Calculating Cultivation

It had taken months of travel, but I was at one of the cities the Flame Sect controlled. Fu Shirong was next to me looking about as well. Thankfully I had been able to charter a carriage to make the trip from a coastal city to this one.

I looked up at the building that represented the Flame Sects control and administration of the city. Ten stories tall, far taller than the other nearby buildings. I didn’t sense anyone with energy. An attendant immediately came over.

“I am Cultivator Yuan Zhou of the Heavenly Alliance and I have come for directions to the Flame Sect to speak with the Sect Master,” I imperiously declared. The attendant got a lot more nervous at that.

“And what stage of cultivation are you?”

“Above the Nascent Soul stage,” I replied calmly while the attendant’s eyes went even wider than their already wide natural state. “How long until someone can come speak with me, or I can head to the Flame Sect directly.”

“Esteemed cultivator, allow me to send word. The Flame Sect will immediately dispatch someone to the city to meet with you.”

“And how long will this take? While I don’t mind waiting a few days, anything longer and I will be quite annoyed,” I replied.

“I will stress urgency, but I cannot say for certain. At least three days, at most seven esteemed cultivator,” the attendant replied.

“Annoying. I will wait then.” I went over to where there were some chairs against the wall and sat down. “You can go find a room and do whatever,” I waved off Fu Shirong.

“Esteemed cultivator, are you going to wait here?” the attendant asked nervously.

“Yes. I would hurry up and send out a message.” The attendant gave me a look and then left. The guards in the entry room looked at me but didn’t do anything.

“You are causing trouble again Master,” Fu Shirong said.

“I desire answers and to see a nexus these sects supposedly have myself. Go make yourself useful and figure out which direction the Flame Sect is located,” I said. Fu Shirong left the building and I remained seated, with my wide brim hat concealing my face.

I settled in for a wait. I was being incredibly difficult, but the Flame Sect should have kept cultivators in the city to handle situations like this, not left the job to a mortal. The sects were surprisingly reclusive. That was when I picked up on someone approaching who had energy. I guess my display did get whomever was here excited.

There was no way a Sect would leave a city unguarded. A cultivator entered the room. They had more energy that Cultivator Han had, but nothing alarming. They were still far below me. They were also fairly old.

I stood up. “I am Cultivator Yuan Zhou of the Heavenly Alliance. I wish to speak with someone from the Flame Sect.”

“Core Formation Elder Ling of the Flame Sect. What business do you have with us?” he asked.

“An exchange. I wish to visit your nexus and to look through your library. In exchange, I would be willing to answer questions you might have,” I replied. Cultivator Ling let out a scoff at my request.

“And why don’t you ask us to put our heads on a chopping block in order to be removed as well. You are asking for the core secrets and foundation of our sect,” he countered harshly.

“You can if you want to. But I am asking nicely first. If you are an elder, you and your sect has no chance against me in combat. Can’t you even sense the massive gap between us?” I asked.

“I can, which makes me wonder why you are even asking for such basic things when you are further ahead in your cultivation.” That was a good question, and I had a good answer.

“So, you don’t recognize the name Heavenly Alliance? The Forever City?” I asked but there was just confusion. “To put it simply, I use a different cultivation system than you, your sect, or anyone else here in the Great World. I desire to learn exactly how your cultivation functions before I continue on my journey to the Great Desert.”

“You claim your cultivation is a different system? Impossible. Our methods have been honed for generations. You mean you have a different method of cultivating, everyone does,” Cultivator Ling replied. I shook my head at that statement and removed my hat. I could see the shock on his weird face as he looked at me.

“I am from beyond the Great World as you call this place. I do not need or plan to take anything. I do not prefer to resort to violence. But I am beyond any cultivator your sect has, unless you have an individual beyond the Nascent Soul stage?” I asked. The lack of a response was a response in of itself.

