Calculating Cultivation

I let out a quiet sigh, so as to not create a disturbance, as I set down another scroll. I had been researching everything I could about using the path of polarity to cultivate. It was clear why it had been given up so long ago as a viable method of cultivation.

Finding opposite types of resources of a high enough rank, was near impossible. Each setup was also unique to each cultivator, based on their understanding of the principles involved. Or it could have just been variances in the materials used. It wasn’t entirely clear.

That was the problem with this method of cultivation. It was a path no one walked, due to the impossibility of getting an appropriate opposite. One of the biggest hurdles, the base structures had already been taken care of, and one half of the polarity path. In terms of work I had to do, there wasn’t much, but what was left was the hardest part.

Months of constant research, and nothing to show for it. This wasn’t a topic with its own section either. Sure there were a couple of specific tomes on the path of polarity, but I needed to look into opposites, which involved Daos.

The reading on Daos were incredibly thick and limited to the Dao the elder focused on for their cultivation. I had made some progress, by trying to understand exactly what a Dao was.

A Dao was a path of deep and comprehensive understanding. Soul and body cultivators would take on a singular Dao. Mind cultivators, would have multiple Daos. The later stages were based around setting up an internal structure to house Daos, and use one’s understanding to deepen one’s relationship with the Dao they had chosen.

The second bottleneck, to the ninth stage Immortal Ascension, was about harmonizing perfectly with one’s Dao. This would break the limits that constrained all cultivators, including their mortality. These Daos, or concepts, were often based on the path of cultivation a person took in the earlier stages and was very personal.

All of this meant that Aoyin, didn’t have three Daos, or paths. But rather that the Dao he had chosen, could only be encompassed by those three words togeather to form a greater whole. If I had to describe it, the best guess would be ‘The power of blood to consume’. But even this might not be entirely right.

That was the biggest headache of my research. Since the deeper the understanding, the harder it was to describe with words. Elders had written entire tomes about their daos, trying to explain their understanding, but the writing was lacking.

One cultivator might have measured everything precisely for their focus, while another tried for a more holistic understanding. The best example of this issue was the Dao of Fluidity. There were three tomes about this Dao. Each of them took a different approach to describing the Dao.

The first tome talked about states of mater and tried to quantify the fluidity of any object. The second tome used poetry to describe the cultivator’s understanding. The third tome was more of a story of understanding about fluidity. A journey of self-discovery. There were clear differences and similarities between each tome.

That was why I was sighing. The understanding at the later stages was much more personal to each cultivator. ‘Consume blood for power,’ was another valid interpretation. ‘Blood consumed is power,’ was a third interpretation. Even with a slice of Aoyin’s cultivation stuck inside of me, it wasn’t something that could be easily discerned. Getting as far as we had, was already tremendous progress.

Putting away the tomes I had been reading, I left the elder’s library. I had been focusing on my cultivation recently as well. Once I entered the third stage, then I would have a lot more problems to deal with and resources that I needed.

Going to the dining hall, I sat down. I noted that Gen was here as well. He gave me a look of regret but didn’t approach. A glance at him, showed that he was still struggling through the second stage of cultivation. I smiled to myself, it was good to know that I was on pace with the other disciples, even though my cultivation was far superior and much more complicated.

That was one reason I ate in the common dining hall. I could have arranged to have food delivered, but I wanted to see the other disciples and gain motivation about my progress. “Greetings Senior Yuan Zhou,” Wen Xue said.

“Wen Xue, please sit,” I gestured with my hand.

“Thank you. So, making progress?” he asked me.

“Some. But the higher concepts give me a headache,” I said with a sigh and poked at my food. He let off a light chuckle at that.

“More complications with your path of defiance?” he asked me.

“Yes. I need to look at Daos for the third stage. What about you? You have entered the third stage. How is that going?” I asked him.

“A struggle. I am focusing on earth attunement, but it is slow going carving out all my meridians and channels. I am getting better at it, but the amount of focus required is more than the second stage. That is how you know you have changed stages it takes more mental effort to do anything,” Wen Xue said.

“How many meridian and channel sets are you carving out per year?” I asked.

“About two and a half. But I should be able to get it up to three. I have about thirty more years of work.” I winced at this. That was another problem that needed to be dealt with. The speed of carving out my channels and meridians. It would speed up with null metal and a focusing gem, but that would help with the detail work I needed to do.

I would have 1,304 channels in total, compared to Wen Xue’s 100. I would have to find a faster way to cultivate. The problems were just piling up unfortunately. But that was the curse of my path of defiance. “That is good progress. The goal is two sets per year,” I replied and Wen Xue gave me a nod.

