Refining Cultivation

"Fire borrowed wood's brightness; glimmering fire borrowed supple wood to reveal its light, giving rise to the mystery of illuminating all things."

Only after Luo Chang's Yin Spirit explained in detail did Wang Ping understand that cultivation in the [Nonaction Unchanging Dao Ground] differed from cultivation elsewhere.

"There aren't many factions within the Dao Ground. Most practice qi assimilation or qi cultivation. We belong to the qi cultivation branch, while the sect master and his people belong to the qi assimilation branch. But whichever branch you follow, after reaching the second level, you attempt to resonate with the five great mysteries founded by the Dao Lord to advance further."

Wang Ping raised an eyebrow. "Five great mysteries?"

"Exactly."

Luo Chang's Yin Spirit explained softly, "[Brocade River Smoke], [Submerged Valley Field], [Luminescent Dike Willow], [Trigram Staff Coin], and [Forest Bell Full]. Those are the five great mysteries."

"Much like true cultivation through trigram positions outside, resonating with these five great mysteries requires cultivating three strands of heaven-and-earth qi. It's just somewhat harder."

At this point, Luo Chang's Yin Spirit could not help sighing. "Take [Luminescent Dike Willow], for example. To resonate with this mystery, you must cultivate one strand each of fire qi, earth qi, and wood qi. Wood qi generates fire qi, and fire qi generates earth qi, so those combinations are still relatively easy to cultivate."

"The trouble lies with wood qi and earth qi."

"Wood overcomes earth. The two are incompatible to begin with, and that's before considering how wood generates fire and fire generates earth. The fire qi between them only intensifies the clash of generation and suppression."

"Finding a balance between them so that all three strands of qi can coexist is extraordinarily difficult. Over all these years, only a handful in the Dao Ground have