What do you mean I'm a cultivator?-Chapter 17

The stone steps of the Falling Star Sect stretched before him, an endless climb that seemed to challenge his very resolve. unlike going down, this would prove to be quite the effort, as the steps were quite big, Almost twice the size of regular steps. Probably just for a show of luxury for any visitors, now turned into a nightmare for Jiang Cheng, as his teen body needed to almost hop each step.

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As Jiang Cheng began his ascent, counting each step methodically at first, he thought pf just how he walked up this when he was brought in the sect. More than likely, this probably took him more than a day. perhaps multiple. maybe that's why the resting spots were built into the steps. One thousand... two thousand... five thousand... By the time he reached ten thousand, his mental count began to blur, the numbers becoming a monotonous rhythm of movement and breath.

Not wanting to use Qi, he settled on the second rest stop. The familiar routine of his journey took over - he pulled out a satiation pill, its bitter taste familiar and unpleasant. Cheng didn't think he'd ever get used to the taste.

Water from his flask washed it down, the cool liquid a welcome relief against the day's slight exertion.

Despite walking ten thousand steps, he wasn't really tired. Hell ,If he used up all his Qi, he could probably scale the around thirty thousand steps in no less than a hour. But that was a unnecessary waste of Qi.

A brief rest, and then he was moving again. The steps continued their relentless climb, but his cultivation-enhanced body pushed forward. The outer sect gradually came into view, its familiar structures a welcome sight after his long journey. Of course, then he grimaced slightly as he knew he'd have to start working the menial daily jobs for at least a few days, as no disciple could take mission after mission, but could only take one after three days of "rest".

At the outer pavilion, Jiang Cheng began the process of returning his borrowed equipment. The routine was mechanical. Each item carefully logged by the Elder stationed there, each piece of equipment checked and returned to its proper place.

To his relief, the Elder seemed disinterested in his additional findings - the extra herbs carefully hidden in his robes, as well as the wooden carvings tucked away in his satchel.

A bit of time later, Cheng approached the desks next to the mission board, where a small jade slip awaited him, permanently his, as the senior disciple working on the desk, instructed him to prick his finger with the needle provided, needing to enhance it with Qi beforehand, as the metal needle wouldn't prick his finger without significant effort otherwise, and drop a drop of blood on it, binding it to him.

Ten contribution points, plus the additional points from his efficient herb gathering.

The process of the slip binding to him self weird. He could instantly sense it. Not only that, he could tell the number of contribution points it had in it. How was this possible? was this some kind of artifact? did Qi play a big role in it? or was this some special jade that could hold information like this.

Because unlike the wooden boards he had used to learn the written language, this almost felt like a computer program. What a weird thought. What was a computer supposed to be anyways? damn these stupid thoughts.

The gathering pill clinked softly as it was handed to him, falling out of the ceramic pill bottle, housing lots of them. The second reward of his mission.

Finally, he made his way back to his cabin. The familiar wooden structure, small and somewhat dilapidated, greeted him. As he settled onto his well-worn meditation mat, a groan escaped his lips. In all his careful planning and return, he had forgotten one crucial thing - he needed to cut wood to repair this dingy cabin.

Well, it wasn't that important, as he could mostly ignore the heat and cold by now, thanks to his cultivation base.

The next morning, after finishing his daily assigned tasks, Jiang Cheng made his way toward the Tower of Records. Now that he had access to the second floor, he intended to make full use of it. The air within the tower was still and cool, the scent of aged parchment filling his lungs as he ascended the stairs.

The first floor had been a chaotic mess of basic manuals, their pages worn and ink faded, the books unorganized by disciples not bothering to put them in their original places. Yet even among the chaos, he had stumbled upon a breathing technique that had proven quite useful in teaching more about cultivation to him, speeding up his cultivation by quite a bit.

The second floor, however, was different. While the chaos was still there, it was a bit more organised.

Cheng ran his fingers along the rows of books, scanning their titles. The Way of Harmonized Breath. Three Cycles of Qi Cycling. Essence of Deep Flow Breathing. Each one sounded more profound than the last. Or at least they tried to. Some had really stupid titles, like the Supreme heaven refining breath, a book even worse than the one he had found leftover in the first floor.

As he read, he quickly realized that some of the techniques here were far more complicated than the one he had found on the first floor.

That one had been a simple method to draw Qi into his dantian with Breathing, Unlike the instinctual way he had found to draw The motes of Qi with his perception. These, however, involved multiple stages of refinement, cyclical breathing patterns, and even special postures. Some of them described visualizing the flow of Qi like a river or guiding it with the rhythm of the breath in different ways.

