Chapter 24: Wood Element Essence

After leaving the Spirit Plant Hall, Lin Dong descended the mountain to search the valleys surrounding Xianmiao Peak. As expected, disciples of the current Xianmiao class were already working the fields within.

These spiritual lands were precisely at the low-grade First Rank; most were planted for one or two years and then left fallow for three or four years to nourish the soil. They were primarily intended for the Xianmiao disciples pursuing the Way of Spirit Plants to struggle with, allowing them to better enter the path of spiritual cultivation.

Entering the valley, Lin Dong relied on his Spirit Root Dao Seed's craving for Earth Qi to select a patch of wasteland. Though overgrown with weeds, the Earth Qi was relatively abundant. After planting a sign to indicate his occupation, he returned to Xianmiao Peak.

First, he needed to cultivate his cultivation technique as quickly as possible; second, he had to lend the two spirit stones he had obtained to Ding Zhen.

When Lin Dong gave the two spirit stones to Ding Zhen, the latter looked at him with deep gratitude. "Donglai, I have already borrowed two spirit stones from Zhong Xuan to make up the cost for the spiritual meals."

Lin Dong nodded, sharing his observations from Lingxi Peak while leading him to the kitchen area of the cafeteria to find Peng Yue.

Peng Yue was very satisfied that Lin Dong could introduce a new disciple to him so quickly. Taking the spirit stones, he patted his chest and promised, "Leave it to me. I won't let you guys suffer any losses."

Although Ding Zhen felt a pang of heartache at having to spend two spirit stones at once, a thought struck him. "Deacon Peng, I have a low-grade Five-Element Spirit Root with a strong Fire affinity. Besides smelting ores and forging tools, is it possible to learn the Way of Spiritual Cuisine?"

"Theoretically, yes. The Way of the Kitchen involves balancing Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements. However, much like alchemy, it requires a vast amount of spiritual materials for experience. Otherwise, you'll only produce food that is edible; to become a spiritual chef, you must master at least three spiritual recipe formulas... Without hundreds of spirit stones worth of ingredients for practice, I'm afraid it will be difficult to even enter the gate."

Hearing this, Lin Dong immediately said, "I chose farming, and you chose spiritual cuisine. The things I grow—vegetables and spiritual grains—can at least be eaten by us, and we can raise our own spiritual chickens and pigs. We were country folk before; as long as we are willing to learn, it shouldn't be difficult."

"Heh." Peng Yue shook his head. "You can try."

After placing the order for the spiritual meals, the two did not stay long. Lin Dong encouraged Ding Zhen and passed on a few essentials of the Muscle-Tendon Strengthening Stance and the Primordial Nurturing Breathing Technique.

At least regarding these two techniques, Lin Dong's comprehension was quite high due to the guidance and improvements provided by his Dao Seed.

Following Lin Dong's instructions, Ding Zhen indeed discovered many flaws in his own practice. For instance, the frequency of his breathing and the natural coordination of his stance movements were somewhat stiff, failing to reach the state of being natural and effortless.

"Donglai, your comprehension is so high!"

"The academy teaches all of this, but it's not enough to just remember it; you have to act on it. Knowing is one thing, but being able to execute is quite another."

Although Ding Zhen understood these principles, they were difficult to implement; he had been blindly working hard without the ability to verify his progress.

After giving his guidance, Lin Dong returned to his own room, intending to cultivate the Five Elements Qi-Gathering Technique.

However, during the early stages of Qi Refinement, one could only cultivate for one hour a day. Therefore, Lin Dong planned to follow the guidance and only cultivate the *Jia-Yin Life-Gathering Formula*, which could only begin during the Yin hour (3:00 AM – 5:00 AM).

For the time being, he only allowed the roots of the [Qi Induction into the Body] portion of his Wood Dao Seed to automatically accumulate spiritual Qi for a full day to be refined into spiritual power.

Sensing the spiritual Qi accumulated within the vortex of his mid-dantian, which amounted to about seventeen or eighteen strands, Lin Dong recited the divisions of the cultivation realms.

Spiritual Qi is divided into individual strands. Absorbing and refining ten strands yields one wisp of spiritual power.

