First Cultivation

First Cultivation

"To cultivate, you must first use meditation to enter a state of stillness. That part isn't difficult, but for most people, it takes a little time."

"Once you enter that state, you'll sense the energy around you. But don't pay attention to it—it's the energy of our world, and it can't be absorbed. I'll serve as your guide and capture a portion of pure energy for you. Your task is to use your mind to guide that pure energy into your body and find a way to keep it there. Don't let it leak away."

"The power of the mind is very important. If your mind isn't strong enough to move energy, then you have no talent for cultivation at all."

"But as long as your body successfully absorbs that first portion of energy, the road of cultivation will open before you."

Lin Yue's words rang by Li Yi's ear.

At that moment, Li Yi sat with his eyes closed, trying to enter a state of stillness.

Lin Yue instructed Li Yi on his posture, breathing, and several details of meditation, helping him enter the state more quickly.

As time passed bit by bit.

Li Yi gradually lost all sensation in his body. His consciousness seemed to sink into darkness, as though an abyss were about to swallow him. A helpless terror surged into his heart, and the feeling jolted him awake in an instant, directly pulling him out of his meditative state.

"Did that scare you?" Lin Yue watched him from the side with a smile.

Li Yi wiped his forehead and found no cold sweat there, yet lingering fear still gripped his heart. "It felt like my consciousness was about to be swallowed by darkness, like I would never wake up again."

"There's no need to be afraid. That's a normal feeling. Your consciousness has been bound to your body for twenty years, and now it has to leave the body and move on its own. Naturally, that produces fear. The reason everything is dark is because your consciousness has escaped the influence of your body's five senses. Imagine waking up one day unable to move, unable to hear, and unable to open your eyes. Wouldn't you be afraid?" Lin Yue explained patiently.

"What you need to do is overcome that fear, adapt to the feeling, and keep sinking into stillness. Once you cross that threshold, your consciousness will develop new senses on its own. That sense is neither sight nor hearing—it is something special."

"I understand. I'll try again." Li Yi nodded, then closed his eyes once more.

The second time he entered stillness, perhaps because he needed to overcome the fear produced by his first attempt at cultivation, took him much longer.

This time, Li Yi's consciousness sank into darkness again, and that fear surged up once more.

But this time, he did not resist the fear. He let it wrap around his entire body.

Yet his consciousness seemed trapped in a patch of darkness. There was no direction here, no time, like a prison.

Very soon.

Li Yi shuddered and woke again, directly exiting his meditative state.

"Failed again?" Lin Yue asked.

Li Yi nodded. "My consciousness was trapped by the darkness. Some instinct made me want to break free."

"Your brain was checking whether your body was dead, so it forcibly woke your consciousness. But don't worry—the human body is highly adaptable. If you do it a few more times, your brain will understand that the state just now wasn't death, and this won't happen again."

"Cultivation isn't such a simple matter. Along the way, you have to overcome all kinds of mental states and repeatedly train until both body and mind adapt to that feeling. People say cultivation holds great terror, and that's true. But if you can't even get past this hurdle, then I advise you to give up cultivation."

Lin Yue spoke seriously.

"I understand. I'll try once more." Li Yi took a deep breath.

Lin Yue said, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Take it slowly. There's plenty of time."

Li Yi nodded.

He said nothing, because he knew perfectly well that he did not have much peaceful time left. Trouble would soon come knocking. Before that happened, he had to step onto the path of cultivation and determine whether the half Knife Coin in his hand truly was a strange object.

He continued meditating.

No one knew how much time passed.

The office door opened.

Uncle Biao carefully walked in at that moment. He glanced over and gestured to Lin Yue.

Lin Yue walked out with light steps.

Uncle Biao asked in a low voice, "How is Li Yi's cultivation going?"

"The progress hasn't been very smooth. He still hasn't truly entered stillness." Lin Yue shook her head.

"It's fine, that's normal. Wasn't I the same back then? Be patient. After all, this is his first contact with cultivation. He didn't understand anything before this," Uncle Biao said.

Lin Yue said, "Uncle, do you remember what happened when Li Yi's father, Uncle Li, cultivated for the first time?"

As she spoke, she raised one finger. "Once. Uncle Li entered stillness in a single attempt, then began absorbing Cosmic Energy and formally stepped onto the path of cultivation."

Uncle Biao snorted. "His father was a true genius. There's no comparing them. Otherwise, how could he have become one of the Silent Ones? Do you think just anyone can become a Silent One? It was only because the first batch of cultivators cultivated too quickly, before everything had been thoroughly explored, that problems arose and they became like that."

"Niece, tell me—does Li Yi have talent for cultivation?"

After saying that, he bumped Lin Yue's arm and asked.

