Early in the morning.

An elderly man stood on the raised ‘Dao Imparting Platform’, lecturing the new batch of disciples that had just been inducted. A kind smile softened his wizened features as his gaze swept through the gaggle of kids staring up at him with wide, innocent eyes.

“Cultivation,” he began, voice soft yet heard throughout the field, “begins with the Body. An aspiring Cultivator refines and tempers their physique to its limits, strengthening it to its utmost limits through mortal Martial Arts or special exercises. They must purge the impurities within their body to make it as pure as possible.”

Barely had he finished his sentence, a small hand shot up into the air with amazing speed. Any faster and it would’ve achieved escape velocity!

“But old uncle, what is this ‘impurity’ thing? Why do we need to purge it?” A curious child, no older than 11, asked.

The elder smiled knowingly, taking no offence at being called an ‘old uncle’. He chuckled lightly. “Impurities can be anything that exists inside your body that can be detrimental to your Cultivation. Be it weaker biological tissue, diseases, accumulated poisons like mortal tobacco or other harmful substances - as long as it is detrimental to Cultivation, it is an impurity.”

The child just looked as though he’d been tossed a differential equation and asked to solve it. The elder chuckled fondly. “Hmm. Tell me, what is your favourite dish?”

“Oh! It’s chicken soup!” he answered quickly.

“Then, is there something you don’t like about it?” the elder inquired knowingly.

“Mh-hm! It’s the disgusting thing called tomato!”

“Then, just think of the tomato as an impurity!” The elder waved his hands enthusiastically, “How great would the chicken soup taste if there were no tomatoes? It would be absolutely delectable, wouldn’t it?”

The child’s eyes lit up like a million-watt bulb! “Oh, oh, oh! It would taste awesome!”

“Think of Cultivation as something similar, it will be much smoother without the tomatoes - er, impurities.” The elder corrected himself and continued his lesson:

“Once the impurities have been purged and the body has been trained sufficiently, the lifeforce within the body is awakened, allowing one to control their body at an extreme level.”

The curious kid’s hand shot up once again. “Old uncle, what is this lifeforce thingy?”

“Ohoho, that is an excellent question, kiddo!” The elder grinned widely, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You see, inside each and every one of us, there exists a small flame - a lantern if you will. A lantern that is lit the moment you are born, and one that is extinguished when you die. The oil is your lifeforce, and the wick is your lifespan.”

“B-but elder, according to your analogy, doesn’t that mean by cultivating we’re expending our life force?” Another kid asked meekly.

“That’s the fun part, young one. We don’t.” The Elder chuckled lightly and looked at the boy, “Tell me, when do you switch on the lights? When do you switch them off?”

“Erm, when it's dark outside, the lights are switched on. And when we go to sleep, we switch off the lantern.” The boy answered, still somewhat confused.

“And how long does it take for the oil to burn out completely?”

“Around a week…?” The boy replied before his eyes lit up in realisation. “Oh, I get it! It’s because we have much more lifeforce in our body than we need, right?”

“Very smart, little one. You got it in one go!” The Elder praised him enthusiastically, causing the little guy to puff out his chest.

“Now, back to Cultivation,” the elder cleared his throat.

“After an Aspiring Cultivator has awakened their lifeforce and has trained their body to its utmost limits, they must find the Qi Acupoints within their body. Which is not very difficult because lifeforce tends to naturally gravitate towards these acupoints.”

The elderly man flipped his ‘explaining to a child’ switch on, “It’s like puddles after rain.”

“Oh~!” Instantly, all of them understood.

“An Aspiring Cultivator uses their lifeforce to transform their flesh and blood, shaping it until it can cradle it deep within the cells that make up their physical being.”

“Um, what are these cells you keep talking about, Elder?” A precocious little girl asked the critical question.

“Well, do you know what houses are made of?” The Elder asked in return.

“Er, wood and bricks and stuff, I think?” the girl answered, bashfully poking her fingers together. “I-I’m not really sure, though.”

“You are absolutely correct, little one,” the Elder smiled gently, “If you want to understand what cells are, you can think of them as the smallest pieces of a grand palace - like the bricks and timbers of a mighty hall.

“Though each cell is so tiny that the mortal eye will never see it, together they work in countless mysterious ways, building the most beautiful creation between Heaven and Earth - a living, breathing human. Like you.”

The little girl turned pink, her vibrant red orbs flying all over the place, somewhat flustered by the elder's gaze, she stuttered out, “I-I see, Elder! Thank you for clarifying my doubts.”

“It is what I am here for, little one,” the Elder just chuckled and continued his ‘Dao Lecture’.

“Now, the question is this: what does the Aspiring Cultivator need to do for this transformation to occur within their bodies?

