Chapter 43 – Condensing the Root of Heaven and Earth

The more Li Fan read the descriptions of the immortal Dao in the 《five spirits Qi Sensing Method》, the more he felt a chill run down his spine.

Before the Core Formation stage, things were still relatively normal: absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, borrowing the wonders of heaven and earth, glimpsing the laws of heaven and earth.

But after the Nascent Soul stage, the tone gradually became more and more unhinged.

Seizing the essence of heaven and earth, draining the marrow of heaven and earth, sacrificing the spirit of heaven and earth…

All the way to the final stage: defying the principles of heaven and earth.

Merely reading these phrases was enough to make one’s blood run cold.

The heavenly dao reigned supreme above all, nurturing the myriad things.

For cultivators to practice in such a manner was tantamount to turning against the heavens—the ultimate blasphemy.

What this represented—could cultivators truly not understand?

Yet this method of cultivation yielded progress far too quickly.

According to the book, after the Immortal Venerable transmitted the Dao, a great number of mortals who originally had no ability to cultivate rose to prominence in mere decades.

Cultivators at the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, spirit transformation, and other levels sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain.

The cultivation world flourished to such an extent that Golden Cores could be found everywhere, and Nascent Souls were as common as dogs.

Meanwhile, those cultivators who had insisted on the ancient methods—watching as their cultivation was easily surpassed by mere mortals—how many among them could hold firm and resist trying the Immortal Venerable’s techniques?

And so, the ancient methods gradually declined, replaced by the new.

A thousand years after the new methods became widespread, the cultivation world reached its zenith.

But alas, the laws of heaven are clear—what peaks must decline.

Countless cultivators plundered the resources of heaven and earth like ravenous wolves, utterly without restraint.

Even the increasingly frequent heavenly tribulations could not suppress the ever-growing number of cultivators.

And so, one day, the counterattack of the heavenly dao finally arrived.

Heaven and earth underwent cataclysmic upheaval. The Great Calamity descended.

From that point forward, immortal arts could no longer be cultivated together!

The thriving cultivation world was struck as if by a devastating blow.

Cultivators, grasping for any chance of survival, plunged into endless slaughter against one another.

For a long period, the cultivation world took on an air of desolation and decay.

It took several thousand years before things gradually recovered.

The cultivators of the present era had grown accustomed to the malice of heaven and earth.

They had learned from the lessons of the past and, upon the wasteland left by the Great Calamity, built an entirely new order of cultivation.

……

With the introduction to the origins of the current cultivation world concluded, the book then moved on to the five spirits Qi Sensing technique itself.

If a mortal who had cleared their miasma could not easily draw qi into their body, they could nurture their own five spirits, forcibly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refine it, and break through to the Qi Refining stage.

The so-called five spirits referred to the five emotions innate to every person:

Greed, fear, rage, hatred, and ego.

These five emotions lay hidden within the human heart, inexhaustible and endlessly self-renewing.

The five spirits Qi Sensing technique used these five spirits as fuel to cultivate the Root of Heaven and Earth within the dantian.

The Root of Heaven and Earth connected a cultivator’s dantian to heaven and earth itself. Once formed, the cultivator could use it to forcibly draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for their own use.

Compared to the ancient methods where everything depended on innate talent, the five spirits Qi Sensing technique’s greatest advantage was its reliability.

Those with exceptional talent could form the Root of Heaven and Earth in a single day and night, setting foot on the path of cultivation.

And even someone with absolutely no cultivation talent could, through daily persistence and the slow grind of effort, form their own Root of Heaven and Earth within ten years at most.

Having grasped the method of drawing qi into his body, Li Fan from then on spent his days in seclusion at home, rarely venturing out, cultivating the 《five spirits Qi Sensing Method》.

Even though he had already mentally prepared himself that his path of cultivation might not go so smoothly—

Day after day passed, and after a full three years, Li Fan still had not succeeded in drawing qi into his body.

Li Fan was well aware of his own cultivation talent. It was average—nothing genius-level, but by no means poor either.

The current situation clearly had another cause.

