Before Ancestor Sui, Jiang Yuan held nothing back. He briefly recounted what had happened to him recently, but left out the Creation Jade Disk and simply said he had encountered another stroke of fortune.
Who among cultivators didn't have a few secrets?
So Ancestor Sui didn't press Jiang Yuan about what his opportunity had been. Instead, he grew very curious about the Breathing Method Jiang Yuan had created and began studying it closely.
"The Breathing Method? It's very interesting. By adjusting the way you breathe, you can increase the efficiency with which you absorb spiritual energy. Your cultivation method complements my Torch Method rather well."
With the cultivation of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, Ancestor Sui needed only a few glances to grasp every mystery of the Breathing Method. He praised it accordingly.
"It can't compare to the Torch Method!"
Jiang Yuan wasn't just being modest. Just moments ago, Ancestor Sui had implanted a torch seed in him—and Jiang Yuan had been stunned.
The Torch Method was too heaven-defying. It wasn't an active skill, but a passive one. As long as a torch seed was implanted within the body, there was no need to cultivate deliberately; simply breathing normally made one stronger.
In the Primordial World of this era, innate spiritual energy was abundant. Even Acquired Living Beings unconsciously absorbed a little spiritual energy as they breathed.
However, simply absorbing spiritual energy was useless. One had to find a way to refine it and retain it within the body.
That was precisely what Acquired Living Beings lacked. They could absorb spiritual energy, but they couldn't refine it.
The appearance of the torch seed undoubtedly made up for this deficiency. Plant a wisp of torch within the body, and once spiritual energy entered, the torch would refine it into nourishment for growth.
It was practically as if cultivation had become an instinct. As long as you were alive, you were cultivating. Compared to it, the Breathing Method Jiang Yuan had created truly seemed like nothing special.
Of course, that didn't mean Jiang Yuan's Breathing Method was meaningless. Quite the opposite: it was very useful, and complemented the Torch Method.
No matter how well the Torch Method refined spiritual energy, what good was it if you didn't absorb much in the first place?
The same went for the Breathing Method. No matter how much spiritual energy you absorbed, it was useless if you couldn't refine it.
The two methods working in tandem—that was the right path. Together, they could greatly improve the efficiency of cultivation and shorten the time needed to break through to the next realm.
That was exactly why Ancestor Sui praised the Breathing Method Jiang Yuan had created. Ancestor Sui had taken things from zero to one, but hadn't yet worked out how to get from one to many. Then Jiang Yuan had surprised him, paving the way forward.
The Breathing Method was the Torch Method's continuation.
In the future, the Human Race should take the Torch Method as its foundation, then follow Jiang Yuan's ideas to create more Breathing Methods.
"The Torch Method is excellent, but there's one difficult problem to solve. Right now, our people are few in number, so implanting a torch seed in each one isn't much trouble."
"But as time passes, our people will surely grow more numerous. When that happens, Ancestor Sui, you won't be able to keep up. How to implant a torch seed in every member of the race will become a major problem."
Thinking of the terrifying speed at which the people would multiply, Jiang Yuan suddenly voiced his concern.
"You truly have great wisdom. I've thought of this too, and already have a solution. But I'd still like to hear yours."
Ancestor Sui smiled, his gaze toward Jiang Yuan growing even more approving. He had many descendants, but Jiang Yuan was the first as clever as this.
"I only have a little cleverness. How could I have great wisdom? The solution I can think of is one many others could come up with too: bind the torch seed to the bloodline, then pass it down through the bloodline."
"That way, we need only implant torch seeds in all our people. Their descendants will be born with torch seeds, and won't need to have them implanted again."
Jiang Yuan truly wasn't being modest. His greatest strength was knowing his own limits; he knew exactly how much he was worth.
"Exactly. That is a solution, but it isn't enough." Ancestor Sui paused, then continued in a grave tone:
"Everyone dies, except for Sages. Not even immortals and gods are exempt."
"Our Human Race has Heavenly Immortals and Primordial Unity Golden Immortals. In the future, we'll have Daluo Golden Immortals, and even those in the Quasi-Saint Realm."
"When they die, the torch seeds within them will go out as well. That would be an enormous waste. So I connected the torch seeds to the Human Race's destiny."
"That way, whenever an immortal or god of our Human Race falls, before their torch seed goes out, the destiny of the Human Race will shatter it into countless fragments and scatter them at random into the bodies of our people, thus benefiting the generations to come."
When Ancestor Sui finished, Jiang Yuan couldn't help but shudder. So that was what Succession of the Torch, Everlasting and Unceasing meant. With Ancestor Sui's method, the Human Race would never lack prodigies again.
Could fragments of an immortal or god's torch seed really be the same as the torch seeds of ordinary cultivators? The former would undoubtedly refine spiritual energy far more efficiently than the latter—even tens of thousands of times more efficiently.
And most importantly, Ancestor Sui's method broke through the limitations of bloodline. It was entirely random, which meant ordinary people had a chance to rise above their station.
Even without a powerful bloodline, one could still rise to prominence with fragments of an immortal or god's torch seed.
Huh?
Wasn't this exactly what later generations called special physiques?
Those able to contend with God-Devil Bloodlines were often prodigies with special physiques.
Everyone knew how God-Devil Bloodlines came about: they were passed down from one's ancestors. But what about special physiques? Surely they couldn't just appear out of thin air.
Now Jiang Yuan understood. These so-called special physiques were formed from fragments of immortals' and gods' torch seeds. They merged into the bodies of ordinary members of the Human Race, becoming one powerful special physique after another.
"Ancestor Sui, you're truly a genius!"
Jiang Yuan genuinely admired Ancestor Sui now. He was a man of true wisdom.
Since ancient times, the cultivation paths of the Primordial World had all been tied to bloodlines. Even someone as powerful as Ancestral Dragon couldn't escape that.
Yet Ancestor Sui had found a different path, bypassed the limitations of bloodlines, and created special physiques.
This...
How should he put it? The last person to bypass the limitations of bloodlines had been Daoist Hongjun, the first Sage of the Primordial World, now revered as the Dao Ancestor.
Ancestor Sui's wisdom was nearly that of the Dao Ancestor!
"You're still too modest. Compared to you, my wisdom is nothing."
Ancestor Sui smiled, then suddenly turned to Jiang Yuan with a solemn expression.
The Breathing Method was good, but it was only a minor path. It wasn't what made Jiang Yuan a great talent. What truly made Ancestor Sui value him was another method he had created.
A method that allowed Acquired Living Beings to skip past innate bloodlines and True Spirit Bloodlines, and awaken God-Devil Bloodlines directly.
That was the key. Even the Dragon Race and the Demon Clan couldn't make all their descendants awaken God-Devil Bloodlines, but Jiang Yuan's method could let the Human Race do so.
What did that mean?
Even if awakening a God-Devil Bloodline didn't guarantee an Ancestral Return to an Innate God or Devil, at least it made that possibility real.
And a race whose entire population had the potential to return to being Innate Gods and Devils—its potential was obvious. It was destined to become a future overlord of the Primordial World.
That was what Jiang Yuan's method could do: give the Human Race the possibility of becoming an overlord of the Primordial World. Considering this, how could Ancestor Sui not value Jiang Yuan?
Inside the belly of the Kun Fish, Jiang Yuan had pushed his body through an endless cycle of destruction and rebirth in order to awaken a more powerful bloodline.
In the end, he got his wish and awakened an Innate God-Devil Bloodline.
Based on that experience, along with the negligible help of the Creation Jade Disk, he created a Body Refining Method that could allow others to awaken more powerful bloodlines.