Beyond The Primordials - Chapter 7 A Lesson On Cultivation

Due to his weakened state, when Yin Tou pulled Tao Shou into the tablet’s dimension he released him a few kilometers away from his location. This was to avoid putting himself at risk as well as to prevent him from becoming a liability during the fight. However, since this was his dimension, Yin Tou was aware of everything that had transpired, including his descendants success.

“So how does it feel to have spiritual qi circulating throughout your body?”

“Like my life has finally started to move forward for once.” Yin Hui had returned with a satisfied smile on his face.

“While I wish that it was me currently in that vessel of yours, as my descendant you could say I already am. You’ve taken your first step into the realm of cultivation, so before I send you off I have a few things to say that might be helpful.”

“When your serious I actually like to hear you speak.” Yin Hui joked.

“Hmph this old man’s words are made of nothing but gold. Now that your back we can… My, my, I must say that you have quite a well-developed little dragon on you.”

“…”

Yin Hui stood there in silence. In his mind, a thousand fireworks were firing off in his brain as he realized he had been completely naked this whole time!

During the body reconstruction process, his robes were completely destroyed at the final moments of reformation. Yin Hui had gotten so caught up in the moment that even when he went off to settle the score with Tao Shou, he forgot to have the decency to put on a new set of clothes!

“Cough cough… Then again I must say as your ancestor, I’m genuinely pleased to know that even without spiritual energy, you have cultivated well in that specific department.” Yin Tou nodded while looking down Yin Hui’s exposed waist.

Yin Hui’s face turned red out of both shame and anger. He went over to Yin Tou’s statue and tipped it over.

“Ahh!! Kid! Don’t you remember that I’m already near death! You could’ve made me disappear for good just now!” Yin Tou screamed in panic. His statue had countless cracks on it. At its current state, it looked as if one good hit could shatter it to pieces.

Yin Hui took out Tao Shou’s bag of holding, which he claimed after his death. He took out a long red robe from inside and quickly put it on. A bag of holding had always been greatly desired by Yin Hui. As a slave that often had to carry many things, he envied how items of any quantity or size could be stored inside the bag without affecting it’s weight or size.

“Let’s forget what happened just now. You were saying?” Yin Hui gave Yin Tou a piercing stare, as if telling him to never bring up that particular topic ever again or the consequences would be more then he could bear.

“Err… Yes! I was going to tell you about the first 3 realms of cultivation and how to advance through them!” Yin Tou didn’t even bother to confirm the details behind Yin Hui’s sinister glare. He felt like if he said one thing out of line Yin Hui would actually destroy the statue.

“The first realm of cultivation as I’ve said before is called the Impurity Cleansing realm. Since you have already passed this stage, this information is slightly irrelevant. However, I will tell you anyways as it is a good habit to learn how to identify cultivators of all levels so you are never caught off guard. Cultivators at this stage take in spiritual qi to purify their bones, blood, and organs so that their bodies become suitable to store spirit qi long term. You can tell a person is in this realm by the fact that they cannot utilize fully spiritual qi and have the strength of a peak level mortal.”

“The second level of cultivation and the one you are currently in is called the Spirit Waking realm. In this realm Cultivators can actually use spiritual qi for multiple purposes. At this point your body and senses are beyond that of any mortal, even with your fiend body if you fought that young man earlier without the assistance of demonic qi you would’ve lost.”

Yin Hui bit his teeth when he heard this. What Yin Tou was telling him made sense. As soon as Tao Shou began to use techniques such as the Wind Bullet, Yin Hui could no longer see his attacks or protect himself. If he did not ask for that small amount of incomplete demonic qi before the battle, the outcome could’ve been far different.

“Tell me what I need to do to advance to the next stage.” Yin Hui knew that even as a Spirit Waking cultivator it wasn’t enough. His ambition stretched beyond that of the heavens and he needed power if he wanted to fulfill it.

“The Spirit Waking realm is all about the mastery of spiritual qi, using it like a carpenter uses wood. There are 3 different areas that you need to master in order to break through to the next stage. They are martial skills and spells, flight, and the most difficult, spiritual sense.”

“They are ordered as such because of the ascending level of difficulty that comes with each of them. As soon as you manage to utilize 1 spell and 1 martial skill you are known as a one aspect Spirit Waking cultivator. In order to become a two aspect cultivator you need to be able to utilize your spiritual energy to continuously fly for a minimum of two hours. Finally, to become a three aspect cultivator you need to develop a spiritual sense, a sixth sense that allows you to extend your sight and see without actually being present.”

Yin Hui listened attentively to the requirements needed to advance through the Spirit Waking realm, not missing a single detail. He recalled how Tang Jiao called Tang Li a peak Spirit Waking cultivator. Over the past year, Tang Li somehow always knew when he was in danger from one of the supervisors or clan members, and always came to save him at the right time. Now that he had learned of the three aspects of Spirit Waking, he was certain that it was due to Tang Li’s mastery and use of spiritual sense.

