"Ah?" Long Aotian froze for a moment. "But... your appearance hasn't changed at all in these thirty years." Only cultivators could maintain eternal youth, right?
"Well... it's a bit complicated to explain. I'll tell you later." It seemed that when the system uninstalled last time, it had also sent her through time—thirty years, no less. "By the way, since you’ve already stepped into the world of cultivation, why not just become an immortal cultivator?"
Long Aotian scratched his head sheepishly. "I’ve thought about what you said, Benefactor. But if I switch to immortal cultivation, I’d have to discard all my previous martial arts. Besides, my spiritual root aptitude is... less than ideal..."
He turned and pulled a spirit root testing crystal ball from the bookshelf. The moment he held it, the ball immediately lit up with five colors: red, yellow, blue, green, and gold.
A five-element mixed spiritual root. Well, his aptitude was indeed far from impressive.
"With this kind of talent, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage would be extremely difficult," he admitted, rubbing his head awkwardly. "My current strength is already equivalent to Foundation Establishment, so it seems this is as far as I’ll go in this lifetime. No point in forcing it. Besides, martial cultivation isn’t restricted by spiritual roots. I can also teach more disciples like me—those with mixed roots or no roots at all."
Shi Xia patted his shoulder sympathetically. The pain of being a waste—she understood!
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and grew anxious. "Benefactor, you don’t resent me for passing on the techniques to others, do you?"
"Once I gave the techniques to you, they became yours," Shi Xia waved dismissively. "Who you teach is entirely up to you."
She wasn’t short on cultivation methods—her bag was stuffed with them. What she lacked was a decent spiritual root!
His eyes brimmed with gratitude. "Thank you, Benefactor!" His expression practically screamed, As expected of my Benefactor, so generous! "By the way, may I ask what kind of spiritual root you have?"
Shi Xia’s lips twitched. Way to hit where it hurts. Couldn’t he avoid poking her sore spot? She snatched the crystal ball from his hand. "I’m worse off than you—I don’t even have..."
Before she could finish, the entire testing ball suddenly lit up like a lightbulb, emitting a blinding white glow.
"White..." Long Aotian blinked in confusion. "What kind of spiritual root is white?"
"I have no idea either," Shi Xia muttered, equally stunned. Wasn’t I supposed to have no spiritual root?
Spiritual roots typically only displayed the five colors Long Aotian had shown earlier—unless it was a mutated root. But even mutated roots only came in three types: lightning (accompanied by sparks), ice (manifesting as frost), and wind (producing blades of air). So what did this blinding white light mean? A warning sign for future baldness?
"Benefactor, have you never tested your spiritual root before?"
"Well..." She had, but it had never lit up before.
"Have you ever performed internal vision of your meridians?"
"What’s internal vision?"
"..." Long Aotian paused before pulling out a manual. "This is the basic technique for immortal cultivators to draw in qi. Internal vision is necessary when guiding qi through your meridians. At that time, you can also see your spiritual root. Why not try following this?"
Shi Xia didn’t hesitate, taking the manual. She wanted to figure out what was going on. After chatting with him a bit longer and enjoying a hearty meal with Niu Niu, she returned to her guest room to rest.
Niu Niu, still a child, had spent the whole day waiting in line to test her spiritual root in the city and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
Shi Xia, however, couldn’t sleep. Her mind was a mess—too much had happened recently, and something felt off. Ever since receiving that bizarre phone call, this cultivation world had started to feel... different.
The phone!
She immediately pulled out her phone from the storage pouch. Before she could examine it closely, the Primordial Chaos Manual lying beside her suddenly transformed into a streak of white light and shot straight into the phone’s screen.
It got sucked in! (⊙□⊙)
What the—? She hurriedly checked the screen and noticed that the "Immortal" app icon in the corner now had a tiny "1" badge. An update notification?
This app is way too advanced!
Unable to resist, she tapped it open. The same map from before appeared, but now there was an additional line of black text at the bottom: Obtained item: Primordial Chaos Badge ×1.
She tapped the text, and the screen flashed with an even brighter white light. Slowly, a hexagonal silver-gray badge rose from the phone, hovering above it.
An actual badge? And it can come out of the phone? What had the system done to her poor iPhone 6? Spare her beloved device!
After staring at it for a while with no clue about its purpose, she locked the screen, and the badge retreated back into the phone. Giving up for now, she set it aside.
