Sitting in the chair with Rihai on his lap, Aotian slowly pulled his mouth away from her lips.

Seeing that Rihai’s lips were slightly swollen, for some reason, he found them even more charming and leaned in again. Unfortunately, this time, a pair of delicate hands stopped his advance.

“How long do you intend to keep kissing me?” Rihai asked helplessly.

Aotian looked up, counted on his fingers, then looked back at her to give his answer.

“No idea!” He declared with full conviction.

“Pff!” Rihai couldn’t hold back her laughter and, smiling, stood up from his lap.

Aotian felt her warmth disappear from his body and, looking down at his lap, noticed that his little brother wasn’t happy about her departure either.

Rihai also noticed the abnormal bulge, and her face blushed fiercely, but she said nothing.

“You had more questions earlier, didn’t you?” She asked, still blushing, trying to change the subject.

Aotian noticed her attempt but didn’t tease her, as he really did have questions and didn’t want to scare her into running off to her room again.

“Yes. Rihai, about spiritual roots… Earlier, you mentioned ‘affinity,’ not the element of the roots themselves, right?”

He recalled their conversation before the kissing session had begun.

“Oh? That? Well, it seems like you pay quite a lot of attention to things.”

Rihai nodded in satisfaction and adjusted her messy hair.

“It’s kind of common sense. When you form your roots, you’ll naturally discover this through exploration, but since you asked, I’ll explain in advance.”

She then began to explain.

“A root doesn’t belong to an element but has an affinity for one. For example, my root has an affinity for fire, which makes my use of fire spells stronger than normal. My spells of other elements remain average, except for the water element, which suffers almost a fifty percent reduction in effectiveness due to elemental suppression.”

“So this applies to all single-element roots, right? One element stronger, three neutral, and one weaker?” Aotian pondered.

“Yes and no.”

She continued.

“There are mutant elements, like thunder. Without a specific spiritual root for this element, any thunder spell loses half its effectiveness. The only exception is the wood element, which has a natural affinity with thunder and can use it without penalty—but also without a power bonus.”

As she spoke, Rihai looked at the rice and froze.

In an instant, she rushed to the pot and opened it, only to be startled to see the rice still raw.

Only then did she realize the fire was off.

Before she could react, she felt two arms wrap tightly around her waist.

“Knowing how attentive you were to the rice, I turned off the fire when we started kissing.”

Aotian’s voice sounded beside her ear, amused, and he continued.

“If the rice burned, you would definitely stop kissing me… How could I take that risk?”

Rihai blushed.

Although Aotian didn’t know, this small action earned him a lot of points with her.

Aotian saw that she was lost in thought and kissed her cheek, reaching out to turn the stove back on.

The kiss pulled her out of her daze, and then she realized that the arms embracing her were now adjusting the stove.

Rihai was amused. If she weren’t seeing the masculine arms extending from her sides, she could easily believe she was cooking by herself.

“And what about composite roots?” Aotian asked softly in her ear, kissing her neck right after.

Rihai’s eyes narrowed slightly in comfort as she felt his soft kisses and gentle sucking.

Aotian noticed her reaction when she tilted her head to the side, exposing even more of her neck.

That got him excited.

‘I found a weak spot!’ he thought, amused.

“Hmmm…”

Rihai moaned softly in comfort but forced herself to continue the explanation.

“Mixed roots? Well… they tend to be more complicated. For example, a root composed of wood and fire. Since these elements have mutual generation, spells of these two natures become stronger than normal. However, there are also restrictions, and the use of metal and water spells will be hindered.”

She concluded, her voice slightly trembling, her eyes half-closed.

“And what about five-element roots?” Aotian asked in a soft, husky voice, though his attention was far from the conversation.

Only a quarter of his focus was actually listening to the answer. The other three-quarters were dedicated to discreetly moving his arms, raising them centimeter by centimeter until they supported the weight of Rihai’s breasts.

‘Uhm, uhm! Not bad, they’re not small at all!’ He nodded internally, satisfied, feeling the comfortable weight in his arms.

