Black Little Sword, Void Spirit Root, Great Advancement in Cultivation

Returning to the outside world, Xu Yang opened his eyes and held his hands up before his face. Upon careful inspection, he discovered that his skin had turned slightly dark, with a faint black luster shimmering across it. This must be the "Iron Body" stage of the Indestructible Golden Body Art at the Qi Refining Realm.

Once this Iron Body is cultivated to great success, one becomes impervious to blades and spears, possesses immense strength, and gains a significantly increased resistance to spells, far surpassing the "Vajra Indestructible Body" of the Buddhist sects in the martial arts world. Beyond this, there are further realms such as the Copper Body, Silver Body, and Golden Body.

After observing for a while, Xu Yang lowered his arms and took out the Qiankun Bag belonging to Old Man Tianjue. Previously, he had not broken through to the Innate stage and lacked divine sense, making it impossible to refine the lingering imprint left upon it. Now that he had cultivated divine sense, he naturally intended to claim the bag as his own.

Xu Yang released his divine sense and probed into the Qiankun Bag. Before long, he erased the imprint left by Old Man Tianjue. After all, over a hundred years had passed, and the imprint had long since grown weak and fragile. Xu Yang easily branded his own divine sense into the bag.

Next, his divine sense entered a gray, desolate space. Xu Yang looked around and discovered that the space was not large, capable of holding only a single large wooden chest. There were some items placed inside, and his divine sense immediately approached these objects.

Coming into view were three jade slips, a white jade bottle, two talismans, seven or eight white stones the size of pigeon eggs, and a long sword. With a thought from Xu Yang, these items all appeared on the stone bed. He picked them up one by one to examine them, finally learning the function of these items from the jade slips.

The three jade slips included an introduction to the world of cultivation, covering magical artifacts, medicinal pills, cultivation techniques, and the status of cultivation families and sects. The other two jade slips contained cultivation techniques for the Qi Refining Realm.

The white jade bottle contained three Peiyuan Pills. However, these three pills were of high-grade quality. There are quality distinctions among the same type of pill, categorized into four levels: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade. They have a one-to-five exchange ratio between them, with top-grade pills being extremely rare and seldom traded.

The two talismans were an Ice Fire Rain and a Lesser Displacement Talisman. The Ice Fire Rain is an offensive talisman with considerable power, while the Lesser Displacement Talisman is for escaping; once activated, it immediately teleports the user a mile away, making it an excellent tool for flight.

Furthermore, those white stones the size of pigeon eggs were Spirit Stones used for cultivation. There were seven low-grade Spirit Stones in total. Spirit Stones are vital resources in the cultivation world; they can be used to accelerate cultivation, set up formations, refine pills, and so on. They also serve as the currency for transactions between cultivators; it can be said that cultivators cannot live without Spirit Stones.

The final item, the precious sword, was a mid-grade magical artifact. Magical artifacts are treasures used by Qi Refining cultivators and are divided into low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade. Among them, top-grade magical artifacts possess great power and can only be used freely by high-level experts at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

With his current cultivation at the second level of Qi Refining, Xu Yang could not use this mid-grade flying sword at all; he would need at least the third level of Qi Refining to barely activate it. As for his current second-level status, that was only because he had absorbed the True Spirit Essence Blood.

The immense power contained within the True Spirit Essence Blood would have been enough to blow him apart, but under the influence of the Indestructible Golden Body Art, the power of the essence blood was transformed into a catalyst for his cultivation. Even so, the remaining power was enough to boost him to the second level of Qi Refining.

Looking at these items before him, Xu Yang felt very excited; these were all things he desperately needed. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the jade slip introducing the cultivation world. This slip had another function: testing the spiritual roots within a cultivator's body.

Spiritual roots are the foundation of a cultivator; those without them cannot practice Qi Refining techniques. At the same time, the quality of one's spiritual roots affects their aptitude and speed of cultivation. Xu Yang naturally possessed spiritual roots, otherwise he would not have been able to cultivate divine sense, but the quality of his roots remained unknown.

Xu Yang gripped the jade slip tightly and slowly channeled his internal energy into it. The jade slip emitted a hazy light, constantly shifting between red, blue, cyan, and gold. Xu Yang watched the changes in the jade slip nervously. Suddenly, all the colors on the slip vanished, turning into a gray, misty haze.

Seeing this, Xu Yang's expression sank. He stared straight at the gray light, his eyes filled with disappointment. The result was out: Xu Yang's spiritual root was the rare Void Spirit Root. To put it plainly, this Void Spirit Root was a root without any elemental attributes.

One must know that the human body is naturally born with the five elements, and the internal organs all correspond to the five elements, so most spiritual roots have five-element attributes. Occasionally, there are mutated spiritual roots, but those are merely ice, lightning, wind, or light roots; the Void Spirit Root is far too rare.

However, this Void Spirit Root is not a superior root; it is even worse than dual-attribute roots, being only slightly better than the three-attribute "mixed" roots. The reason for this is that cultivation with a Void Spirit Root is far too slow, the demand for resources is too high, and there are no techniques suited for it.

