Chapter 74: A Record of Cultivation
A Treatise of Limitless Supernatural Enhancement. Truly, an archived analysis of Blue Flame World's experiences with spiritual cultivation.
Breathing deeply to calm himself, Li Mo Shang shifted into a more relaxed position in the couch, before beginning to explore the hologram before his eyes. The more he read, the more astounded he became towards the compiler who had amassed such knowledge.
A human or living organism could enhance their abilities and strengthen their body via cultivation, a famed and highly desired byproduct being an expanded longevity. By assimilating the world's essence into their very cells, one could achieve a physical state akin to being reborn.
This was knowledge Li Mo Shang had already acquired from pursuing the <Heretic Manual>. The introduction of the Treatise before him was no different, offering essentially the same information. However, it was at the descriptions of cultivation that interested Li Mo Shang the most.
Body Tempering, Foundation Establishment, Spirit Building, Nascent Soul, Mortal Tribulation, Mortal Life, Mortal Death, and finally, Divine Dao.
The stages described within the <Heretic Manual> were as such, with the proclamation of attaining immortality upon summitting the peak of the Divine Dao realm. Each major realm compounded the longevity of a cultivator, in addition to their ability to manipulate spiritual qi.
Though he had little knowledge on the intricacies of each realm other than Body Tempering and Nascent Soul, Li Mo Shang could faintly guess at their effects.
Body Tempering, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Spirit Building, Nascent Soul, Mortal Tribulation, and the peak, Seven Cycles.
The Treatise of Limitless Supernatural Enhancement described the stages of cultivation as such, arising confusion within Li Mo Shang.
What was Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Seven Cycles? Where did the realms of Mortal Tribulation, Mortal Life, and Mortal Death disappear to?
Where the realms of cultivation described within the Treatise merely a different path of cultivation, offering different methodologies of identification for the same result? Or perhaps, they would engender different results?
Furrowing his brows in thought, Li Mo Shang quickly manipulated the hologram to display the various descriptions of each realm denoted within the Treatise.
"The realm of Body Tempering exposes the physical self to the world's energies and environments. Imbue the atmosphere's currents into the physical marrow, blood, and flesh to temper the body, and forge anew. Refine the energy within to permit the body to become as durable as steel!"
Li Mo Shang projected the <Heretic Manual> in his mind, comparing the descriptions entailed within the two for Body Tempering. Other than the appended concept of the qi circulation units of the <Heretic Manual>, the contents were highly similar, only the order of completing the Body Tempering Realm was reversed.
It was just that the cultivation manuals described within the Treatise were more attuned towards Li Mo Shang's expectations, a cluster of profound sentences that garnered a specialized meaning. When skimming through them, Li Mo Shang came across one that caused a quiver in his soul, shocking him greatly.
"Break through the self, slash through the heaven of will…The earth shall become the furnace, and the self the undying flame…?"
As Li Mo Shang softly recited the words to himself, his soul seemed to shake, the spiritual core housing it trembling with what seemed to be a primal instinct. Stiffening in surprise, Li Mo Shang fumbled his grip on the terminal, narrowly catching before it fell onto the ground.
Hastily extending his perception towards the unusually active spiritual core, Li Mo Shang could see the core extend thin feelers of spiritual qi, thrashing about as if reaching for something in the distance. Observing the writhing feelers with a hint of trepidation, Li Mo Shang returned his gaze to the holographic display before him.
"Observe the looking-glass of truth, and sunder the eastern Purple…"
With each work Li Mo Shang uttered, the spiritual core's feelers twitched violently, darting in every direction. However, just as it extended beyond the first orbiting ring, the cluster of spiritual qi rebuffed the various feelers, forcing them to retreat.
Gradually, the feelers dissipated, and the spiritual core returned to a gentle idle. Scratching his head, Li Mo Shang didn't know whether to continue, and could only close the terminal and return it to the bookshelf.
Gazing at the rows of bookshelves in the library, he sighed once before swiftly departing the building. Though he wished to plunder the knowledge contained within the Advanced Studies Library, that would have to be withheld until later.
As he stepped onto the streets of the underground city, Li Mo Shang glanced at the map, navigating through the maze of roads until he stood before a rather extravagant elevating platform.
A platform of intricately carved rhodium three meters in diameter lay in the open, many students stepping on and off. Just as soon as Li Mo Shang had arrived, a group of students had already boarded the disk, a sharp alarm ringing causing many of the students to back away.
Merging with the next group to step forward, Li Mo Shang observed the disk shoot upwards at a great velocity, the trajectory guided by a series of rings extending into the ceiling of the cave. Just as he thought that there was going to be a period before the disk returned, he noticed a series of machines bring over another platform, the students sighing in praise next to him at the sight.
"Professor Smith is again commendable for her research."
"Yeah, exactly! If we had the same transport models as the ones in the administrative models, how long would it have taken to return to the campus? Always being late isn't my style…"
"High speed transports that also nullify any external differences in atmospheric pressure…if the outside world knew of this, how much chaos would arise?"
"High speed transports…" Li Mo Shang quietly mused.
Just then, the next platform had been fully initialized, the students beginning to board once more. Li Mo Shang followed suit, stepping onto the hard platform. Looking at his feet, he noticed fine engravings of mystical animals decorate the rim of the disk, piquing his interest.
