Chapter 20: The Path of Cultivation and the Five Immortal Sects
In the ancient primordial era, only the Spirit Realm and the True Immortal Realm had the ability to cultivate immortal arts.
Creatures of the Mortal Realm had lifespans of only a few short decades, after which they would enter the cycle of reincarnation. The wealth and glory of this lifetime would have no more connection to them, and whether they would be reborn as human or beast in the next life would be left to fate.
Yet no matter the realm or race, from ancient times to now, longevity and power have always been the most coveted dreams of all living beings.
Among the various races of the Mortal Realm, there were certainly powerful humans and demon beasts. Naturally, these powerful beings hoped to attain immortality and wield supreme authority. Generation after generation, they relentlessly explored and sought after this distant and uncertain hope, the pursuit of the immortal path and eternal life.
Through their tireless effort and exploration, they gradually began to discover traces of the powers of heaven and earth, and they started to attempt drawing upon these forces to strengthen themselves.
At the same time, due to the Spirit Realm's difficulty with reproduction, many ancient primordial families, sects, and races gradually declined and even vanished.
Though incomparably strong, they were unable to break the shackles imposed by heaven and earth. Unable to easily ascend to the True Immortal Realm, they instead turned their gaze downward, toward the Mortal Realm.
Cultivators of the Spirit Realm used a supreme divine ability to break open a passage between the realms and descended to the Mortal Realm. However, they soon discovered that the spiritual energy of the Mortal Realm was far inferior to that of the Spirit Realm, almost pitifully thin by comparison.
What began with high hopes ended in disappointment. Still, they were unwilling to give up. If this attempt failed, they would have to find another method to preserve their legacies.
But unexpectedly, during their investigations, they discovered that even in the Mortal Realm, powerful beings had emerged.
Through observation, they found that some powerful humans or demon beasts possessed the basic physique needed for cultivation, either immortal spiritual roots or innate beast bloodlines. These individuals could already faintly utilize the laws of heaven and earth, granting them strength beyond that of ordinary beings.
Aside from humans and demon beasts, other races also had some powerful beings with the potential for cultivation.
For humans specifically, cultivation required spiritual roots, which were called Linggen. Only those with this physique could sense the laws of heaven and earth, and the spiritual energy that flowed throughout creation.
Only by possessing Linggen could one set foot on the immortal path, in pursuit of the Great Dao and eternal life.
Just like cultivation realms, Linggen are divided into grades, from lowest to highest:
Mixed Spiritual Root,
Mysterious Spiritual Root,
Earth Spiritual Root,
Profound Spiritual Root,
Sacred Spiritual Root.
These classifications are based on how sensitively one's body responds to spiritual energy, which is composed of the five fundamental elements, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Other forces such as Wind, Mist, Lightning, and Thunder are variations derived from these five elements.
If someone is especially attuned to only one of the five elements, they are said to possess a Sacred Spiritual Root. Because their body resonates with a single elemental force, their affinity is pure, and their cultivation progresses rapidly, as if they were advancing thousands of miles in a single day.
Those with Sacred Spiritual Roots are highly likely to reach the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, and many even stand a good chance of achieving the Mahayana Stage. However, individuals with such a physique are extremely rare, perhaps only a handful emerge in ten thousand years.
Those who are attuned to two elements are said to possess a Profound Spiritual Root.
Because such individuals respond to an additional element, the energy in their body becomes slightly more mixed, slowing their cultivation compared to Sacred Root holders. Still, it is an exceptionally rare and treasured root type.
For a cultivation sect to have even one or two disciples with Profound Spiritual Roots is considered great fortune. These individuals have a high chance of reaching the Unity Realm, and a decent chance of reaching Tribulation or even Mahayana.
As the elemental attunements increase, the effectiveness of the root decreases. The worst case is a person attuned to all five elements, which the cultivation world calls a Mixed Spiritual Root.
Cultivators with this physique progress with great difficulty. Their elemental affinity is too muddled. To reach even Foundation Establishment would be considered a miraculous stroke of luck. Most such individuals spend their entire lives stuck in the Qi Condensation Realm, never even glimpsing the long path of immortality.
The greatest difference between different spiritual roots lies in cultivation speed, the true divider between cultivators.
A Sacred Spiritual Root cultivator might take just four or five years to go from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment, while someone with a Mixed Root may need over a hundred years. By then, before their cultivation improves or their lifespan extends, they may already be a pile of bones.
Those with rare elemental affinities such as Wind, Mist, Lightning, or Thunder are said to possess Variant Spiritual Roots. These are considered mutations of the five base elements.
Individuals with such physiques are also extremely rare. Their cultivation speed depends on whether they also possess regular elemental affinities. However, in terms of combat ability, they are often much stronger than cultivators of the same rank with standard roots.
Aside from Sacred Spiritual Root holders, all other cultivators typically choose to focus on cultivating the single element they are most attuned to. This allows for faster progress and enables them to unleash their strongest immortal arts.
People with spiritual roots are very rare. In the Mortal Realm, only one in every hundred thousand is born with spiritual roots.
But due to the massive population of the Mortal Realm across all races, the total number of people who can cultivate is still much higher than that of the Spirit Realm.