The incident with the testing ball still nagged at her, so she flipped open the basic qi-gathering manual Long Aotian had given her. It detailed methods for meditation and guiding spiritual energy—stuff she’d mostly learned back at the Enlightenment Academy.
Though she doubted she’d suddenly developed a spiritual root, she figured there was no harm in trying. Closing her eyes, she focused on calming her mind and sinking her qi into her dantian. Perhaps because of the nighttime quiet, after about an hour, a faint light appeared in the darkness of her vision. The glow expanded like a tide, washing away the shadows until everything was bright.
Then—BAM!—a massive orb filled her entire field of vision, looming as if about to crush her. Startled, she snapped her eyes open.
Gulping deep breaths, she glanced at the bright moonlight outside the window. What was that? Was that what Long Aotian called "internal vision"? And that orb—was that her spiritual root? Shouldn’t a root be, well, root-shaped? Why was it a freaking sphere?!
Hesitant but curious, she decided to try again. This time, with prior experience, she slipped into that luminous space within minutes. There it was—the enormous white orb, occupying two-thirds of the space, floating above her. It looked familiar... and upon closer inspection, intricate golden patterns shimmered faintly across its surface.
White... Wait a second—isn’t this the dragon pearl I picked up?! Why was it here?
Unless... That thing Kong Yang had tossed into her mouth before leaving—was this it?!
So the testing ball emitted white light because of the dragon pearl? Remembering Kong Yang’s smug "you’re getting a huge favor" expression, had this pearl become her spiritual root?
But her "cheap brother" had once said spiritual roots were like a set of cultivation meridians, and testing balls assessed those meridians. How did a dragon pearl fit into that?
This pearl was definitely more than just a makeshift spiritual root. Shifting her focus, she scanned the rest of the luminous space. And there—just below the pearl—she spotted a tiny crack, as if something beneath it was struggling to break free.
She focused her attention and saw that inside was a tiny sprout emitting a pure white glow. Though it was the same color as the Dragon Pearl and the light of the space around it, this sprout seemed exceptionally white—so pristine it appeared untouched by any other hue.
This was her spiritual root!
Shi Xia couldn’t contain her excitement. Though it was just a tiny tip, she could sense it—this was her spiritual root. She was no longer someone without one! Let’s see who would dare call her useless now! Hahaha…
Wait… Had anyone actually called her that before?
Eh… Never mind, no need to dwell on such details.
Today, she was celebrating!
Suppressing the urge to rush outside and laugh triumphantly three times, she quickly recalled the method taught in class—one she’d never had the chance to practice before—and began sensing spiritual energy. Shifting her focus outward, she soon detected Niu Niu’s steady breathing nearby and the chirping of insects outside the window.
She continued relaxing, attuning herself to every subtle detail around her. She lost track of time before noticing a gradual change—what had been an empty space moments ago now shimmered with countless specks of light in every color imaginable: red, green, yellow…
This was spiritual energy!
Shi Xia felt a thrill. The academy instructors had taught that one must draw in energy aligned with their spiritual root to be effective. Even her cheap older brother had mentioned that with a spiritual root, the corresponding energy would feel familiar, making it easy to guide into the body.
Familiarity, familiarity…
Dammit, why did every type of energy feel familiar to her?! Was she really that indiscriminate? She’d always considered herself devoted—so much so that she didn’t even have a boyfriend!
What now? Which one should she draw in?
Shi Xia hesitated, then gritted her teeth. Screw it—she’d take them all! The moment the thought crossed her mind, the drifting lights surged toward her in a frenzy, eagerly pouring into her body.
She was almost overwhelmed by the attention. Peering inward, she saw the energy flooding into the Dragon Pearl, which began glowing like a lightbulb. Soon, a beam shot from its base, illuminating the tiny sprout below.
A warm sensation spread through her body, and with a soft pop, the sprout pushed further out, its tip unfurling into a tender leaf.
Shi Xia felt lighter than ever. She maintained the energy-absorption state, nurturing her little spiritual root.
As more energy gathered, the multicolored specks seemed even friendlier, flowing into her effortlessly without guidance. She couldn’t help wondering if she had a hidden mixed spiritual root, making her a magnet for all types of energy.
Hold on—
What was that dark, shadowy speck in the corner? Why did it feel so repulsive? Instinctively, she directed a wisp of white energy toward it. With a sizzle, the black speck vanished without a trace.
Shi Xia froze. Was that… also spiritual energy? Why was there black energy? The teachers had never mentioned that! She felt drawn to every other type—so why did she loathe that one?
