Chapter 3: The Spiritual Cultivation Technique

"Congratulations on completing your first day, Feng Yan. All I hope is that you are well and ready to continue working together."

Standing at the entrance of the Ancient Weapons Shop, beside Feng Yan's luxurious carriage, Yu Yue spoke routine words. However, to Feng Yan, who was beside her, they carried an entirely different meaning. Feng Yan gave a slight smile and replied:

"Of course, Miss Yu. I will do my best to stay with you and repay your kindness."

The two girls looked at each other, their eyes conveying many unspoken words. Then, Feng Yan climbed into her carriage and set off. Yu Yue watched as Feng Yan's carriage blended into the colorful view of the Ancient Mountain City. The sun had set, and all that remained in the sky was the remnants of twilight. Consequently, all the shops lit their lamps, and the dark city began to glow with lights that looked like stars in the midst of the darkness.

"I hope that girl can survive this night. Facing the Black Tower Curse is no easy task. Often, it depends more on luck than anything else."

Yu Yue thought to herself as she returned to the Ancient Weapons Shop, leaving the rest to time to reveal what would happen

....

As for Feng Yan, she was admiring the beautiful scenery of the city, but her heart was elsewhere. She had a sleepless night ahead. After giving her answer to Yu Yue, Yu Yue had taught her everything she could about the Spiritual Cultivation Technique and the Black Tower Curse. In conclusion, Yu Yue encouraged her to face the Black Tower Curse with courage.

"Although there is a safer way, reaching that path is nearly impossible for me and might remain out of my reach for my entire life. So, after weighing my options, it is still better to risk everything for a chance to become a true cultivator as soon as possible, even if it means becoming one of the Dark Demons."

With those words spoken in her heart, she lit a candle and placed it in a special holder in her carriage. She took out the Spiritual Cultivation Technique manual and began reading. Time passed peacefully without any obstacles, and Feng Yan arrived home without realizing it.

The driver informed her that they had arrived home. Feng Yan stepped out, carefully hiding the Spiritual Cultivation manual. As she exited, her personal servants greeted her. She returned their greetings and entered her home, a grand villa with gardens, a swimming pool, stables for horses, and elaborately decorated buildings of high quality.

Feng Yan took a quick bath and had dinner. During this time, the servants noticed that their mistress was deep in thought but did not dare to ask for fear of angering her. Time passed, and Feng Yan finally reached her bed.

She sat on her bed, drew her legs up, lit a candle, and took out the manual once more, reading it for the last time. After finishing her reading, she set the manual on fire. Having memorized the Spiritual Cultivation Technique completely, she placed the burning manual in a fireproof container to prevent her room from turning into an inferno.

"Now comes the moment of truth!"

Feng Yan took a deep breath and began meditating, following every step outlined in the Spiritual Cultivation Technique. The steps involved strange breathing methods designed to bring about an awareness of one's inner world. This was the first step for anyone aspiring to become a cultivator. Feng Yan recalled Yu Yue's explanation about the inner world:

"The first step for any cultivator is to open or find their inner world. It is not difficult to achieve. This step merely requires Cloud-Breaking Powder and following the instructions of the Spiritual Cultivation Technique."

At that moment, Yu Yue placed a small pouch in front of Feng Yan, containing the Cloud-Breaking Powder. Yu Yue had explained to Feng Yan how to use this powder, what its effects were, what sensations to expect, and how to handle them. She had provided all the necessary information to deal with it effectively.

While meditating, Feng Yan took the Cloud-Breaking Powder pouch with her right hand. She opened the pouch and, without looking at the powder, forcefully struck the powder onto her face, causing it to spread all over. Feng Yan sneezed from inhaling the powder, but she resisted its effects and tried to return to her meditative state, encouraging herself:

"You can do it, Feng Yan. A little pain won't stand in your way!!!"

With this shout of encouragement, Feng Yan regained her calm, and the powder began to take effect. She felt herself disconnecting from reality, with drowsiness attacking her from all directions. Feng Yan knew that the most critical challenge had arrived—enduring this wave of drowsiness. Without doing anything else, she endured the overwhelming wave of sleepiness and finally found herself in a dark place filled with stars. At that moment, she shouted loudly:

"I did it! I've reached my inner world."

Feng Yan laughed aloud, but then she realized that despite hearing her voice, she didn't feel like she had spoken. She noticed she didn't have a body at all. Instead, she was merely a strand of consciousness floating in a dark, star-filled world. At that moment, she remembered Yu Yue's words about the inner world:

"Feng Yan, the inner world, is a very mysterious place; it exists somewhere within your body. Yet, at the same time, it doesn't exist. This is the degree of mystery of the inner world. What you should know is that the inner world is a place of spiritual energy, and the only thing you need to know is that everything within your inner world is under your command!"

After recalling Yu Yue's words, Feng Yan retrieved the pages of the Spiritual Cultivation Manual from her memory to proceed to the next step, which was the creation of a spiritual core. This step simply required gathering all the shining, scattered stars in her inner world into a single point. Feng Yan was unsure how to do this, but she remembered that Yu Yue had told her that everything within her inner world was under her command.

"I suppose there's no harm in trying."

"Move!!!"

Feng Yan shouted loudly, trying to move the shining stars. Instantly, the stars began to move. Feng Yan was overjoyed by this, but a new problem quickly arose: with the stars moving so swiftly, it would be challenging to bring all of them to a single point. She thought deeply and remembered a simple phrase from the Spiritual Cultivation Manual:

"The inner world lies between fantasy and reality; to control it, your thoughts must dwell between fantasy and reality."

"Could it be that it means what I'm thinking?..."

An idea struck Feng Yan's mind. She smiled with a sense of determination and decided to put her plan into action. She focused intently on a single star at the center of her inner world, making it spin in a circular motion around a particular star. Feng Yan concentrated all her attention on that star, gradually increasing its speed until it spun faster and faster. As the nearby stars drew closer to the spinning star, they were influenced by its force of rotation, causing the central star to spin even more rapidly.

"I was right! This world truly lies between fantasy and reality!"

Feng Yan laughed aloud as she watched the nearby stars join the dance, spinning along with the rotating star. She concentrated on one star that was leading the others, and the number of stars revolving increased significantly. However, not everything went according to Feng Yan's plan. Another rotating star formed, spinning in the same orbit and attracting stars towards it as well. Feng Yan was initially worried about this but decided not to lose control and let things unfold naturally, continuing to rotate the stars.

After an unknown amount of time, all the stars in her inner world were divided into two groups, each orbiting around its respective central star. These two central stars absorbed all the light from the surrounding stars, growing in size and increasing their gravitational pull.

"This wasn't mentioned in the spiritual cultivation technique booklet, but it seems the spiritual core is forming smoothly without any issues."

"If ancient farmers had witnessed this, they would have been deeply saddened that Feng Yan would harm himself to an inevitable death because of the way my soul's formation was unstable, leading to an explosion of the spiritual heart.

She suddenly saw a black spot appearing in the nucleus of my forming soul. When she saw that rapidly growing black spot, her heart sank in fear. She knew that the mysterious thing before:

 It is curse of the Black Tower...