Calculating Cultivation

I watched as my father’s corpse was burned on the funeral pyre. My mother was weeping, and there were actual tears, along with the rest of his wives. Other family members were weeping as well. “May the immortals watch over Yuan Chen as he journeys through the cycle of heaven and earth. His spirit rising up to the heavens and his ashes scattered to the ground.”

There was not enough room for millennia of tombs. If people really did have crypts it would be far too much. Instead it was customary that people were burned on funeral pyres. A stack of oil soaked wood. For my father this wood was well cut, pine I believe, so there was a pleasant scent. The pyre was also covered with a large cloak with the Yuan family name stitched upon it. “As his soul goes forth, we shall pray to the immortals he finds as much or more success in his next life as this one,” the funerary priest called out.

It was more of a job than an actual religious role, funerary priest. The religion revolved around the immortals. I didn’t want to say one of those six known immortals was a beast, but I thought that was a bit funny. Cultivation was the religion at the end of the day.

I had managed to shut the entire city down for the day, or my brother did for the funeral procession from the family estate to the city center. It was my name and the rank 2 spirit coin I had given my brother that paid for all of this. It wasn’t just a question of wealth to have such a large funeral, but also a question of connections.

“Let us all…” The funerary priest trailed off as everyone looked where he was staring. I turned and saw the Sect Leader approaching, two sect members behind him.

“Carry on,” he said and he came to stand next to me. I looked up at him in surprise.

“Ah, yes, of course. Let us all remember the many accomplishments of Yuan Chen.” The funerary priest began to list them off.

The Sect Leader gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Thank you Master,” I said quietly since he had given me quite a bit of face by showing up.

“Think nothing of it, my disciple,” he replied quietly back as the funerary priest kept talking about my father’s accomplishments.

“Yao Chuntao, the ninth daughter of Yuan Chen for her heaven gifted talent of portrait drawing. Finally, the seventh son of Yuan Zhou, a cultivator of the Cloudy Moon Sect and personal disciple of Sect Leader Jiang Fengge,” the funerary priest appeared nervous enough that he might actually soil himself. Thankfully he kept steady and didn’t squeak out anything he was trying to say. Also, by listing my name last, he was saying I was the greatest accomplishment of my father.

“Yuan Chen, an honored man under the heavens,” the funerary priest said and then turned back to the pyre and bowed quite deeply. I bowed slightly. The Sect Leader and two cultivators with him did not bow. Everyone else bowed very deeply towards the pyre. “That concludes the service,” the funerary priest said.

Anyone who had wanted to speak, already had a chance to do so before the procession and the burning. I had politely declined. While I appreciated all he had done for me, I didn’t feel like speaking with how heavy my heart currently was.

“I will be returning to the sect, disciple. I will await you there to take the Pill of Peace,” the Sect Leader said.

“Yes Master. Safe travels,” I replied. He gave me a slight smile and then quickly departed. Him showing up for just the last few minutes was an immense honor. I honestly hadn’t been expecting him or for him to know about my father’s passing. While he might have called me a pig, he wasn’t a bad guy.

He quickly departed, everyone bowing and making their way for him. He paused briefly and said something to my sister before departing. She had a look of shock on her face and then smiled at me, but her eyes had fire in them.

She walked over to me as other people began to talk and disperse. “Brother,” she greeted me.

“Sister,” I replied.

“Brother,” she replied.

“So, what did the Sect Leader say to you?” I asked with a grin.

“Just that he appreciated my art. That I, Yao Chuntao, have a gift given by the heavens and it was appropriate for me to be listed under our father’s accomplishments due to the first portrait I drew,” she replied.

“Indeed, it is a priceless treasure,” I said with a smile as she glared at me with her eyes.

“Thank you, brother. Now the rumors will never stop. Everyone asks me to recreate the legendary drawing,” she said.

“When I become an immortal, it will truly deserve a place above my head,” I said, which was the biggest compliment I could give. There were several people listening in wide eyed, since we weren’t exactly being quiet. This would confirm all the rumors.

