Lower Realms 1

"Mediocre talent?" Lod was shocked but recovered fast. He knew who he was. A mortal!

"Yes," Ghost King nodded his head happily.

When Lod saw his master was happy with his mediocre talent, he didn't know what to feel. "Master… why do you look happy?"

Ghost King laughed and said, "Just to let you know. I am not someone who cares about talent. I even refused kids who had purple color talent, which is the highest one could get in the Long Heaven!"

Lod was a little confused, but he shoved his negative ideas aside, and he also smiled. He understood that his master didn't take him as a disciple because of his talent, but something else.

"Now that I have seen your talent, here." The compass vanished, and three gray books appeared on the ground. Those three looked very old, almost over a hundred years old!

"These are the best techniques I created for a normal person to make their body strong. The first one is Great Rock Qi Body, the second is Crocodile Qi Skin, and the third is Monarch Body." Ghost King said with a satisfied smile on his face.

Lod looked over them with serious eyes; they all sounded very strong…

"To understand these techniques, you need to understand how a human can become a cultivator. Having grown up as a mortal, you don't have enough knowledge or experience in things. The first thing a human should do to become a cultivator is to make your body strong! Because the energy of heaven and earth is very strong, so to store it in your body, it needs to be strong enough. It is the first realm we call it Qi Body Forging." Ghost King said, and his voice turned serious.

Lod nodded and listened to everything without missing a word.

"To strengthen your body, acquiring a technique is essential. Without a technique, you can't cultivate. Remember the importance of a technique. Once your body gains strength, channel Qi into your Dantian and store it there. Dantian, known as the House of Heaven and Earth, is present in every individual. Located at the center of your body, a few fingers below your navel. This realm is called the Qi Fostering Realm. This is the true first step on the path of Cultivation, with the Qi Body Forging being nothing more than the preliminary steps toward it…

You just need to learn about these two for now. The next realm is about the soul, but it is too far from the level you are in to learn about it.

The first realm, Qi Body Forging has 9 stages. Every stage strengthens your body and increases strength by miles. You have three techniques in front of you right now. They are all in the same tier. Low-High Heaven tier for body forging.

Techniques are divided into three main levels: Earth Tier, Heaven Tier, and the pinnacle, Divine Tier. Within each tier, there are subcategories that further differentiate between low, mid, and high levels. The techniques I created can't be called the pure High-Heaven tier so it is called Low-High Heaven tier. Which can be considered very strong. Normally, only Core College Students get these tiers of techniques."

Lod felt a little dizzy just hearing all this at once. There was so much information; he wanted to take some time to digest all of it. But his master didn't stop his class; he continued.

"Great Rock Qi Body technique transforms your physique into that of rock, forging each muscle to unprecedented levels of toughness. With each stage, the solidity of your body intensifies, making you endure forces that would overwhelm an average human.

However, it comes with a little weakness. Until you reach the Qi Fostering Realm, your body may experience a hindrance in swift movements. Despite this limitation, the Great Rock Qi Body stands as an exemplary technique!" Ghost King said and picked up the Great Rock Qi Body book and gave it to Lod.

Lod looked at his master in silence when he took the book.

"I understand, look at this Crocodile Qi Skin. One of the best techniques I have created for lower realms! I created this when I was testing a Crocodile Beast. It has the toughest skin I have seen for lower realms. If you cultivate it to the ninth stage, not even a fourth stage Qi Fostering Realm can give you an external injury. This can be considered a Body Oriented technique. When you enter the next realm, it will also grow stronger with your cultivation. There is no weakness or such thing to it," He said as he gave the book to Lod.

Lod took it and said nothing.

"And the last, but the most powerful technique. It could have been a High-Heaven tier! Monarch Body is a technique where you can create another body. The only thing is just I couldn't complete it. It is an incomplete technique, so you can't cultivate it. I took it out just to show off," Ghost King said with a smile and didn't give Lod the book of Monarch Body.

Lod looked at all of them, and the most suitable was Crocodile Qi Skin. But there was something that bothered him about Monarch Body.

"Master, why is it incomplete?" he asked in a low voice.

"Because I lack enlightenment on it… it is quite hard to create a technique like this."

Lod fell into silence. He looked at the Monarch Body technique and picked it up.

"Can I have this?"

"Hmm? Sure… take it, but I suggest you not cultivate it. But I won't stop you because even if it is incomplete, it is stronger than the other two. Maybe if you are lucky enough you can complete it on your own. It all depends on the cultivator."

Nodding, he took three books and stood up. "Master, I think I got enough information for now; I will try to cultivate," he said.

His master laughed and nodded. Bowing down once, Lod walked back to his room and sat at the side of the room. He opened all three books and noticed how they needed to start cultivating them.

"I don't want this…" he closed the Great Rock Qi Body; even though it sounded good, the weakness made it look bad, if someone with speed attacked you, you cannot dodge fast enough. Though he might not get hurt by those attacks, it sounded annoying to him.

He studied the second technique, and after memorizing everything, he grabbed the third and read the whole book. He couldn't help but get shocked when he read the Monarch Body.

"A body as a layer… a 2nd body…" after reading it. He went into deep thought. After reading it again, he got an idea of how it works.

"The Qi Body Forging was also a test of how good one's natural talents were. The more talented one was, the faster they could absorb Qi into their body. Naturally, their cultivation speed would be quick; however, if one's talent was average, then perhaps they would never reach the third layer in their lifetime. Some couldn't even reach the first layer…" he murmured and closed all those books. He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed and began to breathe with the one long three short method stated in the book. One long means to take a deep breath, while three short means to take three short breaths that were one third the length of a normal breath. Using this abnormal breathing method allows one to quickly absorb Qi into their body.

The book indicated that the first time one practiced breathing techniques, they would feel as if there were ants crawling inside their body. This was caused by Qi entering the body. The book said not to be nervous. Just relax and imagine yourself becoming nothing, then become one with heaven and earth.

After a long time, Lod helplessly found that not only did he not feel anything, but he was out of breath thanks to this abnormal breathing.

He sighed. Took the rest of five minutes, and he tried again…