As Zhang Yu practiced another cultivation method for over 30 hours, the divine spirit root within him vibrated slightly, as if it had consumed the method as sustenance. At that moment, Zhang Yu saw the Dao Seed called Azure Lotus Sword Embryo finally appear on the Feather Scroll’s Dao Seed Spectrum.

Azure Lotus Sword Embryo (Spirit Root) Level 2

“Finally, success.”

Seeing this, Zhang Yu felt a surge of excitement. This divine spirit root, inherited from Bai Zhenzhen, was his first military-grade power, filling him with immense anticipation. He then continuously sensed the information contained within the Dao Seed and gradually tested the function of this divine spirit root in his dantian, beginning to comprehensively summarize its mysteries.

In fact, in the preceding days, although Zhang Yu hadn’t extensively explored the abilities of the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo, he had more or less perceived its effects while continuously circulating cultivation methods to nourish the spirit root. Now, by sensing the Dao Seed, his efforts were much more effective, allowing him to gradually grasp the various mysteries of the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo.

“The Level 2 Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s characteristic is still adaptation, but its adaptive ability is far superior to what it was during its Heavenly Spirit Root phase. This adaptation, or enhancement, involves long-term physical adjustments. For instance, when Ah Zhen diligently practiced sword manipulation, the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo continuously adjusted her body, incrementally enhancing her reaction speed, thought processing speed, mana mobilization efficiency, and other aspects, constantly strengthening her sword manipulation abilities and allowing her to make rapid progress in swordsmanship.”

“However, if it were to adapt to everything — allowing the body to adapt to the effects of various medicines, the tempering of external forces, or the influence of Daoist arts — then gradually, medicines would struggle to affect the cultivator, rendering them ineffective. If the body wasn’t damaged during cultivation, various cultivation methods would find it difficult to alter oneself. If Daoist arts struggled to exert influence, their power couldn’t be bestowed upon oneself. Adapting to everything would only slow down cultivation progress, potentially even leading the cultivator astray.”

Zhang Yu mused to himself, “The Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s adaptation is by no means a blind, all-encompassing one, but rather a selective adaptation. The direction of selection is determined by the user’s state and intentions. For example, Ah Zhen wanted to conceal her spirit root, so day after day, her concealment abilities were continuously strengthened. Later, she focused on martial arts, and her martial arts aptitude began to be enhanced by the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo. During high school, Ah Zhen awakened the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s deduction ability, which was a manifestation of this adaptive enhancement. At that time, she could deduce cultivation methods, change level 10 effects, and obtain results more suitable for herself.”

“Now, if the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo is used by me, what direction will it push me towards?” Initially, Zhang Yu thought that the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo would gradually enhance his civil engineering-related cultivation methods as he worked and put in overtime. But he soon realized he was wrong.

“The Azure Lotus Sword Embryo… is enhancing my Chain Law Diagram sets?” At first, Zhang Yu was puzzled, but he soon gradually understood why. “The Azure Lotus Sword Embryo provides adaptive enhancement in the direction the cultivator is focused on improving. And my Chain Law Diagram sets, when switched, significantly alter my physique and various innate talents, don’t they? This dramatic change after switching sets triggered the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s adaptive enhancement, making it believe I was growing in that direction? Therefore, the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s adaptive enhancement works by adjusting my body to strengthen the effects of the sets. The former True Spirit Root seemed incapable of this. Is this something only possible after evolving into a Divine Spirit Root?”

“Switching to the Collegiate Sacred Physique, the True Spirit Root began to enhance my cultivation method proficiency. Switching to the Civil Engineering Sacred Physique, it enhances various resistances and reduces lifespan consumption. Switching to Perpetual Qi Veins, it enhances mana recovery speed and reduces mana consumption efficiency.” Zhang Yu could feel that, although the process was extremely subtle and slow, the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo was indeed providing adaptive enhancement in alignment with the direction of the sets.

Upon realizing this, Zhang Yu felt a surge of pleasant surprise. He realized that the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s assistance to him would be unprecedented. This was because the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s physical adjustments and enhancements were long-lasting.

“Does this mean that even if I switch from the Collegiate Sacred Physique to the Civil Engineering Sacred Physique, the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s enhancement of my learning ability will still be retained? Wouldn’t that mean… with the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo, I can constantly retain a portion of the set effects on my person?”

Zhang Yu had always placed great importance on the effects of the Chain Law Diagram sets. However, the biggest problem with the Chain Law Diagram sets was that only one could be used at a time, making them difficult to integrate. But if the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s enhancement allowed his body to retain a portion of the set effects under normal conditions, then Zhang Yu’s strength would undoubtedly experience a qualitative leap.

Zhang Yu exhaled deeply, suppressing his surprise and excitement, and began to summarize the effects of the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo. “For me, the greatest effect of the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo is to enhance my set effects. Secondly, it allows me to retain a portion of the set effects even after I switch out of a set. But how much it can ultimately enhance or retain… is currently unknown and will require months, or even years, of slow cultivation to discover the results.”

