First, it had been Lin Donglai cultivating the Peiyuan Breathing Art, and the seed would breathe along with him. Now that this qi root existed, the seed had begun breathing on its own.
The rhythm and frequency of its breathing all derived from the Peiyuan Breathing Art, but with far higher efficiency—at least ten times greater than Lin Donglai's own cultivation of the art.
Moreover, with every breath, a faint wisp of qi washed through Lin Donglai's body. Even when Lin Donglai was not actively practicing the Peiyuan Breathing Art, the seed was cultivating on his behalf.
This was precisely what the Compendium of Cultivation recorded—the function of a Heaven-and-Earth Spirit Root replacing the human body's own spirit root!
Lin Donglai felt a long-suppressed stuffiness release from his chest, and he nearly let out a long cry.
But he held it in!
This was his greatest secret. It absolutely must not be discovered by anyone, or it would surely bring a fatal disaster!
With the Dao Seed's root hairs helping him cultivate the Peiyuan Breathing Art, Lin Donglai only needed to focus on practicing the Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Stake Method—no longer fearing injury, crippling, or depletion from over-training.
Practice!
Practice!
Within three days, Great Completion of Muscle-Tendon Changing was within reach!
Early the next morning, Lin Donglai was brimming with energy.
This root was simply too powerful!
Every moment, it was running the Peiyuan Breathing Art, drawing spiritual energy from the void to inhale and exhale.
Previously, whenever the Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Stake Method damaged his body, Lin Donglai had to repair it with the Peiyuan Breathing Art, and even then the repair was not always complete—he still needed the nutritional supplement of cafeteria meals and sleep to recover.
But now, with this qi root constantly breathing and circulating, his body was being nourished without pause.
Eating the spirit food in the cafeteria was to better absorb the spiritual energy within the food.
But this root retained spiritual energy with far greater efficiency than eating cafeteria meals!
He had practiced stake work all night, yet his body felt not the least bit of fatigue or soreness. That sensation of slow, steady progress had grown even stronger—he could clearly feel himself improving at a rapid pace.
By now, in less than a single night—Minor Completion of Muscle-Tendon Changing!
The ancestral tendons, dragon tendons, large tendons, and small tendons throughout his body had all been strengthened through continuous straining and repair as Lin Donglai practiced stake work for over three hours straight.
Even the marrow-cleansing portion was quietly beginning.
As the saying goes, an inch of lengthened tendon grants ten years of life. Tendons and marrow are the outward manifestations of the "essence" in the "refining essence into qi" stage of cultivation.
The process of Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing was precisely the repair of the essence depleted since birth—restoring tendons and bones as supple as an infant's, restoring blood-making capacity as powerful as an infant's, and sensing the fetal breath, that breath of qi an infant feels within its mother's womb.
"As expected of a Heaven-and-Earth Spirit Root," Lin Donglai thought to himself. "Merely growing a single qi root has brought me so many benefits. Once I refine it with my essence blood, the benefits will surely be even greater!"
"Donglai!"
At that moment, Ding Zhen's voice came from outside the door.
Lin Donglai hurriedly swept the withered herbs away and went out.
"Yesterday I only ate two Muscle-Tempering Pills, but I practiced stake work for an extra hour and a half—and Muscle Tempering reached Minor Completion!"
"Congratulations!" Lin Donglai smiled with genuine delight. "Last night I brewed medicinal soup, practiced all night, and broke through to Minor Completion of Muscle Tempering as well."
"Medicine really is the way to go!" Ding Zhen sighed with feeling. "If I'd known, I would have borrowed spirit stones earlier. What a waste of all that time! The sooner you draw qi into your body, the sooner you can go to Lingxi Peak to study."
Each of the outer sect peaks had lecture halls on Lingxi Peak, dedicated to teaching the hundred arts of cultivation.
There were classes on making talisman paper, on planting and refining spirit herbs.
Classes on identifying and refining ores.
There were also feng shui and geomancy, formation theory, puppet spirit-power circuitry, and even spirit beast husbandry.
Mastering just one such skill was enough to establish oneself in the outer sect.
Over the next three days, Lin Donglai cultivated without pause. He slept only two hours a day and spent all the rest practicing, all to prepare for the first round of the Immortal Sprout Assessment.
On the morning of that day—the time of the Hundred-Day Assessment—Elder Qin of Immortal Sprout Peak gathered all the outer disciples of Immortal Sprout Peak together.
"Only this many of you still haven't drawn qi into your body after a hundred days?"
