And so, the two walked along while chatting casually. Though it was called a casual chat, it was more like Han Li asking questions and the youth answering them.
From this youth, Han Li managed to extract some information about the world of cultivation without the boy even realizing it, learning many common knowledge points that every cultivator should know.
For example: Cultivators are divided into three major stages based on their realms: the Lower Realm, the Middle Realm, and the Upper Realm.
The Lower Realm includes five levels: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Divine Transformation. The Middle Realm consists of three levels: Void Refining, Body Unity, and Great Ascension. As for the Upper Realm, it essentially has only one hurdle: the Tribulation Transcendence. Once this stage is passed, one can ascend to the Immortal Realm and enjoy longevity as enduring as heaven and earth.
However, while it sounds easy, actually cultivating to that point is a distant and nearly unattainable goal!
Not to mention advancing through the three major realms, even reaching the highest level of the Lower Realm, the Divine Transformation stage, was something that, according to the youth, no one in the entire Yue Kingdom had ever achieved. Even those lingering at the Nascent Soul stage were exceedingly rare, with only a few fortunate old monsters having reached it.
According to the youth, a cultivator’s lifespan is closely tied to their cultivation realm. Each advancement in realm represents a doubling of one’s lifespan.
For ordinary mortals, living past a hundred years is already considered a rare and long life.
For cultivators who successfully establish their foundation, living over two hundred years is entirely normal. If someone is fortunate enough to form a Golden Core, they can expect to live four to five hundred years. And if, by some miracle, one manages to condense a Nascent Soul, congratulations are in order—even celebrating a thousandth birthday is not out of the question!
When the youth in white reached this point, he couldn’t help but click his tongue in envy toward those old monsters who could live eight hundred or a thousand years. That was ten times the lifespan of an ordinary person!
Han Li listened in stunned silence. Although he had vaguely guessed that cultivators lived longer than ordinary people, he never imagined it would be to such an outrageous extent! A lifespan of over a thousand years—wouldn’t that make them thousand-year-old turtles? Han Li couldn’t help but think somewhat maliciously.
But if even Nascent Soul cultivators could live that long, what about those at the Divine Transformation stage or even higher realms in the Middle and Upper Realms? Wouldn’t their lifespans be even more absurdly long?
Unable to hold back, Han Li cautiously broached the subject.
“Who knows? Maybe they live even longer, or maybe they become immortal altogether?” the youth said carelessly.
“Rumors say that if a cultivator truly reaches the Divine Transformation stage and perfects it, they must leave our world and go to another, higher realm. As for what that realm or world is like, no one knows, and no one has ever come back.”
“If no one has ever come back, then how are the realms above Divine Transformation even defined?” Han Li wondered somewhat frustratedly. However, he knew that asking this young master in front of him would likely yield no clear answer, so he held back the question.
Aside from the divisions of cultivator realms, Han Li also gained a general understanding of the cultivation sects and families in the Yue Kingdom.
The youth didn’t know much about other places, but when it came to the cultivation sects in the Yue Kingdom, he spoke with great confidence.
From him, Han Li learned that there were seven major cultivation sects in the Yue Kingdom: Masked Moon Sect, Yellow Maple Valley, Spirit Beast Mountain, Clear Void Sect, Edged Blade Cottage, Sky Palace Fort, and Giant Sword Sect. Among these, the Masked Moon Sect was the strongest, followed by Spirit Beast Mountain. The other sects were roughly equal in strength, with no overwhelming disparities.
If these cultivation sects were the towering trees supporting the entire cultivation world of the Yue Kingdom, then the cultivation families were the various vines entwined around them, relying on these sects to survive in the cultivation world.
According to the youth, speaking mysteriously, any cultivation family with a bit of history had ancestors who were disciples of these sects, continuing their bloodlines.
The reason for this lies in the “spiritual roots” common to all cultivators.
Most cultivators don’t really understand what “spiritual roots” are. But they all know that if a person lacks “spiritual roots,” they need not even think about cultivation, as they would be unable to sense spiritual energy, let alone cultivate magical power.
However, those born with “spiritual roots” are extremely rare among ordinary people—one in ten thousand, or even one in tens of thousands. Even among those with spiritual roots, only a small fraction actually embark on the path of cultivation, while the vast majority live out ordinary lives. This is because those with spiritual roots are difficult to identify, as they are too scattered, giving headaches to sects hoping to recruit more disciples.
Moreover, having “spiritual roots” doesn’t necessarily mean meeting the requirements of cultivation sects. “Spiritual roots” vary greatly in quality.
Generally, “spiritual roots” are divided into the five elemental attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Most people’s spiritual roots are a mix of four or five of these attributes. While these individuals can sense spiritual energy, their cultivation progress is dismal, often stalling at the third or fourth layer of the basic five-element Qi Refining techniques, with little hope of ever advancing past Foundation Establishment in their lifetimes.
