There are five parts to a cultivation art. The first step is sensing the Qi around you. Most arts sense Qi in form of Qi Threads, few even have the capability of sensing Qi motes. The second step is to attract the Qi inside the body. As cultivators, we have some degree of control over Qi inherently but a good cultivation art will augment it greatly. The third step would be Qi flow through meridians and pathways which are most efficient depending on the realm and body. The fourth step would be the broadening of the meridians and the pathways of the body. The last step would be the time taken to complete one full circle.

I propose to use them as a foundation to classify the level of cultivation art. Admittedly, with this method, there would be no universal peak Heaven class cultivation art possible except for certain body constitution. While the method of strength that we use now is acceptable, it has too many problems and exceptions in its current form.

- letter to Council of Cultivation Masters by a Nascent Cultivation Master (Roughly four thousand years ago).

This is a real cultivator. That's what I felt when I saw the old man walking back to his room with surprising agility. I remember when this town didn't have any. I had met cultivators before of course. There were a few he knew who were even in the mid-body-tempering realm. He always felt, they were stronger and with considerably more status but ultimately just people. This might be true for them, but not him. After all, who really talks about Dao?

"Father, How did I do?", I came to my senses as I saw my daughter wringing my hands and fidgeting around me.

"You obviously made me proud, Meng'er, I didn't think Senior would ask you about money though. Write down your cultivation method and how you cultivate it. Think about his question on Immortality, who knows, this might actually be a chance for you.", I stated earnestly.

"Really? He didn't seem very powerful to me. He seemed like a regular-", I put my hands on her mouth before she could complete the sentence. She seemed pretty annoyed but this wasn't the time to indulge her, however much I want it. I gestured her to come to the courtyard of our house which was attached to the inn.

"Think before you speak, Xiao Meng. Senior is living with us and could very well hear it." I whispered harshly. "It seems my lesson to instill respect for cultivators wasn't taken to heart. Remember, they can and will kill you for any perceived slight and I am not strong enough to protect you from it."

I imagined, no father would want to appear weak in front of their children and this held true for me too, but I wouldn't play with my only daughter's life. She appeared chastised but probably only because I was expecting her to be. She speaks her mind too freely sometimes.

"After you have done your task with senior, you would go to the backyard and stand in horse stance for two hours. Is that clear?", I met her eyes and dread finally showed there. Good. She didn't understand what exactly having more status meant, but she would in due time and I prayed to see her on the other side when that happens.

"Father, is he really so powerful?", She clearly was trying to distract me but the question had merit.

"I don't know. He is definitely more powerful than any of the cultivators I have personally seen. If by going from the aura that he showed me was his full power then, he is in the True Qi realm at least. If not, it might be higher. Unfortunately, I can't be too sure but he is powerful enough to be your teacher." To spare my pride, I didn't recount me kneeling or sweating buckets.

"Now go and write your answers. Be honest. It doesn't bode well to lie. You're a smart child and I fully expect you to pass Senior's test."

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Sleeping again was actually pretty hard but it turned out, I didn't need to actually sleep to access my necklace. While counting sheeps to get me to sleep, I felt my heart go calm and breathing even out. Mediation as I would call it suddenly put me into that space. I found myself lying in the exact position as my inn's self. This time, I laid very straight and it actually looked pretty serene with my eyes closed. You could almost think it to be a funeral. Okay, that might have been a bit morbid.

Either way, I focused on the body and the skin fell away to reveal a lot of holes. I went to the one which was dull compared to the other four but still shining. I tried focusing on it and sort of zoomed it in, and it worked. It seemed to pack a lot of particles. shining particles. The particles I saw when I projected my aura. This was definitely an important discovery. I checked the other four. They were mostly packed with the same particles. I checked the dull ones and they had a few particles inside them but nothing even close to the less shiny one.

Lastly, I checked the other four which were completely black. There wasn't a single particle inside them as if they were closed off.

According to the letter, I am at the fifth-stage of body-tempering. Does that mean, my job is to pack the particles in these holes? As long as I can do that, I can my these points glow and get back to my seventh-stage?

That seems pretty simple. So without further ado, I tried to connect to the world from inside the hall. After all, I have to be able to see the particles as well as the holes. It was again surprisingly simple, I noticed that my necklace started glowing as soon as I felt the connection. It seemed that it was in use when I was showing off to the innkeeper as well.