“Now once you achieve all three aspects, the key to breaking into the Spirit Manifestation realm is to truly make spiritual qi yours, also known as true qi. You need to integrate your own essence into it to the point it becomes an extension of you. When you do, you’ll find that this qi has a unique aura to it that distinguishes it from the normal qi of heaven and earth. This qi is much more versatile and allows you to form an ethereal spirit around you that can attack and defend.”

Yin Hui was filled with thoughts as he listened to the characteristics of a Spirit Manifestation cultivator. Tang Li seemed uncertain whether he could stop the fight if things went bad back in the outside world due to Tang Jiao. Based on that logic and the fact that Tang Jiao called Tang Li a peak Spirit Waking cultivator, it was safe to assume that Tang Jiao was in the Spirit Manifestation realm.
for visiting.

“Unfortunately, like Spirit Waking compared to Impurity Cleansing, Spirit Manifestation is world’s apart from the Spirit Waking stage. However, Spirit Manifestation also carries some risk.”

Yin Hui’s eyes lit up. If Tang Jiao truly was at the Spirit Manifestation realm, he needed to know all he could about its weaknesses no matter how small or insignificant.

“Similar to Spirit Waking, Spirit Manifestation has three parts, all having to do with forming an ethereal spirit. The first is the upper body which consists of the skull, torso, and arms. The skull is the most important and needs to be made first as it houses the spirit’s core. Second, is the lower body which consists of everything below the torso. An important thing to keep in mind is that Spirit Manifestation cultivators in the first and second stages can only utilize one half of their spirit at a time, even if they have both. This leads to the third stage which is the complete body. A Spirit Manifestation cultivator is said to reach this stage when they can utilize their full ethereal spirit at once. They can also detach the spirit from their body and have it act independently to their will as if it were a clone.”

“You still haven’t told me the risks a Spirit Manifestation cultivator possesses.” Yin Hui said impatiently.

“The weakness is that no matter the stage they are currently at, if you manage to destroy the core of the spirit, namely the skull, the users cultivation immediately drops back to the first stage of Spirit Manifestation without any of their true qi! This means that even a peak Spirit Waking cultivator will be able to defeat them as they will now be fighting on equal footing! While this is most detrimental to complete body Spirit Manifestation cultivators, it can still cause shock to those in the lower stages as well. Unfortunately, unless you have a cultivation level above theirs or a powerful treasure, the chances of destroying an ethereal spirit are very rare.”

Despite being nearly impossible to pull off, this was still very important news to Yin Hui. If he was in the peak of the Spirit Waking realm, it still meant that he had a chance against Spirit Manifestation cultivators as long as he managed to find a way to destroy their ethereal spirits core.

“What are the levels above Spirit Manifestation?”

Yin Tou shook his head with an embarrassed look on his face.

“What I’ve told you so far are just the beginning levels of cultivation. Only at the peak of Spirit Manifestation can you really call yourself a cultivator. Unfortunately, this is all I know without the rest of my other parts and memories.”

Yin Hui sighed, but didn’t snap back at Yin Tou for his lacking memory like he did before. He owed much to this swindling old man and he had already told him a large amount.

“I can sense that there is a Spirit Manifestation cultivator outside with ill intent and an injured peak level Spirit Waking cultivator as well. Sigh. I guess the last thing I can do with the remainder of my strength is to send you safely out of here somewhere far away.”

Yin Hui predicted that Tang Li and Tang Jiao probably had a falling out and decided to fight. Since Tang Jiao was Tang Li’s direct blood brother, Yin Hui knew that his life would not be in danger. He nodded towards Yin Tou and gave a deep bow. Yin Tou had given him a new lease on life, one that he was determined to pay back with high interest. He thought about ways he could pay him back a bit at that moment and came up with one idea.

“Do you want to come with me? You can possess half my body again and see the world once more.”

Yin Tou let out a hearty laugh.

“Haha, no thank you. I don’t want to risk my already weakening and senile soul in the body of a new cultivator with no kind of backing whatsoever. However, if you do want to pay me back, do you think you could help me find the missing pieces of my soul for me during your journeys?”

Yin Hui laughed back, understanding Yin Tou’s intent.

“Of course! Once you return to your full form, I expect to get that inheritance!”

Yin Tou waved his hand and a portal opened up beside Yin Hui. Yin Hui gave one more sincere bow before stepping into the portal.

“Remember boy! I’m missing 6 more parts of myself, each contains a portion of my soul! I’ll give you a special sense that will allow you to know when you are near one! Take care!”

Just as the portal began to close, Yin Tou pointed his finger towards Yin Hui. A beam of light shot out and entered Yin Hui’s brain. Afterwards, the portal complete closed and dissipated as if it was never there. Yin Hui was off on a new adventure with a new life, a life that the heaven’s had denied him for so long.