May I seek good fortune and avoid misfortune, and live a long and prosperous life.

Upon hearing Feng Xuzi's explanation, Li Heng was once again astonished. There were actually so many realms above the Qi Refining stage. He, who was already invincible in the mortal world, now seemed to be nothing more than an ant in the cultivation world.

"Senior, what realm is above the Nascent Soul stage?"

Feng Xuzi rolled his eyes and sneered:

"You're really aiming too high, kid. In our Qingming cultivation world, 99% of cultivators never even reach the Nascent Soul stage in their entire lives. You dare to ask about the realms above the Nascent Soul stage? You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

Even I am only at the ninth level of Qi Refining, and I have no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this lifetime. That's why I was banished to this desolate, barren mortal realm to serve as an enforcer.

"In our cultivation world, the hierarchy is extremely strict. Foundation Establishment cultivators are addressed as True Persons, Golden Core cultivators as True Monarchs, and Nascent Soul cultivators as Ancestors. Do you remember that? If you address someone by the wrong title, it could bring about your death."

Li Heng nodded, his attitude very sincere and humble.

Feng Xuzi's vanity was satisfied, and he also developed a slight liking for Li Heng, a newcomer in the Qi Refining stage. "Let's go, let's test our spiritual root aptitude first. This is the most important step in the cultivation world."

Feng Xuzi led Li Heng out of the room, saying as they walked:

"The best spiritual root aptitude is a single spiritual root, followed by two spiritual roots, then three spiritual roots, and four spiritual roots are barely enough for cultivation, with little hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. The worst is five spiritual roots, which can only allow one to reach the third level of Qi Refining at most. To go further, unless one has an extraordinary opportunity, one's life will remain the same."

"Senior, could you tell me why a single spiritual root is considered the best for spiritual talent?"

When Li Heng heard Feng Xuzi mention spiritual roots, he immediately thought of the five different colored wooden roots on his dantian. Could those five wooden roots be the so-called spiritual roots? Did the five spiritual roots mean that he had the worst aptitude among the five spiritual roots?

Li Heng successfully piqued Feng Xuzi's interest in conversation. Being stationed on an island year-round was an extremely monotonous task.

Now that he's finally found someone he clicks with, and this person is also very emotionally intelligent, providing Feng Xuzi with a lot of emotional value, Feng Xuzi is naturally willing to share more knowledge about the cultivation world with him.

"Hehe, it's a good thing that young people like to ask questions. I happen to be in a good mood today, so you can ask me any questions you have. Let me explain the issue of a single spiritual root to you first."

"The most common single spiritual root is one of five types: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. There are also some mutated spiritual roots, such as lightning, wind, and ice spiritual roots. These mutated spiritual roots are extremely rare, so they will not be discussed."

The best single-elemental aptitude is because it only needs to absorb spiritual energy of a single attribute, unlike multi-elemental aptitude which results in extremely mixed spiritual energy that requires painstaking separation and transformation, greatly reducing cultivation speed.

The more spiritual roots one has, the more mixed the spiritual energy absorbed, which further hinders cultivation speed. Moreover, a cultivator with a single spiritual root absorbs only a single type of spiritual energy, and the purity of their spiritual energy is far higher than that of a cultivator with multiple spiritual roots.

The difference might not be noticeable under normal circumstances, but when the two actually fight, a cultivator with a single spiritual root can easily defeat a cultivator with multiple spiritual roots at the same level.

"Moreover, cultivators with multiple spiritual roots constantly face the problem of conflicting spiritual energies within their bodies. How to balance them is a very distressing problem for most cultivators with multiple spiritual roots."

"In the cultivation world, time is extremely precious. The lifespan of a Qi Refining cultivator is generally no more than 150 years, that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is generally no more than 250 years, that of a Golden Core cultivator is generally no more than 600 years, and that of a Nascent Soul cultivator is generally no more than 1200 years."

