Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 88 - 87: Cultivation Methods

"Are you really planning to establish a Sect?" After listening to Chen Xuan’s account, Liu Shuyue couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

"Yes, I’ve even thought of the name." Chen Xuan confirmed, "It’s called Heaven and Earth, Only I am Venerable Sect."

"Pfft!" Lin Qing, who was beside him, directly sprayed her tea everywhere.

"Heaven and Earth... Only I am Venerable..." Liu Shuyue murmured, "What a domineering name."

"What kind of domineering is this? It’s more like overbearing." Lin Qing couldn’t help but roll her eyes repeatedly, "If you make that name into a plaque and hang it out, I bet those cultivators will be waiting to laugh at you!"

"Exactly, that’s the effect the Envoy Team wants, isn’t it?" Chen Xuan replied casually.

Since the Immortal Alliance promised him a stage to showcase, he had to attract as much attention as possible in the shortest time. Essentially, this was planning a large-scale advertising event, and undoubtedly the Sect name was the first thing people would see.

"The Sect is already established, I’m now inviting you to join." He reached out to Liu Shuyue.

"So fast!" Lin Qing was astonished.

"Huh?" Liu Shuyue froze for a moment before showing a very conflicted expression, "But I’m already a disciple of the Lotus Cloud Sect... Joining two sects in such a manner goes against common sense and is a grave violation. If my master finds out..."

It was evident that her moral standards were really high, but Chen Xuan could also see that she was hesitating whether to agree.

"First, he definitely won’t know. The two worlds are different, could he still come to the Immortal Alliance to catch you?"

"Second, you don’t need to formally take me as master. Your position is instructor, we’re considered on the same level."

"Third, once this commission is completed, I’ll dissolve the Sect, so you won’t suffer any moral condemnation internally."

Chen Xuan rambled on without pause.

"Actually, the manager just wants you to lead the people who come in afterwards in cultivation." Lin Qing mumbled, "Anyway, he doesn’t understand cultivation at all, if he truly establishes a sect, it’ll be exposed instantly."

"You’re talking too much."

"Hehe, I’ll go refill your tea." She slipped away to the bar straight away.

"In that case... I’ll just hold the title then." Liu Shuyue seemed to have overcome great psychological resistance, and finally whispered, "But I might not be able to teach other disciples."

"It doesn’t matter, in fact, there might not be other disciples. Even though participating in the competition requires ten disciples, the Immortal Alliance doesn’t regulate where these disciples come from, you can bring some people out from Hot Pepper Village just the same."

"Yeah, villagers can become disciples!" Hearing Chen Xuan say this, she suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, but then worriedly asked, "But are they competent enough? Even the members of the Hunting Team are only at the level of Loose Cultivators."

"Don’t worry about that, I’ve sensed with Celestial Mist Skill, the Immortal Alliance Governor’s Spiritual Qi intensity is three to four times higher than mine, but still not as powerful as you."

"Are you certain?" Liu Shuyue was somewhat doubtful.

Because purely judging by Spiritual Qi level, Chen Xuan was about the same class as Fu Jiaolu.

Among Lotus Cloud Sect disciples, that’s considered unworthy.

Of course, Chen Xuan wasn’t relying on Spiritual Qi for a livelihood.

"Yes, and he’s already the highest level among the attending cultivators." He confirmed.

After all, the Governor was pushed by the Immortal Alliance to coordinate inter-sect conflicts, managing administrative work takes up much cultivation time, so Sect Leaders and the top geniuses of sects definitely wouldn’t come. This position is usually held by sect elders, their strength might not be weak, but they’re still not the absolute top, they excel more in network or management.

In other words, Unclear Wine Hermit can be regarded as a middle-value benchmark.

The participants of the Sect competition mainly include new recruits from each sect, every cultivator only has one chance to participate, it’s impossible for them all to have a level comparable to the elders of Ascension Platform.

Thus, the strength of the Hot Pepper Village Hunting Team members is sufficient.

Moreover, regarding the currently observed situation by Chen Xuan, although the Immortal Alliance has a large number of Qi Sensing Men and Cultivators, their overall level is quite average.

Of course this is also very normal, considering the same period in Europe, the Witch Gathering Hall there just began to emerge, with political status slightly improved, from being persecuted everywhere to human rights becoming normal, thanks largely to Joan’s efforts during this time.

While in the East, cultivator forces had grown at least large enough to change dynasties according to their wishes.

If this trend continues, there will eventually be a qualitative change after quantitative changes.

Chen Xuan suddenly thought of an unresolved question, "By the way, what is the principle behind cultivation? As long as one can sense Qi, do they just keep getting stronger?"

Lin Qing perked up and leaned in with a teapot, "I also want to know."

"Hmm... this is indeed a typical outsider’s view, but this guess is actually correct." Liu Shuyue’s first words greatly surprised Chen Xuan, "Qi is the spirit of life, so when a person can draw Qi into their body, they have already undergone a qualitative change. Even if they do nothing from then on, their strength, reaction, and health levels will diverge from ordinary people."

