Inside the building, Qing sat at the far end where a small elevated platform remained slightly above the rest of the floor. It was circular in shape and slightly larger than a single person, making it obvious that it had been built specifically for cultivation.
Qing looked at it for a moment before walking over and sitting down in the center, ready to begin cultivating after everything that had happened.
He sat in a lotus position and slowly closed his eyes. ’The real Cultivation begins at the Foundation Establishment stage, so...let’s aim for that. This body is so pathetic that it only reached two sub-stages in twenty whole years, sigh.’ With that thought, Qing began drawing Spiritual Energy from the surrounding atmosphere, and the moment he started, his Talent immediately took effect.
A sudden understanding appeared inside his mind, and Qing was momentarily startled by how naturally the knowledge had surfaced.
However, he quickly understood that this was simply the effect of Ultimate Comprehension, so he didn’t waste any time thinking about it and immediately began following the circulation method he had just comprehended. The Spiritual Energy he drew from the atmosphere first needed to circulate through all of his meridians before finally being gathered and refined inside his Dantian, but before he could complete even the first circulation, his eyes suddenly snapped open.
He had felt a strong resistance when trying to force the Spiritual Energy through his meridians. ’Huh? What in the hell is this?’ The question came naturally because even someone with extremely poor cultivation talent should never experience resistance like this during the basic circulation of Spiritual Energy.
Qing closed his eyes again and tried a second time, this time applying considerably more force, but the moment he attempted to push the Spiritual Energy forward, that same resistance appeared and completely prevented it from passing through.
Qing didn’t open his eyes this time.
’Let’s see what is trying to stop the process...’, he thought as he focused his attention inward and observed his own body from a spiritual perspective. He had already used this kind of spiritual self-observation before, so with his current comprehension, he quickly entered a state where he could clearly perceive the inside of his body. However, the moment he saw what was happening within him, his eyes immediately snapped open again.
"WHAT?!" Qing’s voice echoed through the empty building as his expression became filled with disbelief.
What he had seen inside his body was something he had never expected to find in a body that had been considered mediocre for twenty years. The spiritual self he observed had a total of twenty meridians, but nine of them were completely different from the others.
Among those twenty meridians, there were nine special meridians, and each one possessed a distinct colour. Blue, red, purple, black, white, yellow, brown, green, and orangeflowed through them as if each colour represented a different aspect of the world and the fundamental elements contained within it.
Qing stared at them for several seconds before the knowledge he had obtained in his previous life immediately surfaced in his mind.
He had read numerous scriptures about Spiritual Roots during his time with his Master, and those scriptures explained how Spiritual Roots determined a cultivator’s natural talent and potential.
The moment he connected what he was seeing with those scriptures, Qing immediately recognized the nine special meridians. ’Isn’t this the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots? How is this inside a trashy body like this?’ His shock remained obvious as he remembered everything he had read about this extremely rare constitution.
The Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots were an extremely rare type of Spiritual Root, said to appear only once in a quintillion cultivators in all realms.
Unlike ordinary Spiritual Roots, which usually contained only one or a few attributes, the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots contained nine different attributes within the same body, with each Root possessing its own unique property and colour. This allowed the cultivator to absorb and use different types of Spiritual Energy, giving the constitution an extraordinary level of versatility and potential.
However, the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots also had a serious drawback.
If the cultivator failed to awaken all nine Spiritual Roots at the same time and activate them together for cultivation, there was a possibility that all of the Roots would be lost.
Qing wasn’t particularly concerned about that part because he already possessed Ultimate Comprehension and had complete confidence in his ability to deal with the problem, but there was another matter that worried him far more.
If anyone discovered that he possessed the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots, he would most likely become a target for countless powerful cultivators. A constitution that appeared only once in a quintillion people was simply too valuable, and there would always be people willing to hunt him down for the sake of obtaining or controlling such a rare talent.
Qing understood that if the information spread, he could potentially be hunted for the rest of his life.
