Chapter 5: The Five-Element Skill

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After calming Ling Wuque, Chen Jingzhai followed through with his plan of digging a hole during the night.

This time, he dug the hole alone. Ling Wuque did not follow him.

After a night of training, he successfully reached Level 4 of the Meditation Plane without hiccups. Such progress was practically unthinkable.

If Master Ge were to find out about this, he would most likely faint. However, Chen Jingzhai was not satisfied. He sensed that something was off.

It seemed as though different holes had different effectiveness.

During his second attempt at cultivation, he merely went up one level in cultivation.

Last night, he had broken through to Level 3 of the Meditation Plane in one shot. By the looks of it, each hole contained different amounts of earth essence power.

As his cultivation increased, the amount of earth essence power he required to improve also increased. Hence, his rate of improvement had slowed down.

Level 4 of the Meditation Plane was already the Intermediate Meditation Plane. He had reached the level of Year 10 aspirant cultivators. That meant if he leveled up once more, he was sure to be able to join a celestial clan.

However, if he wanted to obtain more benefits and perform better, he should be at a higher cultivation level.

After Chen Jingzhai returned to the house, he did not prepare to continue cultivating.

He took out the manuscript of the Rock Technique and flipped it to the end.

Aside from the instructions for cultivating the Rock Technique, the manuscript also contained a skill.

Every manuscript was like this. For cultivators at the Meditation Plane, each attribute had only one skill suitable for them to train with.

The Rock Technique manuscript also contained the Earth Elemental Technique.

With this technique, one’s speed of running on land would increase. Their stamina would recover rapidly too.

After mastering the technique, they could still sprint up to their waists even with their lower bodies on the ground.

If they were lucky enough, they could comprehend the Burrowing Technique through this method.

[Technique: Earth Elemental Technique]

[Effect: Stamina recovers rapidly. Speed of the user increases.]

[Flaw: Leap across three large pits and run to and fro 55 times.]

Chen Jingzhai’s face revealed joy and surprise. He never imagined that this would also have flaws to exploit.

This flaw was also not difficult to exploit and could be completed easily. But he did not know how effective it would be.

He silently memorized the Earth Elemental Technique and attempted to utilize it.

Unfortunately, his talent in using techniques was average. He could not succeed the first time.

Chen Jingzhai very quickly gave up. He did not feel like he needed to waste his time on this. When the first rays of sunlight shone into the house, Ling Wuque also finished cultivating.

“How do you feel?” asked Chen Jingzhai.

“Great!” answered Ling Wuque as he smiled. “I feel that I need less than a month to reach Level 2 of the Meditation Plane. This cultivation method is just too awesome!”

“A month? Not bad,” said Chen Jingzhai, nodding his head. There was a strange look in his eyes.

Reaching the next level within a month seemed very fast. However, Chen Jingzhai had reached Level 3 of the Meditation Plane overnight.

It appeared that with different techniques, their flaws also had different levels of effectiveness.

He did not point this out as he followed Ling Wuque to collect their meals.

Over the next month, Chen Jingzhai’s cultivation increased by leaps and bounds.

After using up all the necessary power in the holes of the nearby old tree roots, he was at Level 6 of the Meditation Plane. He had also mastered the Earth Elemental Technique. Unfortunately, he had not comprehended the Burrowing Technique.

The flaws only applied to the techniques themselves and not anything related to them.

In a month, he obtained the manuscripts for other attribute techniques through Ling Wuque. The manuscripts he acquired were as follows:

The metal attribute Golden Light Technique

The water attribute Rainwater Technique

The wood attribute Evergreen Technique

The fire attribute Fire Cloud Technique

All of them were single-attribute techniques, and each of the manuscripts had a skill recorded inside. After reaching Level 5 of the Meditation Plane, Chen Jingzhai began studying these techniques.

He was not interested in multi-attribute techniques.

This was not only because of the cognitive bias that he inherited from his masters but also because he screened the techniques with his skill.

The most significant advantage of single-attribute techniques was the purity of the spiritual power they produced.

Their greatest flaw was that it was difficult to get started and even more difficult cultivating them.

However, for Chen Jingzhai, this was not an issue.

He could exploit the disadvantages of the techniques and could rapidly cultivate them. Yet this was not the most significant thing he came across. When he put the five manuscripts together, an unexpected scene occurred.

