This Lecture Platform resembled the schoolyard Zhou Er remembered from his previous life. The lecture stage stood at the center, with seats arranged around it. Outer Sect Disciples could come here to listen to the Elders expound on the Dao.
"There's no Elder giving a lecture today, so there aren't many people here. If Junior Brother Zhou wants to hear an Elder's lecture, you'll need to find out about it in advance so you don't miss it."
Wang Wenlang said with a smile.
"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother Wang."
Zhou Er cupped his hands in thanks.
"I'll take you to the Scripture Pavilion next. It's where the foundation of our Xiayun Sect lies, and it holds many spells and cultivation techniques. You can exchange Contribution Points for them later. By the way, Outer Sect Disciples get their first ninth-grade cultivation technique for free. Once your Identity Token is ready, you can come here to claim one."
Wang Wenlang pointed toward the enormous Scripture Pavilion.
Hearing Wang Wenlang's explanation, Zhou Er pondered. He had only just started learning about cultivation and still had no idea how it worked.
"Senior Brother Wang, I haven't begun cultivating yet. How exactly does cultivation work?"
Zhou Er asked.
At Zhou Er's question, Wang Wenlang realized Master Jide probably hadn't explained it to him. He gathered his thoughts, then patiently explained.
"Cultivation is about absorbing qi to seek longevity and prove the Great Dao."
"Spirit Energy exists throughout heaven and earth. We cultivators use it to temper our bodies and refine ourselves. The first three realms of cultivation are Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core."
"Qi Refining has twelve layers. Once you reach the ninth, you can attempt Foundation Establishment. Of course, it's best to wait until you're past the tenth layer; that'll give you a better chance of succeeding."
"Your Senior Brother Wang here is at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, in the Late Qi Refining Stage."
After listening to Wang Wenlang's explanation, Zhou Er had a rough understanding.
"Then aren't you about to reach Foundation Establishment, Senior Brother Wang?"
Zhou Er said.
"I'm still a long way off! Each layer is like a whole new world, and the farther you go in cultivation, the harder it gets. I only have a Low-grade Spirit Root. Foundation Establishment is far too difficult for me."
Wang Wenlang waved a hand. He would need at least several more years, maybe even decades, of hard work.
"Spirit Roots? Senior Brother Wang, what are they? I heard Master Jide say that cultivating without one is very difficult."
Zhou Er asked.
"A Spirit Root is the root of cultivation. Most people struggle to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but having a Spirit Root makes all the difference. It helps you draw qi into your body quickly and begin cultivating."
"Spirit Roots are divided into Defective, Low-grade, Mid-grade, and High-grade Spirit Roots, as well as Heavenly Spirit Roots. Most people have only one attribute. Only a rare few prodigies have multiple attributes, or even special Spirit Roots."
Wang Wenlang said.
His Low-grade Spirit Root wasn't the worst. Even a Defective Spirit Root wasn't the worst.
The worst were ordinary people with no Spirit Root.
Even if mortals trained hard for ten years, they would struggle to grasp that faint, elusive sense of qi and touch the meager Spirit Energy between heaven and earth.
"What kind of Spirit Root does Junior Brother Zhou have?"
Wang Wenlang asked.
He hadn't reached Foundation Establishment and couldn't release his Spiritual Sense, so he naturally couldn't tell what kind of Spirit Root Zhou Er had.
"I don't know. Master Jide never told me."
Zhou Er shook his head.
He had no Spirit Root, and that wasn't something he could let Wang Wenlang know. He could only lie to him.
"Since Master Jide was willing to bring you into the Outer Sect, you must have at least a Low-grade Spirit Root, Junior Brother Zhou."
A Low-grade Spirit Root was the minimum requirement for the Outer Sect. Only a few, like Zhou Er, who had gotten in through Connections, could make an exception. Others without a Low-grade Spirit Root basically couldn't join the Outer Sect.
"Perhaps."
Zhou Er thought that with his Equipment Slot, he wouldn't be any worse off than someone with a Low-grade Spirit Root. As long as he worked hard to obtain attributes, he would find a way to cultivate.
Now that he had joined the Xiayun Sect, getting his hands on cultivation items would be easy. He could soon obtain useful attributes.
For example, that Low-grade Spirit Stone. If equipping it gave him a useful attribute, perhaps he could successfully draw qi into his body and gain a sense of qi.
"By the way, Junior Brother, since you haven't started cultivating, I have a Guide Technique here that'll serve you through the first five layers of Qi Refining. You can read it while you wait for your Identity Token to be ready."
Wang Wenlang took a cultivation manual from his Storage Bag and handed it to Zhou Er.
As soon as Zhou Er took it, a line of text appeared before him.
[Guide Technique: A basic cultivation technique for entering the world of cultivation.] [Equipped Attributes: Qi Induction] [Qi Induction: Draws the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body to temper the physique.] [Solidification Condition: Perform the Guide Technique 108 times.] [Equip?]