"But for cultivators, this is just the beginning. The so-called cultivation is essentially about how to obtain more spiritual Qi and how to better utilize it. In this process, one’s body is constantly tempered and strengthened by the Qi, just like steel needs countless tempering and forging to be born."

"And the ultimate goal of cultivation is to transcend the mundane and attain immortality."

"Wow." Lin Qing couldn’t help but exclaim.

Liu Shuyue waved her hand, slightly embarrassed, "This is just the theoretical state taught by the master, but in reality, no one has ever reached it. After all, we are mere mortals, with lifespans less than a hundred years, so talking about immortality is a bit too arrogant."

"Then what’s the relationship between cultivation and Demon Fiends?" Chen Xuan asked.

"Demon Fiends?"

"Yes... I’m a bit puzzled by the Immortal Alliance’s reaction. They seem quite interested in the news about many Demon Fiends appearing."

Liu Shuyue thought for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "Those cultivators wouldn’t be planning to absorb the Demon Fiends’ spiritual Qi to strengthen themselves, would they!"

"Is that even possible?" Chen Xuan immediately sat up straight.

"It’s possible... but it’s very primitive and has more disadvantages than advantages. Even loose cultivators rarely use this method." She was quite puzzled and gave an example, "Hot Pepper Village is actually such a case. After being bathed in dragon blood, they absorbed the Great Demon’s spirit Qi, allowing the villagers to break through that threshold. As for slaying the dragon, it was the only choice available at the time; survival was the primary goal, and they couldn’t care about anything else. Their future limits will inevitably not be high, even if they spend their entire lives cultivating; it will be difficult to surpass the level of a Lotus Cloud Sect disciple when they first leave the Sect."

"Why is that?" Chen Xuan’s curiosity grew.

Could it be that spiritual Qi is divided into righteous Qi and evil Qi?

"You don’t think spiritual Qi is just air, the same for anyone who intakes it, right?" Liu Shuyue sighed, "This is basic knowledge of cultivation: the soul, spirit, Qi, thought, and body of a person are complementary and influence each other. The spiritually refined Qi of Demon Fiends naturally carries the soul, will, and flesh of Demon Fiends... it’s only natural that there would be conflicts."

"I can understand this simple method of cultivation, like people need to eat meat to live—obtaining survival energy from other life forms is the cycle of natural law. So, obtaining spiritual Qi from other species rich in spiritual Qi seems justifiable. But by this logic, wouldn’t killing your kind also become a form of cultivation?"

"Isn’t it?" Lin Qing jumped onto the sofa with her legs crossed.

"Of course not!" Liu Shuyue said with an unusually serious expression, "Demon Fiends are chaotic entities with not very strong consciousness, so their impact on humans is lesser. But absorbing another’s spiritual Qi could result in losing one’s humanity at best, or birthing an inner demon at worst!"

Chen Xuan felt his knowledge of cultivation was rapidly increasing, "Didn’t you say earlier that inner demons come from the accumulation of impurities in spiritual Qi?"

"I did say that, but the practice of absorbing natural spiritual Qi takes a long time to reach the bottleneck of inner demons, while absorbing spiritual Qi refined by others will significantly accelerate this process." Liu Shuyue said seriously, "One could even assume that a cultivator who reaches a bottleneck by absorbing another’s Qi will have an inner demon stronger than themselves. Moreover, the stronger one’s abilities, the greater this disparity."

"Got it, so killing cultivators is permissible, but absorbing their Qi isn’t."

"Uh... That’s not what I meant..." She was at a loss for words, "Needless killing is also unacceptable!"

"Alright, alright, since absorbing from Demon Fiends isn’t permissible, how do the Lotus Cloud Sect cultivators practice?"

"Naturally, by using the Heart Method to absorb the free qi between heaven and earth, the purer the Qi, the higher the degree of fusion with the cultivator."

Hearing Liu Shuyue’s response, a thought suddenly popped into Chen Xuan’s mind: absorbing the Qi of one’s kind is the most dangerous, using Demon Fiends comes second, because the self-consciousness of humans far outweighs that of Demon Fiends. Then where do the impurities in free Qi come from? Could they be carried by microorganisms invisible to the naked eye?

To achieve truly pure and flawless Qi, wouldn’t it be best to cultivate in a vacuum?

Regrettably, for now, he had no means of verifying this idea.

Chen Xuan asked another question, "If everyone uses the same Heart Method, will their cultivation speeds be consistent?"

"How could that be possible, there are no two identical people in the world, nor will there be completely consistent souls, bodies, or thoughts, so the refinement efficiency varies from person to person." Liu Shuyue patiently explained, "In reality, what influences this the most is thought, i.e., a person’s thoughts and will. The so-called ’Dao Heart’ frequently mentioned by cultivators actually refers to this. Why do Lotus Cloud Sect disciples need to venture out, slay demons, and comfort the people? At its core, it is to temper their hearts. Otherwise, everyone would just sit in the meditation room; there’d be no need to go out and experience the world."

"I see." Chen Xuan was suddenly enlightened, "So the Ten-Mile Slope Sword God doesn’t work."

"What’s that?" Liu Shuyue blinked. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"A legend, you don’t need to be concerned with it." He immediately decided, "Let’s establish the sect right here in Chang’an City!"