Cultivation Basics

At sunset, Wang Hong met up with the others at the city gate. As they walked, the three reported the information they had gathered.

Qingxu Immortal City was enormous, with four gates to the east, west, south, and north. They had entered through the east gate; walking from there to the west gate would take three days. Today, they had only investigated a small area.

The city was not inhabited entirely by immortals. There were also large numbers of mortals, most of them relatives and descendants of immortals. There were not many outsiders like them. After all, it was exceedingly difficult for mortals to cross the Qingxu Mountain Range. Most probably ended up filling the belly of some Fierce Beast along the way.

Mortals in the city could perform odd jobs for immortals. They could work in shops or tend medicinal gardens and spirit fields. They could earn roughly half a Spirit Stone a month.

Spirit Stones were the common currency in the city; gold and silver were useless here. Food, clothing, lodging, and travel all required Spirit Stones. Even the city's mortals used them. If one only bought mundane goods, half a Spirit Stone could purchase a whole heap of things.

Wang Hong took out a Spirit Stone from his robes and carefully turned it over in his hand. He had obtained Spirit Stones in the city earlier, but had not dared take them out for a closer look.

When the three saw the Spirit Stone in Wang Hong's hand, their eyes lit up. A general truly was different—he had only just entered the city and had already acquired such a rare thing as Spirit Stones.

Wang Hong tossed the Spirit Stone in his hand to the three of them for inspection. They clicked their tongues in amazement. If this thing were placed in the mortal world, it would absolutely be treated as a peerless gemstone, worth a fortune beyond measure.

After traveling more than ten li, the four arrived at a small hill. Several tents stood upon it, while a small squad carrying long spears patrolled the surrounding area.

When they saw Wang Hong, they all saluted. Wang Hong waved a hand and told them to summon the Ten-man Squad Leaders to his tent for discussion.

This was their temporary encampment. Since the situation had been unclear before, Wang Hong had brought several men into the city first to gather information.

Inside a relatively spacious tent, Wang Hong stood in the center while ten people stood below him.

"Zhao Ning, tell everyone about the information you gathered in the city today."

One of the three who had entered the city today stepped forward and gave a detailed account of everything they had learned.

After Wang Hong saw that everyone had digested the information, he said, "You have followed me through countless hardships, brushing past death time and again. Quite a few brothers even died along the way. Now that we have finally reached the immortal city, I still want to ask once more: will you continue following me, or do you wish to seek your own paths?"

Everyone hurriedly said, "We swear to follow the general unto death."

Wang Hong raised a hand to stop them. "There is no need to answer me yet. I am no longer a general of the empire, and having only just arrived in the immortal city, I am not much stronger than any of you. Opportunities are equal for everyone. Perhaps you can make names for yourselves here and carve out a world of your own. That is entirely possible as well."

"I hope you will consider this carefully. This concerns the fate of your entire lives. If you wish to leave, I will never stop you. Let us part on good terms. But once you choose to follow me, you may not harbor divided loyalties again."

"Go and pass my exact words on to every soldier. Think it over carefully for one day, then give me your answer tomorrow."

After everyone left with varying expressions, Wang Hong took out a copy of the Comprehensive Guide to Cultivation and began reading it carefully.

It turned out that the immortals in the eyes of mortals should, more precisely, be called cultivators. They were still far from being true immortals.

Mortals cultivated step by step, casting off falsehood to preserve truth and shedding mortality to become immortal. Thus, cultivators could also be called seekers of the Dao.

Cultivation progressed from shallow to deep and could be divided into several major realms: Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Transformation. It was said there were many more realms beyond those, though ordinary people knew nothing specific about them.

Each major realm was further divided into ten minor levels, from the first level through the tenth. For example, the first to third levels of Qi Refinement were the early stage, the fourth to sixth levels the middle stage, the seventh to ninth levels the late stage, and the tenth level the great completion of Qi Refinement, also known as the peak of Qi Refinement.

A Qi Refinement cultivator's lifespan was roughly the same as a mortal's, at most one hundred and twenty years. The Foundation Establishment Realm allowed a lifespan of two hundred and forty years, the Golden Core Stage five hundred years, the Nascent Soul Realm one thousand years, and the Spirit Transformation Realm two thousand years.

