Chapter 8- Starting cultivation.
Earth – Junhi Country – Star City
The Gu family mansion.
Gu Zongchen could be seen in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed. After coming home, Gu Zongchen had gone to the dining room and had breakfast with his parents. Then his parents went out.
Right now, Gu Zongchen was sitting on his bed looking at the disguised cultivation manual. Looking at it, he thought with confusion, "How do I unseal this thing?"
The protagonist of this world unlocked the seal by accidentally dropping a drop of blood on the book. Gu Zongchen was not sure if doing the same would work for him.
He then asked, "Hey Seven, do I do what the protagonist did to unseal the manual?"
[Finally, you remember that I exist.]
Instead of answering the question, Seven said with a bit of sass.
Hearing the sass, Gu Zongchen understood that Seven was angry for being ignored for almost a day. Gu Zongchen sheepishly scratched his head and said, "How could I forget about you? You are the only one in this world who's always by my side. I was just too busy to talk to you."
[Yeah, sure. Whatever, I don't care. Anyway, yes, you have to do exactly what the protagonist did. The book only unseals for someone with enough talent. Fortunately, because of the Heavenly Physique perk, you have the necessary talent to unlock the seal. Just drop one drop of blood and the book will be unsealed.]
Taking Seven's advice, Gu Zongchen bit his index finger and dropped a drop of blood on the cover of the book. The drop of blood on the cover slowly merged with the book. After the blood merged with the book, it suddenly started glowing.
The glowing book then turned into countless light particles and rushed toward Gu Zongchen's forehead, entering his mind.
After all the light particles entered his mind, various information appeared in his mind. Information and images about the Five Elements Energy cultivation manual appeared in his mind. It was like getting a beginner's guide for cultivation. Everything related to cultivation was explained in a second.
Receiving the manual, Gu Zongchen thought with awe, "Wow, didn't expect that. It's like knowing everything about the manual and at the same time not knowing anything about it."
He then thought with a smirk, "Now the protagonist won't have the most important thing that helps him rise to the top."
---
Somewhere on a mountain top, a man with an above-average face could be seen sitting in a meditative position.
Suddenly, he frowned and opened his eyes. The man thought with a confused face, "Why do I feel like something important to me was taken away?"
---
After reviewing all the new information, Gu Zongchen sat on the bed in a meditative position and started following the instructions on how to cultivate Qi.
The Five Elements Energy cultivation manual was a special cultivation manual.
Martial arts or cultivation realms were divided into six major realms: Body Tempering, Qi Absorption, Foundation Building, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and finally the Divine Transformation realm.
Except for the Body Tempering realm, each major realm was divided into four minor realms: Initial, Intermediate, High, and Peak. The Body Tempering realm had nine stages.
There were various cultivation manuals, and all of them were graded according to the major realms. A Body Tempering cultivation manual was grade 1, Qi Absorption was grade 2, and so on. Obviously, the best cultivation manuals were the grade 6 cultivation manuals. The Five Elements Energy cultivation manual was a grade 6 cultivation manual.
In fact, it was probably the best one. The Five Elements Energy cultivation manual gave one the ability to control five elements: Fire, Water, Lightning, Air, and Wood. However, one had to have an affinity with these elements in order to be able to control them. It also gave the user various skills related to those elements.
Five minutes after he started cultivating, Gu Zongchen started feeling stronger and felt that a lock in his body had been opened. That was the sign of him entering the 1st stage of Body Tempering.
In the Body Tempering realm, martial artists temper their bodies so that they are able to contain Qi. In the process of tempering, the body becomes stronger. Martial artists absorb Qi from the air to temper the body.
Feeling the newfound strength in his body, Gu Zongchen thought, "I must have entered the 1st stage of Body Tempering."
He then stood up and started feeling his body. He thought, "Every attribute of my body seems to have been enhanced. I feel stronger, faster, healthier." Gu Zongchen felt exhilarated feeling the newfound power.
