2 - Cultivation/The Odd Light in the Forest
Cultivation is the practice of absorbing energies through a certain breathing technique. Cultivation is a means to shed one's mortal coil and become an immortal. Doing so allows one to exceed the limits of humanity.
It is not known if there is a limit to cultivation but there should be many levels. The first level is known as the Body Transformation realm. This realm is the beginning of every cultivator's journey where they begin to set their foundation in the later stages of cultivation. It starts with strengthening parts of your body by using the surrounding energies to refine them.
This realm has 6 layers. Body Strengthening, Flesh Training, Viscera Training, Altering Muscle, Bone Forging and Pulse Condensation. From the first layer to the Bone Forging layer, the person will experience a gradual change that results in a stronger body, faster response/reaction time, higher brain activity, tougher organs, muscles and skeleton. Compared to a normal person, these cultivators seem like super humans.
The bone forging realm starts when the cultivator permeates their bones with qi. Doing so allows them to become tougher and stronger.
The pulse condensation realm can be said to be the gate to the world of cultivation. It is the process of penetrating one's meridians using qi. It allows the person to absorb qi from the air faster. This realm is for not only opening but also refining one's meridians to withstand more of a load when absorbing qi.
After the pulse condensation realm is the Houtian realm. In this realm, true essence accumulates within the dantian. The space inside of one's dantian is bigger than the space within one's meridians allowing a houtian cultivator to hold more qi than a pulse condensation cultivator.
After Houtian comes Xiantian. The true meaning of Xiantian lies in how a baby breathes in the womb. A baby is unable to breath through its nose and mouth so the recieve their sustenance from their mother out of the umbilical cord. A Xiantian martial artist would be the baby and the world would become the mother. The acupoints of a Xiantian martial artist will be able to communicate with the surrounding nature and passively absorb qi into their body where it gathers in the dantian before spreading through the meridians.
"A Xiantian cultivator... must be really strong." Jun Xilei couldn't help but gasp.
"Yep, in my sect, only the sect leader and the guardians are at Late stage and Extreme Xiantian respectively. My master is one of the sect's guardians, Guardian Qing Luo. Master is closest out of all of the guardians to the next stage which is the revolving core realm. It seems like she could break through at any time now." When speaking of her master, Jiang Wushuang's face became red with excitement.
Suddenly, they stopped moving.
"What's that?" Jiang Wushuang saw a bright light coming from within the forest. She could feel an aura that was as thick as an ocean and it made her slowly descend to the ground.
"What's going on?" Jun Xilei also noticed something wasn't right.
"I don't know yet." Jiang Wushuang's voice became solemn as she couldn't help but be cautious. She went into her spatial ring for a second and a knife appeared in her hand. She opened Jun Xilei's clenched hand and placed the knife handle in her palm before wrapping her fingers around it.
"You may be blind but I have no idea if there is danger ahead. I may not be able to protect you." As she said this, the aura became stronger. Jiang Wushuang felt as though her organs were being squeezed. She looked at Jun Xilei in a panic only to discover that other than her face being flushed, nothing was wrong with her. As she was puzzled by this, Jun Xilei suddenly started walking towards the aura in a daze.
"Xilei?" Jiang Wushuang shouted to her but to no avail. "Xilei!" Jiang Wushuang tried to forcibly move forward but began to throw up mouthfuls of blood instead. Her face went pale as she looked at Jun Xilei who was walking away from her and towards the strong aura ahead.
Jun Xilei had no idea what was happening at this time. Right now, she was somewhere completely different. There were no trees. No Jiang Wushuang. Only herself and a bright 7 colored light that was only about 15 or so meters away. There was also the fact that she could actually see in this place... kind of. She could 'see' a large rainbow colored flame in front of her. She was mesmerized by the movement of the flame.
'Accept us...' Seven voices spoke at the same time inside of Jun Xilei's mind. It rattled her mind and she could feel her brain shaking.
"A...Accept you?" Jun Xilei walked forward, slowly closing in on the mysterious flame.
"Only you can wield us." Another brain rattling message.
At this point, Jun Xilei saw the flame split into tendrils and rush towards her. She wanted to escape but before she could, she felt her body being held by an unknown force.
She could only watch as the flames engulfed her. At this point, Jun Xilei passes out.
When she wakes up, she realizes that she is being carried.
"Xilei? You're awake!" Jiang Wushuang's eyes were bloodshot. After that event, she quickly looked for the last drop of spirit dew before rushing to the Heavenly Palace sect without stopping. It has been 4 days since that day and Jun Xilei could see the weariness in her eyes.