“My children, come here,” my mother said and opened up her arms as she approached. We both went over and gave her a hug. While not entirely appropriate, for a funeral like this, it was okay to show some emotions and give hugs. Crying too much was not appropriate, but some family hugs were fine. My mother let us go.

“Uncle,” my niece, and daughter of my sister, Yao Lan greeted me with a slight bow. Giving her a look, she had already collected quite a few motes.

“Greetings niece,” I gave her a nod back.

“Come, let us walk back to the estate,” my mother said.

“Mother, may I go with uncle to speak with him?” Yao Lan asked my sister, who gave her permission. We began walking towards the family estate, people keeping away from us. There was silence for the first half of the trip. I knew she wanted to say something and I would not help her. A cultivator needed to have confidence in themselves. If they didn’t they would never succeed climbing up the stages of cultivation.

“Uncle, I have 100,000 motes already,” she said. Oh, that was surprising. She was only 13 years old. She clearly had been working hard for the last 7 years. That showed she was focused and determined, both very good traits.

“You are thinking about joining the next intake?” I asked.

“Yes. You have mentioned that it is important to plan my cultivation out and get started,” she replied, and I nodded at this.

“Hmm, I would say you should get more motes first. I cannot take on a disciple myself,” I replied. “Once you enter, you will have to work for sect points, which will not be easy or simple.”

“I can do it uncle,” she replied, and I just smiled at what she was saying. I considered her request. I would have to pay a ‘bribe’ to one of the elders to take her under their wing and make her a core disciple. Elder Li Fu came to mind. He was normally open to such things.

The next intake would be in two months. Only elders could invite guests into the sect. Still, she was technically a future disciple. I didn’t want to make waves, or give up more spirit coins. While I was rich, you only stayed rich by not spending money constantly.

“Keep collecting motes for the next couple of years. While I started young, rushing with so few motes will not be good. I will speak to one of the elders about taking you on as a disciple,” I replied.

“Thank you, uncle,” she gave me a big hug. She was as tall as me, so it felt weird. I had started young but had collected far more motes by her age. She could only use a candle or a sensing rod to see motes. The sheer difference was already there. In a couple of years she would show her temperament by focusing on collecting motes, and get more.

Having around 200,000 motes would not be a bad thing in my mind. While it was on the high side, it would allow her more variations for her cultivation plan. I would arrange things for her in about 5 years, when she was 18. That would give her a couple of years to come up with a solid cultivation plan ahead of time.

A generous donation for Elder Li Fu’s time to take her under his wing, would see that she encountered no problems within the sect. It wasn’t what you knew, but who you knew that mattered. That was true on Earth and true in cultivation land as well.

With the funeral done, I immediately left the following morning. I was emotionally wrung out and didn’t want to deal with the situation anymore. It was weak of me, but I was never good with emotional situations.

Once I reached the sect, I went to see the Sect Leader right away. Elder Liu Chen was quickly called to his office as well.

“It is done, a marvel, I tell you. Very high-quality ingredients,” he said with a smile. He then pulled out a glass container and set it on the table. The Pill of Peace was quite large and had a rainbow, metallic sheen to it that glimmered in the light. The Sect Leader picked up the glass vial and looked at it.

“Everything appears to be in order,” he replied. “Thank you, Liu Chen.” He then set the bottle in front of me.

“May I pull out some water to help me swallow?” I asked.

“No. No,” Liu Chen said while waving his hands. “You don’t swallow it. You put it against your forehead, and it sinks into your mind and cultivation. That was why crafting it was so hard.” Oh, I didn’t know that.

“That is something that happens with certain high-ranking pills. Swallowing something that large, really disciple?” the Sect Leader gave me a look. I just shrugged and didn’t say anything else.

“When you use it, focus on the energy around you. The Qi of heaven and earth. Also focus on a mote to align with that method of cultivation. A single mote. It is important you align a mote to the energy of the world while the pill is at its strongest,” Liu Chen said.

“Anything else I should be aware of elder?” I asked.

“Just focus on the sensation. Once you align one mote, do another one. Only one at a time for now. Mind cultivation is rare and very hard. It is easy to go to another alignment. So, it is absolutely crucial you get the first couple right to get the feeling down,” Liu Chen advised.

