Chapter 3 - Exploring the Mysteries of Cultivation!

Long Ming took advantage that inside the space bag nobody would bother him, so he took the book "The History of the Ancestral Galaxy", because its contents would serve as a basis to develop his empire.

The growers' books were not like the normal books. The cultivator just needed to release his spiritual sense that the book would transfer his information directly to the brain. Depending on the cultivation level and the size of the book, which could contain hundreds of millions of words, the cultivator would take up to several months to digest all the information.

Fortunately, as Long Ming didn't want too much irrelevant information, he took only the information he considered important.

First, he started from the area of cultivation.

"The Cultivation Realms and Their Characteristics", updated by the Sage of the Qiu Kingdom, Tuocheng Qiu.

That was the name of the cultivation session, which had numerous authors, the latter being the renowned Sage of the Qiu Kingdom.

After reading the name of so many legendary figures, Long Ming began the reading.

"The world of cultivation is vast and immeasurable. No one can tell if it has a limit. Perhaps the only ones worthy to be Absolute Gods are the creators of everything..."

Long Ming first processed the initial information, which was basically a slight introduction to what cultivation was all about. He ignored the curl and went on to what was important.

"Cultivation is divided into 3 stages: The Deadly, Transcendent, and Absolute Stage."

"The first stage is known as the Death Stage, being divided into 4 realms with 10 degrees each. First comes the Kingdom of Spiritual Formation, the Kingdom of the Spiritual Body, the Kingdom of the Spiritual Core, and the Kingdom of the Spiritual Sea.

"The first realm is the Spiritual Formation, which is dominated when the practitioner begins to feel the World Qi. The first realm consists of the accumulation of World Qi in the region of the intermediate dantian, which after accumulating a certain amount of World Qi, forms an energy ball. The cultivator can develop up to 10 energy balls".

"The second realm is the Spiritual Body, which is when the cultivator strengthens his body. It consists of concentrating the absorbed World Qi in the previous realm to strengthen the bones and muscles of the body..."

"In the first 7 degrees, the cultivator strengthens a specific region of the body, beginning with the head, front region, back region, right arm, left arm, right leg and left leg..."

"The last three degrees consist in increasing the intensity and hardness of the bones, increasing their resistance. In the first degree, the skeleton becomes silver; in the second degree, the skeleton becomes golden; already in the last degree, the skeleton can assume the advanced skeletal form of its race. However, this is something rare to occur, because only growers with a powerful lineage are able to obtain it".

"The third realm is the Formation of the Spiritual Core, which is achieved after the cultivator has strengthened his mortal body with World Qi. This new realm consists of transforming the energy ball into a nucleus. The transformation is done 10 times, and in the last one the cultivator needs to unite the 10 nuclei into one, running the possibility of death in case he does not know how to guide correctly".

"The final realm of the Mortal Stage is the most important. This realm separates the mortal from the immortal. It is important to be aware that 70% of cultivators die trying to transcend".

Long Ming was surprised, because only this stage had a special "warning". Definitely it was something vital in the division from a mortal to an immortal.

"Growers don't have only the World Qi as an instrument of combat. There is another energy called Spiritual Qi, which is something only cultivators close to transcendence can have. This energy can be used for many things, but its true power is in mental combat..."

"At this stage, the superior dantian, responsible for the functioning of the head opens up, allowing Spiritual Qi to enter. The cultivator develops his own inner world, where he is the only God. However, he must fight his "I" 10 times, running the risk of having a definitive death in case he loses".

In short, the cultivator could use Spiritual Qi to mentally fight against other cultivators, besides enchanting artifacts, weapons, talismans, among other functions that can only be done through Spiritual Qi.

After fully developing his World and Spiritual Qi, the cultivator reaches the peak of what a mortal can achieve. The tenth grade is not only a struggle against his own self, but is also a challenge to the Oxius System.

In short, the cultivator is struck by a Divine Ray generated by the Oxius System. If he successfully resists the Divine Ray, he will become a Transcendent, from being a mortal to becoming an Immortal Transcendent.

Long Ming didn't practice cultivation when he was young, because Grandpa Wu said it wasn't the right time yet. However, from what the book said, the best time to practice martial arts is in childhood, when the potential is at its peak.

Long Ming remembered what Grandpa Wu once said to him...

******

"Grandpa Wu, why can't I practice martial arts? Do I have a problem?" asked Long Ming, who was 7 years old at the time.

"Haha, silly child, of course you have no problem at all. It's just that your constitution is different...".

"How different?", interrupted the little Long Ming, who seemed anxious to know what was different about him.

"Ah, little one, I can't tell you for now. But one day you will find out. And don't worry, it won't be too late for you, haha," Grandpa Wu said with a sigh accompanied by a light laugh.

