Power and Inheritance

"It's not so much that our five major sects find it difficult to find suitable candidates, but rather that since the ancient primordial times, the matter of inheritance has been a headache for us. Powerful Immortal Techniques must have powerful underlying reasons. I've already told you about the different types of Spirit Roots." The Gray-Robed Old Man said to Li Yan with a wry smile.

After hearing this, Li Yan thought for a moment and said, "Mixed Spirit Root, Mystic Spirit Root, Earth Spirit Root, Heaven Spirit Root, Saint Spirit Root, and Exotic Spirit Root."

The Gray-Robed Old Man nodded and said, "Yes, those are the ones. But those are just for other sects. Our predecessors, who created these five ancient sects, require those who can learn these Immortal Techniques to be different from other sects. This is precisely why our cultivation methods are so powerful."

Hearing this, Li Yan nodded. Although he was young, he understood the principle that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Good things must have fundamental requirements. However, he didn't say much and just waited for the old man to continue.

The old man glanced at him and continued, "You should be able to guess from the names of these five sects that we each possess the most sensitive attribute among the Five Elements."

Li Yan nodded. It wasn't hard to guess. He said, "Like the Yi Wood Immortal Sect, I imagine its Immortal Techniques are created for the wood attribute element, so it's best for those with a good wood spiritual Qi physique to cultivate. The Ding Fire Immortal Sect must be mainly focused on fire attribute Immortal Techniques, and more people with sensitive fire spiritual Qi cultivate there. As for your Gui Water Immortal Sect, naturally those with a water attribute physique are better suited."

The old man sighed and said, "You've only guessed part of it correctly. The Immortal Techniques cultivated by our five sects do correspond to the strongest attribute of the Five Elements that we sense, but we are different from all other sects. We don't need a Saint Spirit Root, but rather someone who possesses all Five Elements simultaneously to cultivate."

At this point, the old man paused and looked at Li Yan. He saw that Li Yan only had a blank expression but didn't ask any questions. Instead, he frowned and pondered, seemingly considering what he had just said. He couldn't help but praise inwardly, "This child is steady and thoughtful."

Li Yan was indeed thinking about the meaning of the old man's words. What the old man said meant that these five ancient sects needed someone who could simultaneously sense the basic Five Elements of heaven and earth. But this kind of physique should be the Mixed Spirit Root that the Cultivation World looks down upon the most. Leaving aside why they needed this Mixed Spirit Root that other sects didn't want, it should be related to the cultivation of the Five Immortal Sects' Immortal Techniques. But it shouldn't be too difficult to find. According to the old man's previous description, although the Immortal Spirit World has a smaller population, there should still be some according to probability. Moreover, later Immortal Spirit World cultivators came to the Mortal Realm to establish inheritances, which further increased the probability of finding one. But why did the old man say that inheritance was the most troublesome thing for their five sects?

"This is the biggest secret of our five ancient sects. Although we need someone with a Mixed Spirit Root physique, it's not an ordinary Mixed Spirit Root. A Mixed Spirit Root, of course, is someone who has a sense of the gold, wood, water, fire, and earth elements in their body. We not only need this person to possess these Five Elements, but these Five Elements must be arranged in order of strength according to the law of mutual generation. The law of mutual generation of the Five Elements is 'Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, and Metal generates Water, thus cycling endlessly.' Then the Five Elements in the cultivator's body must also be arranged in order of strength according to the mutual generation of the Five Elements, such as the 'Xin Metal Immortal Sect.' They are based on 'Metal,' so the arrangement of the Five Elements in the cultivator's body must be 'Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth.' The strongest sense of heaven and earth spiritual Qi should be 'Metal,' followed by 'Water,' and then 'Wood, Fire, Earth.' If the latter item senses stronger than the former, then they cannot cultivate the Immortal Techniques of the 'Xin Metal Immortal Sect.' Similarly, the order in which we 'Gui Water Immortal Sect' sense heaven and earth spiritual Qi is 'Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal,' and the strength also decreases in turn. Only in this way can we cultivate the Immortal Techniques of this sect."

