After understanding his past experiences, Wang Hao finally began to analyze his cultivation situation.
His current technique was a common one: the Evergreen Style, a wood-attribute method.
Since he possessed the Five Spiritual Roots, in theory he could cultivate any technique of any attribute—even multi-element methods. With all five elements in his body, it seemed he could learn any kind of immortal technique… or at least that's how it appeared.
But talent was another matter. Having the corresponding spiritual root was merely the prerequisite—the foundation that decided whether you could learn a technique. Mastering it was a completely different challenge.
His father, Wang Yanzhao, had once offered him a dual-attribute technique, but the former Wang Hao, foolish as he was, had refused. According to his inherited memories, cultivators with multiple roots could accelerate their progress by using matching multi-attribute methods—sometimes growing many times faster than single-attribute practitioners.
Drawing in a deep breath to focus, Wang Hao closed his eyes and began to circulate energy as his previous self had. A warm current flowed from his dantian, slowly traversing his meridians.
As the technique ran its course, he noticed the ambient spiritual energy being absorbed bit by bit—and his own mana rising in tandem.
Peering inward, he saw his dantian enveloped in a faint green mist—wood-attribute energy. Intertwined around it were thin threads of red, yellow, blue, and brown—traces of the other four elements.
Wang Hao frowned. His memories confirmed this was normal for someone with Five Roots: he could absorb all five elements, but at the cost of purity.
Cultivators with a single "heavenly" root never hit a bottleneck because they absorbed only one type of energy, keeping their mana incredibly pure.
Imagine it as a game bar: a first-stage dantian might hold 100 mana. To break through, you must fill that bar to 100 with the exact energy your technique demands.
A wood-root cultivator needs 100/100 wood mana to advance—simple and natural.
Multi-root cultivators inevitably intake "wrong" energies too. With limited capacity, even a small impurity prevents the main mana from hitting 100%.
The more roots you have, the more impurity—and the harder advancement becomes:
Two roots → max 99/100
Three roots → 98/100
Five roots → 96/100
To overcome this, cultivators choose one of two paths:
High-density environments—like compressing 110 ml of air into a 100 ml bottle, raising the pressure so the correct mana still hits 100%.
Pill consumption—temporarily boosting the quality and density of spiritual energy so the dantian reaches the purity needed.
But for Wang Hao, the challenge was even greater: if a two-root cultivator needs one pill, he'd need four—likely shattering his meridians or dantian under the strain.
Hence the rise of multi-attribute techniques. Wang Hao guessed that on a game panel, a dual-attribute method would show 50 + 50, and unlock when both reached that number. For five roots, it'd be 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 20.
Thus, multi-attribute techniques could outperform single-attribute ones for those with many roots—paradoxically letting them cultivate faster than single-root geniuses.
A question remained: if two roots need 50 + 50 to advance, isn't that faster than one root needing 100?
The answer: no.
His memories showed that heavenly-root cultivators complete Qi Refinement and reach Foundation Establishment before age 20.
Dual roots: around 35
Triple roots: 50–60
Quadruple roots: 80–90
Five roots: most die before finishing, normally a 120-year lifespan…
His father, with fire and wood roots and a dual-attribute method, had reached Refinement Peak by 38, thanks also to alchemical delays. By age 20, he'd hit Level 8—faster than average, yet still behind a heavenly root.
Wang Hao's eyes sparkled. In short, a compatible multi-attribute technique could keep him competitive!
Heart racing, he halted his energy flow, opened his "mental computer," and began to sketch.
Hypothesis 1: Everyone's total absorption rate is equal—like the same-diameter pipe. Single-root cultivators direct all flow into one attribute; multi-root cultivators split it.Hypothesis 2: More roots mean less flow per attribute—five roots = 20% each.
Thus:
1 root → 15 years to refine Qi
2 roots → 30–35 years
3 roots → 45–55 years
5 roots → nearly impossible without aid
Comparing with his father's dual-attribute speed, everything clicked.
He mused,
"If I open all five pipes I'd match a heavenly-root cultivator's total flow—but using only a wood-attribute method, I open just one pipe. My cultivation speed is 1/5 of my capacity. I need that dual-attribute technique from Dad!"
Clenching his fists, he resolved:
"With it, I'll double my speed—outpacing three-root cultivators! If one root takes 15 years to refine Qi, I'll need 37.5 years. I'm eighteen—I can reach Foundation Establishment before fifty. Already at Level 3, my chances are real!"
It was a hard road, but there was hope. Without unlimited pills like the legendary "Old Devils," this strategy was his best—and perhaps only—shot at Foundation Establishment in his lifetime.
Of course, constraints remained—otherwise all multi-root cultivators would simply match heavenly-root geniuses. The five elements generate and control one another:
Water can extinguish fire; fire can vaporize water. At high temperatures, water even splits into hydrogen and oxygen—enough to blow up one's dantian.