I Have An Infinite Cultivation Resource
Chapter 101: Infinite Spirit Liquid
Zeng Yan thought Lu You would stop pushing his luck, but after he secretly stole another kiss from her, she could only blush furiously and hurry back to Myriad Sword Mountain.
Originally, Zeng Yan had hoped Lu You would faithfully follow their agreement. Yet, for some reason, she suddenly realized that she actually liked it when Lu You took the initiative to get close to her. If they truly followed all the rules and behaved perfectly, she would probably feel awkward instead.
Once he was alone in his room, Lu You took out the spirit liquid from the small cauldron.
This time, the spirit liquid was no longer limited to a single drop. Instead, an endless supply poured forth as Lu You filled every container in his house.
"One drop can already improve a spiritual root. What will happen if I drink my fill?"
Filled with excitement, Lu You no longer treated the liquid as something measured by drops. Without hesitation, he drank an entire large cup.
The moment the spirit liquid entered his body, the spiritual energy within him surged violently like stormy seas.
The next instant, his chest grew hot. A stream of pure energy flooded into his mind, continuously washing over his spiritual consciousness.
"Such powerful spiritual energy! It's stronger than any pill I've ever seen!"
Lu You felt as though he were floating in the heavens, seated among the clouds.
Then he saw a giant tree appear in the sky.
The tree was weathered and decayed, as though it were on the verge of rotting away.
"Is this my spiritual root?"
At this moment, Lu You had entered a state of spiritual wandering. Quietly, he observed the great tree rooted in the heavens.
Suddenly, one of its roots twitched.
A crack appeared in the sky.
From that tiny opening, a single drop of rain fell onto one of the branches.
Hiss—
Like a dying traveler finally tasting sweet spring water, the tree devoured the raindrop in an instant.
The dry, mottled trunk became slightly more moist.
"That drop... was spirit liquid?"
Before Lu You could finish wondering, the crack in the sky widened again.
More droplets began to fall, one after another.
Even the great tree seemed startled by the sudden change, as though it had never imagined receiving so much nourishment.
Hiss— Hiss—
The tree began to sway.
Its roots thrust deeper into the heavens.
More cracks appeared.
More droplets rained down upon it.
"It's not enough!"
Suddenly, Lu You's heart trembled.
He felt a mysterious force within his mind trying to drain him dry.
Without the slightest hesitation, he leaped into the kitchen's water vat and submerged his entire body in spirit liquid.
His skin began to resemble the bark of the great tree, splitting apart in dry cracks.
Then it absorbed the spirit liquid from the vat.
The cracks filled out once more.
In his mind, the giant tree danced wildly, and his absorption of spirit liquid accelerated further.
Under Lu You's mental command, the small cauldron continuously poured more spirit liquid into the vat, allowing the tree to drink to its heart's content.
The withered tree gradually regained its vitality.
Its trunk became thick and powerful.
From a distance, it resembled a ferocious dragon coiled across the heavens.
Even its shriveled bark began to show traces of green.
Soon, fresh buds emerged.
The buds slowly grew, like a sleeping beauty awakening, stretching herself little by little.
No one knew how much time had passed.
At last, Lu You's body stopped absorbing spirit liquid.
The liquid in the vat overflowed onto the floor.
Lu You also awakened from his out-of-body state.
"I actually witnessed the evolution of my spiritual root…. Did I consume too much spirit liquid at once?"
He lowered his head and looked at his hands.
After the spiritual root evolved, he felt as though his entire body had changed.
His skin seemed like roots.
The air was like soil.
Even without circulating a cultivation technique, he continuously absorbed the power of heaven and earth contained within the atmosphere.
Evil Eye: "Boss, do you know how much you just absorbed?"
All of Lu You's changes were observed by Evil Eye.
When he saw Lu You awaken, Evil Eye's voice was filled with envy, jealousy, and disbelief.
