“Are the two of you ghosts?” Again, his brain couldn’t catch his mouth before he blurted out that question. After a moment of silence, Max had thought he had offended these two and just ruined his chance of getting any more answers. But after the moment passed the two of them just started chucking.
Ye Mao looked at her husband, indicating that he should answer this question. “I guess that is one way of putting it, but more accurately, we are a tiny fragment of our main spirit. Once you have reached a certain level of cultivation, you can easily portion out a fraction of your spirit, to help you complete a task. For example, some might seal small parts of their spirit in a weapon to enhance coordination between the user and the weapon. We had sealed this part of our spirit in the jade slip you picked up.”
That made sense to Max. It was the saying “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” taken to the extreme.
“So why were you two sealed away in the jade slip?”
This time it was Ye Mao who answered. “Well, you see we were curious. You have no doubt have noticed the large Space-Attributed Chi stone that was in this cave. Old Zong and I found it when we were touring the world. By itself, Space-Attributed Chi stones were already rare, but one of that size was something else. But on top of that, there was also a natural treasure, the Midnight Dew constantly feeding it. We were curious to see if the Space-Attributed Chi stone would gain awareness and evolve into a living being.”
“What? How is that even possible? How could a stone become sapient? And why didn't the Seniors take the stone if it was so rare?”
“Oh little Max, in this world, everything has the capability to cultivate under the right conditions. My husband had created several weapons that ultimately gained their consciousness. Even I had been able to create a Formation that became their person.” As Ye Mao had said, Max could see the pride on both their faces. “And as for why we didn’t take it, there simply was no reason for us to do so. We did not need it. We would rather leave it behind for it to grow or for a future generation to find it. Which seems like you did.”
Max tried to get his mind around the fact that even inanimate objects could go through evolution. That was utterly mind-blowing, but soon Max thought about how artificial intelligence was a thing back home and that supposedly was also inanimate.
Seeing that Max hadn’t replied, Ye Zong asked. “Young friend, do you mind if this old geezer asks what happened with the Space-Attributed Chi stone? When I exited the jade slip, I didn’t see it.”
“Ummm, I used it to jumpstart my cultivation, but it turned to dust when I reached the 3rd Stage of Body Tempering.” Max decided to at least tell them the truth about this, they seem to be nice enough people.
“Hmmm. I see. In the end, it looks like it wasn’t meant to be for the Chi stone. For it to be so easily used up it must have been mostly depleted already. Well, no matter. If it wasn’t fated to take the next step so be it… Ahh, I see you are already wearing the robe that I crafted for the Chi stone if it had succeeded. Please take the other items in there as a sign of this old man’s gratitude for indulging in our questions.” Ye Zong said, he made an expression that could almost be passed off as a grandfatherly smile.
Seeing her husband’s facial expression, Ye Mao couldn’t contain her laughter. “Hahahaha, You old fart, how many years has it been? And you still don’t have the aura of a senior. It is because you always like playing pranks on the youngins.”
“Wife of mine, I remember you’re always following along with my pranks and laugh just as hard as I did.”
The bantering went on for some time. Max could see the Ye couple was still in love and it was heartwarming to see. But when they started getting grabby, Max had to fake a cough to get their attention.
“Ahm”
Hearing that, the Ye couple realized they were still in the presence of a junior and recomposed themselves.
“Haha, Junior Max, did you have any other questions for these two geezers?”
Max thought about it for a moment. Did he want to ask about how he got transported to this world? The two of them had a connection with this place, but at the same time, it seemed like it was for a completely different reason. Max ultimately decided against that, he didn’t know how significant it was to travel to a different world and that was his biggest secret. The couple had seemed nice enough, but they were still strangers.
Max did have questions about cultivation, what he had gotten out of Ma Erk was only the very beginning of cultivation and there was still so much he didn’t know.
“Seniors, can you tell me about cultivation? I am from a small village and we don’t have much information on cultivation.”
“Ah, it is good that youngsters these days still have that ambition. I was worried after seeing your cultivation and your age that the cultivation world had regressed.”
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‘Did this old man just low-key insult me?’
As soon as Ye Zong finished his sentence, he received another smack, this time on the back of his head.
“Don’t be rude to the junior, husband. When you were at his age, you were not much better.”
Turning to Max, Ye Mao began speaking on cultivation.
“Cultivation is different for everyone and there are exceptions for every rule, but generally speaking we all start at the Body Tempering Realm.”
“As you may already know, to start your cultivation you’ll need a catalyst. This catalyst can almost be anything, as long as you can absorb the Chi from it. The catalyst you choose is said to be both important and unimportant at the same time. The main use of the catalyst is to stimulate your body to start cultivation. And that is what most people usually use it for.”
“But many would try to use something rare, especially for the next generation in the hopes of them gaining some of the properties of the catalyst. These properties are usually very minor and for most, it is nonexistent. However, even the tiniest advantage could set you ahead of your peers and thus gain more resources to further widen the gap.”
“There are always exceptions to the rule. Once in a while, there are cases where a person’s physique and the catalyst have a high level of compatibility. In those cases, a person can absorb much more of the catalyst and take on even more properties. From what you have said, you seem to belong to this category. And so we congratulate you, it is very rare for unaffiliated cultivators to find a catalyst that suits them so well.”
