Spirit Roots
Flaming Mountain. Cave abode.
Fang Yu casually tossed the corpse into the Earth Fire pit, then checked the Storage Bag he had found on it.
As the saying went, the first time was unfamiliar, the second came easy. He soon finished taking stock of everything in the Storage Bag.
There were 537 Spirit Stones, two bottles of pills whose uses he didn't know, a few first-tier mid-grade spirit talismans, a secret manual for the Everlasting Spring Technique, and another for the Disguise Technique.
Fang Yu's mouth was stretched wide in a grin, and his hands trembled as he counted the Spirit Stones. He hadn't expected the rude stall owner to have so many.
These were probably what the man had earned from selling that high-grade Law Artifact, so its price should have been around 500 Spirit Stones.
With such a huge sum, he could rent a grade C cave abode in the market for twelve Spirit Stones a year and use it for cultivation.
After putting the Spirit Stones away, he picked up the two manuals and leafed through them. He found that the Everlasting Spring Technique was no different from the copy he had obtained before, but the Disguise Technique had something to it: once cultivated, it could change his appearance and physique.
Although it only changed his outward appearance and couldn't conceal the Law Power he gave off, it was still quite useful for disguising himself.
Of course, that was for ordinary cultivators. With the Yuanchen Pearl, he could conceal his cultivation and alter the Law Power he gave off at will. Combined with the Disguise Technique, he could become a man of a hundred faces.
Three days later.
A big man with an unremarkable face and build stood before a bronze mirror.
Fang Yu looked this way and that, then couldn't help nodding. "This Disguise Technique really is something. Even I can't recognize myself after using it!"
Time to cross over!
The next moment, he vanished. When he reappeared, he was in Great Scarlet Heaven, in a mountain forest outside the East Spirit Mountain Market.
He rode a streak of light into the East Spirit Mountain Market and went to the Deacons' Hall at its center.
A little later, he came out holding a jade cave abode token. Written on it was: Grade C, Courtyard No. 121.
After renting the cave abode, he didn't hurry over to it. Instead, he went to a bookshop in the market with a sign reading "Distant Mountain Bookstore."
The shop didn't look big from outside, and it was just as small inside, with only two bookshelves. Fang Yu gave them a quick look. Most of the books were on miscellaneous subjects, while some were Cultivation Method Secret Manuals.
He stepped closer, picked up a copy of Travels in the State of Chu, and began leafing through it.
Last time, he had been in a hurry and preoccupied with ambushing the rude stall owner, so he hadn't had time to properly learn about Great Scarlet Heaven. Now he had Spirit Stones in hand, was in a good mood, and had plenty of time, so naturally he wanted to take a good look.
As the pages rustled, Fang Yu roughly leafed through the book, which recorded the mortal realms of the Chu Kingdom and general observations about the immortal-cultivating lineages in various places. Gradually, he formed an impression of the Chu Kingdom.
He picked up a few more miscellaneous books and leafed through them, then went to the bookshelf holding the secret manuals.
There seemed to be quite a few manuals on it, but the thick stacks were all copies of the same books. There were only sixteen different manuals in total, and judging by their names, they were mostly related to the five virtues.
Among them was the Everlasting Spring Technique. He picked up a copy and leafed through it, confirming that the two Cultivation Method manuals he had were probably bought here.
"Fellow Daoist, are you looking to purchase a Cultivation Method suited to you?"
The shopkeeper, who had been lying in a rocking chair reading, saw Fang Yu looking through the manuals one by one and immediately got up and came over.
"That's right." Fang Yu looked at the shopkeeper and nodded.
"What Spirit Root do you have, Fellow Daoist?" the shopkeeper asked.
"I'm not quite sure!" Fang Yu had a Wings Fire destiny, so by rights he should have had a Fire Spirit Root, but he had never been tested and couldn't be certain.
