Spiritual Qi and Lodge Positions

Although Tang Yuan was only a Qi Refininement Sixth Layer cultivator, still a long way from Foundation Establishment, let alone the Heavenly Gate and the Golden Core Realm, that did nothing to diminish his thirst for knowledge.

Tang Yuan immediately cupped his hands in salute. "Please enlighten me, Senior Brother Qi."

The other six also saluted one after another, echoing his request for Qi Feiming's guidance.

Under their expectant gazes, Qi Feiming stroked his white beard and slowly began:

"Cultivators are divided into six realms according to their cultivation: [Meridian Opening], [Qi Refinement], [Foundation Establishment], [Purple Mansion], [Golden Core], and [Lodge Transformation].

"The [Purple Mansion] Realm is also called the [Heavenly Gate] Realm, and the [Lodge Transformation] Realm is also called the [Spirit Transformation] Realm.

"This is the [Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao], cultivated by ninety-nine percent of the world's cultivators.

"As for demons and monsters, wood spirits and stone spirits, human ghost cultivators, and human Gu witches, many cultivate the [Weaver Girl Nether Fortune Dao].

"A mortal must have an [Innate Aperture] and be an [Aperture Opener] before they can cultivate immortality and attain the Dao.

"By breathing in and refining Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, mortals can enter the Meridian Opening Realm and the Qi Refining Realm.

"Qi Refining Realm cultivators breathe in Spiritual Qi and gather it in the [Heavenly Aperture] of their Dantian to form a Dao foundation. Only then do they enter the Foundation Establishment Realm.

"Once Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators have formed their Dao foundation, they cultivate a Divine Ability by breathing in Spiritual Qi. It is called a [Minor Divine Ability].

"Foundation Establishment cultivators must cultivate at least three Minor Divine Abilities before they can attempt to break through to Purple Mansion.

"Upon reaching the Purple Mansion Realm, a cultivator's original three Minor Divine Abilities merge into one, becoming a [Heavenly Divine Ability], also called a [Greater Divine Ability].

"Purple Mansion True Persons breathe in and absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and cultivate five Heavenly Divine Abilities before they can attempt to break through to Golden Core and attain a Lodge Position, thereby reaching [Lodge Transformation].

"Lodges are the stars in the heavens, the constellations of the immortal realm. But the number of Lodge Positions in the immortal realm is fixed, and each is unique: one radish to each hole.

"The [Purple Gate Golden Core Dao] has twenty-nine Lodge Positions in all.

"I've heard that the [Weaver Girl Nether Fortune Dao] has nine Golden Core Lodge Positions.

"If a True Lord occupying a Lodge Position is still alive, no one else can break through to Golden Core in that position.

"Likewise, if the Cultivation Method and Divine Abilities corresponding to a Lodge Position have been lost, that position cannot be cultivated.

"For various reasons, I've heard that fewer than twenty-one Lodge Positions remain on the [Purple Gate Golden Core Dao].

"Whether cultivating to improve one's cultivation, breaking through realms, mastering Divine Abilities, or attaining Heavenly Divine Abilities, breathing in and absorbing Spiritual Qi is the foundation of cultivation from beginning to end.

"All Spiritual Qi in the world is divided into seven grades and twenty-one tiers. Lower-tier seventh-grade Spiritual Qi is mixed Spiritual Qi.

"Cultivators who breathe in and absorb only seventh-grade and lower-tier sixth-grade Spiritual Qi will remain in the Meridian Opening Realm all their lives.

"Cultivators who breathe in and absorb only seventh- and sixth-grade Spiritual Qi can spend their entire lifespan of 180 years cultivating without reaching even Late-stage Qi Refinement, let alone Foundation Establishment.

"All of you are Middle Stage of Qi Refinement cultivators, so you presumably know that absorbing and breathing in fifth-grade Spiritual Qi is enough for us.

"But to break through from the Middle Stage to Late-stage Qi Refinement, we must breathe in and absorb a wisp of lower-tier fourth-grade Spiritual Qi.

"As for attempting to break through to Foundation Establishment, we need at least three wisps of middle-tier fourth-grade Spiritual Qi.

"Foundation Establishment cultivators need twenty-four wisps of middle-tier fourth-grade Spiritual Qi to improve their cultivation. To attempt a breakthrough to Purple Mansion, they need at least three wisps of upper-tier fourth-grade Spiritual Qi and two wisps of third-grade Spiritual Qi.

"Purple Mansion cultivators need at least twenty-four wisps of third-grade Spiritual Qi to improve their cultivation, and second-grade Spiritual Qi to attempt a breakthrough to Golden Core.

"The higher the grade of Spiritual Qi breathed in and absorbed, the faster one's cultivation improves, the more stable one's Dao foundation becomes, and the more powerful one's cultivated Divine Abilities are.

"Spiritual Qi below the fourth grade contains a mixture of the five elements.

"Fourth-grade Spiritual Qi and above, however, is divided into the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

"Spiritual Qi of each element is further divided into five types.

"For example, metal-element Spiritual Qi is divided into [Neck Metal], [Ghost Metal], [Bond Metal], [Ox Metal], and [Exchange Metal], corresponding to five Lodge Positions.

"Of course, there are also four Lodge Positions corresponding to wind- and lightning-element Spiritual Qi.

"In other words, there are countless kinds of Spiritual Qi in the world, but ultimately, each belongs to one of twenty-nine types."

"When absorbing and breathing in Spiritual Qi, one must match it to the element of one's Spirit Root.

"Since fourth-grade Spiritual Qi is divided into the five elements, and a Qi Refinement cultivator needs to absorb three wisps of middle-tier fourth-grade Spiritual Qi to attempt a breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, wouldn't that mean the Lodge Position one will attain in the future is decided at Foundation Establishment?

