"Kid Gu, times are different now. You've been away from the mundane world for too long. You have no idea how much it has changed since the Calamity. After the Calamity, all things revived, and all sorts of geniuses have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain."
"Back in our day, if one out of a hundred people had a colored Spiritual Root, that was considered good, right? If someone had a One-Color Spirit Root, they were practically a genius. A Two-Color Spirit Root was a one-in-ten-thousand genius among geniuses."
"And now? Ha! Nine out of ten people have colored Spiritual Roots. Don't even mention One-Color or Two-Color Spirit Roots—they're too common. Three-Color ones aren't rare either. A Four-Color Spirit Root can only be considered outstanding. A Five-Color Spirit Root at best qualifies as a genius. As for Six-Color, Seven-Color, Eight-Color... they're not abundant, but they're not exactly few either."
The Spiritual Root.
Everyone is born with a Spiritual Root to some degree.
This thing is innate, also called natural talent.
Spiritual Roots are also divided into ten colors.
The more colors one has, the more powerful the Spiritual Root. A better Spiritual Root represents a better affinity with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, making absorption easier.
Under the same conditions, a disciple with a One-Color Spirit Root might absorb less spiritual energy after a month of hard training than a disciple with a Five-Color Spirit Root absorbs in a single day of cultivation.
Don't doubt it—reality is just that cruel. The better the Spiritual Root, the easier it is to absorb spiritual energy, and naturally, the faster the cultivation speed.
Gu Qingfeng understood this deeply from personal experience. Back then, he was rejected by Yunxia Sect precisely because his Spiritual Root had no color. Not only was it colorless, it was also of the trashy variety.
Now, hearing Huode say that a Four-Color Spirit Root was only considered average these days?
This truly shocked him quite a bit.
Just as Huode said, in their youth, having a One-Color Spirit Root would have been extraordinary.
"And that's just the Spiritual Root. All sorts of Treasure Bodies have been emerging endlessly these years—Fire Spirit Treasure Bodies, Wind Spirit Treasure Bodies..." "You think that's all? Nowadays, those little brats can even build their Foundation in fancy ways: Green Lotus Foundations, Silver Moon Foundations, Fierce Sun Foundations... All kinds of Foundations, enough to make your eyes spin."
"And then there's the True Body... The True Bodies they establish are no small matter either: Wish-Fulfilling True Bodies, Fire Cloud True Bodies, Great Mountain True Bodies... Ai!"
"All sorts of special Treasure Bodies, all sorts of special Foundations, all sorts of special True Bodies... It's simply... I ask you, when we were cultivating back then, did we ever see such things? These were legendary existences, okay? Before the Calamity, in my few hundred years of life, I'd only seen a handful. After the Calamity? The number of various Treasure Bodies, Foundations, and True Bodies I've seen is beyond counting. Even our little Yunxia Sect has quite a few."
"Besides that, there are also things like bloodlines, Immortal fates... It's simply... simply beyond words."
"Ai! Born at the wrong time... If I had been born after the Calamity, would I have ended up so miserably?"
Huode couldn't help but sigh. This sigh contained all the helplessness of cultivation, all the whims of fate, all the so-called 'right time, right destiny'.
Beside him, Gu Qingfeng also furrowed his brows deeply. Speaking of which, he had cultivated for five hundred years, had successively ascended to the thrones of Immortal and Monster Kings, had ascended to the Heavenly Realm, and had also ascended to the Nine Nethers Emperor's throne. He was considered someone who had seen the greater world.
Yet, listening to Huode describe the changes after the Calamity now, even he couldn't help but be greatly shocked. He knew that after the Calamity, it was as if heaven and earth had been reborn. With the revival of all things, all sorts of miracles were bound to arise accordingly.
He knew.
He just hadn't expected the revival to be so frenzied.
All sorts of special Treasure Bodies, all sorts of special Foundations, all sorts of special True Bodies, all sorts of special bloodlines, all sorts of special Immortal fates...
They had all appeared?
From Huode's meaning, it seemed there were many, with even little Yunxia Sect having quite a few...
If that were truly the case, then it was indeed madness.
Seeing Gu Qingfeng fall silent, Huode sighed again. "After the Calamity, all things revived. Spiritual veins are everywhere, and spiritual energy—it's called abundant. The speed at which those little brats cultivate is called fast... Back then, when we started cultivating from the first level of the Postnatal Realm to the ninth level and stepped into the Innate Realm, it would take at least ten years, right? The fastest would still take two or three years, right? Even those hailed as heaven-defying prodigies would need at least a year, right?"
"Now, for some little brats to go from the Postnatal Realm to the Innate Realm, taking a year is considered slow. Some youngsters can break through in just a few months. That speed... it's simply... simply enough to make this old man die of envy."
