Early the next morning, John was meditating to organize his thoughts about Weird cultivation and how his breakthroughs had worked. So far, John had experienced three breakthroughs in cultivation: His ascension to cultivator status from a mortal, his reconstruction of his spirtual roots into a functioning dantian, and the advancement into Foundation establishment. He wanted to explain to the other disciples what had allowed his most recent advancement, but it wasn't as simple as the mere recognition of the distinction between things. Though that was the method of the Butterfly Dream Scripture, John's experience was a lot closer to enlightenment than it was to careful study of scripture. Undeniably, the pressure inflicted by the demon wolf was the most important factor in his enlightenment.
He was prepared to go over his experience anyway, but John suspected just his lecturing would not be sufficient for any of his fellows to advance. John was experiencing firsthand what all cultivators came to understand: risk and opportunity went hand in hand.
'No point in delaying any longer' John thought. It was well into the morning and he had spent several hours organizing his thoughts. The other disciples were surely waiting.
John stepped outside into the rain. The remaining seven other Weird cultivators were loitering around the square chatting with each other, they quiet down when John appeared.
"Alright everyone, please stop staring. I'm just going to go over my experiences in cultivation, maybe my experiences have been special in some ways, but its perfectly mundane in many aspects. I suspect all cultivators have their own personal moments of enlightenment and steps of development."
Some nodded, others simply kept their attention on John, no one spoke.
'Tough crowd' John joked to himself. He supposed most cultivation lectures were silent like this.
"The first step in my cultivation you all are familiar with: we were taken by the sect, fed an extreme number of pills, and then exposed to Weird qi." This was Johns best understanding of the situation. He wasn't sure why the sect had prepared their bodies to such a degree. Part of him suspected the torturous cleansing of their bodies was the point, rather than the strengthening that came with it. Its possible the sect wanted to strengthen their bodies as much as possible in order to withstand the Weird qi. No one had died or become a demon in that initial exposure so either it was a pointless measure or completely effective.
"In the initial exposure, I experienced a... I hesitate to call it a vision. I was shown something inconceivable. A great and terrible wheel, is my best description." Again with a mixed reaction, everyone seemed to nod along at the visions but confused or lost in thought at the wheel. Only John had seen it, apparently.
"Alongside my vision of the wheel were other strange phenomenon. Trance-like experiences have been consistent with each breakthrough I've had. Also consistent were the seizure and fainting spells, though the first experience was more mild on those fronts.
"We were all granted the same Butterfly Dream Scripture. Reading and contemplating it sent me into the second trance-like experience. I was enlightened by how my own life reflected portions of the scripture's teachings. After entering the trance, I was hyper aware of my body and spirit. Especially my spiritual roots, I was able to feel them as keenly as my fingers. Using this perception I was able to forge my shattered roots into a cohesive whole, forming a dantian." Everyone nodded along, this was a common point it seems.
"I don't know why you need especially broken spiritual roots to become a Weird cultivator, but I suspect this step is important. Everyone here has an unusual dantian in one way or another." John did not mention quite how unusual his own dantian was. There was no way to hide this conversation from the elders of the sect, but it was still necessary. In that case, John held back some crucial details.
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"The nature of Weird qi and the unusual dantian leads to some varying experiences in actual cultivation, as I'm sure you have noticed." Chloe looked especially worried. "However, as long as you are able to gather qi, Weird cultivation begins to resemble typical cultivation. Get to the peak of Qi Condensation if you are not there yet."
"Finally, I will talk about the realization that helped me reach Foundation Establishment. Use this only as a guideline as this stage was very much personal to me like the visions have been.
"My method of cultivation is very similar to that of corruption or demonic possession. The difference between Peter and I is that I have retained my form and rationality. In many other ways though, I am using my cultivation method to corrupt natural qi into my own. Corrupting outside sources into my own power is similar to all kinds of cultivation that convert outside energy into an individuals power righteously. Thus, for me cultivating strength and corruption are one and the same."
Mark was deep in contemplation at that. Chloe still looked like she was confused or panicking. The others were a mixed bag.
"How many of you are nearing the peak of Qi Condensation anyway?"
Mark and one of the other guys raised their hands.
John decided everyone could use some one on one time to work out the problems in their cultivation. John started with Mark. Mark's cultivation method revolved around his unique petrification ability. Apparently he was able to 'petrify' qi that came in contact with his body, which was then absorbed into his dantian. His qi was therefore taking on the properties of stone and solids directly; even during the 'gaseous' stage of his cultivation he was instead accumulating tiny specks of solid qi--little more than dust. After that his cultivation advanced through pressure and increased petrification force, growing dust into sand, then into sandstone, and finally his core was filling up with compact marble-like qi. He was almost finished filling his dantian that way as he benefitted greatly from the use of his personal qi attracting formula. The denser the concentration of qi the better for him. John advised him to meditate on how this process would reflect on his strength going forward, and to try some missions rather than staying in all the time.
The other cultivator who was nearing completion of the stage was someone who John didn't interact with much, his name was Benjamin. His dantian was shaped like a cauldron, and his qi gathered inside it as normal. John recognized it as a cultivators pill furnace in shape, but had little knowledge about alchemy methods. Ben's dantian seemed to amplify the pressure the dantian was able to exert on his qi, greatly speeding up the conversion of gaseous to liquid and liquid to solid qi. John advised him to look into the Pill Hall and alchemy to further his cultivation.
Speaking with the cultivators in the middling stages, John had less useful advice. The three of them had unusual dantians but their effects were either obscure or not as useful. One had a torus shaped dantian who was stuck in the liquid stage. Ones dantian was oblong and pointed on two ends, they had only just reached the liquid stage and seemed to be delayed, or untalented. The last had a cube shaped dantian and was having trouble generating enough pressure to form liquid qi, though they were full of gaseous qi to a high density. For these three cultivators, John could only advise to keep accumulating and visit the library with him. Maybe some outside resources could give them insight into their cultivation issues.
Last was Chloe. Chloe was quite glum at this point, looking dejected and nervous in equal measure. When John went to talk to her she insisted on speaking privately, in his pavilion. John was close to rejecting her outright, thinking it was another attempt at flirting with him, but she looked quite pitiful so he relented.
When they were safely in private and away from the others, Chloe revealed something shocking--she had accumulated no qi at all. The only qi she had was a product of her enlightenment after studying the Butterfly Dream Scripture. She looked around shiftily.
"What is it?" John finally asked.
"I did accidentally find a way to attract qi, but the qi never reaches my dantian completely, it just swirls around me."
How odd. "Tell me more," He said.