“Indeed. The issue are the resources I need to attune my channels and meridians. Unfortunately, I am going with the standard attunement for earth,” he seemed a bit depressed at that. I needed to get perfect attunement, which meant even more resources. I know there was a plan to use force was the element for attunement.

Normally the element people used, tied into their Dao. At least they would get a head start. Choosing something that wasn’t related to your attunement was a setback. The better the attunement, the better one’s understanding of their chosen Dao in the later stages. But it was all a race against time to get past the first bottleneck.

Cultivators didn’t have time to get everything done perfectly. They had to work as quickly as possible, otherwise they would be stuck. I had managed to clear all the requirements to reach the third stage. But the third stage required several special items and knowledge. The fourth stage required an insane amount of energy.

The challenges I faced were immense. I could understand now, why other cultivators didn’t go this path. The headache of trying to get over all these hurdles was immense. Having one or two hurdles, was doable, but they kept piling up in front of me.

“Well I am glad you are making progress,” I told Wen Xue.

“Thank you senior. What about yourself?” he asked me.

“I have no issues until the third stage, which I should arrive at in about five years,” I replied.

“On pace then with the other disciples, impressive,” he said. I shook my head at that.

“A headache. Fighting beasts, risking my life multiple times, and barely managing to get all the materials, I needed. It has been a massive headache. The third stage is even worse,” I said morosely while poking at my rice.

I kind of felt like a spoiled brat. Even with all the help I had, there were just so many hurdles to overcome. Even research and studying, both things I enjoyed, felt burdensome with the lack of progress I had been making in finding an opposite to Aoyin’s Fang.

“Even so, you have managed to clear your path until the third stage. When you make it to the later stages, you should have a much easier time,” Wen Xue said.

“Hopefully. Here is a tough question for you. What do you consider the opposite of blood, power, and consume?” I asked Wen Xue. He got a thoughtful look on his face for a bit.

“Well, blood is the life force of the body. I would say ash would be the opposite. It is dry, floats, and devoid of life. The opposite of power is weakness. The opposite of consume is expel. I would guess a weak volcano for your riddle,” he replied.

My eyes lit up at that. “A weak volcano, belching out clouds of ash,” I repeated while thinking over that. That was actually the kind of insight I needed. I was much more logical. One plus one, giving me two kind of thinking for my cultivation. But Daos were much more freeform.

While I couldn’t use Wen Xue’s exact understanding, I needed a more holistic approach and answer to the question I was confronted with. It was like mixing colors instead of numbers. Red plus blue would make purple. Now I just needed the same for concepts.

The idea of a volcano just resonated with me. Such a location was bound to have a treasure that could be used. I would have to do research on volcanoes and possible treasures I could find near one or inside one.

“I am glad I could help,” Wen Xue told me, and I gave him one of my brightest smiles.

“Consider this a thank you. I had been stuck in a mental rut for a while trying to think my way of a cultivation issue,” I told him and put a rank 2 spirit coin on the table. He quickly picked it up and gave me a look of surprise. He put it away and then bowed his head towards me.

“Thank you Senior,” he said.

“Trust me, it was worth it. I need to start thinking less math and more relationships,” I replied as I kept trying to play out the relationships and what I thought the opposites of such things were. Blood could refer to family. Aoyin killed his father and probably consumed it. The number of times he had brought his father up during our conversation togeather was a big clue.

Power could also refer to movement, ‘the cultivator is powered by blood’. The opposite of power then would be inactive. That made sense to me. This made much more sense to me on a fundamental level.

The final word I had learned about Aoyin’s Fang was consume. Consuming was using something up. I had been thinking too literally about the word for a while. The opposite of consume was preservation. Keeping something around and not using it.

Tying all this togeather, I needed something unattached to Aoyin, that was static, and preserved. I felt like I was making some progress in understanding and coming to a realization. But it wasn’t just about figuring out the opposite, but getting the resources that were the embodiment of such a thing as well.

I didn’t like any of this. The entire process was too imprecise. There needed to be a better way. After finishing off my meal and excusing myself, I went back to the elder’s library and began to look for texts on the energy of heaven and earth itself.

If it was a wave or ripple of some kind, then I just needed to find the opposing modulation to cancel out Aoyin’s Fang. I could scientifically make my way to the correct answer, rather than searching blindly. The Sect Leader had mentioned about being able to test if items were opposing Aoyin’s Fang up to 90%. That clearly meant there was a way to test and observe these things.

I needed more precise measuring tools, and then a way to adjust whatever item, or items would be used. Searching through the texts I didn’t find anything useful. The next day, after my time spent working on my cultivation, I went to the Sect Leader once more.

His help had been invaluable. Without his support, I would have never have been able to make it this far. “What is it now disciple?” he asked me once I entered his office. I explained my thinking to him.