"Lodge Positions are unique, and the world's Spiritual Qi is limited. Fourth-grade Spiritual Qi is even rarer than phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Wouldn't letting others know the elemental attribute of one's Divine Ability make one a potential rival in their eyes?" Tang Yuan asked in confusion.

Qi Feiming smiled. "That's true in principle, but attaining Golden Core is such a distant prospect that there's no need to worry about it now.

"After all, our Holy Cardamom Sect has only one Golden Core True Lord, and the entire Western Heaven Mystic Spirit Continent has only five True Lords.

"Besides, for members of the same sect, it seems that the more people cultivate toward the same Lodge Position, the more it benefits the True Lord occupying that position."

"Senior Brother Qi, if we're fortunate enough to attempt a breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, we'll need three wisps of middle-tier fourth-grade Spiritual Qi.

"Wouldn't it be better if I absorbed and breathed in three wisps of first-grade Spiritual Qi instead?" Tang Yuan asked, cupping his hands.

"Not so." Qi Feiming shook his head. "Countless seniors have already proven that to be a foolish idea.

"Leaving aside the fact that first-grade Spiritual Qi can be encountered but not sought,

"the main reason is that a Qi Refinement Great Perfection cultivator simply cannot withstand the immense power of three wisps of first-grade Spiritual Qi.

"Forcing oneself to absorb it would only make one's body explode, killing them."

Tang Yuan nodded. "But what does any of this have to do with collecting orc canines?"

"First-grade Spiritual Qi is the stuff of legend, a priceless treasure.

"Moreover, first-grade Spiritual Qi cannot be extracted or gathered. It exists only in individual wisps formed by heaven and earth, and can be encountered but not sought.

"Second-grade Spiritual Qi is as scarce as stars at dawn. Each wisp is worth at least a hundred thousand spirit coins.

"Third-grade Spiritual Qi has a price but no market. Each wisp sells for tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.

"Fourth-grade Spiritual Qi is as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Each wisp is worth at least a thousand Spirit Stones.

"Spiritual Qi of the second grade and below can be extracted, gathered, and collected.

"Across the hundreds of thousands of li under our Holy Cardamom Sect's rule, we can collect fewer than ten wisps of third-grade Spiritual Qi each year.

"Besides, this Spiritual Qi is divided among the five elements, so even our Holy Cardamom Sect thirsts for third-grade Spiritual Qi." Qi Feiming waved his iron folding fan and continued:

"Later, our Holy Sect discovered that third-grade Spiritual Qi could be extracted and gathered from the left and right lower canines of orc warriors and orc elites in the Barbarian Di Secret Realm.

"Moreover, the third-grade Spiritual Qi extracted this way includes all five elements.

"So whenever the Barbarian Di Secret Realm opens, our task is to collect orc canines with all our might.

"The sect sent out more than two thousand disciples this time. It seems our sect urgently needs several dozen wisps of third-grade Spiritual Qi to help the dozen or so Foundation Establishment High Persons nearing the end of their lifespans attempt a breakthrough to Purple Mansion."

Qian Xiaobao nodded. "I spent over a hundred spirit coins at the sect's market, and that's what I heard too: 'A dozen or so of our sect's Foundation Establishment High Persons are nearing the end of their lifespans.'"

"Since the sect urgently needs orc canines to extract second-grade Spiritual Qi, if we meet the sect's quota, can we sell the extra orc canines to the sect?

"If we can, how much would they fetch?" Tang Yuan asked with a show of casualness. After all, he had more than sixty-six hundred lower canines from orc elites in his Storage Bag.

"I reckon that depends on how many we manage to collect.

"But even if the number of orc canines we collect meets the sect's needs, an orc elite's canine should be worth five Spirit Stones at the very least.

"After all, the sect can't wait to get its hands on as many orc canines as possible."

"All right, let's take turns resting. We still have a long journey tomorrow..." Qi Feiming yawned.

Everyone nodded, agreed on the order for keeping watch, and took up their respective duties.

While chatting with Qian Xiaobao, Tang Yuan also learned why he had run into them here.

According to Qian Xiaobao, the more than a thousand Initial Qi Refinement disciples who had headed east had been almost entirely wiped out.

Twenty-one days earlier, Qian Xiaobao, Gao Rui, Huang Jie, and Qi Yao had fought their way south as soon as they entered the Barbarian Di Secret Realm.

After ten days and the loss of nearly all the talismans, pills, and formations they had brought, Qian Xiaobao and the other three had barely managed to collect the number of orc canines the sect required.

But the farther south they went, the less encouraging things became. Faced with the Holy Cardamom Sect's disciples, the orc tribes, which had originally fought on their own and had even been hostile to one another, gradually put aside their old grudges and banded together.

Moreover, as more and more orc canines were collected, the Holy Cardamom Sect disciples gradually began attacking and killing one another to seize them.

Fortunately, Qi Feiming had later stepped in to help, allowing Qian Xiaobao and the other three to cling to life.

Qi Feiming had proposed that the four accompany him north and help him find a jade necklace.

Qi Feiming had promised to recommend all four of them as inner disciples if they helped him find it.

*It seems Qi Feiming dangles the grand promise of "recommending people as inner disciples" at every turn. Besides, there's no way I can get into Legs Beast Peak.

*I might as well have him write me an IOU for three thousand spirit coins in a little while.

*As for the jade necklace Qi Feiming is looking for, could it be the "purple jade huang"?

If he's also after the "purple jade huang," it seems I'd better keep a few tricks up my sleeve, in case Qi Feiming harbors ill intentions. Tang Yuan glanced casually at Qi Feiming, who was resting with his eyes closed, and mused to himself...