With Wang Wenlang beside him, Zhou Er couldn't possibly equip the Guide Technique right then. He could only put it away and wait until he returned to his own courtyard.
After taking Zhou Er around the places in the Xiayun Sect accessible to Outer Sect Disciples, the sky began to darken. Wang Wenlang took out a Bigu Pill and said:
"You must be hungry. Take this Bigu Pill, and you won't need food or water for five days."
Zhou Er accepted the Bigu Pill and said:
"Thank you, Senior Brother Wang. I am a little hungry."
Master Jide had already reached the point where he no longer needed food. He hadn't had any Bigu Pills in his Storage Bag, so he had only sent a wisp of Spirit Energy into Zhou Er to keep him from eating for several days.
[Bigu Pill: Something low-level cultivators use to stave off hunger.] [Equipped Attributes: Taotie (White)] [Taotie (White): Leaves the belly hollow and greatly increases appetite, allowing you to grow stronger by eating.] [Solidification Condition: Eat and digest ten thousand jin of food.] [Equip?]
Zhou Er quickly considered how the Taotie attribute worked. It seemed useful, though eating ten thousand jin of food sounded a bit excessive.
An ordinary person could eat five jin in a day at most, which was already a lot. At that rate, ten thousand jin would take two thousand days.
This Taotie attribute greatly increases my appetite. Maybe I'll be able to eat even more.
Zhou Er thought.
Wang Wenlang escorted Zhou Er to his lodgings in the Outer Sect's Wutong District, where he spotted a Servant Disciple waiting outside.
The Servant Disciple wore coarse hemp clothes and was easy to recognize.
"Senior Brother Zhou! Senior Brother Zhu asked me to bring you some things."
The Servant Disciple said respectfully, then offered him a cloth bag with both hands.
Zhou Er took the bag, nodded, and said:
"You've made it here. Sorry for the trouble."
"No trouble at all. It's my honor to serve an Outer Sect Senior Brother."
The Servant Disciple smiled broadly.
Then, knowing better than to intrude, he left Zhou Er alone.
"Junior Brother Zhou, I've pretty much shown you all around the Xiayun Sect today. If you need to reach me, you can find me at the Spirit Herb Garden. I watch over the herbs there."
Wang Wenlang said goodbye to Zhou Er.
"Take care, Senior Brother Wang."
After seeing Wang Wenlang off, Zhou Er entered his room, shut the door, and inspected what the Servant Disciple had brought by the light of the moon.
Inside was a Sect Manual, which recorded all the rules of the sect, large and small. Zhou Er would need to follow them carefully, or he might attract the special attention of the Law Enforcement Hall.
Besides that, there were three blue stones about the size of pigeon eggs. They were perfectly regular octahedrons.
Natural ore came in two forms: regular shapes, such as these attractive octahedrons, and irregular shapes, which often formed large chunks of ore.
Zhou Er guessed that these octahedrons had formed naturally rather than been carved.
[Low-grade Spirit Stone: The most common cultivation resource in the Cultivation World.] [Equipped Attributes: Mana Abundance (White)] [Mana Abundance (White): Increases the maximum Mana Limit by thirty percent.] [Solidification Condition: Exceed the amount of Spirit Energy contained in one Low-grade Spirit Stone.] [Equip?]
These were Low-grade Spirit Stones, and Zhou Er could equip one.
The effect seemed pretty good so far. It could raise his Mana Limit by thirty percent.
Zhou Er hadn't officially begun cultivating and had no idea how much Spirit Energy one Low-grade Spirit Stone contained, but he guessed it was quite a lot for a Qi Refining cultivator.
Besides those items, the cloth bag also held a small gourd containing six Bigu Pills.
Zhou Er looked at what he had, then at his status panel.
[Name: Zhou Er] [Cultivation: None] [Equipment Slot (1/3): Five Animals Health Technique] [Unsolidified Attributes: Five Animals Health Technique (Perfect), Longevity.] [Solidified Attributes: Strength Increase (White).]
He had spent two days at home and solidified only one attribute: Strength Increase.
The Five Animals Health Technique was still missing the tiger liver. There was no helping it; even in ancient times, catching a tiger was no easy task.
Unless it was the right season, tigers ran at the sight of people. Even though the Zhou family was a prominent household in Yunyang City, getting tiger meat was still a huge hassle.
It would take at least ten days to half a month to get any.
Master Jide had left in such a hurry that he hadn't given Zhou Er enough time.
Fortunately, Zhou Er had more than one Equipment Slot. He had three in total; one was occupied, leaving two available.
The things I can equip right now are the Guide Technique, Bigu Pills, and Low-grade Spirit Stones.
Zhou Er laid the three items out in front of him.