Qing remained speechless for a moment as he stared at the nine special meridians. He still couldn’t understand how a body that had been considered mediocre for twenty years could possess something this rare, but after thinking about it for a while, he eventually stopped worrying about that question.
’Hah, forget it, this must be why he wasn’t able to advance for twenty whole years.’ He remembered another drawback of the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots, which was the enormous resistance surrounding the Roots when they had yet to be awakened.
According to the scriptures he had read, awakening even a single Spiritual Root could require years of cultivation because of the resistance preventing Spiritual Energy from entering it.
For an ordinary cultivator, that kind of resistance could make the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots feel more like a curse than a blessing, especially when they had no idea how to properly deal with it. The original owner of this body had most likely been completely unaware that such a constitution existed inside him, which explained why his cultivation had progressed so slowly.
However, Qing was different. The circulation technique he had just comprehended was already enough to allow him to break through the resistance surrounding a single Root, although doing so would still require a considerable amount of Spiritual Energy and effort.
With Ultimate Comprehension, he could understand the structure of the resistance and find a way around it far faster than an ordinary cultivator ever could.
Qing’s confidence quickly returned, but another thought immediately followed. ’But there is one problem, I wouldn’t want to awaken just one Root if I have such an absurd constitution. I need to break through all of them at once, which will make my foundation the strongest under the Heaven.’
Since the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots had to be awakened together to avoid losing them, Qing naturally had no intention of taking the easier path and awakening only one of them.
Qing nodded to himself before suddenly thinking of something else. ’System, do you have some kind of point system or store like those novels?’ He waited for a response, but the System remained completely silent, giving him no indication that such a function existed. Qing stared into the empty air for a moment before sighing.
’Sigh, guess you don’t have it. If you had one, I would have bought the Spiritual Roots Awakening potion, the highest grade, of course, Heh, forget it.’ Since the System clearly didn’t possess such a function, Qing had no choice but to rely on himself. Fortunately, he already had Ultimate Comprehension, and that Talent was more than enough to give him a method of dealing with the problem.
Qing didn’t immediately try to force his Spiritual Energy through the nine special meridians again. Instead, he closed his eyes and carefully observed them through the same spiritual self-observation he had used earlier.
He knew that Ultimate Comprehension would eventually allow him to find a weakness in the resistance as long as he observed it carefully, and he didn’t need to spend years experimenting like an ordinary cultivator would have to.
Just as he expected, the weakness became clear almost instantly. ’Ah! So that’s how it is. The Spiritual Energy I’m taking in is not refined and strong like the one inside my Dantian. That means the force from outside isn’t enough, but... what if I were to break through them with the Spiritual Energy inside myself?’ Qing’s eyes lit up as he immediately understood the solution.
He quickly got to work and began drawing more Spiritual Energy from the atmosphere, but this time he directed it through the other meridians instead of the nine special ones.
These were the meridians that the original owner of the body had relied on throughout his cultivation, allowing him to reach the Late Stage of Qi Refining despite never awakening the nine Spiritual Roots. ’He might have given up on even thinking about these other nine meridians representing the Spiritual Roots directly.’ Qing thought as he continued gathering Spiritual Energy.
The process was not particularly complicated, but it still required time because Qing needed to refine a sufficient amount of Spiritual Energy inside his Dantian before attempting to break through the resistance. He continued drawing in the surrounding Spiritual Energy and carefully circulated it through the usable meridians, refining and storing it inside his Dantian while making sure none of the energy was wasted.
An hour passed quietly.
After an entire hour of cultivation, Qing finally stopped drawing in more Spiritual Energy. His Dantian was now filled with refined Spiritual Energy that was considerably stronger than the unrefined energy he had been absorbing from the atmosphere. He opened his eyes and slowly looked inward once again, confirming that everything was ready.
Qing’s expression became calm as he focused his attention on the nine special meridians. The resistance that had stopped him earlier was still there, but this time, he had prepared exactly what he needed to overcome it. ’Now, it is finally time to get to the real thing.’