[Technique: The Rock Technique, the Golden Light Technique, the Rainwater Technique, the Evergreen Technique, the Fire Cloud Technique]

[Advantage: All five attributes are present. Merging all five of them enables one to rebuild their spirit root.]

[Disadvantage: The success rate of merging them is infinitesimally low. When a cultivator attempts to combine them, there is a high chance of dying due to sudden, unbearable power pushing through their meridians.]

[Flaw: To successfully merge all five techniques, cultivate in a land rich with the essence of the five elements, along with the aid of a five-element spirit fruit and a five-element spirit jade.]

Chen Jingzhai was stunned when he saw the writings before him.

Before this, he had not imagined the possibility of merging all five techniques in his cultivation. Moreover, he had a chance to rebuild his spirit root if he succeeded in combining them. This effect was practically heaven-defying.

Unfortunately, even though he identified the flaw, he could not exploit it. The prerequisites to success were too tricky.

Five-element spirit fruits were hard to come by. As for a five-element spirit jade, he had never even heard of such a thing before.

He briefly knew what a land rich with the essence of the five elements was, but that was just something he came across in his reading. He had no idea how to locate such a place. It was because large forces would usually occupy lands rich with essence power.

The large clans would not easily let others have an opportunity to use such resources.

“Combining the five elements to rebuild one’s spirit root—we’re talking about rebuilding the spirit root here,” mumbled Chen Jingzhai as he tapped his fingers on the manuscripts.

He often loathed himself for not having celestial bones and the heavenly spirit root. He hated his lack of innate ability.

Now, an opportunity to alter his innate ability was presented before him. It was tough for him to let go of such a chance.

What should he do? Could it be that he could only plan for his next step after joining a celestial clan? However, if the intel he received was real, then the inner circles of the celestial clans were full of fierce rivalries.

He thought to himself, “The inner circles of any celestial clan are no different from those portrayed in the Wuxia novels. There are many cliques, and people with similar interests group together to pursue their selfish goals. Every celestial clan has its problems. Nobody will pay attention to me if I am not talented enough. Therefore, even if I join a celestial clan, I will not be able to get my hands on any five-element spirit fruit or spirit jade. Instead of getting what I want, I will waste my time getting dragged into the rivalries.”

Chen Jingzhai had an apparent goal in mind. He wanted to utilize every single second for cultivation.

Aside from the fact that cultivation could strengthen his body, the idea of being able to control his powers was enticing enough to keep him going. Moreover, with cultivation, he might even have a chance to become an immortal Celestial.

As someone who had experienced death once, Chen Jingzhai felt a strong urge to stay alive. He had an unwavering determination to live.

He wanted to be a cultivator who focused on cultivation, not one who schemed and did not desire to improve themselves.

Chen Jingzhai discovered that he had no other option as he pondered about this. He would not be able to do as he pleased if he joined a celestial clan.

He was fated to never come across a spirit jade or a spiritual fruit as things were now.

“Oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there,” said Chen Jingzhai as he let out a soft sigh.

He felt that he was getting ahead of himself. Paranoia and forcing things were a cultivator’s greatest threats. With his remarkable talent, the difference between his future and past was like heaven and earth.

Retracting his dissatisfaction, Chen Jingzhai placed the remaining manuscripts to one side.

He prepared to cultivate the Rock Technique to completion. Although there were no more old tree roots nearby, some were still by the river. He could only wait until it was dark to go digging holes.

He still had almost four years. Even if he did not have a way to exploit the flaw, Chen Jingzhai did not feel like it was a waste.

He had long been aware that the inner circles of the celestial clans were complicated. Since he already knew of such conditions, he has no need to stick out his neck.

He decided to put this thought aside and slow down his cultivation.

That very day, he visited the academy’s library, seeking manuscripts that he enjoyed reading. He was not alone. On the contrary, there were many people in the library.

They were all aspirant cultivators with five-element spirit roots and four-element spirit roots. They were here because they had given up on joining a celestial clan.

For them, reading more books could help them pick up other skills. The library of the Aspirant Cultivators Academy had all kinds of books and was well-stocked. If they came across a book that could aid them in the future, it might save their lives or even change their fortunes. Hence, these people, who rejected homework and detested studying, were so passionate about reading.

Chen Jingzhai was a rare three-element spirit root aspirant cultivator among the library-goers. However, he was also known to be a bookworm. Too often, the library was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

No one would say anything about it. Chen Jingzhai did not like to mingle and enjoyed keeping to his own devices.