Chapter 338

Chapter 338: Advancement to Seventh Grade Spiritual Roots

The next day, Zhou Luo went to his training room and took out a magical artifact.

It was a top-grade magical artifact sword, obtained from the Ancestor of the Lu Family.

As a magical artifact sword, its very material was a heavenly treasure and earthly marvel, precisely what the Body Refinement Technique required.

Zhou Luo sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, holding up the top-grade first-rank magical artifact sword with both hands, and began operating the method of the Ten Thousand Refining Spirit Body Technique.

Under the blessing of his magic power, his palms gradually turned fiery red, akin to scorching flames, which seemed to be burning the top-grade first-rank magical artifact sword.

After a short while, wisps of white smoke abruptly rose from the silvery-white sword body. Beneath the smoke, the once gleaming blade instantly turned dull as the essential material essence within was slowly extracted.

This was the way the Ten Thousand Refining Spirit Body Technique functioned.

Supported by mana, it forcibly refined the power within these first-grade magical artifacts, then channeled it back to nourish the practitioner’s own body.

Of course, this nourishment wasn’t instant; it required a prolonged period of sustained effort.

At such times, one could choose to infuse this power into a specific body part, or circulate it through a full cycle within the body to temper the entire physique.

Naturally, Zhou Luo intended to temper his entire body into a spiritual artifact, so he focused intently on guiding those essential energies to begin altering his physical form.

After one hour, the power of the top-grade magical artifact sword was completely absorbed.

Zhou Luo merely felt a wave of exhaustion and a faint, subtle sensation on his body, but it wasn’t profound.

Clearly, a single top-grade magical artifact sword was insufficient to cause any substantive change in his physique.

Immediately, he took out another top-grade magical artifact.

This was a hammer, the very magical artifact belonging to Lu Haotian, whom he had killed long ago.

He continued, adhering to the technique’s requirements, to draw in the spiritual energy from the magical artifact.

This process was extremely slow. Roughly an hour later, the power of this magical artifact was also absorbed by him.

Yet, his body still showed no trace of change.

Zhou Luo wasn’t disheartened.

He took out yet another magical artifact.

Currently, he possessed at least a dozen more magical artifacts. Even if he ran out later, he could always have Wang Lang send more.

After all, following his cooperation with Tian Xia Restaurant, his businesses in the Immortal City had gradually expanded. The annual profits he could collect were already staggeringly immense, and this was separate from the Lin Family’s income.

Calculating this, aside from the Qinyuan Sect, it truly wouldn’t invite any opposing opinions if he declared himself the richest person in the Qinyuan Domain.

Anyway, since he had already stepped into Foundation Establishment, he had absolutely no need for these magical artifacts anymore.

As for his sons, they had the pills and talismans he provided; if they were to try operating such high-grade magical artifacts, it would only waste the artifacts’ potency.

Zhou Luo practiced like this for an entire day. Over this one day, he consumed a total of five top-grade first-rank magical artifacts.

The benefit this brought was that he finally noticed his body beginning to transform.

His wheat-colored skin now glistened like pristine white jade, smoothly radiant. Touching it transmitted a distinct cool sensation.

However, this transformation did not last long before completely fading.

The cultivation path of the Ten Thousand Refining Spirit Body Technique was indeed a long and arduous journey.

Fortunately, he possessed sufficient wealth to support it.

…

Spring passed into winter, cold gave way to heat.

Before he knew it, the day arrived when his Concubine was due to give birth.

Over these ten months, Zhou Luo had expended a vast quantity of high-grade magical artifacts to refine his body.

By now, his physique had completed its initial stage of refinement.

His skin now took on a pale blue-white hue, smooth and taut to the touch, steadily advancing toward an artifact-like quality.

There was no denying it: the heavenly and earthly treasures required by this Body Refinement Technique were truly astonishing in their magnitude.

After completing the first stage, he found himself temporarily unable to absorb the essence from any more magical artifacts.

