The so-called Qi-Induction into the Body was the first threshold an ordinary person had to cross in order to embark on the path of cultivation.
Awakening a spiritual root merely meant that a person possessed the talent for cultivation; it did not mean they could immediately use spiritual energy.
When it came to cultivation, the system was exceptionally serious.
“The realms of cultivation, from lowest to highest, are Qi Refining—Foundation Establishment—Golden Core—Nascent Soul—Soul Formation—Great Ascension—Tribulation Transcendence.”
“Don’t underestimate these realms. Even the most basic Qi Refining stage must be treated with caution.”
“Especially the cultivation formula used in the early stages.”
“Everyone uses different cultivation formulas. Combined with differences in spiritual root quality, the speed at which spiritual energy can be absorbed will also vary.”
“I gave you the highest-grade cultivation formula. All you need to do is focus on cultivating. It won’t take long before you awaken your spiritual root and successfully draw Qi into your body.”
The system’s voice was full of enthusiasm. As it spoke, Xie Zhiyu had already followed the images in her mind and assumed the required posture.
She sat on the floor with her back straight and her legs crossed. The moment she placed both hands on her knees, the spiritual energy around her immediately seemed to have found its master, surging toward her and pouring into her body.
Boom—
There was simply too much spiritual energy. She felt warm all over.
However, she had not forgotten that she needed to draw Qi into her body today.
Xie Zhiyu closed her eyes and silently recited the cultivation formula.
The next moment, an astonishing phenomenon suddenly occurred.
A faint glow appeared in the darkness. Points of light in different colors scrambled toward her and stopped in front of her. They quietly floated in the air, seemingly waiting for her to choose.
Xie Zhiyu was stunned when she saw this.
Can’t I have all of them?
The thought had barely appeared in her mind when the different-colored points of light happily pressed themselves against her one after another.
“This is…”
Even the system was stunned by the sight.
It hurriedly flipped through the novel again, muttering as it did so.
“That’s not right. Didn’t the novel say she had an ultimate-grade Ice Spiritual Root? Why doesn’t this look like one?”
Instead, it looked more like—
A Chaos Spiritual Root capable of accommodating every attribute.
The thought flashed through its mind, and it was immediately startled.
“Is the host’s talent really this incredible?” it murmured, an inexplicable joy welling up inside it.
Oh my god! I really struck gold this time!!!
Just as Xie Zhiyu was drawing Qi into her body, thousands of miles away in Q City, Jiang Xiaoxuan was absorbing the Water Spiritual Root from the package under her parents’ nervous gazes.
The delivery box had disappeared on the very first day she received it. Even after a week had passed, the seed-like Water Spiritual Root still radiated the same gentle glow as before.
This was the seventh day since Jiang Xiaoxuan had received the package.
After going through a great deal of internal struggle, she had finally decided to absorb the Water Spiritual Root she had accidentally purchased that day.
She was both nervous and excited, but her parents looked somewhat worried.
“Xiaoxuan, are you sure you don’t want to think about it a little longer? After all, this is a product with no manufacturer, no certification, and no guarantees…”
Jiang’s mother carefully chose her words, but before she could finish, her daughter waved her hand.
“Mom, don’t worry. I feel like it should be fine.”
As she spoke, her eyes remained firmly fixed on the Water Spiritual Root on the table.
She had initially been worried that the spiritual root might be fake. However, as time passed, her desire for it had only grown stronger. By now, it had reached a point where she could barely suppress it.
Almost impatiently, she grabbed the Water Spiritual Root in front of her. Her throat moved as she swallowed, and the next moment, she ate it.
There was no violent reaction like she had imagined. The moment the spiritual root entered her mouth, it felt like she had eaten some mild, harmless food, and in the blink of an eye, she had swallowed it.
Jiang Xiaoxuan blinked, looking completely dazed.
Her mother was practically dying from nervousness.
“How is it? Say something!”
Jiang Xiaoxuan sensed her body.
“It seems… my body just feels a little warmer.”
This warmth was different from the oppressive heat of an ordinary summer. It was more like a gentle warmth spreading from the inside out. It felt incredibly comfortable.
“It feels like I just ate some divine elixir,” she exclaimed.
Before she could finish, she noticed her parents’ expressions suddenly change.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, confused.
A powerful stench suddenly assaulted her nose.
“Where is that smell coming from?”
She frowned and looked down.
The next moment, her expression changed drastically.
“Holy crap.”
When did all this black sludge appear on me?
The black sludge was practically soaking her entire body in its stench.
Jiang Xiaoxuan covered her nose, but a thought instinctively flashed through her mind.
Could this be the ‘marrow cleansing and bone purification’ described in cultivation novels?
Did I really start cultivating?
A City, Lanyuan Residential Community
Xie Zhiyu felt as though she had fallen asleep after playing with those points of light.
When she opened her eyes again, she was awakened by an awful stench.
She woke up groggily, only to discover that her entire body was covered in black sludge.
The remaining drowsiness instantly vanished. She widened her eyes and stared at the black sludge in confusion.
“Host, you’re awake,” the system’s voice came through. “You actually succeeded in drawing Qi into your body on your very first attempt! That’s incredible!”
She had successfully drawn Qi into her body?
“How did I not know?” Xie Zhiyu was utterly bewildered.
As far as she was concerned, she had merely gotten tired while playing around and fallen asleep. Yet when she woke up, the system was telling her that she had already successfully drawn Qi into her body.
But she hadn’t done anything.
Xie Zhiyu fell into deep thought.
Then again, she raised her pitch-black arm.
“Does this count as marrow cleansing and bone purification?”
She hadn’t lost her memory. She knew that her body had been perfectly clean before she fell asleep.
