The Basics

Surprisingly in the underworld, despite the rumored harsh terrain, it is quite manageable to survive in. It's not easy, but definitely doable. There are trees that are thick and tall enough to climb on, hills and mountains that have crevices that are small to hide in, and plenty of apex predators that go around establishing and challenging each other's authority.

The only thing I would say that's always to be true is this place truly embodies "survival of the fittest". Almost every one to three days there's a new alpha beast devouring the old one and the cycle repeats. I have to be careful in this environment or else I'll become one of these beast's next light snack . One false move will be my end and I've already been given a second chance. I better not waste it.

As I found the tallest tree I could find, I sat down on one of the branches near its peak to protect myself from the monsters below, to rest, and to begin recollecting knowledge and possibilities of ways to grow stronger. I first started off remembering the basics, the three main sources of energy.

In the world of cultivation, there are three main sources of energy cultivators use on the road to ascension. The first and most commonly used is Ki.

Ki is one of the three main worldly energies and it is used in nearly all forms of cultivation techniques. It can be gathered through the surrounding area and can be gathered by numerous means, such as cultivation manuals, arrays, or beast cores from magical beasts.

It is then stored inside the body to improve one's cultivation progress. No matter what method is chosen, all choices lead into doing either light or deep meditation for it to be effective.

The second source of energy is external force. External force is the external energy a body can accumulate and produce out. This form of energy doesn't improve cultivation progress but rather refines the body to the extreme, often called body cultivation. Some cultivators who are at the peak of body cultivation can take multiple blows and come out unscathed.

Unfortunately, it is less used since the method of gathering external force is achieved by many painful body refinement techniques that are extremely arduous and agonizing. Many who attempted gathering external force are most likely to die in the process out of the three.

The third form of energy would be mental force. Unlike Ki and external force, mental force is gathered inside one's mind. The gathering of mental force is similar to Ki which is done by meditation but it is very strenuous on the mind. If it is overtrained, there's the possibility of your mind breaking, yet with the use of caution, it can be avoided. There is a fourth form of worldly energy called life vitality that utilizes one's life force but using it will only diminish my soul.

Since I don't have a body, the options of training my Ki and external force is not available. The only choices I have now is find a method to train my mental force or find a way to use life vitality. One exhausts my mind while the other eats away at my soul. My two decisions are not looking favorable.

Out of nowhere, a murder crow perched upon the same branch I am on. It had three eyes, one for each side and one on its forehead. It was a freakish looking monster. It kept twitching and quickly changing its body position constantly. Its squawk screeched and scratched the inside of my ears. I tried covering them but it was no use.

It then came over and tried to peck me all over my body. Even though Im dead, I still feel pain and they felt like slight stings. After a few moments the murder crow became uninterested.

If I remember correctly, murder crows only like their meals dead or barely alive. Thank god I'm essentially deceased or else this murder crow would gut my innards like a dog.

A flock of murder crows came flying by and it seems this murder crow that perched beside me was going to join them. Right before it took flight, I grabbed it by the legs, pulled it towards my body, grabbed the beak so it wouldn't scream, unsheathed my sword and I stabbed the blade deeply, piercing through the nape of the neck. The once lively murder crow slowly became dull over a few seconds.

I'm surprised that actually worked and the other birds didn't seem to notice. It looks like I can defend myself and feel pain despite not having a body yet I'd rather not find out if I can die a second time. After some slight reflection that I actually killed something for the first time, I gutted the crow open and rummaged my hands deep inside to try and find its beast core.

I soon found the beast core within the heart and I held it in my hand, thinking what to do next. The beast core resembled a reddish color, revealing this murder crow might have been a low ranking monster. I could not find any information regarding the ranking of beasts when I lived at the temple, so I must rely on observations and make educated guesses on monster's ranks from now on. All I know are that beast cores are a source of power for all magical beasts, containing the monster's Ki condensed, with some holding greater value than others.

I knew meditating to absorb the beast core would be ineffective, so I tried swallowing it whole and relaxing my body to a calm state. I have not learned any methods to gather Ki, so this is the second best thing I can try.

There weren't any sudden changes that I could feel and all I could see was the beast core floating inside of me. By a quick realization, since I am currently a wandering soul or a ghost to some extent, I should try pushing my hand through my body to grab it out. I attempted to do so and succeeded. I was able to pull it back out but it was covered in some form of ectoplasm substance. At this instance, I am highly disturbed but very intrigued.

***

After many attempts of trying to absorb the beast core, I delved deep into frustration and anger. Why isn't any method working? What is the trick behind absorbing its power? At this rate, I am slowly thinking saving Ming and climbing out of this hell is nearly impossible.

I lay my head back against the tree to cool my mind and rest after many unsuccessful pursuits of absorbing this beast core. I took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. Even though I didn't really need to breathe, doing this did cool my thoughts to some degree. I held the beast core between my index and thumb, holding it up above my head and towards the red sky in hope that some miracle will show itself.

Unexpectedly by carelessness and fatigue, I accidentally dropped the beast core on top of my forehead, making it glow and be absorbed into my soul.

I began blacking out and I feel as if a door was open inside my mind. My mind felt a welcoming peace and a distinct calming clarity. What I saw inside my head resembled a small ocean. No, it was a sea. It was made out of my own thoughts and mental force being gathered and swirling together in this enclosed void.

Is this my sea of consciousness?