Lastly, of course, the Seed of Life. Long long ago, Sage only knew about the Seed of Life while reading about it in the ‘Treasure Hunters Guidebook’. It listed the Seed of Life as a ‘Legendary Natural Treasure’. Later on, he learned that it was actually a Heavenly Treasure. That Treasure Hunters Guidebook was just for lower ranked people to use so they didn’t miss out on nice things they happened upon. In the Heavenly Treasures Memory Sphere, Sage didn’t really find much more, only getting a more detailed description about the Seed of Life.

All this time he had known next to nothing about it and had to try and discover its properties all by himself. It had awakened his Spiritual Sense and created a protective area for his soul, but it was still a huge mystery. Somehow it had also reacted to the other Heavenly Treasures and hijacked the building of his Foundation. Only now with the new knowledge from Tao Ba did he understand what was going on.

The Seed of Life. A type of Heavenly Seed, wood elemental Heavenly Treasures. It initially can increase spirit power, but its true purpose is to be planted within a ‘Green Core’. The Green Core is a special type of Golden Core, the core of a rank five cultivator. When the conditions are correct, mainly the type of core and the cultivator is between ranks four and six, it can be planted in the core. If nurtured properly it can sprout and transform the core into a planet. A world of its own. While difficult to fulfill its many conditions, a cultivator with the Seed of Life can have their own world within their Dantian. Cultivators draw upon the Qi of the Heavens and Earth.

In Sage’s point of view, the ‘heavens’ in this saying are the infinite reaches of space, while the ‘earth’ is the planet itself. With the Seed of Life, he could have another set of his own heaven and earth inside his own body. Other Cultivators would draw in Qi and craft their own Golden Core, creating a power plant inside their bodies. The Seed of Life on the other hand would make a whole planet! They were on completely different scales.

With this new information, Sage now understood all these Heavenly Treasures he’d gathered and also thousands of others. He bowed to Tao Ba, “Thank you for your guidance, Sir. How do I get a Green Core?”

Tao Ba, that ancient with the body of a child, pointed at the floating Seed of Life and the other four treasures, “It looks like you were already trained. They don’t form up like that accidentally after all.”

Really? Is it truly that easy?

Tao Ba looked like he knew what Sage was thinking and waved his hand, urging him on. Sage nodded and coiled up his Serpentine body on the ground. Being reborn, he had no formal cultivation anymore.

Hmm… how do I start again? Oh yes, breathing and meditation!

It was something he did every time he cultivated, but he was still groggy from his time as a wild beast. In addition, it felt so much different to not have his spiritual sense. He had grown so accustomed to it and using it unconsciously for so many things. It quite literally felt like losing a sense. Calming down he thought about the ‘Life Nebula’ method that he learned by watching the Seed of Life manipulate his body. After a moment he stopped and opened his eyes back up.

Stolen story; please report.

“Excuse me, Great Sir. The Qi circulation route that I learned from the Seed of Life didn’t include any breathing exercises. You said that I would be stronger if I didn’t mix methods, so what should I do?”

Tao Ba looked surprised and then a little embarrassed. He had completely forgotten about this fact and was standing there as if he knew everything. The little boy pushed his fingers through her hair and threw his head back arrogantly, “Haha, I was wondering how long it would take you to figure that out.”

Tao Ba quickly covered for his error with a lie and didn’t give Sage a chance to ask further. He flicked a finger and a glowing bead of light flew out and hit Sage right between the eyebrows. The bundle of energy sunk in and a bit of information flowed into Sage’s mind. Compared to the earlier infusion of knowledge, this breathing exercise was barely anything and Sage only froze for a few seconds before he closed his eyes again and started to meditate once more.

This time he followed the breathing exercise he’d just been given by Tao Ba. In the past, he had started with the Mantis Heart Manual. Which, while it wasn’t terrible, was only a general purpose technique intended for the rank and file cannon fodder of the Lang Clan. The talented disciples would be taught much better techniques. The best members of the clan would even get recruited from the Branch Family and head to the Chong Clan where they would get even better training.

Sage had never tried such a marvelous breathing technique. Such a thing was quite extravagant. After all, the breathing exercise was usually only used by new cultivators to draw in their very first amounts of Qi. Once they’d stepped into the first rank, they would already know how to circulate the Qi through their meridians. All but the most simple of Qi Cultivation Arts usually drew in Qi from the outside world whenever the method was circulated. That meant breathing exercises were merely a way to jumpstart the Qi system, priming it until it could function on its own.

Sage performed the breathing exercise and he felt like he was breathing in a noxious mist. His lungs were burning after just a few dozen breaths. While it was painful, somehow he felt that it was supposed to be this way and continued. Suddenly, after just half an hour the pain faded away and he felt a warm heat in his stomach. The warmth spread slowly through his body and once it reached all the way up to his head he immediately felt his senses sharpening. Immediately, he could feel the energy in his body and he couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Wow! So fast! This breathing exercise is marvelous, Tao Ba. I can already sense Qi.”

“Haha, of course. You’ve already done it before in the past so of course your progress is much better. Also, you’re no longer using that dreadfully untalented human body you used to have.”

“You know about my…”

“I can see everything happening outside. Of course I saw when you first arrived and Master Huang tested you. Don’t you think he would have given you a little more guidance if you were more talented? He doesn’t want to see his clan die out, but you were just too useless.”

Sage suddenly felt quite annoyed. It wasn’t like he chose to be untalented. The majority of people in the world couldn’t even cultivate, so what if he was untalented! At that point he was suddenly reminded of a question he had pondered in the past.

“Great Sir, Tao Ba. Please answer a question for me. What is talent? Please explain it to me.”

“Talent? Psh, it means you have good potential to become a powerful cultivator, obviously!”

Sage bowed his head a few more times, but with his serpentine form it looked quite odd. More like a snake dancing up and down instead of side to side.

“Of course, you are the most wise and learned, Sir. I meant… what is the source of great talent? Is it a mighty intelligence? Marvelous comprehending abilities to learn techniques faster? A strong body, mind, and soul? Special blood? Surely, you know the secret, great and mighty Tao Ba.”

After laying on the compliments thickly once again, with Tao Ba’s arrogant attitude he surely wouldn’t just brush off his question. Or at least that’s what Sage hoped.