Not knowing what the system was suddenly muttering to itself about, Xie Zhiyu only saw a flash of golden light before the recipe that had just been in her hand transformed into a streak of light and instantly merged into her forehead.
The next second, various materials required to refine the Body Tempering Pill appeared in her mind.
This was Xie Zhiyu’s first experience using an item from the system’s shop.
She could only say that it was indeed very convenient. She didn’t have to worry about anything being stolen—the moment she purchased something, it was directly converted and stored within her body, ready to be accessed whenever she needed it.
But she was still somewhat curious.
“System, although I know the recipe for the Body Tempering Pill now, I’m not a pill cultivator, nor do I have a Wood spiritual root suited for alchemy. Are you sure I can actually make pills?”
She raised her left hand, revealing a mass of gray energy.
This gray, unremarkable-looking substance was the outward manifestation of her spiritual root.
Although she had already successfully drawn spiritual energy into her body, when it came to cultivation, she was still a complete novice. On top of that, she had only recently awakened her spiritual root. She only knew that the system had said her spiritual root was exceptionally good, but she had no idea how exactly to use it.
The system carefully explained, “Host, you don’t need to worry. You possess a very special Chaos Spiritual Root. As the name suggests, chaos can encompass all things. Therefore, regardless of which path you choose to cultivate after reaching the Golden Core stage, it will all be the same for you.”
It proceeded to explain the relationship between spiritual roots and cultivation from beginning to end.
Simply put, different spiritual roots represented the cultivation paths that their owners were naturally suited for.
There were many different paths available in cultivation. Generally speaking, once cultivators reached the later stages, each person would choose a path they preferred to focus on.
For example, people with Fire spiritual roots were suited to food cultivation, those with Wood spiritual roots were suited to alchemy, and those with Earth spiritual roots were suited to body cultivation, and so on.
Of course, this wasn’t absolute.
It simply meant that the characteristics of one’s spiritual root determined which path one would have greater talent in later on.
But not everyone was willing to follow their innate talent down a single path.
Therefore, if someone wanted to choose another path to cultivate, that was also possible.
In a certain sense, cultivation not only tested one’s talent but one’s state of mind and fortune even more.
As long as one persevered, even if one’s progress on a particular path was slow, that didn’t mean one couldn’t eventually become an immortal.
What was truly troublesome was being foolish enough to give up halfway after choosing one’s path.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, regardless of the attribute of one’s spiritual root, one could freely experiment with different cultivation paths before reaching the Golden Core stage to see which one suited them best.
But once one reached the Golden Core stage, one had to commit to a single path. If one wanted to change paths afterward, one would have to start all over again.
Cultivators who were not firm in the path they chose had to pay a painful price.
But there were exceptions to everything.
Xie Zhiyu’s Chaos Spiritual Root was one such exception.
The system explained, “Chaos is the origin of everything. If you reach the Golden Core stage and still haven’t decided which path you want to cultivate, that’s fine too. Your Chaos Spiritual Root is completely unaffected by this rule.”
In other words, even if she continued cultivating different paths indefinitely, it wouldn’t matter. Her cultivation wouldn’t be damaged because of it.
The system continued, “Actually, it’s not just Chaos Spiritual Roots. Some other extremely special spiritual roots are similar to yours.”
This was a privilege bestowed upon certain people by the Heavenly Dao.
“However, if you really decide to cultivate everything when the time comes, even though your Chaos Spiritual Root is extremely powerful, your cultivation speed will still be reduced.”
Xie Zhiyu nodded in understanding, thinking that it made perfect sense.
Cultivating many different paths wasn’t necessarily a good thing. The quality of one’s spiritual root only determined the speed of one’s cultivation in the early stages. Ultimately, the only thing that determined one’s cultivation level was oneself.
Thinking of this, she gained a deeper understanding of cultivation.
The matter of the pill recipe had been settled, but another matter remained unresolved.
Xie Zhiyu’s gaze fell on her right hand.
The irregular silver stone was quietly resting in her palm.
A Low-grade Spirit Gathering Stone wasn’t very heavy.
Xie Zhiyu weighed it in her hand a few times and keenly sensed the energy fluctuations contained within the stone.
She turned her gaze to the right.
The Venus flytrap, which had been sprawled across the desk and entertaining itself this whole time, had somehow made its way to her right hand. Its petals were curled up, and between its stamens were two slit-like eyes. At this moment, it was staring longingly at the Spirit Gathering Stone in her hand.
Sensing her gaze, it immediately put away all its means of attack. Its tender leaves climbed onto her arm and ingratiatingly rubbed against her.
“You want it?” Xie Zhiyu raised an eyebrow.
The Venus flytrap nodded.
“Not for now.” Xie Zhiyu refused without hesitation.
But before the Venus flytrap could dejectedly droop its head, she continued, “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to give it to you at all.”
What did that mean?
The Venus flytrap, which had only just developed consciousness, couldn’t understand. It only felt its body suddenly become lighter as Xie Zhiyu picked it up.
By now, it was already dusk.
When Xie Zhiyu walked out of the study, she immediately smelled the food being cooked by Wang Yue’rong in the kitchen.
Xie’s father was sitting on the sofa looking at his phone. When he saw her carrying the Venus flytrap as though she intended to take it outside, he couldn’t help frowning.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To plant something on the rooftop.”
Still wearing her slippers, she walked up the stairwell outside their apartment and used her key to open the rooftop door.
When they had originally bought the apartment, their unit was on the top floor, and the rooftop had come with it as an additional terrace.
The rooftop had never been used before, but now it finally had a purpose.
The door creaked open.
Dust fell from above.
Xie Zhiyu quietly surveyed the layout.