Sure, he had figured some of the things like visualization on his own, but each book had it's own insights, expanding his view of cultivation.

One text, particularly caught his attention. It described a technique that allowed a cultivator to take in Qi in stages, refining it slowly before storing it within the dantian. Unlike his current method, which merely gathered Qi, this technique emphasized efficiency, ensuring that every bit of Qi taken in was properly condensed before being stored.

Essentially, the technique sped up the Concentration of Qi, from the early stage to the mid stage before drawing it in the dantian, as opposed to just absorbing the Qi, and letting it slowly assimilate with the dantian's nature, speeding up the "buffer" time.

For when you absorbed early stage Qi in the mid stage, the less dense Qi would fill up your dantian, needing time to condense on its own, to the mid grade that was the natural state in the dantian of the middle stage Qi condensation, and so on and so forth.

Hours passed as he absorbed the knowledge, sometimes pausing to reread sections that seemed too complex. By the time the sun had started setting outside, Jiang Cheng finally closed the book, rubbing his temples. His mind was buzzing with information, and he knew he would have to practice to make sense of it all.

Reluctantly, he returned the books to their original places, and left the tower. His routine continued as usual the following days.

Menial labor in the outer sect during the day Ranging from the usual tree chopping, making Cheng wonder where the sect was getting so much wood, to bringing water, and his least favorite, cleaning the steps leading out of the sect.

Once darkness fell and the outer sect quieted, Jiang Cheng sat in his cabin, legs crossed as he focused inward. The familiar sensation of Qi in his surroundings became clear to him. Slowly, he began to apply what he had learned. His breathing followed the instructions of the books read, drawing in Qi in carefully measured intakes.

It was much harder than he expected. The method required patience, precision. Each breath had to be controlled, each step completed properly, before moving on to the next.

His previous method had been more instinctive, even with the addition of the first breathing technique he had encountered, but this required more conscious effort on his part. He struggled at first, but by the time the night was deep, he felt the difference. The Qi he had drawn in his dantian felt denser. More refined.

Days blended together in the outer sect, each following a similar pattern. Mornings began with the assigned tasks - chopping wood, carrying water, or cleaning the massive stone steps, among other things.

Jiang Cheng approached these tasks with a methodical efficiency, his cultivator's body making the work much less taxing than it would be for an ordinary person, his cultivation base already making it much easier than it had once been.

During free moments between tasks, he would often find himself studying the other disciples. Some seemed content with their mundane responsibilities, while others burned with an inner ambition that reminded him of himself.

He noticed how some of the older outer sect disciples moved with a practiced grace, their movements hinting at the cultivation techniques they had learned. The funny part, was that despite some of their martial powers, if all that time had been invested in cultivation, perhaps Jiang Cheng wouldn't have passed so many of them during these years.

Eight long years had passed since he awoke here, as a mere child, no more than six or seven years of age. yet during these eight years, he had gone from a normal mortal, to someone aproaching the seventh level of Qi condensation. It was a fast speed all things considered, especially when inner sect disciples had many more advantages over him.

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In the evenings, he would return to the Tower of Records. Each visit became a treasure hunt of knowledge. Some days he would focus on breathing techniques, other days on understanding the subtle nuances of Qi manipulation. The books were a mixed collection - some filled with profound insights, others with flowery language that seemed more about impressing readers than conveying real knowledge.

Especially the Supreme heaven refining breath. It almost felt more like poetry, than Cultivation advice, making him study it more often than he'd like to admit, finding it amusing.

One particular evening, he discovered a text of great importance to him.

It described Cultivation, in a broader space. Giving him insight, in more things that he thought. And as he read the book, he once again realized that he might not be as ordinary as he thought.

The book spoke about the first three cultivation stages. And in a surprising twist of events, Jiang Cheng found out that technically, he was in the second step of Qi cultivation.

Before Qi condensation, there existed one more transitional stage. The Body tempering realm.

Divided in the familiar early to peak stage, it explained that in order for a cultivator to step into Qi condensation, their body ha dto be flooded with Qi. Typically, practitioners would use intense exersise, coupled with ingestion of Qi rich materials, to flood their mortal body with Qi, gradually filling it up.

And when the body was full, the Qi pushed in, had no other place to go, than to enter the dantian, slowly filling it up.

It also explained that Body tempering was not considered a real cultivation stage, but sort of a precursor.

That got Cheng thinking. Why did he get past this precursor stage so fast. He knew his perception was the likely culprit, as he somewhat was able to feel the motes of Qi even before stepping into Qi condensation. But that didnt' answer the question.

