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

Lu Qingchen was met with a rebuff, but he was not annoyed. He bowed and stepped aside.

Afterwards, the three of them dispersed and walked towards the bookshelves.

Lu Qingchen walked slowly among the bookshelves on the first floor.

He read through the books one by one, including "Qingwei Breathing Technique," "Guiding Spirit Scripture," and "Five Elements Gathering Qi Technique," and each jade slip he picked up was briefly browsed.

Beside a row of jade slips containing cultivation techniques, he noticed several thin booklets, picked them up casually, and flipped through them—they were introductory readings on cultivation realms.

It reads: "Ten levels of Qi Refining, each level condenses 108 streams of pure Qi, and when all ten levels are completed, there are a total of 1080 streams of pure Qi, which is the only way to establish a foundation."

After establishing one's foundation, one can comprehend the spiritual path, enter the spiritual mansion, and even reach the golden core... Beyond that, there are only a few words: "Above the spiritual mansion, there is another world, which is not something that beginners should rush into. One will understand when the time comes."

Lu Qingchen put the booklet back, having a general idea of ​​what was going on.

Qi refining is to lay the foundation, while foundation building is to truly embark on the path to immortality. As for the spiritual mansion and golden core, they are still too far away for him. It is enough to know that they exist.

He continued to peruse the cultivation manual.

The "Qingwei Breathing Technique" is the most balanced and gentle, and it doesn't discriminate against spiritual roots, so anyone can practice it, but the progress is the slowest.

It's too much of a drag on disciples with good spiritual roots, but it's suitable for those with poor spiritual roots—after all, it won't be that fast anyway, so stability is the most important thing.

The Spirit Guiding Scripture is better than this one, as it has certain requirements for spiritual roots. Cultivation with three or more spiritual roots is more effective, and the speed of spiritual energy absorption can be 30% faster.

The "Five Elements Return to Truth Technique" is a cultivation method that incorporates all five elements. It can be practiced regardless of one's spiritual root. Different spiritual roots only need to cultivate the corresponding spiritual energy.

However, with five types of spiritual energy coexisting within the body, the requirements for controlling one's consciousness are significantly higher than those for single-attribute cultivation techniques.

The more diverse one's spiritual roots, the more spiritual energy one needs to manage simultaneously. When one is distracted, one's cultivation progress is actually not as fast as when one specializes in one area.

There are also several cultivation techniques with specific attributes nearby—such as "Li Huo Jue," "Qing Mu Gong," and "Hou Tu Jing." These techniques focus on a single attribute and are the fastest to cultivate if the spiritual root is compatible. However, if the spiritual root is not compatible and you force yourself to cultivate, you will achieve half the result with twice the effort.

He glanced through them one by one and made up his mind.

With his five spiritual roots at a low grade, he should have chosen the "Five Elements Gathering Qi Technique" as the most suitable choice, but that technique requires too much spiritual sense. As a newcomer who has just introduced Qi into his body, how could he have that ability?

The "Qingwei Breathing Technique" is reliable, but it's too slow.

The "Spirit Guiding Scripture" is more effective for those with three or more spiritual roots; for someone with only five spiritual roots, practicing it would be a waste.

Finally, his gaze settled on an inconspicuous jade slip in the corner—"The Azure Wood Spirit-Nourishing Technique".

Wood-attribute cultivation techniques require a wood-elemental spiritual root or a wood-attribute spiritual body to be practiced.

Those who cultivate this skill possess a gentle spiritual energy and a slight affinity for spiritual plants, making it suitable for spiritual plant practitioners.

He possesses a Green Wood Spirit Body, though incomplete, it is perfectly suited for practicing this technique.

He picked up the jade slip and then looked at the "Kun Yuan Zai Wu Jing" next to it—it was an earth-attribute cultivation technique that would enhance the cultivation of spiritual fields, but it was incompatible with his spiritual body.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally took the "Azure Wood Spiritual Essence Technique" into his hand.

Having chosen his cultivation method, he went up to the second floor.

The crafts section was much smaller than the first floor, with five bookshelves arranged in a row, labeled with talismans, elixirs, spiritual plants, array techniques, and beast taming.

The bookshelf with the spiritual plant was on the left, with only two shelves and a few thin booklets on it.