"The Guide Technique has the Qi Induction attribute, which can get me started on cultivation. I have to choose that."
"The Low-grade Spirit Stone increases my Mana Limit, but I don't even have Mana yet. It's useless for now, so I can set it aside."
After making his plan, Zhou Er equipped the Guide Technique and a Bigu Pill.
The moment he equipped the Guide Technique, Zhou Er gained the Qi Induction attribute. He could immediately sense the spiritual energy drifting between heaven and earth.
So this is the sense of qi Senior Brother Wang was talking about!
Zhou Er thought.
Senior Brother Wang said only a genius with a Heavenly Spirit Root could find their sense of qi in one day. I found this faint, elusive sense of qi in just one breath. Could I be even more talented than someone with a Heavenly Spirit Root?
Zhou Er reassured himself.
With the Qi Induction attribute, finding his sense of qi had been as easy as water flowing into a channel.
If he had relied on cultivating by himself, it would have taken him at least several years, perhaps even decades.
A mortal could sit in meditation for a hundred years and still fail to touch it.
Someone with a Defective Spirit Root could probably find their sense of qi within a year; a Low-grade Spirit Root, six months; a Mid-grade Spirit Root, three months; a High-grade Spirit Root, one month; and a Heavenly Spirit Root, one day.
That was why Heavenly Spirit Roots were called Heavenly Spirit Roots. Their owners could comprehend the Dao in a single day; it wasn't an exaggeration. They were one in hundreds of millions, if that.
Of course, there was also a shortcut.
When Zhou Er had spoken with Wang Wenlang that day, Wang Wenlang had mentioned a kind of pill called a Meridian Opening Pill. It could skip the process of sensing the world, forcibly open the meridians throughout the body, and let Spirit Energy flow in to produce a sense of qi.
The pill was useful, but it damaged the meridians to some extent.
With Zhou Er's Qi Induction attribute, though, he didn't need to worry about that at all.
[Name: Zhou Er] [Cultivation: Qi Refining First Layer (0.01%)] [Equipment Slot (3/3): Five Animals Health Technique, Guide Technique, Bigu Pill.] [Unsolidified Attributes: Five Animals Health Technique (Perfect), Longevity, Qi Induction, Taotie (White).] [Solidified Attributes: Strength Increase (White).]
With the Qi Induction attribute, Zhou Er's cultivation immediately advanced to the Qi Refining First Layer.
After all, the standard for the first layer of Qi Refining was to develop a sense of qi and draw qi into the body.
[Qi Induction: Draws the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body to temper the physique.] [Solidification Condition: Perform the Guide Technique 108 times.]
Zhou Er wanted to fully solidify the Qi Induction attribute so he could free up an Equipment Slot for other items.
So he began cultivating according to the instructions in the Guide Technique.
It took about half an hour—one hour—for Zhou Er to stumble through a single cycle of the Guide Technique.
After three cycles, his meridians felt swollen and uncomfortable.
"Everything has its limits. My body can't handle any more of this training right now. I should rest."
Zhou Er stopped cultivating.
The Outer Sect Disciple's courtyard had a bed, and it was already late. Zhou Er climbed into it and promptly fell asleep.
When he got up in the morning, Zhou Er checked his status panel.
[Cultivation: Qi Refining First Layer (0.8%)]
Zhou Er had checked his cultivation before going to sleep. His progress bar had been only at 0.3%. Each complete cycle of the Guide Technique had raised it by 0.1%.
But after sleeping, it had jumped straight to 0.8%, an increase of five-tenths of a percent.
As Zhou Er wondered why, he spotted something else on the panel.
[Taotie (White): Leaves the belly hollow and greatly increases appetite, allowing you to grow stronger by eating.] [Solidification Condition: Eat and digest ten thousand jin of food. (5/10000)]
So it really is the effect of the Taotie attribute.
Zhou Er thought. It was this Taotie attribute that had made his cultivation improve so quickly.
At this rate, he would reach the second layer of Qi Refining in less than a hundred days.
Still, it's a bit too slow.
Zhou Er thought. But with the bonus from his attributes, his cultivation progress only seemed slow at first; it would keep climbing.
Since Zhou Er's Identity Token wasn't ready yet, he couldn't go out to take care of anything. All he could do was stay in his courtyard, read the Sect Manual, and practice the Guide Technique.
Maybe it was the Taotie attribute, but after a night's rest, the swelling in Zhou Er's meridians had eased considerably.
So he wasted no time. He sat cross-legged and began cultivating with the Guide Technique.
[Qi Induction: Draws the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body to temper the physique.] [Solidification Condition: Perform the Guide Technique 108 times. (6/108)]
After three cycles, he began to feel uncomfortable again. Zhou Er stopped immediately, avoiding overtraining and the irreversible damage it could do to his body and potential.
Before you continue