41. Double-Edged Sword. [1]

Sitting inside a park surrounded by Sakura trees and maple trees, a boy and a girl wearing modern costumes looked at each other.

Their expressions were serious, but there was no intent to harm any of them.

With a sinful body sitting elegantly, with her pink and seductive lips, the girl sipped her coffee, which was also changed from green tea when the surroundings were changed.

This gave Earthly vibes to the boy, which was her intention all along.

Ariel, who was wearing a pink T-shirt and leather jacket putting her coffee cup down looked at Neel and took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and then started speaking.

"I know that you are from a beginner planet that is not yet introduced to cultivation and power. So I will start with a vague beginning.

When cultivation was first discovered in this world, everyone was astonished.

The mortals started breaking their limits.

The power struggle was at its peak. And because of this, a peace treaty was established amongst the primordials of all races. I won't dig deep, but remember, primordials are the pioneer and foundation of each race.

"But a rebellion happened and the peace didn't last long.

Four factions and four strong families were created in this period.

Most of the races either became bystanders, isolated or were pulled into this power struggle.

"Now the main point of today isn't the history of these struggles but cultivation.

So when the world discovered power, many methods were born.

Magic, spiritual cultivation, soul cultivation, body refining, and life or death power.

Magic is bullshit, as you cannot fight anyone except for the monsters, so mages are only strong in the mortal realm.

The same can be said for life or death cultivators but there are 7 fucking exceptions for this, as these 7 guys can literally make a mess of the world, and even the three majors that are creator, maintainer, and destructor combined can't handle these seven absolutes."

Cough*

Ariel realized that she was getting off-topic so she coughed and maintained the noble lady aura once again.

She was a fan girl of some absolutes, so she got excited at their mention.

"Now, about spiritual cultivation, as this is again one of the cultivation which can't give anything except for long life span.

But you can have power at the same time some increased life span. That is what makes this cultivation special.

But still, its potential is far below. What if there is no spiritual energy? Do you understand? You get fucked, literally! (Dual cultivation reference?) But what after that?"

Ariel was once again breaking her composure.

After all, she was talking with someone novice and wanted to show off her knowledge.

She wanted to impress the boy in front of her!

With each passing moment, Neel was getting surprised.

But he controlled his urge to ask questions and concentrated on the beauty's excited speech.

For some reason, she was sexy and seductive. Although this was a side thought, it was there.

"Anyway, so you get it this far?"

Ariel asked Neel who was staring at her intensely.

"Yes!"

Neel replied excitedly.

"Fine~

So I will continue, and that is, the spiritual cultivation has limits, even if you were to have infinite fucking sessions of cultivation, at some point you get stuck at the bottleneck. (Hateful dual cultivation, Hmph!) And there comes soul cultivation.

One of the most painful but superb cultivation methods.

The more your soul gets strong the longer you live. You get the power to defy the rules of this world. But the problem is you can't develop your physical strength, it becomes troublesome for the body to handle both at the same time.

That is why this cultivation was tried by only a handful of races and the dragon race was leading in this soul cultivation technique. As they had the longest life spans as mortals and super strong bodies they were able to keep up with it.

There were even some dragons who built multiple cores in their body.

"But you see Neel, everything has a limit, except for one thing, and that is your will.

The more your will to do something, the better your results and achievements.

And that's when body refining techniques were discovered."

This time the excited Ariel turned serious.

"Those who were not able to use the cultivation techniques decided to achieve something that can be practiced even in a place where zero spiritual energy was present.

Body refining techniques are unique and have much more potential, are not limited to a particular race, and can be learned from any age.

Many mortals tried to discover the potential of body refining techniques.

The dumbest race is the human race, which thinks of body refining techniques as just brute force techniques, and spiritual cultivation as some heaven-defying elixir.

Ignorance is bliss, but the ignorants are as good as dead.

Haaa…"

Ariel sighed as she remembered her days with her master when they were humiliated as body refiners on many planets by humans.

"Although some humans welcomed body refining with open hearts and were even able to create a different race such as giants, the body refining what this world does is not efficient…"

Ariel's final words made Neel frown because he didn't understand a thing.

He was able to keep up with her but the efficiency thing made him confused.

Looking at Neel's confused expression Ariel understood.

"Fine, I get it that you didn't get it."

"So listen to this carefully, body refining in the mortal realm is usually given to knights and soldiers or cannon fodders. The reason for this is simple, the mortals are yet to discover the potential of body refining.

As spiritual cultivation shows instant effects, mortals tend to go with the flow.

Those who lack cultivation prowess and can't afford it whether it be resources or time tend for body refining.

My statement for ignorance was to make you understand, that it is not always ok to go with the flow, sometimes you have to oppose or even change the directions.

And that is why the cultivation world is complex.

Now for our SIMP body refining technique.

To sum it up in simple words, it is

"A double-edged sword."

***

[A/N: I repeat do not miss these chapters!]