Seeking Ascension

Upon reaching the latter stages of a cultivation realm, the speed of improvement would slow down dramatically compared to the earlier stages. Progressing from the initial stage all the way through to the late stage, would require around the same period of time as ascending from the late to peak stage.

For the Qi Gathering Realm, the stages were defined by the quantity of Innate Qi within the dantian. This 'quantity' actually referred to the upper limit capacity of Innate Qi that the cultivator could contain within their dantian, compared to the Innate Qi limitation of the cultivation realm itself.

1-4% for initial stage, 5-49% for early stage, 50-74% for mid stage, 75-98% for late stage and 99% for the peak stage. Although this might seem arbitrary, these different ranges symbolised the different stages of difficulty when progressing through the realm, with each stage being notably more difficult than the last.

The peak stage signified that one had reached the highest point possible within their realm. It was the completion of the realm, and the only way to develop one's cultivation further was to breakthrough into the next realm. During the moment of breakthrough, the instant before stepping the Innate Qi Realm, the cultivator's Innate Qi would finally reach 100%.

Oftentimes, it took longer to attain this breakthrough than ascending through the entire Qi Gathering Realm itself. Breaking through to a new realm wasn't something so simple like refining more Innate Qi, it was a qualitative change to the Innate Qi itself.

When breaking through from the Qi Gathering Realm to the Innate Qi Realm, the gaseous and impure Innate Qi which had been refined during the first realm of cultivation would be purified and rapidly condensed into a liquid. A liquid pool of Innate Qi would form and grow within the dantian, providing the foundation for the ascension to the next realm.

The process of condensing Innate Qi into liquid form couldn't be rushed, and should only be attempted after gaining a degree of certainty in your success.

The reason for Yaan pondering over this right now, was because one week ago, he finally reached the Peak Qi Gathering Realm after yet another year and a half of monotonous cultivation within the sect! He was now ten years old, his name had spread throughout the sect by word of mouth, as had the rumour that he was genius blessed by the heavens.

His speed of progression through the Qi Gathering Realm was, simply put, insane. This speed was only achievable thanks to the Fiend Foundation, the unique trait that allowed him to refine Slaughter Aura and rapidly accumulate Innate Qi. His talent was only moderate, so if he cultivated normally, then this stage would have required another twenty years to achieve.

There were now two years remaining until the inter-sect competition, and Yaan was starting to feel a sense of pressure. The entire sect hoped that he could bring them glory by breaking through to the Innate Qi Realm before the tournament commenced.

Even though they held onto these hopes, they knew that in reality, Yaan was unlikely to meet their expectations. Accumulating Qi and breaking through the realms were two completely separate matters. The first relied on talent, resources and hard work, whilst the latter needed these things on top of something else…perception and understanding.

With his body and Innate Qi now satisfying the requirements to ascend realms, Yaan could actually attempt to breakthrough anytime he saw fit. However, he would experience a severe backlash if he failed his realm breakthrough, injuring him and perhaps even damaging the very foundation of his cultivation.

That wasn't all though. As a fiend, Yaan actually needed to breakthrough with his body and Innate Qi simultaneously! If he attempted one breakthrough whilst neglecting the other, he would simply fail when trying to ascend with the other later on, causing his hard efforts to go to waste. In order to cultivate both paths, the two breakthroughs must be completed side by side.

Breaking through the lower realms with the body actually wasn't so difficult, he only needed to consume a special Rank 2 medicinal pill and his success was almost guaranteed. The problem was, that he would need to focus on his Qi refining breakthrough whilst enduring the distracting changes to his body. This was the path of who a fiend cultivated two paths, there was no other way around it.

"But how do I know when I'm ready? Will waiting around really help anything?" Yaan asked Rui, feeling confused about this point.

As always, she already had an answer prepared.

"Attempting to ascend realms when you are not ready to do so is destined to result in failure. Spend your time meditating and observing the state of your body and Innate Qi. Sink your mind into your dantian and watch the flow of Innate Qi throughout your being. Eventually, you will feel that you are ready to breakthrough. This feeling will be extremely natural, and you should not attempt the breakthrough before this point."

This was similar to his teacher's advice, if a bit more detailed. However, Great Elder Wan also had another recommendation for Yaan. When he mentioned this, it took Yaan by surprise, because it was something he had not done in quite some time.

Painting.

Back when Yaan had been trying to calm his mind, preparing to undergo the final step in the fiend's transformation, he needed to find a way to relax his heart and soul. This was a common struggle for all cultivators, everyone would eventually develop their own preferred method of doing so. Great Elder Wan introduced Yaan to painting at that time.

