A sect with a history spanning tens of thousands of years—Qin Fengming felt dizzy just thinking about it. A mortal's entire life lasted only a scant seventy or eighty years; ten thousand years would stretch back a hundred lifetimes.
Qin Fengming skimmed past these matters. With his cultivation at its current level, all he could think about was what lay before him.
As he read more deeply, he learned even more about Luoxia Sect.
The sect masters of Luoxia Sect throughout the generations had not been the people with the highest cultivation in the sect. Rather, they had been Foundation Establishment cultivators who felt they could advance no further, voluntarily abandoned cultivation, and turned their enthusiasm toward managing sect affairs.
The current sect master was the late Foundation Establishment cultivator Wang. Those managing the various affairs of the sect were likewise Foundation Establishment cultivators who had voluntarily given up cultivation. For instance, the middle-aged man surnamed Feng who had brought Qin Fengming there was responsible for managing all the spirit stones in the sect. The old man surnamed Wei and the middle-aged man surnamed Ma in the main hall of Cloud Tower Peak were the same.
If a Foundation Establishment cultivator successfully entered the Core Formation stage, he would automatically become an elder of Luoxia Sect, enjoy the sect's offerings, and attain an exceedingly exalted status. The old man Ximen with the sharp mouth and simian cheeks was one such person.
The sect had a Grand Elder, who was responsible for the entire sect but ordinarily did not manage specific affairs. He devoted himself wholly to cultivation, hoping to successfully form a Nascent Soul. At present, the Grand Elder of Luoxia Sect was the cultivator surnamed Chen, who had reached the great accomplishment of the late Core Formation stage. He was only half a step away from the Nascent Soul stage.
There were also cultivators who had not abandoned cultivation but were exceptionally passionate about a particular field. Martial Uncle Fei, for example, was deeply obsessed with artifact refinement, while Uncle-Master Lu was devoted to alchemy. Such people enjoyed very high status within the sect. Even Core Formation seniors treated them with great courtesy.
There were also some Qi Gathering stage disciples who had cultivated to the peak of the Qi Gathering stage but had no hope of establishing their foundations. They would take charge of important places as stewards, such as Senior Brother Su of the Merit Transfer Hall.
Most of Luoxia Sect's disciples were still in the Qi Gathering stage. Each month, they had to perform several days of odd jobs, and could only freely arrange the rest of their time. Once they reached the ninth level, they no longer had to undertake miscellaneous duties, allowing them to cultivate at ease and prepare for Foundation Establishment.
Those who successfully established their foundations were qualified to find a place with abundant spiritual energy within the Haoyue Mountain Range and establish a personal cave dwelling. Ordinarily, no one would disturb them, but whenever the sect encountered danger, they had to return and serve the sect.
Relationships between people in the Cultivation World were also different from those in the secular world. Cultivators of the same realm addressed one another as peers, while those of a higher realm were called seniors. Members of the same sect were called Martial Uncles or Martial Uncles of a higher generation.
Generally, high-level cultivators devoted themselves solely to cultivation and would not easily accept disciples unless there were special circumstances. As for familial affection, cultivators were extremely indifferent toward it, generally making themselves the center of everything. Qin Fengming found this point utterly incomprehensible.
The Chronicles of Luoxia Sect also introduced the current state of the Cultivation World in the Great Liang Kingdom.
At present, the Great Liang Kingdom had three first-rate great sects: Zhui Feng Valley, Wang Ting Mountain, and Xiao Yao Gate. Each had Nascent Soul stage seniors stationed there.
The strongest among them was Zhui Feng Valley, where a Nascent Soul stage couple and another Nascent Soul stage cultivator stood guard. Wang Ting Mountain and Xiao Yao Gate each had two Nascent Soul stage seniors. These three first-rate great sects each had more than ten thousand disciples.
Zhui Feng Valley was located in the central and southern parts of the Wanqiong Mountain Range, where the Great Liang Kingdom's largest spiritual vein lay, in the kingdom's central region. Wang Ting Mountain was in the Taiyue Mountain Range, in the eastern part of the kingdom. Xiao Yao Gate was in the Yanling Mountain Range, in the kingdom's northwest. The three sects formed a tripod arrangement.
