Rae's POV

"Master, it has been two months but I still haven't broken through."

"Of course, you haven't, two months is too little time."

"Too little time?  Then how long will it take for me to break through to the next stage?"

"About three years."

"Three years!!"

"Well if you are a prodigy at it maybe 1 or 2 but three years is the average time it takes for anyone to break through the first stage."

"But I don't have that much time."

"Well too bad that is just how it is."

"Isn't there any way to do this faster? I have been doing the same thing over and over for every day of these two months and I do not feel like I have made any significant progress."

"Unfortunately there isn't. Qi cultivation just like any other type of cultivation requires hard work, patience, and dedication. You just don't go to the field plant a seed and expect it to bear fruit overnight, do you?"

"No, we don't but at least there is got to be something to do to quicken the pace."

"Unfortunately there isn't. You see the concept of immortal cultivation is new even to the beast empire."

"New! How?"

"All of the cultivation that has been done over the years has relied solely on the beast side of the cultivators. It was only until recently that I managed to start cultivating my human side and so far it is working. I am actually in the upper realms of the Nascent soul stage almost breaking through to the soul transformation stage but this feat took me well over twelve years of consistent hard work to achieve and frankly to be honest I think my progress is on the quick side."

"Twelve years of this is on the quick side?"

"You need to develop patience."

"I think I am plenty patient, I am a scientist after all. It's just so hard to do this for so long not even being sure if it will work."

"Trust me it will work. Just focus on going through all 9 phases of qi cultivation and six realms of qi cultivation and you will soon find yourself breaking through the first stage of immortal cultivation which is the qi gathering stage."

"But..."

"Let me ask you, can you grow a forest from one seed?"

"A forest from one seed? While it is possible it will take a lot of time."

"Exactly. Qi cultivation is the same, you have to patiently grow the first tree from which the forest will spring forth. This takes time, dedication, and consistent hard work. So you do the same. Now sit down, breathe, meditate, and go through all the phases of qi cultivation over and over till you move from the foundation realm to the condensation realm."

"Master I understand what you are saying but can't you give me a boost in some way."

"Like what, you want a cultivation pill?"

"Cultivation pill? Those exist!! Yes, yes! please give me that."

"They do exist but are very rare and expensive to acquire and often come with side effects. Plus you're currently using your astral body so using the pill might prove to be ineffective."

"Astral body?"

"Yes, in this realm it is not possible to use your physical body unless you are like her."

"Like who, spider lady?"

"Yes, she is the only person who can traverse this realm with their physical bodies."

"Wait so this is not my actual body?"

"No, it's your astral body."

"Whoa ok, and how exactly am I still able to interact with things in this realm."

"Because this is the astral plane. So of course everything you interact with will interact back with you."

"Oh okay. That is pretty cool. I think that explains why I can't contact Liza anymore."

"Liza? Who is that?"

"No one. Wait if this is my astral body, where is my real one?"

"Your physical body is in a place in between this realm and the labyrinth. You will get it back once you leave this place."

"Ok I guess, and just to be clear my astral body is my soul right."

"Well, something like that."

"Wait if this is my soul then why do I take this form? Wouldn't I take on my original form since this is not my original body?"

"Not necessarily. The astral body is formed from your astral essence to fit the body you feel most comfortable in."

"Oh so the body I feel most comfortable in is a girl's body, okay I suppose. It's a powerful vampiric body but... It doesn't matter anyway. So master, you spoke of astral essence, is that what makes up a soul."

"Yes but not completely, in this world the soul is made up of three essences that is a true essence, a spirit essence, and an astral essence."

"True essence, spirit essence, and astral essence?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so what exactly are those three?"

"True essence is just what it says, it is the essence of your truth."

"Essence of my truth? What does that mean."

"It is where everything that makes up you exists. From your personality to your temperament, to your conscience mind. It is what makes up you, your spiritual core if you will, a primordial soul. It is also the yang part of your soul."

"Interesting! What about the other essences."

"There is the spirit essence. Just like it says this is where all your energy comes from."

"Like mana and stuff."

"Yes, this is where soul energy is. It is also where all your emotions and desires lie. This is the yin part of your soul and where your subconscious resides."

"Wait isn't the subconscious more of where your true self is? I mean this is where all the innate traits and characteristics that make up you are."

"Yang commands yin just as the conscious mind shapes the subconscious."

"But I thought that Yin and yang are complementary forces."

"They are as Yang can't exist without yin and yin can't exist without yang. Yang is the active part of the soul while yin is a bit on the passive side. So while yin produces the energy yang is responsible for shaping and molding it."

"Oh ok. What about the astral essence."

"This is the bridge between the body and the soul. It is what allows the flow of energy between the two. Apart from being a bridge, it is also a container that holds both the true and spirit essence."

"Oh right through the astral body."

"Yes."

"That is very interesting and how did you find out all this."

"I am the one who discovered qi cultivation in the first place so I would better be knowledgeable about it."

"Oh, so my master is the original. I am lucky that I get to learn straight from the source."

"Yes, you are... It is time I return to the material plane so you continue cultivating you will soon break through so don't worry."

"Wait is there really no shortcut... "

She left, I wonder what the hurry is all about. She has given me a lot of information but nothing close to what I actually want. How is learning about the three essences of the soul going to help me cultivate faster? All her teachings are so abstract that I just don't know how I am going to work out all this. By the way I open up the spirit circuit in my astral body and not my physical one so would that be the case when I return to my physical body? If it does, then there must be an insane connection between the body and the soul.

But how does all this work? She just says I go through the 9 phases of qi cultivation by sitting down breathing and meditating. I know and can feel energy transforming as I do this

but what are the mechanics behind it all? Is there some kind of thing that happens as I breathe and meditate? Maybe breathing and meditation force the body to act in some way, or is this more soul related? What makes up the soul anyway? Energy? consciousness? Maybe a type of exotic matter? Either way, I need to think of a way to quicken my pace through this qi cultivation stuff. 

Ok, let me start from the beginning what is qi cultivation? From what I understand qi cultivation is the process by which you develop the ability to grow and balance that spiritual energy that is within the spiritual zone of the soul by feeding it terrestrial or cosmic energy depending on the level you are at.

Okay going towards how this process of absorption is achieved. It is done simply by breathing and meditating. While that might be what is seen to be happening on the surface there must be something subconsciously done driving the betterment of this qi energy. Maybe what the master refers to as being in sync with the universe is the answer. If I remember correctly, the vibration of the electrons flooding my body helped me to increase my mana output so what if breathing and meditating do the same? Maybe by breathing and meditating the body and the soul achieves a sort of frequency that is just right for qi cultivation. If that is the case then this would all make sense. As I have discovered this universe elementary particles are manifested through the vibrations of very small cosmic strings. So if those strings can somehow be manipulated at a quantum level then maybe just maybe I might get the key to tapping into cosmic energy eventually learning how to manipulate reality itself. But for now, let me figure out a frequency just right for qi cultivation.

I sat down for over a week trying to find different frequencies to vibrate my body searching for the one best for my qi cultivation and after ten days I finally broke through the first stage of immortal cultivation. Alright, let's proceed. I think I know how to approach this qi cultivation now but I still need time to learn more.