“Put the opening of the vial to your forehead, don’t use your hand. Close your eyes, and steady your breathing. Aligning is the hardest and biggest part. All your motes will experience a slight shift. You must ignore that and aim to get the correct alignment,” Liu Chen said.

“He is right. This is the hardest part. Getting that alignment correct will be like grasping water with chopsticks. Aligning to the mind path of cultivation, is about being at harmony with the world. The pill will put you in the correct state and leave a lasting impact on your cultivation,” the Sect Leader said. I gave them both a nod since it was clear they were done advising me.

I picked up the vial and opened it. I then tilted my head forward and put the opening against the vial and then tilted my head back. The Pill of Peace rolled forward and touched my head. All my motes went completely still in my body. They had been kind of still before, but this was stillness beyond anything I had experienced.

Closing my eyes and keeping my breathing steady, I felt a wave of calmness sweep through me. The pill felt warm, and I could feel it sinking into my soul, giving off the slightest ripples through the stillness of my cultivation.

I focused on the mote I was going to align with the energy of the heavens and the earth. I could grasp the mote, but it didn’t want to align. No, that was wrong. Before I had felt aligning motes was pushing one way or another from atop a hill.

But there was a third path. This was to settle the mote at the top of the hill. Neither in my body or my soul, but where it currently existed, in balance between the two, and in harmony with the energy of the heavens and earth outside my body.

It was a very slow process, taking over 20 minutes to just place one mote down with the alignment to my mind. I immediately started working on the second mote. I focused on the feeling of how to align each of these motes. Focusing on etching this experience in my mind.

Without the Pill of Peace, this would have been much, much harder. Now it felt simple and possible. If my mind wasn’t relaxed, there would be no way to do this. All my worries, concerns, and thoughts of other issues fell away.

I kept going, mote after mote, for 8 hours. I had aligned 24 motes by the time the Pill of Peace was completely gone. I opened my eyes. The Sect Leader and Liu Chen were both there, watching me carefully. I set the empty vial back down on the next.

“Cultivate a mote without the pill,” the Sect Leader said, and I nodded at this. The feeling of peace was still there. It was etched into the motes themselves. I closed my eyes and spent another 20 minutes carefully aligning a 25th mote with the mind method of cultivation.

“Done,” I replied.

“Amazing. To alter the very nature of the motes themselves,” Liu Chen said.

“That is what ties the cultivation method to the others. But it will be slow progress. Going any faster,” the Sect Leader said with a shake of his head. He was right. It would be impossible to do 2 or more motes at once. The amount of focus and state of mind needed were immense.

“It shouldn’t be that bad. It will get easier in time. The other limitations with his body and soul are also removed. Why didn’t you cultivate more quickly?” Liu Chen asked me.

“I wanted to hold onto that feeling elder,” I replied serenely.

“The mental impact. It will lessen in time, as he finishes his cultivation. That will offset the impact of the Pill of Peace and this cultivation method,” Liu Chen told the Sect Leader.

“That is good to know. Mental effects are always concerning, even the less sinister ones like this,” he replied. “Disciple, you are free to cultivate. Reach the third stage as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

“Thank you, Master,” I replied and got up. I returned to my room and fell asleep.

The following day, when I woke up, I felt relaxed and less stressed out than I had in decades. I knew it was the effects of the Pill of Peace, but I was not complaining. Laying in bed, I began to cultivate another mote with the mind path once more.

My cultivation felt still, but there was a slight disturbance. It was coming from my mind. Like a drip into a water bucket, I could tell that was where Aoyin’s fang resided. The ripples through my soul, carried down to the astral soul stabilizer and were absorbed. The rest of the ripples dispersed through my soul.

I kept my eyes clothed and breathing steady. Suddenly in the darkness of my mind I heard a whisper. ‘Blood. Power. Consume.’ Aoyin’s shard was constantly whispering in my mind. I could feel the ripples of thought moving through me.

The Pill of Peace had silenced them before, and before that I hadn’t been able to sense Aoyin’s Fang previously. It had been hidden from me. Even the Sect Leader had taken a long time to locate it and deliver his opinion on the piece of cultivation the demonic cultivator had placed within me.