Apart from these three great sects, the Great Liang Kingdom had five somewhat smaller sects. Although they had no Nascent Soul stage cultivators, their strength was not to be underestimated. They were Wuhu Mountain, Luoxia Sect, Spirit Driving Gate, Blood Refining Gate, and Taixu Gate.
The rest consisted of even smaller sects and cultivation lineages, all of which depended on these sects. Apart from these sects and lineages, the most numerous people in the Cultivation World were still the vast ranks of rogue cultivators. All of them together formed the Cultivation World of the entire Great Liang Kingdom.
When Luoxia Sect was first founded, it had a Nascent Soul stage cultivator and controlled the five prefectures surrounding Yingzhou Prefecture. But it had now fallen to the status of a second-rate sect and long since lost the strength it possessed in its prime. Thus, it could now only control several southern prefectures jointly with Wuhu Mountain.
After reading the Chronicles of Luoxia Sect, Qin Fengming did not delay in the slightest. Over the course of two days, he also carefully studied Introduction to Immortal Cultivation.
Introduction to Immortal Cultivation systematically explained the differences between cultivators and mortals. It described in great detail what kinds of people could cultivate, and why some people could not.
The world's population was enormous. Yingzhou Prefecture alone had tens of millions of people, yet those capable of cultivating were exceedingly rare, and those who could cultivate and enter the Cultivation World were rarer still.
Whenever one spoke of cultivation, one had to mention the "Spiritual Root." The book stated that all things possessed the Heaven and Earth Five Elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Whether people or anything else, nothing could escape these five attributes.
Humans were praised as the spirit of all things. From the moment they were born, they possessed metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Cultivators called the five elements within the human body the "Spiritual Root," so every person possessed five Spiritual Roots: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
The five elements supported one another while also restraining one another. For example, metal generated water, water generated wood, wood generated fire, fire generated earth, and earth generated metal—this was mutual support. Metal overcame wood, wood overcame earth, earth overcame water, water overcame fire, and fire overcame metal—this was mutual restraint.
The "spiritual energy" spoken of by cultivators was the power of the five elements contained within Heaven and Earth. Cultivation meant absorbing the power of the five elements contained within Heaven and Earth.
If a person possessed all five elements as Spiritual Roots, the mutual restraint of the five elements would inevitably make his sensitivity to the power of the five elements in Heaven and Earth extremely poor, making absorption incomparably slow. This was what cultivators meant when they said someone had no Spiritual Root.
Conversely, if a person lacked one "Spiritual Root"—if, for example, he lacked an "Earth Spiritual Root"—then, because the human body required all five attributes, he had to absorb "Earth spiritual energy" from Heaven and Earth to replenish it.
He would therefore be exceptionally sensitive to "Earth spiritual energy," and absorbing it would be comparatively swift. Yet because of the mutual restraint among the five elements, his other attributes would also restrict his absorption of external "Earth spiritual energy." Thus, although he would absorb it faster than someone with all five Spiritual Roots, he would still not be especially fast.
If a person lacked two or three Spiritual Roots, he would be exceptionally sensitive to the two or three types of spiritual energy remaining in Heaven and Earth. He would absorb Heaven and Earth's spiritual energy two or three times faster than someone lacking only one. If he lacked four Spiritual Roots, he would be faster still.
The Cultivation World called those who lacked "Spiritual Roots" people capable of cultivating immortal techniques. The Spiritual Root they lacked was called their "Spiritual Root attribute," distinguishing them from ordinary people.
When Qin Fengming had first entered Luoxia Sect, Sect Master Wang and the various Martial Uncles had tested his Spiritual Root attribute by sending the power of the five elements into his body. By observing which kind of spiritual energy he responded to, they could determine which Spiritual Root he possessed. Unfortunately, none of them had been able to detect one.
However, people with Spiritual Roots were exceedingly rare among humanity, and those with Spiritual Roots who could actually cultivate were rarer still. Thus, although mortals numbered in the tens or hundreds of millions, cultivators were astonishingly few.
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