Rihai, still lost in the kisses on her neck, took a few seconds to realize it. But then, something clicked.

Her eyes widened, and in an instant, her voice echoed through the house.

“AOTIAN!!!”

…

Sitting obediently in the chair, Aotian rubbed a bump on his head, pretending to be sad.

‘Totally worth it!’ He gave himself a mental fist bump, satisfied.

On the other side of the kitchen, Rihai was still fuming slightly. From time to time, she averted her gaze from the rice pot to shoot irritated looks at him.

The rice should have been ready a long time ago, but whenever Rihai got distracted, Aotian secretly turned off the fire, prolonging the morning by her side and taking every chance to tease her.

For a moment, she considered using her spiritual energy to cook everything at once, but in the end, she gave up.

If she did that now, she’d end up doing it in the future too… and her mornings with Aotian would become much shorter.

As she pondered these matters, Aotian’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“And what about five-element roots?”

He asked casually, resting his chin on his hand and watching Rihai intently.

She slowly turned to him, shooting a fierce glare.

Aotian responded with a mischievous smile and raised an eyebrow.

Clenching her teeth, Rihai took a deep breath but still answered.

“What is there to say? Haven’t you already figured it out?”

“Strong in everything, weak in nothing. They’re not called the roots of perfect balance for nothing.”

The five elements operate in cycles of mutual generation and mutual restriction.

Mutual generation occurs when one element strengthens another:

Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water → Wood

Mutual restriction occurs when one element weakens another:

Wood → Earth → Water → Fire → Metal → Wood

In this way, balance between the five elements arises because one element compensates for the weaknesses of another, achieving a state of perfect coexistence, even among opposites.

The five elements are also called the elements of creation because they are the foundation of life and existence.

‘The five elements of creation… well, that’s common sense… at least here.’

Aotian knew this theory from the xianxia books he had read in his past life, but now that he lived in a world where this was real, he couldn’t help but wonder:

‘What happened to all the other elements from the periodic table?’

But he didn’t dwell too much on it.

After all, he wasn’t a scientist in his previous life. How could he refute something he didn’t fully understand? Maybe the two theories weren’t even opposing but just different ways of looking at the same concept.

But then, an even bigger question arose.

“If five-element roots are so strong, why are they considered the weakest?”

He asked, genuinely confused.

Rihai remained silent for a moment, lost in her memories.

For a brief moment, a subtle hint of nostalgia appeared on her face.

“Funny… I had the same question once.”

Her voice came out low and soft.

She then began to speak, as if repeating something she had once heard.

“Legends say that, in the past, five-element roots were supposed to be the supreme roots. The world should have been filled with talents, and today’s single-root geniuses would have been considered the least talented.”

As she spoke, she turned off the fire and brought the pot to the table. She served herself a bowl of rice while leaving the rest for Aotian.

Meanwhile, Aotian took off his top, starting his training while eating.

“And then, what happened?” He asked, curious.

Rihai shrugged.

“Nothing happened.”

Aotian blinked, surprised, and looked at her expectantly, waiting for more details.

“Five-element spiritual roots are simply too demanding for humans. Cultivation is slow and requires many resources. Human life isn’t long enough to properly nurture these roots.”

The answer was simple but, at the same time, ruthless.

If humans had longer lifespans in each realm, like ferocious beasts, then maybe five-element roots really would produce geniuses.

But that wasn’t the case.

“But the biggest problem is the cultivation techniques.”

Rihai added, interrupting Aotian’s thoughts.

“Huh?” Aotian blinked, confused. He had also wanted to talk about techniques.

“To understand better, we need to talk about cultivation itself.”

She paused and then gave a slight smile.

“When you form your roots, we’ll talk about it.”

It was a subtle warning that the conversation was over.

She had already said enough for him to digest for a while.

Besides, when Aotian finally had his own roots, it would be easier to understand everything in practice.

“Uh… alright…”

Aotian felt restless about not getting the full answer now but nodded.

As much as he hated waiting, what could he do when the boss had spoken?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep