Uncompromising Prioritization

Aksai was a very patient man.

Even though he had stored the data recorded in the jade slip given to him by Aunt Reta, Aksai hadn't allowed the neural link fabric to imprint the knowledge on his hippocampus yet.

The process of memory imprinting was bound to take a few days once started, during which Aksai could only make use of the neural link fabric's functions in a limited manner. 

Plus, his own cultivation as well as regular activities would be affected while the memories were directly being etched onto his mind.

Therefore, unless he dealt with all the lingering matters that needed his immediate attention, Aksai didn't initiate the memory imprinting.

After all, turning the knowledge into the core part of his memory was just one aspect of assimilating with the knowledge recorded in the jade slip. The bigger and more important part was practice, for which Aksai wasn't ready yet.

"Never mind about the amount of practice, the lengthy assimilation period, and the required number of cultivation resources that I am bound to waste on gaining experience," Aksai mused aloud.

"Gaining this 2nd order talisman inheritance can be considered a battle half won. After all, even if someone has money, it is not guaranteed that they can obtain such an inheritances. I wonder how Aunt Reta's husband managed to acquire such a precious thing," he wondered before shaking his head.

Aksai wasn't planning on asking Aunt Reta where her late husband got the inheritance from. After all, every cultivator had some secrets that they safeguarded, even from their closest ones. Asking about such things was considered rude and a breach of privacy.

Aksai was confident that unlike Aunt Reta, who was still stuck as a 1st-order talisman maker, he would eventually be able to become a 2nd order talisman maker using the 2nd-order talisman inheritance as his foundation. So he didn't really need to dig deep.

After all, he could rely on the cultivation resources produced by his Everwood farm to practice the art of talismans. Anything that he didn't grow on his own land could be bought using the wealth generated by the Everwood farm's overall produce.

Plus, Aksai had the help of the neural link fabric. Others in his place might take a few years to a few months to turn the knowledge recorded in the jade slip into part of their core memories. However, Aksai could reduce that time to a few days.

What's more? The neural link fabric would also assist Aksai during the actual talisman production, providing all kinds of support. Some of the processes could be automated after Aksai had executed them enough times, saving him time and energy.

After the neural link fabric had gathered enough data from the live experiments, Aksai could also make it run simulations to derive the success rate of his about-to-be-created talismans. The sandboxing of such events could allow him to avoid a lot of pitfalls while saving on the cultivation resources involved in the actual process.

Aksai's limitations in the production of 1st order and even 2nd order talismans stemmed from his own base cultivation. As long as he kept improving his Spirit cultivation and continued to produce more talismans, he would have practically no bottlenecks in the field.

Technically speaking, only foundation builders were supposed to create 2nd order talismans. However, there were many geniuses in each field who could punch above their weight. If Aksai played his cards right, he too had a chance to become a 2nd-order talisman maker by the time he entered the 9th stage of the Spirit Refining realm.

[ Daily task completed. 7th layer of Basic Greenwood Tantra was executed for 20 cycles. Estimated improvement in cultivation– 0.003%. Automated Cultivation terminated due to diminished gains below the required criteria. ]

While recording the 2nd order inheritance onto the neural link fabric for the last four hours, Aksai also completed his daily cycles of Spirit cultivation using the Automated Cultivation feature.

When he received the notification about Automated Cultivation, he couldn't help feeling a bit downcast.

"My Spirit cultivation has almost stagnated after entering the late-stage Spirit Refining realm. I guess I need to prioritize my body cultivation even more than before. Only then can I have enough confidence to search for information related to late-stage Spirit Refining.

I'll need to increase my individual might before mingling with other late-stage Spirit Refiners to gain some knowledge and perspective from them," Aksai thought as he got up from his position.

As he walked out of the wooden farmhouse, Aksai still seemed lost in thought.

After staying in the 7th stage of Spirit Refining for more than two years and barely improving, Aksai had come to realize that Spirit cultivation wasn't as straightforward as he thought. At least not for someone like him with low-grade Spirit Root Aptitude.

Although there were a few examples of drifting cultivators managing to establish their foundation and enter the 2nd Spirit cultivation realm, to Aksai's knowledge, they could be counted on one hand.

And even then, he suspected that those drifting cultivators had to have a better grade of Spirit Root Aptitude or better cultivation resources than him to overcome the challenges he faced.

Aksai was starting to understand why late-stage Spirit Refining cultivators who were about to reach 50 years of age sought opportunities amidst dangers.

It wasn't that nobody had thought of sticking to Spirit farming and avoiding dangers like him. It was that they couldn't stay put while the deadline to establish the foundation was ticking away, slipping through their fingers like sand.

"Although I'm sure my talent for Spirit cultivation isn't the best, it's not the absolute worst either. So I don't think I should hit pause on the practice of Spirit cultivation and focus all my attention on body cultivation," Aksai mused as he caressed his chin.

It was said that there was no way for one to enhance their lifespan in body cultivation. However, Aksai could feel that his qi-based body cultivation was different, and this general rule didn't apply to him.

As long as he kept advancing into the higher realms of body cultivation, there was a chance for him to pursue Immortality using a different path.

Although the effects of body cultivation on his estimated lifespan weren't apparent yet, Aksai was sure that the picture would change once he entered the 2nd body cultivation realm, which was the Argent Body Realm.

"Hold on a second. Why should I choose between Spirit cultivation and body cultivation when I have decided to walk on the Immortal Path of the druids?" Aksai smiled to himself, pondering. 

"The results I have obtained from my recent Spirit bloodline experiments are increasingly promising. I just need more 'guinea pigs' to confirm some of my hypotheses.

Once I do that, most of the hurdles related to body cultivation and Spirit cultivation should resolve on their own."