Why was it so fast? He didn't consume more pills than the other outer sect disciples. Was his perception that specials?

There had to be something beyond just that. And Cheng had a feeling that it just might be related to his weird thoughts. Those that came from nonexistent memories. Thoughts that felt his own, but he lacked the understanding or memory to form them. As if they were drawn out of his subconscious.

Then came, Qi condensation. He was Quite familiar with that.

Five stages for early, mid and late stages, followed by two for the peak, totaling seventeen. But the book also went into detail about explaining the reason for the existence of the peak stage.

Essentially, When one reached the fifteenth stage, Their dantian was completely full, with no more space for Qi. One could breakthrough right then and there.

But for those hungry for more power, the two following stages focused on pushing the dantian past its limits, cramming more and Qi in it, forcing it to store more, gradually expanding the dantian beyond its limits. This didn't have the qualitive change. the Qi in the dantian didn't get any denser. The practitioner just keeps cramming more and more Qi in the dantian.

This was obviously quite dangerous, as the dantian could implode, directly killing the practitioner, but if A breakthrough was performed in these two stages, the cultivator would find themselves with more Qi to use in the Foundation establishment realm.

That, was the following stage. The second step of cultivation. there wasn't any real info on it, as it was likely taken out of the book, with the information perhaps existing in the inner sect.

But as Cheng speculated, the following stage must have something to do with the So called vessel, or the body of the cultivator. perhaps it was a stage where you would push the vessel way past mortal capabilities?

Jiang Cheng could only speculate and wait. Because sooner than later, he would be there.

The mission board caught Jiang Cheng's eye early that morning, As months had passed since the last time he had taken one, and he felt he had read enough, needing a change of pace, and perhaps more materials to speed up his cultivation.

A new scroll had been pinned, its edges slightly curled, detailing an expedition to the Misty Serpent Mountainrange. The details were precise. A mining caravan needed protection and assistance in clearing out a monster infestation of Jade moles that had taken over the mountain mines.

For once, Jiang felt like smiling, though he squashed that down. he had read up on monsters and what they are. Just like cultivators, Anything living could cultivate.

And monsters, or disaster beasts as they were called in older times, a more archaic way of addressing them, Were nothing more than Animals that had eaten a rich source of Qi, allowing their dantian to awaken, and absorb Qi.

Unlike human cultivators, Monsters absorbed Qi passively, something thought to come from their unintelligent minds, forming a more instinctual cultivation.

He had read this and more in the so called Monster Encyclopedia, a handy book that had some of its contents ripped out, mainly information about the foundation establishment and above, leaving a smaller iteration containing lots of different Qi condensation monsters.

Jade moles as they were called were.... well, moles. in particular, they were formed when a mundane mole consumed a mineral rich in Qi, transforming them into a monster.

Typically jade moles indeed came from ingesting Qi rich jade, as it had a natural property of being Qi conductive, often storing slight amounts of Qi. but like other earth monsters, jade moles could be formed by a Qi rich iron deposit.

Monsters asside, Jiang Cheng turned his attention back to the Mission scroll.

The compensation was generous: Fifty contribution points for each disciple, with additional points for efficient monster clearing and successful caravan protection. More importantly, it promised ten whole Qi gathering pills.

Quite the generous mission, All things considered.

Cheng studied the details carefully. The Misty Serpent Mountains were known for their treacherous terrain and unpredictable geological conditions.

The jade moles were no ordinary creatures. They were said to be capable of moving through stone as if it were water, making them particularly dangerous in mine environments.

Of course, they were not the only monsters in the mountain-range. Things such as earth elementals, or Rock wolves, were quite common, according to the monster encyclopedia.

At the outer pavilion, he methodically collected his equipment, The elder seemingly taking a nap, his eyes closed. Of course that couldn't be further from the truth. Perhaps he was meditating or doing something that Cheng couldn't fathom, as far as he knew.

This time, he got a bit more prepared. Luckily for him, the same sword he had used during his mission was there, untouched, so he nabbed that quickly.

Next, he filled a satchel with satiation pills, and organized the inside of it, putting the small knife found in it in a different compartment, as well as the bandages and whatnot, as the satchels here had just about anything. Despite being mortal items, it seemed that the sect wanted their outer disciples to at least be presentable.

Each item was checked and double-checked, his methodical nature ensuring nothing was left to chance, making sure that he took note of everything in the satchel, making sure he didn't repeat his mistake of taking everything for granted last mission.

