Spiritual Root Advancement

"Nine strands? My fire spirit root aptitude has increased by a strand?"

Lin Changheng was first startled, then overjoyed.

It was common knowledge that a person's spirit root was ordained by Heaven, determined the moment they were born.

This also confirmed an immutable law in this world of cultivation—

Without a spirit root, one truly cannot cultivate! And a spirit root is fixed and unchangeable!

But clearly, the existence of the Origin Cauldron had shattered this law.

Lin Changheng could continuously improve his spirit root, from an inferior root to a low-grade, then mid-grade, then high-grade root...

Even an Earth-grade spirit root! A Heaven-grade spirit root was not impossible.

When that time came, with the dual blessings of increased comprehension and spirit root enhancement, tsk tsk, Lin Changheng felt his future was bright just thinking about it.

"This growth in my spirit root must be related to the refining of the treasure seed. Could it be that each time I refine a layer of a treasure seed, I can increase my spirit root by one strand?"

Lin Changheng quickly locked onto the only change that had occurred and made a logical deduction.

Moreover, this hypothesis would not be hard to verify; as soon as the treasure seed reached the second layer, the truth would be immediately apparent.

"I wonder how much longer the treasure seed will take to finish absorbing the spirit? Could it take another thirty years?"

Even at the ninth level of Qi Refining, one only had a lifespan of one hundred and thirty years.

How many thirty-year periods can a life contain?

Lin Changheng could not afford to wait idly.

Without an instruction manual, he needed to explore step by step to uncover the uses and effects of the Origin Cauldron.

"Hoo~ ha~"

After a deep breath, Lin Changheng pressed all his longing and joy to the bottom of his heart, his expression returning to calm.

"The most urgent task now is to break through and become a ranked alchemist."

He crawled under the bed and retrieved his alchemy notes from a hidden compartment he had deliberately covered in dust; they recorded the alchemy knowledge he had accumulated over the past ten years.

By the light of a night-luminescent lamp, Lin Changheng began to study and ponder.

As the saying goes, learning without thought is labor lost, and thought without learning is perilous.

Lin Changheng practiced both learning and thinking well.

He was also struck by the complexity and difficulty of the alchemy practiced in this cultivation world.

Unlike the descriptions in the novels of his past life, the process alone included igniting the fire, heating the furnace, adding herbs, refining, liquefying, blending, tempering, condensing the pill, and retrieving the pill.

Each step had to be performed at a specific moment, requiring the alchemist to weave in pill incantations based on the specific condition of the herbs within the furnace.

Therefore, watching the furnace and tending the fire was Lin Changheng's primary task as an alchemy apprentice.

To refine a low-grade first-tier pill, one had to cast twenty to forty pill incantations for each step, totaling about three hundred in all!

Furthermore, one had to master the timing and sequence while dealing with unexpected special situations; it was truly a "systems engineering" project in the narrow sense.

Half an hour later.

Lin Changheng rubbed his sore, swollen eyes. Although exhausted, his heart was greatly comforted.

With the Heavenly Gift of Enlightenment: Omniscience from the first layer of the Origin treasure seed, many of the difficulties that had hindered his alchemy—things he could never figure out on ordinary days—were now being unraveled one by one.

"If I were to refine it again, at least I wouldn't blow up the furnace during the blending stage."

He couldn't help but look at the old cloth bundle on the table that he had brought back tucked under his arm.

He reached out, took it, and opened it, revealing two charred, ruined pills.

They couldn't even be called ruined pills, as they lacked any pill shape and were merely a paste.

He pinched them in his hand and took a sniff; besides the pungent, burnt smell of herbs, there was a faint, lingering scent of blood.

It was the essence blood of a low-tier demonic beast known as a Fire Crow.

Although it was a mixed-bloodline, it was used in the refining of several low-grade fire-type pills, such as the Crimson Flame Pill and the Scorching Breath Pellet.

At this thought, Lin Changheng was suddenly stunned.

At this moment, the Origin Cauldron, which had been standing quietly in his sea of consciousness, vibrated softly, and azure mist rose from the mouth of the cauldron.

"Could it be..."

A thought suddenly appeared in Lin Changheng's mind, and he could no longer suppress it.

He immediately attempted to connect his consciousness with the Origin Cauldron and the two ruined pills in his palm.

"Hum!"

Lin Changheng felt a flash of azure light in his mind, and he felt as if something had been stripped away from his hand.

