Zhihao awoke the next morning to the sound of Yuxuan pound on his bedroom door. He grabbed a clean set of robes and followed Yuxuan to the main branch.
On a shelf of the mountain, below the patriarch’s palace, the boys met with Fu Yanjing and the other foundation establishment realm members of the fu clan. There were about a hundred of all ages. Some were a few years older than Zhihao while one or two looked ancient. Everyone was seated five feet apart and facing Fu Yanjing who was seated on a small raised platform of stone. Zhihao and Yuxuan quickly followed suit and sat at the back of the group.
After about 20 minutes, and a few more stragglers arriving, Fu Yanjing raised a small bell and rang it. Instantly a lightly suppressive force pushed down on Zhihao then abruptly vanished. He turned to look back at the path he and Yuxuan had climbed only to see no trace of the stairs.
“A sealing formation, probably to prevent spying.” Yuxuan leaned over and whispered.
“Everyone, thank you for attending my morning lesson. Today I am going to review your progress of the five pillars of foundation establishment. Please cultivate as I make my way to each of you.” Fu Yanjing stated before stepping off the platform.
Zhihao watched as Fu Yanjing walked up to each person in the front row, placed a finger on their forehead, then exchanged a few words with them. Some would only nod in understanding while others would ask questions.
“Hey big brother, what are the five pillars of foundation establishment?” Yuxuan whispered.
Zhihao shrugged. “I don’t know, grandfather always said to focus on the immediate obstacle. Whatever comes later, comes later.”
“In some of the books I read you just condense your qi into a core.” Yuxuan snapped his fingers for emphasis. “Easy as that!”
“Were those books written by cultivators or mortals?”
“Mortals, I’m pretty sure.”
“Then they most likely just made stuff up. Stories would be boring if you had to read through people meditating all the time.”
“You have a point there. Authors usually time skip that kind of stuff.” Yuxuan turned to look at Fu Yanjing. The man was currently on the second row of cultivators. “You think he’ll find it weird that we don’t know anything about the five pillars?”
“We only just advanced to foundation establishment. It would be more strange if we did know.”
Yuxuan nodded then shrugged. “Let’s just meditate til he gets here and we can ask him.”
Zhihao cleared his mind and began to cycle his qi. After absorbing the sword qi from the day before, all of his qi gave off a lesser version of that sharp feeling he had come to associate with sword qi.
With each circulation of qi he felt his the refinement of his channels. The brightness of his meridians began to take on a silver tinge with each breath he took. With each intake of breath his meridians shone and each exhale they grew dimmer. He was entranced by the strange sensation when he noticed something strange. When his meridians dimmed, the qi circulated like normal, but tiny amounts carrying that shine leaked out into the surrounding flesh. Zhihao began to focus on that.
Why was qi leaving his channels? Was he having qi deviation? He didn’t know enough about such things to rule that out. As Zhihao began to worry he felt a finger touch his forehead.
“Just stepped into foundation establishment and already starting your first pillar. The younger generation is frightening indeed.”
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Zhihao opened his eyes and looked up to see Fu Yanjing standing above him, looking down thoughtfully.
“I thought you two would need more hands on teaching since it’s your first day in the second stage lessons, but it seems your grandfather beat me to it.” Fu Yanjing began to step over to Yuxuan when Zhihao took the opportunity to speak.
“Senior main branch head, I’m not sure what you mean? What pillar am I working on?” Zhihao asked. To the side he saw Yuxuan crack an eye open and look up at Fu Yanjing.
“Senior main branch head? That’s a mouthful.” Fu Yanjing lifted his glasses and pinched his glabella. “Just Senior Fu Yanjing will do. What do you mean, are you not working on the Fleshly Body Pillar currently?”
Yuxuan snorted and mumbled something about being too young for that. Fu Yanjing laughed and lightly chopped down at Yuxuan’s head.
“You’re only eight, how do you know enough to joke about that?”
“This young master has no idea what you mean Senior Main Branch Head” Yuxuan replied with a straight face.
“Senior Fu Yanjing, can you teach us about the pillars? Grandfather didn’t inform us of any further stages than what had been right before us.” Zhihao changed the subject.
“I see. Well the second stage, foundation establishment, is called that because, as the name implies, you build the foundation for your future cultivation in this stage. The five pillars in this analogy are the pillars you dig into the earth to keep the foundation stable, regardless of the soil beneath.” Fu Yanjing had adopted a scholarly tone as he spoke. He sat in front of the boys as he realized he would have to give a lecture, and went right back to his leisurely and comfortable mortal air. “The five pillars in cultivation are the Fleshly Body Pillar, the Bone Pillar, the Blood Pillar, the Organ Pillar, and the Ligaments and Tendons Pillar.
