Implanting the Spiritual Root

Passing through the shimmering magical barrier, Su Haoming finally arrived at the center of the platform.

He looked at Lin Yu outside the barrier, saw his expectant and encouraging expression, then sat down cross-legged with some trepidation, placing the heptahedron near the position of his dantian qi sea.

Once Su Haoming closed his eyes, Lin Yu immediately activated the elemental reaction furnace.

In an instant, the gems embedded around the platform blazed with even more dazzling radiance.

Countless mana particles surged up, forming an extremely complex magic array beneath Su Haoming.

At the same time, the heptahedron in front of Su Haoming floated up and slowly drifted into his body.

Throughout the entire process, Lin Yu held the sacred scripture, watching without blinking, ready to respond to any unexpected incidents.

Fortunately, no accident occurred. Su Haoming smoothly absorbed the heptahedron, transforming it into a spiritual root within his dantian qi sea.

About an hour later, Su Haoming opened his eyes, full of vitality.

"Did it succeed?" Yun Ye, who had been waiting outside, asked nervously.

"It succeeded!" A smile spread across Su Haoming's face. He lightly raised his right hand, and instantly, specks of cyan spiritual light danced at his fingertips.

"It's actually a mutated wind spiritual root!" Lin Yu said in surprise. "I didn't expect you to have a rare wind affinity!"

Su Haoming looked smug. "A mutated spiritual root—isn't this the protagonist's treatment?"

Lin Yu shook his head. "No, the spiritual roots I create have no inherent superiority or inferiority, nor any difference in potential. What elemental spiritual root you get depends entirely on the nature of your mental energy."

"Ah..." Su Haoming's disappointment was plain to see.

Yun Ye turned to Lin Yu. "So this counts as success?"

Lin Yu nodded. "That's right. The spiritual root has been implanted in the dantian qi sea. From now on, Xiao Su has the aptitude for cultivation. He can not only directly absorb external mana but also draw and convert it from all things in the world."

"Of course, right now he's only at the first layer of Qi Nourishing. The only thing he can absorb and convert is the food he eats, and his internal mana... dharma power reserves are extremely small—enough for at most three basic spells."

Su Haoming complained, "Wasn't it mana simulating true qi? How did it become dharma power?"

Lin Yu said matter-of-factly, "Xiao Yezi and I chatted for a bit and agreed that 'dharma power' is a more fitting term."

Su Haoming twitched his mouth and turned to look at Yun Ye.

Yun Ye ignored the topic and said with a smile, "Three basic spells are already pretty good. Wind-element spells are all very powerful. Even just three wind blades would be enough to kill over a dozen armored elites!"

Lin Yu said disapprovingly, "What wind blades? I clearly wrote Shaozhe Gangfeng!"

Yun Ye twitched his mouth and said helplessly, "Fine, Shaozhe Gangfeng..."

Su Haoming was both excited and confused as he looked at the two. "What Shaozhe Gangfeng? Old Yun, where did you read that?"

"From the Taichu Qi Nourishing Chapter, of course!" Yun Ye waved the book in his hand and said irritably, "Do you know how long you sat there?"

"An hour—a whole hour!"

"With that much time, was I supposed to just sit around and wait?"

Su Haoming's eyes lit up. "You mean the Qi Nourishing Chapter has spells?!"

Yun Ye nodded with a smile. "Not only does it have them, but plenty. These basic magic—no, spells—are very special. They don't require chanting incantations like a mage. Instead, you circulate mana through specific meridians to release specific spells."

"For example, the Shaozhe Gangfeng I just mentioned is a spell on the Hand Taiyang Meridian."

"It starts from the Bingfeng acupoint, passes through Jianzhen, Xiaohai, Yanggu, Houxi, and finally exits from the Shaozhe acupoint..."

Su Haoming said excitedly, "So that's what Shaozhe means. Interesting!"

Yun Ye took a step forward. "Enough with the interesting stuff—it's my turn!"

"Oh, right!" Su Haoming quickly stepped down from the platform, found his own copy of the Qi Nourishing Chapter, and began reading with great enthusiasm.

Another hour passed, and Yun Ye also completed his spiritual root implantation.

But unlike Su Haoming, the nature of his mental energy leaned toward earth and water affinity, making him a dual earth-water spiritual root.