"What happened? Where are we right now?" Jun Xilei asked her but how could Jiang Wushuang know?"
"I don't know... You passed out after walking into that bright light. As soon as you passed out, the pressure stopped pressing down on me. Did... anything special happen to you?"
"...Uh... I don't really feel anything different at least..." Jun Xilei said as she looked around. "Let's keep what ever happened to ourselves for the moment. I don't know if it will invite trouble so staying quiet and acting as if it were to never have happened is the best way." Jiang Wushuang nodded before changing the subject.
"We are around an hour or 2 away from the sect. I will need to see if my master is in closed door cultivation or not." Jun Xilei nodded before sitting quietly in her arms. It was only at this moment where she realized just how small she was in comparison to Jiang Wushuang.
Jiang Wushuang can be considered an anomaly of the female species where she comes from. She had to be at least close to 7 feet tall. She was super short in her past life so being the way she is now, she was a little envious of this woman.
Suddenly, her mind was rattled by another voice.
'Inheritor of the Primal Chaos Veins...' After the voice came a series of information that threatened to burst her head open. She didn't want to alert Jiang Wushuang so she silently endured. She has been through more pain than this before so it was fairly easy for her.
Images flashed in her mind. Cultivation methods, manipulation of nature, space and time... It was something unbelievable to her. She was dazed all the way until Jiang Wushuang landed.
A large palace built inside of a mountain appeared in Jun Xilei's vision. When they landed on the road leading to the sect, a lot of people looked over.
"Senior Sister Wushuang!"
"She must have completed her mission and is here to turn it in."
"Who is that little girl she is carrying?" At this time, people began to notice Jun Xilei who was getting out of Jiang Wushuang's arms.
"Who's that little girl?"
"The little beauty was being carried by a big beauty..."
The comments made Jun Xilei's lips twitch. She fumbled around before grabbing Jiang Wushuang's sleeve. Jiang Wushuang glanced at her before walking towards the sect. Her speed was slow because Jun Xilei was still small. She had to take small footsteps to not outpace her.
Seeing the harmonic duo walking into the sect, the people outside were curious who the young girl was but held it in as their senior sister is a very respectable person within their sect.
Walking into the sect, Jiang Wushuang went straight to the mission center which didn't have many people there for the moment.
"Little Wushuang, you completed your mission?" The woman at the desk seemed very familiar with Jiang Wushuang.
Jiang Wushuang smiled as she took out 5 jade vials. Each had a drop of spirit dew inside.
"Great. Judging by its aura, it should all be high quality spirit dew. High Quality spirit dew is worth 1000 contribution points so that is 5000 contribution points." The woman said and Jiang Wushuang took out a phoenix insignia. The woman took out a card and placed it on the phoenix insignia and they both began to glow.
When the glow disappeared, the woman was going to take the card away when she noticed that a little girl was standing beside Jiang Wushuang while holding her sleeve. Her eyes were dazed and foggy but every now and then, a bright light would flash by her pupils.
"Who's the little beauty beside you Wushuang?" The woman finally asked.
"Oh, she is someone I am recommending to my master. If my master doesn't accept her, then she can apply to become an outer sect disciple and become my servant." Jiang Wushuang's words stunned the woman behind the desk. She looked Jun Xilei up and down but besides her beauty, she did not see anything else that was special in her.
"Alright then. Good luck. Having such a cute junior sister will be a blessing for the sect." Jun Xilei's lips twitched even harder now.
Jiang Wushuang nodded and after she got her contribution points from the lady at the desk, she bid her farewell and left the mission center.
After walking along a very long corridor for so long, Jun Xilei felt a breeze hit her face. The gentle rays were gently caressing her face as she followed what she felt was a stone pathway.
Suddenly, they stopped. Jiang Wushuang suddenly bowed and said, "Master, I have returned with my task completed."
Ahead of the duo sat a middle aged woman. In her lap laid a simple, unadorned sword. Her eyes were closed as she meditated upon her sword.
Hearing her disciple, she opened her eyes. She turned around and was shocked to see a little girl at the side of her disciple. The little girl had foggy eyes that seemed unfocused at a glance but when she looked closer, she could see that the little girl was blind. She looked at her disciple for a moment and said, "It's good that you returned but... Although this little girl is pitiful, I don't see the need to bring her to the sect."
"I brought her for a good reason. Firstly, she needs her spiritual root checked. Can you do that for me, Master?"