At this point, it was the potential buyers who started clutching their heads, wondering where they’d find that much money. It didn’t even occur to them to organize a community effort and build houses for each other within a month. The local mindset didn’t entertain such cooperation; instead, they were more likely to slit each other’s throats than work together for free. This conveniently ensured no one could replicate my palace.
After lunch, I dismissed all my conscripted laborers, handing out a single restorative pill as a farewell bonus for the entire group. Moving forward, I planned to finish my house on my own since the remaining tasks were too delicate for these rough-and-tumble workers. Their understanding of precision was laughable — they considered a five-centimeter margin of error acceptable and couldn’t fathom why tight-fitting joints were necessary until I explained it was for aesthetic reasons. Truly, dealing with these wild cultivators was an exercise in patience.
Although I could complete the remaining work later, my current priority was advancing my cultivation. At the fifth level of Qi Condensation, I was far from my ultimate goal. To start, I needed more knowledge about the factors influencing breakthroughs to the next level.
After questioning several disciples, I learned that the Outer Court had a small public library containing basic cultivation techniques. Upon arriving, I found a dilapidated building managed by a solitary old man. Though he had reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage, he seemed more focused on preventing students from damaging the book-reading device than on sharing wisdom. When I asked if there were books detailing the theory of Qi, he didn’t even understand my question. My follow-up inquiry - "What exactly is Qi?" - seemed to trigger a mental error, as the old man froze like a statue.
Leaving the old man in his existential stupor, I turned to the local “great knowledge.” It quickly became apparent that cultivators could only process information in the form of techniques, specific instructions for simple, practical tasks. Attempts to explain the reasoning behind these techniques were entirely absent. The texts addressed "what” "when” "where” and "how” but asking "why" was grounds for immediate execution.
The library housed only two dozen books, which I finished reading before dinner. Compared to the material needed to pass the alchemist’s exam, this was so simple and primitive it was almost nauseating to read. Even the techniques from the Phantom Library were two orders of magnitude more detailed. Nonetheless, this “brush with knowledge” yielded some useful insights. I found a book describing the stages of cultivation and basic approaches for advancing to the next level.
As I already knew, the foundation of cultivation was the Qi Condensation Stage. At this stage, a cultivator accumulated Qi in their single functional channel within the Qi Strand.
Upon reaching the tenth level of Qi Condensation, the cultivator would begin forming condensation points within the ten energy centers of their body, interconnected by twenty-two channels. The first center to be developed was the lowest one, referred to as the “Phoenix Tail” or the “Foundation.” Appropriately, this stage was called Foundation Establishment, though I thought “Tail Formation” had a nice ring to it.
Once all ten foundations were established, the cultivator underwent the Awakening Ritual, which activated the remaining twenty-one channels in their body. At this point, their life energy would flow through the channels, merging with Qi. How this differed from my current state was unclear, but the book described it as a “new world of cultivation.”
After the channels were awakened, the energy centers began functioning properly, and one of them was chosen to form the Qi Core. At this stage, the cultivator faced an important decision: which energy center would house their core. However, the options were limited. Placing the Qi Core in paired centers disrupted the body’s energy balance, causing numerous issues. Only four “central” centers were viable, and even among these, the topmost and bottommost centers were vulnerable to damage due to their location at the body’s energy boundaries.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Ultimately, this left only two practical options: the sixth and ninth centers. Most cultivators, around 70% chose the ninth center, while the rest opted for the sixth. Only the truly reckless attempted anything else. I decided to develop the sixth energy center, as it was closer to the head and located near the heart. It even had a fancy name: “Dragon’s Heart.” But remembering the names of the other centers seemed pointless, as they were equally absurd, “Kirin’s Liver”, “Phoenix Tail” and so on.
The process of forming the Qi Core also had ten levels, known as the Core Formation Stage. Once the core was fully formed, the cultivator entered a mysterious stage vaguely described in a few lines: Channel Quality Revelation, or simply Revelation. At this stage, the cultivator explored the abilities embedded in their channels. How this differed from my current state remained unclear, but reaching this stage was considered a monumental achievement.
The most advanced cultivator in our guild, the sect leader, was at the second level of Revelation and was revered for it. At this level, a person could live for two thousand years.
The next stage, Soul Law Manifestation, was shrouded in even greater mystery, with the texts providing only the name. There were reportedly even higher levels, but such knowledge was deemed unnecessary for lowly individuals like us.
In summary, the “knowable” world of cultivation consisted of five stages, each with ten levels. I decided it would be simpler to categorize these stages as a straightforward sequence of numbers. Levels 1 to 10 corresponded to Qi Condensation, 11 to 20 to Foundation Establishment, 21 to 30 to Core Formation, 31 to 40 to Revelation, and 41 to 50 to Soul Manifestation.
The fiftieth level was the local “cap” but by then, further paths would presumably become evident. My task, then, was to level up from 5 to 50. At one week per level, that would take 45 weeks, round it up to a year. Easy peasy!
On a more serious note, it became clear that the goal of becoming the strongest cultivator in a hundred years was somewhat unrealistic. Traditional methods couldn’t achieve it, no matter how much one of a genius of genius of all geniuses of universe might be. Accelerating the process required knowledge I didn’t yet have.
I had one more potential source of information, the Alchemist Guild library. However, upon reaching the guild building, I discovered that access to different sections of the library was only granted after producing a specified quantity of pills. Not only did this require reaching the corresponding cultivation level, but the ingredients for the required pills were practically impossible to find. Some of them needed thousand-year-old herbs — which, of course, required a thousand years to grow. And no alchemist in the sect had ever lived that long. The most brilliant among them had only made it to 400 years. I didn’t have that kind of time.
This left me with only two viable paths: stockpiling Qi and hunting for ancient knowledge. Ideally, I could combine the two, for instance, seeking ancient knowledge while hunting advanced cultivators to harvest their Qi.
At that moment, my official teacher, Mu Niam, approached me, someone I hadn’t seen since the post-exam banquet.
“Tang Ji Tao.”
“Master.” - I bowed slightly.
“I’m glad to see you haven’t forgotten to visit the library. What have you been doing for the past two days?”
“Building a house” - I replied honestly.
“A house? What kind of house? Isn’t that a strange occupation for an alchemist?”
“As it turns out, no. If an alchemist doesn’t want to live in a hovel surrounded by filth, they need to build a proper house first.”
“A hovel? Surrounded by filth?” - Mu Niam echoed, confused.
“When was the last time you visited the Outer Court housing area?”
“Thirty years ago, maybe.”
“As the old folks in my village used to say, back then the women were prettier, the grass greener, and the sky bluer. Honestly, the shack they tried to put me in wasn’t fit for chickens. I had to build myself a proper home that wouldn’t collapse on my head.”
“Wow! Show me. Unless you had more reading to do?”
“I did” - I admitted, heading toward the exit, - “But first, I need to make a barrelful of pills. And before that, I need to raise my cultivation level.”
Mu Niam didn’t let me walk; instead, he used his Qi to lift me into the air and flew us straight to the Outer Court. Judging by the look in his eyes, he hadn’t walked uphill or downhill in decades.
“Yes, our library rules are strict” - he said as we traveled. - “But I’ll leave you a couple of scrolls with techniques before I head out on an expedition.”
“What expedition?” - I asked, pricking up my ears.
“I’d bring you along, but to join, you’d need to be at the tenth level of Qi Condensation (10). The expedition starts in a month. But next year, you’ll have a real chance to explore the Ancient Dragon Dungeon.”
“What’s this dungeon?” - I asked, recalling the map from the Phantom Library.