Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Harvesting the Talents of Demonic Beasts

Chapter 3 Spiritual Root Improvement
"Nine strands? The aptitude of the fire elemental root has improved by one strand?"

Lin Changheng was initially surprised, but then delighted.

As we all know, a person's spiritual potential is determined by heaven, at the moment of birth.

This also confirms an unchanging law in this cultivation world—

Without spiritual roots, one truly cannot cultivate immortality! And spiritual roots are something that cannot be changed!

However, it is clear that the existence of the [Yuan Ding] has broken this rule.

Lin Changheng can continuously improve his spiritual root, from inferior spiritual root to low-grade spiritual root, mid-grade spiritual root, high-grade spiritual root...

Even an Earth Spiritual Root! A Heavenly Spiritual Root is not impossible!
With the dual benefits of increased comprehension and enhanced spiritual roots, Lin Changheng felt a promising future just by thinking about it.

"The growth of this spiritual root should be related to the refinement of the treasure seed. Could it be that each time a treasure seed is refined, a strand of spiritual root can be enhanced?"

Soon, Lin Changheng identified the only changes and made reasonable inferences based on them.

Moreover, this hypothesis is not difficult to verify. Once the treasure reaches the second level, it will be immediately clear whether it is true or false.

"How long will it take to extract the spirit from the treasure seed? Will it take another thirty years?"

Even at the ninth level of Qi Refining, one's lifespan is only one hundred and thirty years.

How many thirty-year periods does one have in a lifetime?
Lin Changheng couldn't just wait idly by.

Without an instruction manual, he needed to gradually explore and understand the usage and effects of the [Yuan Ding].

"Hoo~breath~"

After taking a deep breath, Lin Changheng suppressed all his anticipation and joy, and his expression returned to calm.

"The most urgent task now is to break through to the level of a pill refiner."

He crawled under the bed and retrieved his alchemy notes from a deliberately dusted secret compartment. The notes contained the alchemy knowledge he had accumulated over the past ten years.

By the light of the night lamp, Lin Changheng began to study and ponder.

As the saying goes, learning without thinking is futile, and thinking without learning is dangerous.

Lin Changheng did a good job of combining learning and thinking.

They were also amazed by the complexity and difficulty of alchemy in this cultivation world.

Unlike the descriptions in the novels of my previous life, the process alone includes a series of steps such as starting a fire, heating the furnace, adding medicine, washing and refining, liquefying, combining medicine, refining, condensing the pill, and taking the pill.

Each step must be performed at a specific time, taking into account the specific condition of the medicine in the furnace, and the incantation must be entered.

Therefore, tending the furnace and tending the fire was also Lin Changheng's main task as an alchemy apprentice.

To refine a first-grade low-level pill, each step requires twenty to forty pill-refining incantations, totaling about three hundred incantations!

Moreover, timing and sequence need to be mastered, and special situations that arise unexpectedly need to be dealt with, making it a "systems engineering" in a narrow sense.

Half an hour later.

Lin Changheng rubbed his sore eyes. Although he was tired, he felt a great sense of relief.

With the existence of the [Heavenly Enlightenment and General Knowledge], a precious seed of origin, many difficulties that hindered his success in alchemy, which he could never understand before, are now being resolved one by one.

"If I could refine it again, at least the furnace wouldn't explode when I was mixing the medicine."

He couldn't help but look at the old cloth bag he had brought back, which he had tucked under his arm, on the table.

He reached out, took it, opened it, and revealed two charred, waste pills.

It cannot even be called a waste pill, because it has no pill-like form and is merely a paste.

Holding it in my hand and smelling it, I noticed a pungent, burnt medicinal smell, along with a faint, metallic scent of blood.

That was the essence blood of a low-level demonic beast called "Fire Crow".

Although it is a miscellaneous bloodline, it can be used to refine several low-grade fire-type pills, such as the Crimson Flame Pill and the Scorching Breath Pill.

Upon realizing this, Lin Changheng suddenly paused in surprise.

At this moment, the [Yuan Ding], which stood quietly in his sea of ​​consciousness, trembled slightly, and azure clouds rose from its mouth.

"Could it be..."

A thought suddenly popped into Lin Changheng's mind and he could no longer suppress it.

He immediately tried to use his mind to connect the [Yuan Ding] with the two discarded pills in his palm.

"Buzz!"

