Reason & Realms

"Father, I want to start cultivating," Shi Li said as a matter of factly. Shi Xingwan was quite surprised to hear these words come from his son's own mouth. And when he looked at his son's eyes, there wasn't even a hint of fear that he expected to come from his son thanks to him being subjected to that situation. Instead all he saw within the eyes of his son was a blazing fire of determination and resolution, with a hint of anger.

Shi Xingwan couldn't help but scratch his head as he still maintained his smile. "What's your reasons for cultivating, my son?"

Shi Li flipped through his memories and remembered the reasons he made just a few minutes ago. With an unexpected tone of anger and disappointment, he replied, "First of all, I'm weak. Father, I'm sure you know what happened to me."

Shi Xingwan visibly shuddered at his son's words. Of course he knew what his son meant. Even though he wasn't in the scene back then, the people who witnessed it described it to him in vivid detail.

"That's one of the reasons why I wanted to cultivate," Shi Li continued, "The next reason is that I don't want those kinds of situations to happen to me again. I don't really want to worry you Father." Shi Li looked at his father with an expression of heartfelt love.

"I don't want you to suffer grief or sadness, seeing me in those kinds of states. I know that I won't be able to prevent those things to happen to me, but if I had the strength, I could retaliate."

Shi Xingwan listened to his son's reasons and thought that they were good reasons to start cultivating. It was sensible enough and there was even evidence to back it up. But even though he tried to maintain his amicable smile, he couldn't help but feel extreme joy within. He just wanted to hug his son and say words of encouragement. Not just that, he even wanted to give his son resources so he would speed through his cultivation easily.

But since he was the patriarch, that meant that he shouldn't only focus on his son, but also take into consideration the talents of the clan. Since his son was only starting to cultivate, it would be detrimental for him to rely on resources.

"Is that all?" Shi Xingwan continued to smile and nod. "Do you have any more reasons?"

"Yes, Father," Shi Li nodded. In an instant, a faint aura of anger and killing intent suffused Shi Li's surroundings, startling Shi Xingwan a bit since he hasn't seen his son this way.

"This is my last reason, but it's my most important reason why I want to start cultivating."

"I want to kill the Huang clan. Not just kill them, but destroy them, annihilate them to the point they would only feel regret fighting against me!"

At this point, Shi Xingwan had the thought that his son was perhaps possessed by a spiritual entity, causing him to go mad. But then he thought that it made sense since according to the eyewitnesses, the woman who stabbed Shi Li was a part of the Huang clan. Even then, Shi Xingwan held a bit of doubt towards his son since that alone wasn't enough of a reason.

"My son, may I ask you why do you want to kill the Huang clan?" Shi Xingwan instantly turned serious and asked.

"Well, of course Father you know how I was stabbed by a woman of the Huang clan," Shi Li replied, "But what you didn't know was that before she stabbed me, she asked something about a Sky grade technique and how I was useless tool in their plan."

"What?!" Shi Xingwan, out of shock, stood up and looked at Shi Li. "Did she really say that?!"

Shi Li didn't know why his father was agitated but he nodded. "Indeed Father, that's what she said to me."

After confirming it with his son, Shi Xingwan despondently sat on his seat and muttered, "This is bad...if they do get it and become successful...we need to prepare..."

"Father?" Shi Li looked at his father and tilted his head, wanting to know why his father was like that.

Feeling his son's gaze, Shi Xingwan composed himself and went back to his natural smile. "Don't mind me, I was just recalling something."

Then, Shi Xingwan leaned towards Shi Li and asked, "Do you still remember the realms of cultivation?"

Shi Li tried to recall the information through the old Shi Li's memories but after a while, he shook his head as he sighed. "Your son has failed you, Father."

Shi Xingwan replied in a calm yet caring tone, "Don't worry my son. With the incident happening to you, it's somewhat understandable that you forgot some stuff so I'll explain the realms to you."

"There are three realms of cultivation: the Martial Beginner realm, the Martial Master realm, and the Martial Lord realm."

"The first realm, the Martial Beginner realm is focused on tempering the body to perfection as preparation for the next realm. This is split into three major stages: Martial Novice, Martial Adept, and Martial Elite."

"The Martial Novice stage is where your muscles and skin are the main focus of tempering. Once you have hardened your skin and muscles to the level of steel, you can move on to the Martial Adept stage."

"Once you've broken through to the Martial Adept stage, the first thing you must do is awaken the hidden potential lingering in your body and convert as your own power. This power is called inner force. At the time you've tempered your bones to become as hard as iron, you can proceed to the Martial Elite stage."

Shi Xingwan continued to explain, "The Martial Elite stage allows you to do things what Martial Novices and Adepts can do, since it allows you to control inner energy. This inner energy is obtained after absorbing the world energy from the surroundings and combining with your inner force, turning into a semi-tangible substance filled with limitless power. This is also the requirement needed to break through to the Martial Elite stage."

"You also open up an orifice called the Energy Orifice where inner energy is stored. But that's not the main focus of this stage, the main focus is that you temper your organs to the point they become as tough as titanium. Once you've achieved the state of your body being as hard as metal and have accumulated enough energy in your Energy Orifice, you can break through to the Martial Master realm."

Shi Xingwan took a deep breath before continuing, "The Martial Master realm is the first step on your path to cultivation as a specific energy sets you apart from the Martial Beginners. This energy is called qi, an extremely compressed form of inner energy."

"Also, the Energy Orifice from the Martial Elite stage transforms into the cultivator's Energy Core once he/she has broken through to the Martial Master realm. A Martial Master relies on the accumulation of qi and the formation of the Qi Bridge to ascend to the Martial Lord realm."

Shi Xingwan couldn't help but put on a serious expression as he continued, "Before we tackle that, did you know that every body has 9 seals that lock our true potential? These seals are called the Nine Grand Seals, and is the reason why Martial Lords are called Martial Lords."

"With the Qi Bridge as the qi's guide towards the seals, the qi punctures the seals in our body one by one, allowing us to break through to the Martial Lord realm. A Martial Lord obtains a lot of power and longer lifespan once he/she has broken through."

"And that's all the realms of cultivation," Shi Xingwan let out a sigh as he looked at Shi Li.

Shi Li was completely overwhelmed by the amount of information his father gave him. Even though it was just three realms, those three realms were enough to make him fall in despair.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Shi Xingwan couldn't help but say.

In the midst of his dilemma, he heard these words and couldn't help but perk up his ears.

"Never...and I mean never..."

"Mess with a Martial Lord."