10: Chapter 10 The New Way Prospers

"This lifetime, I must change my strategy."

Shen Moyan pondered carefully.

In the Great World of Mountains and Seas, gods and demons run rampant; a single misstep could lead to eternal damnation.

In the brief moment Shen Moyan had climbed the cliff, exhausted and dazed, he was 'picked up' by locals and 'planted' as a ginseng.

It truly shows the 'simple and honest folkways' of the Great World of Mountains and Seas.

The best choice regarding that world is not to go, at least not in this lifetime.

"But aside from that world, what other cultivation worlds are there to go to?"

Shen Moyan recalled the experiences of that Yun Wangshu. Without a suitable Otherworldly Artifact, one could only get lost in the vast expanse of the Major Thousand Worlds.

"Perhaps I can try Ren Wuchang's heavenly demon sword. After all, it's made of Otherworldly Meteoric Iron and might also originate from a cultivation world."

Shen Moyan secretly set another goal. The heavenly demon sword should be easy enough to obtain. A mere Ren Wuchang, a defeated foe, is nothing to worry about.

"But it's truly hard to imagine... the Immortal Dao is dead..."

Shen Moyan's perception delved into 'As I Have Written.' Looking at the bookmark recording the 'Biyang First Rising Art,' his expression turned complex.

"Spiritual Qi is poisonous. Consuming it makes it impure; it cannot be swallowed whole into the body."

Shen Moyan recited this earth-shattering statement calmly.

Something unknown happened in the Great World of Mountains and Seas. The Spiritual Qi, which Cultivators once relied on for survival and cultivation, had become the very thing that killed them.

If a Cultivator drew the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into their body, it would cause their own Spiritual Root to mutate.

The Spiritual Root would begin from the Dantian and gradually swell, rupturing the entire Physical Body.

The Spiritual Root would extract all the essence from the Cultivator—whether blood qi, Physical Body, or Divine Soul.

Using the Physical Body as soil and blood qi as sweet spring water, the Spiritual Root would then thrive under the fading radiance of the Cultivator's collapsing Divine Soul.

Ultimately, it would transform the entire Cultivator into something akin to a ginseng.

For high-level Cultivators, it was somewhat manageable; they could use certain Divine Abilities to barely resist. But low-level Cultivators would die with a single breath.

Shen Moyan read the records in the 'Biyang First Rising Art,' his heart filled with shock.

"The Spiritual Root, a place for the spirit to perch, was originally a conceptual term used to describe a Cultivator's Aptitude for specific attributes of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi."

For example, a wood attribute spiritual root meant the Cultivator had high affinity and absorption efficiency for wood attribute Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth.

Things like dual-attribute Spiritual Roots, triple Spiritual Roots, quadruple Spiritual Roots, and even mutated spiritual roots like wind and thunder—all represented a Cultivator's differing emphasis and affinity ratios for various attribute Spiritual Qi, indicating different Aptitudes for cultivation.

Yet, it was precisely this conceptual existence that had been twisted into something so bizarre.

"This conceptualized, rule-based pollution shares similarities with the phenomenon concerning language." Shen Moyan connected this with his own observations and pondered deeply.

People from different worlds, using and speaking different scripts and languages, were all harmonized into one.

In a way, this could also be considered a form of rule-based pollution.

If people with different languages were likened to different colors, then what happened in the Great World of Mountains and Seas was like someone mixing all those colors together. Afterward, anyone with a new color joining in would immediately be blended into that single hue.

"Regarding the matter of Spiritual Qi being poisonous, after careful research, the Cultivators of the Great World of Mountains and Seas arrived at a reason convincing to the world."

"Within the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, an intangible, colorless, odorless, elusive, inseparable, and fully proportionally dissolved catalytic qi—akin to 'pill qi'—was mixed in, turning the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into poisonous impure qi."

Indeed, if described in the terms of that world, the mixed-in qi resembled pill qi.

pill qi, also known as dragon-tiger qi, was originally the qi used by Alchemists when refining Medicinal Pills to catalyze medicinal herbs. It was also the colorful, auspicious qi that manifested upon a pill's successful completion.

This qi symbolized both the Perfection of a completed pill and the forced catalytic qi used when pill ingredients lacked sufficient refining fire.

"Truly astonishing. If one thinks deeply, it's likely a great power is behind this mischief." Shen Moyan drew a sharp breath.

But something so obvious, who wouldn't see it?

Therefore, in the current Great World of Mountains and Seas, Cultivators must either be people without Spiritual Roots or have actively stripped their own Spiritual Roots to survive.

And actively removing one's Spiritual Root is equivalent to uprooting the foundation of the old immortal dao.

Without a Spiritual Root, how can one Cultivate immortality?

"The New Method of Immortal Dao! Transform the Spiritual Root into a Spiritual Vein!"