"Boss, that's spirit liquid we're talking about! The amount you just absorbed could support an entire sect. To put it simply, if the spirit liquid you consumed had been given to the Verdant Cloud Sect, that sect would never again have a cultivator with a mixed spiritual root."
"Even the strongest sects in the cultivation world measure spirit liquid one drop at a time. I've never heard of anyone using spirit liquid for a bath."
As he spoke, Evil Eye trembled with excitement.
"If I hadn't followed you, Boss, I wouldn't just find this unbelievable—I couldn't even dream of something like this!"
"Alright, alright, enough praising me. When I become a god someday, I'll let you experience an endless supply of divine cultivation essence."
Lu You was equally delighted.
After making a quiet comparison, he discovered that even without cultivating, the speed at which he automatically absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was no slower than when he spent an entire day cultivating diligently.
Only now did he truly realize the gap between himself and the legendary geniuses of the cultivation world.
"Evil Eye, what kind of spiritual root do I have now?"
Without a spiritual root testing compass, and having no intention of asking the Verdant Cloud Sect to test him, Lu You decided to ask Evil Eye instead. After all, Evil Eye had lived for a very long time.
"Boss, unless I'm mistaken, you've entered a state of becoming one with the Heavenly Dao—every action you take is cultivation."
Evil Eye began explaining:
"A mixed spiritual root retains less than one percent of the spiritual energy it absorbs."
"A low-grade spiritual root retains one percent."
"A mid-grade spiritual root retains ten percent."
"A high-grade spiritual root can achieve a one-to-one conversion."
"Boss, you've already surpassed high-grade spiritual roots. You now possess a heavenly spiritual root. Heaven and Earth themselves are supplying you with energy!"
One with the Heavenly Dao. Every action is cultivation. Heaven and Earth serve me!
Lu You felt his blood boil with excitement.
He spread spirit stones throughout his cultivation chamber, sat cross-legged, and circulated the Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique once.
Immediately, he discovered that his cultivation speed had undergone a complete transformation.
Just a single circulation cycle produced greater gains than an entire day of cultivation in the past.
"A heavenly spiritual root is actually this incredible!"
After doing some calculations, Lu You realized that if he had possessed a heavenly spiritual root from the beginning, breaking through from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment would never have required two months.
With unlimited spirit stones and Qi-Nourishing Pills, he could probably have broken through in only two days.
"Boss, the true advantage of a heavenly spiritual root isn't cultivation speed."
Evil Eye continued, "Cultivation depends heavily on resources. Without your special ability, even someone with a heavenly spiritual root would find it difficult to become a god or founding ancestor."
"The real strength of a heavenly spiritual root lies in its ability to resonate with the spiritual root itself, nourishing it with spiritual energy until it bears a Dao Fruit."
"Dao Fruit?"
This was the first time Lu You had ever heard the term.
Evil Eye explained, "The spiritual root transforms into a tree. The tree blossoms and bears fruit."
"If the fruit is a Metal Dao Fruit, then when cultivating metal-element techniques, you'll possess the same cultivation level and technique as others, but your power will be hundreds of times greater."
"If it's a Water Dao Fruit, your water-element techniques become hundreds of times stronger."
"The same principle applies to Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth."
"There are also Dao Fruits corresponding to Wind, Lightning, Ice, Sword, Body, Soul, and many other paths."
As he spoke, drool began dripping from Evil Eye.
"Boss, I've never tasted the flesh of a Dao Fruit cultivator before."
Lu You: "..."
So after all that explanation, Evil Eye was simply hungry.
Still, the mention of Dao Fruits made Lu You excited as well.
Thinking back to the enormous tree he had seen growing in the heavens, Lu You considered it for a moment.
Then he filled another giant vat with spirit liquid and submerged himself inside.
Having experienced spiritual wandering once already, Lu You quickly found the familiar sensation.
Soon, he was riding atop the clouds again, arriving before the great tree.
This time, however, the tree's growth had slowed considerably.
Even though spirit liquid continued to drip endlessly from the heavens above, the tree no longer showed any obvious changes.