“This is a matter that must be decided by the Sect Leader. Once I have an answer I will inform you. As long as you remain in the city, I will be able to locate you,” Cultivator Ling said.

“I will be here along with my apprentice, junior,” I replied. While Fu Shirong might have been annoying, he had accompanied me this far. I left the building since this clearly was meant as a dismissal. I was annoyed. I had bowed and scraped to my seniors, where was the bowing and scraping now? That last word was a dig at the visibly older cultivator and his disrespect. As I exited the building, my hat was back in place.

If they wanted to treat me poorly, then I would do the same in return. “Done already?” Fu Shirong met up with me outside the building eating some kind of street meat on a stick. While metal might be rare, he did have a cast iron stomach to risk eating street meat.

“After I was disrespected. But perhaps cultivator culture here is lacking in refinement and grace, just like everything else,” I said quite loudly. Several people nearby gave me looks and hurried on their way.

“Well there is a nice hotel, befitting someone of your station. About triple the price of where we would normally stay,” he said.

“So actual beds, instead of lice covered piles of straw?” I asked.

“Exactly. Unless you wanted to go somewhere else?” Fu Shirong asked me. I shook my head.

“Let’s just go to this place and wait. I was told a response would be quick. I will give it a couple of days before I go on a rampage,” I replied.

“Only a couple of days?” Fu Shirong asked me.

“You are right, that is being overly generous, but I am being kind.” This would have been like if an immortal just decided to visit Half Moon City and asked to go see the Cloudy Moon Sect. The cultivators would have scrambled over themselves to complete the requests. Since the very presence of someone that powerful was a grave threat.

Over my travels I had met enough immortals to get used to them, but Yang Heng clearly reminded me of the immense power gap. As cultivators who existed primarily as energy, their ability to command that energy was beyond that of someone who still had their physical body.

That power gap was very real. And unlike technology which might require a massive team, building, or complex, a cultivator could leverage their own power for immense destruction. Compared to the cultivators of the Great World, they were cultivators who had not progressed past the first bottleneck. They were still fundamentally mortals and there was no way I could envision, where they could connect to the astral plane to draw forth more energy.

Perhaps that was the purpose of this place. They wanted to create a cultivator that connected to the Astral Plane from the Mechanical Layer. As we settled into the top suite of the hotel, I considered that idea more closely while ignoring whatever nonsense Fu Shirong was babbling about. This realization was far more important.

What would be the implications if a cultivator could break through in this environment? Their refinement of their body and energy would be immense. The bigger question was how much power would they wield? They would probably be comparable to my three part cultivation if I had to guess.

There was no way to measure something like that, but it was a gut instinct based on all my knowledge and experience. In this environment my control over energy both within and outside my body had improved by quite a bit over the years. If someone spent hundreds of years refining what little energy they had in the same way, they would have unparalleled control. They would also be focusing on their body as well.

I knew enough about the cultivation system of this world to understand they would have progressed to a point where their body was refined with energy. Where even the slightest trace of energy would nourish their bodies.

Yang Heng had explained that at the higher levels, it was energy mastery and reserves that normally decided the outcome of any battle. As cultivators, our energy mastery was already high, even higher in our specific area that we focused on a concept, mine was force. Even my unique vision and sense of energy was far more common at the higher levels of cultivation, since immortals were naturally in tune with energy as energy-based lifeforms.

If one of these cultivators did somehow break through, which should be impossible, they would have a huge advantage in their energy mastery compared to me. Even with all the practice I had put in while traveling, there was still room for improvement and progression.

And if one of those cultivators managed to get through the second bottleneck, they would be perfectly in tune with their new nature. Perhaps there would not even be a bottleneck, since their body would naturally transform into an energy-based form of existence over time, with their massive control.

If they went down to the Firmament, the amount of energy they would be able to control would be immense. So immense, they might just explode. I wasn’t entirely sure about that since their control would be very good. It was one thing that immortals constantly worked on, their control and retention of energy.

