Bamboo Mound

Xiao Li replied, "There is no unified kitchen within the sect. If disciples wish to satisfy their appetites, they need to leave the sect and go to the mortal city, or use contribution points to exchange for cooking utensils and food to cook for themselves."

Ning Chang then asked, "Can you cook?"

Xiao Li nodded.

Ning Chang pondered for a moment, then instructed, "Go and pick some bamboo shoots and pull them up. Tomorrow I'll go and get some new kitchen utensils, and you can cook a dish."

If these bamboo shoots aren't pulled up tonight, a large portion of them will grow to the point of being inedible by tomorrow morning.

After giving instructions to Xiao Li, he turned around and went back to his room. He washed up and went to bed early.

.......

The next morning, after washing up, Ning Chang drank some water and went out.

Today, he planned to go to his master in the morning to resolve these accumulated issues, then go to the Resource Hall to exchange spirit stones for contribution points to buy cooking utensils, and also see if there was any meat available.

Along the way, Ning Chang only used the Azure Cloud Step to travel, in order to increase his proficiency. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he arrived at his master's courtyard gate again.

He knocked on the door, and his master's voice came from inside: "Come in."

He pushed open the door and went in, only to find his master meditating under the peach tree. He opened his eyes only after he entered.

After scanning Ning Chang up and down, he said with a hint of surprise, "Why did you only come to find me after you reached the ninth level of Spirit Gathering?"

Ning Chang respectfully replied, "This disciple was unable to discern the realm. Yesterday, I discovered that the spiritual energy had liquefied, and only then did I realize that I had reached the ninth level of the Spirit Gathering Realm."

The master laughed heartily, "Excellent! Excellent! You've reached the ninth level of the Spirit Gathering Realm in just five days! You're several times faster than the old men's disciples! Hahaha..."

After laughing for a while, the master composed himself and said, "My disciple, the path of cultivation requires not only the support of one's realm, but also the means of attack."

Today, your master will take you to the scripture pavilion to choose a martial arts technique to practice.

As he spoke, he stepped forward to lift up Ning Chang.

Ning Chang quickly interrupted his master's actions: "Master, before that, I have something to ask you!"

The master stopped and stroked his beard, saying, "Ask away, whatever questions you have, I will answer them for you."

Not knowing how to start, Ning Chang stepped forward and said, "Master, I can't explain it either. Please examine my spiritual energy."

His expression changed instantly, and he thought, "Could it be that my precious disciple has a problem with his spiritual energy?!"

A wisp of spiritual energy was immediately injected into Ning Chang's body.

He sensed something was wrong from the very beginning.

"This is... water-attribute spiritual energy!?"

"That's impossible! How did you do that? You have a top-grade fire spirit root but can't cultivate fire-attribute spiritual energy, yet you've acquired water-attribute spiritual energy instead?"

The master asked in surprise, as he had never heard of such a situation before.

Seeing his master's surprise, Ning replied truthfully, "I spent a morning cultivating in the stone pavilion in the courtyard when it rained a few days ago, and after that I noticed the change in spiritual energy."

"You mean you cultivated in the rain all morning, and your spiritual energy turned into water-type energy?"

"No, at first there was only a little, but later all the spiritual energy was converted," Ning Chang explained.

After a moment of silence, the master slowly said, "Very well, in any case, attribute-based spiritual energy is much stronger than attribute-less spiritual energy."

After hearing this, Ning Chang had some guesses in his mind: "Master, I would like to test my spiritual root again."

Upon hearing this, the master immediately understood Ning Chang's guess. "You suspect that there is a problem with your spiritual root?"

None of them suspected that the problem lay with the stone used to test spiritual roots, since the stone had never made a mistake before.

Ning Chang nodded.

"Alright, then wait here for a moment, I'll be right back." With that, he vanished from the spot in a flash.

Ning wandered around the courtyard for a while.

Before long, his master appeared in the courtyard in a flash, and he hurried over.

The master flipped his hand and took out a spirit-testing stone, placing it on the ground. "Disciple, quickly test it."

Ning Chang took a deep breath and placed his hand on the spirit-testing stone. The spirit-testing stone, which was originally pure white and translucent, shimmered slightly with white light, but neither of them could see it under the stone's original color.

One breath... two breaths...

Before long, Ning Chang raised his hand in disbelief and placed it on the spirit-testing stone again, but the result was still the same.

The master also showed a look of astonishment, "Your spiritual root has actually disappeared?!"

In all his years of life, he had never seen anything like it—a person's spiritual root vanishing into thin air.

As for Ning Chang's initial test result of a high-grade fire spirit root, he did not suspect that Ning Chang was faking it, after all, he had never seen anyone who could understand the principle of spirit roots and apply them.

But without spiritual roots, what about my disciple...?

Thinking of this, Duan Kun's expression became somewhat complicated. He had only been bragging to his old friends about Ning Chang a few days ago, and now Ning Chang's spiritual root had vanished...

Seeing his master's expression, Ning Chang also sensed something was wrong. He didn't want to be expelled directly, so he anxiously asked, "Master, what do you think is the function of spiritual roots?"

He knew that no matter how he explained at this point, it would be of little use; he could only guide his master to come to terms with it.

Taken aback by Ning Chang's question, he paused for a moment before explaining, "Spiritual roots represent a cultivator's affinity for spiritual energy. The higher the grade of the spiritual root, the higher the affinity for spiritual energy, and the faster and stronger one's cultivation will be. As for attributes, they correspond to elemental affinity..."

His eyes grew brighter as he spoke, "Spiritual root... Yes, although you've lost your spiritual root, your cultivation level of the ninth stage of the Five-Day Spirit Gathering Realm is undeniable. As for elemental affinity, you've already transformed it into water attribute..."

The master stroked his chin and analyzed, "In that case, whether or not one has spiritual roots doesn't seem to be that important."

Ning Chang looked at his master expectantly, waiting for his final conclusion.

After pondering for a long time, the master waved his hand and said, "Forget it! Who cares about spiritual roots? My disciple is the strongest!"

But then, as if remembering something, he said to Ning Chang with a serious expression, "Remember, when you're out and about, don't tell anyone that you don't have a spiritual root. If someone asks, just say you have a water spiritual root."

Ning Chang nodded solemnly, "This disciple will remember!"

The master then regained his usual demeanor and said leisurely, "If there's nothing else, let's go choose our martial arts techniques."

He slowly walked behind Ning Chang, picked him up, and vanished from the spot. When he reappeared, he was already in front of the Sutra Repository.

Elder Xie, who was standing at the door, sensed someone's arrival, lazily opened his eyes, and seeing that it was the First Elder, slowly stood up from the recliner.

"Hey, what wind blew you here, old man?"

Upon seeing Ning Chang, he exclaimed in surprise, "Little guy, you've already reached the ninth level of Spirit Gathering so quickly! Old man, you've really found a treasure."

The elder laughed and scolded, "I've come today to choose a martial arts technique for my disciple."