"…no trace of spiritual qi?"
Probing with his spiritual qi, Li Mo Shang was surprised to discover that the engravings did not resonate or respond to any of his attempts, indicating that the inscriptions were plainly decorations. Coming to the conclusion that they were merely the interests of the platform's creator, Li Mo Shang was about to look at the other side of the platform, when his body suddenly lurched and fell to the ground.
Not just him, however; everyone else who had been standing on the platform alongside of him similarly embraced the ground, much to the spectators' jeers and cheers. Immediately, a collective groan arose from the students on the platform.
"Goddammit, this had to be the sole defective unit in the entire stock!"
The elevator platform silently began it's ascent amidst the cries, the disk rising without another glitch. The instant the disk became level with the ceiling, it increased drastically in velocity, the surroundings becoming a blur.
Li Mo Shang could only glimpse snapshots of embedded deposits of Cold Iron, before they had already reached the ground. As his vision slowly adjusted, he discovered that the disk had arrived at the underground level of the general lecture hall.
Numbly following the students out, Li Mo Shang wandered around for a while, lost in thought.
-
Within the Immortal Realm, a minor dimension was concealed directly below the Demon Palace, securely tucked away under the rippling spatial folds. The minor dimension only housed a large, luxurious chamber, and two men, one young and the other older, could be discussing fervently within.
Both were dressed in a dark violet robe, a massive platter of plump grapes placed on a table between them. Hovering throughout the room were various crystal orbs, a faint silhouette visible in each. As the men conversed, they would either gesture towards the crystal orbs, snatch a grape, or play with a knife of a dark metal.
"Balthazar," the older male spoke. "You've seen the blueprints. The <Sword of Ashoka> simply can't be forged with the resources possessed by the Immortal Realm."
"Father, it's not like it isn't impossible!" Balthazar retorted, the knife spinning crazily above his left hand, supported by divine essence.
"The hilt and tang should be constructed out of Consecrated Divine Stone, with imbuements of purity and grace. Why do you say that we can't even forge the incomplete version, much less the actual?"
"Indeed, what that is stated to be required is merely Consecrated Divine Stone," replied Baal, reaching for a grape.
"Yet how do we know if it is the actual blueprint, or merely a ruse? Not even the Divine Spiritual Vein knows such information. And in the entire Immortal Realm, who can imbue the absolute, singular concepts of purity, much less grace?"
"Not even the various Pavilion Heads of the Divine Palace or our Demon Pillars can embody a strict concept. Though our pact has allowed them to be minimized, such impurities remain regardless of our efforts." He sighed, before looking at Balthazar.
"However, the frontier is becoming much more dangerous!" Balthazar retorted, fiercely gripping the hilt of the knife. "More immortals are forced into a slumber by the unknown entities, maintaining our current rate of exploration is difficult without a superweapon like the <Sword of Ashoka>!"
"We could also withdraw our exploratory groups," spoke Baal with a mirthless smile. "It's not that the Demon Palace is simply the only embassy within the Immortal Realm that dares to explore the frontier. We've simply been the most successful."
Heaving a heavy sigh, Baal stood, striding over towards the clusters of crystal orbs, Balthazar hastily following in suite. Gazing at the orbs, both fell into a momentary daze under the soft fluctuations of light emitted by the crystal.
The silhouettes within each orb were blurred and indistinct, yet each orb represented a different person. Some silhouettes gleamed brightly, others wan. In a corner of the room existed a massive pile of broken orbs, having lost their luster.
Reaching out to gently poke a nearby orb, Baal spoke, his voice slightly quivering from a hard-to-conceal excitement.
"Balthazar, your method was indeed correct," he whispered. "No longer than a year, and already results are showing. Though billions have already perished before they could even initiate the manual, still a few hundred remain. They've also achieved moderate success."
"Indeed, more than we expected from previous results," replied Balthazar.
"Some in the initial stages of the mortal's Body Tempering, an exclusive few beginning to start their Foundation Establishment, and just two who had completed their Azoth Core. Compared to the previous experiments, the <Heretic Manual> this time is largely successful."
"However," his gaze steeled, a cold light flickering within his eyes. "Only a select few had attained any of the nine legacies, a truly disappointing number compared to previous attempts. We haven't even reached ten of such people after so long."
Baal furrowed his brows, his expression similarly becoming glacial. Musing in his thoughts for a brief moment, he waved his sleeve, tossing an ebony key towards Balthazar. As the latter caught it with a bemused look, Baal smirked before departing, his voice sinister and cruel.
"Begin the first wave of tribulations. Force them to awaken at least one of the major legacies we've implemented into the <Heretic Manual>. If this gambit proves to be a failure, so be it."
Watching Baal's receding figure, Balthazar fingered the smooth, cool key before a similar smirk appeared on his devilish, handsome countenance. Jabbing the key into the space before him, he released a complex sequence of pulses of divine essence with the key as the source medium, before turning it to the right.
The key disintegrated when he rotated it, devolving into strands of symbols written in the Divine Script. Taking one last glance at the floating crystal orbs as he similarly left, his elegant voice resounded throughout the isolated chamber, releasing a peal of cold laughter.
"Bearers of the Heretic's Burden, forced to face such a tribulation without much preparation, how unfortunate.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone