You Are Special

Why did other fellow disciples practicing the Profound Heaven Dao Arts have no problems, but when he practiced the same Profound Heaven Dao Arts, he encountered such an issue?

Wang Li was certain that he did not possess any unique spiritual roots.

In the Cultivation World, unique aptitudes of cultivators were referred to as spiritual roots.

For example, the fire spiritual root, which made practicing fire-elemental spells twice as effective from the start, or the wind spiritual root, which gave a significant advantage in practicing wind-elemental spells... These spiritual roots could be formed innately and were related to bloodline inheritance, or they could be acquired later through the use of certain spirit medicines or secret techniques.

His senior sister, Lü Shenliang, originally had an immortal spiritual root, making her exceptionally compatible with heaven and earth spiritual energy, allowing her to absorb and refine it at a much faster rate than others.

While this immortal spiritual root offered no specific bonuses for other types of spells, it allowed cultivators to progress far beyond ordinary cultivators.

Wang Li could also confirm that since he began cultivating at the Profound Heaven Sect, he had not received any enhancements from unique spirit medicines, nor had he developed any acquired spiritual roots.

Ever since he was isolated on the lone peak, he hadn't even received the normal sect-allocated spirit sand, let alone any heaven-defying spirit medicines.

If it wasn't for these reasons, then his anomalous tribulation could only be related to this lone peak and Lü Shenliang.

He had reached the lone peak when he was at the first level of Qi Refining, close to advancing to the second level. Then, during his advancement to the second level of Qi Refining, he encountered the first strange gray-robed cultivator.

He had asked Lü Shenliang about this issue very seriously and earnestly.

When she was lucid, Lü Shenliang had also answered him very seriously and earnestly.

Firstly, given his situation, he had definitely encountered an anomalous tribulation, and a particularly peculiar one at that.

Even if others' Heavenly Tribulations were strange, they only involved encountering a mutated Heavenly Tribulation with slightly different power during the normal tribulation-crossing stages. However, his tribulation seemed to be severely distorted.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would encounter such a tribulation every time he broke through a level in the Qi Refining stage, and he would encounter such a gray-robed cultivator.

Wang Li was devastated at that moment.

If this wasn't unexpected, then what was? This was incredibly unexpected.

Lü Shenliang found it amusing at the time and almost impulsively self-detonated her Golden Core again.

After calming down, Lü Shenliang spoke seriously again. Since there was no precedent, no one could know what kind of tribulation Wang Li would face after advancing from Qi Refining to the Foundation Establishment Stage. However, the only certainty was that Heavenly Tribulations always became more difficult, and future tribulations would undoubtedly be even more distorted and perverse.

Wang Li's response at the time was: "Senior Sister, life is too hard, I want to die."

Lü Shenliang excitedly replied: "That's easy, I'll self-detonate my Golden Core."

Wang Li said helplessly: "Never mind, Senior Sister, I think I can still manage. But, this really isn't something you did, right? It has nothing to do with you?"

Lü Shenliang replied: "Of course not. Perhaps you're just special?"

"How am I special?" Wang Li was almost crying with frustration. "Specially good at sleeping, specially good at eating, or specially easy to bully?"

Lü Shenliang said: "Perhaps specially stupid."

Wang Li was speechless.

He didn't admit to being specially stupid himself.

Later, he discussed it carefully many times, but no matter the circumstances, Lü Shenliang never admitted any involvement. She only very seriously told him that such matters could not be known by outsiders.

He understood that, of course.

Therefore, practicing the most orthodox immortal sect cultivation technique, yet experiencing such a mutated Heavenly Tribulation, had completely turned him into a mystery known only to himself and Lü Shenliang.

Since he was powerless to resist, he could only close his eyes and enjoy it.

To be fair, this mutated Heavenly Tribulation also brought him immense benefits.

Most cultivators lacked practical combat experience.

Only through actual combat could cultivators truly improve their ability to fight enemies. Genuine life-and-death pressure could truly ignite a cultivator's fighting spirit and potential.

