“Finally! The 9th stage of the Spirit Refining realm, and at just 30 years old. Am I not a genius?”
Aksai thought to himself, jubilant over his achievements.
Deep down, however, he knew that being considered a genius wasn’t just about reaching his current cultivation base before his 40s.
People would undoubtedly wonder how a Spirit farmer with a low-grade Spirit Aptitude managed such success. But that didn’t automatically make him a genius.
Nevertheless, this was Aksai’s way of patting himself on the back and boosting his own spirits. There was no one else in his life who could genuinely do that for him, so he decided to fill that void himself, becoming self-sufficient in the act of self-motivation.
“I’m already 30 years old, huh? Time sure flies,” Aksai smiled as he reviewed his progress on the Spectral Screen. He had to admit, he had come a long way from his humble beginnings as a rental Spirit farmer.
The past 12 years had been incredibly productive for Aksai, allowing him to make significant progress in every field he pursued.
Sure, juggling so many fields had slowed down his overall cultivation progress to some extent, but he didn’t mind.
With his poor Spirit Root Aptitude, Aksai’s cultivation journey was bound to be slow anyway. So instead of solely prioritizing his cultivation journey for meager speedy effects, he preferred to become self-sufficient in various fields.
Aksai concluded that had he prioritized his cultivation journey and not invested his time in multiple cultivation arts, he would likely have broken into the 9th stage Spirit Refining realm about two years ago. However, the span of two years was not worth mentioning for Aksai given his current cultivation base.
Aksai had spent 12 years steadily making progress in his cultivation, and due to his dedication, his lifespan had increased by 25 years.
In short, even after practicing various facets of Spirit cultivation for years on end, Aksai had only gotten younger than he was 12 years ago.
Aksai was no cultivation speedster by any standards. However, if one were to consider his poor talent and lacking background, as well as the fact that he was practicing so many cultivation arts at once, they would have to wonder how he managed to reach the last stage of the Spirit Refining realm at only 30 years old.
One could say that Aksai had made optimal use of his time advantages during the last 12 years. He didn’t rush his journey, but he also never allowed himself to stagnate for long.
Aksai also did not cultivate like it was the only thing he needed to do in life. During the last 12 years, he made sure to take ample rest. He enjoyed his time spent in opulence in the Everwood Palace in the company of his maids. He practiced many side professions in the past to add colors to his cultivation journey.
Aksai was no slacker as a Spirit cultivator. However, he was also not someone who’d forget about how to live a life while he was pursuing immortality.
He managed to remain patient and give enough time for his cultivation base to progress at a stable rate. And at the same time, he experienced the joys of life to their fullest.
To outsiders, Aksai would be seen as somewhat skilled among a sea of average Spirit cultivators. However, nobody knew how broad his cultivation path was.
Nobody knew how he used his neural link fabric in various creative ways to skip many pitfalls. Lastly, nobody knew how he had access to two distinct worlds as well as an isolated dimension in the form of enchanted Everwood farm.
What’s more? Spirit cultivation was not the only facet of Aksai’s cultivation journey.
“Show me my body cultivation progress,” Aksai mumbled to himself. In the next moment, the previous Spectral Screen disappeared, replaced by a new set of information.
[Body Cultivation: Upper-stage Bronze Body realm
Estimated Intra-stage Progress: 75%
Body Cultivation Technique: Qi Fusion Arts
Martial Arts progress:
Harmony Palm: Advanced-level proficiency
Qi Flow Arts: Advanced-level proficiency
Guardian’s Qi: Intermediate-level proficiency
Qi Sword Arts: Advanced-level proficiency
White Golden Palm Arts: Intermediate-level proficiency
Qi Palm Arts: Intermediate-level proficiency]
***
Aksai had managed to make tremendous progress in his body cultivation as well. He had recovered the progress he had lost during the qi tempering phase. After the recovery, Aksai’s qi had been more potent than ever.
The process of qi tempering allowed Aksai to establish a solid foundation in body cultivation. However, it also increased his difficulties in progressing in it.
If it wasn’t for him stacking multiple advantages together, Aksai would have taken a few more years to reach his current base in body cultivation.
However, one thing that Aksai was not was impatient. He allowed his body to take time to grow, forging it into a well-sculpted machine.
During the last 12 years, he used the power of money to get his hands on many premium-grade elixirs and pills, which nourished his qi and organs.
These bouts of well-placed nourishment allowed him to make rapid progress in all the martial arts that he was practicing while strengthening his foundation as a martial artist.
Three of Aksai’s martial arts had reached advanced-level proficiencies, and the rest of the martial arts had intermediate-level proficiencies. He couldn’t gain the same level of proficiency in all his martial arts as he progressed further. However, he made sure to give them all equal importance.
Aksai had plans to integrate his martial arts together to create his own version of mixed martial arts practice. It could be seen as his personalized Martial Compendium. He already had Qi Fusion Arts that could act as an all-compatible foundation for him to base his mixed martial arts on.
However, Aksai needed to study the existing Martial Compendiums before he could relay the task of martial arts integration to the neural link fabric.
Even though Aksai was no bigshot in Dadangar Cultivation World, he could be seen as a one-in-ten-thousand prodigy in Martial World Sharang. One could say that he lived two different lives altogether as he traveled back and forth between the two worlds.
What was surprising was that Aksai had progressed in multiple martial arts without suffering from qi deviation or harming his foundation. The Qi Fusion Arts allowed him to harmonize all kinds of martial arts without much difficulty.
Aksai had also made significant progress as a Spirit farmer. He had collected many rare herbs and exotic Spirit plants. He cultivated these plants inside his farm to support his cultivation journey.
He made loads of profits by making use of the resources he gained from having access to two worlds.
He basically acted as a middleman between the two worlds and made huge profits as a broker between the cultivators and martial artists belonging to the two worlds.
“Now the real race for achieving Spirit Refining Perfection begins. I don’t want to wait until my 50s, or even 40s, to reach that stage. It’s about time I made use of the druid bloodline,” Aksai muttered to himself as he rose from his seated position.
The only reason Aksai had waited this long to transplant the druid bloodline was that he wanted to reduce the chances of dying in the process to the bare minimum.
The neural link fabric had deduced that the failure to assimilate with the bloodline would drop to a mere 0.0008% once he broke through the 9th stage of the Spirit Refining realm. So Aksai decided to play it safe instead of going after instant benefits.
With a flick of his hand, Aksai saved the Stellar Greenwood Yantra and two other Array Disks in his storage. Then, he took a deep breath and surveyed his enchanted Everwood farm.
The isolated dimension had changed a lot by this point.
It was practically unrecognizable from what it was when Aksai had first entered this space.