A cultivator's spiritual root aptitude was determined by heaven, but it could also be improved through acquired means.
Zhou Qing had already witnessed this in his second simulation.
The soul essence of Blood-Sea True Person, sealed inside the Mountain Sea Ring, had expended his own vital essence dozens of times to cleanse Zhou Qing's sinews and marrow, improving his spiritual root aptitude.
That was how Zhou Qing had managed to cultivate the Mountain Sea Art to perfection at the ninth Qi Refining layer despite having a low-grade spiritual root.
The Mountain Sea Art originated from the Ancient Mountain Sea Lineage. The Mountain Sea Sect of several hundred years ago had merely inherited a small portion of that lineage's legacy.
Thus, the Mountain Sea Art was exceptionally difficult to cultivate, but it also offered many benefits. Delaying the onset of old age was only the most basic.
Zhou Qing estimated that after each cleansing by Blood-Sea True Person's soul essence, his spiritual root aptitude would reach middle-grade, perhaps even approaching high-grade.
Unfortunately, the cleansing performed by Blood-Sea True Person's soul essence only improved his spiritual root aptitude temporarily.
In the second simulation, Zhou Qing's soul essence had cleansed him dozens of times just to maintain his spiritual root aptitude.
But the Azure Moon Pool...
According to the information Zhou Qing had gathered over the past few days, soaking in the Azure Moon Pool offered only a modest improvement in spiritual root aptitude and came with numerous restrictions.
"The methods of a Core Formation True Person truly are unfathomable..."
The methods of Core Formation True Persons truly defy comprehension...
Zhou Qing marveled inwardly.
Whether it was a substantial temporary improvement in spiritual root aptitude or a slight permanent one,
This was simply impossible at the Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment level.
But soaking in the Azure Moon Pool offers a small, permanent improvement in spiritual root aptitude, and it only works the first time. For me...
Zhou Qing considered this.
The restriction that it only worked the first time was easy to understand.
For an individual cultivator, many heavenly treasures in the cultivation world had their greatest effect upon first consumption.
Each subsequent use would offer drastically diminished effects, until they became completely useless.
Many pills were the same. Taking too many would lead to "resistance."
Yet whenever Zhou Qing finished a simulation, he inherited only the pure cultivation, realms, skills, and so forth.
None of the negative effects, whether pill toxin or resistance, carried over.
In other words, Zhou Qing could soak in the Azure Moon Pool once in every simulation.
As long as it was not within the same simulation, the Azure Moon Pool should continue to improve Zhou Qing's spiritual root aptitude every time.
Under those circumstances, Zhou Qing could keep improving his spiritual root aptitude until he attained a high-grade spiritual root.
Another restriction on the Azure Moon Pool's benefits was that it only worked on cultivators whose spiritual root aptitude fell below Earth-Grade Spiritual Root.
High-grade spiritual root... That's enough. More than enough.
Zhou Qing's mind settled somewhat. With a high-grade spiritual root paired with his Pill Toxin Bane talent, his cultivation speed would probably approach that of someone with an earth-grade spiritual root.
The Pill Toxin Bane talent allowed Zhou Qing to ignore pill toxin and take pills frequently, making his cultivation faster than that of cultivators with equivalent spiritual root aptitude.
After that,
besides continuing to study the alchemy inheritance, Zhou Qing also kept gathering information about the Azure Moon Pool.
Only two years remained until the Azure Moon Pool opened. Most cultivators in the Azure Moon Immortal City discussed it, so Zhou Qing did not need to seek out information deliberately.
He only needed to sit in an inn or restaurant occasionally to hear a wealth of information about the Azure Moon Pool.
"Each time the Azure Moon Pool opens, there are ten places available. Those ten places are auctioned off."
"During the last three openings, most of those who obtained places were Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, with a small number at the Qi Refining Stage..."
Zhou Qing looked thoughtful.
As for why there were no Core Formation True Persons...
Probably close to half of the True Persons who reached the Core Formation Stage possessed earth-grade spiritual roots.
Cultivators with high-grade spiritual roots also had a slim hope of achieving Core Formation, provided their backing was powerful enough and their fortuitous opportunities great enough.
Neither group needed to soak in the Azure Moon Pool.
As for Core Formation True Persons with middle-grade spiritual roots... They were exceedingly rare. Even if there were any, reaching the Core Formation Stage gave them access to other means of improving their spiritual root aptitude. There was no need to come to the Azure Moon Immortal City and compete with lower-level Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Spiritual root aptitude has the greatest impact on Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment cultivators. At the Core Formation Stage, its importance decreases to a certain extent.
For a Core Formation True Person to join the ranks of Nascent Soul True Lords, their accumulated foundations and other factors matter more. Even a cultivator with a heaven-grade spiritual root cannot easily cross the Nascent Soul bottleneck.
Zhou Qing thought to himself.
Heaven-grade spiritual roots were a level of spiritual root aptitude above earth-grade.
Cultivators with such talent were dazzling prodigies. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Core Formation was all but guaranteed.
Of course, cultivators with heaven-grade spiritual roots were exceedingly rare. Across the million-mile expanse of the Grand Origin Region, even several decades or a century might pass without one being born.
One day, Zhou Qing finished studying a second-tier alchemy inheritance and vaguely sensed that the skill realm of a second-tier alchemist was close at hand.
Just a little short...
Zhou Qing sighed. This feeling had emerged after his second simulation ended.
Upon finishing that simulation, Zhou Qing had inherited its skills, memories, and more, reliving nearly a century of life and deepening his understanding of the Alchemy Path.
He was only half a step away from the second-tier alchemy skill realm.
Zhou Qing realized that he could cross that half-step in a few months at the earliest, or a few years at the latest.
Then he would become a genuine second-tier alchemist.
I'll study a different skill.
Zhou Qing steadied himself and decided to study another skill inheritance to clear his head.
The art of beast taming...
A second-tier beast taming inheritance surfaced in Zhou Qing's mind.
During his second simulation, beast taming inheritances had been among Zhou Qing's main purchasing priorities.
After all, Zhou Qing had been quite tempted by that dark demonic eagle. A spirit pet with earth-grade bloodline could easily be raised to the Foundation Establishment level.
Among the hundred arts of cultivation, beast taming reigns supreme...
Whether alchemy or talismans, what skill can multiply a cultivator's combat strength several times over without any hidden dangers? Only beast taming. Commanding a single powerful spirit beast is enough...
Zhou Qing studied it carefully.
Beast taming seemed simple enough: one only needed to raise spirit pets.
But putting it into practice was immensely complicated. First, one had to make a spirit pet submit willingly from the depths of its heart, which required
extremely sophisticated beast-control secret methods.
Every beast taming inheritance had its own beast-control secret methods.
Moreover, a master beast tamer could hardly command just one spirit pet. The more spirit pets one commanded, the greater the demands in every respect.
After studying the beast taming inheritance for several days, Zhou Qing began studying the formation inheritance instead.
Among the hundred arts of cultivation, the Formation Path reigns supreme...
As Zhou Qing studied, a pained expression appeared on his face.
Formation inheritances were far more difficult to comprehend than Alchemy Path inheritances and required drawing upon the power of heaven and earth.
The power of heaven and earth was vast and boundless. Even True Persons and True Lords could not bring it under their control.
Time flowed by.
In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.