Now the lingering effects of the Pill of Peace remained, but they were not overpowering. I considered how to deal with what Aoyin had done and what his ‘fang’ was doing to my mind. The whispers were easy enough to ignore, but I didn’t like them.

It was a future threat, I wanted to contain now. Thinking about the issue, I had an idea. It was tempting to just implement it, but since I was in the sect and I had a source of advice, it was better to ask. Getting up, and getting dressed for the day, I made my way back to the Sect Leader’s office. I had to wait several hours before he showed up. I took the time I was waiting to keep cultivating motes to align to my mind, one at a time. I was in no rush at the moment. It was better to get the feeling engrained into my mind.

“Master,” I stood up and bowed when he entered. He waved at me to sit back down as he took his seat.

“Are there issues? I was told it wasn’t urgent,” the Sect Leader said.

“I can feel Aoyin’s fang. It is speaking into my mind, saying blood, power, consume. I was thinking of adjusting my cultivation plan. To make a structure around the piece of cultivation he left within me using mind alignment,” I said. The Sect Leader leaned back in his chair and gave me a look before getting up.

“Stay seated, I want to inspect you,” he replied. I nodded as he came over and put two hands on my head and closed his eyes. I could feel ripples in my cultivation from where his hands were placed. Or I should say my soul. It was a weird feeling and I had never felt something like this before.

The ripples he released bounced around in my head, and the position of Aoyin’s Fang lit up. After a couple of minutes, he let go of me and sat back down. “It is a decent idea, but there are two major issues disciple. The first, such a structure would need to be built using all three cultivation methods intertwined, on a much deeper level.”

“The second issue is that you won’t be able to deal with Aoyin’s fang as easily later on. It would create an imbalance within you and your physical body to isolate it so. You don’t isolate the astral soul stabilizer, which is acting as a counterpoint for what he did,” the Sect Leader let out a short sigh.

“The astral soul stabilizer was next to Aoyin’s fang, then it would be worthwhile, to lock them togeather. The effects unleashed by what he has done to you would be contained and absorbed.”

“Can you move the astral soul stabilizer?” I asked and the Sect Leader shook his head.

“I cannot. Your best option is cultivate like it isn’t there. I know that is disturbing, but attempting to alter your cultivation could produce problems. I have given the issue some more thought. It might be possible to impact in the third stage and remove it,” he replied.

“Remove?! How?” I asked with quite a bit of hope and excitement in my voice despite the Pill of Peace constantly giving me a calming mental effect. I wanted to remove any trace Aoyin had within me.

“For that we have to consider polarity cultivation. It is a subset of soul cultivation that fell out of practice millennia ago. The principle behind it, would be to create two units of opposing cultivation in a cultivator’s body, to then draw in more energy. Since we know what Dao is based within Aoyin’s fang there is a chance, however slight you can keep moving forward while countering it.”

“There are downsides,” I said, while trying to think of them.

“Getting opposites isn’t simple. What are the opposites of blood, power, and consume?” the Sect Leader asked me. I frowned at that question.

“There aren’t clear opposites,” I finally said after thinking about the issue and the Sect Leader nodded at this.

“That is precisely the problem. Finding the resources needed to create the opposite pulls in cultivation. Right now the astral soul stabilizer is erasing quite a bit of influence of Aoyin’s fang. But it isn’t a counter. Like a waterfall and a hole,” the Sect Leader said and I nodded at this.

“We would need to change that hole into another strip of land, and the waters collide and still, this is how polarity cultivation works. A passive method to obtaining drops within one’s cores. The problem is, the greater the pressure in the cores, the more balance needed. For your cultivation you would need perfect opposites,” the Sect Leader said.

“Which is impossible,” I replied, and he nodded.

“Not impossible, but very hard to do properly. This also touches on Daos, which are in the later stages of cultivation. The procedure is best done in the third stage of your cultivation, before you begin collecting drops. Since the draw must be balanced. But if you succeed, then you will have a slightly easier time in the fourth stage,” the Sect Leader said.

