Fang Hao spent the next week or so thoroughly analyzing the suitable cultivation techniques in the brochure. It turned out that he wasn't qualified for any of the top tier cultivation methods without transplanting blood of divine beasts or using similar special techniques to morph his physiology. And such heavenly catalysts for cultivation were obviously out of his reach. Even if they were in his reach, he would be reluctant to use it on himself.
The main reason for this was his acquired spirit roots! He had decent innate spirit roots for the earth element and acquired spirit roots for lightning and life element. As he understood it, innate spirit roots were something more-or less fixed at birth; while acquired spirit roots were acquired through various experiences and opportunities he cultivator faced during cultivation.
It wasn't strictly so, as sometimes acquired spirit roots were manifested from birth; while sometimes innate spirit roots awakened and explosively increased in quality as a cultivator made breakthroughs. But in those cases, it was almost always the result of having/awakening an innate constitution, a powerful bloodline or usage of heavenly treasures.
Considering all this, Fang Hao was speculating the cause of his acquired spirit roots. The cultivation manual which he used for Qi Gathering was the Sublime Qi Manual, which was considered a very neutral cultivation technique. While the Aura Fist Scripture for Qi Condensation was more specialized, it was also a more-or-less neutral cultivation technique. It could compare to top-tier techniques for Qi Condensation; if one ignored its stringent requirements for efficiency and the relatively slow speed of cultivation.
Even though he had evolved the Flame Snake spell to the Fire Serpent spell, his innate fire spirit roots was still a tier below of his innate earth spirit root. So what caused him to obtain the acquired spirit roots of Lightning and Life, which could even compare with his highest innate spirit root of earth? He only had a couple of possibilities. One was all the spirit wine he had been drinking on a regular basis. And the other was The Divine Vajra Body Scripture!
Out of these couple of options, he was much more partial to the Divine Vajra Body Scripture. Although the spirit wine he consumed was very valuable to Qi Condensation disciples, it could hardly qualify as a treasure. It could barely qualify as a semi-expensive luxury cultivation aid. On the other hand, the description of the Divine Vajra Body Scripture was much more epic. It stated that cultivating the scripture could allow mortals to transform their fleshly bodies to be comparable to those of gods.
Fang Hao had been puzzled by the term gods. He had made many multiple subtle and oblique inquiries regarding stages of cultivation. He was more-or-less about the stages of Qi Gathering, Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment and Core Formation. Beyond that, all he heard were reverent whispers about the Nascent Spirit Stage. Apparently, even cultivators at the Core Formation stage were treated as mortals and no mortal could have a lifespan exceeding a thousand years by any means. This was a mandate of the heavens.
But most Nascent Spirit stage cultivator could live over a thousand years! Cultivation of Nascent Spirit was so valued that any disciple who managed to reach it, no matter the age, would be awarded the post of an Elder in the Sect, along with all the privileges associated with it. Without certain life-extending treasures or other special means, a core formation cultivator could live up to a approximately five centuries. With half-a-step into the grave, if a 500 year old Core Formation cultivator managed a breakthrough and became a Nascent Spirit Cultivator, he would get a new lease of life of another five centuries and enjoy a very respectable position in the sect.
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Of course, to the current Fang Hao tales of the Nascent Spirit stage were very far away. He actually didn't have much idea about the Core Formation stage either. But Foundation Establishment was a very critical juncture in one's cultivation path. If he made an incorrect or sub-optimal choice now, his future cultivation would greatly suffer. While Fang Hao had a certain assurance that his Level-up routine could neutralize most of the negative sequela, he didn't want to verify it with experiments. Hence, he decided to proceed with utmost caution and planning.
The Divine Vajra Body scripture was literally remolding his body, step-by-step, to that of a 'god' which he assumed was an unfathomably high cultivation boundary. He didn't want to interrupt or corrupt this procedure with transplantation of foreign bloodlines or other modifications from external sources for a bit more power at the foundation establishment stage. Fang Hao was 90% confident that his acquired spirit roots of lighting and life were due to his cultivation of the Divine Vajra Body Scripture.
He had an instinctive feeling that he should pick a cultivation technique which focused on at-least one of his acquired spirit roots, preferably both. The safest option would be the Sublime Qi Manual, which was a neutral cultivation method all the way to the peak of Core Formation. On one hand it lacked clear advantages; but on the other hand it lacked possible future disadvantages as well.
Another viable option was the Thunder-rock Carapace manual recommended to him by the Grand Elder. It focused on his dominant spirit roots, one of which was his acquired lightning spirit root. And even better, was that the spell provided by it was tailor made to suit his highest priority - Staying Alive. In fact, Fang Hao wouldn't hesitate to choose this cultivation technique for Foundation Establishment under most circumstances.
He was hesitating, because there was another cultivation technique which was very compatible to him. It was named as the Primal Thunder Scripture. The Primal Thunder Scripture had a requirement of dominant Thunder and Life spirit roots. This combination of spirit roots resonated with Fang Hao's acquired spirit roots and his speculations about the Divine Vajra Body Scripture. The Primal Thunder Scripture even had more spells than the Thunder-rock Carapace Manual. But the only reason he was hesitating was this cultivation technique had a primary focus on offense and speed and offered little in terms of defensive capabilities; unlike the Thunder-rock Carapace manual which was focused solely on defense.
'So I have three viable options now. The Sublime Qi Manual is a safe option, but is pretty meh. If both the Thunder-rock Carapace Manual and the Primal Thunder Scripture were unavailable, I would definitely go with it. But the other two cultivation techniques are much more superior picks with minimal risks for me.'
'The Thunder-rock Carapace Manual focuses on defense, but only on one of my acquired roots. On the other hand the Primal Thunder Scripture focuses on both my acquired spirit roots, but is primarily offense oriented. What to choose...What to choose. I will get nowhere if I hesitate. Time to Decide like Professionals.' deliberated Fang Hao internally.
Fang Hao steeled his resolve, having seemingly made a decision, walked to his yard and fished out a plain looking faded bronze coin from his storage pouch. He examined the round coin with a small square hole in the center and observed both the faces.
'Lets go with Thunder-rock Carapace for heads and Primal Thunder for tails.' decided Fang Hao before flipping the coin in air. He had carefully restraining his strength so that the coin spun and rose up 'only' ten meters or so before it started descending.