"Basic Introduction to Spiritual Plants", "Key Techniques for Cultivating Spiritual Fields", "Pest and Disease Control of Spiritual Herbs", "Jade Spiritual Rice Cultivation Manual"...

He chose "Basic Introduction to Spiritual Plants" and "Key Techniques for Cultivating Spiritual Fields"—these two books are the most basic and practical, covering all the core knowledge that a spiritual plant practitioner needs to master.

When they came downstairs, Li Si and Wang Ming were already waiting at the door.

Li Si held the "Spirit Guiding Scripture" and "Introduction to Array Formation" in his hands, while Wang Ming held the "Five Elements Qi Gathering Technique" and "Basic Elixir" in his hands. Both of them looked excited.

"Have you made your choice?"

The middle-aged female cultivator then raised her head, glanced at the jade slips in their hands, and wrote down: "You can copy down the cultivation techniques and skills and take them with you to study in the future."

The three responded and each took the jade slip they had chosen to the table.

The middle-aged female cultivator took out several stacks of blank books from the drawer and pushed them onto the table: "Copy them yourself."

The three of them sat down obediently and copied the text.

Lu Qingchen painstakingly copied the contents of "Qingmu Yunling Jue" and the two books on spiritual plants onto paper, taking more than half an hour to finish.

Upon exiting the library, the sunlight was so intense that it made one squint.

Wang Ming rubbed his aching wrists: "Finally done. Where to next?"

"Go to the hall corresponding to your respective skill." Li Si put the books away. "I'm going to the Hall of Array Formations."

"The Pill Hall!" Wang Ming raised his hand.

The two looked at Lu Qingchen.

"I'll naturally go to the Hall of Spirit Plants," he said.

"Alright, everyone go about your business, and meet up at the entrance of the administration building when you're done."

After Li Si finished speaking, he left first.

Wang Ming waved his hand and disappeared in a flash.

Lu Qingchen stood at the entrance of the Sutra Repository, determined the direction, and walked towards the Spirit Plant Hall.

......

The Lingzhi Hall is located on the east side of Mingfa Peak. It is a three-courtyard building with blue bricks and gray tiles. Two century-old locust trees stand in front of the gate, their branches and leaves lush and casting a dense shade.

Several rows of spirit plant pots were placed in the courtyard, planted with various spirit herbs and flowers, which were growing well and were obviously being carefully cared for.

The guard was a round-faced young man, at the fifth level of Qi Refining, wearing a dusty gray short jacket, with his trousers rolled up to his knees, and his feet covered in mud, clearly having just returned from the fields.

He was squatting by the door, fiddling with a pot of drooping spiritual herbs. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and scanned Lu Qingchen with his gaze: "New here? Want to choose a spiritual plant?"

"Yes." Lu Qingchen bowed. "Disciple Lu Qingchen has just passed the hundred-day assessment and wishes to study spiritual plant cultivation."

The round-faced youth stood up, dusted off his hands, and looked him up and down: "Do you have spiritual roots?"

"Low grade five spirit roots."

The round-faced youth frowned slightly, but didn't say anything, only nodded: "Alright, if you want to join the Spirit Plant Hall, you need to pass the assessment."

"An assessment?" Lu Qingchen was taken aback.

"right."

The round-faced youth nodded. "The path of spiritual plants isn't something you can just learn whenever you want. If you want to join the Spiritual Plant Hall, you have to pass the assessment first."

Lu Qingchen pressed further, "What will the assessment cover?"

"Farming".

The round-faced youth said simply, "The Spirit Plant Hall will allocate a plot of land for you. You can decide what you want to plant, and we'll see the harvest in three months."

"For example, if you plant low-grade Jade Spirit Rice, you need to harvest at least 200 catties per mu to be considered qualified; if you plant Azure Spirit Grass, the survival rate cannot be less than 60%."

"If the harvest meets the standard, you can join the Spirit Plant Hall and become a formal Spirit Plant grower. If the harvest does not meet the standard, you can either switch to another skill or try again next year."

He paused, then added, "The same goes for other skills. Those who need to refine pills in the Pill Hall and set up arrays in the Array Hall must pass the assessment first. The sect does not support idlers."