“The Xuanhuang Heart-refining Mantra… truly a double-edged sword.” Li Fan felt somewhat helpless.

The five spirits Qi Sensing technique required the five emotions as fuel to drive the formation of the Root of Heaven and Earth.

But because Li Fan cultivated the Xuanhuang Heart-refining Mantra, his reserves of these five emotions were extremely scant.

Even without deliberately activating the Heart Refining Mantra, it operated almost instinctively, automatically grinding away at the negative emotions in his mind.

It was the equivalent of cultivating with weights strapped on, which explained Li Fan’s agonizingly slow progress.

Li Fan had also tried bypassing the Root of Heaven and Earth and drawing qi into his body directly.

But he clearly lacked Xiao Heng’s kind of natural talent.

The spiritual energy outside his body completely ignored him.

Without anyone to guide him and relying entirely on his own fumbling, Li Fan truly had no confidence in how long it would take to draw qi into his body.

So Li Fan decided to stick honestly with the five spirits Qi Sensing Method to break through to the Qi Refining stage.

It was slow, yes, but its strength lay in its reliability.

And if there was one thing Li Fan never lacked, it was time.

During the first year, He Zhenghao had occasionally sent people to inquire about Li Fan’s cultivation progress.

But after Li Fan showed no improvement for an extended period, the inquiries gradually stopped.

As for Heavenly Treasure House—thanks to Li Fan and Xiao Heng’s presence, even without the Thousand Splendors Merchant Association backing them, their business operations across the surrounding islands actually improved.

Nobody wanted to offend a merchant house that might have an immortal master behind it, and everyone did their best to avoid conflict with Myriad Treasure House.

Thus, over the three years, Myriad Treasure House aggressively expanded its market share, presenting a scene of thriving prosperity.

Yin Yuzhen’s confidence surged. She rolled up her sleeves, itching to return to Nightfall Island and reclaim control of Heavenly Treasure House’s headquarters.

……

As for the affairs of the outside world, Li Fan only paid occasional attention.

The vast majority of his energy was focused on cultivating the Root of Heaven and Earth.

Unfortunately, this was something that truly could not be rushed.

By Li Fan’s estimate, barring any surprises, he would need about two more years to succeed.

Having been cooped up at home for a very long time, one day, Li Fan grew restless from too much stillness and wanted to go out for a walk.

Without alerting anyone, he changed into different clothes, put on a felt cap, and made his way to the marketplace on Glazed Glass Island.

Compared to three years ago, nothing here seemed to have changed.

The sounds of haggling, hawkers calling out to attract customers, and children playing and roughhousing rose and fell in waves.

Here, Li Fan felt a long-absent sense of “human warmth.”

The myriad thoughts in his mind surged forth like a parched sapling finally receiving nourishment.

In just this single moment, the progress on his Root of Heaven and Earth exceeded three full days of secluded cultivation at home.

Li Fan had a sudden epiphany.

For ordinary cultivators, closed-door retreat and diligent meditation were necessary, because normal people never lacked those five emotions to serve as fuel.

But Li Fan’s situation was special. The Heart Refining Mantra in his mind ran constantly, and all those stray thoughts were transformed into nourishment for strengthening his spirit.

The five spirits Qi Sensing Method was clearly of a lower grade than the Xuanhuang Heart-refining Mantra and couldn’t compete for much—it could only pick up whatever scraps were left over.

Li Fan couldn’t change this reality for now. If he wanted to accelerate the formation of the Root of Heaven and Earth, he needed to increase the number of stray thoughts generated in his mind each day.

Staying in seclusion every day was clearly the wrong approach. He needed to immerse himself in the world.

Having figured this out, Li Fan couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy.

It seemed that perhaps he wouldn’t need two years after all to step into the Qi Refining stage.

……

“Elder Li?” Just then, a somewhat familiar voice came from behind him.

Li Fan turned around. After seeing the person’s face, he paused for a moment before recalling who it was.

It was none other than someone he had met once before—Zhang Haobo, captain of the Ocean Voyager on Glazed Glass Island.