Cultivators who frequently engaged in combat could usually easily defeat cultivators of the same level who lacked such experience.

However, the reality was that cultivators who frequently engaged in combat also died faster.

Because there was no room for error.

Facing evenly matched opponents, a single unexpected mistake could lead to their demise. Moreover, the Cultivation World was rife with individuals who feigned weakness to conceal their true strength. Who could guarantee that their opponent wasn't a hidden, monstrously powerful expert?

But the gray-robed cultivators Wang Li encountered were always his true equals.

Furthermore, these cultivators seemed to be veterans of countless battles. Not only were their offense and defense perfectly balanced, but they also possessed many special techniques.

Through countless tribulation crossings, he had learned a great deal from these gray-robed cultivators.

For example, how to confuse opponents and how to launch surprise attacks.

He currently had no idea what school of cultivation the gray-robed cultivator he was facing belonged to. However, the moment the gray mist began to coalesce into this gray-robed cultivator, he had already made his move.

His left hand instantly activated a gray talisman, which then transformed into a mass of gray mist identical to the one opposite him.

Chaos Primordial Form-Shaping Talisman!

A phantom talisman from the Chaos Primordial Sect.

This mass of gray mist perfectly synchronized with the movements of the gray mist opposite Wang Li. The instant Wang Li could see the appearance of the gray-robed cultivator before him, this gray mist had already transformed Wang Li into a gray-robed cultivator identical to his opponent.

The gray-robed cultivator opposite him saw a cultivator exactly like himself, as if looking into a mirror.

This gray-robed cultivator, as if possessing independent thought, was instantly taken aback.

"It really works!"

Wang Li's face lit up with joy.

This was an idea he'd had after his tribulation when advancing from Qi Refining stage Level 4 to Level 5. He'd noticed that although these gray-robed cultivators weren't true cultivators, their every move and thought process during combat in the Dao Palace seemed no different from normal cultivators. So, this time, he'd prepared such a phantom talisman with a "let's try it and see" attitude, and it had actually worked.

He was grinning widely at this moment, but under the effect of this Chaos Primordial Form-Shaping Talisman, to the gray-robed Daoist opposite him, he looked exactly the same as the gray-robed Daoist, and was also momentarily stunned.

But at the same time, a dark gold pill, completely devoid of any spiritual energy fluctuations, was shattered by his True Essence in his right palm.

Pfft!

A lightning-like dark gold sword light directly appeared in the void behind the gray-robed cultivator.

This incredibly fast dark gold sword light fiercely struck the gray-robed cultivator's back.

The Ghost Mountain Sword Orb!

This was a unique hidden weapon of the Shadow Mountain Sect, a magic tool that required extremely precise distance calculations but was triggered without any warning. Several Qi Refining stage cultivators in the Shadow Mountain Sect had mastered this magic tool to such an extent that they had even struck fear into cultivators from other Sects in the Lesser Jade Continent for a period of time.

However, this sneak attack sword light did not pierce through the gray-robed cultivator's back as Wang Li had expected.

Crack!

The instant the sword light made contact with his back, the tattered garment on the gray-robed cultivator suddenly blazed with gray light. Countless inch-long gray lights abruptly formed two gray carp, blocking the sword light.

Sandwiched by the two gray carp, the sword light, with a loud crack, froze in mid-air as if encased in ice, and then shattered.

"It actually has this kind of self-responsive garment?"

"And this isn't considered cheating under the Heavenly Dao laws?"

Wang Li's eyes bulged as he looked at the tattered garment.

The Heavenly Dao laws would not answer his questions.

Nor would this gray-robed cultivator.

Swish!

With an outburst of a chilling Vital Energy fluctuation, the gray-robed cultivator's figure instantly split into three, and a dark sword light appeared in front of each of them.

Three sword lights erupted simultaneously, tracing arcs in the air like three curved dark crescent moons, all charging towards Wang Li.