"Then how about I test you?" The shopkeeper smiled and took out a clear, translucent stone. He seemed used to cultivators like Fang Yu, who didn't even know what Spirit Root they had.
"Does it cost Spirit Stones?" Fang Yu asked warily.
"Haha!" The shopkeeper laughed. "There's no need to be nervous, Fellow Daoist. Testing Spirit Roots is free. If you're worried, you can use the Spirit-testing stone yourself."
"Many thanks, then!" Fang Yu nodded and held out his hand.
The shopkeeper smiled and placed the Spirit-testing stone in Fang Yu's hand.
Once he had the stone, Fang Yu sent his Law Power into it. The stone immediately gave off a soft light that enveloped him, and a dim red glow appeared on his body.
Looking at the red glow, the shopkeeper said, "You have a Fire Spirit Root, Fellow Daoist. Its quality should be low-grade."
"A Low-Grade Spirit Root!"
Fang Yu looked at the shopkeeper. "Is that very bad?"
The shopkeeper nodded slightly. "Spirit Roots are divided into low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, supreme-grade, and Heaven Spirit Roots. Yours is the worst kind. The higher your cultivation, the greater the bottlenecks you'll encounter. Most cultivators with Low-Grade Spirit Roots remain stuck at the Qi Refining Third Layer for life.
"And what you're cultivating now should be the Everlasting Spring Technique, which is even less suited to your Spirit Root. The first layer is as far as you'll get with it. Still, that's no great problem. You can simply disperse your cultivation and start over with a Fire Element Cultivation Method. I happen to have one here; take a look and see if it suits you."
As he spoke, the shopkeeper pulled a secret manual from the shelf and handed it to Fang Yu.
"Nine Transformations of the Flame Dragon."
Fang Yu took it and examined its contents closely. Cultivating this method could produce flame dragons, with one more condensed for each layer attained, up to a maximum of nine. The description made it sound infinitely powerful, but since it was sold so casually in a roadside bookshop, with such a large stack of copies, it was surely no profound Cultivation Method.
Still, he didn't have very high requirements for it. He had the Yuanchen Pearl, so he didn't have to worry about cultivating a poor method. Once he found a better one, he could simply switch.
"How many Spirit Stones for this Nine Transformations of the Flame Dragon?"
"Just one Spirit Stone!"
"Can you throw in some miscellaneous books?"
"Of course. You can pick whichever ones you like over there."
A quarter of an hour later.
Fang Yu came out of the Distant Mountain Bookstore with more than twenty miscellaneous books and a secret manual for the Nine Transformations of the Flame Dragon in his Storage Bag.
My Spirit Root is actually the worst kind, a Low-Grade Fire Spirit Root. No wonder I cultivated so slowly!
Fang Yu frowned slightly, pondering as he searched for his cave abode.
Cultivation on the Dao of Qi Ingestion depended on one's destiny, while the Dao of Qi Refining depended on Spirit Roots. His destiny was Wings Fire, and his Spirit Root was a Fire Spirit Root. It seemed as though only the names had changed.
He didn't know exactly what the difference was, but in terms of cultivation speed alone, when Spiritual Qi was plentiful, he didn't cultivate a Dao of Qi Ingestion method slowly, and the Everlasting Spring Technique wasn't very slow either. He would try the Nine Transformations of the Flame Dragon in a little while and see exactly how fast he cultivated it.
While he was pondering, he arrived at the cave abode at Grade C, Courtyard No. 121.
Though it was called a cave abode, it was really just a small courtyard with one main room and one side room. It looked quite plain.
"Hmm, the courtyard is a bit plain, but the Spiritual Qi is plentiful!"
Sensing that the Spiritual Qi in the courtyard was as dense as in the "secret place," Fang Yu nodded in satisfaction and began setting the courtyard up.
An hour later.
Fang Yu sat at the tea table in the courtyard, leisurely drinking tea. Only after he had finished a whole pot did he begin cultivating the Nine Transformations of the Flame Dragon.