“The answer to this question is surprisingly simple: they just need to keep doing exactly what they have been all along: training their body. It’s just that there is the addition of Qi Meditation after the training. Qi Meditation is a practice that helps guide the evolution of the body and much more.

“You will learn about this later - from a more qualified teacher than the little old me.

“However,” suddenly, the elder’s tone changed, his gentle tone like sunshine replaced by the deep rumble of thunder, eliciting startled gasps from kids below. “You must remember this: Qi Meditation is immensely important: it will accompany you throughout your journey. And the better you learn it, the greater the heights you will reach.

“No Legendary Artefact, Immortal Pill or Divine Technique will ever compare in importance to you - an Aspiring Cultivator.

“Yet day after day, I see Cultivators pay no heed to the words of their elders, choosing to chase after ephemeral fantasies when their answer lay with them.

“I hope,” he gazed down at them, “you will pay heed and take my words to heart.”

After a short pause to let his message sink in, accompanied by vigorous nodding, the elder clapped his hands. A genial smile returned to his face, the intensity gone like it was nothing but a dream.

The elder raised his hand, and a ball of blueish-purple light appeared on his upturned palm.

With a casual wave, the ball of light bloomed into a giant silhouette of a human. Within the silhouette were numerous amorphous, misty blobs of white, with three being especially large and bright: one being an inch below the navel, another over the heart and, finally, one at the centre of the forehead.

“After refining one’s body to its limits, a cultivator finally has a body that can bear the sheer might of the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth.”

“They can draw the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into their bodies, fusing their Life Force and their Spirit with Spiritual Energy to forge the Dantian - the most vital reservoir of Qi and the Crucible of Immortality that will shape their future Path.” The giant silhouette of the human quivered slightly, and the blob below the navel suddenly became defined - its blurry, soft edges becoming sharp and defined.

“It is here, at the threshold of forging the Dantian, that an Aspiring Cultivator truly transforms into something beyond a mere Mortal: he becomes Extraordinary!

“This,” the elder exclaimed, his voice faintly stirring the air, “is the First Stage of Cultivation: Qi Refining!

“In this Stage, we draw the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into our bodies, refine it and fuse it with our lifeforce into pure Zhenqi and store it inside the Dantian.” The elder waved his hand once again. Azure currents were drawn into the silhouette and mixed with the circles of white mist inside, the resultant mixture turning bright gold and drawn to the Dantian, leaving the other blobs of mist dim.

He swept his arms wide in a gesture so grand you'd think he was announcing the arrival of a legendary feast. “You can think of it as making fruit juice!”

And instantly, the grandness was blasted to smithereens!

“You pulp the fruit, mix it with water and sugar and store it in a bottle or glass.

“Exactly like that, you refine the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth, mix it with your lifeforce and store it in your Dantian!” He stroked his long white beard, taking immense pride in reducing Qi cultivation to the same level as… making juice.

“When the refined Zhenqi is stored in the Dantian, the body automatically works to restore the lifeforce spent, much like how our body recovers after intense exercise.” The dim blobs of mist in the silhouette slowly recovered.

“We continuously fill our Dantians with juice - I mean, Zhenqi - until there is no more space.” The silhouette’s Dantian had nearly turned into a solid circle.

“Now that your juice is made, you will drink it, won’t you?” The elder’s eyes sparkled, his expression full of expectation. “Why go through all that effort to make the drink if you aren’t going to savour it?”

“But, sir, how are we supposed to drink our Zhenqi? Isn’t it already inside us?” a confused little girl raised her hand.

The elder let out an amused chuckle. “No, child. What I am implying is that the Zhenqi we have refined so painstakingly must serve some purpose, should it not? Our efforts would have been an utter waste otherwise.” The elder gestured towards the silhouette, “You will understand soon enough.”

A portion of the dense golden mist was released from the Dantian, which swirled gracefully through the body before returning. Then another wisp of the mist was released, then another and so on.

As the golden mist circulated, the previously plain white mist slowly took on a golden hue, spreading evenly throughout the figure.

“Using our refined Qi, we transform our bodies bit by bit, leveraging the human body’s incredible adaptability. This transformation continues until our lifeforce becomes indistinguishable from the refined Zhenqi.”

The elder’s eyes blurred. “It is a bit like marinating food; the longer you marinate, the deeper the taste!”

He produced a white handkerchief and dabbed a corner of his mouth, his grey eyes somewhat unfocused.

“Ahem!” A loud, very intentional cough sounded, startling the elder out of his reverie!

“Ah!” The elder suddenly remembered that he was giving a Dao Lecture! He hurriedly tried to pick up where he left off, “Er, anyway, when a Qi Refining Cultivator has marinated fully, they are ready to fry!”

The children: “...”

