Start Cultivating

Teacher Bao Tan was surprised that Tao Xue was even listening. Tao Xue was the kind of person who was quite unreadable, or rather, misleading. He always has such a casual look on his face, without any cares in the world, that you couldn't even make out if he was listening to you.

Teacher Bao Tan replied, "Well, if that's the case, the previous sub-division would be counted as his or her sub-division. It's just like if someone is higher than the half-mark of any particular Cultivation level, he would technically be closer to the next level, than the one on which he is, but he is still said to be a previous level Cultivator. Well, I guess you got this, so let us hear the other student out."

Just as teacher Bao Tan said this, Kuo Wei, the rich boy, changed the expression that was on his face, and his mouth curled up into a sly smirk, as he said, "Well, there are not many Cultivators in my family, but we are pretty rich, and as they say, money is one of the strongest forces in the world. As we have money, we can buy Cultivators, so that they could work as our bodyguards, and stuff like that. We can hire as many of them as we want. Currently, the Patriarch is somewhere in the 6th level, I guess the same as the Patriarch of that other student's family, Lei Pan, I guess, was his name."

"Well, that's kind of half correct, considering what I asked," replied teacher Bao Tan. He asked of people who had a lot of Cultivators in their families, he meant to say Cultivators as family members, though, not hired bodyguards. He wanted to say that, but didn't say that, so that was he correct part. The part of the kid's answer that was wrong was that it was incomplete, as he didn't know the ranks of all the important people, only one, and that too only very vaguely.

As the matter stood, teacher Bao Tan thought that it was enough explanation for the time being. He had decided it was the time for these kids to take their first step towards the path of Cultivation. He had decided to let them start their Cultivation.

He said, "Now that you all have got the sufficient information about Cultivation, I shall teach you how to Cultivate. Don't get too excited, though. The first part isn't interesting at all, that's why you should be patient, and learn calmly. First of all, go into a deep, meditative trance. Connect with your whole self. Submerge into the profoundness of the state which you are in, and then concentrate. Concentrate until you can sense the presence of the energy of the Heaven and Earth, all around you, enveloping you, devouring you. Whenever you are able to sense the energy of the Heaven and Earth, you'll be able to call yourself a half level, as that marks the first half of a step in your journey in the vast world of Cultivation. Well, it all sounds easy, right, but that's not it! You must be thinking that this is a piece of cake, right? But, this isn't! You'll have to practice really hard if you want to become a Cultivator, even a half level. Becoming a half level itself will take you a lot of time. This is your first step into such a vast world, so it sure will be difficult, so be calm. According to the statistics of the Academy, it takes a person something around a week, at lest, to step into the half level of Cultivation. From now on, it's your homework, and also your daily routine in school, to practice Cultivating to the half level. And mind it, don't get all worked up if you sensed the presence of the energy of the Heaven and Earth, because, it will not be counted as sensing the presence, if you sense only a thin strand of the energy, or only sense it for a brief moment. By sensing the energy, I mean, you should be able to sense it all around you, instantaneously, kind of. Well, I basically mean that you have to get the hang of sensing the nearby energy, so that you are called Cultivators. Well, now get Cultivating!"

After the students heard these words, they all got fired up. Each of them found a suitable place, sat in a meditative pose, and started meditating, and were soon submerged into a profound state of their own inner consciousness.

While all of this was going on on one side, on the other side, teacher Bao Tan simply sat, thinking in his mind, "Well, that was a tough day for me, right now. Well, for the next few days, they'll be practicing in their class, instead of here, that is, until they become half level Cultivators. Well, I'll be free for that time, at least. Some rest is good enough for me." Just as he said this, teacher Bao Tan also drifted off into a deep trance, into his own inner conscience. The difference was that while the whole class (of 4 students) sat down, Cultivating, teacher Bao Tan was dozing off happily, sitting comfortably on his chair, with a blissful (grim) expression on his face.

The students got up from this trance, when it was time for going back home, and all of them walked off, leaving their half-awake teacher in the dust, as they hurriedly ran towards their friends, who were in different Cultivation groups. Tao Xue met up with Ling Shen and Ju Yuan on the way, as he walked towards the exit.

Tao Xue was pretty interested in knowing what happened in the classes of the other two, because he wanted to know if there were any big arguments, or any other stuff like that, because, according to him, that's 'interesting', not 'boring', like whatever happened in his class after the big incident was 'boring', and he didn't like that kind of stuff.

He said, "So hey, what happened in your classes, anything interesting?"