“What I am asking Master, is if there is any way to get a better measurement, and check ingredients?” I asked.

“It isn’t that simple disciple. I am making the determination with my personal abilities. A lower ranked cultivator compared to myself, wouldn’t be able to even get that much accuracy. An Immortal would have far more,” he said with a heavy sigh. I knew he was frustrated about his lack of connections as well.

“And they don’t use the polarity path for their disciples?” I asked.

“There is only so much adjustment that can be done before items begin to lose their potency. And even that isn’t a simple procedure. You need a cultivator who is experienced in soul manipulation. Very few are, and I am one of them. Still, your idea is interesting,” he replied, and I got some hope in my heart.

“A special chamber would have to be constructed and built up. Something like this isn’t simple. A formation master would be needed. And there is no good way to isolate Aoyin’s Fang inside of you. If it wasn’t then something could be done, but with that there, it just isn’t practical,” he said, and I winced at this. “That is why, creating test samples could be done. But that would double or triple the resource requirements.”

“Testing? You mean altering my astral soul stabilizer and then seeing the effect?” I asked.

“Yes. Normally this is impossible. Since a soul would break under such strain. But you. Well, your cultivation is ridiculous. We could do three to five attempts. The closer we are the first attempt, the better.”

“Then make adjustments after that,” I added and the Sect Leader nodded. It felt nice for once that my cultivation was helping me, instead of dragging me down. It just kept putting up roadblocks, which was exhausting. Now a roadblock was being removed and a solution was now possible.

“Exactly. I should be able to make it work. Once both halves are functional, Aoyin’s Fang would be pulled into you as part of your cultivation. I didn’t suggest this before, since it has never been done, and the resource cost will be immense. I would need at least 4 different resources, in decent sized quantities. But realistically, 6 different resources, in large quantities would be the best.”

“That, is a lot,” I replied quietly as I thought over the issue.

“They would only need to be rank 6. But yes, it is a massive headache to get such things. The greater the difference between the resources gathered, while still being opposite of Aoyin’s cultivation, the better.” I didn’t understand the mechanics of exactly what the Sect Leader would be doing, but I trusted him. He had been helping and guiding me for quite a while.

“Could I learn what you do? The soul manipulation?” I asked him out of curiosity.

“I attuned to something different, which was what helped me on my path. We might want to consider three separate attunements for your channels and meridians based on their alignment,” he added.

“Why?” I asked.

“Using force is useful for your soul path. And even your body path. But with the mind path of cultivation, I would suggest something opposing force,” the Sect Leader suggested.

“What else is there, that can be used?” I asked.

“That a big question. I wanted to bring this up, since Liu Chen has been hounding me about it,” the Sect Leader said.

“But you don’t think I should do something like that?” I asked.

“No. Choosing an attunement or attunements for your channels and meridians is a deeply personal matter. This will have a large impact on the later stages of your cultivation. There is no hand holding after the first bottleneck. One cannot cultivate for another, or have the same understanding,” he explained to me.

“Could Aoyin switch up what he did to me remotely?” I asked.

“No. What he has done, is crippling to an extent. He removed a part of himself and put it into you to nurture. A very small part, and the damage done is also small. Still, it would have weakened him, however slightly. He cannot change his cultivation at his stage. His path is set,” the Sect Leader answered.

“Alright, I have an idea where I need to start. I will start looking through the list of known resources,” I replied and the Sect Leader gave me a nod at that.

“Your ability to focus and conduct research is important. It is good you are working hard. Your cultivation, any issues?” he asked me, and I shook my head.

“No, issues. Just taking time to align all the motes. I should be done in five years,” I replied, and he nodded at that.

“A decent speed, for a cultivator of your age, and the path of defiance. There are three other hurdles for the third stage. The amount of spirit stones that you need. Null metal and a focusing crystal. Finally a focusing chamber to draw out energy from spirit stones and change it to force energy. The good news, is the chamber is on track to be completed. Where are you on the other two hurdles?” he asked me.

That was the power of an entire sect. I would be a guinea pig for this new type of cultivation attunement in the third stage. The sect would gain knowledge. I just had to fuel the entire formation. “Getting enough spirit stones should be possible. You know of my business venture,” I replied.

“Yes, but explain it to me again,” the Sect Leader asked. I explained about the plan that was being implemented to gather spirit ore from across a large area on a regular basis. Taking my mine management scheme to the next level. I had brought this up before, but he hadn’t really dug into it, focusing more on Aoyin’s Fang and dealing with that.

“It is a decent plan. And you have an elder of the Imperial Sect, and a deal with a family in Imperial City. Also, the funds to see it through. I will ask for ten percent of the profits. In exchange, I will dispatch five members and an elder to support your operations in Imperial City,” the Sect Leader offered.

