"Now that I've recovered to peak condition after a night of rest, it's time to test the effects of the Ningshun Sutra!"
Zhou Xun first took a bath, then entered the Meditation Chamber.
He took out a brand-new stick of Spirit Soothing Incense, lit it, and placed it before him. Then he sat cross-legged on the cushion and gently closed his eyes.
Before long, Zhou Xun's mind settled into calm.
He slowly opened his eyes, gently lifted the lid of the jade casket, carefully picked up the Spirit Gathering Grass, and placed it in his palm.
He began circulating the incantation of the Ningshun Sutra.
"The Way of Heaven diminishes the excessive and replenishes the deficient."
As the incantation circulated, an unfathomable feeling arose. Zhou Xun's mind sank into a state of selflessness, merging with heaven, earth, and nature, as though he could control everything.
He lightly tapped the Spirit Gathering Grass with a finger, and the surrounding primordial energy was immediately drawn in, converging from all directions.
Suddenly, the Spirit Gathering Grass rose into the air. Its color became even more vivid, and a faint fluorescent glow shone from its green leaves.
As the final incantation completed its circulation, an invisible force emerged from thin air and enveloped the Spirit Gathering Grass.
Time trickled away bit by bit. The light on the Spirit Gathering Grass grew ever brighter, as though it were continuously condensing its essence.
Suddenly, a green point of light appeared above the Spirit Gathering Grass, radiating a soft glow.
Following the guidance of the Ningshun Sutra, Zhou Xun waved his hand, and the green point of light slowly drifted away, flying toward his Dantian.
In an instant, his body seemed to be enveloped by a warm current, like a mother's embrace—warm and tranquil.
At that moment, Zhou Xun felt as though his body had been cleansed, brimming with vitality and life.
At the same time, a powerful suction force suddenly arose in Zhou Xun's Dantian, and his cultivation technique began circulating on its own.
The bottleneck at the peak of the second level seemed not to exist at all. He broke through it directly.
Even more wondrously, Zhou Xun's five senses rose with a boom to an unimaginable level.
Everything around him became clear and bright.
Places that had once been too minute for him to see clearly now came into perfect view.
Even the living room beyond the Meditation Chamber's door suddenly appeared within his field of vision.
Beyond that, scents he had previously been unable to smell and sounds he had been unable to hear all became crystal clear.
"Divine sense!"
Zhou Xun was stunned by his discovery.
Under normal circumstances, only cultivators at Late-Stage Qi Condensation could develop divine sense. That was also why Late-Stage Qi Condensation cultivators were called great cultivators.
With divine sense, one could leave a divine-sense imprint within a magical artifact.
When controlling a magical artifact, it would follow like a shadow, moving as easily as one's own arm. At the same time, the spirit energy expenditure required to wield it would be much lower.
With the guidance of divine sense, a cultivator's spells could also gain a tracking effect. Compared to those at early and mid-stage Qi Condensation, their power could not be mentioned in the same breath.
The strange thing was that his divine sense could only see three zhang around him.
That was far smaller than the range of more than ten zhang possessed by Late-Stage Qi Condensation cultivators.
Still, this was enough to greatly increase his strength.
If he had a magical artifact in hand, then even against an expert at the Qi Condensation Fifth Level, he would remain as steady as a mountain.
His cultivation technique circulated on its own for half an hour before finally stopping.
Zhou Xun sensed that not only had he broken through the shackles of the second level, but his progress through the third level had already passed halfway.
"This has saved me several years of bitter cultivation!"
In terms of cultivation, he was now far beyond Dan Xiong Hai. If Dan Xiong Hai found out, who knew what a sight it would be.
"The improvement brought by using the Ningshun Sutra this time has truly exceeded all expectations!" Zhou Xun was thoroughly satisfied.
"Right, I almost forgot the Ningshun Sutra's most fundamental effect—improving Spiritual Root aptitude!"
Zhou Xun immediately circulated his cultivation technique and began refining the Spiritual Qi in the air.
After a long while, he opened his eyes.
"Compared to before, my speed of refining Spiritual Qi has increased by at least one-third!"
"I wonder what my Spiritual Qi sensitivity is now?"
Spiritual Root grades were all divided according to Spiritual Qi sensitivity.
