In Chen Huang’s private room, the owner of the room was currently sitting with his legs crossed and eyes closed. His breathing followed a distinctive rhythm. A faint halo effect was being produced by his body as he breathed.
Shortly after, his body trembled as a faint popping sound could be heard. Spiritual energy came off of him in waves as his body continued to shake. His eyes pressed tightly shut as he reigned the spiritual energy back into his body. Once back inside, the spiritual energy was guided to with Chen Huang making sure to not lose control over a single strand. There it was gradually condensed into a small ball of concentrated energy, becoming smaller and smaller until it reached a size comparable to that of a penny. The energy stopped wildly trying to move around and promptly began to settle into its place.
Chen Huang’s eyes carefully opened as he let out a visible breath of evident relief. His eyes then lit up in satisfaction. “The first stage of the energy condensing realm.”
Yesterday, after their tests, his master gave both him and Jin Long books on many things that were considered basic or otherwise common sense in this world. That wasn’t what was important, though, what was important was that their master had given them their first cultivation manual which allowed them to cultivate at long last. Chen Huang gently picked up the opened book in front of him before closing it and rereading the title, ‘Energy Guiding.’
Even though it was only a basic cultivation manual, Chen Huang was overjoyed to be able to cultivate. “Gggrrrrr '', a growling sound caused Chen Huang to turn his head.
There he saw the image of Jin Long tearing the same manual to pieces. Chen Huang could only sigh while shaking his head at the comical sight. Their master had forewarned them that Jin Long was a spiritual beast and therefore wouldn’t be able to cultivate with the standard manuals or guides meant for humans and rendering it useless to give him one. Despite this, Jin Long had insisted on obtaining a manual. Their master eventually conceded and he had devoted the entire day earnestly trying and inevitably failing to cultivate.
Nevertheless, even without using the manual, Jin Long had grown naturally in strength. According to their master, spiritual beasts could instinctually absorb and refine spiritual energy which was also the cause for Jin Long’s rapid increase in strength. Not to mention that Jin Long’s pure golden dragon bloodline only increased his talent and power.
Chen Huang dismissed these thoughts and jumped onto his luxurious green canopy bed. He could feel his tiredness washing away like how a wave recedes from the beach leaving the beach looking new and clean. ‘So comfortable.’ He didn’t know what they had used to make his bed but whatever it was it had made an incredibly soft and fluffy bed.
Chen Huang turned on his side and picked up another book from his jade nightstand. This book was given to him by his master and explained the cultivation levels of their body, spirit and soul system. He made it his objective to finish it as soon as possible but due to how the book was written he had to take small breaks, which he used to diligently cultivate. The book was not composed in a direct fashion but rather there were chapters on various topics with each chapter containing numerous hypotheses, theorems and conjectures on that specific topic. This meant that the reader would have to read and interpret all of the extracts so that they could then form an accurate and general idea on the subject.
From what he had gathered thus far, there were three systems of cultivation: body, spirit and soul and each one had their own benefits and downsides. Body cultivation focused on improving one’s body and cultivating physical strength alongside a formidable body. This could be started as early as seven years old. Then spirit cultivation was the primary system of cultivation that most cultivators focused on. spirit cultivation was used to gather and condense spiritual energy to develop and improve one’s spiritual foundation.
Customarily, it was started when one had their spiritual root test which, to Chen Huang’s surprise, was usually at 15 years old with some geniuses starting at 12 or 13. Because of this, he didn’t know why his master had him undergo the test when his body was only two years old. He eventually came to the conclusion that it was most likely related to his heavenly physique. His master had been certain even before the test that he bore a special physique so it would make sense that he may have tested his spiritual root in a different way from others.
Finally, the last system of cultivation was the soul and it was the most complex and abstract system to cultivate. Even though soul techniques were not in short supply in this realm, it was still far harder to cultivate compared to the other systems. The reason for this was that a person could only start cultivating their soul if they had achieved sufficient progress within one or both of the other systems. This generated a cultivation norm where many cultivators had not progressed in the path of the soul as much as the others. Chen Huang continued to read. His master had advised him to focus on the body system while in addition doing some spirit cultivation.
