Dual Cultivation Wager

In this Cultivation World, cultivators reigned supreme. For mortals to become cultivators, they had to possess Spiritual Roots.

Whether one possessed Spiritual Roots was decided at birth. Fewer than one in ten thousand had them; they were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

Spiritual Roots were divided into the five elemental roots of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and a cultivator's aptitude was closely tied to their Spiritual Roots.

Basically, the fewer Spiritual Roots one had, the better one's aptitude.

The vast majority of cultivators possessed low-grade aptitudes such as Five Spirit Roots or Four-element Spiritual Roots. Those with Three Spiritual Roots were already few in number, let alone Dual Spiritual Roots or single Spiritual Roots known as Heavenly Spiritual Roots.

Besides the common five elemental Spiritual Roots, there were also exceptionally rare Exotic Spiritual Roots.

Lightning, wind, ice, darkness, and the like were all formed through mutations of several five elemental Spiritual Roots.

Exotic Spiritual Roots were likewise favored by the heavens. Though their cultivation speed could not compare to Heavenly Spiritual Roots, it still surpassed Dual Spiritual Roots.

More importantly, Exotic Spiritual Roots were far more powerful than ordinary five elemental Spiritual Roots. With suitable cultivation techniques and treasures, an Exotic Spiritual Root cultivator could easily contend against several cultivators of the same realm.

Thus, in a sense, Exotic Spiritual Roots were scarcely less precious than Heavenly Spiritual Roots.

Naturally, cultivators with Exotic Spiritual Roots were also exceedingly rare. There might not even be one among a thousand cultivators.

Ning Fa happened to possess the rare Lightning Attribute Exotic Spiritual Root.

The Ning Clan had been established as a cultivator family for over six hundred years, yet it had never before produced a descendant with an Exotic Spiritual Root. There had only been a scant dozen or so with High-grade Spiritual Roots.

Therefore, when they learned that Ning Fa possessed a Lightning Spiritual Root, the entire clan was beside itself with joy.

Naturally, they regarded Ning Fa as the clan's hope and poured vast cultivation resources into supporting his cultivation.

Yet who could have known that even after the clan invested enormous resources in him, Ning Fa's cultivation speed would remain agonizingly slow?

After many years, he had only barely cultivated to the third level of Qi Condensation, unable even to break through to the Qi Condensation Mid-stage.

This cultivation speed was even inferior to that of a Pseudo Spiritual Root, utterly at odds with the aptitude rumored of Exotic Spiritual Roots.

Puzzled, the Ning Clan's higher-ups invited an expert to examine Ning Fa's body, only to receive a conclusion that left them profoundly disappointed.

Ning Fa did indeed possess a Lightning Spiritual Root, but it was not whole. It was an Incomplete Lightning Spiritual Root, which was why his cultivation speed was so slow.

Though rare, such a case was not without precedent. Several ancient records clearly documented it.

That expert also advised the Ning Clan not to waste any more effort on Ning Fa. The aptitude of an Incomplete Lightning Spiritual Root was barely better than Five Spirit Roots, and Foundation Establishment was utterly beyond hope.

At first, the Ning Clan's higher-ups still harbored hopes, but after trying quite a few more methods, they finally gave up in resignation.

The clan naturally stopped pouring resources into Ning Fa and left him to fend for himself.

Ning Fa's standing within the clan naturally plummeted, and he became a laughingstock among many clansmen. After all, Ning Fa had once been so glorious within the clan.

Such a rise and fall was difficult for Ning Fa's former self to accept.

Since he was powerless to advance through cultivation, he sought to regain his standing in the clan by becoming an alchemist.

After all, among the hundred arts of cultivation, alchemy reigned supreme. Alchemists held an exceedingly lofty status in the cultivation world.

Yet after spending several years and consuming a great many spirit stones, Ning Fa's former self had only barely entered the threshold of alchemy.

He was still quite far from meeting the requirements to become a formal alchemist, and that was with his former self possessing some talent for alchemy.

Naturally, Ning Fa's former self was unwilling to leave things at that and wanted to continue trying his hand at alchemy, but his family could no longer provide him with resources.

His parents had unfortunately fallen in the war between the Ning Clan and another Foundation Establishment Family, the Qian Family. Although the clan had granted him considerable compensation in spirit stones, they were but a drop in the bucket when used for alchemy.

After all, the expense of supporting an alchemist was simply too great, far beyond what ordinary cultivators could afford.

Asking the clan for sponsorship was even more impossible.

Although Ning Fa had some talent for alchemy, it was not outstanding. Naturally, the clan would only tilt its resources toward descendants with greater alchemy talent.

Moreover, because Ning Fa possessed an Incomplete Lightning Spiritual Root, he had wasted a great deal of the clan's resources—resources that would have been enough to raise a clansman of average Spiritual Root aptitude to the Foundation Establishment realm.

As a result, some Ning Clan elders had an extremely poor impression of him, viewing him as little more than a jinx.

Unwilling to give up, Ning Fa ultimately borrowed spirit stones from the current Fifth Elder of the clan, Ning Huarong, borrowing a total of five hundred spirit stones.

The two made a wager: if Ning Fa could become a formal clan alchemist within one year, he would not need to repay the spirit stones.

Otherwise, Ning Fa would have to attend Ning Huarong in bed for three months and become her dual cultivation cauldron.

Ning Huarong was a renowned female elder of the Ning Clan.

She possessed extraordinary talent and the rare aptitude of Dual Spiritual Roots. Before reaching twenty, she had already advanced to Late Qi Condensation.

More importantly, this woman possessed exceptional talent in combat. Few cultivators of the same realm could match her.

Previously, the Ning Clan had waged war against the nearby Qian Family. In the end, the Ning Clan achieved a sweeping victory and seized a considerable amount of Qian Family territory.

Throughout those years of brutal clan warfare, Ning Huarong shone brilliantly.

Dozens of Qian Family cultivators died at her hands. Among them were as many as seven Late Qi Condensation cultivators of her own realm. Her methods were ruthless, and the Qian Family both feared and hated her, calling her the female devil.

Later, Ning Huarong once ventured deep alone into enemy territory, drawing the personal pursuit of a Qian Family Foundation Establishment Ancestor, yet she still returned to the clan Safe and Sound.

One could well imagine the strength of her power. She was practically unmatched beneath Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Because of this, Ning Huarong held an extremely high position within the clan. At such a young age, she had risen repeatedly to become the clan's Fifth Elder.

The first four elders of the Ning Clan were all Foundation Establishment Cultivators, which also showed that she held the position of foremost person beneath Foundation Establishment within the clan.

After all, the cultivation world respected strength, not seniority, and the same was true of cultivator families.

However, Ning Huarong's personality was exceedingly perverse and strange. She acted with reckless abandon, and even fellow clansmen could be viciously tormented by her without knowing where they had offended her.

Such incidents had already occurred several times, making ordinary Ning Clan descendants fall silent as cicadas in winter whenever she was mentioned.

Thus, although she possessed a face like the moon and flowers and was a rare beauty, the clan's many descendants still avoided her as though she were snakes and scorpions.

They even followed the Qian Family's example and secretly called her the Witch.