Thanks to the spirit root dao seed automatically circulating the Peiyuan Breathing Art, continuously repairing him, Lin Donglai did not fall into qi deviation.
He immediately recalled the contents of the Five Elements Qi-Gathering Formula he had read before. After all, if he cultivated according to the steps of the five elements' mutual generation, wood giving rise to fire should have been just right.
After examining the borrowed General Principles of the Five Elements for a while, Lin Donglai found his answer.
Although his Five Elements Qi-Gathering Formula could follow the mutual generation of the five elements, it was not as simple as wood generating fire, fire generating earth, to complete the five-element cycle.
Cultivation methods differ from person to person. Given his own situation, he should first complete the preliminary cultivation of the earth element and the water element.
Only after water and earth flourished the wood, providing endless support for the growth of jia wood, could he cultivate wood generating fire—then the jia wood would not be completely burned away, because after wood generated fire, fire in turn generated earth, maintaining a balance.
The General Principles of the Five Elements also gave special notes on how each element flourished wood.
For the five elements to flourish wood, one must first cultivate the Chentu Earth-Gathering Art in the early stage of Qi Refining, then cultivate the water and wood elements in the middle stage.
Only in the late stage of Qi Refining could one cultivate the metal and fire elements, and only then would the five-element cycle be complete, achieving the trait of the five elements flourishing wood.
There was also a matter of ratios within this. It was not that all wood transformed into fire, or all fire transformed into earth—rather, the five elements existed simultaneously, and generation and restraint existed simultaneously as well.
Lin Donglai's cultivation of the Bingwu Yang-Gathering Art this time had violated the proper order of cultivation, which was why all of his Jiayin true qi was set alight, his spiritual power entirely converted to the fire attribute.
Fortunately, the spirit root dao seed was powerful, or else it would have meant destroying his own foundation.
Before long, Lin Donglai's pitiful wisp of Jiayin true qi burned out. With nothing left to burn, the fire naturally extinguished.
Then the Bingwu true qi also vanished, directly transforming into Chentu true qi—the very sign of wood and fire generating earth.
Although Lin Donglai had never cultivated Chentu true qi before, it was simply that miraculous.
And in his dantian, another cluster of earth-element essence qi appeared, the size of a mung bean.
"Five-element true qi, freely converted, generating and restraining one another—truly worthy of being first among Qi Refining cultivation methods, bearing the name of the Wondrous Good Art."
Lin Donglai felt he had gained some insight, though not much—but this was precisely the dao attainment needed for the spirit root dao seed to grow its "trunk."
Beneath the sprout, a pale green, almost translucent tender stem had grown a small segment, topped with two adorable little bud points, looking rather like a bean sprout.
"I can continue cultivating the Chentu Earth-Gathering Art. The earth qi here is relatively abundant, so I'll cultivate this to Qi Refining second layer first. Then at the second layer, I'll cultivate Renzi Water-Gathering and Jiayin Life-Gathering. At the third layer, I'll cultivate Bingwu Yang-Gathering and Gengshen Metal-Gathering. That way, I'll complete the mutual-generation cycle of the Five Elements Qi-Gathering Method within the early stage of Qi Refining."
"Water and earth mix into mud; in the mud, plant wood; wood generates fire; fire generates earth; abundant earth generates metal. Metal need not be much—a little suffices. Fire must not be too strong either. Only thus can the five elements mutually generate, and the five elements flourish wood."
"My cultivation of the Inner Landscape Fertile Field will most likely have to follow this as well. I need to find the most suitable five-element ratio to achieve perfect mutual generation."
The Fertile Field Method was even more dangerous, for it required five-element essence qi and fetal breathing, and the five-element fetal breath had to be established upon the five viscera.
If the five viscera had problems—like today—there would likely be great trouble.
Today, wood generated fire, fire restrained wood, burning wood to ashes and transforming it into Chentu earth—so both the liver and the heart would suffer damage.
Though the spleen would be strengthened, earth restrained both water and fire, so kidney water and heart fire would be depleted. Earth also generated metal, and once metal qi grew strong, it would further restrain liver wood... In the end, all five viscera would fall out of balance, thrown entirely into disorder, attacking one another and wasting vital qi for nothing.