Cultivators from the Spirit Realm also discovered that while spiritual energy in the Mortal Realm was indeed thin overall, it wasn't entirely barren, there were still many places with decent spirit veins.
These spirit veins were generally sufficient to support a sect or clan in cultivating all the way to the Nascent Soul Realm. A cultivator at that level would already possess the ability to move mountains with a flip of the hand, summon rain with a wave, and traverse the skies or earth at will.
If one advanced beyond Nascent Soul, their divine powers would allow them to traverse between realms, their cultivation strong enough to resist the turbulent spatial storms between worlds.
Thus, many cultivators from the Spirit Realm began seeking out regions of denser spiritual energy in the Mortal Realm, gradually establishing their own sects and legacies, and finding individuals with spiritual roots to take as disciples and pass down the immortal arts.
Once these disciples in the Mortal Realm reached the late Nascent Soul stage, they could use the inter-realm passageways to shatter the void and return to their ancestral sect or clan in the Spirit Realm to continue cultivating higher-level immortal techniques.
In this way, the legacies of the Spirit Realm could be preserved, continuing generation after generation without end.
From that point on, many human cultivators in the Mortal Realm gradually founded their own cultivation families and sects, while other races from the Spirit Realm also came and did the same, establishing their legacies through similar means.
After countless ages of growth and inheritance, these sects, clans, and races now span across all regions of the Mortal Realm. However, they are rarely visible to ordinary mortals.
Most sects are built atop spirit veins, where spiritual energy is abundant but such places are also often teeming with demonic beasts and ghosts, making them perilous for regular humans or weaker races.
Should a mortal accidentally wander into such an area, they'd almost certainly be slaughtered by beasts or malevolent entities before they could even understand what they stumbled into.
And even if they managed to survive, they would find it nearly impossible to discover any immortal sects. These sects are protected by illusory arrays that are completely undetectable to ordinary mortals. Once inside, they would lose their sense of direction, doomed to wander for a lifetime and never find the exit.
If fortunate, they might be rescued by a righteous cultivator and escorted out. But if unlucky enough to encounter an evil cultivator, their fate would be cruel and tragic.
Li Yan was utterly shocked by what he had just seen. He couldn't comprehend how his mind had suddenly been filled with so much unbelievable information.
After that finger tap, the gray-robed old man's complexion grew even paler, and his body started to blur and fade strangely, as though it might disappear at any moment.
Li Yan noticed something was wrong with the old man, but he was still reeling from the knowledge flooding his mind, he had no time to process anything else.
He could only keep repeating a single phrase to himself:
"Fake... It's all fake... it's impossible!"
These things weren't just unbelievable to him, even a worldly elder standing here would likely dismiss it as a dream or fantasy.
Other than some strange and colorful myths he'd read in obscure folk books about ghosts, fox spirits, and immortals, Li Yan had never even dared to imagine something like what he was experiencing now.
The gray-robed old man was not surprised by Li Yan's dazed expression. He smiled gently and said:
"I know you can't believe it, but all of this is real. Otherwise, how would your mind suddenly be filled with so many things you never knew? Alright… now that you have that knowledge, I can tell you something you should be able to understand."
Though the old man's voice wasn't loud, it struck Li Yan like a thunderclap and jolted him fully awake.
"I come from an ancient sect in the Spirit Realm, Guishui Immortal Sect but unlike ordinary sects, ours consists of five distinct branches.
These are the Five Immortal Sects, the most ancient and mysterious sects in the entire Spirit Realm, Guishui Immortal Sect, Yimu Immortal Sect, Dinghuo Immortal Sect, Jitu Immortal Sect, and Xingin Immortal Sect."
The gray-robed elder began explaining rapidly.
In the Spirit Realm, countless sects and cultivation clans exist, founded by humans, demons, beasts, ghosts, spirit plants, and other powerful beings, numbering too many to count.
Among them, however, the Five Immortal Sects stand out as extremely powerful and unfathomably mysterious.
Their members rarely appear in the world, it's said that only once every few centuries, or even millennia, does one show themselves.
Yet every time one appears, it shakes the entire cultivation world. Storms brew, hearts tremble in fear, no sect dares to provoke them.
Members of the Five Immortal Sects are known to be capable of single-handedly exterminating entire immortal sects that dared to provoke them. Even if those sects had terrifying cultivators at the Tribulation or Mahayana stages, they were almost never spared.
Fortunately, these sects rarely meddle in worldly affairs. As long as they are not provoked, they do not form grudges with anyone. But once they do act, their methods are known to be ruthless and merciless.
Because of this, many other sects view the Five Immortal Sects with a mix of awe and terror.
What inspires the greatest fear is the incredible divine powers possessed by their cultivators. The immortal arts they wield are so powerful that even in the Spirit Realm, they are almost unheard of.
Members of the Five Immortal Sects are almost all capable of slaying cultivators above their own level.
As a result, countless cultivators dream of joining these ancient and mysterious sects.
But no one can even find the location of these Five Immortal Sects, let alone think of joining them.
Time has passed and ages have changed, but the number of people still searching for the Five Immortal Sects remains vast. Some seek the power to transform their fate. Others, driven by hatred, seek to challenge or destroy the sects.
(Chapter End)