"It seems that simply feeding the tree spirit liquid isn't enough to make it flower and bear fruit."
After some thought, Lu You began circulating the Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique while immersed in spirit liquid, cultivating with the energy contained within it.
This time, the great tree finally reacted.
One of its roots slowly stretched toward Lu You and pressed against his skin.
Gradually, it felt as though the root had grown into his body itself.
At the same time, Lu You felt as though he and the tree had become one and the same.
"So this is what resonance means—becoming one with the spiritual root and cultivating together."
As the Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique completed a circulation through his meridians, Lu You felt a trace of life force flow toward the tree.
The next moment, he discovered that a single leaf had appeared upon its branches.
"So besides spiritual energy, a Dao Fruit also requires the life force of the cultivator's body!"
Lu You immediately withdrew from the resonance state.
Losing a tiny amount of life force wasn't a problem. His body could naturally recover it by the next day, restoring him to full vitality.
However, if too much were consumed at once, it would damage the very foundation of his cultivation, causing permanent harm.
The Cauldron of Cornucopia could only store tangible things. Intangible forces such as spiritual energy and life force couldn't be preserved within it.
Therefore, if he wanted the spiritual root to bear Dao Fruits, he would have to nourish it using his own life force.
"What can replenish life force?"
After some thought, Lu You took the serpent egg out of the small cauldron.
Before dying, the serpent monster had passed its life force and bloodline power into the egg, reviving what should have been a dead serpent egg.
Perhaps that life force could be absorbed by him as well.
Lu You immediately acted.
He lit a fire beneath a pot, used spirit liquid as cooking water, and boiled the serpent egg within it.
By the time the spirit liquid reached a boil, the egg had become crystal-clear, resembling a precious gemstone.
He cautiously placed it into his mouth.
The egg melted instantly upon contact.
Since he had no idea how to directly refine life force, Lu You entered the spiritual-root resonance state once more and resumed cultivating, transferring another thread of life force to the spiritual root.
After sending life force twice in succession, Lu You felt as though even the marrow inside his bones had been hollowed out.
Then warmth spread through his lower abdomen.
Even without consciously using a cultivation technique, his body instinctively sensed the loss of life force and began extracting it from the serpent egg.
"It works. Then from today onward, I'll start growing this tree!"
After setting up Hard Metal Talismans and soundproofing talismans throughout the room, Lu You threw himself into the task with enthusiasm.
First, he boiled serpent eggs in spirit liquid.
Then he soaked in spirit-liquid baths.
He even lined the bottom of his bath barrel with spirit stones.
With his body immersed in spirit liquid and his feet resting atop spirit stones, Lu You would eat a serpent egg and cultivate for a while.
Then he would toss several Qi-Nourishing Pills into his mouth and cultivate some more.
Neither the growth of his spiritual root nor the advancement of his cultivation realm could be neglected.
He cultivated nonstop until deep into the night.
By then, dozens of leaves had grown upon his spiritual root, and his cultivation had advanced noticeably as well.
Slowly rising from the bath barrel, Lu You quickly cleaned up the cultivation chamber.
Then he pulled a set of black night-traveling clothes from his robes.
After changing into them, he stored his identity token inside the small cauldron.
Next, he took out a jade key.
During the day, everyone had seen him hand this jade key over to Ma Yuan.
Therefore, if the protective formation of the Verdant Cloud Sect detected the key, everyone would naturally assume that Ma Yuan was the one moving about.
Meanwhile, Han Tian had returned to the Law Enforcement Hall.
He immediately sought out Bai Zihua and handed over all the evidence he had gathered.
After listening to the information recorded by the surveillance artifact, Bai Zihua's expression instantly became grave.
"The Deep Literary Pavilion has secretly been cultivating demonic technique and even murdering fellow disciples."
"This matter also involves a Nascent Soul Venerable. I'm afraid it has already exceeded my authority to handle."
