Four Paths Cultivation Technique

"So, aside from my encounter with you, everything I have done within this illusion world is likely being viewed by others?" Yaan summarised what the Spirit Plane Lord had just explained to him.

"Mm, that is the case. To those watching from the outside, it will seem like you simply lost consciousness as soon as you touched the celestial demon general armour."

Yaan nodded. After speaking to this mysterious woman for some time, he came to understand that his grasp over this illusion, if it could even be called that, was really lacking.

That's not to say that he was completely clueless. He certainly understood some facets of the illusion, but the functionality of the formation and the illusory world as a whole was simply beyond him.

According to the Spirit Plane Lord, the true-false illusion formation was not made by the master of the inheritance, but by another individual, someone she described as being the most intelligent entity across the 4 planes…

Whilst she seemed hesitant to explain too much about these things for an unknown reason, Yaan guessed that the master of the inheritance must have some connection to that super intelligent entity, as well as to the Spirit Plane Lord herself.

"One day, I truly hope that we can sit down like this, and talk about these matters freely." The woman spoke softly. Her voice had a slightly dream like quality to it. "It's not that I don't wish to help you, but…saying too much could end up causing you more harm than good, if I am not careful…"

"But discovering the truth for myself is fine?" Yaan asked dubiously.

"Mm, the choices you make, and any matters you uncover for yourself, can be considered your fate."

Yaan's expression darkened slightly and he tightly clenched his fists. Whenever his 'fate' was mentioned, he felt an unknown surge of reluctance that even he could not quite understand.

The woman saw his emotional turmoil and seemed to understand something.

"You possess a strong desire to resist your fate, even though you don't yet understand why you feel this way. After all, that is why you took such drastic measures to attempt to step upon the path of psyche cultivation, is it not? In the end, be it your crazed actions in consuming those countless resources, or your resistance in following your original life at the beginning of the illusory world, and especially your decision to complete the trial in this way, it was never about finding another path of cultivation, was it, Yaan?"

Yaan trembled slightly and looked at the woman with a deep gaze. As expected, after seeing through his memories, she understood him just a bit too well for comfort…

She could even point out this matter regarding the truth behind his actions that even he had not quite yet grasped.

"What is fate, really? Is our destiny truly predetermined? Do we have no choice but to accept the outcome with no hope of making any difference ourselves?" Yaan asked.

The woman smiled slightly. Her charming expression didn't quite match the struggle in Yaan's gaze, but her answer left him feeling pensive.

"Fate is determined continually throughout our lives, by our own actions, the actions of those around us, and by the heavenly dao itself. However, it's still not quite this simple…there are many different forms taken by fate, and many ways in which it can be manipulated…"

"You're saying that it's possible to change one's fate?" Yaan leaned in as he asked with a shining gaze.

"Perhaps…perhaps not…the countless chains of fate all entangle together, the final outcome is nearly impossible to predict…even I do not know which chain is correct, if any at all…"

Yaan sighed. In the end, fate was an extremely complex matter, perhaps nobody in this world truly understood fate in all its intricacies. At the very least, he was well aware that nobody in this world could explain it in a way that he understood. It was impossible to understand something so complex at his level after all.

The key point, however, was that his future was not necessarily predetermined, not in any way that those around him could foresee at least.

Still though, there was one more point regarding his fate that he just needed to ask, not that he expected the woman to answer, given her reluctance to expand on this matter until now. But, since she was at least answering some of his questions for whatever reason, Yaan felt the need to at least try.

"Why does it feel like this world is constantly pulling me towards body tempering?"

When Yaan was a mortal, his talent in Qi refining was too pitiful. However, he stumbled across the Fiend Transformation technique, changing his fate and letting him step onto the path of body cultivation…

When he entered the intersect competition at the Yuso Clan headquarters, his dantian was crippled, forcing him to cultivate only his body in order to progress…

In North Ghu City, he learned of an inheritance left behind by an all-powerful body temperer, offering Yaan the chance to better learn about this path of body tempering which was far too rare in the Ghu Province…

And for whatever reason, he clearly possessed a strong karmic link with this very inheritance.

But the final point leading him to believe that something was constantly drawing him away from the other paths of cultivation, even when he actively sought them out, was because of the inheritance's devil spirit. When Yaan was comprehending the 4 paths scroll, the devil spirit interrupted his enlightenment, preventing him from properly understanding the link between the 4 paths and dao, and vastly cutting short his gains from that once in a lifetime experience.