“That seems like quite a bit of support, and the percentage?” I asked, not understanding what he was bringing to the table.

“It would ensure there would be no long-term issues. The mortals could run things, but the transportation of the ore needs to be protected. It would also allow the Cloudy Moon Sect to insure your investment is protected, while also allowing the sect to create an embassy of sorts in Imperial City.”

I hated giving up even more, but there was no choice. I couldn’t say no with how much the Sect Leader was helping me. I needed him to get a cut as well, so the sect would continue to support my antics. What was left unsaid, was that it would tie me to the sect, and create broader support once the Sect Leader died. He was aging, which meant he didn’t have much time left.

While it was aggravating to be put into this position, the weak had no power to object if the strong decided to step on them. I had hired Zheng Ting. I had gotten the funding. I had arranged the other backers. Now the Sect Leader was coming in at the last minute and taking another bite out of my business.

“Very well, I would like to speak with the elder and the members who are headed out, so there are no misunderstandings,” I replied.

“I would expect nothing less. I will set up a meeting in a couple of days with you to go over who I will recommend. I will find people who won’t make a mess of things,” the Sect Leader said and I nodded at this.

“Yes Master,” I replied.

“That just leaves the two last treasures,” he said.

“I inquired about them in Imperial City. Unfortunately, these aren’t the type of items that go up for sale. Still, I did learn that null metal, is metal untouched by the energy of the heavens and the earth. It is incredibly rare to find any,” I replied.

“Indeed. The biggest issue with such a thing, is that such metal is very easily contaminated. Finding it is impossible for cultivators.”

“There is a special mine, that carefully extracts minute quantities. But it is under control of the Blazing Sun Sect,” I replied.

“A huge hurdle to overcome. It won’t be something they easily export like a red sun rose. And the focusing crystal?” he asked.

“A large clear diamond, cut at specific angles. The issue is the purity needed, and the energy imparted into such an item. There have been attempts to manufacture one, but they lack the focusing property that makes them so valuable,” I replied.

“Any leads?” he asked me.

“No. But there are diamond mines in the Sky Peaks, under the control of the Sky Peak Sect. A mid-rank sect, that is under the Imperial Sect. There have been two focusing crystals that have come out of diamonds from their mines. I just need to get a diamond from them, and then find a master to cut it,” I replied.

“That could work, but again it won’t be cheap. I am glad you had the idea for your business. Sending you out into the Firmament is not something I want to do until you can learn techniques at the very least. But if there is another path forward for the third stage that would be best.”

It felt good to be able to work through these issues with the Sect Leader. Like a teacher guiding me along my path and supporting me. Sure, there were issues and setbacks, but that was part of life. I couldn’t and shouldn’t complain.

Just thinking about Wen Xue, sure his path was easier, but he would struggle later on and never reach immortality. That much I knew. While there were many cultivators out there, there were only six known immortals. That meant the standard methods didn’t work.

I had asked about this, but it came down to a limitation of resources and techniques. It wasn’t so much about everyone reaching immortality, but making each stage a bit easier.

If there was a method found to make the first bottleneck more efficient, then that would allow more cultivators to eventually reach the eighth stage of cultivation and attempt to break through to immortality.

In full, it was about making each stage easier with limited resources. Someone like me who came along taking up all the resources in their path, was the opposite of the mindset the high ranking sects had been trying to cultivate for millennia. They wanted to increase the pool of candidates and make cultivation more efficient. They didn’t want to create super cultivators stuffed to the brim with special items.

That was the understanding the Sect Leader had passed onto me, and it felt right as far as I could tell. Regardless of what other people might do, my path was set. I needed to keep moving forward and aim to get the resources I needed.

The good news was that the polarity path of cultivation, and the resources for that, could be put off until the end of the third stage. There was no rush there. The null metal and the focusing crystal would be needed right away.

While I could carve out a meridian and a partial channel, through the six-fold valves up to Liu Chen’s valve design, stopping partway was not a good idea. They would then be attuned once completed. Technically a cultivator didn’t have to attune their channels and meridians until they were all carved out, but that just added in more time. So, most did it concurrently.

If I had to travel, I wouldn’t have that luxury. I wouldn’t be able to sit inside a specialty built chamber and attune my channels and meridians as I carved them. It would increase my workload, but I couldn’t just sit around like everyone else in the sect.

There would be an area of greater resistance, which would be hard to break. Still, it might be worthwhile, since I couldn’t afford to slow down in the slightest. That was still an issue that hadn’t been fully worked out either.

There was no good answer, since having as many channels and meridians as I did would be insane. I just had to aim to go as fast as possible to carve them out to reach the fourth stage.