A Path To Zhuji [VIII]

The flowing sanctum was the official residential area of the sect. The whole area was divided into three parts. The first set of the flowing sanctum was the artificial range of hillocks for the disciples and sect stewards. The second range was a set of hills for the masters, assistants and savants. The third one was a group of mountains for the grandelder, the grand patriarch and the sect's ancestral hegemon. These ranges were seperated by large valleys.

The hillocks for the disciples contained a personal cultivation chambers for solitary seclusion with lesser forms of disturbances. At the back of the hillocks were the portions of land for the disciples to farm.

Ju Feng sat crosslegged inside his cultivation chamber as he continued looking around. The hillock had two small chambers, the first one was the small storage chamber and the second one was the smaller cultivation and sleeping chamber.

Farming! 

He would have his own farm to plant crops. Anyway, his ancestral family line was that of peasant farmers and he was born a peasant farmer too. He would readily adjust to the new way of life at the sect. Still, it felt unreal and weirdly strange.

He had entered this world by chance when the gatekeeper, senior Qiyuan, had sent him off. Mistakenly? It didn't appear so. But two days after that incident, he already had a small hill, a cultivation chamber and farm to himself in the space of two days. How could he describe that?

Really strange.

Nonetheless, two days from his current time, he would have to go back to his home world due to his lectures at the Last-Sages sect. As a beginner, he only had lectures for the two paths he manifested, twice a week. The lecture time would increase as he advanced in stages. However, he wouldn't worry about that for the time being. He had to think properly about the place for his tribulations which would come if he tried to absorb spiritual energy or take the Red Beryl spirit fruit.

After long moment of thoughts, he finally decided to undergo his tribulations there and then. For him, he concluded it would be better in the world of Charat than his home world. It would work well when the elders and acolytes saw him back at home. They would believe he had advanced the after eating the Heavenly Root spirit fruit, just like the others.

He stood up with great determination and exited the cultivation chamber. Once outside, he quickly used the Swift-Steps technique to reach the area of the bamboo the trees he cleared previously. While there, he sat crosslegged, took out the Red Beryl Spirit fruit and took a bite.

They said it was a foundation establishment fruit, one of a kind. On the planet of Charat, it was all about powerful fruits and plants. From the primordial times, before the cultivators started concocting pills, fruits, plants and trees were the sources of spiritual and medicinal vital forces. 

Ju Feng instantly had a feeling they couldn't be more right. The powerful sensation of the Red Beryl fruit in his mouth was beyond incredible. Unlike the pill that went directly into his dantian, the Red Beryl fruit exploded in his mouth. He looked at it the rest of the fruit and shook his head. Strong taste, yet mild. How could a child like himself know the extent of the wonder of the universe? No way He could. With great relish, he finished eating the rest of the fruit, closed his eyes and started circulating the energy of the fruit. He had learned the cycling of the fruit's energy would take weeks before completion after which He would advance to the Zhuji stage. 

He continued moving the energy from his dantian through his meridians and back to his dantian. Within few hours, the effect kicked in. His dantian started to absorb the spiritual energy in the fruit in waves. It was supposed to be weeks, instead it was already happening to him. The massive liquid orb in his dantian started to shrink in size due to its intense condensation. As all those were happening in his dantian, his mind was on the aftermath of the heavenly tribulations that was about to come.

When the heavenly tribulations struck a cultivator, the elements used wouldn't strike the body but the soul of the cultivator. Every stage of tribulations had varying elements. A cultivator wouldn't know what the nature of the tribulations would be. But no matter what the elements were, it was the soul of the cultivator that would be attacked. Since it was the soul that would achieve immortality, the body was only a tool. Even the body cultivators who had no soul dantian but had gained undying bodies had to use their bodies as their soul dantians. Although they would never gain ascension.

Right from the Zhuji stage, the soul of a cultivator would be out of the limbo and into the dantian, forming a orb of light. By the time the soul of the cultivator reached immortal ascension, it would have formed a true immortal nascent soul according to the nature of its cultivation. A soul which could manifest outside the body. The nascent soul was the true power of a cultivator who wanted to reach godhood, the body was just a living shell.

As long as the soul was alive outside the body, the body would continue to live and function perfectly. This was one of the ways the gods and celestials protected their true souls. They would be using their bodies in everyday activities but kept their true soul secured in a safe place. Although the body was not as powerful as the true soul in a long shot, most prefered it that way.

The body could never live without the soul, but the soul could live without the body. An immortal only needed to nurture a new body for the existing soul, tho it was difficult and time consuming. That was the reason why the tribulations would attack the soul instead of the body of the cultivator. 

During heavenly tribulations, if a cultivator was at the Zhuji, the lightning would strike the orb in the dantian. If the cultivator was at the Jindan stage, the lightning would strike the core in the dantian. For a nascent soul, it would strike the formed soul avatar in the dantian.

When a cultivator advanced to the Zhuji stage to become a premier but later failed the tribulations, the orb of light in the dantian, which was the combination of the soul with the Chi energy, would start to dissipate. The cultivator would become a loose cultivator with a lifespan of few thousands of years before shaking hands with death followed by reincarnation. The same thing with the remaining four stages that attracted tribulations.

But, immediately after the completion of a heavenly tribulations, a nimbus would descend on the cultivator, marking the full advancement onto the stage. That nimbus was the indication of a cultivator true advancement to the next stage. The powers and aura would manifest fully as a premier cultivator. That was the thing with tribulations. Without undergoing the tribulations and without recieving the nimbus, a cultivator would never truly advance to the next stage. The cultivator could only see glimpses of the next stage's powers, if he didn't experience both the tribulations and the nimbus.

The nimbus.

It was the universal circle of light which descended on cultivators that survived tribulations.

At the Zhuji stage, the nimbus had four colors; red, green, yellow and blue, the colors of the four primary colours of the universe. They represented the four primary nature of life; red[Fire], green[Air], yellow[Terra] and blue[Water].

At the Jindan stage, the nimbus had five colors; red, green, yellow, blue and orange. The four primary colors with the addition of orange[Wood].

The nascent soul formation stage had six colored nimbus; red, green, yellow, blue, orange and indigo. The indigo[Illusions and dreams].

The immortal acension stage had seven colors to it. Red, green, yellow, blue, orange, indigo and violet. The color violet[Spacetime], completed the rainbow nimbus.

The nimbus at the cosmic ascension stage had only one color, the polychromatic white light. The combination of all the colors, true light of creation.

Jufeng had recently consumed the Heavenly Root pill and was at the gates of Zhuji stage, but hadn't entered to become a full premier. He had to go through the tribulations and should have recieved the nimbus to become a full premier of the Zhuji stage.

He decided that it would be better to advance in this world due to the fact that most of the outer disciples were at the Ningchi stage already, it wouldn't draw attention to him. The problem would be after the tribulations. Eyes would be on him, how would he have the chance to get back home on time for his lectures? He needed to think carefully about it.

Then, the sky began to change.