Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

Upon hearing this, Niu Dazhuang immediately leaped into the air as well.

Wu Fan took the opportunity to reach out and pull him into the flying boat.

The wind-riding boat immediately took off, rising several feet into the air in just a few breaths.

While its average speed may not be faster than that of the black spirit steed, its advantage lies in its ability to fly and easily ascend to heights that are difficult for the opponent's spells and flying swords to reach.

After ascending to a safe altitude, Wu Fan made a hand seal, and three fireballs quickly condensed, carrying an aura much hotter than ordinary fireballs, and hurled them at the people chasing below.

The people below quickly dodged to the side, and the fireballs landed on the ground and exploded one after another, causing dust to fly everywhere.

The fat cultivator's movements slowed down slightly, and he was almost hit by the aftershocks of the fireball. He staggered and nearly fell off his horse, looking quite disheveled.

"This kid actually has a flying artifact?!"

Upon seeing this, the man in fine clothes looked even more displeased.

Flying magical artifacts are extremely rare; even their family only possesses a few, and they are usually only used by elders.

He simply couldn't understand how a companion of the Bai family's son-in-law, who only had the cultivation of the fifth level of Qi Refining, could possess such a treasure.

The imbalance in his heart grew stronger, so he could only keep whipping the horse's rump and relentlessly chasing after it.

Wu Fan deliberately controlled the altitude of the Wind Chaser, neither flying too high to make the opponent give up completely, nor lowering it to a range where the opponent could attack. He just flew slowly in the sky, watching the exasperated looks of the people below.

"Hahaha, Angkor, they can't even touch us!"

Niu Dazhuang clung to the edge of the boat, laughing loudly as he looked down, the tension from being chased earlier completely gone.

The faces of the people below were ashen, especially the man in fine clothes, who was trembling with anger but helpless.

"You scoundrels up there, if you've got the guts, come down and fight!"

He roared angrily at the sky, his voice filled with frustration.

Wu Fan's words carried on the breeze: "So what if you're spineless? What good are your fast horses? What good are your high cultivation levels? You can only watch from below, can you?"

These words were like adding fuel to the fire, infuriating the people below who cursed incessantly, but to no avail.

After playing around for a while, Wu Fan stopped wasting time and steered the Wind Chariot toward Yunxi Manor. Soon, it swept through the forest, leaving the others far behind.

The people below watched the disappearing blue figure, and could only rein in their horses and watch them leave, their eyes filled with resentment and bitterness.

"Brother Wu, you're amazing! This Wind Chariot is a lifesaver! It even infuriated those guys!"

Sitting in the boat, Niu Dazhuang still couldn't hide his excitement. "Do you think if we're fast enough in the future, even Foundation Establishment cultivators, Golden Core cultivators, or even Nascent Soul True Monarchs won't be able to catch up with us?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Fan couldn't help but laugh: "Haha, Dazhuang, your idea is quite novel. But you're right, as long as your speed is fast enough, even a cultivator a small level higher than you won't have an easy time catching up."

His words were not perfunctory; he genuinely believed the idea was feasible. Little did he know that this word of encouragement would plant a seed in Niu Dazhuang's heart.

In the years that followed, Niu Dazhuang devoted himself to studying speed and survival techniques. This plan changed the course of his life several times and saved his life several times.

......

After more than half a day, Feng Xingzhou, carrying Wu Fan and Niu Dazhuang, slowly landed on a flat area outside Yunxi Manor.

Wu Fan raised his hand and retrieved the Wind Chaser Boat, then entered the manor side by side with Niu Dazhuang, who was looking impatiently beside him.

They first went to the accounting office to fully compensate for the two fine steeds they had abandoned to avoid danger, and then the two returned to their respective residences to rest.

Wu Fan's courtyard was usually not well maintained, but at this moment the grass and trees were lush, the stone path was clean, and the potted plants were arranged in a pleasing manner, which showed that someone had been taking good care of it during the month or so that he was away.

He pushed open the door and entered the main room, then immediately closed all the doors and windows behind him. Seeing that the furnishings inside were still the same, he felt relieved.

Wu Fan didn't linger. He went straight to the futon in the room, sat down cross-legged, and began to form hand seals, instantly entering a meditative state.

......

Time flies, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, a surge of pure spiritual energy began to rapidly gather around Wu Fan's residence in Yunxi Manor, flowing into his room like a torrent. The concentration of spiritual energy in the air instantly reached an extremely high level.

This situation lasted for several breaths before the surge of spiritual energy gradually slowed down and eventually returned to calm, and everything returned to normal.

Inside the room, Wu Fan slowly opened his eyes. A flash of crimson light first appeared in his eyes, which then settled into a calm and profound sense of clarity.

He raised his hand and exhaled lightly, a stream of air carrying a faint hint of fire slowly dissipating.

"At thirty-one, I've finally reached the sixth level of Qi Refining."

Wu Fan muttered to himself, but his fingertips were still moving slightly, and the fire elemental power in his body was also flowing accordingly. It was hot but very steady, without any sense of being superficial.

The reason is that he had already touched the threshold of the sixth level of Qi Refining half a year ago. However, he has always relied on pills for cultivation over the years. Even though he used only the best pills, "every medicine has some poison in it", and his magic power was inevitably mixed with impurities, making his foundation slightly weak.

Therefore, he resolutely stopped the supply of pills more than half a year ago, and relied solely on meditation and breathing exercises to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Even when refining pills, he deliberately exhausted his spiritual power and then slowly recovered it through his own cultivation.

This cycle of exhaustion, refinement, and recovery, while slowing down his cultivation speed considerably, made his magical power increasingly profound and pure.

Moreover, he already possessed the aptitude of a mid-grade spiritual root, and two years ago, his own spiritual essence had already improved by three strands. A year ago, he also happened to encounter a fire-attribute spiritual herb at the Bai family, which actually had an effect on the advancement of the Five Elements Bead.

Although it only added a little energy to the Five Elements Beads and improved its own spiritual essence by a mere wisp, it was better than nothing.

Wu Fan is now calm and composed, and has already begun to secretly prepare for his breakthrough to the late stage of Qi Refining in a few years.

As his thoughts gradually settled, Wu Fan slowly got up, took off his sweat-stained clothes, and stepped into the bathtub that had been prepared with hot water.

Having broken through to the sixth level of Qi Refining, I expelled a lot of sweat mixed with impurities from my body. It was sticky and itchy on my skin, which was really uncomfortable.

Steam rose continuously from the bathtub, carrying a faint herbal aroma.

These medicinal herbs were what he usually used to aid in body training.

The body-refining technique he cultivated was an ordinary low-level body-refining technique that he had exchanged with the Bai family. He never intended it to be his main cultivation method, nor did he expect it to become a powerful means for him to fight enemies in the future. He only used it to enhance his physique and endurance.

The reason he practiced body-refining techniques was that every time the Bai family sent him medicinal herbs, he would use his meager success rate of only 70% as a pretext to secretly keep a lot of them, many of which happened to be suitable for body refining.

Based on the principle that leaving it unused would be a waste, Wu Fan used it all for his bath.

He leaned his head comfortably against the tub, squinted his eyes, and let the warm medicine envelop his limbs and body, relieving all the tension in his nerves from the past few days.

At this moment, there was no pressure of cultivation, no contemplation of the future, only a moment of peace and comfort, enough for him to temporarily forget all his worries.