Thus, those with four or five spiritual root attributes are referred to as “false spiritual roots” in the cultivation world, distinguishing them from “true spiritual roots” with only two or three attributes, which allow for faster cultivation.
As for those with a single-attribute spiritual root, they are called “heavenly roots,” meaning they are favorites of the heavens. Those with such roots, regardless of attribute, cultivate two to three times faster than those with ordinary spiritual roots. Moreover, when they reach the peak of Foundation Establishment, they face no bottleneck in advancing to Core Formation and can easily begin forming their Golden Core.
If their astonishing cultivation speed makes other cultivators envious, then the fact that “heavenly root” individuals can form cores without bottlenecks makes others green with jealousy.
Consider this: if only one out of ten Qi Refining cultivators can advance to Foundation Establishment with the help of a Foundation Establishment Pill, then only one out of a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators might successfully form a core and reach the Core Formation stage.
With such a disproportionate ratio, how could other cultivators not be intensely jealous of the advantages of “heavenly root” individuals?
Therefore, whenever a “heavenly root” individual appears, they are fiercely contested by various cultivation sects. After all, it’s like securing a future Core Formation expert for the sect, greatly enhancing its strength.
However, the emergence of such extraordinary “heavenly roots” is extremely rare, occurring only once every few hundred years. In contrast, another type—though not classified as “heavenly roots” nor falling under the five-element spiritual roots—known as “variant spiritual roots,” appears more frequently, approximately once every twenty to thirty years.
“Variant spiritual roots” refer to spiritual roots formed by the mutation and sublimation of two or three of the five elements.
For example, “thunder spiritual roots” from the mutation of metal and water spiritual roots; “ice spiritual roots” from the mutation of earth and water spiritual roots; and of course, other variant spiritual roots like “dark spiritual roots” and “wind spiritual roots.”
Cultivators with “variant spiritual roots” do not possess the innate talent to bypass core formation bottlenecks, yet their cultivation speed is no slower than that of “heavenly root” individuals. Moreover, if they find cultivation techniques that match their attributes, they often become remarkable experts, typically capable of rivaling three or four ordinary cultivators of the same level.
Thus, those with variant spiritual roots are also highly sought after by major cultivation sects.
However, in the past, not only were geniuses like “heavenly roots” and “variant spiritual roots” hard to find, but even ordinary “true spiritual root” individuals were difficult for sects to locate.
After all, cultivation sects couldn’t possibly test every child in the mortal world! With only one in ten thousand people born with spiritual roots, and only one in five or six of those having true spiritual roots, the search was incredibly challenging.
Under such harsh conditions, there were even instances in the history of the cultivation world where small sects were reduced to just a handful of members, nearly leading to the extinction of entire traditions.
Faced with this awkward situation, some determined individuals conducted painstaking research and discovered that “spiritual roots” were highly likely to appear in people with shared bloodlines.
For example, if one parent has spiritual roots, their child has a one-in-four chance of also having spiritual roots. If both parents have spiritual roots, the probability increases significantly, and it’s not uncommon for all their children to have spiritual roots.
This discovery excited those determined individuals greatly.
Under their influence, many young disciples of various sects were sent out by their elders to establish families in the mortal world. After having children, they would return to their sects to continue cultivation.
Thus, when cultivation sects faced shortages of disciples, they directly selected children with spiritual roots from the families of their disciples, significantly increasing the ratio of true spiritual roots.
In this way, the major challenge of disciple shortages for cultivation sects was alleviated.
Although the probability of spiritual roots appearing in ordinary people remained low, overall, the number of people with spiritual roots increased. Those from bloodlines with spiritual roots produced generation after generation of spiritual root disciples. Over time, as these families branched out, they formed the cultivation families of today.
These cultivation families might lack advanced techniques, but they had no shortage of basic cultivation methods, gradually becoming peripheral branches of various cultivation sects while maintaining a degree of independence.
Thus, behind every cultivation family, there is generally a cultivation sect providing support, making them not to be underestimated.
The youth in white hadn’t spoken so freely in front of others for a long time.
The feeling of having someone listen intently to his words gave him an urge to speak unreservedly, and his fondness for Han Li grew significantly. Without hesitation, he shared everything he knew about the cultivation world, almost showing off in front of Han Li.
Naturally, Han Li listened with great interest, occasionally interjecting to encourage the youth to speak more enthusiastically. Unfortunately, the mist-shrouded slope wasn’t far from the small village, and after walking for several hours, the two arrived at the foot of the slope.
The short distance left Han Li greatly dissatisfied. He hadn’t heard nearly enough about the cultivation world and wished they could turn around and start over. However, he knew this was impossible, so he could only watch as the youth fell silent, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the mist.
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