The next morning, before dawn, Jiang Cheng descended the sect's stone steps. The cool morning mist clung to the mountain, creating an ethereal landscape.

By the time he reached the meeting point, a wide clearing just beyond the sect's main gates, the first hints of sunrise were painting the sky in muted grays and soft purples.

A large covered wagon stood at the center of the clearing, pulled by what looked like specially bred mountain horses. Sturdy creatures with a slight metallic sheen to their coats, suggesting they'd been enhanced through some cultivation technique.

The caravan leader, a weathered man with sharp eyes and multiple scars, A particularly gruesome one traveling from his forehead, through his eyebrow, nearly on his eye, before ending on his chin, evidence of a blade swing nearly taking his eye.

Seems like he was the first one there, And as he saw the caravan leader cusp his hands and greet him, prompting him to do the same, as he could tell the caravan leader was a cultivator as well, albeit a wandering one.

"I greet Young Hero. My name is Deng Bo, Caravan leader of the blue waves merchant house."

"Likewise. I am Jiang Cheng, Outer disciple of the falling star sect."

Though clearly the man was technically the leader, he was nothing more than a reign for the other caravan soldiers. Most likely, as Cheng understood it from reading, Most merchants that were part of a House, would stay at some city, leaving their servants and hired men to do the dirty work.

The other nine outer sect disciples were gathering shortly after Cheng's arrival. Each greeting the caravan leader, some respectful like Jiang Cheng, and others a bit more arrogant. Cheng wondered where this arrogance came from.

Surely they didn't think they were something just by being in a sect, right? they were all outer disciples here, after all. Nothing more than glorified servants.

Cheng recognized some from previous missions or sect tasks, but he wasn't particularly close to any of them.

He liked reading, more than interacting with his fellow disciples. Right now, that was a luxury that he didn't want to have. Senior outer sect disciples had more free time, both from being faster to finish their tasks, and from the sect being lenient to leave them some cultivation time, that most took for socializing instead.

These disciples represented a range of cultivation levels, from the sixth to tenth level of Qi Condensation.

The disciples began sizing each other up, a natural response when preparing for a potentially dangerous mission, And from what Cheng could sense, he was on the weaker side.

The strongest of them, was a woman in the tenth realm, while the weaker, a man in the sixth stage. Interestingly, Jiang Cheng could sense the man's cultivation was unstable, likely from just having a breakthrough to the mid stage of Qi condensation.

Two disciples standing close together immediately caught Cheng's attention. Their postures and casual interaction suggested they knew each other well.

One was a young man with a slightly leaner build, the other slightly broader, both at the seventh stage of Qi Condensation.

"I am Liu Wei." the leaner one introduced himself, nudging his companion. "And this is Zhang Kun. We're from the same village before joining the sect."

A stocky disciple at the sixth stage stepped forward next. "Wu Ling." he announced, his voice carrying a hint of bravado. His cultivation felt unstable, something everyone probably could sense, painting him as the weakest of the group.

The tenth-stage cultivator, a tall woman with a stern expression, simply nodded. "Fang Lin." she said curtly, her qi radiating a sense of controlled power that made the others unconsciously give her a bit more space.

Another seventh-stage disciple, a woman with intricate braids, introduced herself. "I am called Li Mei. I hope we will all get along." she said with a friendly smile that seemed to soften the tension.

The conversations flowed around Jiang Cheng. Most seemed curious about the mission, speculating about the rock-burrowing moles and the challenges of the Misty Serpent Mountains, as they sat in a carriage.

They were not expected to watch the caravan at all times, like grunts. The sect members were here in the event of a monster attack as the caravan would make the big distance to the Mountain-range.

"Have you heard about these moles?" Liu Wei asked Zhang Kun. "They say they can move through stone like it's water."

Zhang Kun nodded. "Heard from a senior disciple that they're not just monsters, but have a kind of primitive cultivation of their own. Something about absorbing mineral essence."

Wu Ling chimed in, eager to show off. "I bet they're nothing compared to cultivators like us. We'll clear them out in no time."

Fang Lin shot him a dismissive look. "Overconfidence gets disciples killed."

When a momentary lull came in the conversation, one of the disciples turned to Cheng. "And you? What's your name?"

"Jiang Cheng." he responded quietly, offering minimal additional conversation.

Clearly, most of them wasn't in the mood to talk, as the four other disciples had barely mentioned their names, just like Cheng, and stayed silent, while the Familiar duo spoke with one another, seemingly not getting the hint. At least Li mei was nice enough to chirp in once in a while to them.

As for Jiang Cheng? meditating was his only plan.