I didn’t think it was possible, but another cultivation society had come up with a cultivation system that front loaded more problems for greater rewards later on. It would also be wrong to call the breakthrough after the Nascent Soul stage they had comparable to one of my bottlenecks. If anything it was most likely bottleneck zero. The difference between me and these cultivators was even more exaggerated.

If we were really two breakthroughs apart, that would have been the distance between me and immortals while I had been cultivating. I had not fought against a wide range of opponents, so my ability to measure strength was off. These people were very far below me. To such an extent, that it was a bit silly.

Adding an additional bottleneck in order to create a superior cultivator. The idea would be stupid, if it wasn’t possible. If it was possible, then this place would create an existence that would shake the super-organizations of the Firmament.

Make energy beyond rare, so that way cultivators learn not to waste a single speck, not even a mote or a drop, a speck. Motes and drops were actual cultivation measurements, speck was my new term for the smallest fit of energy a human being could theoretically leverage. These people needed to hold onto each and every speck.

Then if they broke through past their Nascent Soul stage, I wasn’t sure. The amount of energy and resources needed to build a foundation in one’s soul at the highest level was only achievable by people like myself who were trapped on a path of cultivation and managed to succeed or the Heavenly Alliance itself and cultivators like Yang Heng.

It was an immense undertaking if it were true. I didn’t see how this place would generate any useful resources. Without metal, there was no technological development either. If there were metal, I could have seen attempts to meld cultivation and technology in a more harmonious manner. Instead this place was a pressure cooker, designed to create a specific type of cultivator.

I still hadn’t worked out all the steps. I had seen cultivators already and worked out how they came into being and their cultivation system. But beyond that, it was a mystery. Even if they did cross over the first bottleneck, unless they had access to a lot of energy, their cultivation would be sub-par.

The crazy part was, when you had infinite time, as long as something was possible it would eventually happen. The human beings in this bubble had expanded far enough that it would take around 20 generations to reach the Great Desert from my current location.

Everyone knew about the Great Desert and how to navigate the Great World based on the angle to the Life Light. But that kind of massive distance was something they had not internalized. Even for me, it was hard to understand how massive this place truly was. Even the continent I grew up on, would be a speck of dust compared to this place. The continent had used illusions to generate the appearance of a sun circling a world.

This place had an actual star up in the sky. No doubt there were protections in place to stop radiation, gravity, and other forces from acting on these people in an adverse way. Well not everything, since their eyes were bigger, and their skin was translucent. Most likely that genetic drift was either started or occurred at the start of this place. While their might be some drift over time with certain groups, the population already intermingled enough that a large shift would most likely never occur.

The population had already reached the optimal state for the environment they were in. Perhaps people closer to the Life Light might have less translucent skin and big eyes, since there would be more heat and light. While there would be intermingling, there would be genetic clusters, where people changed slowly the further one traveled Edgewards.

“You have been deep in thought for a while now, figure something out?” Fu Shirong asked. I looked up at him.

“I realized a fundamental truth about this place. The cultivators here are so far below me that it isn’t even funny,” I replied. I was not about to explain how his entire life was part of a grand experiment to create a unique kind of cultivator. There were other explanations, but this place was built, and that meant everything on a macro scale was designed in some way to have a specific purpose.

“Really? You are already insanely strong from what I have seen. The gap is even bigger?” he asked.

“It is a difference in starting points and the cultivation systems that we use. The cultivators here, use the cultivation system of the Great World. I use the cultivation system of the Heavenly Alliance. I didn’t realize how far apart our starting points were until just now. I knew before, but I had an epiphany.” Fu Shirong knew that I came from outside the Great World, which was why I wanted information on the cultivation used here.

“Could I learn your cultivation?” he asked.