Of course, those were only maximum lifespans. The body could not possibly remain in perfect condition, and fighting others inevitably led to injuries that left behind hidden wounds. Certain medicines or Cultivation Techniques that stimulated one's potential could also affect one's lifespan.

Cultivators cultivated by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, using it to nourish their Primordial Spirits and make them continuously stronger.

The Spiritual Sense that could be produced during the Qi Refinement stage was one outward manifestation of the Primordial Spirit's power.

It was said that after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, the Primordial Spirit could leave the body directly. Free from the shackles of the flesh, it could teleport and travel tens of thousands of li in a day.

Wang Hong guessed that the illusory body that entered the space each time was probably his Primordial Spirit.

For cultivators to absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, they had to possess Spiritual Roots. Spiritual Roots were like a bridge between the Primordial Spirit and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth; only through them could the Primordial Spirit absorb spiritual power from the outside world.

Most people had no Spiritual Roots and could not cultivate. Even those who possessed Spiritual Roots had differing aptitudes. Most only possessed the aptitude of Waste Spiritual Roots, namely Five Spiritual Roots.

After reading the introduction to Spiritual Roots, Wang Hong finally understood his own Spiritual Root attributes and could not help but give a bitter smile.

Back at Qingyang Academy, the disk used by that cultivator from the Tai Hao Sword Sect must have been a magical artifact for testing Spiritual Roots.

When Wang Hong had been tested, it had emitted green, red, yellow, and black light. That meant Wang Hong possessed wood, fire, earth, and water Spiritual Roots—nearly the same as Waste Spiritual Roots.

His cultivation aptitude was abysmal. Without some special opportunity, he would spend his entire life lingering in the Qi Refinement stage. No sect would be willing to accept such a disciple and waste its resources.

Yet his younger brother, Wang Yi, possessed the most gifted single Spiritual Root, one that every sect would scramble to obtain. He could cultivate directly to the Golden Core Stage without encountering any bottlenecks.

The Comprehensive Guide to Cultivation also covered many other subjects, such as spiritual herbs, spiritual mines, geography, and more. Wang Hong entered the space and read through the night, yet he had only finished less than half of it.

After a whole night of thought, people began coming to bid Wang Hong farewell the next morning. There were ordinary soldiers, Squad Leaders, and Ten-man Squad Leaders.

Wang Hong did not blame them. The temptation before them was simply too great. He let them leave with kind words and even gave them some supplies.

These people had followed him through many years of battle and rendered him great service. He could not treat them too poorly.

By sunset, of his original force of more than seventy men, only forty-five remained.

"Is there anyone else who wishes to leave? You still have a chance to choose now."

Silence filled the space below. Only the sound of everyone breathing could be heard. After waiting quietly for a moment, Wang Hong spoke again. "Good! Good! Good! Since all you brothers trust me and are willing to follow me, I, Wang Hong, will never mistreat you!"

"We are willing to follow the general unto death!"

Wang Hong divided the remaining men into five squads. Each squad had one squad leader and eight soldiers, for a total of nine men.

He ordered them to remain under their squad leaders' command and continue practicing their old battle formations every day. They could also hunt Fierce Beasts nearby, both to familiarize themselves with the battle formations and to solve everyone's food problem along the way. People could not be too idle; after being idle for too long, their hearts would grow lax. Wang Hong pondered what work he should find for them.

For the time being, everyone could only remain encamped here. With so many people, lodging alone would cost a considerable amount of Spirit Stones.

Wang Hong returned to his own tent and plunged headfirst into the space.

"Ah! Where are my Spirit Stones?" Wang Hong's miserable howl rang out inside the space. He had casually tossed the Spirit Stones he obtained today into the space. Now, not even a single trace of them remained.

"How strange. I clearly placed the Spirit Stones in this spot. How did they all disappear?"

Wang Hong turned over all the soil in that area, then searched the entire space. He did not find even the shadow of a Spirit Stone.

"Could this space eat Spirit Stones? I'll find a few more tomorrow and test it."

The medicinal herbs growing in the space had, at the earliest, nearly two hundred years of age. There were also many medicinal herbs that were decades or even more than a hundred years old.

Because the army made it inconvenient, a great deal of Spirit Grains had accumulated in the space without being eaten. All of those could be exchanged for Spirit Stones, but he would have to proceed slowly.

After all, wealth stirred people's hearts. The cultivation world presumably would be no exception. He was currently alone and weak, so he did not dare act too conspicuously.