Chapter 43: Condensing the Root of Heaven and Earth

The more Li Fan read the descriptions of the Immortal Path in the Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method, the more horrified he felt.

Before the Golden Core Stage, it was relatively normal: absorbing the essence of Heaven and Earth, borrowing the wonders of Heaven and Earth, and peering into the laws of Heaven and Earth.

But after reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, the style gradually became frenzied.

Seizing the essence of Heaven and Earth, extracting the marrow of Heaven and Earth, sacrificing the heaven and earth spirit…

And finally, defying the principles of Heaven and Earth.

Just reading these words sent chills down one's spine.

The Heavenly Dao is exalted, nurturing all things.

For Immortal Cultivators to Cultivate in this way is tantamount to opposing Heaven and committing great rebellion.

What does this signify? Did the Immortal Cultivators not know?

But such a cultivation method Advanced too quickly.

According to the book, after the Immortal Venerable spread the Dao, a large number of ordinary Mortals who could not originally Cultivate suddenly rose to prominence within decades.

Cultivators at the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Soul Transformation stages emerged like mushrooms after rain.

The Cultivation World at that time was so prosperous that Golden Cores were everywhere and Nascent Souls were as common as dogs.

And those Cultivators who insisted on the ancient cultivation methods—how many could hold onto their ways and not try the Immortal Venerable's method when they saw their own Cultivation easily surpassed by mere Mortals?

Thus, ancient cultivation gradually declined, and the New Law took its place.

A thousand years after the New Law became widespread, the Cultivation World reached its peak of prosperity.

Unfortunately, Heaven's justice is clear: when things reach their extreme, they must decline.

Countless Cultivators plundered the resources of Heaven and Earth greedily, without restraint.

Even the increasingly frequent Heavenly Tribulations could not suppress the growing number of Cultivators.

So, one day, the Heavenly Dao's counterattack finally came.

Heaven and Earth underwent a great upheaval, and the Great Tribulation descended.

From then on, Immortal methods could no longer be cultivated together!

The flourishing Cultivation World was struck a heavy blow.

To survive, Cultivators fell into endless mutual slaughter.

For a long time, the Cultivation World was desolate and declining.

It took thousands of years to slowly recover.

Nowadays, Cultivators have grown accustomed to the malice of Heaven and Earth.

They have summed up lessons and built a new cultivation order on the wasteland left by the Great Tribulation.

…

After introducing the origins of the current Cultivation World, the book then detailed the Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method.

If an ordinary person who had cleansed miasma could not easily guide Qi into the body, they could nurture their own five spirits, forcibly absorb the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, refine it, and Breakthrough to the Qi Refinement Stage.

The so-called five spirits refer to five emotions inherent in humans.

Greed, fear, rage, hatred, and ego.

These five emotions are hidden within the human heart, inexhaustible and ever-renewing.

The Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method uses these five spirits as fuel to Cultivate the Root of Heaven and Earth in the Dantian.

The Root of Heaven and Earth connects the Cultivator's Dantian with Heaven and Earth. Once formed, the Cultivator can use it to forcibly absorb the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth for their own use.

Compared to ancient cultivation methods that relied entirely on Aptitude, the Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method emphasizes stability.

Those with excellent Aptitude can form the Root of Heaven and Earth in a day and a night, embarking on the Immortal Path.

Even those with no cultivation Aptitude at all can, through persistent daily effort, form their own Root of Heaven and Earth within ten years at most.

Having mastered the method of guiding Qi into the body, Li Fan thereafter stayed home every day, Cultivating the Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself that his cultivation path might not be smooth,

Day after day, a full three years passed, and Li Fan still had not succeeded in guiding Qi.

Li Fan was well aware of his cultivation talent: average, not a Genius, but certainly not bad.

This situation was due to another reason.

"The Profound Yellow Heart Refining Mantra… truly a mixed blessing." Li Fan felt somewhat helpless.

The Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method requires the five emotions as fuel to drive the formation of the Root of Heaven and Earth.

But because Li Fan Cultivated the Profound Yellow Heart Refining Mantra, he accumulated very little of these five emotions.

Even if he didn't actively run the Heart Refining Mantra, it instinctively crushed these negative thoughts in his mind.

It was like carrying a heavy burden, which caused Li Fan's progress to be extremely slow.

Li Fan had also tried to guide Qi into his body without using the Root of Heaven and Earth.

But he clearly lacked Xiao Heng's talent.

The external Spiritual Qi completely ignored him.

Without guidance from others and relying solely on his own exploration, Li Fan had no idea how long it would take to guide Qi into his body.

So Li Fan decided to stick with the Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method to Breakthrough to the Qi Refinement Stage.

It was slow, but it was reliable.

What Li Fan lacked least was time.

In the early part of the three years, He Zhenghao occasionally sent people to inquire about Li Fan's cultivation progress.

But after Li Fan made no progress for a long time, they stopped coming.

At the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, thanks to Li Fan and Xiao Heng, although they had lost the Wanhua Merchant Guild as a backer, their business on the surrounding islands had actually improved.

No one wanted to offend a merchant house that might have a Cultivator background, so they tried to avoid conflict with the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion as much as possible.

Thus, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion expanded its market aggressively over the three years, showing a thriving trend.

Yin Yuzhen became even more confident, eager to return to Nightfall Island and regain control of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion headquarters.

…

Li Fan only occasionally paid attention to external matters.

Most of his energy was focused on cultivating the Root of Heaven and Earth.

Unfortunately, this matter truly could not be rushed.

Li Fan estimated that, barring accidents, he would need about two more years to succeed.

Having been cooped up at home for a long time, Li Fan felt restless one day and decided to go out for a walk.

Without alerting anyone, he changed his clothes, put on a felt hat, and went to the market on Liuli Island.

Compared to three years ago, nothing seemed to have changed.

The sounds of bargaining, hawking, and playing were interwoven.

Here, Li Fan felt a long-lost "human touch."

Thoughts in his mind surged forth like a withered seedling receiving moisture.

In that single moment, the progress of the Root of Heaven and Earth exceeded that of three days of secluded Cultivation at home.

Li Fan suddenly understood.

For ordinary Cultivators, seclusion and quiet Cultivation are necessary because ordinary people lack no fuel from the five spirits.

But Li Fan's situation was special: the Heart Refining Mantra in his mind was constantly running, turning these distractions into nourishment to strengthen his spirit.

And the Five Spirits Qi Sensing Method was clearly not as Advanced as the Profound Yellow Heart Refining Mantra; it could only snatch scraps.

Li Fan could not change this situation for now. To speed up the formation of the Root of Heaven and Earth, he needed to increase the daily generation of distractions in his mind.

Daily seclusion was clearly not enough; he needed to engage with the world.

Having figured this out, Li Fan felt somewhat delighted.

It seemed that perhaps he would not need two years to enter the Qi Refinement Stage.

…

"Elder Li?" Just then, a somewhat familiar voice came from behind.

Li Fan turned around, recognized the person after a moment's pause, and remembered who it was.

It was none other than Zhang Haobo, the captain of the Cangyuan from Liuli Island, whom he had met once before.