Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

Those who achieve sufficient merit will naturally be very happy, while those who perform poorly will not be in such a good mood.

When Lu Qian arrived at Zhou Tian Academy, he saw Lei Yunxing and Xiong Kaishan praising each other.

They both seemed to be in very good spirits, visibly happy, talking loudly as if no one else was around, without any restraint whatsoever.

Lei Yunxing slapped Xiong Kaishan's shoulder hard, making a loud thud. "Brother Xiong, your Thick Earth Suppressing Yuan Technique is truly as immovable as a mountain. Just standing there is like a wall. Even a thousand troops would find it difficult to break through your defenses!"

A broad smile spread across Xiong Kaishan's honest face. "Brother Lei, I think you're the real expert! Wielding lightning, you weaved through the crowd seven times, like a thunder god from the heavens! Those people who didn't even include you in the selection of the Ten Heroes of the Vast Ocean are truly blind!"

"That's not quite right!"

Lei Yunxing instinctively wanted to laugh, but quickly stopped himself, his face hardening. "However, it's true that those people are too old-fashioned and their perspectives are too outdated! They're always clinging to past standards, swarming around any Heavenly Spiritual Root like dogs seeing shit, ignoring countless hidden gems. It's truly hateful!"

Xiong Kaishan's face stiffened; he was a Heavenly Spiritual Root himself. But he quickly regained his smile. "Brother Lei is right! Those people are too conservative and stuck in their ways. If this continues, I'm afraid nothing good will come of it."

Despite Xiong Kaishan and Lei Yunxing's enthusiastic praise of each other, the others didn't bother to pay attention to them. After spending so much time together, even without much interaction, the disciples of the academy had enough to understand the personalities of these two people, so naturally they wouldn't meddle.

Lu Qian stood to the side, not bothering to greet anyone else. In any case, no one would notice him, so it was fine to remain invisible.

Not long after, Mu Xue and Mu Dong walked over together.

Mu Dong's expression was not as cheerful as before; he seemed a bit sullen. However, his aura had become stronger, indicating that he had broken through to the eighth level of Qi Refining.

Not only Mu Dong, but even Mu Xue's aura was much stronger than before. In just the past two days, she had actually broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, which is the late stage of Qi Refining.

Lu Qian was somewhat surprised and envious. If he had started cultivating from a young age, he would definitely not only be at the fourth level of Qi Refining now.

But this is something you can't envy. Birth is something that is determined from the moment you are born, and it cannot be changed.

However, Lu Qian also had some doubts in his heart. Mu Dong was alright; he was able to gain some battle merits and exchange them for some items from the battle merit list. It was not surprising that he chose to go into seclusion to break through.

Mu Xue is different. She exchanged most of her battle merits for the Mind-Clearing and Spirit-Stabilizing Powder, so she probably didn't have any more battle merits to exchange for other resources. Could it be that she received support from her family and broke through to the late stage of Qi Refining?

These things are hard to say. After all, the academy is about to open a branch in the Western Continent, and there is a competition for the sequence of candidate saints. It is normal for the family to allocate some resources to Mu Xue to help him break through his realm.

Despite his doubts, Lu Qian didn't intend to ask. He quickly stepped forward and said with a smile, "Brother Mu, long time no see! How have you been? And Mu Xue, you actually broke through! Why didn't you tell me?"

Mu Xue retorted without any politeness, "What's the point of telling you? You can't cultivate for me!"

Mu Dong looked at Mu Xue with surprise at first, as if she felt that her attitude towards Lu Qian was a little strange, but he quickly came to his senses and said, "How long has it been? It's only been a few days."

He then added with a wry smile, "Although it's only been a few days, these past few days have felt like an eternity!"

Just as the group was talking, Lei Yunxing, who was standing nearby, seemed to have just noticed what was happening. He called out from afar, "Brother Mu, Brother Lu, how have you been lately? Especially Brother Mu, I heard that you were surrounded and suddenly used the Turbid Wave Corrosion Curse, which made those surrounding you shiver with cold. Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, everyone, whether they were paying attention or not, couldn't help but chuckle, unable to suppress their amusement.

The water and fire magic of the Canglan Holy Land has always been known for its extremely high difficulty and destructive power. If it is released, it can only make the enemy shiver from the cold, and such a level is extremely rare.

Regarding Lei Yunxing's cancellation, Mu Dong simply sighed, offering no objection, and said calmly, "My skills are lacking; I apologize for making Brother Lei laugh!"

Xiong Kaishan tried to smooth things over, saying, "It's probably because of Brother Mu's earth-fire spiritual root that learning water-attribute spells is somewhat of an obstacle. If he used a water-attribute spiritual object to assist in his cultivation, it should be easier. It's probably because Brother Mu is too ambitious and doesn't want to use such a shortcut, which is why he hasn't learned the Turbid Wave Corrosion Spell yet."

"However, Brother Mu, you also need to change your mindset. Since you are cultivating water and fire magic, you will have to go through this step sooner or later. It is too difficult to succeed in cultivation without using water and fire spiritual objects. It is not something that ordinary people can do."

Hearing this, Lu Qian roughly understood what was going on.

In theory, the most suitable spiritual roots for cultivating water and fire arts are water and fire, and it is best to have both, as this makes cultivation smoother. It is precisely for this reason that Canghai Palace prefers to recruit disciples with both water and fire spiritual roots.

However, the cultivation speed of dual spiritual roots is definitely not as fast as that of earth spiritual roots and heaven spiritual roots. As long as one of the earth spiritual roots or heaven spiritual roots is either water or fire, one can also cultivate water and fire Dao techniques. However, because water and fire are opposites, when cultivating another technique that does not conform to one's own spiritual root attribute, one will naturally be affected by the spiritual root, making cultivation very difficult.