The Spiritual Root grades of cultivators were divided into:
Mortal Spiritual Root, Inferior Spiritual Root, Medium Spiritual Root, Superior Spiritual Root, Earth Spiritual Root, and Heaven Spiritual Root.
A Spiritual Qi sensitivity of 1 to 9 points meant a Mortal Spiritual Root.
10 to 19 points meant an Inferior Spiritual Root.
20 to 39 points meant a Medium Spiritual Root.
40 to 59 points meant a Superior Spiritual Root.
60 to 79 points meant an Earth Spiritual Root.
80 points or above meant a Heaven Spiritual Root.
Ordinary cultivators possessed all five elements, and thus had Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth Spiritual Roots. As for Lightning Spiritual Roots, Ice Spiritual Roots, Wind Spiritual Roots, and the like, they were all mutations born from multiple attributes.
Of course, cultivators with mutated Spiritual Roots were relatively rare.
Yet strangely enough, every cultivator with a mutated Spiritual Root had a Spiritual Root sensitivity above 60.
Beyond that, there were also cultivators born with innate spirit bodies. For example, those with a Fire Spirit Physique were naturally suited to fire-attribute cultivation techniques. Even with a Mortal Spiritual Root, their cultivation speed could rival that of an Earth Spiritual Root cultivator.
There were also Lightning Spirit Bodies, Three Yang Physiques, Black Tortoise Physiques, and so on.
Such spirit bodies were simply too rare, even scarcer than cultivators with Heaven Spiritual Roots.
Every person with an innate spirit body was destined to become a mighty cultivator in the future.
Since there were innate spirit bodies, there were naturally acquired spirit bodies as well.
The varieties of acquired spirit bodies were even more numerous and complicated. Some had effects better than innate spirit bodies, while others were as useless as chicken ribs.
For instance, the Lightning Attracting Body, which was born to draw lightning strikes.
All of these were obtained through chance encounters and fortuitous circumstances.
Zhou Xun had dual Fire and Wood Spiritual Roots. His fire-attribute sensitivity was 11, while his wood-attribute sensitivity was 17. Even among Inferior Spiritual Roots, that was considered above average.
As for the remaining Metal, Water, and Earth attributes, their sensitivities were all below 1, so they were not included in the calculation.
Although he had no sensing stone to test his Spiritual Qi sensitivity, judging by the speed at which he refined Spiritual Qi, his current Spiritual Root should already have entered the Medium Spiritual Root grade.
At this thought, Zhou Xun could not help turning his gaze toward the other Spirit Gathering Grass.
"If I refine this Spirit Gathering Grass as well, could I directly advance to Mid-Stage Qi Condensation?"
A Mid-Stage Qi Condensation cultivator at his age would count as a genius even within the Four Great Clans.
Zhou Xun quickly abandoned that idea.
Only a few days ago, he had still been at the second level of Qi Condensation. Then, after just a few days apart, he had suddenly become an expert at Mid-Stage Qi Condensation.
Even a fool would know that he must have encountered some tremendous opportunity.
Naturally, Zhou Xun did not dare take such a risk.
"I'll keep this Spirit Gathering Grass for breaking through to Late-Stage Qi Condensation. There are plenty of spirit herbs on the market; there's no need to use such an exceptionally rare treasure!"
Besides, Zhou Xun had now broken through to the third level of Qi Condensation, meeting the standard to register for the Pill Refinement Apprentice selection.
With his Spiritual Root aptitude having improved as well, it seemed overwhelmingly likely that he would be selected.
Once he became a Pill Refinement Apprentice, coming into contact with spirit herbs would be as commonplace as eating and drinking.
Zhou Xun therefore put away the Spirit Gathering Grass.
Only then did he have the leisure to examine the Spirit Gathering Grass after its essence had been condensed.
The originally jade-green spirit plant had completely vanished, leaving behind only a small pile of grayish-white ash.
No matter who saw it, they would never recognize that this had once been the renowned Spirit Gathering Grass of the Cultivation World.
"It truly condensed every last bit of its essence!"
Zhou Xun sighed in admiration. After tidying up a little, he strode out of the Meditation Chamber.
In the days that followed, Zhou Xun spent all his time cultivating.
Time flowed swiftly, and ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
At last, the day of registration and selection for Pill Refinement Apprentices had arrived.
Before you continue