“Like I said before. There are not enough resources, and the fundamental nature of reality would not allow my cultivation system to work properly here. Even if I wished to, there would be nothing I could do. Better to see how cultivation works in the Great World first,” I said, and Fu Shirong let out a sigh. I knew he had tagged along with me in hopes of becoming a cultivator. The sects were incredibly insular and rarely accepted outsiders. I was his best hope to become an immortal and step on the path of cultivation.

No one could alter reality and how it was layered. Even things that broke the rules could not break that rule. Energy could bend it, allowing travel, but couldn’t break it. Reality was layered like a cake and that wasn’t about to change any time soon. Infinitely sized layers in all directions with bubbles of reality, but still layers.

Creating bubbles of separate reality like this Great World, was a way for a being or a super-organization to play god. Since time was infinite, it was just a matter of creating a system that would produce the desired outcome eventually. Even if it took trillions upon trillions of years, the only risk was external influence disrupting things.

One had to way the chance of achieving one’s goal versus something external interfering with the process. The odds of someone like me coming to the Great World were beyond small. So small, that it wasn’t even worth calculating anymore.

You needed a cultivator who had managed their first breakthrough but not their second, not get recruited by the Heavenly Alliance, and somehow make it all the way out here in a craft capable of transversing the distance while avoiding things that would have killed me.

While each step on my journey was just building off of the previous one, at this point, it had compounded massively to create this unlikely situation. Where a being that could draw on energy, but wasn’t energy based could survive in this bubble. Yang Heng calling this place a trap, took on new meaning in light of these discoveries as well.

The draining of any energy, would make it hard for an energy based immortal cultivator to function. There was no need for an elaborate defense, when anything that used energy would suffer greatly. I had no doubt that the massive ring would do something to beings or organizations with a more technological bent.

In a war between technology and energy, neither one was superior to the other, they both had their own strengths and weaknesses. But this place clearly was at the top of the energy manipulation spectrum based on the large ring and the energy suppressive environment. To target such a place with technology, it would have to be on the level of a replicator.

I had run into replicators before arriving here. Could they have been forced to change course by this place? That could be possible. As for us getting through the defenses, we were in a tiny hovercraft that used energy and was based on human cultivators using it. If someone came to check on this place, they would use something similar most likely. And what small craft would risk angering a large super-organization that didn’t fear death.

Individuals who were desperate, like myself and Yang Heng. Beings like the Ek would have turned around and headed in the opposite direction the moment they caught sight of this place. Those beings who were weak, understood their weakness and cowered away in places that were overlooked by others.

Time passed as I waited for a response from the Flame Sect. Day after day passed, but I was content to wait for now. Once it hit a week, I was annoyed, but would continue to wait. Ten days had passed by the time I finally got a response.

Cultivator Ling came to my room along with two other cultivators. He was clearly subordinate to one of them who was stronger and had a nicer robe. I didn’t even bother to get up. Fu Shirong stood off to the side and behind me, while I lounged in my chair sipping wine. The cultivators frowned since I clearly made no move to rise or greet them. Since they had disrespected me, I would return that disrespect in kind.

“I am Vice Leader Tan of the Nascent Soul realm.” I my guess appeared to be on point. They were two bottlenecks beneath me.

“I am Cultivator Yuan Zhou of the Heavenly Alliance. I have come here to look over the cultivation methodologies of your Flame Sect and to see a nexus for myself.”

“And if we decline?” the Vice Leader asked.

“Do you think you have a chance against me? I am asking nicely since I don’t like violence, but I am far above you. Cultivator Ling must have explained that,” I countered.

“I cannot see through your cultivation. While unlikely it could be a trick of some kind,” Vice Leader Tan replied. I moved and was quickly behind the Flame Sect cultivators with my sword drawn. They struggled to keep up with me as they spun around.

“That should be enough proof that I am not lying,” I replied. The Vice Leader let out a sigh.

“Junior greets senior,” he said and bowed deeply along with his two subordinates. That was more like it.

“Senior greets junior,” I replied and inclined my head slightly while putting away my sword. They straightened back up.