The rooftop was a fairly neat square. On both sides were four plots of land that had been abandoned for a long time. The cement paving was covered in dust, making the entire place look desolate.
Xie Zhiyu waved away the dust around her and returned home to get a broom. She spent a full half hour sweeping before finally clearing away all the trash scattered across the rooftop.
Then she planted the Venus flytrap, which had been clinging stubbornly to her arm, in one of the plots.
The moment it was planted in the soil, the Venus flytrap became extremely flustered.
It twisted its petals and desperately clung to her hand, refusing to come down.
It looked just like a little puppy afraid that its owner was about to abandon it.
Xie Zhiyu’s heart softened.
She reached out and stroked its petals, conveniently rubbing some of the dirt on her hand onto it as well.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to abandon you,” she said with amusement. “I’m just letting you make your home here. I live right downstairs, and I’ll come see you every day.”
The rooftop was very close to her home. She couldn’t afford to be distracted while cultivating, and she was also worried that the Venus flytrap might cause trouble inside the house, so she could only settle it here.
Of course, she had another reason for choosing this place.
She planted the Low-grade Spirit Gathering Stone in the same plot where the Venus flytrap was staying, then covered it with soil.
This time, the Venus flytrap didn’t put up any objections.
It immediately straightened itself and began wholeheartedly absorbing the energy from the Spirit Gathering Stone.
“Let’s make a deal.” Xie Zhiyu coaxed it. “You can absorb the energy from this Spirit Gathering Stone, but you have to give me one of your petals.”
As she spoke, she planted the seeds in her hand into the soil.
These seeds had originally been purchased by Wang Yue’rong on a whim. They had ended up sitting unused for several years. Xie Zhiyu had just dug them out from a corner of the house, and she had no idea whether they could still grow.
Well, she might as well try.
Thus, she remained quite calm as she planted them.
But she never expected that an astonishing change would occur the very next second.
The seeds she had only just covered with soil, under the influence of the Spirit Gathering Stone, rapidly sprouted and grew within seconds. They shot out vines, matured, and bore fruit.
Then, one after another, the round watermelons naturally rolled down to her feet, surrounding her in a circle.
Xie Zhiyu: “……”
She stared wide-eyed in bewilderment.
After hesitating for a moment, she reached out and poked one of the watermelons with her finger.
It felt slightly cool to the touch.
“It’s actually real.”
As if she had suddenly realized something, she sucked in a sharp breath. Looking at the remaining seeds in her hand, she suddenly hesitated to plant them.
“Is this Spirit-Gathering Stone really that ridiculous?” Xie Zhiyu hurriedly summoned the system.
The system took a look and remained completely unfazed by the scene before it.
“Of course. After all, one Spirit-Gathering Stone costs 500 popularity points.”
To ordinary crop seeds, spiritual energy was equivalent to having several thousand times the effect of a growth hormone, without any side effects.
Therefore, even a small amount of spiritual energy could cause crops to grow and mature in an instant.
This made Xie Zhiyu realize something.
“Then now that there’s spiritual energy everywhere in the surrounding air, doesn’t that mean that no matter who plants crops, they’ll grow faster than before?”
“That’s right,” the system replied. “After the spiritual energy revival, ordinary seeds can mature very easily. You could probably plant some random weeds, Host, and a day later this whole place would be covered in them.”
What a painfully cold joke.
Xie Zhiyu was speechless for a moment, but she quickly noticed another problem.
She frowned. “If ordinary food is no longer in short supply, does that mean that in the future, food will be measured by how much spiritual energy it contains?”
“Wow, Host, you’re so smart!” The system’s voice suddenly became louder, filled with delight.
“That’s right. Your luck is pretty good, Host. These watermelons at your feet all contain spiritual energy. It’s just that the concentration isn’t very high—only five percent—but that’s already quite good.”
She had actually grown watermelons that naturally contained spiritual energy?
Xie Zhiyu casually placed her hand on one of the watermelons and sensed it. Sure enough, just as the system had said, there was a faint trace of energy inside.
She was instantly overjoyed.
“Those with a low spiritual-energy concentration are just right for my family to eat.”
The system had once told her that no matter how something with an excessively high spiritual-energy content was used, if the body could not withstand it, the person could end up exploding from an overload of energy.
That was also why she had purchased the recipe for the Body Tempering Pill.
The strength of one’s body likewise determined the limit of how much spiritual energy one could absorb. A spiritual root might allow someone to absorb a large amount of spiritual energy, but a strong body was what prevented the absorbed energy from dissipating.
Thinking of this, she eagerly picked up the few watermelons and was just about to turn around and head home when the Man-Eating Flower stopped her.
Its stem extended toward her. Xie Zhiyu lowered her head and took a look.
“This is… a petal? You just tore it off?” She blinked.
The Man-Eating Flower nodded and once again voluntarily offered the petal to her.
Then it retracted its stem.
Xie Zhiyu carefully examined its body.
There was a small opening where the petal had been torn off, revealing a newly grown little petal underneath.
She reached out and gently touched it before asking softly, “Will this affect you?”
The Man-Eating Flower shook its head.
The system spoke up. “Don’t worry, Host. Even if you didn’t take them, these spirit plants would naturally shed their petals at fixed intervals.”
It was similar to shedding skin. Every time a new petal grew, it would be stronger than the previous one.
That was also why the Man-Eating Flower had offered the petal so readily.
Xie Zhiyu relaxed.
She softly thanked it, then finally returned home with her arms full.
Her father was still sitting on the sofa.
Hearing the noise at the door, he raised his head. When he saw Xie Zhiyu struggling to walk, he was slightly stunned before asking in confusion,
“You… went off to be a bandit or something?”