9- First step - front/early stage
Time went slowly while Adel sat cross-legged in his bed, as he suddenly became hungry, hinting that it was now nighttime.
He then sighed bitterly, thinking to himself, 'I forgot that this is still a mortal body, therefore It still has to do a few basic things, like going to the bathroom, clipping my nails, and eating food.
The more you advance, the more tasks you would have to do until your body evolves from a mortal shell...
I haven't eaten in a long time in my previous life, nor have I clipped my nails, because they cease growing after one reaches the mid stage of the fifth step in body cultivation, where one's mortal needs gets replaced by Ki, If I were on the elementary level, this would be replaced by Chi as the primary source of energy...' He shook his head as he realized he was getting ahead of himself in his thoughts, recalling what he needed to accomplish.
'Now that I think of it, there was a room between mine and Katrina's, I need to ask her...
Oh, and I should consider about obtaining some food and drink...' He then realized he hadn't asked Katrina about it, so he readied himself, dressed, and came to knock on her door to ask her about it.
-
Adel and Katrina, were 15 minutes later, inside a unique section of the diner hall that contained all sources of beasts as food.
Adel soon noticed that the meals were abundant in Ki, Nao, and Qi, which led him to believe that Katrina had a role in it.
He was accurate, since the clan's heirs, Katrina and other heirs, receive special treatment, so she brought Adel with her to eat in the diner hall, as she wanted him to already have a sense of Ki, Nao, and Qi when he began cultivating.
While they were eating, Adel realized he had forgotten to ask her some vital questions, which he then proceeded to do:
"Hey, Katrina, I forgot to ask you, but where is the toilet? Do you have a nail cutter? As you may be aware, I still have needs that must be fulfilled." Adel spoke in low tone, uncomfortable to question Katrina about such a thing, because he subconsciously still hadn't gotten over the fact that he isn't a sixth step cultivator...
"Yes, indeed! Actually, the door between our rooms leads to a bathroom with a toilet; as for the nail-cutter, I can bring you one tomorrow, along with a trashcan to throw the nails in." Adel stopped her as she was about to continue, shaking his head and saying:
"Don't worry about the trashcan; I'll simply burn them since it is inconvenient to toss them out there every time I cut them."
He was relieved that the room separating them was, in fact, the bathroom, because he didn't want to go to a faraway room just to take care of his needs...
The real reason Adel abandoned the trashcan thought was that he was aware of certain sketchy methods that utilized the nails as a medium to curse the owner or the like.
He wasn't aware of any cursers or similar practitioners in this kingdom, but when he saw the Fiend Cultivators—the wife and uncle pair—he didn't want to take the chance.
They resumed their conversation until Adel recalled something, at which point he questioned her in reverent whispers with a tinge of seriousness: "Is there a better method for me to go to the First Step, Katrina? I think it's taking me too long to perceive any Ki with the pathway connection..."
Though Adel was hardly paying attention to her after that, packing lots and tons of food, leaving Katrina speechless, she continued chatting anyhow, thinking it was usual for mortals preparing to start cultivating to consume so much...
But the amount he ate was a bit out of the ordinary; he shoved tens of kilograms of food into his mouth; but it was necessary for a special reason...
Katrina then continued talking in a volume loud enough for him to hear: "There is, but it would be better if you could do it yourself. After all, you shouldn't rely on people to accomplish things that you need to do in your life."
When Adel heard her words, he had a feeling of déjà-vu, but he merely nodded and shook his head, allowing her to continue: "...And speaking of secret realms, there's one over there, at the top of the mountai. But there is where our ancestors are cultivating, taking hold of the mountain since it was something really valuable even to them, Since they use it to cultivate up to the fourth step in any cultivation system..." she said, motioning towards a mountain top near the clan head's residence.
"But, alas, only if that were true, for it is far too tough for them to reach the fourth step, as the criteria are significantly more difficult, as I said to you back then with the example of martial arts..." She then sighed as she considered the amount of ancestors her clan had, yet had yet to enter the Fourth step after decades, if not centuries, of cultivating...
Adel understood why this was so, for he, too, had been stuck in a bottleneck at the third step for nearly ten years in his previous body, and it was only after he discovered the secret that he was able to break through it, entering the early stage of the fourth step...
'It's as simple as detecting Qi, Ki, or Nao and purifying the soul, body, or dantian with enough Qi, Nao, and Ki until they show indications of enlarging their original meridians.
It is to expand the meridians in the soul for the soul cultivation system, and the same is true for the energy cultivation system.
However, the fourth step in the body cultivation system is the most difficult, as it is essential to continuously refine Ki energy into the body until it is destroyed and refined into a higher life form...
But was it really that simple? If such was the case, people might have easily progressed to the fourth step. It was a preparatory step in which one perceives the elements in the surroundings in order to be able to express them to the outside world.
It would therefore be simpler to use that element as the law seed in the fourth step.
And then after which, one can finally step into the fourth step...' Thought Adel as he reminisced about his past, since it was pretty funny for a 'genius' like him to be in a bottleneck of that step for 10 years without showing signs of advancing.
