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

Back in his room, Lu Qingchen sat cross-legged on the bed and continued his cultivation for the day.

He first circulated the "Azure Wood Spiritual Essence Technique" for one full cycle.

These past few days, I've become more and more proficient in my cultivation techniques, and my spiritual energy circulation has become smoother than at the beginning.

Then he continued to try to condense the pure energy.

When the condensation was halfway complete, a sharp pain suddenly came from the meridian, as if something was scraping against the meridian wall.

Lu Qingchen had no choice but to stop, rubbing his aching dantian with a sense of helplessness.

This is what happens when you have five spiritual roots—their meridians are narrow, their resilience is poor, and even their daily cultivation time is severely limited.

He has been cultivating for nearly two hours today. If he continues, he may really damage his foundation.

"No wonder the achievement of the five spiritual roots is so low."

Lu Qingchen gave a wry smile, finished his practice, and stood up.

Just as he was about to lie down, a thought suddenly struck him, and he realized that the Dao Stele seemed to have undergone a slight change.

He immediately focused his mind on his thoughts.

The dark stele still stands quietly, its surface covered with flowing patterns.

On one side of the monument, Chu Yunfeng's illusory figure sat cross-legged, his spiritual light was more intense than before, and his aura was significantly stronger.

Lu Qingchen stared at the illusory figure for a while, and was slightly startled—it was at the second level of Qi Refining.

Chu Yunfeng has actually broken through to the second level of Qi Refining!

Having only been in the sect for a little over four months, he's already broken through from the first to the second level of Qi Refining?

Not long ago, he passed the 100-day test, fully drawing in Qi and barely stepping into the first level of Qi Refining.

It's only been a little over a month, and they've already reached the second level of Qi Refining.

A dual-elemental root of superior quality is indeed far superior to someone with only five elemental roots like him!

After the initial surprise, I felt an indescribable sense of urgency.

While others were running forward, he was still crawling slowly in the same spot.

Without the help of the Dao Stele, I'm afraid I'd never even see a trace of him in this lifetime.

His gaze fell on the luminous bead in Chu Yunfeng's illusory dantian.

The luminous bead is now the size of a pigeon's egg, radiating a warm golden light, and is even larger than before.

He hadn't used it these past few days, and the cultivation within the light pearl was accumulating more and more.

Since it's just sitting there anyway, I might as well take it out and use it.

At least improve your cultivation level, so you don't fall too far behind.

"Use a little."

He stared at the luminous orb for a long time before finally making a decision.

It's such a waste to leave it unused.

Since accumulating cultivation points won't produce offspring, it's better to use them to do something practical.

After thinking about it, he decided to absorb a portion of it to purify his spiritual root and spiritual body.

With a thought, Lu Qingchen drew out a stream of cultivation energy from the light pearl and guided it to seep into the depths of his spiritual root.

That pure, warm current flowed slowly along the lines of the spiritual root, like warm water washing away years of accumulated grime.

He could sense that some minute impurities on the surface of his spiritual root were being peeled away little by little. Although the difference was negligible, it was indeed changing.

He then separated a wisp of his cultivation and directed it toward the incomplete Azure Wood Spirit Body.

The spirit is hidden deep within the flesh and blood, and its existence is usually imperceptible, like the faint, almost imperceptible affinity one feels for plants when farming.

As his cultivation penetrated, he vaguely felt something within his body tremble slightly, like parched land encountering a light rain. Although it only moistened the surface, it was better than nothing.

The incomplete Green Wood Spirit seemed to react slightly, like parched land receiving a light rain.

The transformation lasted for about half an hour.

The accumulated cultivation is not enough to cause a qualitative change in the spiritual root; it is still a low-grade five-elemental root—but it has indeed improved significantly.

The most direct feeling was that the dull pain in his meridians had been relieved a lot, and he was able to continue his cultivation.

The speed at which the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is absorbed has improved slightly, and the flow of spiritual energy in the meridians is also smoother.

"It works!" Lu Qingchen opened his eyes, feeling invigorated.

The changes are extremely subtle, but the direction is correct.

If you persevere, your spiritual roots will eventually catch up with those of Chu Yunfeng and Su Qingxue.

Lu Qingchen looked at the light orb—it had shrunk by more than half, but there was still quite a bit left.

After hesitating for a moment, he absorbed another portion, this time directly channeling it into his cultivation.

He previously felt that he needed to control his cultivation speed and not be too conspicuous.

However, relying solely on the current spiritual root, the cultivation speed is still too slow.

The injection won't have any impact, as long as it's done in moderation.

Moreover, improving one's spiritual root takes too long, so he needs to find a balance—neither too fast and conspicuous, nor too slow like a snail.

In addition, as your cultivation level increases, you can unlock the second binding position as soon as possible.

If you can bind two people, you'll gain double the cultivation points, and the speed of spiritual root tempering will also increase.

He closed his eyes again, channeling the remaining cultivation energy into his dantian, pouring it in strand by strand.

The spiritual energy surged in his dantian, as if it had been infused with new life, and the originally thin mist gradually became thicker.

One after another, pure energy took shape—first the fourteenth, then the fifteenth, the sixteenth…

With each additional step, the spiritual energy in the dantian becomes thicker, and the feeling of fullness in the meridians becomes stronger.

Lu Qingchen could feel his cultivation level gradually increasing.

It's not the earth-shattering breakthrough of a major realm, but rather a slow rise like a stream flowing into a pond, silent yet real.

When the pure energy reached the twentieth level, the spiritual power in the dantian finally stabilized.

The mist stopped churning and instead began to swirl slowly, like a small vortex that drew in the fresh, new air.

The stinging pain in my meridians had long since disappeared, replaced by a warm, full feeling, like I had eaten a full meal and was full of energy.

When only a tiny bit of light remained in the orb, Lu Qingchen stopped the infusion.

Looking inward at my dantian, I saw that the amount of pure qi had reached twenty strands—seven more than before!

Lu Qingchen couldn't help but grin, a surge of indescribable joy welling up inside him.

It would take more than half a month to condense seven strands of pure energy on one's own.

Now it has increased in one go, even though it is using the accumulated cultivation level, the feeling is fucking awesome!

He clenched his fist, feeling the spiritual energy in his dantian was thicker than before, and thought to himself: Twenty strands now, still far from one hundred and eight, but at least it's no longer the pitiful few strands he had when he first started.

At this rate, and with the help of the vitality of plants, it might not take more than half a year to accumulate enough.

"Alright, that's about enough."

He licked his lips, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes. "This speed is just right, not too flashy, not too slow either."

"Once I officially become a spiritual plant cultivator, my cultivation speed should be able to increase even further by utilizing the feedback from the spiritual energy of plants."

He glanced at the tiny, remaining luminous bead in the illusory dantian and made a decision.

In the future, the cultivation accumulated from the Dao Stele will be enough to reserve a small portion to deal with emergencies. The rest will be used as much as possible without any waste.

Spiritual roots need to be tempered, and cultivation needs to be improved; neither can be achieved without it.

As for how much to keep, we can only explore that gradually in the future.

Pulling himself back to reality, Lu Qingchen took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, blew out the oil lamp, and lay down.

......