took out a light golden jade slip and began to carefully comprehend it.
The cultivation technique he was practicing was called the 'Golden Transformation Manual', an ordinary metal-attribute cultivation method. It was once collected by Wan Fa Shangren, and its only advantage was its completeness, providing instructions from the first layer of Qi Refining all the way to the perfection of Core Formation and even how to break through to the Golden Core.
However, its power and the magical abilities it bestowed were merely average, and it didn't include any sword cultivation techniques.
This thought made Fang Xing a little dejected.
"Wan Fa Shangren had a Mixed Spirit Root, and his main cultivation technique was the 'Primordial Chaos Manual'. My Heavenly Spirit Root isn't really suitable for it..."
"I remember that when we went to kill the Green Rock Ox with Old Ghost Long and Su Ye, there was also a true disciple of Qing Xuan Zong. His sword techniques were exceptionally fierce, clearly cultivated using a metal-attribute sword manual... But back then, I chose to play it cool because cultivation items were useless to me, so I only took Old Ghost Long's storage bag as a token gesture... That youth's sword manual, if he had one, should be in Su Ye's hands..."
Fang Xing made a mental note of this matter.
Cultivators with metal-attribute spirit roots were naturally suited for battle, especially those who walked the path of the sword! Therefore, he still wanted to obtain a superior sword cultivation technique, preferably one that would last him until the Nascent Soul stage.
However, this matter wasn't urgent, and he could slowly plan for it after reaching the Core Formation stage.
Aside from cultivation techniques, he had many magical treasures, but only a few that he could use at the moment.
The most precious one was the hairpin-shaped magical treasure, which he had named 'Flying Phoenix Hairpin'. It was definitely not suitable for use right now.
There was also the 'Myriad Transformation Cauldron', which was Wan Fa Shangren's great opportunity. He was still exploring its uses.
Although the Green Rainbow Sword was a second-grade spiritual weapon, it had long been damaged and was only suitable for his original body to use.
Aside from that, he had various magical treasures that were flying swords.
Fang Xing casually picked an upper-grade magical treasure flying sword to use for the time being.
Although a middle-grade flying sword would be more suitable for his current cultivation base at the middle stage of Qi Refining, perhaps due to his Metal-attribute Heavenly Spirit Root, he found that his spiritual energy consumption was minimal when flying with a sword, and his recovery was fast.
Therefore, even at the fourth layer of Qi Refining, he could barely use an upper-grade magical treasure flying sword.
"Additionally, I should change my cultivation location... Now that I'm a cultivator, if I cultivate in a spiritual vein, my progress will be faster..."
Fang Xing had already started thinking about Core Formation.
Heavenly Spirit Root cultivators didn't face any bottlenecks before the Foundation Establishment, so there was a high probability that he wouldn't need a Core Formation Pill.
Of course, if the opportunity arose, it would be safer to consume one.
"This body has a hidden flaw, which is that its lifespan is inherently shorter..."
This was a defect in the cloning technique, as if Fang Xing had already lived for over a decade.
Even without accelerating his growth, when he was still in an infant's body, it was the same.
"But it doesn't matter. Once I reach Core Formation, I can extend my lifespan by two cycles... The loss of a mere dozen or so years of lifespan can be made up for later."
Fang Xing slightly raised his hand, and with a gesture, his spiritual power condensed the water vapor into a water mirror.
Cultivators were only exceptionally skilled in the spells of their spirit root attribute, but they could still comprehend the spells of the other five elements to some extent.
In the mirror, a youth in silver robes appeared, with sword-like eyebrows and stellar eyes, red lips, and white teeth, exuding an indescribable heroic aura.
"This body shouldn't have any troubles. Was it a loose cultivator?"
Fang Xing thought about it. As a Heavenly Spirit Root, which was like a reserve for the Golden Core Ancestors, he would have been well-protected in the civilized lands and wouldn't have come to the Wild Lands.
If such an important figure fell, it would definitely alarm the sect to search for him, and even the Golden Core Ancestors would take action!
Previously, there hadn't been any news of important figures falling in the Wan Fa Secret Realm, and Wan Fa Shangren didn't have any related memories either.
Therefore, it was highly likely that this person was a loose cultivator.
"If his background is clean, I can join a Golden Core sect after leaving... Gaining resources and having others take care of things for me will allow me to quickly improve..."
Why a Golden Core sect? Naturally, because Nascent Soul True Lords could perform body-snatching!
And in a Golden Core sect, there were only Golden Core cultivators. Not every Golden Core cultivator was a genius like Wan Fa Shangren!
Thinking of Wan Fa Shangren, Fang Xing's expression turned solemn.
He knew that this person had another divided soul that was still in the secret realm, so he had set up surveillance early on.
So far, everything in the secret realm was normal, and no one had appeared.
'Ghost cultivators can't go far from their transformation land... And Wan Fa Shangren's lifespan is exhausted. Even if he succeeds in body-snatching, what about his lifespan?'
Fang Xing recalled Wan Fa Shangren's memories and felt that his final 'Ghost Infant Technique' was still greatly flawed.
If this person were to perform the body-snatching himself, there would likely be no good outcome, and there was a high chance he would turn into a half-human, half-ghost demonic creature!
After pondering, Fang Xing stood up and subconsciously glanced at the attribute panel, only to find that he couldn't see it.
"Ah..."
He sighed. He had known about this since the body-snatching.
Only the main body could view the attribute panel.
"Could it be... that this is the might of the golden finger, the only one across the multiverse?!"
Fang Xing sighed inwardly.
(End of Chapter)
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