Elder Qin had personally led these disciples into the sect, so seeing nearly a hundred of them still unable to draw qi into their bodies left him rather astonished.
In past years, drawing qi into the body within a hundred days was the norm; only a small minority failed to meet the standard. In fact, most disciples completed it within two months.
But the immortal sprouts of the past numbered only a little over a hundred, and the worst among them were lower-grade Four Spirit Roots. Now there were many more lower-grade Five Spirit Roots, and it was mostly these who were dragging everyone down.
"You batch of immortal sprouts is the worst I have ever led—bar none!" Elder Qin said earnestly. "The poorer your aptitude, the harder you must strive to catch up. How can you sit around wallowing in self-pity and squandering your time?"
"This assessment was originally meant to test your cultivation progress, but testing you or not testing you makes hardly any difference. In my view, anyone who hasn't drawn qi into their body within a hundred days has already failed!"
"So we can only test you on basic cultivation knowledge, technique comprehension, meridians and acupoints and the like—to see whether you've just been idling your days away without listening to a single lesson!"
"Anyone who fails even this will report to the Menial Peak. No sense wasting the sect's resources."
...
Hearing Elder Qin's words, Lin Donglai breathed a slight sigh of relief. At least when it came to this theoretical material, he had nothing to fear. Much of the foundational knowledge of the cultivation world was already deeply engraved in his mind.
During the examination, Lin Donglai glanced over the questions and understood at once. They were indeed not difficult—all entry-level knowledge.
"Transcribe the Zi-Wu Flow of Qi Verse from memory."
"Summarize the effects of meridian width and resilience on cultivation."
"Explain the terminology of the Peiyuan Breathing Art."
"What are the three transformations of Muscle-Tendon Changing?"
...
He picked up his brush and wrote without pause. In less than half an hour, he had checked his answers and handed in his paper.
After the exam, Elder Qin graded the papers with his spiritual sense. In barely ten breaths, he had graded them all.
Illegible or ugly handwriting—failed!
More than five mistakes—failed!
Glancing around at others' papers—failed!
In an instant, more than thirty people were judged to have failed.
Elder Qin called out their names one by one. Some of those named turned deathly pale; others broke out in cold sweat.
"Three months—a hundred days—and failing to draw qi into your body might be excusable, but you can't even pass basic cultivation knowledge. Are you pigs? A pig that ate spirit food for three months would have its flesh brimming with spiritual energy and become spirit pork. How can you have made not the slightest progress? Every one of you is demoted to menial labor!"
"Don't you dare be resentful about it.
"To put it bluntly, with spirit root aptitude like yours, even those Foundation Establishment sects would rarely take you in. You'd be fit only to be menials or mine slaves, or breeding stock for those Qi Refinement-level cultivation clans."
"Getting into our Azure Wood Sect was the good karma of several lifetimes for you—and you didn't even cherish it!"
"Those wandering cultivators out there dream of opening cave dwellings here—they'd knock their heads bloody just to get through our gates!"
"Letting you be menials is already doing you honor!"
After passing his judgment, Elder Qin turned to Lin Donglai and the others: "And don't you gloat or celebrate too early. At the second Hundred-Day Assessment, if you still haven't drawn qi into your body and reached Qi Refinement First Layer, you won't even wait for the third assessment—you'll go straight to the Menial Peak to report."
"Immortal sprouts are immortal sprouts precisely because the crooked and deformed ones must be filtered out."
Lin Donglai's heart tightened—but then, recalling the astonishing effects of the mysterious Dao Seed growing its qi root, he relaxed again. In ten days at most, he would achieve Great Completion of Muscle-Tendon Changing and could begin cultivating the Marrow Cleansing stage.
A hundred days would be more than enough!
Another seven or eight days passed. With the Dao Seed's help, Lin Donglai finally achieved Great Completion of Muscle-Tendon Changing. The tendons throughout his body were supple as an infant's, and he could easily perform all manner of stretching movements.
Moreover, when Lin Donglai imitated the breathing rhythm of the Dao Seed itself, even without grasping its essence, he could faintly, dimly sense the breathing of the entire earth-veins of Immortal Sprout Peak.
But the sensation vanished in a flash—when he tried to sense it carefully, it was gone.
At the same time, as Lin Donglai practiced diligently day after day, the Dao Seed's qi root grew ever longer, even sprouting numerous fine capillary root branches. With every breath, it seemed the seed itself was completing its "foundation restoration."
The seed's vitality grew stronger and stronger. Sooner or later it would grow more qi roots, accumulate enough nourishment—and then sprout, and grow leaves.