Yong Lu finally inspected his cultivation.
From his memories, he knew that the previous Yong Lu was also a three spiritual root cultivator of wood, water and earth. In fact, currently in his situation, Yong Lu didn't know his roots anymore. He knew that his wood and water roots were deeper rooted, while his earth root seemed to be loose.
This isn't a state he should have, so it was very likely that the water and wood were compatible with his frog species, but earth wasn't, and it was likely to fall off after the next major realm.
There is a simple rule that can be understood as a general rule in this world of cultivation. Although cultivation speed is important, it only has importance in the earlier stages. Later on, it's more of a comprehensive trinity of cultivation speed, comprehension and fortune.
Which is why people say that the fifth and fourth spiritual root are for the realm of qi refining, the third is for foundation building, second for core formation and first for soul awakening. This means that as long as one has the corresponding root, they will reach that stage.
As for the further stages, root alone can't secure anything, even the bonus one gains when advancing is nihil, anyone who reached that state is a child of heaven and it won't be partial.
Anyways, the previous Yong Lu reached the late qi refining stage just a few days ago. In fact, he had rushed it and damaged his meridians, in addition to pill poisoning, he finally died and the current Yong Lu took over his body. This is somewhat surprising, since Yong Lu is a rogue cultivation, he doesn't have that many resources.
The reason for this is that he had found a relic of a foundation building cultivator who left many items, he was lucky that the cultivator wasn't dead for long, so the pills were still usable. Unfortunately, they lost a major part of their effectiveness, so he had to take more, which caused his death finally.
For the current Yong Lu, the moment his frog form was activated, he knew that the pill poison was consumed. Even after some time, it would completely disappear. As for the meridian damage, with the transformation his body changed, and these meridians were absorbed. Even if he is in human form, he is in theory still a frog, so naturally his body structure will change greatly.
"It seems there are no issues in my transmigration, which is a bit surprising. Aren't there always numerous issues, such as revenge and hate… no, look at that, I am already in the late qi refining stage, there is a foundation building pill in the storage bag and I am in a forest close to an immortal city. Yong Lu… although I don't swing this way, I will happily accept your wedding dress!"
In fact, there were some issues, but they were rather for Yong Lu himself.
He was currently in a forest, it's part of a larger forest and he's only a kilometre inside, this doesn't even count as periphery, only entrance. There are only a few qi refining beasts living around here, and they are relatively weak ones. All nature environments are split into periphery, outer, inner, core and depth.
Each stage contains two cultivation stages, without that kind of strength, it's impossible to gain a foothold. Of course, there are some smaller ones that only go to the level of inner, such as here.
If Yong Lu was a different beast, he might feel welcome, but he was a frog. Naturally he can also decide to live in a forest if he forced it, but a swamp or wetland with many different kinds of toxic beasts is more comfortable for him. Here comes the issue…
The nearest swamp is southeast from here, called the endless swamp. The distance might not be too much for stronger beasts, but for him, he'd be lucky if he reached that place in ten years of walking with his current strength. Even if he rushed all the time with foundation building strength, it would still take three years, and that's because he's a frog and generally fast when he jumps, other animals would need five years, only some fast beasts or air beasts would be faster.
He couldn't possibly travel all the time without stop for three years, if one included everything else, he would likely need four to five years. How was he supposed to do all this and still cultivate? Although beasts have longer lifespans than humans, that is only after they establish their foundation. Like humans, they still count as 'stronger than mortals' in the qi refining stage, there is no large change in the life-form before.
Frogs have a lifespan of up to fifteen, while humans have hundred twenty. Even if one is generous, Yong Lu is already eighteen, his lifespan will likely not go beyond forty.
Beasts in the foundation establishment stage have an average lifespan of three hundred, some more but rarely does anyone have less, humans are at two hundred and fifty. It's a huge change from fifteen to three hundred, but in fact, many beasts have this.
Not to mention frogs, insects are even stronger in this regard, which is why it's so difficult for them to start cultivation. Beasts such as turtles with long lifespan will naturally start cultivation at one point, of course the difficulty of surviving for a hundred years without suffering a foundation destroying injury isn't to be taken lightly.
Mortal humans might have it easier, but a turtle attempting to survive that long might very well die at every turn. After all, there is no particular reason to leave them alone in a world where animals are treated as consumables from all parties.
"Should I take a sky ship? Do I even have the resources for this?"
Human territory is vast, although there are many beast zones that can't be crossed, it's still extremely large and lower cultivators as well as higher cultivators on normal trips will take sky ships. There are ports for them at every immortal city. Fortunately, the city outside the forest, although it's only above a third-grade spiritual vein, counts as a city.
"It seems this is the only option. Well, even though I'm becoming a beast, practically I am still majorly a human with at most a beast aura. It should be fine if I say I'm a beast tamer, right? But… I need a beast in this case. My aura isn't strong enough to convince any other beast for now… in the end, I am still fated to be with frogs!"