Lin Yue pondered for a moment, then said, "It's too early to tell. But he also entered stillness in one attempt. He was just frightened by inexperience and withdrew from the state. Still, cultivation talent is no longer measured by how quickly someone enters stillness. It depends on the efficiency with which they absorb Cosmic Energy."

"Some people can absorb ten portions of Cosmic Energy in one breath, yet only retain one or two portions. Such a conversion rate shows that their cultivation talent is very poor."

"But some people can absorb at most five portions of Cosmic Energy, yet retain every one of them. A one-hundred-percent conversion rate like that means great talent and enormous potential. If they also have a guide, they can reach the level of a genius."

"Of course, there are also people with low conversion rates who can capture a hundred portions of Cosmic Energy in one breath. Even if they can only convert twenty percent, that is still extraordinary."

"I'll only know which kind Li Yi is after testing him."

"Then I'll leave everything to you. I'll treat you to a meal later," Uncle Biao said with a smile.

Lin Yue rolled her eyes. "No. Let me make this clear first: if Li Yi doesn't have much talent for cultivation, there's nothing I can do. I'm only human, not an immortal who can grant others talent for cultivation. As for what Li Yi's talent is like, I'll know after guiding him for three days."

"Haha, how could that be? A tiger father has no dog son. Li Yi is definitely talented. Don't worry, three days will be more than enough for him," Uncle Biao said.

It was not that he had confidence in Li Yi's cultivation talent. Rather, he knew Li Yi was a sensible child. If there were no progress after three days, he probably would not keep troubling Lin Yue.

"Let's hope so."

As Lin Yue spoke, she suddenly shushed him. "It seems he has successfully entered stillness. Uncle, go take care of your work first. I'll check on him and test just how good his cultivation talent is."

Uncle Biao nodded, then left on tiptoe.

At that very moment, Li Yi, who had entered a state of stillness, began adapting to the sensation of his consciousness sinking into darkness.

His heart was calm as still water, without the slightest panic or confusion.

And once his consciousness escaped the influence of his body and began adapting to the darkness, new changes started to appear.

Specks of light gradually emerged within the darkness.

Those lights filled the surroundings, flowing around him like river water. Yet their color was strange—a grayish white, as if they had suffered some contamination, instinctively making one want to reject them.

This should be the contaminated spiritual energy filling reality. These things cannot be absorbed.

But soon, another unusual light appeared in this gray-white world. It was ancient and clear, like a sharp blade of light that instantly tore open a gash through the contaminated region. Then the light expanded, gradually taking the shape of half a Knife Coin.

Within the range illuminated by that light, pure Cosmic Energy flowed. Under the perception of his consciousness, that place shone as brilliantly as a galaxy of stars.

At that moment, Li Yi grew somewhat excited.

He understood. The half Knife Coin in his hand truly was a damaged strange object. It could generate its own energy field to purify contaminated spiritual energy. If that was the case, wouldn't his cultivation speed soar a thousand miles in a single day?

But now was not the time to get excited.

Li Yi tried using his mind to guide that energy.

At first, the energy did not change in the slightest. But before long, several points of light seemed drawn by some force and slowly flowed into his body.

His mental guidance had succeeded.

It seemed he did possess talent for cultivation.

However, before the Cosmic Energy he had guided over could be absorbed, it swiftly leaked away. It then merged into the gray-white world and was ultimately assimilated completely.

Failed? He recalled Lin Yue's words.

Guiding Cosmic Energy into the body was only the first step. The second was retaining it and absorbing it.

If he could not complete the second step, guiding over any amount of Cosmic Energy would be useless.

Li Yi tried again.

Several more portions of pure Cosmic Energy entered his body.

This time, the result was still the same. The energy dissipated, was assimilated, and vanished completely.

But Li Yi was not discouraged, because to him, the Cosmic Energy within that energy field was practically inexhaustible. He could make mistakes without limit.

The third time, the fourth time... On the fifth attempt, one portion of pure energy was bound by his mind and remained in his body instead of dissipating. It began melting away, as though being absorbed. At the same time, a cool sensation flooded into his mind, bringing an indescribable feeling of clarity and comfort.

Success!

At last, one out of five attempts had succeeded.

Li Yi continued cultivating.

At that moment, he discovered that several scattered specks of light had suddenly appeared in the polluted gray-white world around him. They seemed to be Cosmic Energy leaking from wormholes, but compared to the Cosmic Energy within that energy field, their quantity was pitifully sparse.

Why are those portions of energy flowing toward me?

Suddenly, Li Yi discovered that the scattered specks of pure energy in the gray-white world seemed drawn by another force and entered his body.

Is Sister Lin helping guide them for me?

That was what he thought, but he did not hesitate and immediately tried absorbing them.

Li Yi successfully absorbed some and failed with others. The energy that was not absorbed could only be wasted, contaminated by the world.

Overall, the probability of failure was quite high, while successful absorption was rare.

And so, Li Yi gradually immersed himself in cultivation.