-
Katrina had no idea what Adel was thinking because he still had a tranquil expression on his face, so she told him about the mountain summit...
They apparently held tournaments for only seed-level disciples to compete for a position in the mountain peak for approximately a year cultivating inside it.
But the prizes for that tournament piqued Adel's interest, causing his plans to change slightly...
-
Katrina and Adel didn't do much, simply ate and spoke in the cafeteria before returning to their own rooms...
But, as Katrina was about to enter her room, she ground to a halt and took Adel's hand in hers, asking him in a flushed tone and with a visible blush on her cheeks: "Adel... Junior brother... Do you want to go hunting with me in the beasts' area...?"
Adel didn't think much of it, nodding his head as he walked away.
Katrina nodded her head repeatedly, grinning from ear to ear, recalling what her junior sisters had told her about 'dates'...
And, unbeknownst to Adel, he had seized himself a date without even realizing it...
-
Adel could feel his consciousness becoming blurrier as he returned to cultivating in his room, before a transparent gate appeared inside his mind...
He then considered his options for a few moments before deciding to pass through the gate...
But, as soon as his consciousness flew towards it, the transparent gate sucked in his consciousness, and Adel felt his body, not just his soul, appear in the same empty space as before.
Even if there was no such thing as getting inside gates at the time. Because once he got close to the massive violet-colored gate, he could only enter two meters in without seeing the insides...
Adel's meridians started getting cleansed as a sign of Qi that was extracted from the skull residing in his body nourishing them to make a solid and valid connection with the pathways as soon as he followed the breathing process of the "Emperor's Skull" cultivation technique with its three parts...
This was how people of the first step cultivated—they absorbed Qi, Nao, and Ki from the path, allowing others to strengthen their souls, bodies, or dantian through a cultivation technique of one of the three cultivation systems...
Adel followed this principle as well, but he kept concentrating all the energy he had been absorbing from the three pathways into the skull that were in his body, gradually constructing purer and purer energies...
But it didn't end there. The skull also used Nao energy from within to cleanse the soul's passageways, making it easier for Nao energy to circulate around his soul and Ki energy to circulate around his body, strengthening both.
After all, while he had a strong soul from his previous life, it was only one that had progressed to the sixth step and fused with a soul that had never been cultivated under any cultivation system.
Though his soul was indeed unique, soul fusions were extremely difficult and frequently failed. Making the previous soul, with whom Adel attempted to fuse his soul, gain all of his knowledge and experience.
However, even if the figure in Adel's soul was unable to successfully fuse the souls, the eye residing on him would not allow the current Adel to die.
-
Adel felt that all of the energy inside the skull was flowing through his body, soul, and dantian as soon as the energy was sent into it, and that it strengthened all of them...
It did not, however, reach the soul, dantian, or body directly. It paused for a few seconds as it was compressed several times more until the three primordial energies became purer through his mental practices of the three parts of the cultivation technique, and only then was it sent to his body, soul, and dantian.
Although it looked to be simple, it wasn't, since he had to follow three cultivation parts of one cultivation technique at the same time in order to cultivate his body, soul, and dantian and keep them in the same step, which consumed a lot of his mental energy...
He didn't stop there, and repeated the cycle two more times, gathering the three energies from the pathways, then cultivating the three cultivation parts in his mind to compress it down to a few drops of pure energy, then sending it to his body, soul, and dantian.
It continued until...
*BANG*
A massive amount of energy entered his body as it cleansed it with Ki, but it didn't stop there as a large blue light ball manifested itself in front of his body, then was directly sent into his skin...
*BOOM*
Adel felt excruciating pain when the blue light ball touched his skin, but gritted his teeth and kept his consciousness...
-
A few hours later, the light blue ball finally vanished from his body, allowing him to advance to the first step...
But just as he was about to stand up to test the strength of his current body, another BANG came from his soul...
Nothing major occurred this time. It was only the energies in the top part of the skull, the brain part of the skull, that were emptied and directly sent into his soul...
*BOOM*
His soul was gradually being nourished before stepping into the early stages of the first step.
Following his cultivation technique, he went through the same process with his dantian.
The energies he received from the beasts were digested from the food he ate earlier.
Adel overate as a result of this. Only 10% of what he'd eaten was used to keep his mortal body active, while the other 90% was converted from its meat form to energy to force Adel to begin cultivation regardless...
Adel was drenched in sweat, but ecstatic because he had finally reached the early stage of the first step in each cultivation system...
Though he became extremely tired shortly after breaking through to the early stage of the energy cultivation system, making him want to leave this space.
He then imagined himself leaving the mysterious space and returning to his room....
After an exhausting day, his tired mind and rejuvenated body finally went to sleep.
After all, while his body, dantian, and soul were all quite strong, his mind wasn't, especially after the pain he'd endured when he entered the first step in the body cultivation system...
So all he could do was sleep to regain his mental strength...
-
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A.N:
Some stuff will be explained in the future and might even be altered slightly. I'm quite forgetful on events...