Looking down again, the ruined pills showed no visible change, but when he brought them to his nose to sniff, the bloody scent had vanished without a trace.

And at this moment.

At the mouth of the cauldron within his sea of consciousness, the phantom of a crimson treasure seed slowly took shape.

"It is just as I thought!"

Lin Changheng was overjoyed, and with a slight mental touch, he activated it.

[Fire Crow Treasure Seed: Spirit Snatching Transformation in progress]

[Spirit Snatching: 1/100]

[Utility: Low-grade demonic beast bloodline, innately possesses fire affinity, carries innate talents: Fire Control, Breath Attack, Beak Strike. Upon successful Spirit Snatching, one may be refined into the self.]

Lin Changheng's eyes lit up instantly.

"Demonic beast essence blood truly works! Even though it is only a lowest-tier, early-stage-one beast, common as dirt within the wilderness, it can still condense into a treasure seed!"

"Moreover, the Fire Crow possesses three innate talents: Fire Control, Breath Attack, and Beak Strike! For me, the Beak Strike is naturally excluded. Compared to spitting flames, Fire Control is the most suitable for me right now! After all, alchemy is the art of controlling fire!"

"With Fire Control in hand, I have a better chance of becoming a ranked alchemist within a year. Not only can I resolve my crisis, but I can also earn spirit stones. Then, I can use those spirit stones to nourish my cultivation and collect even more types and quantities of demonic beast essence blood..."

This was a closed loop.

A unique path that could lead him, step by step, toward longevity and immortality!

Lin Changheng's eyes shone with brilliance.

"Next, I must collect as much demonic beast essence blood as possible."

"Right, spirit stones!"

He immediately rummaged through his memories and searched his room and person, finally turning up two translucent, pale-red spirit stones.

These were his entire savings from the past ten years.

Not long ago, he had paid the ten-spirit-stone annual rent for the Grade-D cave dwelling he currently occupied.

Add to that the cost of medicinal herbs for his failed alchemy attempts, the resources required for daily cultivation, and the fixed expenses for replenishing his essence blood over the years...

His only income was the apprentice stipend provided by the Xu Family.

To have two stones left over was, if anything, a sign of disciplined frugality!

"Relying solely on purchasing Fire Crow essence blood will likely not be enough; I must find another way..."

Lin Changheng's gaze swept across the simple room, finally landing on the two charred, blackened lumps on the table. His eyes flickered as a plan formed.

"Creak!"

He rose and pushed open the window; the night's rain had ceased and the clouds had dispersed.

As the night breeze blew in, Lin Changheng suddenly realized that the heavy stone that had been pressing upon his chest—

Had, at some unknown moment, transformed into the moonlight held within his palms.

Early the next morning, Lin Changheng hurried out of his home, heading toward the Xu Family Alchemy Shop.

After the previous night's rain, the bluestone pavement of the market was soaked through, shimmering with a faint light like a bronze mirror polished by the passage of time.

Drips from the eaves shattered the morning mist.

On both sides of the street, early-rising rogue cultivators squatted by the roadside, guarding their damp stalls, their hawking voices even lazier than usual.

They were all neighbors and fairly well-acquainted, so many immediately called out to Lin Changheng, inviting him to look at their wares.

"Next time, next time!"

Lin Changheng glanced at the miscellaneous items—talisman papers, spirit rice, spirit tea, books, and jade slips—then waved his hand and slipped away.

It wasn't that he didn't want these things, but his purse was shy, and the remaining spirit stones had to be spent where they would do the most good.

A cultivator's pace was quite swift, and before long, he entered a two-story shop.

"Big Brother Lin."

"Brother Lin, you're here early today."

The younger members of the Xu Family who were doing chores in the shop greeted Lin Changheng with smiles.

"Yes, you are all up early as well."

Lin Changheng responded with a smile.

There was no classic scene of a ten-year apprentice being looked down upon, provoked, or belittled.

On one hand, this was due to the upright character of the Xu Family.

On the other, Lin Changheng at least possessed a skill and could work as an apprentice, whereas they lacked the aptitude and could only handle chores like cleaning counters, selling pills, and running errands, leading them to feel more envy than anything else toward him.

Lifting the curtain and stepping into the back courtyard where the alchemy took place, A raspy, teasing voice rang out, "Heng-zi, did you blow up your furnace again last night?"