“Yes!” The system immediately gave her a definite answer. “Congratulations, Host! You successfully drew Qi into your body on your very first attempt and awakened your own spiritual root, successfully embarking on the path of cultivation. That’s why your body automatically expelled the impurities.”
“I awakened my spiritual root?”
Xie Zhiyu’s attention immediately shifted.
She closed her eyes and sensed her body. Although the system had never taught her how to perform internal visualization, she could more or less sense a faint glow three inches below her navel.
It wasn’t visually clear, but she could sense that its color was close to gray.
It looked rather dull, completely unlike the spiritual roots in her imagination, whose light should become brighter according to their quality.
“What kind of spiritual root is this?”
She compared her spiritual root with the various ones in the system’s shop, but she couldn’t find a single spiritual root whose color matched it.
Could the spiritual root I awakened have turned out to be defective?
Her heart began to pound.
The next moment, however, she heard the system’s answer.
“It’s a Chaos Spiritual Root!”
The system continued, “Host, don’t judge it by its appearance. It’s an extremely special spiritual root.”
It deliberately emphasized the words “extremely special.”
Xie Zhiyu immediately understood.
“How special?”
“It belongs to the most extraordinary category of spiritual roots. If it existed in a cultivation world, it would be… well… perhaps the kind that only appears once every few million years.”
“The reason it’s so special is not only because this type of spiritual root is connected to the origin of the Great Dao, but also because it can fuse with and devour every spiritual root that is different from itself.”
“Host, your talent is truly outrageous.”
“Just as expected of me! I actually chose such a talented host!”
The system was having a wonderful time praising her. It wasn’t merely praising Xie Zhiyu—it was also praising its own ability to choose hosts.
Xie Zhiyu, however, was left speechless.
“Could it be fake?” she muttered.
Since high school, she had been so unlucky that everything she did seemed to go wrong. Being praised like this today—being told that her spiritual root was incredibly powerful—was a first for her.
However, she quickly accepted it. She raised her chin and let out a soft hum, deliberately putting on an arrogant, spoiled expression.
“I knew it. There’s always a way out. Even after quitting my job, I’m still amazing.”
The system’s affirmation completely released the pent-up frustration in her heart that even she had never consciously noticed. After all this, she suddenly felt much more relaxed.
The hardships that she should have faced in the future had suddenly disappeared. While she felt relieved, she vaguely sensed something else as well.
Although most of her past experiences had not affected her on the surface, they had inevitably accumulated within her heart. If she continued cultivating while maintaining this state of mind, perhaps her cultivation would stagnate in the near future. That was something she absolutely did not want to see happen.
Unintentionally, the system had saved her once.
Thinking of this, she exhaled a breath of stale air, the corners of her lips curving upward as she sincerely thanked the system once again.
“Our system really is amazing.”
“Not really. I’m only moderately amazing.”
“Without you, there absolutely wouldn’t be the me I am today.”
“Hehe, Host, you’re pretty amazing too.”
“How could I compare to you? You’re the most amazing system in the entire universe.”
“Fine. Since you’re praising me this much, I guess I really am.”
“Then, most amazing system in the entire universe, can you help me with something?”
“What?”
“I want to give the cultivation formula to my family. Is that okay?”
“Sure.”
This time, the system was still acting shy, but it was so pleased by Xie Zhiyu’s praise that it became completely carried away. Before its brain could even process what it was doing, it had already agreed to something it probably shouldn’t have.
“…”
Wait.
At that moment, the system finally came back to its senses. It stared dumbfoundedly at Xie Zhiyu, who was smiling as though she had successfully accomplished her goal, and felt utterly devastated.
“Host, you’ve become a bad influence.”
“I haven’t. I was always this bad.” Xie Zhiyu openly admitted it. “Well, I was only going to try. I didn’t expect you to actually agree.”
“Since you agreed, you’re not allowed to go back on your word.” She continued to coax it. “If you go back on your word, then you’re not the most amazing system in the entire universe anymore!”
This childish threat was surprisingly effective.
The system immediately fell silent.
“System?” Xie Zhiyu asked cautiously.
System: …
It didn’t want to speak, so it tossed a management program over.
Thus, an unfamiliar mechanical voice sounded in Xie Zhiyu’s mind.
System (Management Program): “Dear, is there anything you need?”
Xie Zhiyu raised an eyebrow. “Where’s the system?”
System (Management Program): “You mean my master? It became depressed because of what you said. It’s currently sitting in the corner of the program, drawing circles.”
System (Management Program): “Would you like me to take a screenshot and show you?”
Xie Zhiyu: …
“No need.” She struggled to refuse this strangely tempting offer.
She then took an hour-long shower to wash off the layer of black sludge covering her body. Finally, smelling fresh and clean, she stepped out of her bedroom.
The faint sound of the television was playing in the living room. Xie Zhiyu had already sensed someone outside when she woke up. As she stepped out, she happened to encounter her father standing outside her bedroom door, hesitating over whether he should go in.
“Sweetie, you finally came out.”
Seeing her, her father breathed a sigh of relief.
“You have no idea how scared you made us. You lay on the floor for an entire week, and your whole body was glowing. We didn’t dare touch you. And the worst part was that we couldn’t wake you up no matter how much we called you. The doctor happened to be unable to come over during this period too, and your mother and I were worried sick…”
Her father rambled on, but there was actually a huge amount of information packed into his words.
“Wait, Dad.” She suddenly raised a hand, stopping him from continuing.
“You mean… I slept for a week?”
She looked at him in disbelief.
Her father nodded.
“Yes, Sweetie, you heard correctly. You really did sleep for a week. More precisely, you slept for six days and eighteen hours.”