Every system had realms which were like checkpoints or milestones for a cultivator on the path of cultivation. Each realm would additionally consist of smaller stages inside them. The higher you went, the harder it would be to advance to the succeeding stage or realm with many becoming stuck at a certain level.
The system of body cultivation started by the body refining realm where one tempered their skin, muscle, blood, bone and organs; the goal was to start from the exterior and slowly work towards the inner extremities of the body to have thoroughly tempered their body. The next realm was the Meridian Cleansing realm where the cultivator would clean their meridians to allow their energy flow more freely. After which there would be the Acupoint Opening realm, Flowing Vitality realm, Virtual Disaster realm before finishing with the Attuned body realm. It was described that by walking on this path a cultivator would be able to gain a body as hard as steel and capable of withstanding impacts that could demolish a three-story house not to mention that this was only the beginning.
There was also the system of spirit cultivation which Chen Huang had only just started treading. Chen Huang had entered the first stage of the Energy Gathering realm which was the first realm in this system of cultivation. The Energy Gathering realm consisted of twelve stages; the purpose of the realm was to gather the surrounding energy and condense twelve points or balls of energy within the body which represented the twelve stages of the realm. The subsequent realms were the Foundation Establishment realm, Core Formation realm, Sea of Energy realm, Profound Mind realm and the Great Harmony realm. This system was your generic ‘splitting the seas’ and ‘moving mountains’ cultivation and those two were indeed used as examples by some people in the book.
Chen Huang closes the book as he would need some time to digest the information. He looked at Jin Long once more. Even without cultivating he had learned that, due to the purity and strength of his bloodline, Jin Long was at the sixth stage of the Energy Gathering realm and his body was at the third stage of the Meridian Cleansing realm. Chen Huang was a bit jealous at first at how fast Jin Long progressed in spirit cultivation but he quickly realized that he was being foolish again. If other cultivators knew about this, they would yell at Chen Huang in pure anger. To be able to enter the first stage in one week with a basic cultivation manual would be a cultivation speed equivalent to a genius, not to mention in less than a day.
It also helped that due to his heavenly physique, his body was already at the ninth stage of the Meridian Cleansing realm due to the outlandish talent in body cultivation given to him by his physique. Chen Huang thought with a bit of pride.
After a bit of deliberation, Chen Huang opened the book once more and flipped to the part of the book that recorded soul cultivation. He knew that his master had advised him to focus on the other two systems, but ‘ There’s no harm in just looking,’ he thought.
He read the conjectures on soul cultivation and had to take some time to comprehend it all until he had finally organised the information. Soul cultivation, just like it’s name, enhanced a cultivator’s soul or more specifically it’s durability and flexibility.
The more durable a soul was, the harder it would undoubtedly become for that cultivator to perish and the more flexible it was the greater the quantity of usages their soul would subsequently hold. The book even scarcely explained that if their body was completely annihilated, as long as their realm was high enough they would be able to separate their soul from their body and completely reconstruct it.
Chen Huang kept flipping through the pages as his brows furrowed more and more. Reaching the end of the chapter Chen Huang could only let out a sigh. It seemed that, compared to the others, the levels of soul cultivation were nowhere as detailed.
The book only explained the first two realms and even then the second realm was quite vague. Apparently, the first realm is the Nascent Soul realm where one is traditionally supposed to build their nascent soul and slowly purify and refine it. A nascent soul is a representation of a cultivator’s soul that the cultivator can see as well as polish to gain a stronger and more capable soul. It’s supposed to look like a miniature version of the cultivator.
The information on the second realm is very vague so Chen Huang only learned that it’s called the Soul Refinement realm and to advance in this realm you need to develop your nascent soul. He didn’t discover anything about the abilities in this realm either. Feeling his tired mind, Chen Huang stopped reading and leapt off the bed to stop Jin Long from destroying anymore texts so that he could cultivate in peace.
Meanwhile, in the elder’s personal room the elder was sitting on a green couch while calmly sipping a steaming cup of tea. His movements were calm and without any hesitation which gave off an a aura of inexplicable peace and serenity.
