“Senior Brother, is a Mutated Spiritual Root a good thing or a bad thing?”
Lu Zhiyun asked.
Lin Shu replied without hesitation, “If it’s just a single spiritual root that’s mutated, then it’s definitely a good thing.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhiyun understood what Lin Shu meant and let out a silent sigh.
Senior Brother’s meaning was very clear—a Mutated Spiritual Root combined with three spiritual roots was no better than a pile of shit.
In the cultivation world, a natural-born Sword Spiritual Root meant absolute genius.
Such people were the innate sword species, peerless in swordsmanship.
Because these cultivators had a singular Sword Spiritual Root, they would naturally acquire the trinity of Sword Heart, Sword Bone, and Sword Intent during cultivation or natural growth, greatly enhancing their combat power.
But this was only possible with a “single spiritual root”!
The formation of “Sword Bone” required the Sword Spiritual Root to nourish the root bones over time. Since Lu Zhiyun’s Sword Spiritual Root was disturbed by the other two spiritual roots, she was destined never to obtain the Sword Bone—the strongest passive buff for a sword cultivator.
“Sword Heart” and “Sword Intent” could be comprehended later, but without the complete trio, Lu Zhiyun would still be at a disadvantage when facing pure sword cultivators.
The idea of “single spiritual root supremacy” was prevalent in the cultivation world for a reason—some things really were better when singular, making everything less troublesome.
“No worries!”
Lin Shu grinned easily, “It might be troublesome for others, but you just happened to meet me!”
In all his years at Tianque Sect, Lin Shu had seen all kinds of Jiaba Linggen.
For example, there was a junior brother with both Chun Yin Linggen and Chun Yang Linggen—a dual spiritual root.
If he had just the Chun Yin Linggen, that junior brother would at most become rather soft; with only the Chun Yang Linggen, he’d have to remain a virgin for cultivation and be doomed to loneliness.
Neither outcome seemed great, but the junior brother managed to unlock a third path.
Normally, cultivators with these two spiritual roots would attract each other and could dual cultivate.
But having both in one person made cultivation extremely difficult.
Based on the “Three Purities Unified Qi Formula,” Lin Shu gave some crucial advice—”Junior Brother, spiritual root opposition isn’t always a bad thing; maybe your cultivation method is wrong! You’re always thinking of cultivating one, then the other, but is that really possible?”
Lin Shu drew a Taiji Diagram on the spot, telling him that yin and yang depended on each other, and sometimes you needed to consider both simultaneously.
The junior brother was instantly enlightened, understanding Lin Shu’s real meaning thanks to the Taiji Diagram.
He started cultivating Chun Yin Linggen in his upper body and Chun Yang Linggen in his lower body, adding in the Ancient Tianzhu Skill that allowed him to freely twist his body!
Finally!
His self-created Water Immortal Dual Cultivation Method reached great success, and his cultivation improved step by step, making him a leader among the younger generation.
Of course, the side effects were obvious; he became extremely narcissistic.
Lin Shu had read that cultivation method, but even as clever as he was, he never understood what the “nourishing diet” at the end meant.
Whenever he asked, his junior brother would just smile mysteriously and not answer.
“Senior Brother, then do you have any way to help me harmonize my fire, lightning, and sword spiritual roots?”
Lu Zhiyun asked uneasily.
“It’s lightning, fire, and sword!”
Lin Shu’s obsessive-compulsive disorder flared up again.
“Oh! Then, does Senior Brother have a way to help me harmonize my lightning, fire, and sword spiritual roots?”
Lu Zhiyun didn’t understand why Lin Shu insisted so much on that order.
Was there some deep meaning she didn’t know?
He’d reminded her so many times, and yet she hadn’t figured it out?
Lu Zhiyun bit her lip and unconsciously clenched her sleeves tighter, a chill running down her back.
A mistake!
A huge mistake!
She never expected this to be part of the test!
So, was there some special significance to the order of those three words?
Lin Shu continued, “Little Junior Sister, how do you think one should cultivate with three spiritual roots?”
Lu Zhiyun thought about it, and recalling what she’d seen from the recording stone earlier, answered, “Work together in real combat, but set priorities in cultivation?”
Smart!
Lin Shu almost wanted to pat Lu Zhiyun’s head in praise—she had gotten straight to the point!
Seeing Lin Shu raise his brows and look at her with a “promising child” expression, Lu Zhiyun finally relaxed.
Luckily, she had experience as a constable—her observational skills were decent.