Huode's expression was somewhat desolate. He tilted his head back and took a swig of wine. "Before the Calamity, this old man, relying on a Golden Core nurtured for a few hundred years, could still make a bit of a name. Even if I encountered a Daozun, I could exchange a couple of moves. Now... don't even mention Daozun. Outside, if I randomly run into some youngster, this old man has to make a detour."
"Back then, when you made your way in the world, you relied on strength. What was strength? Cultivation realm, mastery of Immortal arts, the power of magical treasures. Now, when you make your way, they don't emphasize these anymore... They emphasize all sorts of Treasure Bodies, all sorts of Foundations, and all sorts of True Bodies..." "Take the kid who injured me, for example. When his Treasure Body unleashes its power, relying on his special Foundation, I couldn't even do anything to his True Body. If I hadn't been relying on the spiritual power of my Golden Core cultivated over seven or eight hundred years back then, I probably would have been utterly humiliated. Even so, I suffered a silent loss—that kid's True Body counter-shocked me, cracking my Golden Core. It hasn't recovered to this day."
"Is it really as bizarre as you say?"
To be honest, although Gu Qingfeng had experienced many things, he wasn't too familiar with those special Treasure Bodies, special Foundations, and special True Bodies. Because when he was cultivating in the mundane world back then, although some people possessed things like Treasure Bodies, they weren't common. As for the Heavenly Realm, it was either Immortals or Demons, and they didn't emphasize these things either.
"Kid Gu, this old man isn't trying to scare you. I know I can't scare you anyway. Besides, back when you were cultivating, if we're talking about being abnormal, you were absolutely unprecedented. As for whether there will be anyone to come after you, that I don't know."
"This old man is saying all this just to tell you—you must not look down on the youngsters nowadays. You absolutely must not. There are probably some things you don't know yet, right? In our world, several reincarnated great powers have been erased. And the ones who killed them were these youngsters."
"I heard those reincarnated great powers, before their reincarnation, were all Great Immortals of the Heavenly Realm. Since they could ascend to the Heavenly Realm and become Great Immortals, they must have been very powerful, right? Never mind their aptitude, they must have mastered the Ten Immortal Arts with ease, right? But so what? After reincarnating, weren't they still wiped out by youngsters?"
"Damn! Are youngsters nowadays really that powerful? They dare to erase even reincarnated Great Immortals?"
Gu Qingfeng narrowed his eyes, holding a cup of wine to his lips, finding it somewhat hard to believe.
"Why would this old man lie to you?"
"Hearing you say that, I'm feeling a little scared."
Gu Qingfeng downed the wine in his cup in one gulp and laughed. "Don't let it be that I end up not helping you snatch back the Yunxia Sect's leadership and instead lose my own little life here. That joke would be way too big."
"Get lost! Even the Heavenly Dao couldn't pass judgment on you, kid. What are you afraid of?"
Afraid?
Huode knew that the word 'afraid' had never existed in Gu Qingfeng's personal dictionary.
"I'm telling you, Huode, the reason I survived the Heavenly Dao's judgment isn't because I'm capable. It's because I was lucky."
Gu Qingfeng laughed and cursed. "Besides, I'm so weak now, and the little brats nowadays are so crazy they can even erase reincarnated Great Immortals. Aren't you worried they'll slaughter me?"
"If I were worried, I wouldn't have been playing the grandson for you all these days."
Huode curled his lip, shot him a glare, and said irritably, "Although the little brats nowadays are crazy, compared to you back in the day, they're just playing house. Them erasing a reincarnated Great Immortal might be a very impressive event in this old man's eyes, but in your eyes, is that even a thing? It's about the same as kids playing with mud pies, right?"
"I never erased any reincarnated Great Immortals back then."
"You didn't erase any reincarnated Great Immortals. You damn well killed the Great Immortals themselves! And killing the Great Immortals wasn't enough for you. You went and annihilated the Immortal Dynasty. That Immortal Dynasty had thousands upon thousands of Great Immortals, and you alone slaughtered every last one of them clean. That sword you swung back then, do you remember it?"
"Which sword?"
"The one you used to slash apart the Immortal Dynasty's palace. That sword of yours back then didn't just annihilate the Immortal Dynasty; you damn well split the sky open with it. Do you know how long that crack in the sky lasted? A full two hundred years... It only healed after the Myriad Heavens Calamity. Even now, when the sky turns gloomy, you can occasionally still see the traces of that crack."
"Really?"
Gu Qingfeng had long forgotten about this matter.
"Enough, don't play dumb with this old man. Anyway, you've already agreed, kid. You have to handle this properly for me. And this matter can't wait. The Nine-Hua Alliance has been making constant moves recently. I'm afraid of complications arising from delay."