After binding with a genius, I became an immortal by exploiting loopholes.

When Lu Qingchen opened his eyes, the morning bell had just struck three times.

The simple room still smelled of sweat from last night's practice. The three boys in the room had already gotten up and were quietly getting dressed.

The clear cry of a crane drifted from outside the wooden window; it was the sound of a celestial seedling, having already absorbed Qi into its body, riding the crane towards Mingfa Peak.

"Lu Qingchen, get up now! Elder Chen is going to test your knowledge of the 'Neiyuan Breathing Technique' today. If you can't answer, you'll be punished again."

The speaker was Li Si, the one who made the fastest progress among the four people in the room, but he had only reached the beginner level of Yi Jin Jing.

Lu Qingchen did not respond, but silently sat up, feeling the faint spiritual energy circulation within his body that was almost imperceptible.

The five spiritual roots are inferior.

It possesses all five elements, yet its roots and bones are short and thin; its longest wood spiritual root is only one inch and one-tenth of an inch, and its shortest fire spiritual root is only nine-tenths of an inch.

The meridians are as narrow as streams, and their resilience is ordinary—this was the judgment given by a disciple of the Qingxuan Sect using the Bagua spirit-detecting plate more than fifty days ago.

"With a aptitude of Grade D, without the right opportunity, it will be difficult to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining in this lifetime."

Today marks the fiftieth day since he entered the Qingxuan Sect's Yuxin Peak.

There are only fifty days left until the sect's hundred-day assessment.

If one cannot draw qi into the body within a hundred days and advance from the Innate Breathing Realm to the first level of Qi Refining, one will be demoted to a menial disciple—working four to six hours a day, leaving little time for cultivation, and receiving only half a spirit stone as a monthly stipend, almost cutting off one's path to immortality.

Alternatively, they may choose to leave the sect and return to the mortal world.

This is an ironclad rule established by the Qingxuan Sect over hundreds of years, intended to use the most severe pressure to extract every bit of potential from disciples in the shortest time, and to select those with truly resilient wills or those with hidden destiny.

For the sect, the meager resources consumed in these hundred days are far more worthwhile than cultivating a mediocre outer disciple.

In the Qingxuan Sect, and even in the entire cultivation world, there is a clear and rigorous ladder for cultivators to grow.

The first hurdle is the realm of embryonic breathing.

Although this realm is categorized as the beginning of cultivation, it is actually still within the realm of the "mortal body," and has four levels of barriers:

Peiyuan: Nourishing the internal organs and strengthening the body's foundation by using spiritual food and medicinal cuisine to nourish the body and lay the groundwork for subsequent cultivation.

Yi Jin: Strengthens tendons and bones, stretches tendons, and makes the body flexible and strong, able to withstand the cleansing of spiritual energy.

This hurdle demands immense willpower; the pain of stretching muscles and bones feels like tearing flesh.

Marrow cleansing: shaking the bone marrow and condensing essence and blood.

This is the most dangerous stage in the Fetal Breathing Realm, requiring the transformation of mortal bone marrow into "spiritual marrow," thereby condensing "essence blood" containing the essence of life.

Failure damages the foundation, while success brings about a complete transformation.

Fetal breathing: Using the condensed essence and blood as fuel, "refining essence into qi" to generate the first innate fetal breathing qi in the body.

This energy is pure Yang, serving as a bridge connecting the mortal body with spiritual energy.

Only by cultivating this innate fetal breath can one use it as a guide to capture the spiritual energy between heaven and earth and enter the body, refining it into one's first wisp of "spiritual power" and storing it in the dantian—this is "guiding qi into the body".

Once the Qi is successfully drawn into the body, one officially enters the first major realm of cultivation—the Qi Refining Realm.

From then on, he possessed spiritual power, enabling him to cultivate magic, use talismans, and control magical artifacts. His lifespan increased to two cycles of sixty years, truly setting him apart from ordinary people.

After Qi Refining, there are even more distant realms such as Foundation Establishment, Spiritual Mansion, and Golden Core... but for Lu Qingchen now, those are just legends in ancient books.

He hasn't even crossed the first threshold yet.

"Lu Qingchen, what are you daydreaming about?"

Wang Ming patted him on the shoulder: "Hurry up and wash up and eat. Today the cafeteria has stewed chicken with century-old Solomon's seal. If you go too late, there won't be any soup left."

Sun Han had already pushed open the door and gone out into the courtyard, where he began practicing the first form of the Yi Jin Xi Sui Zhuang Gong, "Ling He Zhan Chi" (Spreading the Wings of the Crane). His movements were stiff and his breathing was disordered.

He wasn't unhurried; quite the opposite—after practicing this set of stances, his blood and qi flowed smoothly throughout his body, and his pores opened up, allowing him to absorb 30% more of the medicinal power of the Polygonatum and Chicken Soup he would drink later.

This is a secret passed down orally among the senior disciples; every bit of it counts.