“A carriage has been made ready for you and your disciple. The Flame Sect will receive you with honors,” Vice Leader Tan replied. That was the nice thing about cultivation culture if you were strong. People bowed their heads if you had the necessary power. No one wanted to get involved in pointless fighting.

“Perhaps you can accompany me and we can discuss various topics,” I suggested to Vice Leader Tan. He smiled a bit at that and the tension left the room.

“I would be honored to receive advice from an esteemed cultivator such as yourself. Please, follow me,” he said. Fu Shirong and I followed him out of the hotel and onto a carriage that had been made ready. A shame there were no flying tools that were available.

“I will be generous, a question for a question, you may go first. If I don’t wish to answer I will say so, and you can ask again,” I said once we had sat down.

“Thank you senior. I would ask how you managed to breakthrough the Nascent Soul realm to the Soul Enlightenment Realm?” So that was the name of their next stage.

“Our starting points and available resources are quite different. I started at the Soul Enlightenment Realm as you refer to it.” The shock on the man’s face was immense. Even Fu Shirong appeared to be shocked as well. He knew I was strong and my background, but it was really hitting home for him at the moment.

“I suspect that the goal of the bottleneck is to actually create a soul based on the names. A soul based on energy, which you can further build your cultivation off of,” I said and the Vice Leader quickly nodded.

“That is indeed the case,” he said. While there might be many systems and paths, cultivation was still cultivation. The bottlenecks were the same across every being that cultivated. While some might have an easier time than others, they would not change.

For the mortals of the continent, having souls and being able to cultivate was a clear sign of how abundant resources and energy were. While they might not cultivate that far, the base level of the cultivation culture was much higher than this place. If someone started a cultivation society in the Astral Plane, how far would they be able to go? Was there a fourth bottleneck for immortals? Yang Heng had not mentioned something like that, but I had never thought to ask.

“I would guess that the energy in your body would have to be high enough to cross some kind of threshold.” The Vice Leader nodded slowly at this. “As for what that amount is, I cannot say. That is one of the many things I plan to look up while visiting the Flame Sect, how cultivation is done at the lower stages. As for my question, what is the history of the Great World and the Great Desert?”

“Myths and legends. Some elder cultivators will make a pilgrimage towards the Great Desert once their health begins to decline or they can advance no more. It is said that human civilization was birthed in the Great Desert eons ago and we have spread Edgewards ever since.” I listened intently as Vice Leader Tan continued.

“It is said that the greatest of cultivators exist in some Great Sect that stands above all others at the center of the Great World. But I cannot speak to such things. Our Flame Sect is a branch from the Roaring Mountain Sect that broke off over five thousand years ago once a nexus point was found. Beyond that there are myths and legends, but they speak more like a fairy tail than an actual story.”

“Annoying, very annoying,” I said with a sigh. Well it looked like my trip to the Great Desert was just delayed, not cancelled.

“Since you asked, this Heavenly Alliance, must not be Lifewards, could you have come from Edgewards, another Great World?” the Vice Leader asked.

“I am from beyond the Great World. The Heavenly Alliance is a super-organization and the immortals in charge are as much beyond me, as I am beyond you. I was stranded here by accident and have spent quite a bit of time traveling from the Edge of the Great World, only recently running into civilization and discovering there are other cultivators here. Hence my curiosity about your cultivation system.”

“I…I am afraid to ask, but what lies beyond the Soul Enlightenment realm?” Vice Leader Tan asked nervously.

“You must construct your cultivation inside your soul with the next bottleneck, being to open a path to the Astral Plane to continuously draw in energy. The bottleneck after that is to transition from your physical body to a body composed of energy. Beyond that, I could not say, but there are higher order powers involved, like fate, karma and other such concepts.”

“I am but a frog in the well,” the Vice Leader muttered. “Centuries of cultivation, and I am stuck.” I didn’t say anything. That was the problem with the truth. It would either motivate you more, or destroy your motivation.

