A fourth-tier spiritual wood was already a Nascent Soul-level spiritual item, considered a rare treasure of heaven and earth.
Even Golden Core True Lords found it incredibly difficult to obtain, let alone a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Wei Tu suppressed his curiosity and didn’t ask further. After all, this was his first visit to Bao Siyan, and their relationship wasn’t that close.
"The Divine Wood Origin Technique I have is just the upper volume, with only seven layers. You're in the Foundation Establishment Realm now. If you switch to this technique, once you cultivate to the third layer, during your Golden Core formation, it can increase your success rate by ten percent."
Bao Siyan continued.
"An extra ten percent chance of forming a Golden Core?" Wei Tu was tempted when he heard this. Among third-tier techniques, this was already a decent boost.
The Hundred Veins Blood Tempering Art could also increase his success rate by ten percent, and it was only a second-tier technique, but... body refining was notoriously difficult.
Also, the Hundred Veins Blood Tempering Art was a top-tier second-tier technique.
It was just a step away from being a third-tier one.
"Master Bao, how long would it take to switch to this technique?" Wei Tu took the initiative to ask.Even though a solid foundation was important, the current situation was tense. Advancing his cultivation sooner would clearly be beneficial.
Bao Siyan looked at him and gave a definite answer.
"Practicing this technique depends on spiritual roots and comprehension. Your spiritual roots are a bit poor, lower-grade, but your comprehension is decent... within twenty years, you should be able to complete the switch. Within fifty years, you could reach the third layer."
Wei Tu was at a loss for words.
Twenty years just to switch techniques. Fifty years to reach the third layer.
At that rate, he might as well use those twenty years to keep cultivating and preparing for Golden Core formation.
"But that’s for lower-grade spiritual roots. I have mid-grade spiritual roots now, so it shouldn’t take me nearly that long," Wei Tu thought to himself.
When he broke through to Foundation Establishment, his spiritual roots had improved under the influence of the Late Bloomer destiny and the Foundation Establishment Pill, reaching mid-grade.
Now, after more than sixty years of cultivation, his roots were mid-grade, and quite solid at that.
Bao Siyan didn’t know what Wei Tu was thinking. She noticed his hesitation and smiled, "I have some Wood Origin Pills. They can shorten the time needed to cultivate this technique. But these pills are very valuable, and I also need them for my own cultivation..."
After saying this, she stopped talking, clearly waiting for Wei Tu to ask about the price.
Wei Tu was already wary of Bao Siyan. Plus, he normally didn’t take pills of unknown origin, so he had no expectations for these Wood Origin Pills.
"I’ll return to my residence, start cultivating the Divine Wood Origin Technique, and use my destiny to see how long it’ll take..." Wei Tu quietly made up his mind.
With that decided, Wei Tu looked at Bao Siyan, showing a well-timed bitter smile, "Master Bao, although I have some talisman-making skills and can earn a fair number of spirit stones, getting to where I am today with limited talent has taken a lot of pills... right now, my wealth is tight, not like other cultivators at my level..."
In truth, what Wei Tu said wasn’t exactly false. He had indeed exchanged many pills at Mirror Water Pavilion before.
Without those pills, he wouldn’t have advanced two small realms in just a few decades, reaching the late Foundation Establishment stage.
As for his wealth, if not for his talisman-making speed being higher than others, allowing him to keep a steady income, and the support he’d received from clients like Si Qing, Alchemist Shu, and Lü Yuanli, he would’ve gone broke just from buying pills.
So when he pleaded poverty, Bao Siyan didn’t doubt him much and accepted his explanation.
"A Wood Origin Pill costs two thousand spirit stones. It saves you four years of hard work. If you gather enough spirit stones, you can come and exchange for it."
Bao Siyan thought for a moment and said.
Originally, she was planning to give Wei Tu a Wood Origin Pill directly, but she figured that would make him suspicious, so she changed her mind.
What she didn’t realize was that Wei Tu had already been cautious around her since she first tested him.
"As for teaching you the secret arts, I’ll pass them on once you’ve fully switched techniques."
Bao Siyan added.
...
After finishing his consultation with Bao Siyan, Wei Tu didn’t stay long at the Heart-Nourishing Pavilion. After thanking Bao Siyan, he immediately returned to Cloudsmoke Residence and started his closed-door cultivation of the Divine Wood Origin Technique.
Switching to the Divine Wood Origin Technique wasn’t easy, but with Wei Tu’s current realm and strength, getting started wasn’t hard.
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, half a year had gone by.
Inside the cultivation chamber, Wei Tu sat cross-legged on a mat, eyes closed.
With every breath he took, the spiritual energy gathered by the spirit-gathering formation in the chamber gradually took on a green hue.
At that moment, Wei Tu suddenly formed a strange hand seal. The green-tinted spiritual energy around him was instantly drawn in by this seal, all converging into his dantian.
The green light poured onto the Geomagnetic Wood Spirit Seed in his dantian.
In that instant, a towering, lush ancient tree phantom appeared above the spirit seed.
The tree phantom gently swayed, wildly absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy.