Holding the listening artifact in his hand, Bai Zihua felt as though it were burning hot.
Once this evidence was made public, even Wu Hao, a Nascent Soul Venerable, would be sentenced to death according to the laws of the Verdant Cloud Sect.
But would the Verdant Cloud Sect truly execute Wu Hao?
The entire sect possessed only a handful of Nascent Soul cultivators.
Losing even one would be equivalent to severing one of its own arms.
"I'll report this matter to my grandfather first and see how he plans to handle it."
Bai Zihua put away the surveillance artifact and added:
"I'm planning to remove the part about Wu Tong being killed. Otherwise, if things don't turn out the way we expect, you may end up being targeted by a Nascent Soul Venerable."
"Senior Brother Bai, you can't remove it."
Han Tian's expression became serious.
"Wu Tong's words are precisely what prove that the entire Deep Literary Pavilion was working together and that they all knew about the demonic cultivation technique."
"If that section is removed, then it becomes a case of Huo Chuan alone cultivating a demonic technique."
"If I choose to value my own life in this matter, then the Nascent Soul Venerable will have nothing to fear, and even more people will die."
"Even if the sect refuses to punish Venerable Wu Hao, once everyone knows he was involved, they will keep watch over him and place some restraints on his actions."
"Han Tian, but you..."
Bai Zihua felt as though a massive stone were pressing down on his heart.
"Senior Brother, all men die eventually. There's no need to worry about me."
"That's true, but if there's a chance to stay alive, then staying alive is still better."
"I'll go see my grandfather first."
Bai Zihua turned and left.
Yet deep down, he had already decided to erase the portion concerning Wu Tong's death.
Watching Bai Zihua's departing figure, Han Tian silently lowered his head and bowed toward him.
I'm sorry. I've dragged you into this.
The moment Han Tian obtained the evidence, he had already anticipated that the Verdant Cloud Sect would try to minimize the matter.
That was why he had secretly given a second copy of the evidence to Lu You.
Previously, the Deep Literary Pavilion had already harmed Zeng Yan once.
Judging by how Lu You had dared to argue with a Golden Core cultivator on Zeng Yan's behalf, Han Tian doubted Lu You would simply overlook that grudge.
Furthermore, Lu You himself was a disciple of the Deep Literary Pavilion.
At any moment, he might be turned into a human pill by them.
Therefore, even if Lu You did not act for Zeng Yan's sake, he would still expose the evidence for his own survival.
Once the evidence became public, Venerable Wu Hao would inevitably learn that Bai Zihua had arranged for Han Tian to enter the secret realm and had deliberately engineered Wu Tong's death.
When that happened, Wu Hao would certainly direct his anger toward Bai Zihua.
And only then would the Nascent Soul Venerable backing Bai Zihua be forced to intervene.
How could a worthless life like mine compare to Wu Tong's?
Even if the Law Enforcement Hall sacrificed him as a scapegoat, it would not be enough to extinguish Wu Hao's hatred.
Sometimes, being considered worthless was an advantage in itself.
. ..
Within the Heavenly District, every Venerable possessed a personal Water-Cloud Realm.
Bai Zihua took out a jade key different from the one Lu You possessed and lightly drew it through the air.
A new world opened before him.
Immediately, a rainbow descended to his feet.
Bai Zihua stepped onto it gently.
The rainbow carried him away and vanished.
When it appeared again, he had arrived beside a great waterfall.
The waterfall thundered downward with tremendous force.
Its crashing waters slammed directly onto what appeared to be a three-year-old child.
The child was blasted away by the torrent, yet seemed completely unconcerned.
Again and again, he climbed back upstream toward the top of the waterfall.
One moment he was knocked down.
The next moment he was climbing back up.
It was as though he were using the waterfall as a giant playground slide.
When the child noticed Bai Zihua, he leapt from the waterfall and landed lightly nearby.
In a sweet, childish voice, he said, "Grandson, you're surprisingly free today. You even had time to come visit your grandpa."