“Most catalysts become useless to them when cultivation starts. As the name suggests, Body Tempering is focused on the body and has nothing to do with Chi. But as always, there are exceptions.”
“A common practice in our time was to use parts of spirit beasts as the catalyst. Even after the individual reached the Body Tempering realm, they could still use the nutrients in the spirit beast to fuel their body’s growth. This is possible because humans and spirit beasts are both living creatures. There are also examples of people doing this with spiritual plants. There are limitations and dangers, a spirit beast’s Chi can be wild and chaotic and so it would be extremely difficult for a mortal to absorb, especially if the spirit beast had a high cultivation base. The issue is often trying to find a balance between the individual’s natural physique and how strong a spirit beast’s body part is being used.”
“You are different though, you were able to absorb the Chi from a high-tier Space-Attributed Chi Stone and it seems like you didn’t ever run into any issues. If it wasn’t for the Chi in the stone being depleted, I think you could have absorbed even more. Your physique must be quite interesting to allow you to draw Chi from a high-tier Space-Attributed stone without repercussions. What do you think, husband of mine?”
“His physique is not associated with the primary elements. It’s likely one of those esoteric physiques that is related to dimensional forces.”
“I agree.”
“Junior Max, we are not experts in this field and can not help you determine exactly what physique you have.”
Max nodded. He was having his thoughts. He wondered if there was a “system physique” or something related to his world.
“Thank you elders for explaining all this to me. I am extremely grateful for the information. May I inquire what is after Body Tempering?”
“Ah yes, after you reach the 10th stage of Body Tempering, the world of Chi is opened to you again. At this point you can start accumulating Chi in your dantain, it is a metaphysical body part that is roughly located below your navel. Once you accumulate enough Chi, you will break through to the Chi Condensation. In this realm, you can freely —”
Max saw Ye Mao’s image flickered out for a second and reappeared, but this time she was even more transparent.
Ye Zong jumped in and said “Ah, it looks like it is almost time for us. We are but a small remnant of spirit left here due to curiosity.”
Ye Mao spoke again, but this time it was much quieter. “Young friend, our spirits have lingered long enough. But before we go, I want to make you an offer. In my time, I was a grandmaster of Formations and from what you have told me, you have the talent to sense the meaning behind runes. That is one of the necessities for walking down the path of Formations. I can see you have the potential. So would you like to be one of my honorary students?”
Max hesitated, this was happening abruptly, and was not prepared for the question.
“Hurry, Junior. She does not have much time left. This is a chance of a lifetime, she was one of the foremost experts in our time. Millions of youngsters and even established Formation experts would line up outside our sect to learn from her. She truly is the greatest Formations genius in many generations. And she is giving you the chance now. Do not miss this.”
Those words sounded like a bad sales pitch to Max. And seeing Ye Mao look at her husband, Max thought she was thinking the same. Even with how transparent she was, Max could see the slightest blush colored her cheeks.
Max thought ‘They are one of those couples. The PDA ones. But more importantly, learning Formations would be cool and help him survive in this new world, they also mentioned a sect.’
“Okay, I agree”
As soon as those words left his mouth, Ye Mao turned into two balls of light, one drove to his left shoulder and the other to his forehead. When Max looked, he could see a picture of a cat holding some kind of tool that he was unfamiliar with. There also seems to be new knowledge swirling around his head that he couldn’t make sense of at the moment.
“Hahaha, Good. Good. Good. Junior Max, you will not regret this decision. And welcome to the family! You do not know this, but my wifey has a bleeding heart and she tries to help out anyone she can. She was overjoyed to see someone that both had the potential and could need the help.”
Max saw a genuine smile on Ye Zong’s face, it no longer looked forced as before.
“I also do not have much time left. But before I go, let me tell you about us. We were two grand protectors of our sect, The Ye Tain Sect. During our time, our Sect was one of the greatest powers of this world, after so many years have passed. I do not know if that is still true.”
“Neither my wife nor I can contact our main spirits. This could only mean one of two things, we already perished or we have ascended to the next realm and our main spirits are too far for us to reach. Either way, if the Ye Tain Sect still stands, they will take you in.”
Max cupped his hands again and bowed. “Thank you, senior.”
“Ba, none of that now. You are now my wife’s student so you are part of the family. To tell you the truth, when I heard how you opened the chest I was also a bit impressed and wanted to take you as my student. But my wife got to you before I could make an offer and that’s fine. Your talent in Formations likely outstrips that of blacksmithing.”
“But still, as the husband of your teacher, I must gift you something, that is tradition. So here you go, little rascal.”
After saying that two more balls of light shot into his forehead.
“One is a martial arts skill that I favored when I was younger and the other one a map of this world. The map might be outdated now, so keep that in mind.”
Suddenly more new information appeared in his head.
“Ahh, I almost forgot. Here is the information about the items that I left behind in the chest. Use them well and defend yourself. I hope we meet in person one day.”
Ye Zong, in his entirety split into two balls of light, one much larger than the other both sped towards Max. One again went to his forehand and the other sank into the mark that Ye Mao had made. Now the cat was holding a hammer in the other paw.