The person who coughed: “...”

The elder noticed the sea of deadpan looks cast his way. A drop of sweat slid down his forehead. “Er… I-I mean, when a Qi Cultivator has fully refined his Qi, he has reached the peak of Qi Refining!”

He pointed at the glowing human silhouette exaggeratedly, trying his best to draw the onlookers' attention away from him! “At this point, it is simply impossible to refine more Qi.”

Noticing that the children were successfully distracted, the elder heaved a sigh of relief. He pointed at the silhouette, golden mists swirled throughout its body.

“So, what should a cultivator do? At first glance, there are two options:” the silhouette suddenly split itself into two full-sized silhouettes. Inside one, the circle representing the Dantian suddenly expanded, occupying two fists’ worth of space rather than one, “expand the container.”

Inside the second one, the golden mist representing Qi shrank, becoming even brighter and its colour deeper.

“Yet, both these options have significant problems,” The elder said, “First, the Dantian at this Stage of cultivation is very delicate and cannot withstand the expansion. It's like a water balloon, it can only hold so much water. If you forcibly fill more, it will burst.” Cracks appeared on the first silhouette’s Dantian before it exploded, taking the silhouette along with it.

“For the other method, Qi Compression has a similar problem, the Dantian may not be able to bear the pressure exerted by the compressed Qi and, again, might burst before we can even use the compressed Qi to transform the body.” The second silhouette also shattered spectacularly, showering the pale-faced children with motes of light.

The elder waved his hand, and another silhouette appeared. “What should we do, then? We can’t be stuck in the Qi Refining Stage all our lives, right?”

“So, the ancient Cultivators devised a method: to create what we now call the Meridian System.” The elder thumbed towards the silhouette. From its Dantian, numerous root-like structures sprouted, gracefully weaving through its body and linking various Qi Acupoints. “The functions of the Meridian System are quite complex and varied, but you will learn about those later. For now, we just need to understand how it is made.”

The elder snapped his fingers, and the silhouette reset. “The first hurdle to creating a Meridian is the fact that we do not have enough control over our own Qi. No matter how hard you train, no matter what Technique you employ, it will never give a peak First Stage: Qi Refining cultivator the sheer control over Qi required.”

“It is like trying to use a sieve as a bowl - it is simply impossible. No matter what technique you apply, a sieve cannot hold water,” the elder explained.

“So, what must we do? Well, it's simple enough: we exchange the sieve for a bowl!” He smiled.

He pointed to the three brightest acupoints on the silhouette’s body. “See the three largest Qi Acupoints? The ones at the forehead, heart and the abdomen? The one at the forehead is called the Soul Gate, the one at the heart is called the Heart Space, and the one over the abdomen is, as you know, the Dantian.

“Our focus is first on the Soul Gate at the forehead. With careful nurturing of our Zhenqi, we gently coax this Acupoint open, awakening our Spirit and unlocking our Soul Power.

“It’s like a pressure cooker, actually: once ready, your Soul Power will burst forth!”

With a gesture from the Elder, the golden mist concentrated at the forehead, constantly circulating around it. “We use Zhenqi to slowly nurture this acupoint, nourishing the Spirit. And when the Spirit is nurtured to a sufficient level, we can open the Soul Gate, awakening the Spirit and gaining access to Soul Power.”

As he spoke, the Soul Gate shimmered and emitted azure ripples of light that spread like gentle waves across a pond, drawing gasps of wonder from the mesmerised audience.

“When the Soul Power is awakened, we use it to precisely guide our Zhenqi and form Qi Meridians within the body.” The azure light regathered in the body and formed a thin, pipe-like structure connecting the Dantian, Heart Space and finally the Soul Gate.

“As Qi is pushed through the Meridians, the pressure naturally compresses it. And while it is pumped through the Meridian System, some of the Qi naturally flows out, depositing the compressed Qi into the cells of the Cultivator.”

Golden mist gracefully flowed through newly formed paths, slowly nourishing the body.

“But elder, wouldn’t the compressed Qi simply return to its original state anyway?” a curious kid raised his hand.

The old man smiled broadly, “There, young one, lies the ingenuity of the Meridian System. Even if the compressed Qi does almost immediately return to its original state, it doesn’t matter as long as the circulation is continuous. Because as soon as the compressed Qi returns to its original state, more compressed Qi replaces it. It is a complete cycle.”

Spreading his arms wide, he declared in a voice as resonant as thunder rolling across the plains, “Thus, when the Meridian System is complete, the Cultivator at last claims the bedrock of true power! Like the deep roots beneath the Earth anchoring a Primordial tree that pierces the clouds to scrape the heavens, the Meridian System forms the very foundation of Qi Cultivation: its Earthen Origin!”