“I am surprised Elder Liu Chen didn’t mention this,” I commented.

“It is a method of cultivation that is unsuitable. A dead path. What cultivator would give up a piece of their cultivation? The risk of imbalance is massive. It also impacts your Dao in the later stages, since the cultivation is not your own. The issues are endless. But this is the only option to counter Aoyin’s fang.”

“But it is not required,” I said to confirm.

“It is not required, but the path of polarity is the only option that I can think of disciple. In addition, you would need 3 rank 8 treasures to match the level of cultivation of Aoyin’s fang, consisting of the opposites of blood, power, and consume.”

“If I don’t then I have to accept it?” I asked.

“Indeed. I was going to bring this up once you reached the third stage and do my own research on possible items for you to use. It is not simple unfortunately to find rank 8 treasures that match exactly what you need. Indeed, any treasures you find are things Aoyin would desire.”

“Wouldn’t they go against his nature?” I asked.

“He would change their nature. While not as strong as using something in its original form, he would do so. Even I would do so. But there is good news. The astral soul stabilizer being used as a base will help greatly. Rank 6 treasures that are exact opposites would have enough power. Since the whole of his cultivation wasn’t used. Only a part of it. There are also techniques that can be used to weaken Aoyin’s fang when the procedure is done.” I mentally let out a sigh of relief at that. The difference between a rank 6 and a rank 8 treasure was massive.

It wasn’t just the cost, but also the rarity of the items that needed to be found. I just couldn’t imagine what opposites were for blood, power, and consume. With blood, that could be something like a solid? Was the opposite of power, weakness? As for consume, was that barf? I needed to find a barfing treasure, or something more icky?

“How are opposites normally worked out?” I asked the Sect Leader. He smiled and chuckled slightly at that question.

“That is why disciple, polarity cultivation is not done anymore. Even something like fire and water is not perfectly balanced. You need opposites. Somehow. It is a very complex question, involving multiple Daos that I don’t fully understand.”

“Aoyin. I would need to ask Aoyin,” I replied quietly.

“That would be the fastest answer, since he knows his own cultivation the best. You will also need to discover that answer as well if you make it past the first bottleneck. Many people have pondered over this issue, but there are no good answers,” the Sect Leader said.

I could imagine the headache now that the cultivators before me had when they came up with this method. “Will we be able to test how close we are in some way?” I asked.

“To a degree, measuring can be done. But the measuring techniques have not improved much over the millennia, since this cultivation method fell out of practice. I can only tell if you are within a 10% margin of error. But you need to have less than a 1% margin of error for the opposite treasures that are picked.” I winced at that.

So, the measurement system wasn’t useful, and it came down to a guess. I would be able to tell if I was completely off, but not to an accurate degree. “I will keep digging into this method of cultivation, but each situation is unique, yours even more so. That is also why it fell out of favor. It couldn’t be easily replicated.”

“And if it is wrong, or the polarity method is off?” I asked and the Sect Leader shook his head.

“Your core formation would be unbalanced, and you would perish when trying to cross the threshold of the first bottleneck. It is far more important that you get the opposites correct.” I wanted to cry, but it was a solution. A solution that the Sect Leader had spent time researching to save me.

“Thank you, Master.”

“No need to thank me. Your situation is partly my fault due to my history with Aoyin. You will need to conduct research, a lot of research during the third stage, and then need to acquire items that are opposites.”

I winced at this. I would have to give the measure a lot of thought. It wasn’t simple. The Sect Leader recommended several texts from the elder’s library to me to read and gave me a list to start off in my research. While he would do his own research, it was a dead cultivation method that was unique to individuals and was not widespread.

There were only a few scattered references that I would have, and the headache of finding actual opposites. That would be even harder, and I had no idea where to start. Thankfully, I wasn’t panicking due to the Pill of Peace. I had time. I just needed to research and work at the problem, and not give up. That was the most important thing. I was going to make it through the second stage, no matter what now.

There had been doubt before, but I was going to reach the third stage of cultivation. There were no more roadblocks in my way. It was just a matter of putting in the time and aligning my motes.