In the Dantian, reaching the first layer of Qi Refinement requires accumulating 120 wisps to be considered the second layer. To move from the second to the third layer requires 240 wisps. Moving from the third to the fourth layer involves a bottleneck; once broken, one can accumulate 360 wisps.

Lin Dong thought to himself, *This Spirit Root Dao Seed automatically draws spiritual Qi from the void into my body, which saves me a lot of time. In less than a day, it has gathered enough Qi to refine one and a half wisps of spiritual power. At this rate, even if I don't actively cultivate, I will reach the second layer of Qi Refinement in just three months.*

He hadn't inquired about how long it took for a low-grade Five-Element Spirit Root to reach the Qi Refinement stage. Once he found out, he would break through along with the masses to avoid exposing his fortuitous opportunities.

As for the spiritual Qi currently accumulated, Lin Dong planned to use it to nourish his spiritual marrow and generate more essence blood. Later, he would refine the essence blood into Fetal Breath to prepare for the cultivation of his Inner Landscape Blessed Field.

Lin Dong's body was originally deficient in essence blood; he had previously lost forty-nine drops in one go, and lost another nine after refining essence into Qi.

*For now, I can only perform Primordial Nurturing Breathing until the Yin hour, using the spiritual Qi to nourish my spiritual marrow. With this regulation, and without practicing stance techniques, I won't have to fear consuming too much Qi and blood. With a normal diet, I can eventually recover and then slowly refine the Fetal Breath.*

When the Yin hour arrived, Lin Dong sat cross-legged as instructed by the Qi-Gathering method. With his five centers facing heaven, chest held high, anus tightened, abdomen pulled in, and tongue pressed against the upper palate, he breathed through his mouth and nose, sensing the *Jia-Yin* Vitality of the East.

As for the visualization of the great tree, Lin Dong used his Inner Landscape to stare directly at the sprout of green from the Wood Dao Seed.

Sure enough, amidst the haze, a surge of vibrant, life-filled spiritual Qi felt intimately connected to him. This Qi was precisely the *Jia-Yin* Vitality of Heaven and Earth. It belonged to the Wood element, but it was not merely generic Wood Qi; Wood Qi is divided into *Jia* Wood and *Yi* Wood, and this portion was specifically *Jia* Wood Qi, leaning heavily toward pure vitality.

However, this time the Dao Seed did not grow new roots. Instead, the root representing [Qi Induction into the Body] absorbed this *Jia-Yin* Vitality, causing the technique to transform while simultaneously transmitting a thought

*[Craving for the Blessed Field]*

The Dao Seed had sprouted, but without a Blessed Field as its foundation, relying solely on itself to draw from the void felt as if it lacked certain essential nutrients. Its current growth was still the result of Lin Dong's previous hard work in collecting the vitality of plants and absorbing Earth Qi.

Furthermore, this Spirit Root Dao Seed naturally filtered out the other four elements—Metal, Earth, Water, and Fire—leaving only Wood Qi. By following the *Jia-Yin Life-Gathering Formula*, he was collecting extra *Jia* Wood vitality to match the Wood element, which saved him a great deal of effort in distinguishing different types of Qi.

"Wood Essence Qi?"

As the Yin hour passed, the *Jia-Yin Life-Gathering Formula* naturally ceased, reverting to the basic Qi Induction technique.

However, a tiny bit of emerald-green essence Qi had appeared in his surroundings, filtered directly from the spiritual Qi.

Although he had cultivated for an hour, he still felt he had surplus energy; it was simply that once the hour passed, it became difficult to gather more *Jia-Yin* Qi.

Lin Dong made up his mind: *When the Wu hour arrives, I will try the Bing-Wu Yang-Gathering Method.*

He planned to follow the cycle of the Five Elements Qi-Gathering Technique: Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, and Water generates Wood.

This would require five specific hours of cultivation.

Setting aside everything else, his priority was to gather enough essence Qi of the five elements. The Dao Seed was still small; Lin Dong felt he should first try to create an Inner Landscape Blessed Field about one inch square to establish his roots, and then expand it slowly later.