Chapter 2: Dual Cultivation Bet
It is important to understand that in this Cultivation world, Cultivators are revered, and Mortals who wish to become Cultivators must possess a Spiritual Root.
Whether one has a Spiritual Root is decided at birth, and those with a Spiritual Root are one in ten thousand, truly as rare as a Phoenix feather.
Spiritual Roots are divided into the Five Elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, and a Cultivator’s Cultivation Aptitude is closely related to their Spiritual Root.
Basically, the fewer Spiritual Roots, the better the Aptitude.
The vast majority of Cultivators have inferior Aptitude with Five Elements Spiritual Roots or Four Elements Spiritual Roots; those with Three Elements Spiritual Roots are a minority, not to mention Dual Spiritual Roots and the single Spiritual Root known as a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
Besides the common Five Elements Spiritual Roots, there are also extremely rare Variant Spiritual Roots.
Such as Thunder, Wind, Ice, and Dark, all of which are formed by variations of several Five Elements Spiritual Roots.
Variant Spiritual Roots are also favored by the heavens; while their Cultivation speed cannot compare to a Heavenly Spiritual Root, they surpass Dual Spiritual Roots.
The key is that the power of Variant Spiritual Roots is far stronger than ordinary Five Elements Spiritual Roots, and with suitable Cultivation Techniques and treasures, a Variant Spiritual Root Cultivator can easily contend with multiple Cultivators of the same Realm.
Therefore, in some sense, the preciousness of a Variant Spiritual Root is not much less than that of a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
Naturally, Variant Spiritual Root Cultivators are also extremely rare; typically, among a thousand Cultivators, one might not even find a single Variant Spiritual Root Cultivator.
And Ning Fa, surprisingly, possessed a rare Thunder-attribute Variant Spiritual Root.
It should be known that the Ning Family has been a Cultivator Family for over six hundred years, and before this, they had never had a Variant Spiritual Root descendant; only a dozen or so had High Grade Spiritual Roots.
So, when it was discovered that Ning Fa actually possessed a Thunder Spiritual Root, the entire Family was overjoyed.
Naturally, he was seen as the Family's hope, and a large amount of Cultivation resources were allocated to aid his Cultivation.
But who knew that even with the Family's extensive resources, Ning Fa's Cultivation speed remained incredibly slow.
After many years, he only barely Cultivated to the third layer of the Refining Qi Realm, failing to Breakthrough to the Middle Stage of Refining Qi.
This Cultivation speed was even worse than that of a pseudo-Spiritual Root, a far cry from the rumored Cultivation Aptitude of a Variant Spiritual Root.
In their confusion, the Ning Family's high-ranking members invited an expert to examine Ning Fa, ultimately receiving a conclusion that left them deeply disappointed.
That is, while Ning Fa indeed possessed a Thunder Spiritual Root, it was not complete; it was a Remnant Thunder Spiritual Root, which was why his Cultivation speed was so slow.
Although this situation is rare, it is not without precedent, with clear records in some ancient texts.
The expert also advised the Ning Family not to waste effort on Ning Fa, as the Aptitude of a Remnant Thunder Spiritual Root was not much stronger than a Five Elements Spiritual Root, making Foundation Establishment hopeless.
The Ning Family's high-ranking members initially held onto hope, but after trying many more methods, they finally gave up in resignation.
The Family naturally stopped allocating resources to Ning Fa, leaving him to fend for himself.
Ning Fa's status in the Family naturally plummeted, and he became a laughingstock among many clansmen, after all, who could forget how glorious Ning Fa once was in the Family.
This dramatic rise and fall was difficult for Ning Fa's former self to accept.
Since Cultivation was fruitless, he sought to regain his Family status by becoming a Family Alchemist.
After all, among the hundred arts of Cultivation, Alchemy is supreme, and the status of an Alchemist in the Cultivation world is extremely high.
However, after spending several years and a great many Spirit Stones, Ning Fa's former self's Alchemy skills were only barely at an introductory level.
He was still far from the requirements to become a formal Alchemist, and this was even with his former self possessing some Alchemy talent.
Ning Fa's former self was naturally unwilling to give up, and still wanted to continue trying Alchemy, but his Family could no longer provide him with resource support.
His parents unfortunately perished in a war between the Ning Family and another Foundation Establishment Family, the Qian Family; although the Family provided a good amount of compensation Spirit Stones, it was merely a drop in the bucket when used for Alchemy.
After all, the expenses to support an Alchemist are truly too high, far beyond what an ordinary Cultivator can afford.
Asking the Family for financial aid was even more impossible.
After all, although Ning Fa had some Alchemy talent, he was not outstanding, and the Family would naturally only allocate resources to descendants with better Alchemy talent.
Moreover, due to Ning Fa possessing a Remnant Thunder Spiritual Root, he had wasted a considerable amount of Family resources, resources that could have even elevated a clansman with a moderate Spiritual Root Aptitude to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
This led to some of the Ning Family's Elders having a very poor impression of him, seeing him as a jinx-like existence.
Ning Fa was unwilling to give up, so he eventually borrowed Spirit Stones from Ning Huarong, the current Fifth Elder of the Family, a total of five hundred Spirit Stones.
The two made a bet: if Ning Fa could be promoted to a formal Family Alchemist within a year, he would not have to repay the Spirit Stones.
Otherwise, Ning Fa would have to serve Ning Huarong for three months, becoming her Dual Cultivation Cauldron.
Ning Huarong was a famous female Elder of the Ning Family.
She possessed extraordinary talent, a rare Dual Spiritual Root Aptitude, and had already advanced to the Late Stage of Refining Qi before the age of twenty.
Crucially, this woman possessed extremely high talent for spell combat, with few rivals among Cultivators of the same Realm.
Previously, when the Ning Family engaged in a major war with the Qian Family, another nearby Foundation Establishment Family, the Ning Family ultimately achieved a great victory, seizing many of the Qian Family's territories.
In these several years of brutal Family warfare, Ning Huarong shone brightly.
Dozens of Qian Family Cultivators died by her hand, including as many as seven Late Stage Refining Qi Cultivators of the same Realm, and her methods were ruthless, causing the Qian Family to fear and hate her, calling her a female Devil Head.
Later, Ning Huarong even ventured deep alone once, attracting a Foundation Establishment Old Ancestor of the Qian Family to personally pursue her, yet she still managed to escape back to the Family unharmed.
One can imagine her strength; she was almost second only to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Because of this, Ning Huarong held an extremely high position in the Family, ascending through the ranks at such a young age to become the Family's Fifth Elder.
It should be known that the Ning Family's first four Elders were all Foundation Establishment cultivators, which also indicated her status as the top person below Foundation Establishment in the Family.
After all, in the Cultivation world, strength is respected, not seniority, and the same is true in Cultivator Families.
However, Ning Huarong's personality was extremely perverse and eccentric; she acted without restraint, and even fellow clansmen could unknowingly offend her and be severely tormented by her.
Such incidents had occurred several times, causing ordinary Ning Family descendants to become silent with fear when speaking of her.
So, despite her being a rare beauty with a moon-like face and flower-like appearance, many Family descendants still avoided her like a plague.
They even followed the Qian Family's example, secretly calling her a Demoness.