At the time, Yaan had acted relatively calmly, as if it wasn't a big deal, but it truthfully set off a storm within his heart.

The devil spirit, the spirit of the inheritance, for some reason wanted Yaan to stick to the body tempering path! He only reluctantly accepted that pursuing psyche cultivation was acceptable, and that was only because it interfered with body tempering to a lesser degree than the other paths.

Combining this with the old spirit's actions of saving him, it became obvious that the inheritance spirits were treating him differently compared to the other challengers.

The Spirit Plane Lord's eyes widened and she looked at Yaan deeply. Whilst she had read through all of his memories, this only involved the experiences he had lived through, it did not include the memories of his various thought processes throughout his life. She was surprised that he actually asked this question…

Her eyes flashed and she came to a decision.

"Because you are fated to follow the body tempering path alone. Whether or not you decide to embrace this fate or to reject it…no, it is clear that you already wish to reject it."

Yaan was stunned, not only by this answer, but also by the fact that she had actually decided to answer in the first place! As Yaan steadied his breathing, he calmed himself down and asked:

"Will you help me to walk against my fate?"

"I will not help directly, but if you wish, I can give you the opportunity to do so yourself. This is the limit of what I will do to assist you right now."

This was already more than Yaan was expecting, and even though he didn't know what this opportunity entailed, he clasped his hands and thanked her seriously.

"Thank you, Spirit Plane Lord."

"Haha, there is no need for thanks between us."

Even if she said that, Yaan felt the need to thank this woman, whom from his perspective, was a stranger to him. His feelings eventually transformed into shock, when she pointed at Yaan's forehead and sent a stream of golden thread into his mind.

A torrent of information filled Yaan's memories, much akin to the time that Rui transferred the Fiend Transformation technique, only this present transfer was far more gentle.

After a few moments passed by, Yaan slowly opened his eyes and showed an even deeper expression of shock. He turned to the Spirit Plane Lord, but wasn't sure what to say.

This technique was too absurd! Not only that, but it had clearly been altered and tailored specifically for him! It actually included the start point as his current cultivation level, then went on to explain the method to restore his dantian and to step back onto the Qi refining path!

"You don't need to look so shocked." The woman laughed and shook her head gently. "In truth, this technique isn't rare or valuable at all…whilst it seems shocking, it is only a theoretical technique, it has never been cultivated to the Immortal Step. There are countless seemingly legendary techniques like this, which are only incredible in principle, but are far too difficult to actually cultivate in reality."

"But this technique, it really seems like the ultimate cultivation technique…" Yaan spoke slowly, trying to remain calm but failing as he realised just what 'opportunity' he had been given here. Even if she said it was 'common', Yaan had certainly never heard of such a technique before!

In fact, before now, he had never actually come across a soul cultivation technique, no matter this 'Four Paths Cultivation technique' which allowed the four main paths of cultivation to be cultivated side by side!

Ah, but if what she said was true, then this wasn't actually some all powerful technique that would allow someone to cultivate multiple paths. It was only a theoretical method, there should be some difficulties involved…

"This technique was actually conceived by the very same being who created the true-false illusion formation…" The woman began explaining, shocking Yaan once again.

Wasn't that too big a coincidence…?

"I know what you're thinking, but she has designed and created many incredible things, so many so that you'll likely come across more in the future."

So it was actually like that. Yaan nodded slowly and waited for her to go on.

"The Four Paths Cultivation technique was created to solve the age old issue amongst all ambitious cultivators; the issue of being unable to cultivate multiple paths side by side to immortality and beyond. The further one proceeds along one major path, the more it will impact progression of the other three. In the end, it was deduced that the only viable choice was to cultivate all paths side by side…but it's still not that simple."

"Right." Yaan nodded. As he listened to her speak, he also examined the method within his mind, so he understood what she meant.

Rather than cultivating four paths, it felt more like the four paths were fused together.

"The premise of the Four Paths Cultivation technique is to converge the four paths into one. This can be considered a sort of half-fusion, but the degree of fusion between the paths is not exactly equal. This is due to the degree of difficulty in cultivating each path besides another."

"I see, so because psyche path is more compatible with other paths, it isn't distorted or fused to such an exaggerated extent?" Yaan inquired.

"Exactly." She nodded. "Psyche path has always been the easiest to cultivate alongside the other three paths, there is no real interference between psyche path and any of the soul, body or energy paths, up until the immortal ascension. Upon immortal ascension however, it is simply impossible to continue cultivating multiple paths separately, as the path itself becomes the core of the immortal's being. This is why the four paths must converge into one."