The arts of water and fire have been passed down in the Canglan Holy Land for a long time, and naturally there are various solutions to all kinds of problems.

The simplest way to resolve the issue of spiritual root influence is to use water and fire spiritual objects to balance the water and fire spiritual energies within the body. Use the coldness of water to suppress the intensity of fire, and use the heat of fire to scorch the coldness of water.

After eliminating the influence of the spiritual root as much as possible, although there are still some difficulties, it no longer affects cultivation.

The most difficult way, of course, is to rely on comprehension and magical control far beyond that of ordinary people, which can also suppress the influence of spiritual roots and successfully cultivate water and fire magic.

Mu Dong's idea was to master the Turbid Wave Corrosion Curse on his own without needing anything else. After all, even Lu Qian could do it, so there was no reason why he couldn't.

However, it's possible that his earth-fire spiritual root has a greater influence than that of ordinary fire spiritual roots, which is why he still hasn't successfully learned the Turbid Wave Corrosion Curse. That's why his spell release only made others shudder and laugh.

Not far away, Lin Guihai approached at some point. He suddenly sneered and said, "What a mediocre person! When he can't do something, he blames it on his spiritual roots and spiritual objects, never considering whether it's his own incompetence!"

Lei Yunxing flew into a rage upon hearing this, "I remember you also have a Heavenly Water Spiritual Root. You should have experienced the effects of your spiritual root when cultivating the Crimson Flame Melting Technique. Do you dare to say that you've never used water or fire spiritual objects? And that you won't use them in the future?"

Lin Guihai seemed to have been waiting for Lei Yunxing to say this, and upon hearing it, he raised his head high and said, "Of course I haven't used it!"

"As for the future, who can say for sure? At least for now, I still don't have any water or fire spirit objects to assist my cultivation."

At this point, Lin Guihai's gaze suddenly shifted to Lu Qian, "You should have also learned the Turbid Wave Corrosion Curse, right?"

Lu Qian was startled. After all, he only had three spiritual roots and did not know that the Heavenly Water Spiritual Root was so sensitive that it knew he had learned the Turbid Wave Corrosion Curse just by looking at him.

"Anyone with three spiritual roots can learn the Turbid Wave Corrosion Spell, yet you can't..."

Lin Guihai used Lu Qian as an example, glanced at Mu Dong disdainfully, and said, "Calling you mediocre is giving you too much credit."

Lu Qian had no idea how he had gotten himself involved in this, especially since Lin Guihai had used him as a benchmark for ordinary people. He didn't know whether to feel honored or angry.

After all, logically speaking, the difference between a Heavenly Spiritual Root and a Three Spiritual Roots might be greater than the difference between an emperor and a beggar.

The fact that Lin Guihai takes Lu Qian seriously and treats him as a person shows that he respects him greatly.

Lin Guihai always ignored the extra dual-spiritual-roots cultivators at Zhou Tian Academy, not even bothering to mock them, treating them like a roadside stone or a flowerpot.

Seeing Lin Guihai's harsh words and his complete disregard for him, Lei Yunxing was the first to get angry. "If you're a man, then have a fair fight with me! If I don't teach you a lesson, you'll never know your place!"

Lin Guihai then gave Lei Yunxing a proper look and said calmly, "You're two years older than me. How is it fair to fight you? Without that two-year age gap, beating you would be as easy as crushing an insect!"

Although Lin Guihai was very tough on the outside, he still didn't dare to fight Lei Yunxing. After all, thunder magic, whether at a low or high level, was known for its fierceness, explosiveness, and lightning speed.

Those who cultivate thunder magic are often powerful in combat and dominate their peers.

Moreover, Lei Yunxing cultivates the Nine Heavens Thunder Punishment, a legacy of the Xuantian Palace, making him extremely formidable in combat.

Even though he had cultivated equally powerful water and fire techniques, Lin Guihai was not confident of defeating Lei Yunxing. To be precise, he felt that his chances of winning were slim and he did not want to give Lei Yunxing the opportunity to make a name for himself by stepping on him.

Lei Yunxing did indeed frequently provoke Lin Guihai. Whether he wanted to gain fame by stepping on the Heavenly Spirit Root, or simply wanted to teach the arrogant Lin Guihai a lesson, or both, it's hard to say.

The only certainty is that Lei Yunxing truly despises Lin Guihai. Upon hearing Lin Guihai's refusals, he immediately sneered, "So arrogant, yet you're such a coward. I think you should change your name to Lin Turtle instead of Lin Guihai."

Lin Guihai remained calm and composed, dismissing Lei Yunxing's sarcasm with disdain. "You can say whatever you want! No matter what you say about me, in my heart, you're just an ordinary person."

"What's the use of being good at fighting? There will never be a place for you among the Ten Heroes of Canglan."

Upon hearing this, Lei Yunxing flew into a rage, his not-so-long hair standing on end, radiating an invisible, chilling aura that sent a chill down the spines of everyone present.

The fact that the Ten Sons of Canglan always ignored Lei Yunxing was a source of eternal pain for him. He believed that he was no weaker than others in terms of combat strength, cultivation, or talent, but the Ten Sons of Canglan always overlooked Lei Yunxing.

One of the reasons Lei Yunxing disliked Lin Guihai so much was that Lin Guihai ranked third among the Canglan Ten, and Lin Guihai never dared to respond directly to Lei Yunxing's provocations, which made Lei Yunxing even more certain that there was something wrong with the ranking of the Canglan Ten.

However, no matter how much one dislikes Lei Yunxing, he is currently just a Qi Refining disciple. It's fine for him to complain in private, but trying to change anything is nothing short of wishful thinking.

Now, Lin Guihai is using this as a reason to mock Lei Yunxing, which naturally makes Lei Yunxing very angry.