Since the discovery of the Void Spirit Root, no one has ever broken through to the Golden Core stage; most are trapped at the Foundation Establishment Realm until their lifespan is exhausted. This was why Xu Yang felt so dejected. After a long while, he finally composed himself and accepted the reality of his Void Spirit Root.

Xu Yang pondered to himself, and suddenly his expression brightened as he thought of the Indestructible Golden Body Art. It seemed to have no requirements regarding attributes, perhaps allowing him to bypass the flaws of the Void Spirit Root. Thinking of this, he hurriedly reviewed the technique in his mind.

A moment later, Xu Yang opened his eyes, filled with excitement. It was just as he thought: the Indestructible Golden Body Art had no attribute requirements at all; the only requirement for practicing it was the True Spirit Essence Blood. With this, Xu Yang finally had a path forward.

Xu Yang's expression relaxed, and a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind. He immediately seized it, and after some contemplation, he stood up excitedly. He realized that the Indestructible Golden Body Art was a body-refining method that stood on its own, and it did not hinder him from continuing to practice Qi Refining techniques. Perhaps he could cultivate both his body and his internal energy.

As for the limitations of the Void Spirit Root, he did not believe that with a massive supply of resources, he could not reach a high level. As long as his body-refining method broke through and his strength increased, he would naturally be able to obtain vast resources, and by cultivating both, his strength would be even more formidable.

Having decided on his future path of cultivation, Xu Yang felt at ease. After eating something, he took out the jade slip containing the cultivation techniques. The two slips each recorded a different technique. One was the Lesser Clear Wind Art, a technique for cultivators with wind spiritual roots; this was what Old Man Tianjue had practiced while he was alive.

This technique was useless to Xu Yang; he could not practice it at all. However, the other, the Qi Refining Secret Record, piqued his interest because it was a non-attribute technique, with records from the first to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Of course, one should not be fooled by the grand name of the Qi Refining Secret Record; this technique was merely a basic method in the cultivation world. Almost everyone had a copy; it was a method for rogue cultivators without backing. If they had any other choice, no one would want to practice this technique.

However, Xu Yang was overjoyed. A non-attribute technique was exactly what he needed. Others had a choice, but he had absolutely none! Being able to have a technique to practice was already a blessing. Xu Yang immediately took the jade slip and began to browse through it carefully.

A moment later, he put down the jade slip and began to practice cross-legged according to the technique. Because he was already at the second level of Qi Refining, practicing the Qi Refining Secret Record was smooth and easy. He broke through barriers one after another, quickly reaching the second level. Of course, this also had much to do with the fact that the Qi Refining Secret Record was not a profound technique.

After reaching the second level, Xu Yang's speed slowed down significantly, but compared to other techniques, his cultivation speed was still a cut above. Seeing this, Xu Yang stopped the technique and let out a long breath. Through personal experience, he finally understood why other cultivators were unwilling to practice this technique.

Although this technique allowed for fast cultivation, it had a fatal flaw: the internal energy produced was too impure. Not only was its power extremely weak, but it also greatly hindered future advancement. In the long run, it would be a miracle if one didn't suffer from Qi deviation.

But this point was completely ineffective against Xu Yang. The Black Little Sword in his dantian was purifying his internal energy at every moment, perfectly resolving the flaw of this technique. At this moment, the Black Little Sword in Xu Yang's dantian was constantly inhaling and exhaling internal energy, absorbing all the impurities and leaving the energy incredibly pure.

Discovering this, Xu Yang was extremely excited, feeling that this Qi Refining Secret Record was truly perfect for him. From then on, Xu Yang began to practice with all his might. He practiced the Indestructible Golden Body Art in the morning, the Qi Refining Secret Record in the afternoon, and contemplated the mysteries of the techniques at night. With the help of pills and Spirit Stones, his progress was rapid.

Just like that, three months passed in a flash. One day, Xu Yang was sitting cross-legged on the stone bed, his aura fluctuating. Suddenly, a series of popping sounds rang out, and his skin rapidly turned a dark, cyan color.

Xu Yang opened his eyes and leaped down, arriving before a stone wall. He hammered it with a "thud, thud, thud," and the wall immediately caved in, the surface turning into powder.

Seeing this, Xu Yang smiled and said, "Very good, this Iron Body is finally at small success; it should have the power of the fourth level of Qi Refining." As he spoke, he raised his left hand and slashed diagonally, a white blade of light flying out and cutting a large gash into the stone wall. Xu Yang nodded and said, "Not bad, my internal energy has also advanced to the third level of Qi Refining. Although it doesn't match the level of my physical body, it's still quite good."

Thinking back on the past few months of cultivation, Xu Yang smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "Cultivating both body and energy is truly too resource-intensive. All my Spirit Stones and pills have been absorbed and refined. Thanks to those three high-grade Peiyuan Pills, which are ten times more effective than low-grade ones, otherwise my physical body would never have broken through. I didn't expect that body-refining would consume even more terrifying amounts of resources than Qi Refining."

Thinking of this, Xu Yang knew that he would have to scramble for cultivation resources in the future. Recalling the cruel competitive environment of the cultivation world, Xu Yang felt a chill in his heart; he could well imagine the bloodshed that awaited him.