After hearing these words, Li Yan already understood the meaning of the Gray-Robed Old Man's words. An ordinary cultivator, just in this Mortal Realm, might find one in 100,000 people. No matter what kind of Spirit Root it is, it's considered extremely low. And if you were to screen out Mixed Spirit Roots from this extremely low probability group, it's unknown whether you could find one in a million people. And finally, you would have to find someone with a constitution formed by the law of mutual generation of the Five Elements in this group of people who appear almost like sifting sand. The probability is self-evident.

He had also simply learned this kind of arithmetic. According to this order of arrangement, it would be a blessing from heaven if one person could be found in billions of people. He thought that even the Immortal Spirit World wouldn't be much better. He really didn't know how they had passed down their inheritance.

The old man saw the expression on Li Yan's face that he already knew, sighed, and said, "Therefore, each generation of our five sects has to spend a lot of effort to find the next generation of inheritors. Each generation is basically a single line or a few people at most. On the one hand, you have to cultivate the Great Dao. The time spent on cultivation is less at the beginning, but later it's all in units of decades or centuries. A single closed-door cultivation for us is just a blink of an eye.

Therefore, apart from cultivation time, the time spent searching for suitable inheritors can only be concentrated in a certain period of time. In this way, our outings are intermittent, and naturally there is little contact in the eyes of the world. As for why we don't widely open the Immortal Sect to recruit disciples, this method was used in ancient times, but it had little effect. It's better for us to go out and scan low-level cultivators with our Divine Sense. So this special Mixed Spirit Root physique is exactly the problem that is difficult for us to solve."

Hearing this, Li Yan's expression couldn't help but stagnate, as if he had remembered something. The old man noticed his expression at a glance, as if he knew what he was thinking, and smiled at him, "That teacher of yours is not from my sect. What he said about the 'Wood Shadow Gate' also needing a special physique to cultivate is actually just to hide the search for people with Spirit Roots. He wants others to think that it's just a special condition for recruiting disciples from a hidden Jianghu sect."

Li Yan was silent, and he had already begun to feel suspicious of his teacher. If it was before accepting him as a disciple, in order to hide the existence of Spirit Roots in front of the world, that could still be justified. After all, cultivators are too shocking to ordinary mortals. But since he had already joined his sect, continuing to hide it could be said to be ulterior motives.

The old man naturally knew what Li Yan was thinking at this moment, and sighed to him, "Although Military Advisor Ji's Mana is insignificant in the eyes of most cultivators, this person is indeed a hero. We'll talk about his affairs later."

Li Yan nodded, knowing that the old man had other things to say.

"Our five sects rarely show up in front of the world. First, there are few people, unlike other Immortal Sects that can basically recruit anyone with Spirit Roots. Second, the Cultivation World is a jungle where the strong prey on the weak. If you don't have strong strength, being alone outside, being killed by others to seize treasures, and dying in unnecessary fights are all too common. Therefore, the people from our five sects who go out to find inheritors must cultivate to the point where they can protect themselves. Generally, they must reach at least the Spirit Transformation Stage. If their Mana is too weak to go out, the probability of falling is very high. Our five sects can't afford to encounter this kind of thing. The population is already too sparse.

With the disciples of the five sects so difficult to find, they naturally began to decline slowly with the changes of the sea. By the time of my era, our five sects began to come out to find people to inherit the sect from the Spirit Transformation Stage. Fortunately, the Immortal Techniques we cultivate are powerful, and it's difficult to meet opponents of other sects of the same realm. Killing them is like killing chickens and dogs. Even if we face three or five people of the same realm at the same time, we can still win. Even if we face an enemy who is one major realm higher than us, it's not impossible to kill them." Speaking of this, the Gray-Robed Old Man's face showed a proud look, and a domineering aura was hidden in his haggard face, which showed his pride in the Immortal Techniques he cultivated.