Yuxuan was about to say something when Fu Yanjing gestured. Zhihao looked and saw Yuxuan’s mouth had a talisman keeping it shut. Fu Yanjing smirked and arched an eyebrow at Yuxuan.
“I’m your grandfathers uncle, don’t think I won’t beat you, child” Fu Yanjing rolled his eyes. “I think I need to have a talk with your parents about you. Where was I, oh yes, creating the pillars. When you circulate your qi, you might not have noticed that your qi is purifying itself. It sheds a very small amount at each meridian, and brings the more pure, more concentrated, qi back to your Dantian. To create the pillars, you take the excess qi that was removed from your meridians and focus it into the different parts of your body. You seemed to be doing that with the flesh nearest to your meridians.”
Zhihao felt as if a fire had been struck in his head as understanding dawned on him. Fu Yanjing smiled.
“You seem to understand. Just continue to do what you have been doing.”
“How will I know when I should begin working on another pillar?” Zhihao asked.
“Your flesh will let you know when you have refined it to its peak.”
Yuxuan leaned forward and waved his arm frantically. Fu Yanjing sighed and tore the talisman from Yuxuan’s face.
“Is the second stage just body cultivation? I thought body cultivation and qi cultivation were two different systems or paths?” Yuxuan asked.
“In the early stages of cultivation, one must perfect themselves. In Qi Gathering, you bring the energy of heaven and earth into yourself. In Foundation Establishment you shape your body into a more perfect vessel for that energy. In Core Formation you use your body to carve out a portion of that energy and make it truly your own. In the Nascent Soul stage you then shape use that energy to give shape to your soul, allowing a more thorough link between yourself and the energy of heaven and earth with your souls as the intermediary. From there you tread upon The Infinite Paths and the further stages lose the naming conventions of the lower stages. The higher stages are based off how much energy your body has and how thoroughly you understand your dao.
“Take for example you two. You both have great potential, so you both have a high likelihood of achieving the Nascent Soul stage. Until that point, your cultivation could be identical, but as you two are different people, once you tread upon The Infinite Paths your insights and enlightenment are your own and will shape the path you walk to immortality.”
“Why are they called The Infinite Paths?” Zhihao asked. Yuxuan nodded emphatically.
“Because your path can be anything. Your path could be body cultivating, the sword, it could even be dirt. Your path is shaped by your experiences and understanding, but you get to choose what you study. You are unlikely to gain enlightenment on wind when refining pills.”
“So should I study the strongest thing I can think of and make that my path?” Yuxuan asked.
“Not necessarily. Someone who studies the dao of time but has no karma with it will be a powerful foe, but not an insurmountable one. Someone who studies something like flame may not seem any more dangerous than any other flame cultivator, but their understanding of flames could be so great as to be a threat to even a half immortal.”
“What’s a half immortal?” Both the boys asked together.
“A title for someone at the ninth stage. Like I said earlier, the later stages don’t have names like the first four, but those at the eighth stage and ninth are given titles by those of lower stages as a sign of respect. Generally on our Sovereign Continent they are given the title of Sage. On the Dragon’s Archipelago someone of the eighth stage is referred to as a Paragon.
“However, every continent and region refers to those of the ninth stage as Half Immortals. The ninth stage is the highest stage our world will allow. To advance any further one must ascend to one of the outer realms where one can achieve try immortality.”
“Thank you for enlightening these young masters, Senior main branch head!” Yuxuan bowed with Zhihao hurriedly following suit.
Fu Yanjing smiled and tsked at Yuxuan.
“The array will lower in the time it takes for four incense sticks to burn. Cultivate well until then. Once you get to the base of the mountain, follow your fellow second stage cultivators to the dining hall for breakfast.” Fu Yanjin stood up and dusted off his robes. Zhihao and Yuxuan watched as he returned to the raised platform and began to cultivate.
“Do you think Senior Fu Yanjing has entered the Infinite Paths?” Zhihao asked quietly to Yuxuan.
“He looks like a slacker and a scholar, what path could that be?”Yuxuan whispered back.
Cultivate or I’ll throw you down the mountain. Fu Yanjing’s voice rang through both Zhihao’s and Yuxuan’s head