Shen Moyan looked at the 'Biyang First Rising Art' on the bookmark.

"Legend has it, this was created by an indescribable existence possibly from the Immortal Realm, passed down to the Lower Realm. After the collapse of the old immortal dao, it allowed later generations to tread the immortal path anew, aspire to longevity, and even Immortal Ascension is not out of reach!"

"Unfortunately, this 'Biyang First Rising Art' only mentions it briefly without going into detail."

The Cultivation Technique Shen Moyan obtained only recorded two Realms: Qi Gathering and Mortal Transformation, corresponding to the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment of the old immortal dao.

"In the Great World of Mountains and Seas, the existence that imparted this new path to all living beings—the major Sects haven't even seen Its face."

"It was only during the outbreak of the Spiritual Qi crisis that a stone stele descended from the heavens, piercing through sky and earth, plunging straight into the center of the world!"

"That stele recorded all the Realms and all the cultivation methods of the New Method of Immortal Dao, completely open-source! Not a single secret withheld!"

Thinking of this, Shen Moyan put himself in others' shoes. Regardless of its true intentions, that existence truly did a good deed.

"Moreover, that dao transmission stele cannot be moved by anyone. Great powers from various places made rubbings of it, spreading it to every corner of the Great World of Mountains and Seas."

"If given the chance, I must go and observe it." Shen Moyan thought to himself.

The 'Biyang First Rising Art' belongs to the New Immortal Dao. Shen Moyan only remembers the cultivation Realms of Qi Gathering and Mortal Transformation; the remaining Realms still need to be sought in the Great World of Mountains and Seas.

"Enough. Since things have come to this, let's try cultivating first."

Shen Moyan pushed the door open, activated his Lightness Skill, and silently left the Shaolin Temple... Ziyang Mountain.

The ten-year-old Shen Moyan stood atop the mountain Peak, gazing at the sea of clouds, overlooking the majestic mountain ranges.

"The New Immortal Dao draws upon the profound mysteries of heaven and earth, refines the essence of the sun and moon, gathering all the mighty forces of the world into oneself."

"Before the Spiritual Vein is opened, to avoid the effects of impure qi, one must differentiate and gather specific types of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi."

"The so-called Qi is divided into nine grades. Only the first six grades allow for Mortal Transformation and Foundation Establishment."

In this plane, the True Qi practiced by the heroes of the Great Qi Martial Forest belongs to the ninth grade, only allowing them to stop at the threshold of Mortal Transformation.

Even Shen Moyan himself, who reached the Peak Realm with pure, Peak-level Internal Energy far surpassing ordinary martial artists, could only barely transform to the eighth grade, still unable to fully achieve Mortal Transformation and Foundation Establishment.

Following the instructions of the 'Biyang First Rising Art,' Shen Moyan sat in meditation atop the Peak.

He opened his mouth, inhaling and exhaling. At the moment the great sun first rose, an intangible breath was drawn into his body—scorching and searing, as if holding a miniature sun in his mouth.

This technique, in its qi gathering chapter, gathers solar essence qi, ranked as medium within the third grade.

It requires the Cultivator, at the precise moment the sun first rises, to gather that first wisp of solar breath radiating upon heaven and earth.

Gathering wisp after wisp, nine breaths combine into one Qi. Nine pure solar breaths are collectively called one solar essence qi.

Then, eighty-one solar essence qi flow through the five viscera, six bowels, limbs, and Meridians, retained within the Niwan Palace, proceeding from top to bottom to open the Cultivator's Spiritual Vein.

That's right. The Cultivator's reliance shifts from the Spiritual Root to the Spiritual Vein.

The Spiritual Root is innate, present from birth. The Spiritual Vein is opened later in life, relying on specific Cultivation Techniques and gathered Qi.

In theory, as long as one has perseverance and finds High Grade Qi, everyone can be free from the limitations of their innate Aptitude, deciding their own qualification.

Because Qi exists within the heavens and earth of the myriad worlds of Mountains and Seas; one only needs to go and gather it.

"Qi Gathering is also divided into nine layers based on the degree of Spiritual Vein opening."

"Wait, if that's truly the case, then the time required for Qi Gathering is very long."

Shen Moyan ended his cultivation session, gazed at the rising sun, and fell into deep thought.

One can only sit and Cultivate for a while each day. Once the sun passes its auspicious hour, that solar breath becomes unusable. To refine solar essence qi, it must be the first breath of the rising eastern dawn.

"Cultivating like this consumes energy and spans an extremely long duration."

"If one wants to accelerate cultivation progress, one must..."

Shen Moyan looked at the annotations in the 'Biyang First Rising Art' and couldn't help but draw a sharp, cold breath.

"Plunder ginseng, gather Spiritual Qi, refine it into medicine to form pills, and swallow them to consume!"