Cultivation (I)

Initially he was in doubt. How could he not? A plateura amount of memories emerged, starting from how to breathe to how to kill a god. It was fantastical, too amazing that it seemed fake, forged, designed to be a hoax to lure in some innocent bystander. However, little by little, the so-called inheritance showed something else, something strangely mundane compared to the amazing way of Cultivation. Something called… Humans..

In the senior's memories, demons were the least dangerous thing compared to the schemes humans were capable of concocting. If you hadn't been able to get yourself stabbed in back by someone, that meant only three things, one you are just too lucky that you escaped someone else's scheme all the time, or you were too ordinary that you weren't worthy enough target to be scammed, or you were very capable of being a low key figure and accomplished in the way of becoming a pig to eat the tiger. Thus in each section of his inheritance, he always emphasised on the word "cautious". Not to be a coward, but to better control your surroundings and always possess the high ground when facing a potential threat.

Doubt, that was the feeling Little Cripple felt. However the more he tuned in, the more he realized. The tones of the villager in his surroundings might sound compassionate at first, but really they were just mocking, just like what the inheritance showed. The name "Little Cripple" itself showed anything but compassion from the mouth of the villagers, whereas the Village Chief always called him "Boy" and refused to use the term "Cripple" to address him, the villagers keep using that term as if they were mocking, not addressing another sentient individual other than themselves. However, it could be because they were just too boorish to use another fancier name. Whatever the reason was, he did not reject the notion of the "evil side of humans", moreover, if he was to succeed in Cultivation and proved to be more talented than any other kids, he was afraid that he would experience harsh alienation or even worse, physical abuse by the villagers. That means it would be better if he did things discreetly. Moreover, he did not want to implicate the Village Chief.

Although he was crowned as the Village Chief, Little Cripple knew that his adoptive father was only hailed as the Village Chief because no one else could be compared to him in terms of teaching the later generations about writings and readings. It has always been the privilege of the scholars to lead the common populus as they were smart enough and knowledgeable enough. However because such was the case, not all the villagers would respect him as the Village Chief, after all this was the world where the strongs were worshipped. Rather than the knowledgeable, it was easier for the common people to be convinced of the existence of the strong. All the more reason for the Little Cripple to stay low, and not be a sore thumb. There would be time for him to stand up. Moreover his goals were not just powers, the more important thing to have rather than just having powers was having powers and knowledge as to where and when such power should be used. Thus, the Little Cripple returned his attention to the ongoing memory inheritance.

…..

"Creeek" Little Cripple awake and sat on his wooden bed. There, to his left was the Village Chief could be seen anxiously waiting for the medicine to work its magic.

…

…

"Oh thank lord you are finally awaken"

"I was worried that you would never wake up"

"Why did you go outside when I was not around?"

"Fortunately aunt Rose saw you and she was kind enough to bring you home."

"What a disaster it was if she wasn't."

"What.. what are you doing."

Without rhyme or reason, Little Cripple stood up and hugged the Village Chief. All the ramblings suddenly stopped as the two of them hugged as if they were communicating something through their action

…..

Since that day, Little Cripple did not run around the house anymore, he sat in the front of the fireplace all day long. He sat in a lotus position like a monk. For a strange feeling, Village Chief knew something was happening to the boy he knew almost instinctively that whatever the boy was doing, it would be catastrophically important, as if the world told him so, he just let the boy do whatever it was the boy was doing. And so for the next five years, the boy would walk to the next chapter of his life, Cultivation.

…..

Cultivation was the process of harmonizing the mind, emotions and feelings so that the person would gain inner peace. However as the time passed, peace was no longer the main concern. Ego took over the mind and it started to chase power rather than peace. Thus slowly but surely, Cultivation of the mind changed into Cultivation of the energy.

To a Cultivator, the human body was a vessel of energy and soul. Along with the journey of Cultivation, they started to forget that the main essence of life has been always about balance. Mind, as the manifestation of the Soul, was also an important aspect of an individual. However their blindness made them focus on Cultivation of the Body and Energy, forgetting the other aspect of an Individual, the soul. Only in the latter stages of Cultivation they would vaguely touch the subject of soul. It was clearly reflected by how they cultivate. The Daoist of the world divided the stages of Cultivation into 9 stages, namely Body Refining, Qi Condentation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Spirit Severing, Dao Seeking, False Immortal and True Immortal.

These separation started from complexity to simplicity. It was the level commonly used. It might differ in terms of names and depended on what Cultivation System was used, however it is still generally started from complex to simple.

Dao of Soul Magic did not follow this notion. Rather than conditioning the body and energy to bear a greater divinity within the soul, Dao of Soul Magic used a different approach. It used the soul to aid the body in purifying the energy, thus the energy can be used to balance the outside elemental laws and other universal laws. It focused on the word "steady" and "cycle".