"The reason why we consider going out to find inheritors in the Spirit Transformation Stage is, of course, a last resort. It's difficult to find disciples. Second, cultivators above the Integration Stage in the Cultivation World rarely show up. At this stage, they are basically trying their best to improve their strength and realm. Most of the time, they are in closed-door cultivation or going to extremely dangerous places to find their own opportunities. Unless their family or sect has reached a critical moment of life and death, they will not easily show up. Under such circumstances, it can be considered barely self-sufficient for us to come out to find inheritance after cultivating to the Late-stage Nascent Soul, but at this time we will not show ourselves in the face of the sect, so as not to attract unnecessary trouble. Those ignorant cultivators have coveted the Immortal Techniques of our five sects for more than a day or two. This is also the reason why the outside world has only seen masters of the Integration, Tribulation Transcendence, and even Great Ascension Stages from our five sects. But even so, it is extremely difficult to find an inheritor. Sometimes we have to cross vast areas of the continent, or even traverse the Interface of the two worlds to find disciples. Because of this, it is also very likely to encounter more powerful enemies and spatial turbulence. In this way, some masters from the five sects who went out to find inheritors never returned. They may have fallen outside. Our five sects have become more and more desolate." Speaking of this, the old man's voice was a little low, and he slowly raised his head to look at the sky, with a look of loneliness, as if he was reminiscing.

Li Yan naturally didn't dare to disturb him, but after a while, the old man retracted his gaze, glanced at Li Yan, and continued, "In my Gui Water lineage, only I was left two million years ago. At that time, there was no news from the other four sects. I thought they had already left before me." The old man's face showed a trace of sadness and emotion, and thoughts had already surged into his heart. At that time, although there were occasional disputes between the five sects, they had been dependent on each other since ancient times, with the same spirit and connected branches, cultivating together and walking the Jianghu together. The past was like smoke, and the long years had passed in this way. Now that he woke up, everything was over, like a dream.

Hearing the words "two million years ago," an incredulous expression appeared on Li Yan's calm face. How could anyone live for millions of years? This was such a fantasy, but it was said in front of him, and he didn't know why, but he had a feeling of believing it. This thought arose in his heart, making him startled.

The Gray-Robed Old Man paused for a while, gently shook his head, as if to dispel the memories in his mind, and then raised his eyes to see Li Yan, and a trace of comfort had already been added to his heart.

"More than two million years ago, I was in closed-door cultivation for a hundred years. After I came out, the other four sects had long been empty, with weeds everywhere. Only Ning Ke Immortal Maiden of the Yi Wood Immortal Sect left a Jade Slip, telling me that she had reached the Void Refinement Stage after leaving seclusion. She waited here for seventy years, and there was no news from the other three sects. Seeing that I had not left seclusion either, she went out to find inheritance, but after this departure, we never had any contact again." The Gray-Robed Old Man's expression darkened, but at this time his figure was a little more blurred than before, and his facial expressions were also beginning to be unclear. Li Yan didn't notice it.

After hearing these words, Li Yan opened his mouth, but seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to interrupt the old man's narrative at this moment. But what kind of person was the old man? He stopped the narrative and asked, "Do you have anything you don't understand?"

Li Yan stammered, "What is a Jade Slip?"

The old man was stunned when he heard this, and then smiled mockingly, "Hehe, I forgot that you know nothing about the Cultivation World." The people he had previously contacted, who didn't know these basic knowledge of cultivation? But Li Yan was a complete newbie.

"Then let me briefly tell you some things. A Jade Slip is like a book among you mortals. It is a special jade material that is difficult to damage. Unlike paper books, the text, images, and sounds inside can only be carved and written by cultivators with Divine Sense. It can be said that as long as the Jade Slip is not damaged, it can be permanently preserved, unlike paper that is not easy to preserve. Oh, yes, there is also Divine Sense. Divine Sense is actually mental power and thoughts, but cultivators have cultivated their mental power to a certain substantial level through cultivation. Your current mental power has also been cultivated to the initial stage of Divine Sense, but it is too weak to form substance, let alone be released outside the body. Generally, Divine Sense will be produced in the third level of Qi Condensation, but the coverage area is small, about a few feet. At that time, it can be released outside the body, and you can carve text, images, or sounds in the Jade Slip. In addition, it can replace the eyes and ears to see and hear the world. The stronger the Divine Sense, the wider the range of seeing and hearing. Oh, yes, that Military Advisor Ji is at the third level of Qi Condensation. He is already someone who can release his Divine Sense outside the body. Although it is only a few feet away, he can already see you without using his eyes, and he can scan what you are doing and saying within a certain range through Divine Sense, even more clearly than seeing with your eyes and hearing with your ears." Speaking of this, the old man looked at Li Yan with a smile that was not a smile.