He needed ample time to gradually assimilate the immense energies already infused within him and then refine them fully.

During this period, he also found time to refine a furnace of Foundation Establishment Dan for the group of cultivators who had crowdsourced the alchemy.

The furnace yielded only two pills.

With his reputation steadily growing louder, he deliberately began to slow his pace of pill refining.

This allowed him to discreetly retain more Foundation Establishment Dan materials for himself.

Currently, he had gathered enough auxiliary herbs for three entire batches of the pill—everything except the main ingredient.

The main ingredient, however, simply could not be economized.

Thankfully, his Dragon Blood Grass was now safely transplanted within the core district of the Immortal City, eliminating that worry.

The ones demanding his attention now were the Xuan Ling fruit and the Jade Spirit Mushroom.

He had tasked Wang Lang with keeping an eye out for these.

Wang Lang’s status in the Immortal City was far from low these days.

Despite being only at the eighth level of Qi Refinement, he carried himself around other cultivators with the unmistakable air of a high-ranking figure.

Everyone knew he was backed by Zhou Luo and enjoyed the formidable support of the Tian Xia Restaurant.

Now that they controlled such a significant portfolio of businesses, he felt confident the remaining two main ingredients wouldn’t be hard to find.

Outside the inner chamber of Zhou Fu.

Zhou Luo stood silently with Yao Wu, awaiting the arrival of their fifty-third child.

Nestled in Yao Wu’s arms, the four-year-old Zhou Shixin gazed curiously at her father, her little hands constantly tossing about, a playful grin lighting up her face.

Wah—Wah—

Soon, a newborn’s clear, piercing cry sounded from within the birthing chamber.

Simultaneously, the clear ping of a system notification echoed in Zhou Luo’s mind.

[Congratulations, Host! Your 53rd child is born! Awarded: fifty-year lifespan bonus!]

[Child possesses Sixth Grade spiritual roots! Host obtains: fifteen talent points!]

[Current Aptitude: Eighth Grade spiritual root (507/500) (Upgradable!)]

As expected, the child possessed mid-grade spiritual roots.

With this child’s arrival granting him fifteen talent points, his Eighth Grade spiritual root finally accumulated enough points to reach its maximum level—500 points filled!

His spirits surged. Without a moment’s hesitation, Zhou Luo triggered the upgrade.

Immediately, a profound, elusive power blossomed within his body.

It felt like a sudden, intangible breeze—there one instant, gone the next.

Before he could even attempt to grasp or examine it, the sensation vanished entirely.

[Alert: Your spiritual root has undergone transformation!]

[Current Aptitude: Seventh Grade spiritual roots (7/5000)]

The system prompt faded; Zhou Luo’s spiritual root aptitude had upgraded silently.

Looking at his interface now, it clearly displayed "Seventh Grade spiritual roots."

"Five thousand talent points needed?"

Zhou Luo’s heart gave a jolt as he stared at the requirement listed beside Seventh Grade spiritual roots.

A Seventh Grade spiritual root was categorized as low-grade, while a Sixth Grade spiritual root would already qualify as high-grade.

The further the aptitude progressed, the more immense the accumulation of talent points required.

He suspected that in the stages beyond, the points demanded would soar into the tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands.

Zhou Luo keenly felt the weight of responsibility on this path of upgrading his spiritual roots; it was indeed a long and arduous journey.

Yet, he didn’t find it impossibly distant. With the birth of this child, his total lifespan bonus had now crossed two thousand years.

What did two thousand years represent?

It was enough time to witness a long-life family rise from nothing and then wither away into oblivion. It could span the entire existence of a sect, watching its dramatic ascent to power and its ultimate, inevitable collapse.

The seas could turn into mulberry fields and back again in the span of such time. Possessing over two millennia of lifespan bonus dispelled Zhou Luo’s fear of the erosion of time.

He was free to proceed steadily, building his foundation step by solid step, assured he would eventually reach the pinnacle he sought.