Spirit Root:

All human beings are born with a spirit root. Spirit root is what allows cultivators to sense and control the Spiritual Qi, absorb and cultivate it.

Not all spirit roots are the same. The quality of spirit root affects a cultivators cultivation speed. Depending on their quality, spirit root can be graded into several grades.

Spirit root grades:

1. Poor
2. Mediocre
3. Average 
4. Good
5. Excellent
6. Superb

• Variant

Spirit root can also have an attribute. This attribute decides an individual's affinity to a certain element, making it much easier to use that particular element.

Mortal Realms:

Foundation Establishment

Qi Sublimation*

• The first stage in cultivation.
• Use natal breathing to draw in surrounding spiritual qi and infuse it into lungs and nourishing them.
• As one practices, one's breath becomes purer.
• Cultivators at this stage are the same as normal humans.

Blood Condensation*

• Once the lungs are completely nourished, any spiritual qi that the cultivator draws in, will be infused in the blood through the lungs.
• Spiritual Qi is infused into blood purifying it.
• When all the blood is purified, the cultivator becomes immune to diseases. Other than this, cultivators at this stage are the same as normal humans.

Tendon Transformation**

• Infuse Spiritual Qi into the muscles, tendons and internal organs, transforming them so that they become more resilient and tenacious
• Physical strength increases tremendously
• Body's natural healing capability is also enhanced.

Bone Forging**

• Infuse Spiritual qi into the bones and the marrow.
• Bones become harder, stronger and resilient.
• Body's natural healing capability is enhanced further.
• Significant increase in physical strength
• Physical defence is increased tremendously 
• Forged bones can store spiritual qi.

Meridian Opening

• Once the blood is nourished to its limit, trying to infuse more spiritual qi will cause it to either penetrate and infuse into the flesh (Tendon Transformation) or leak outside. The cultivator can choose to force it outside or continue with Tendon Transformation.
• As the spiritual qi is forced outside, it will open apertures of the body.
• Use the spiritual Open body apertures (361 major, 1080 minor)
• Cultivator can absorb Spiritual Qi from surrounding through skin
• Later cultivation speed depends on the number of apertures opened.

Fragmentation Boundary

• Connect the apertures opened to the dantian forming energy channels by guiding the Spiritual Qi towards the location of dantian.
• Once the cultivator has formed the required/desired number of Qi channels, he can draw in Spiritual Qi through them generating pressure on the sealed dantian.
• Once the pressure is sufficient, the seal on the dantian can be shattered and the cultivator can step into the Spirit Gathering Ream, becoming a true cultivator.

* If the density of spiritual qi is thicker, the quantity drawn in during each breath is also higher, making the process faster. The environment where one lives affects the speed of completion of this stage.

** Optional stages. No one really bothers with these two stages since they take too much time to complete. So usually, the physical strength of cultivators is the same as that of average humans, making it their weakness. However this only applies for young cultivators. Older cultivators who have been cultivating for decades will have their flesh and organs tempered by spiritual qi naturally and will eventually complete Tendon Transformation, making their physical bodies stronger.

Cultivator realms:

Spirit Gathering

Spirit Condensation

Sea Expansion Boundary 

Dividing Earth

Heaven Opening

Forming Embryo

Divine Infant

IDreamNovels

I feel like I invested lot of time in cultivation stages, especially Foundation Establishment. Worse, it will be really hard to find an opportunity to explain them in detail during the story because MC is already past them. So I will just have them explained here, so you can better understand them. As for higher cultivation realms, I haven't completely decided on them, so they are subject to change. I will fill them up as the story progress, but I don't want to waste too much time on it, because, well MC's own cultivation will take a completly different route.