“Hmm, there are also some abilities that, after switching sets, have already reached the limit of Foundation Establishment. Even if the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo adjusts my body, it seems unable to enhance them further. For instance, the peak Foundation Establishment-level drug tolerance and digestion abilities granted by the Collegiate Sacred Physique, the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo seems unable to further enhance.”

Zhang Yu could sense that due to the varied effects of the sets, the results of the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s adaptive enhancement for different sets would clearly vary significantly. He would need to gradually familiarize himself with and comprehend these differences during his future cultivation. But at this, Zhang Yu merely smiled faintly. Experiencing the profound mysteries of his own growing power—wasn’t this a kind of happy dilemma?

“With the Feather Scroll and the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo, how powerful will I become in a few years? It’s truly something to look forward to.”

Of course, there were also the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s concealment and deduction abilities. The former provided powerful combat and stealth capabilities, while the latter further enhanced cultivation methods. Another thing that sparked Zhang Yu’s curiosity and anticipation was the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo’s next upgrade.

“To upgrade the Azure Lotus Sword Embryo to Level 3, it requires nourishment from ten Level 30 cultivation methods.”

“Whew… That’s likely something only achievable at the Golden Core stage, isn’t it?”

Zhang Yu shook his head. Although he was filled with anticipation, he also understood that this was by no means something that could be accomplished in the short term. Moreover, before he had sufficient strength, “Allowing Ah Zhen’s Azure Lotus Sword Embryo to advance too early, exposing it under the watchful eyes of the Seven Emotions Divine Monarch, might not be a good thing.”

At the simulated construction site.

As class ended, Gongshu Jin, Ying Xin, and others slowly departed. Gongshu Jin glanced at the crowd, wondering, “Zhang Yu has been on leave these past few days. What has he been doing? And at yesterday’s banquet, he was so preoccupied with eating that he didn’t even take the opportunity to make friends with students from other universities. While eating is important, yesterday was a rare opportunity…”

Gongshu Jin consistently felt that Zhang Yu’s behavior seemed somewhat listless. “Yesterday’s banquet was filled with competition participants from top universities, each an academic prodigy among prodigies, possessing rare resources from other universities. Many of them were even more formidable than Zhang Yu or Ji Yuanxu.” In Gongshu Jin’s view, every additional friend of this caliber represented an increase in immortal path potential. Aside from exchanging resources from their respective schools, it also meant having more people to borrow money from. For example, he added over a dozen friends yesterday, which could be considered a minor increase in his immortal path potential.

Just then, Gongshu Jin’s gaze sharpened as he looked at a figure standing outside the simulated construction site. “That person is…” He recognized the individual: Wen Wuya from Sky Sword University, an academic top performer who participated in the flying sword competition, just like Bai Zhenzhen, and an heir to another Divine Transformation Monarch. Although Wen Wuya’s popularity on the Spirit World Network this time wasn’t as high as Bai Zhenzhen’s, Gongshu Jin remembered that his competition ranking was actually higher than Bai Zhenzhen’s. “Wasn’t he 15th? What is he doing at the simulated construction site?”

Wen Wuya had come looking for Bai Zhenzhen. Just before Sky Sword University’s delegation was about to leave, Bai Zhenzhen had disappeared again. So he came to where Zhang Yu had his class, hoping to see if Bai Zhenzhen was nearby.

As Wen Wuya’s gaze swept over the Foundation Establishment class students, a figure approached him—it was Ji Yuanxu from the 6th layer. As the student with the best grades and highest background present, Ji Yuanxu considered himself the most suitable person to approach Wen Wuya. Incidentally, he also wanted to see if he could use this opportunity to connect with a Divine Transformation disciple like Wen Wuya, who came from the 10th layer.

“If I can add him as a friend, or even take a photo and post it on my social media, my luck should increase significantly.” Ji Yuanxu recalled practices from the Daoist art of luck. There was once a senior from the finance department who sought out powerful individuals everywhere to take photos with them, making many believe he had deep connections and knew many wealthy people. As a result, his luck soared, and his cultivation advanced rapidly. The only pity was that he couldn’t withstand the backlash in the end…

Ji Yuanxu spoke, “Hello, I am Ji Yuanxu from the Civil Engineering Department of Myriad Laws University. Is there anything you need?”

In Wen Wuya’s eyes, whether it was Ji Yuanxu, Gongshu Jin, or Ying Xin standing nearby, there was no real difference. As long as they entered the Civil Engineering Department, they were all merely civil engineering workers. Even if Wen Wuya knew about their so-called 2nd, 4th, or 6th layer backgrounds, he wouldn’t care. From his perspective as a 10th-layer individual, weren’t they all from the lower layers? Whenever he heard these lower-layer people distinguishing themselves from one another, he found it amusing and lamented the severe hierarchical discrimination among those from the lower strata. In contrast, those from the 1st layer seemed somewhat more unique in Wen Wuya’s eyes, like a rare animal, or an exotic sensation from a primitive wilderness.