Whilst Yaan was no expert artist, he remembered enjoying the process of clearing his mind and focussing whole-heartedly on the development of his art. So, when he was given this suggestion once again, he accepted it readily.

At first, his skill was quite terrible, but over time, he steadily improved. Yaan wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to paint at first, opting to paint the core sect's luscious scenery. Other times, he tried painting other people and sometimes himself. As time passed by, he began thinking back to his past…he decided to paint Lightstone Village.

As Yaan painted, his breathing seemed to overlap with the strokes of the brush. He became engrossed in his art, forgetting about everything else.

Countless canvases stacked up as he attempted to paint a memory engrained deep within his mind. However, he always felt that the end result was not quite right. Whenever he tried to paint the entire village, he always felt like he had made mistakes, or missed parts out. Even so, he continued trying.

After a few weeks of painting in solitude, he finally completed a picture that he was satisfied with.

Whenever he tried to recall his best memory in Lightstone Village, he always ended up thinking of the meal he ate the evening after his mother gave birth. He had just been gifted a beautiful baby sister and he was helping his father to cook a simple meal, whilst his mother rested, cradling the baby lovingly in her arms.

It was simple, but it was Yaan's treasured memory. In the end, he did not paint the entire Lightstone Village, but that one, simple scene, which reminded him of the warmth of his home.

Sometimes, he felt like that memory was the only warmth in his life...

He debated putting this painting up on the wall of his temple, but in the end, he decided to carefully place it under his bed. This painting was special to him, it was his first piece of art that he was satisfied with, but it was also something that reminded him of home. Yaan didn't want to show this painting to others, so he stored it away, keeping it to himself.

Even though he ended up getting side-tracked, the experience of improving his skill in a simple art whilst not thinking about anything else, really did help to put his mind at ease.

After returning to his cultivation, Yaan no longer felt overly pressured or stressed about succeeding or failing. And for once, Rui's words of advice also helped to lessen his worries..

"Don't worry about the competition and don't force the breakthrough. Your future prospects are more important than anything else, this tournament is just something that could be a bit useful, it's not worth stressing over." Yaan nodded, knowing that she was right.

He found himself agreeing with Rui more often than those other 'righteous' cultivators these days. He wasn't sure whether or not this was something to be happy about, given that Rui herself followed the demonic way.

For now, observing his dantian was truly all he could do. He could no longer refine more Innate Qi, nor could he consume more demonic beast meat to improve his body.

In the same way that his Innate Qi had reached its limit in his dantian, his vital energy had reached its limit in his bloodstream. Vital energy was the crux of body tempering, it was the power that flowed through the blood, providing bod tempering cultivators with immense physical strength. Only by ascending to the 2-Star Realm, would he be able to continue increasing his vital energy.

When Yaan wanted to breakthrough, he would use the Rank 2 Boundary Ascension Pill, which he kept in his robe's inside pocket. This pill was given to spirit beasts to trigger their ascension from Rank 1 to Rank 2. Ordinarily, a wild spirit beast would ascend after killing enough, eating enough and living for long enough, but this pill accelerated the process dramatically.

When demonic race body temperers used this pill, it direction raised their cultivation from the Peak 1-Star Realm to the Initial 2-Star Realm. As soon as Yaan felt his imminent breakthrough to the Innate Qi Realm, he would consume this pill before turning his attention to his Qi refining breakthrough.

From a certain perspective, it might seem like body tempering was much easier since there was no need to arduously comprehend the realm boundaries, but that was not the case. Body tempering was painful, dangerous and expensive. Each realm breakthrough would rack the body with tremendous pain, which could potentially result in death if the cultivator lost consciousness. The medicines required to progress were also painfully expensive, Yaan would certainly struggle to obtain this ascension pill if not for his teacher.

He spent his time sinking his consciousness into his dantian, observing the flow of gaseous Innate Qi which now filled his dantian to the brim. This flow entered and exited the dantian, passing through his meridians and bringing vitality to his body as it travelled along its path peacefully.

In and out, the Innate Qi circulated freely…

He had been meditating like this everyday for the last few weeks. He patiently watched as the Innate Qi flowed within his body. Sometimes he would focus and try to find patterns, other times he simply allowed the image of the flow to pass through his mind, without having any thoughts.

Knock knock!

"Hmm?" Yaan opened his eyes with a frown, annoyed that he had been distracted from his meditation. Disturbing someone whilst they were in closed door cultivation was considered rude, since it was possible that they might become distracted during a rare moment of comprehension. For someone to barge into his garden and then knock on his door directly, it had better be something important!

It was…

A beast tide was closing in on Heavenly Path Mountain!