Suddenly, Gu Zongchen frowned. He then asked Seven, "Hey Seven, how did I enter the Body Tempering realm so fast? Even the protagonist took more than a week's worth of time to enter the 1st stage of Body Tempering. Is it because of the Heavenly Physique?"
[Correct. It's because of the Heavenly Physique.]
Hearing the reply, Gu Zongchen said, "Wow. I get that the Heavenly Physique is a high-level perk. But I didn't know it was this good."
[Yes, the Heavenly Physique is a very high-grade physique. The dual wood and water physique of the protagonist doesn't come close.
I will explain the grades of physiques in simple terms. Assume that physiques are graded between S, A, B, C, D, and E. S is the highest and E is the lowest.
Anyone with a spiritual root has an E-grade physique. D-grade physique gives more proficiency with one element. C-grade physique gives more proficiency with multiple. B-grade physique is a physique that makes one extremely attuned to one or multiple elements and gives special powers related to their elements. A-grade ones have the exact same as B-grade physiques but more powerful, plus they have tremendous cultivation talent. Finally, the S-grade physiques. The S-grade physiques are vague. They give various benefits.
The protagonist's physique is a C-grade. He gets a more powerful one in the future. Even that physique is only an A-grade physique.
The Heavenly Physique, on the other hand, is an S-grade one. It helps you absorb Qi more easily, even more than other S-grade physiques. It makes you more attuned to all the elements and helps you understand techniques better. There are many other benefits.]**
Hearing the explanation, Gu Zongchen was amazed and thought, "Damn, I didn't know the Heavenly Physique was this good."
After this, he sat down in a meditative position again and continued to cultivate. The Qi around him was being absorbed very quickly. He continued to cultivate for hours.
---
Linson Hotel – Private Room
In a private room at the Linson Hotel, two beautiful women could be seen sitting opposite each other.
One of them had dark hair and black eyes. She was Shui Qingxia, Gu Zongchen's mother.
Sitting opposite her was a woman with dark hair and brown eyes. She was Li Xiaoming, Xu Xialing's mother.
They seemed to be discussing something.
Li Xiaoming said to Shui Qingxia, looking somewhat angry, "Why did you call me here? If it's to forgive Gu Zongchen, then forget it. I may treat him as my own son. But what he did was wrong. Unless he properly apologizes to Xialing, I won't forgive him."
Listening to her, Shui Qingxia tried to placate her anger, saying, "Xiaoming, I know. I scolded him as soon as he came home. He will apologize. However, I think we have a bigger problem."
Hearing that there was a problem, Li Xiaoming frowned. "What problem?" she asked.
Shui Qingxia sighed and said, "It seems Gu Zongchen is heartbroken because he couldn't win Xialing's heart. He seems to have given up on trying to win her heart."
"What?" Li Xiaoming exclaimed, shocked. Like Gu Zongchen's parents, she also knew how much he loved Xu Xialing. She frowned and asked, "What do we do then? Does he want to break the engagement?"
Shui Qingxia, hearing that, replied, "No, he doesn't. He still loves her. However, if Xialing says she wants to break the engagement, he will probably agree."
Li Xiaoming, with a panicked expression, said, "Then we have to do something."
Shui Qingxia nodded, agreeing with her. She then said, "Yes, we do. I think we should hold the wedding sooner. Once they are married, they will have to live together and eventually fall in love with each other."
Li Xiaoming thought about the idea and then nodded, agreeing with her friend. She said, "I guess that could work. We planned to hold the wedding after they were ready. But since the situation is so dire, we should get them married sooner."
Shui Qingxia, hearing that Li Xiaoming agreed, sighed in relief. She then said, "Okay then, let's get the family together and quickly discuss about this. The sooner they get married, the better."
Li Xiaoming nodded and said, "Okay. I will talk with Xialing's father."
After that, they started talking about this matter and gossiping with each other.
And so, while Gu Zongchen was cultivating to get stronger, his mother was discussing about his marriage that would probably ruin his plans.
---
Hey guys. Hope you liked the chapter. If you see any mistakes or have some advice, tell me. See you in the next one. Bye!