Lin Changheng felt a flash of blue light in his mind, and something in his hand was immediately stripped away.

Looking down again, the waste pill showed no change, but when he brought it to his nose and smelled it, the bloody smell had vanished without a trace.

And at this time.

At the mouth of the cauldron in the sea of ​​consciousness, the phantom of a crimson treasure seed slowly took shape. "Just as I thought!"

Lin Changheng was overjoyed and touched it slightly.

[Fire Crow Treasure Seed - Spirit-Seizing and Rebirth in Progress]

[Spirit Stealing: 1/100]

[Effect: Miscellaneous demonic beast bloodline, naturally possessing fire element, with innate talents in controlling fire, breathing, and beak attacks. Upon successful spirit-stealing, one can choose to refine one of these abilities.]

Lin Changheng's eyes lit up immediately.

"The essence blood of demonic beasts really works! Even though it's the lowest-level, early-stage first-tier demonic beast, which is extremely common in the wilderness, it can still be condensed into a precious seed!"

"Moreover, the Fire Crow possesses three innate talents: fire control, breath control, and beak attack! For me, beak attack is naturally out of the question. Compared to breathing fire, fire control is currently the most suitable for me! After all, alchemy is the art of fire control!"

"With fire control in hand, becoming an entry-level alchemist within a year is much more certain. Not only can I resolve the crisis, but I can also earn spirit stones. I can then use the spirit stones to replenish my cultivation and collect more and more diverse amounts of demonic beast essence blood..."

This is a closed loop.

A unique path that can lead him step by step to immortality and ascension to heaven!
Lin Changheng's eyes shone brightly.

"Next, we need to collect as much demonic beast blood as possible."

"Oh right, spirit stones!"

Immediately, he searched through his memory and finally found two crystal-clear, light red spirit stones in the house and on his own body.

This was all the savings he had accumulated over the past ten years.

A while ago, I paid a year's rent of ten spirit stones to rent the Class D cave dwelling where I live now.

In addition to the medicinal materials consumed in attempting alchemy, the resources needed for daily cultivation, and the fixed expenses incurred in replenishing essence and blood over the years...

The only source of income was the apprenticeship grant from Xu Jiafa.

Now that we have two pieces left, we can even say that we've cut back on spending!
"Relying solely on purchasing fire crow essence blood is probably not enough; we need to think of another way..."

Lin Changheng's gaze swept around the simple room, finally settling on the two dark lumps on the table. His eyes flickered, and he made up his mind.

"Squeak!"

I got up and opened the window again; the night had ended and the clouds had dispersed.

As the night breeze blew, Lin Changheng suddenly realized the heavy weight pressing on his chest—

Unbeknownst to me, it had transformed into a handful of moonlight.

……

Early the next morning, Lin Changheng hurriedly left home and headed towards "Xu's Alchemy Shop".

Last night's rain soaked through the bluestone pavement of the market, giving it a soft, luminous sheen, like a bronze mirror polished by time.

The dripping eaves broke the morning mist.

On both sides, early-rising independent monks squatted by the roadside, guarding their wet stalls, their shouts three times more relaxed than usual.

They were all neighbors and quite familiar with each other, so many people immediately invited Lin Changheng to take a look at his goods.

"Next time, next time!"

Lin Changheng glanced at the various talismans, talisman paper, spirit rice and tea, books and jade slips on the stalls, waved his hand, and then left in a flash.

It wasn't that he didn't want these things, but he was short of money, and he needed to spend the remaining spirit stones wisely.

The cultivator's footwork was also quite fast, and before long, he entered a two-story building.

"Brother Lin."

"Brother Lin, you're here so early today."

There were younger members of the Xu family working odd jobs in the shop, and they all greeted Lin Changheng with smiles.

"Yes, good morning to you all too."

Lin Changheng responded with a smile.

The classic scene of a ten-year apprentice being looked down upon, provoked, and belittled did not occur.

On the one hand, it is related to the upright family traditions of the Xu family.

On the other hand, Lin Changheng at least possessed skills and could become an apprentice, while they lacked the necessary qualifications and could only do menial tasks such as cleaning counters, selling pills, and running errands. They felt more envy towards Lin Changheng.

Lifting the curtain, one could immediately enter the backyard where the alchemy was being conducted.
Then a mocking, aged voice rang out.

"Hengzi, did you blow up the oven again last night?"

(End of this chapter)