While knowing the path ahead was important, with how long a journey it would be, it was despair inducing. I didn’t want to say anything, but I had been in the same position so long ago, asking for answers. If I had known how much of a hassle everything would have been, I might not have taken the path of cultivation.

Here before me was someone who had spent a tremendous amount of time and they weren’t even at my starting point. While they would have an advantage once they got past this precursor bottleneck, it would still be a long journey.

Just based on the questions, even if one of these people did break through, they would not have the resources or ability to progress further in an optimal manner. It would make sense if this was a feeder ground for a super-organization like the Heavenly Alliance. If someone breaks through, take them and train them up.

Perhaps they needed to progress further or reach this Great Sect in the Great Desert. The naming convention of this place was not that impressive. At least the Forever City had a name that just slapped you in the face and made you take notice. If anything, this place should be called Ripple World, instead of the Great World, with how the changes in the terrain were like giant ripples extending from the center of this bubble.

There were more questions than ever the more I learned, but I would be capable of getting answers unlike Vice Leader Tan. He was stuck with his current situation with no way to change things. While he could look to me for guidance, I didn’t have the resources of willingness to help him out. I would chat with him, but it would just be depressing as he quickly found out.

While I might dislike the Forever City and the Heavenly Alliance, it had provided me a place to grow my cultivation and progress. If I had been born in this Great World, I doubted I would have gotten anywhere. Even with my knowledge and reincarnation, I was only so skilled. While that might have given me a boost at the start, cultivation was open to everyone on the continent.

Here cultivation was limited to the sects due to this nexus. I was more interested than ever in seeing it. I had no more questions that couldn’t be answered in person and Vice Leader Tan was ruminating over what I had told him. I suspected he might give up in the near future. While it wouldn’t be anything dramatic, he would live his life instead of focusing on his cultivation.

The gap he had to cross to become an immortal cultivator was beyond the difference of Heaven and Earth. It was so massive as to be impossible. That was why there had to be something at the center of this world and I was even more interested in what one of these nexus points represented. If they could be found, then perhaps I could figure out how to protect my own energy.

I also felt a bit guilty. If I had carried Yang Heng with me from the crash sight, then I could have stuffed him into a nexus and he would most likely recover to some degree. If he had his power back, I had no doubt it would have been easy to escape this situation. But dragging my immortal senior through the wilderness and into risky situations did not seem like a good idea at the time.

It would be easier to go back than go forward. But it would take up a lot more time and I had to find him again. That would not be easy to find him at the Edge on the side of a Super Mountain in sight of the Turbulent Ocean. There was also no guarantee he would be able to fix things or wake up either.

There were no good options. Regardless, I was here, and I would take a look at this nexus and then I would look into the exact cultivation system that was in use. Once I had completed that, I would make a determination in which direction I planned to travel. I was leaning more towards the Great Desert. While I liked Yang Heng and trusted him, there was no guarantee he would wake up and be able to solve this crisis. It was better if I went to the Great Desert and investigate myself.

Hopefully the nexus would find a way for me to draw upon more energy or the techniques of the Flame Sect would allow me to use energy more efficiently. Age was a real concern, especially in this type of environment. There was a sense of urgency about me to get things done sooner rather than later.

I didn’t mind waiting for a while to get a reply from the Flame Sect, since if I became aggressive, then things would take a turn for the worse and become much harder. I would solve one immediate problem to create several more. Better to give these cultivators a glimpse of the path beyond their limited understanding in exchange for practical information that I would be able to use in order to enhance my energy efficiency and perhaps my longevity.

In the past I had put togeather different paths of cultivation and it worked out great. I had stumbled on the hidden cultivation method of the inner part of the Heavenly Alliance. Taking a completely different system and mashing it on type of my cultivation couldn’t make things any worse. At least I hoped so.