"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, Senior Brother..."
He Pingsheng rushed in like a whirlwind from outside the Alchemy Hall, crossed the courtyard, and arrived outside Hao Yun's room.
He found Hao Yun dressed in a black Daoist robe, leisurely pacing around his room.
"You... recovered?"
He Pingsheng looked astonished.
"Oh!" Hao Yun said. "I did... didn't I take that supreme-grade Golden Bone Pill you gave me?"
"Ah... I used to read in books that supreme-grade pills and high-grade pills were two entirely different things. I thought the books were just boasting!"
"Turns out it's true!"
"Golden Bone Pills come in four grades: low, mid, high, and supreme!"
Looking at He Pingsheng, Hao Yun began counting on his fingers as he explained, "With all these injuries of mine, if I didn't take any pills and relied entirely on natural recovery, it would take about four months!"
"If I swallowed a low-grade [Golden Bone Pill], that time would drop straight to two months!"
"With a mid-grade one, about a month would do!"
"With a high-grade one, half a month!"
"But you gave me a supreme-grade one. Supreme-grade pills take effect immediately!"
"In the time it took half an incense stick to burn, I recovered completely, without any side effects!"
"Amazing!"
Hao Yun nodded as he spoke, then finally looked at He Pingsheng and asked, "Right... did you find out what I asked you to look into?"
"I did!" He Pingsheng said. "I heard Boss Zhang and the others say that Linglong and the other two disciples who attacked you were all punished. They have to reflect on their wrongdoing at the Teleportation Plaza for three days!"
"Reflect for three days?"
Hao Yun shook his head. "Not bad. That punishment isn't too harsh. I had so many bones broken, and those three only have to reflect for three days. They really got off cheap!"
"Don't worry. Linglong probably won't come looking for trouble with me again over a three-day punishment!"
"Come here, sit down!"
Hao Yun beckoned to He Pingsheng.
The two sat down on opposite sides of the table.
He Pingsheng noticed a large bowl and some fruit on the table.
He thought Senior Brother Hao was going to treat him to some fruit!
"Don't touch!" Hao Yun reached out and slapped the back of his hand. "Today, I'm going to explain the principles of cultivation to you... listen carefully!"
"Do you know the different kinds of Spirit Roots?"
He Pingsheng said, "I do!"
Hao Yun asked again, "Do you know why cultivators with a single Spirit Root cultivate faster?"
This time, He Pingsheng shook his head.
Bang...
Hao Yun slammed the dark iron bowl down in front of He Pingsheng and said, "For example... the mouth of this bowl represents a person's Spirit Root!"
"This is a single Spirit Root!"
"When you cultivate, all the spiritual energy enters your body through the mouth of the bowl!"
"Can you follow that?"
He Pingsheng nodded. "Oh!"
Hao Yun then took out two crisp pears and placed them in the bowl. The two large pears filled its mouth exactly.
"Look... with these two crisp pears in here, this represents dual Spirit Roots!"
"Each pear is one Spirit Root!"
"Now look... isn't each of the two Spirit Roots much smaller than a single Spirit Root?"
He Pingsheng understood. He nodded and said, "Yes!"
The iron bowl represented a single Spirit Root!
With two pears inside the iron bowl, each pear represented the thickness of one of the dual Spirit Roots. Comparing them made it clear that the diameter of the single Spirit Root was twice as large.
Hao Yun said, "You can see it now... for example, a cultivator with wood and fire Spirit Roots can't cultivate both roots at the same time, because a person only has one set of meridians!"
"When they're circulating and refining fire spiritual energy, they can't refine wood spiritual energy. Understand?"
"So, although a cultivator with dual Spirit Roots has two roots, only one of them is useful at a time!"
"And that root is only half as thick as a single Spirit Root!"
"Its diameter is half as large, but its area is only a quarter as large, so the amount of spiritual energy passing through it during cultivation is also only a quarter!"
"That's the difference!"
"In theory, a cultivator with dual Spirit Roots cultivates at one-quarter the speed of someone with a single Spirit Root!"
"Understand now?"
He Pingsheng nodded. "I understand!"
"Good!" He Pingsheng took out the two pears and put three oranges into the large iron bowl. "Look... these are triple Spirit Roots!"
"Triple Spirit Roots are even thinner, and cultivation is even slower!"
The three oranges were taken out and replaced with four eggs.
The eggs were even smaller.
The smallest, however, were the five plums placed in the bowl together.
Those plums were smaller than the eggs.
"Take a look for yourself!" Hao Yun said. "You have a five-element Spirit Root, with five Spirit Roots... each one is barely a tenth as thick as a single Spirit Root!"
"Given the same resources and the same cultivation method, someone with a single Spirit Root only needs ten years to go from the First Layer of Qi Refining Stage to the twelfth!"
"You'd need a hundred years!"
"Tell me, how are you supposed to catch up? How are you supposed to cultivate?"
Hao Yun's analogy was very apt.
He Pingsheng had no answer.
Seen this way, cultivation really was far too unkind to those with a five-element spiritual root.
It truly felt a little hopeless!
But the next moment, the fighting spirit in He Pingsheng's heart blazed to life again. That's right... cultivation really is far too unkind to those with a five-element spiritual root, but so what?
I have the Treasure-Gathering Basin.
With that, why should I fear having poor Spirit Roots?
Thin Spirit Roots did indeed absorb spiritual energy slowly, but the spiritual energy between heaven and earth was impure and sparse. In fact, even cultivators with dual Spirit Roots could not tap the full potential of their roots, let alone those with a single Spirit Root.
What if I take pills every day?
And they're all supreme-grade pills?
Who'll cultivate faster then? That remains to be seen, doesn't it?
Hao Yun continued, "I have four Spirit Roots, and you have five... neither of us will ever reach the Foundation Establishment Realm in our lifetime!"
"Still... since you want to cultivate, I do have a rudimentary breathing and qi-guiding method here!"
"Take it and have a look, but don't get your hopes up!"
As he spoke, Hao Yun pulled out a book that looked rather old.
He set it gently on the table, then pushed it in front of He Pingsheng.
He Pingsheng's heart pounded with excitement.
The thing he had dreamed of had finally arrived.
A few words were written vertically on the book's cover: Basic Breathing and Qi-Guiding Method!
"Seven days!" Hao Yun gestured as he said, "I'll only give you seven days... you can't copy it, only memorize it!"
"I'm only letting you have a look... not telling you to cultivate it!"
"Because I wrote this down from memory back then... the contents for the first three levels might be correct, but I can't guarantee anything beyond that!"
"Probably... eighty percent of it is wrong!"
He Pingsheng's face darkened at once. Good grief... is it really that slapdash?
Still, three levels it is!
Better than nothing!
"Yes... Senior Brother... I'll take it and have a look first!"
He Pingsheng took the book, said goodbye to Hao Yun, and returned to his bedroom. Then he shut the door and began reading it carefully.
Before you continue