Half a day later, the ancient tree phantom turned into a “Green Wood Seal” and imprinted itself onto the Geomagnetic Wood Spirit Seed.
"A third-tier technique always forms a true imprint of power. This Green Wood Seal is the Divine Wood Seal from the Divine Wood Origin Technique. Condensing this seal means I’ve finally entered the technique."
Wei Tu slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath.
Right now, aside from the Divine Wood Origin Technique’s Divine Wood Seal, he also had the Shademon Seal from the third-tier body-refining technique, True Demonic Refinement Art.
These two seals were both true power imprints of third-tier techniques.
A cultivator only truly started mastering a third-tier technique once they condensed a true power imprint.
"I wonder how long it will take me to cultivate the Divine Wood Origin Technique..."
Wei Tu focused his consciousness and checked the writing on his golden-purple destiny in his mind.
Soon, he found the entry for the Divine Wood Origin Technique.
"Divine Wood Origin Technique (1/100): Refined once every three days, fully completed in one hundred seventy years."
"The upper volume of the Divine Wood Origin Technique has seven layers. To fully master it would take one hundred seventy years. But before forming my Golden Core, I just need to reach the third layer."
"In other words, cultivating this to the minor accomplishment stage should only take thirty to forty years."
"Switching over should take at most five years."
Seeing this time, Wei Tu felt a burst of joy.
—After having his destiny for so long, Wei Tu was already well aware that reaching minor accomplishment in a technique took far less time than the average needed for all three stages.
A five-year period to switch techniques—he could wait that long.
As for why... there was such a huge gap between Bao Siyan’s estimation and his actual cultivation speed, Wei Tu already knew the answer.
He wasn’t like other cultivators. With the Late Bloomer destiny, there were no entry barriers for him... the warm flow from the golden-purple destiny would reshape him to perfectly fit any technique he chose.
"Waiting five years, strengthening my foundation, gaining an extra ten percent chance at forming a Golden Core—this trade is worth it."
"Besides, the breathing efficiency of a third-tier technique is much higher than a second-tier one. The five years I spend now will be made up for later in faster cultivation."
Wei Tu thought to himself.
...
Time passed.
In a flash, four years went by.
Wei Tu emerged from seclusion, eyes filled with thought, then turned into a streak of green light, flying toward True Lord Che’s residence.
When he had first become a disciple, True Lord Che had told him that every five years, there would be a lecture, a benefit for all new disciples.
Still, benefit or not, Wei Tu wouldn’t dare skip out on his first meeting with his master.
At the front hall of the residence.
Wei Tu looked around. He didn’t see Gao Chen or the other senior disciples yet, only a few new ones like Qingmei Shangren had arrived. His eyes flickered with thought, already guessing at something.
Five years ago, True Lord Che had hinted to him: that she was the true power, and he should stay away from Gao Chen and the other senior disciples.
"While it may not come to open conflict, there’s bound to be tension between Gao Chen’s group and True Lord Che," Wei Tu thought.
The senior disciples, like Gao Chen, were all at the late Foundation Establishment stage. Their relationship with True Lord Che was one of dependency, more like a faction within a faction.
After all, at this point, True Lord Che couldn’t really help them much with their cultivation.
Normally, since Wei Tu had joined True Lord Che’s sect, he would fall under Gao Chen’s faction.
But True Lord Che didn’t tolerate factions within her ranks. She had directly brought in the new disciples under her personal guidance.
In a way, True Lord Che had taken the fruits of Gao Chen’s faction for herself.
After sitting down, Wei Tu glanced again at Qingmei Shangren and the others.
Among the new disciples.
Besides himself, as the "Senior Brother."
Second disciple Hua Xianlong looked pale, his body carrying hidden injuries. These were from subduing the Thunderhorn Rabbit with Nan Zi.
Wei Tu had heard that when Nan Zi and Hua Xianlong went after the Thunderhorn Rabbit, it had suddenly broken through during the fight, reaching the peak of the second tier, and both of them were badly hurt.
Because of this, Nan Zi had written him a letter, postponing the breeding with the Wind-Cleaving Eagle from three years to seven years later.
In the letter, Nan Zi quietly complained that Hua Xianlong looked good but was useless, his foundation weak, and had ruined her plans, leaving her injured.
Had she known, she wouldn’t have changed her mind and would have invited Wei Tu instead.
But for Wei Tu, his thoughts were different.
He was secretly glad he hadn’t taken the risk of joining Nan Zi, this genius of the Beastmaster Sect, to Xinghua Hollow to subdue the Thunderhorn Rabbit.
Otherwise, he would’ve done the hard work and gotten no thanks.
Wei Tu’s gaze shifted again.
This time, to Third Junior Sister Mu Die and Fourth Junior Sister Qingmei Shangren.
Compared to five years ago, Mu Die and Qingmei Shangren seemed much closer now, chatting quietly and enjoying each other’s company.
"Looks like Mu Die has found an ally in Qingmei Shangren to counter Hua Xianlong."
With a bit of thought, Wei Tu understood why they had become so friendly.