Opening his eyes, he cast aside everything that had come before.
Ye Qingxuan began to experience the cultivation speed granted by his three spiritual roots. During this initial attempt at cultivation, he discovered that his ability to absorb spiritual energy and his conversion efficiency had both improved significantly.
Because he had been cultivating the Earth Immortal Physique, his physical body was already powerful, and his meridians could now withstand the scouring of spiritual energy without issue.
As a result, freed from the constraints of his physical body, Ye Qingxuan’s current cultivation speed was four times what it had been when he had only a single spiritual root.
Based on his original cultivation speed with one spiritual root, Ye Qingxuan might have needed another four hundred years to advance from the late Zifu stage to the peak of the Zifu stage.
But now, with three spiritual roots, he would only need about a hundred years to break through to the Zifu peak.
Reaching the peak of the Zifu stage signified that his energy accumulation was sufficient, and he would have the opportunity to break through to the Golden Core stage.
Many cultivators with insufficient talent end up perishing on the path of accumulating energy.
If he could possess four spiritual roots, relying on the environment of the Xuantian Sect, Ye Qingxuan would only need about fifty years to reach the peak of the Zifu stage.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t realistic. Even with the dual effect of the second-level cave heaven, his fourth spiritual root would still take a full twelve hundred years to nurture.
In the short term, his talent couldn’t be improved again.
“But, it’s fine. Taking it slow is okay; there’s no rush!”
Ye Qingxuan truly wasn’t in a hurry. He was already very satisfied with his current pace of cultivation.
With the backing of the Xuantian Sect, he could lie low indefinitely. As long as he didn’t act recklessly, who could possibly threaten him?
“Now, it’s time to refine my destined lifebound treasure!”
He still had a hundred years before he could break through to the Golden Core stage. Before that, he needed to refine the prototype of his lifebound treasure.
Lifebound treasures are quite special; they are intertwined with the cultivator’s very life force. Their refinement requires divine materials with growth properties, ensuring they can evolve alongside the cultivator’s breakthroughs.
The moment of breaking through to the Golden Core stage and condensing the golden core is the optimal time for the lifebound treasure to take shape.
Furthermore, the lifebound treasure must be crafted by one’s own hands. The refinement process cannot be tainted by another person’s aura; otherwise, once formed, the treasure cannot fully bond with the cultivator’s life force and cannot be considered a true lifebound treasure.
“However, which type of lifebound treasure should I choose to refine?”
Ye Qingxuan’s mind recalled the various methods for refining lifebound treasures within the Earth Immortal inheritance.
Given the materials currently accessible to him, his options were limited. After all, obtaining materials with growth properties was still exceedingly difficult for him at this stage.
In reality, many cultivators, constrained by available refinement methods and materials, could only refine what were essentially pseudo-lifebound treasures.
Pseudo-lifebound treasures are initially made using high-grade materials that lack growth properties. Cultivators often have an artifact refiner help them create a prototype, which they then slowly refine and nurture themselves.
As their cultivation improves, they can continuously perfect the pseudo-lifebound treasure until it reaches the limit of the materials used.
Later on, they can even keep incorporating new materials to continuously strengthen it.
Aside from being unable to automatically grow and transform by absorbing energy, and not being truly life-bound to the cultivator, pseudo-lifebound treasures have no other adverse effects and do not hinder the cultivator’s practice.
Pseudo-lifebound treasures can also achieve a very high degree of synergy with the cultivator. In fact, upon reaching a certain realm, a cultivator could completely reforge their pseudo-lifebound treasure, transforming it into a true lifebound treasure that embodies their own Dao.
Many cultivators are unwilling to go through the trouble of refining even a pseudo-lifebound treasure.
After all, whether refining a true lifebound treasure or a pseudo one, it’s not only time-consuming and mentally demanding but also consumes considerable resources. The average cultivator might not be able to bear the cost.
For ordinary cultivators, the path ahead is predictable and doesn’t require such extensive effort. They can simply replace their magical treasure after each breakthrough.
Although this might result in slightly lower combat prowess compared to peers of the same rank, many cultivators don’t mind, as long as their cultivation speed isn’t affected.
Or rather, they simply lack the financial resources, the inherited refinement techniques, and the extra time and energy to concern themselves with such matters.
But Ye Qingxuan was different. He had obtained the Earth Immortal inheritance, which included methods for refining various lifebound treasures.
Without the constraint of a limited lifespan, he felt no urgent need to cultivate incessantly. Thus, he had ample time to gather materials and meticulously craft his lifebound treasure.
Although he currently operated behind the scenes, with the Xuantian Sect shielding him from the elements upfront, his main body might not have a chance to take action for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
However, this didn’t mean Ye Qingxuan was uninterested in pursuing higher combat power.
Having overwhelming power at one’s disposal but choosing not to use it, and not having that power at all, were two entirely different things!
He carefully reviewed all the lifebound treasure refinement methods within the Earth Immortal inheritance. In the end, Ye Qingxuan chose the World Map as his lifebound treasure.
The reason for choosing the World Map as his lifebound treasure was threefold.
Firstly, the World Map was the lifebound treasure most compatible with the path of the Earth Immortal Dao.
With the cave heaven as a reference, the nurturing and growth process of the World Map would proceed much more smoothly.
Secondly, most other lifebound treasures were fixed-shape weapons with limited potential for transformation.
The World Map, however, was different. Its manifested effects could vary depending on what was inscribed upon it.
Furthermore, if Ye Qingxuan were to lay down a World-Encompassing Grand Formation on the World Map, carrying a grand formation with him at all times would unleash power far exceeding that of a purely offensive lifebound treasure.
Thirdly, the issue came down to materials.
The primary material for refining the World Map was World Membrane. World Membrane is a special material formed when the boundary walls of a world shatter and merge with chaotic energy. It can automatically absorb energy and grow continuously.
There was a high probability that this material could be found in the extra-dimensional battlefields that had been opened up from the Di Xuan Realm.
Compared to other lifebound treasures requiring materials like Life Gold, Eternal Divine Gold, Time Crystal, or Spatial Cores—for which Ye Qingxuan had no leads whatsoever—the World Membrane was a different story.
Unlike the unremarkable nature of World Membrane, the emergence of those other materials would inevitably be accompanied by celestial phenomena. Even if he found them, obtaining them would be impossible for him.
However, World Membrane was different. When not in contact with chaotic energy, it resembled a piece of black hide, utterly plain and inconspicuous, easily overlooked and its value disregarded.
If he had the Tianfu Shop acquire items from the extra-dimensional battlefields within the Xuantian Sect, there was a certain probability of finding a bargain and obtaining it. Although the hope was equally slim, it was far better than having no clue at all.
For now, Ye Qingxuan was just taking things one step at a time, assessing the situation as he went.
If he happened to acquire other divine materials along the way, he might choose to refine a different lifebound treasure.
In the short term, Ye Qingxuan had two main goals:
The first was to utilize the researched and developed Nuclear Explosion Pills series to acquire sufficient resources.
The second was to acquire materials from the extra-dimensional battlefields, hoping to get lucky and obtain World Membrane.
Alternatively, he could try to find other divine materials for refining a lifebound treasure, though this was almost impossible. He certainly couldn’t make a public show of trying to acquire such materials.
Therefore, Ye Qingxuan’s hopes for refining his own lifebound treasure were still largely pinned on the extra-dimensional battlefields.
Having determined his short-term plans, Ye Qingxuan no longer hesitated and directly ended his seclusion.