“Are you genuinely trying to hide from me?” he declared in a slight mocking tone while his emerald green eyes moved to the side.
The light behind the elder rippled for a second before an eccentric man, dressed in tight yellow and grey robes with the insignia of a human face hiding behind a smiling mask embroidered on his back, appeared. The man wore a monocle with a top hat and looked quite different compared to the elder’s wide-sleeved green robes with the image of a mountain on the back. He also wore a bright and amicable smile on his face that could cause anyone to immediately confide in him with their innermost secrets,
“How are you doing, Lei Huang, my old friend.” Unfortunately, the man’s charm did not work on Lei Huang as he replied back coldly, “Why exactly are you here Jing Ling?”
Despite the harsh response, Jing Ling’s smile did not falter for a moment as he continued to joke around, “Come on, haven’t we known each other long enough for me to just be able to pop over and say hello?”
“No”
“Aiee, so harsh, but you’re right I’m not here only to chat,” he responded while adjusting his monocle and saying with a solemn gaze as Lei Huang did not stop sipping his tea.
“Three thousand odd years ago… I’m certain you remember right”, Jing Ling spoke while carefully spacing the time between his words and yet Lei Huang still continued sipping his tea.
“Three thousand years ago… If I’m correct, it should have been around that time where you were in tremendous need of some outstanding food,” he explained while displaying a pained and tearful expression.
“Luckily, I was, and still am, a great cook and came right over to prepare you an exquisite meal,” he announced while performing various flamboyant gestures.
The sudden change in emotions and tone would have sent any average person’s mind spinning but Lei Huang seemed used to it.
“Sadly, you never ate any of it” Jing Ling switched back to sadness. “Therefore, my dearest of friends, Lei Huang, I am here today to implore you to do your taste buds a favor and taste my exquisite dishes.”
Although Lei Huang continued to drink his tea, multiple bulging veins could be seen on his forehead and neck when he heard that demand.
“I’m joking, I'm joking, I’m simply here because I heard that you had taken in a disciple and just wanted to know how it was going.” Jing Ling smiled and tried to calm Lei Huang down as he dropped the joke.
He sat down on the couch opposite of Lei Huang and picked up a hot cup of tea on the glass table in front of him. Clearly, Lei Huang already knew that he was coming.
“Indeed I have taken in a disciple, but I doubt that that’s all you came here for, so why did you come here?”
“This couch is really nice, where did you get it?”Jing Ling suddenly changed the topic but a fierce glare from Lei Huang, who had now finally placed his tea back on the elegant table, convinced him to voluntarily stop.
“Why the grumpy face, I'm just delighted that you’ve finally taken a disciple, is it wrong for me to be curious?” he said as his humorous eyes progressively became crescent shaped while he was nevertheless maintaining his cheerful smile.
“What’s his name?, where did you meet?, how did you know he was the one?...” Jing Ling fired off question after question in a curious tone while his elbows were on his knees and his chin gently rested on his hands.
Lei Huang looked at him for a good few seconds, during which Jing Ling never lost his radiant smile, before answering a question, “His name is Chen Huang and you don’t need to know the answers to the other questions.”
Jing Ling’s attentive ears perked up at that as he was able to surmise what that implied, “Wow, you gave him your name, you must think he’s really extraordinary.” he looked at Lei Huang in curiosity.
“Well, no need to worry, that’s truly all I came here for so I guess I’ll be going now; thanks for the delicious tea.” Jing Ling smilingly assured him while he got up from the couch and prepared to leave.
However, just before he was about to, he abruptly halted and turned around to face Lei Huang with a look of remembrance on his face. “I almost forgot, there’s this minor banquet on the third peak in a week; an insignificant thing really. You're cordially invited of course and...Oh!.. I know, why don't you introduce your beloved disciple as well? Well, bye now.”
And with that he waved in front of him while Lei Huang’s glaring emerald eyes were locked onto him. The light seemed to wrap around him to intentionally conceal and shelter him and soon all that was left was some empty space.
Lei Huang grabbed his fragrant tea again and drank a bit. He stopped for a moment to grunt, “Politics.” Following that, he naturally began drinking his tea again in silence.