Lu Qingchen stood up, put on the gray Xianmiao robes, and paused his fingers at the lapel.

This body has no memories of its parents, nor any family ties.

He had transmigrated here. When he regained consciousness, he was already in the spirit-testing team of the Qingxuan Sect. Apart from a wooden plaque with the words "Lu Qingchen" engraved on it, he had nothing else.

The scene of the spirit test is still vivid in Lu Qingchen's mind.

The line for spirit readings was very long, mostly made up of young people from nearby villages and towns, their eyes filled with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation.

When it was Lu Qingchen's turn, he followed the immortal master's instructions and placed his hand on a dusty, round stone.

The stone lit up.

Five colors of light shone at the same time, but they were all dim and weak, like an oil lamp that was about to burn out.

"Low grade five spirit roots."

The immortal master in charge of spirit testing frowned, his tone tinged with impatience.

The threshold for Qingxuan Sect to recruit disciples has always been four spiritual roots as the minimum requirement. Even if one has five spiritual roots of superior quality, as long as one is willing to work hard, one can become a spiritual plant grower in the spiritual fields and contribute to the sect.

As for the low-grade five spiritual roots? Those are the lowest-grade mixed spiritual roots. Their efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy is less than half that of four spiritual roots. Even if they cultivate for a lifetime, they may not be able to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining. It's a pure waste of the sect's resources.

He had seen far too many mixed spiritual roots like this; nine and a half out of ten were useless.

Just as he was about to wave him away, he suddenly stopped.

He moved closer, carefully examining the faint light on the stone, then looked at Lu Qingchen, took out a piece of emerald green jade leaf from his sleeve, and placed it on Lu Qingchen's forehead.

The jade leaf glowed faintly; though the light was extremely dim, it was indeed bright.

"Aoki Spirit Body..."

The immortal master murmured to himself, "Although it is extremely faint, almost imperceptible... it is indeed true."

He looked Lu Qingchen up and down, as if he were looking at something that wasn't very valuable but that he couldn't bear to throw away.

"It has five low-grade spiritual roots, but possesses a weak green wood spiritual body and has a natural affinity for spiritual plants."

The immortal master thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll give you a chance. Come back to the sect with me. If you can draw Qi into your body within a hundred days, you can become a disciple of the Spirit Plant Peak and become a Spirit Plant Master."

"If not, go back to where you came from."

And so, Lu Qingchen, who had nothing, embarked on his journey to the Qingxuan Sect.

Of course, none of that matters anymore.

The important thing is that a full fifty days have passed.

During those fifty days, he worked harder than anyone else.

While others practiced for two hours a day, he practiced for four hours.

While others would rest after completing one round of stance training, he gritted his teeth and continued training until his hands trembled and his legs shook, refusing to stop.

He never wasted a single grain of rice from the canteen's spiritual food. Even after the three roommates had gone to sleep, he would still study the breathing techniques of "Neiyuan Tuna Shu" by moonlight until he was completely exhausted before he would close his eyes.

But the insurmountable barrier of aptitude cannot be bridged by simply working hard.

It is of the lowest grade of the Five Elements, possessing all five elements but with short and thin bones and narrow meridians like streams.

With the same spiritual food, others can absorb three parts of the spiritual energy, while he is lucky to absorb even one part.

Using the same technique, it takes others three times as long to complete one cycle of the exercise, and the results are less than half of what others achieve.

Fifty days and nights of arduous training yielded only the barely completed cultivation of vital energy, barely stepping into the threshold of Yi Jin Jing.

Yesterday, under the guidance of his senior brother who taught him the "Yi Jin Xi Sui Zhuang Gong" (Muscle/Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Exercise), he successfully practiced the Yi Jin method for the first time and felt a slight stinging sensation as a major tendon in his arm was stretched – this was his biggest achievement in the past fifty days.

"Fifty days...and we've only just begun the Yi Jin Jing (Muscle/Tendon Strengthening) technique."

As Lu Qingchen calculated in his mind, a heavy pressure choked him.

Even with the most optimistic estimates, it will take at least twenty more days to achieve minor mastery of Yi Jin Jing, and more than a month to achieve major mastery.

What follows is the perilous marrow cleansing, which, even if everything goes smoothly, will take more than twenty days.

Finally, one must focus on the initial breath and draw the energy into the body... Each step requires time, resources, and a bit of luck.

Fifty days?

At the normal pace for a low-grade Five Elemental Root, completing the Tendon and Marrow Cleansing Technique and reaching the threshold of Fetal Breathing in fifty days would be considered diligent and somewhat talented.

Want to draw qi into the body? That's nothing short of a pipe dream.

"Are we really going to accept our fate and report to the duty station in fifty days?"

This thought sent a chill down Lu Qingchen's spine.

He had seen the disciples of Zhiyi Peak, and most of them had numb expressions and lifeless eyes, as if their energy had been drained.

It was a dead end that seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance.

......