Therefore, a single spiritual root allows for faster cultivation and, compared to multiple spiritual roots, enables one to advance to the next realm more quickly. This is recognized as a top-tier spiritual root in the cultivation world.

Even with five spiritual roots, it might take two or three hundred years to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, let alone the lifespan limit of 150 years for the Qi Refining stage.

"Alas, because my spiritual root aptitude is only metal, earth, and wood, I have no hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in this lifetime," Feng Xuzi said with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Cultivating immortality is truly defying the heavens, so not only will the heavens not offer any help, but they will also send down tribulations from time to time. For example, the heavenly tribulation is a tribulation that every cultivator must face when breaking through to the next major realm, and no one can escape it."

"Therefore, even if you have the aptitude to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, if you cannot withstand the Heavenly Tribulation, you will still die; while a single-spiritual-root cultivator has a much higher probability of surviving the Heavenly Tribulation because of the extremely high purity of their spiritual power than a multi-spiritual-root cultivator with mixed spiritual power in their body."

However, the Heavenly Tribulation is not just a test of talent; it also tests the resources you possess. Those geniuses have the backing of powerful sects and have access to a great deal of resources, allowing them to use many life-saving trump cards when facing the Heavenly Tribulation.

Those rogue cultivators were dirt poor, having to struggle for everything themselves, so they were barely scraping by when facing the Heavenly Tribulation. Cultivation requires aptitude, resources, and luck—all are indispensable!

As Li Heng walked and listened, he learned from Feng Xuzi's tone that cultivating immortality was indeed a very cruel path.

"Senior, if we disregard lifespan limitations, is there any future in having five spiritual roots?" Li Heng asked tentatively.

"Not considering lifespan? Heh, have you forgotten the essence of cultivating immortality? Cultivating immortality is about pursuing longevity. Without longevity, you're just a handful of dust in the end."

However, since you asked, I will answer you. If we don't consider lifespan, at the same level, I think a cultivator with five spiritual roots would have an advantage over a cultivator with only one spiritual root. A cultivator with five spiritual roots can practice the Five Elements Techniques.

Although its purity is not as high as that of a single-spiritual-root cultivator, if one has an unlimited lifespan, one can slowly refine one's spiritual power until it is as pure as that of a single-spiritual-root cultivator.

By then, cultivators with five spiritual roots will naturally be far more powerful than those with only one. Unfortunately, this process of refinement will take an extremely long time, perhaps over three hundred years. But what Qi Refining cultivator has such a long lifespan?

"So, all these assumptions you've made are meaningless. Who in this world doesn't die? Even Nascent Soul Ancestors only live for about a thousand years. Although we in the cultivation world talk about cultivating immortality, who has ever actually seen a real immortal?"

"In the end, it's just a reflection in a mirror, a flower in the water. Sigh, why am I telling you all this? Let's go, we'll reach the testing platform soon." Feng Xuzi shook his head.

Li Heng's eyes lit up. It turned out that even cultivators with five spiritual roots could make a comeback, but it would take a long time to hone their spiritual power.

Soon, Feng Xuzi led Li Heng to a very spacious square. There were many cultivators sitting cross-legged in the square, practicing or meditating. Some cultivators were discussing the Dao in twos and threes.

There were also cultivators sparring in the square, but they only went so far as to stop short of each other, and there were also many cultivators standing guard around them.

Feng Xuzi led Li Heng to the northeast corner of the square, where a stone table stood with a round, transparent crystal ball on it.

Feng Xuzi pointed to the crystal ball on the stone table and said to Li Heng:

"Here, that crystal ball is the instrument for testing spiritual root aptitude. You just need to place your hand on it. If you don't have a spiritual root, the crystal ball won't light up. If you have a single spiritual root, the crystal ball will emit light of the corresponding color. The same applies if you have multiple spiritual roots. Go and get tested."

To be honest, Feng Xuzi thought highly of Li Heng and believed that his talent was definitely not bad. After all, someone who could make such a big commotion when breaking through to Qi Refining would rarely have poor talent.