002: Cultivation

Standing in front of the oblong pillar, also known for some reason as a dousing rod, was a man. He was an elder in the sect who was a little bit stooped and walked with a cane. But be that as it may, elder Shaba is a nascent soul cultivator and one with a short fuse, more often than not, Divyat himself has been on the receiving end of a couple of his spanks as a child, he has mostly gotten away with a few of his escapades with a stern warning and swift kick to the ass as a teenager. But still, Shaba was not the kind of person you wanted to mess with, he's mean.

"Today is the day, the day when all you sniveling brats get to step into the path of your forebears, the path to immortality." He paused, narrowing his eyes as a cacophony of excited chatter filled the hall, but it quickly died down from the intense look in his eyes, prompting Divyat and Zhao Min to chuckle silently from an inside joke.

"The next person to make a sound will lose their chance to cultivate, I will kick you out of not just the dousing hall, but the entire sect as a whole. Now shut up! And listen! To cultivate is to go against the heavens, to go against nature and all that is in balance with the world. As such nature itself created balance in us in the form of spiritual roots, attributing it to elements so that we can give back the energy we take. This is a path to power, one that will bring out the best or more often than not bring out the worst in you.

Look around yourselves, to the best friend, brother, sister or childhood sweetheart standing by you. That bond will not survive the rigors of cultivation, even without a conflict, this is a path that will test you, bend you and break you in more ways than one. And even the special people in your heart will all become your rivals to seize the opportunities life would grant you to gain power and immortality." Zhao Min squeezed Divyat's hand, sweat coating it, as he squeezed back.

As opposed to most of the people here, many of them just joining the sect from a selection that was held a week ago; Divyat and Zhao Min had grown up through the reality of what cultivation could do to a person, of what it could do to a family. They were determined to not let it affect their friendship, because honestly it would seem all meaningless to them if they couldn't be together.

"I would love to keep this short and sweet, but many of you here have never even heard about cultivation before, you're here to be servants or you heard some rumors about how joining a sect will change your fate. But let me tell you all that there is to it. There are nine realms to immortality, starting from when you're born, you're already in the body refining realm. And for 15 years of your life your body would be refining itself by absorbing ambient qi in the air, preparing and shaping it for when you can finally start laying the foundation for future achievements.

That brings us to the Foundation Establishment Realm, where you will set the building blocks of cultivation by crafting your Qi pathways and connecting them from one meridian to the other. You will pass through four stages of foundation establishment, early foundation establishment stage would be passed when 25% of your meridians have been connected, Mid foundation establishment stage would be ready when you have connected 50%, late foundation establishment stage would be at 75% and peak would be at 100%.

And after that you will begin to condense Qi, and when you can finally get Qi to condense into a vapor and stay within your body, you will have stepped into the Qi Condensation Realm. You guys can find out how to get to the next realms yourselves as I will only explain up to that point as that is the level most of you will only be able to reach for all of your lives. What I will do however is list all the realms, so that you all can aspire to greatness, even if such a struggle would be absolutely futile." For some reason Divyat thought Shaba was actually referring to himself but he ignored it in favor of listening to the lecture.

Body Refining>>>Foundation Establishment>>>Qi Condensation>>>Core Formation>>>Elemental Manifestation>>>Nascent Soul>>>Soul Wandering>>>Elemental Condensation>>>Elemental Ascension

"The backbone of cultivation is the elements, and there are quite a few of them. Many of you already know your elements, others do not, and some don't even have an element. However you must master what you can of it, a well refined control of your element would be key to advancement from the elemental manifestation realm upwards. Now once you've all been awakened to Qi, becoming capable of absorbing it, you will need a cultivation technique. The sect has seen it fit to be generous enough to not just let you pick a cultivation technique that would match your element, but also allow you one unarmed, one armed, and one movement technique of the foundation establishment stage to master. Now let us begin!"

Divyat smiled as his body shook in anticipation, the whole speech was completely unnecessary for him as he already bloody knew the different realms of progression. And even though everyone keeps on telling him that he was not going to have much of an achievement with cultivation, he was determined to see this through to the end no matter what, he just wanted to get activated first, when the chance to use Qi finally comes, somehow he knew he would be able to prove everyone wrong and cultivate to a higher realm than what's expected of his attributed less spirit root. He had to, there was no other choice left for him, he just could not live in this world with the knowledge that he was mediocre, for the sake of his family.

The dousing rod began to glow, the sigils lighting up one after the other, and the faster it lit up, the brighter it became. The glow built itself up until it was so bright everyone in the hall had to shield their eyes, and it was even more worse for the people closest to it, as the glow seared their eyeballs even behind closed eyelids. Divyat ducked his head sheepishly as he heard Zhao Min curse behind him, blaming him for dragging them so close to the pillar.

There was a thrum, a melody that seemed fleeting and was carried on by the wind, it carried with it intent. And somehow it was a level of power that Divyat was able to feel, and then there was a shockwave of light and Qi, flushing outwards from the Dousing rod, carrying with it enough power to throw everyone present on their ass. And as Divyat felt his back hit the ground, darkness claimed him, but not before he felt it, the trickle of power that has been slumbering in his bones and flesh all his life… he felt Qi.