When the recording stone was playing, Lu Zhiyun had observed the differences in techniques among all her senior brothers and sisters.
She noticed that even when three spiritual roots were used together in battle, each spiritual root’s power output was different.
Was it a matter of spiritual energy allocation?
Lu Zhiyun considered this, but soon ruled it out.
Her senior brothers and sisters all split their spiritual energy nearly equally when using techniques—almost a third each.
She was no longer an ordinary person, but a cultivator who had drawn spiritual energy into her body, so she could naturally sense the flow of spiritual energy.
That left only one possibility—their cultivation methods were unique, which caused the power difference among the techniques of each spiritual root.
Take Senior Brother Ye Bufan, for instance—his Earth Spiritual Root and Water Spiritual Root were just a disguise.
It was the Poison Seed of his Wood Spiritual Root that dealt the real damage; and then there was that Living Bomb Man senior brother, whose Wood Spiritual Root-produced clones only existed to hide the bomb created by fusing his Fire and Metal Spiritual Roots.
“The core mantra of the ‘Three Purities Unified Qi Formula’ is just one sentence—One Main, Two Secondary, Three Support!”
Lin Shu stood up, walked over to the tea tray beside Wu Qinglong’s “corpse,” and picked up three teacups of different sizes, arranging them in front of Lu Zhiyun.
The three cups were arranged in descending order, all empty at the bottom.
“These three teacups are like a cultivator’s spiritual roots.”
As Lin Shu spoke, he poured tea from the teapot into each cup.
“When you add water, whichever spiritual root gets more, that root’s power will be greater!”
Lu Zhiyun stared at the cups, deep in thought.
“Then what if I add water to all three spiritual roots at the same time?”
Lin Shu just smiled, not answering her question, but motioned with his chin for her to look at the cups.
Lu Zhiyun examined the cups again and noticed the issue—the cups were different sizes.
“Senior Brother, do you mean that the difficulty of cultivating each spiritual root is bound to be different?”
“Little Junior Sister, you’re sharp!”
Lin Shu nodded.
Why does the “Three Purities Unified Qi Formula” emphasize “one main, two secondary, three support”?
The root reason is that the difficulty of cultivating spiritual roots increases geometrically with each one.
In reality, it’s nearly impossible for a cultivator to train all three spiritual roots at the same speed.
So why did people like Ye Bufan choose to focus on one or two spiritual roots?
Was it because they didn’t want to?
No! It’s because they couldn’t!
“So, my meaning is simple, Little Junior Sister. You just have to pick which will be your main spiritual root, which ones will be secondary, and which will be support!”
“Emmm, Senior Brother, do you think my fire, lightning, and sword—”
Lu Zhiyun hadn’t finished before Lin Shu interrupted, “It’s lightning, fire, and sword!”
There it was again!
Lu Zhiyun couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
Why did Lin Shu keep insisting on the order “lightning, fire, sword”?
But thinking back to their conversation, she suddenly understood!
The attitude of this demonic cultivator was very firm—he seemed to give her a choice, but in reality, Lu Zhiyun had no choice at all!
The true meaning of “lightning, fire, sword” was the order in which the spiritual roots should be cultivated!
The little person inside Lu Zhiyun’s heart danced with joy, elated!
She figured it out!
That was the answer!
But! She still had one more question.
The Sword Spiritual Root was a Mutated Spiritual Root, even rarer than the Lightning Spiritual Root, so why did Lin Shu put it last?
“Senior Brother, I want to focus on lightning…”
Lu Zhiyun tried probing, but Lin Shu frowned, a tiny expression she caught at once.
Wrong answer?
Did the “lightning, fire, sword” order actually mean the opposite—did it mean the most important should be last?
Did Lin Shu want her to focus on the Sword Spiritual Root?
“Um, Senior Brother, I want to focus on the Sword Spiritual Root!”
Lu Zhiyun tried again.
“Huh? Oh, oh! You want to focus on the Sword Spiritual Root!”
Lin Shu seemed dazed for a moment, then smiled, “That’s fine! No matter what you choose, I’ll support you!”
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you sword techniques!”
Relieved that she’d gotten the right answer, Lu Zhiyun was about to ask what sword technique he meant, but Lin Shu waved his hand and was about to leave.
“Little Junior Sister, sorry! I have to go deal with something urgent!”
With that, under Lu Zhiyun’s surprised gaze, Lin Shu flashed away and disappeared.