"I understand, Grandpa Wu," said the boy with a face of sadness and understanding.

******

Long Ming still didn't discover the reason why he couldn't cultivate in his childhood, but he was sure he would soon know.

Leaving his thoughts aside, he continued reading.

"After breaking the threshold barrier between a mortal and an immortal, the cultivator reaches the Second Stage, known as Transcendent. The cultivators at that level are called the Immortal Transcendent."

"The stage is divided into 4 realms, each with 10 degrees. The 4 realms are: Earthly, Celestial, Worldly and Divine".

"Unlike the other stages, the Transcendent is the divisor between an intermediate/advanced specialist to a supreme.

"Very few cultivators are able to advance through the realms. Yet even the weakest is already powerful enough to make his name.

"The first realm is the Earthly, which consists of changing the World Qi to the Earthly Qi."

"Few know this, but with each new kingdom within the Transcendent Stage, the cultivator starts to use a new Qi, which becomes more intense with each kingdom. The first is the Earth Qi, which allows the cultivator to have access to what is known as Domain among the cultivators".

"Domain is very difficult to obtain, even among the most talented cultivators. Domain can only be obtained through two methods: through experience or through a Domain Orb".

"The method of understanding does not have a fixed basis, that is, understanding can occur through a battle between specialists or through an experience with the Domain.

"The Domains are abundant, the most common being the Elemental Domains, such as the Domain of Fire, the Domain of Water, the Domain of Lightning, etc; the rarest being the Supreme Domains, such as the Domain of Space, the Domain of Time and the Domain of Reality. There is not an exact number of how many Domains a cultivator can possess, however, there have been expert reports of up to 9 Domains".

Long Ming saw a great list of Domains and methods to get them, being impressed, because the list was really big.

Another thing that caught his attention was the existence of Domains inherited through the lineage. Long Ming wondered if his Divine Lineage could have any Domains.

"To advance from kingdom to kingdom, the cultivator has to understand at least one Domain. For Domains act as a permission from the Oxius System for the cultivator to advance from realm. Cultivators may try to understand a Domain up to 10 times, however, if they fail, they will only have an increase of Earthly Qi.

"The Domain also allows the cultivator to get in touch with Celestial Qi, which is also the next realm. The Heavenly cultivators are also called the Heavenly Kings, which is the minimum level to control a whole world".

The Heavenly Kings are as the cultivators in the Heavenly Kingdom are known. It is also in this realm that the cultivator can control a planet, yet this usually only occurs on lower planets.

"The next realm is the World Kingdom, which very few are able to access, for the requirement is to dominate an entire planet. There are only two methods to advance to this stage: being the Supreme Emperor of an Empire or obtaining the blessing of a Supreme Emperor.

"The blessing of a Supreme Emperor is something quite special, for the cultivator challenges the Oxius System to grant a benefit he should not be able to, which can generate a struggle against the Oxius System.

Long Ming nodded lightly with understanding. The world of martial cultivation is definitely immense, with many kingdoms requiring special requirements.

According to the book, in past ages, the method of ascension to other kingdoms depended on other factors. However, after the death of the Gods of Creation, their descendants went the wrong way, activating the battle function of the Oxius System, which generated new methods for advancing the martial path, as well as a reality where the strong devour the weak.

"The final realm is called the Divine Kingdom, which is the threshold between an Immortal Transcendent and a Divine God.

"It is in this kingdom that the cultivator becomes a God. The method of cultivation is different, for the only way to cross the degrees is through the faith generated by the believers on a planet.

"This is considered the height of cultivation, as few are able to cross into the Absolute Stage.

"There are only two kingdoms at this stage, known as the Galactic God and the Absolute God.

"The first kingdom is reached after dominating one of the 7 galaxies. However, as in the previous stages, the Supreme Emperor can grant a blessing 3 times, which means that the number of specialists in this realm reaches 21, in addition to others who can use other methods considered as "cheating".

(Author's note: just to make it clear, when a cultivator passes into the next realm, the Supreme Emperor may grant a new blessing).

"The last kingdom is the Kingdom of the Absolute God. Only 4 beings have reached this level in history. 3 were the Gods of Creation, while the last..."

Long Ming was surprised to see that the name of the last being to reach the Kingdom of the Absolute God was written in a strange but familiar language. Long Ming was almost certain that that writing was from the dragon race.

Anyway, there was some kind of barrier that did not allow the understanding of the name. Long Ming just ignored it.

Long Ming continued processing information about cultivation. No doubt, even without the instruction of an expert, the tips left by the Wise Men helped a lot.

After processing the cultivation information, Long Ming checked the others, such as the organization of clans, empires, and powerful families in the 7 galaxies. In addition, Long Ming learned the levels and degrees of an empire, planet, artifacts, orbs, among many other information.

******

End of chapter.