Immortality: Starting with the Fruit of Taiyin

That night.

Inside the quiet room of Dan Pavilion.

Sitting cross-legged on a futon, Wang Xuan held a jade slip in his hand, which contained a body-refining technique commonly found among independent cultivators.

This technique has no name, but if you absolutely must name it, calling it the "Body Forging Technique" wouldn't be a bad idea.

It has no special characteristics, no secret techniques, and its power is quite average among those in the same realm.

Even its content only allows cultivation up to the peak of the first-order body cultivator, comparable to the perfect Qi Refining stage, with no further advancements.

Its only advantage is that it has no bias and can be easily switched to any other cultivation method.

Cultivation doesn't require anything fancy; any body-refining resources can be used.

With a thought, Wang Xuan projected the content into his mind.

As the last trace left by that former disciple of the Enforcement Sect was erased from the world, this body-refining technique was incorporated into the [Taiyin Jade Scroll], becoming an auxiliary body-refining chapter.

For a time, although this body-refining technique still retained its essence as a Qi-refining level cultivation method, it carried a trace of Taiyin power.

Without hesitation, Wang Xuan silently channeled his inner energy.

Several hours later, when the first cycle of the cultivation technique was completed, a jade-colored luster flashed across the surface of his skin.

Just like the initial steps to Qi Refining Level 1, as long as you have some understanding of the technique, Body Refining Level 1 isn't too difficult...

However, as he officially embarked on the path of cultivating both body and mind, Wang Xuan could feel an uncontrollable desire emanating from the depths of his flesh and blood.

Just as Qi Refining cultivators crave spiritual energy, Body Refining cultivators crave it even more, perhaps even more so, and it is more difficult to suppress, because it stems from the instinct of life.

Humans are not born with the ability to cultivate themselves, but when they are hungry, they need to eat, because this is the innate nature of all living beings.

Unlike demons, humans are not born with the ability to absorb large amounts of spiritual energy from their environment.

Therefore, in the realm of low-level body cultivation, without sufficient resource supply, the demon race can at most slow down their advancement speed, while the human race will experience much more.

Driven by the instinct to "eat," cultivators either use various spiritual delicacies and blood foods or large amounts of spiritual rice for "food supplementation," or they use elixirs and body-tempering liquids for "medicinal supplementation," or... they use their own magical power for "human supplementation."

This is why no one in the cultivation world has a body cultivation technique.

Wang Xuan only considered cultivating his body while he was still in the sect; he temporarily gave it up after the sect was destroyed.

It's not that cultivating both the Dharma and the body has no benefits, but for most people with insufficient resources... the benefits are really not as severe as the costs.

"Cultivating both the Dharma body and the Dharma body...it's easier said than done."

"But if it were really that simple, the world would be full of cultivators who also cultivate their bodies."

"Putting everything else aside, there is a limit to the amount of time a Qi Refining cultivator can spend cultivating each day."

"Ignoring other factors, I'm just idling around anyway."

"If you don't have talent in any of the arts, why not practice a body-refining technique? In addition to enhancing your combat power, it can also bring some benefits when you face the 'Qi and Blood Barrier' when you try to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage in the future."

"There are reasons why they don't do it."

Wang Xuan shook his head slightly, wondering why only the "protagonist" in vernacular novels knew the importance of cultivating both body and spirit.

However, in this world, any cultivator with a bit of knowledge knows that body refinement is actually a very useful auxiliary cultivation method.

But if you really ask them whether they practice or not, most of them, with very few exceptions, choose not to practice.

The reason is simple: in the lower levels, Qi refining and Qi cultivation compete for spiritual energy.

Only those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage or above can be exempted from its influence by relying on their higher level of magical power and simultaneously cultivate the early to mid-stages of the first tier of body cultivation.

As for Qi Refining cultivators... geniuses don't need to rush.

They have plenty of resources, so they can choose whether or not to train, but they'll mostly wait until after they've reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Even without the aid of body-refining techniques, they can still successfully establish their foundation.

Those who are mediocre dare not attempt this, for they do not receive the treatment of geniuses and have limited resources, fearing that if they attempt it, they will lose even the final chance to establish their foundation.

Those who are not naturally gifted should be considered even more carefully, because they have fewer resources available to them.

If one tries to cultivate both body and spirit, it's very likely that they won't even be able to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

In the end, only cultivators who have no shortage of resources but whose spiritual roots are average, or those who are simply low-level rogue cultivators who only pursue the present, will cultivate their bodies while refining their Qi, in order to gain more strength and a better chance of winning when hunting demons and gathering herbs.

It can only be said that in the cultivation world, which has existed for countless millennia, there is one thing that most people have not done.

It's probably not waiting for you to be the first to try it, but rather it harbors some kind of problem you're unaware of.

"Less than half a percent, about three percent slower."

By circulating his energy throughout the body and sensing with his eyes closed, Wang Xuan made a rough judgment.

Without sufficient resources to replenish their bodies, physical cultivators will be hampered in their cultivation speed by considering the purity of their magical power and the difference in their physical and spiritual refinement levels.

Even with the power of the [Taiyin Jade Scroll], the difference between the sixth level of Qi Refining and the first level of Body Tempering still has a 3% speed impact, which shows how unreliable this thing is.

The solution is not difficult: consume spirit rice and spirit dishes daily, or take body-tempering pills to replenish your body. Simply put, you need spirit stones.

But once he left the sect's environment, unless he sold his "inheritance" a few years later, where would Wang Xuan get the spirit stones? This was also the reason why he temporarily put aside body cultivation.

"The three treasures of a cultivator are 'essence,' 'qi,' and 'spirit.'"

"Among them, the body refinement that corresponds to the 'essence' path is the least focused on aptitude, but it is the most focused on resources. I have witnessed this today."

Shaking his head and smiling, Wang Xuan recalled a passage Chen Yao had left on the "Common Sense Jade Slip".

Legend has it that in ancient times, as long as one was willing to endure hardship, had a renowned teacher to guide them, and had abundant resources, even those with mediocre talent could achieve some success on the path of physical cultivation.

However, in the present world, while Nascent Soul True Monarchs exist in every country, Fourth-Order Body Cultivators are extremely rare, and the fundamental reason for this is the scarcity of high-level resources.

Moreover, according to some ancient records, the path of body cultivation that involves both physical training and physical cultivation is not true body cultivation at all.

In the third-tier realm, Qi Refining cultivators condense their spiritual energy into a Golden Core, but Body Cultivators seem to follow a different path, employing a different method.

Therefore, those who cultivate both paths cannot fully match the latter in terms of combat strength and can only serve as a supplement to the main path.

As a result, resources were consumed in large quantities, but the benefits were not much, which explains why there are few records of it in the world today.

Looking across the Southern Cliff Continent, it seems that only within the Northern Great Zhou territory are there organized groups of body cultivators.

As for other places, perhaps there are others, but Wang Xuan knew nothing about them.