The airbus was cleaned and sorted almost instantly. Everyone went back to their seats or rooms and settled down. Leo came back with two plates of rainbow dumplings and two chocolate-candy sticks in his mouth. He handed one plate to Castiel and sat down beside him. Castiel’s eyes teared up a little as he saw the candy sticks and rainbow dumplings. It had been only a few hours since his life unraveled for the second time. He wiped his tears away before Leo could notice them.
“That was the most beautiful sword strike I have ever seen.” Leo said in adoration as he looked at Castiel’s limp right hand. If one looked carefully, his right hand was shaking very minutely but crazily. Castiel’s heart clenched as he heard Leo utter his biggest cultivation secret. But a second later, he let go. He didn’t think they were playing on the same battlefield. Leo could kill someone silently on another floor while he was on the deck without anyone noticing, without any visible wound. And he….he could he could swing swords, albeit a little fast.
“Come on bro. Smile a little. That really was a beautiful strike. You can kill any pinnacle qi-gathering with that swing, get a better weapon and you can even kill pinnacle bone-forging, but you have to catch your opponent off guard. If your opponent knows about your strike, they can move out of your reach pre-cognitively as soon as they see your hand on the sword handle. So you also have to have a gap closing footwork skill.” Leo taught him while he sucked on the candy sticks and simultaneously munched on rainbow dumplings.
“You don’t have to lie to me. I know that strike is powerful but it is just opportunistic. It takes a little too long to prepare and it makes too much noise. If not for your antics, the whole airbus would have heard that swing.” Castiel was not that proud. He also tasted one of the dumplings. It tasted like mangoes, lamb meat, and burnt charcoal. He scrunched his nose and swallowed the whole thing down. It was the worst thing he had ever tasted.
“You said I could kill bone-forging cultivators with this skill but with a better sword. Is that because bone-forging cultivators are only physically stronger than qi-gathering but with no change in mana intensity?” Castiel continued.
“Correct. In a frontal battle, bone-forging cultivators are a lot stronger than qi-gathering. Hardened bones means you can train your muscles to higher limits than mortals resulting in an all around stronger body, much much stronger body. Stronger body means you can burst with more qi without fatigue. For example, if your fist is capable of 1 unit of mana output at once before it will self-destruct, bone forging cultivators can output 2 units of mana output at once. If a bone-forging cultivator’s cultivation method focuses on fists, you can imagine this mana output multiplier to be a lot higher for their fists. More mana doesn’t always equate to more power, for example if mana is scattered but it is the general rule. That’s why you need to catch them off guard.” Leo taught patiently. Castiel started having a nagging feeling that Leo knew his real age. But even if that were true, he couldn’t break the illusion. For now, he just wanted to learn more.
“What about golden core? Is it possible for qi-gathering to hurt golden core?” He asked eagerly. This conversation might be one of the keys for him to break through to nascent soul in the future. It would be foolish to pass up such a good opportunity.
“Just as bone-forging is an exponential growth stage of the physical body. Golden core is the exponential growth stage of mana limit. They also start condensing their mana into liquid form. But it is not so simple anymore. Once someone forms a golden core, they can also manifest elements more freely to enhance the power of their skills. This manifestation also allows them to trick the laws into thinking they are a part of it, that’s what allows them to fly. But they cannot fight in air, a slight loss in concentration can drop them to the ground.
After one has reached the pinnacle golden core, they can start nurturing their soul with the abundant mana they have to transform it into a spirit. Once the spirit grows and crosses a certain threshold, it undergoes a qualitative change and becomes a nascent soul. The nascent soul has the same appearance as your physical body and goes through the same growth stages as the physical body, baby>child>teen>youth, signifying the four stages of nascent soul cultivation.” Leo gave some time to Castiel to digest the information.
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For Castiel, the feeling that Leo knew his age had increased dramatically. He was acting more like a teacher and less his usual chirpy self as he kept explaining. -He may have a secret treasure to see through low level formations. Or it might be his personal secret. I can’t ask him directly without breaking this facade.- Castiel thought embarrassedly.
“You said pinnacle golden cores use their abundant mana to nurture the soul. Does that mean someone with a talent of 3 or less doesn’t have enough mana to even attempt nurturing their soul?” Castiel asked the most important question yet.
“Correct. Everyone has some blocked mana channels in their body. Someone graded 1 to 3 doesn’t have enough mana channels in their body to accumulate enough mana to nurture the soul. Nascent souls can see their mana channel network directly to find the blockages but their mana intensity is so high that it usually ends up ruining a blocked mana channel permanently once they try to unblock it. So the only way for 3rd grade and below talents to break through to the nascent soul is to unblock enough blocked mana channels in the qi-gathering stage. Unfortunately, nobody has found a method yet.” Leo explained.
-So my line of thinking is correct. I need to study anatomy. Not just study, but have all the knowledge on human anatomy, researched by all the scholars. Notes, books, anything and everything I can find.- Castiel thought.
“4th grade talents have enough unblocked mana channels but a flawed soul. So they can never reach the pinnacle of a nascent soul, unless they find a soul nourishing lotus or some divine opportunity.
Once your nascent soul is formed, you can feel a drastically closer connection to the laws. You start comprehending them directly. You can use the laws to transform your mana into origin. Even just a 10% comprehension in one law can allow you to wield skills of that law with 2 times more power. Every additional 10% comprehension in a law will almost double your combat power. Most nascent souls in the world stop at 50% comprehension.
There are some freaks in the world who can comprehend laws before even forming their nascent soul. Law comprehension doesn’t just mean 2 times skill power. WIth law comprehension, your basic understanding of power increases. Consequently, your proficiency in skills also increases.
So back to your query. Is it possible for qi-gathering to hurt golden core? Yes, a qi-gathering with enough law comprehension can even kill a golden core with no laws.” Leo explained patiently.
“But what are laws? Are they the same as elements but a higher tier of power?” Castiel had another query. He was learning more about cultivation from this one conversation than he had ever learned in school. Then again, pre-university schools usually only teach mortal studies.
“Not quite. Before comprehending any law, all you are doing is manipulating elemental particles in your surroundings and within you to apply them in combat or other side cultivation methods. Laws don’t always equate to elements. Think of laws as concepts, rules of the world.
Have you ever seen a fallen leaf? What happens after it falls? Does it always stay the same vibrant green?” Leo put forth a puzzle.
“It slowly discolors, falls apart, and withers away.” Castiel thought a little and answered.
“That is a subset of time law. The concept of withering. One of the most ruthless concepts. But most of the time, laws are not.absolutely strong or weak. Sometimes the one manipulating and applying the laws is the one that you need to be wary of.” Leo warned gravely.
“Except for elemental laws, there are many such concepts, countless to list them all.” He added. Leo stopped talking. Castiel didn’t have any more queries but he was lost in thought, refining his plan for the future.
“I am going to sleep bro. You take some rest too. Don’t use that skill again until your hand heals. You don’t want permanent mana channel damage.” Leo gave him one final piece of advice and was immediately fast asleep.
“Thank you Leo.” Castiel whispered. -This was my first lucky break. I don’t know when I could have gotten this knowledge if I searched for it myself. I wouldn’t even know what questions to ask to get all the answers out of House of Desires.- He thought. Leo was unknowingly growing on him, same as Mei once did.