Chapter 6 : The Path of Immortality
Li Hao scratched his head, not understanding what possessed Fang Mu and Xiao Fan that made them suddenly want him to become cultivators.
“Hao Er, don’t you want to fly? As long as you train hard, it’s not impossible to achieve,” Xiao Fan said in an attempt to seduce him.
Li Hao shook his head. He wasn’t too interested in that anymore.
“What about longevity? You can live longer if you become a cultivator.” Fang Mu took another approach.
“Uncle, what is the use of long life? I might spend all of my life on Peach Blossom Mountain.”
“Besides longevity, you can become stronger,” Xiao Fan added.
“Uncle, if being a cultivator really makes you stronger, why can’t you find your own food?”
Fang Mu and Xiao Fan were choking on their own saliva; Li Hao’s words were like needles piercing their hearts.
“Uncle, didn’t you guys talk about unifying the world of cultivators or something? We can’t even get out of Peach Blossom Mountain, so what’s the use of teaching me?”
Fang Mu and Xiao Fan looked at each other. Neither of them had forgotten their situation, but they didn’t know what would happen in the future, so they wanted to pin their hopes on Li Hao.
After all, neither of them had a successor and didn’t want everything they had learned over hundreds of years to go to waste.
“Hao Er, consider this as a way for us to pass the time and repay the favor for helping us both,” Xiao Fan said quietly, his confidence fading.
Xiao Fan and Fang Mu felt like digging a hole and then hiding in it. Both of them were the greatest heroes in the world and countless people wanted to learn from them, but Li Hao actually took the opportunity as something which is troublesome.
“Uncle, I don’t really understand the world you guys are talking about, but I remember a saying that, for a person to become a cultivator, one must have something called a Spirit Root, right? What if I don’t have it?” It was only after Li Hao spoke that Fang Mu and Xiao Fan realized this, both of them feeling too rushed to forget the basics.
Fang Mu took out a crystal ball shaped device and asked Li Hao to place his hand on it. Before long, the tool showed five different colors, which made Fang Mu and Xiao Fan’s faces look dark.
“Is something wrong, Uncle?” Li Hao noticed the change in the expressions of the two.
“No. Hao Er, you have a Spirit Root, it’s just that it has five elements,” Fang Mu replied slowly.
Fang Mu explained that a Spirit Root could consist of one to five elements. The fewer elements one had, the purer the quality of the Spirit Root. In the world of cultivators, one’s talent was judged by the quality of the Spirit Root one possessed.
“Your Spirit Root has the elements of fire, water, metal, wood, and earth. If you look at it from one perspective, this means that you can use almost any technique at your disposal. But cultivators are better off studying one field until they are skilled at it,” Xiao Fan added.
Xiao Fan explained that one would normally follow a path that befits one’s Spirit Root. Xiao Fan, for example, has a Spirit Root with two elements. His talent was above average, and he had a special body called the Thousand Poison Body that made him choose the path as a Poison Cultivator. In addition to being a cultivator steeped in poison arts, Xiao Fan’s possession of the earth and metal elements in his Spirit Root allowed him to practice techniques that strengthened his body after mastering poison arts to the pinnacle, allowing him to become one of the greatest Body Cultivators in existence.
“Poison Cultivator… Body Cultivator… How about Uncle Fang?” Li Hao turned to Fang Mu.
“I also have a Spirit Root with two elements, namely fire and wood, making it suitable for me to learn Alchemy and become an Alchemist. Like Xiao Fan, I have a special body known as the Sword Spirit Body, making me perfect for practicing swordsmanship and becoming a Sword Cultivator…” According to Fang Mu’s explanation, cultivators have various types which depend on the path they take, such as Beast Cultivators, Ghost Cultivators, Demon Cultivators, and many more.
“Sword Cultivators are known as the best cultivators because they cannot be defeated by other cultivators at the same level of practice, as well as the most common cultivators encountered in the Righteous Sect,” Fang Mu said with a bit of pride.
“Hmph! What’s so good about it? Sword cultivators mostly don’t master Daoist Magic, making it difficult for them to take on a large number of opponents at once. Poison Cultivators are the best! Not only can we poison people with higher practice levels than us, we also have no trouble taking on multiple enemies at once.” Xiao Fan snorted loudly.
Fang Mu’s brows immediately rose and fell upon hearing that. “Xiao Fan, what do you mean by that?”
“I didn’t mean anything. I just didn’t want you to mislead Hao Er with your lies.”
“Lies?! Who’s lying?!”
“Of course you are!”
Li Hao shook his head. They’re at it again… Over the past few days, Li Hao had witnessed the two of them arguing and even fighting over petty disputes, leaving him confused whether these two were actually close or hostile.
Fang Mu and Xiao Fan started arguing for quite a while until Li Hao yawned and finally fell asleep in a cross-legged position.
“That’s enough. This isn’t the time for us to fight…” Fang Mu was finally able to control himself.
“I haven’t finished…” Xiao Fan wanted to say more, but his stomach started to growl loudly. Arguing for a long time was enough to make both of them hungry, and Li Hao woke up hearing the sound of their stomachs.
“Ah, Uncles, are you done fighting? How about we eat first and then continue?” Fang Mu and Xiao Fan could only sigh deeply before following Li Hao to prepare the food.
Moments later, the three of them enjoyed a meal together. “Five elemental Spirit Root, huh…” Fang Mu only ate a bit before starting to sink into his thoughts.
“This is nothing strange. Only one in ten humans have Spirit Root, and half of new cultivators every year have five element Spirit Roots…” Xiao Fan could hear Fang Mu’s low mumbling, but he chose to continue eating.
Xiao Fan understood Fang Mu’s feelings because he had the same disappointment. They didn’t blame Li Hao but blamed their expectations being too high. No matter how well the two of them taught Li Hao, with such a Spirit Root, Li Hao’s future as a cultivator was very limited.
“Even if you can’t expect something great from him, it wouldn’t hurt to teach him a thing or two, right? After all, there’s nothing to lose either.” Xiao Fan tried to comfort Fang Mu.