All of this was medical theory Lin Donglai had learned at the academy, existing precisely for the purpose of interpreting cultivation methods.
"I was far too reckless. Had I known, I would have obediently cultivated Jiayin true qi. Now I can only switch to cultivating Chentu true qi. With my spirit root of five-elements-flourishing-wood, cultivating Chentu true qi is somewhat slower than cultivating Jiayin true qi—and there's even some loss to my lower-grade Jiawood body."
"But my line of thinking should be correct. I cannot follow the earth-generates-metal approach and continue cultivating the Gengshen Metal-Gathering Art, or perhaps even greater problems would arise. Geng metal fells wood—it fells vitality itself, the greatest restraint on my constitution. That Geng metal spiritual power might well restrain me to death..."
According to Lin Donglai's own deductions, whether through generation or restraint, a margin should be left for the wood element—metal must not fully restrain it, water must not fully generate it, fire must not fully burn it. It is precisely this margin that maintains the balance of the five elements' mutual generation and achieves the final state of the five elements flourishing wood.
Among them, earth, without question, must be the greatest.
The heritage of the Earth Immortal lineage states: earth is the mother of earth, used to carry metal, wood, water, and fire. This is also why cultivating blessed lands and cave heavens always takes earth as the foundation—hence the name "Earth Immortal."
Lin Donglai kept calculating on the ground with a small twig.
Half an hour later, he finally arrived at an answer.
If metal is 1, then earth must be 5, fire 2, wood 3, water 4.
The earth mother's 5 exceeds metal, wood, water, and fire all alike.
And it perfectly satisfies: after water generates wood, water remains in surplus; metal restrains wood but cannot restrain it completely, leaving a foundation; wood generates fire, fire burns wood, but cannot burn it completely, leaving a seed. Only thus can life continue without end, achieving the true meaning of the five elements flourishing wood.
"That means, in total, I need fifteen strands of innate fetal breath, and it takes nine drops of essence blood to refine one strand—so I would need one hundred thirty-five drops of essence blood..."
Lin Donglai did the math. If he set aside advancement in cultivation and considered only the construction of the Inner Landscape Fertile Field, the remaining year of his immortal seedling period would be enough to complete it.
The order of cultivation would be: earth first, then water, then wood, fire, and metal—one full cycle.
Though this disrupted the inherent cycle of earth generating metal, metal generating water, water generating wood, wood generating fire, and fire generating earth, it was, for now, the foundation best suited to the dao seed's growth and the forging of the fertile field that Lin Donglai could conceive of.
...
In the days that followed, another eight or nine days passed, and Lin Donglai spent them all toiling, cultivating, attending lectures, and eating among these three places: Immortal Seedling Peak, Lingxi Peak, and the Spirit Field Valley.
By the time the weeding, insect-catching, and tilling of his one mu of land were mostly done, Ding Zhen had just barely completed drawing qi into his body before the second Hundred-Day Assessment, becoming a first-layer Qi Refining cultivator and heading up to Lingxi Peak.
Though he dearly wished to become a spirit chef, learning the spirit chef's craft in the Hall of Miscellaneous Arts required bringing one's own ingredients. And so Ding Zhen could only go to the Artifact Refining Hall to learn the smelting of ores and the forging of refined iron.
"Lai-ge, here are two spirit stones back first—the two of mine from Zhong Xuan, and the five spirit stones from Xue Hong. I'm going to Merit Peak to see if there's any way to earn spirit stones, and pay the rest back soon too."
Lin Donglai did not refuse. He took the spirit stones: "Perfect timing—I've just opened up one mu of land in the Spirit Field Valley for farming, and I was planning to buy some seeds, and along the way cultivate the Sprouting and Gestation Art. Once the crops are grown, I'll share some with you to eat!"
Ding Zhen sighed with feeling: "That would be wonderful. But right now I'm learning smithing at the Artifact Refining Hall, tempering ore. I need to channel spiritual power through the forging hammer and drive it into raw iron. Only when the raw iron becomes refined iron, and the refined iron is hundred-fold forged and spirit-infused, transformed into spirit steel, can I truly be called an artifact-refining apprentice."
"Then I'll be waiting for you to forge magical artifacts for me." Lin Donglai laughed. "May you soon become a disciple of the Artifact Refining Hall!"