"Earth is the origin of all things, the root of all life; water is the blood and qi of the earth, flowing like meridians and vessels."

"Although elemental spiritual roots have no difference in potential, in practical application there's still a distinction between early and late stages. Yun Ye, your dual earth-water spiritual root counts as a minor gem in the early cultivation phase!"

Hearing Lin Yu's praise, Su Haoming, who was holding the Qi Nourishing Chapter nearby, rolled his eyes and complained, "For me, it's 'no superiority or inferiority,' but for him, it's a 'minor gem in the early phase.' Brother Lin, you're biased!"

"I'm just stating the facts!" Lin Yu shook his head, then said with a smile, "For now, the Qi Nourishing Chapter only has nine layers. According to my design, after the ninth layer, the dantian qi sea will be completely filled, and dharma power will enter a liquefied state, meeting the basic requirements for the Foundation Establishment Chapter."

"Beyond that, when the liquid mana condenses into a crystal core, that will be Core Formation."

"By then, you'll be able to use the Crystal Core to unleash the Elemental Transformation Divine Ability. Your lifespan will no longer be bound by your flesh—you'll live as long as any elemental lifeform, roaming the world in freedom!"

Elemental Transformation Divine Ability?

Su Haoming and Yun Ye exchanged a glance, both seeing the anticipation in each other's eyes.

Lin Yu smiled and said, "Of course, all of this is just my current speculation. Who knows, as you cultivate, unexpected changes might occur!"

"...Better not have any changes. Magic Power Condensation is just fine!"

Su Haoming muttered quietly.

Yun Ye nodded vigorously, signaling that the grand promise Lin Yu had painted was already tempting enough.

"One more question."

Yun Ye said seriously, "Our world doesn't have magic power. If we only rely on converting food, our cultivation speed should be very slow, right?"

Lin Yu broke into a smile. "Don't worry, I've already thought of that!"

With that, he flipped his right hand and produced a blue crystal.

Su Haoming asked curiously, "What's this?"

Yun Ye answered without hesitation, "I'm guessing a spirit stone!"

"Correct!"

Lin Yu snapped his fingers, looking at Yun Ye with appreciation. "Not bad, Little Ye. You're already keeping up with my train of thought!"

"..."

Yun Ye's mouth twitched, unsure whether to acknowledge the compliment.

Lin Yu chuckled. "Thanks to Little Su, I discovered that magic power instantly dissipates in your world. From that point on, I started working on solving this problem."

"This spirit stone contains the Internal Circulation Rune Matrix I constructed. It can reabsorb the lost magic power, achieving a delicate balance between inflow and outflow. This way, the magic power stays locked within the spirit stone, and no external force can break it."

Su Haoming raised his hand. "Then how do we absorb it?"

Lin Yu smiled. "Simple—just join its internal circulation!"

"Your Spiritual Roots serve this purpose. As long as you make physical contact and circulate your true qi through a full cycle, you can absorb the magic power by integrating into the spirit stone's internal circulation."

Yun Ye praised, "As expected of Brother Lin—truly ingenious!"

Lin Yu grinned, flipped his hand again, and produced two spirit stones, handing one to each of them.

"To maintain this internal circulation state, the spirit stones are filled with a massive amount of magic power. By Cultivation World standards, they're at least Top-grade Spirit Stones. At your current realm, one stone is enough to cultivate all the way to the liquefaction stage!"

Su Haoming and Yun Ye exchanged a look, hesitating slightly as they took the spirit stones.

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't trust me?"

"Of course not!"

Su Haoming quickly shook his head and sighed. "It's just that ever since Brother Lin joined the group, we've been the ones taking from you, while you don't need any help from us. This... we feel unworthy of it!"

Beside him, Yun Ye nodded. "I feel the same way."

Lin Yu's brow relaxed, and he shook his head with a smile. "This is where our perspectives differ!"

"To me, your existence alone is meaningful. Setting aside the rules of the world, take the magic cultivation system as an example—without your help, it would have taken me at least another decade to reach my current progress."

"Moreover, you willingly agreed to participate in the experiment, which has been a tremendous help to me."

"From this perspective, these things are simply the compensation you've earned."

"If anything, I feel like I've given too little!"