As she continued to explain some things to clear up any uncertainties Yaan had regarding this technique, he couldn't help but feel excited.

Th Four Paths Cultivation technique was certainly incredible!

It was impossible to cultivate both as a Qi master and a vital body temperer beyond a certain point, specifically, beyond Rank 3. After the Qi Temple realm, a Qi master needed to form their Spirit Core within the dantian to reach the Spirit Core realm. As for demonic race Qi refiners, they formed the Demon Core.

For demonic body temperers, after the 3-Star realm, in order to reach the 4-Star realm, the vital core was formed within the physical body. This core connected to the bloodstream and massively enhancing both the quality and quantity of vital energy which could be transported around the body.

The vital core and the spirit core or demon core could not be contained together within the same body.

As for the true body tempering path, it was even less compatible with Qi refining. Once the true first step was taken after the 5 progressive body constitutions were fused together, it became impossible to refine any form of energy within the body aside from vital energy!

The Four Paths Cultivation technique overcame these difficulties with a 'simple' method; to form the vital core within the dantian!

Normally, so much as attempting this was simply seeking death. However, by using the method outlined in this extreme cultivation technique, the Yuan Qi in the dantian fused with the vital energy in the blood stream. The blood vessels and Qi channels likewise fused, all linking towards the dantian and the unique vital core.

At this point, the vital core could no longer be considered an ordinary vital core, as it was a formed from a combination of vital energy and Qi. Instead, it was a Vital Qi core, filled with Vital Qi! Likewise, the energy flowing through the body would also be Vital Qi!

And as for the soul…

"Since you seem determined to walk this path, I must warn you…your talent in soul cultivation is terrible, far worse than your Qi refining talent."

"Hmm?" Yaan blinked in surprise. Ever since his last encounter with the Spirit Plane Lord, when he bound the celestial demon general using his soul, he had believed that perhaps, his talent in regards to the soul was actually pretty good…

The Spirit Plane Lord explained that it was impossible for either the primal soul cultivated in vital body tempering, or the origin soul cultivated in Qi refining, to exist within the Vital Qi core in the transformed dantian. However, it was actually possible for the 'spirit soul' to form and exist within this core, and forming the spirit soul was the first step onto the path of soul cultivation!

This was the fusion of soul cultivation into the already fused Qi refining and body tempering.

"Let me explain…it is not that your soul is of poor quality, but that your talents lie in body tempering. For you, forming the primal soul would be extraordinarily simple compared to others. As for the origin soul, you would struggle, since your Qi refining talent is only moderate. But soul cultivation refers to the pure cultivation of the soul, and for that, only the spirit soul can be considered true soul cultivation at the Foundation Step. You won't have issues with strengthening your mortal soul, but when you come to transform your mortal soul into the spirit soul, you will certainly encounter a massive bottleneck that cannot be overcome simply or with any sort of resource."

The formation of the origin soul and the primal soul was not a method of soul cultivation, it was a method used by Qi refiners and vital body temperers respectively to bring their soul closer towards their own path. When it came to the actual soul cultivation paths, the first step was always the formation of the spirit soul.

Humans were not suited to soul cultivation at all, even less so than they were suited to body tempering. Even as a fiend, Yaan was no better off, but it seemed that even for a human or a demon, his talent in soul cultivation was really terrible…

"Nobody has talent in all four paths, everyone has at least one area in which they are completely unsuited. In fact, I'm already surprised that your talent in Qi refining is even moderate…I suppose your near zero talent in soul path is the balance to this."

Yaan forced a smile as she reinforced the point that his talent in soul cultivation was so bad, time and time again.

"Is there no other path of soul cultivation that I could use instead?" Yaan couldn't help but ask.

"No, for corporeal beings on the Qi Plane, there is only one suitable path for cultivating the soul. Regardless though, the first step for all paths of the soul is the formation of the spirit soul, so another path would not help you."

"I see…"

In the end, she smiled as she saw that Yaan was still unmoved, it was clear that he intended to follow this cultivation technique, regardless of the difficulties. Even though he knew that very few had even cultivated this technique to the point of gaining the Vital Qi core, and that even fewer had managed to form the spirit soul, and no-one had managed to attain immortality…

That only made him feel all the more resolute.

If his goal wasn't difficult like this, then it only meant that he wasn't aiming high enough! Only an ambition like this was worth following through!

However, Yaan also remembered what she said earlier, about why he was obsessing over following multiple paths so much. Because he was resisting his fate…

Shaking his head, Yaan decided not to think about this right now.