That sent a shiver down my spine. What if it had started glowing when I was showing off the aura. I probably would have been on my way to being interrogated. Thankfully, it didn't and I could confirm that doing this would have no effect outside at least. Once I knew enough about magic, I would have to find a way to make sure of it.

I focused outside on the sea of particles around me. There were perhaps thousands of them but I could only control a few dozens at a time. I asked them to go towards Me who was laying down in the inn. After all, it only looked like I was somewhere in the ceiling of my room but I could feel that the Me with consciousness was inside the necklace.

I intended the particle to directly go into my chest, which was where the fifth hole was located, the particle did go through my chest but it came out of the other side. I tried the particles with other places including the fully bright ones but it seemed the particle didn't exist at all.

What am I doing wrong? I know the particles are the same. I know they can be packed, as I have four fully filled holes then why do these particles don't even sense them.

I experimented for a few frustrating hours. I tried it with one particle, with two, with everything that I could control but there seemed to be a fundamental problem with my thinking. When I was in the middle of my plan for having a stream of particles in a straight line shooting off to my chest, I heard a knock on the door.

It broke the meditation state I was in and I suddenly found myself in my body. I stood up while yawning and stretching. Who could be in my room? Is it time for lunch?

Stolen story; please report.

I opened my door to find myself looking down on the innkeeper's daughter. Oh shit, I had completely forgotten about it.

She bowed deeply while handing me some scrolls over her head. "Elder, I have bought my cultivation method and have written how I cultivate it. I have also written an answer on why I desire immortality, I hope you do not take offense to my answers."

I felt a little weird by having a child be so formal to me. Honestly, I am not good at politics and going round and round with my words. Let's see if I can fix it.

"Well come inside, Child. No need to be formal and worrying about your every word around me. I will see how you cultivate.", I stepped back into my room and sat on my bed. She hurried behind me and stood at attention near the table. I smiled in hopes to get her nerves to calm down a little. "Make yourself comfortable." before opening the parchments.

The first one was the Purple Mist sect's cultivation method Purple Dew art. I wanted to open it so badly but I first went to the parchment about her reason for immortality. Appearances had to be kept after all.

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to your question Elder. I realize that would be inappropriate as an answer for you so I have tried to put my thoughts here. Before today, I hadn't really thought about immortality. I cultivate because I have the ability to and my father tells me that it is important. I cultivate because I want to be the hero which I hear about in tales from my mother. I cultivate because I want the strength to uproot mountains. I cultivate to make my parents proud.

To answer your question, I don't care for immortality and I don't see any reason to achieve it. I am sure I would continue to cultivate and find more reasons to cultivate. Maybe, I would find a reason for immortality as I go on my path.

I find my grips tightening as my eyes sparkle a little. Thankfully, her head is bowed or my persona of an experienced old man might crack a little. This is not an answer I would expect from a child. When I was her age, I believed that If I ate seeds of a fruit, the seed will sprout in my stomach.

Ahem, no need to compare her with me.

My whole plan was to dismiss any answers that she gave about immortality and I would absolve myself of any obligation to help her. Now that she herself provided the reason, I felt a little better about my plan.

I folded the parchment and looked at the cultivation method. As soon as I reached the first few paragraphs though, I found myself glazing over the content. I didn't understand half of the acupuncture points or talks about meridians and the widening of the pathways.

A few minutes later, I found myself looking at Luo Meng in thought who was slouching a little but still standing with her head down. I already felt bad for deceiving her. There were some theories he wanted to test with his necklace. Was I willing to let someone else know the secrets of my necklace? No. Not yet anyway. Was I willing to kill her if things didn't go as I thought? I don't know.

That thought chilled me. Am I a psychopath? Would I truly kill a child? No. I would not turn into a monster. If my tests leak knowledge about my necklace then it's my fault. I would not kill someone else over that. I would threaten her and would run to a different place. Finally making a decision, I motioned to catch her attention.

"Come, child, cultivate using the Purple Dew method." She jumped at my raspy voice and hurriedly started to bow before I waved my hands.

"Fewer formalities. Start cultivating. I want to test some things.", I admit I was a bit annoyed by not knowing about acupoints and meridians.

She flinched at my annoyance but quickly sat down by crossing legs on the wooden floor with practiced ease. She started to breathe in a certain way.

I tried to get into my own meditation. With sounds of calm breathing as my background, I quickly found myself in the familiar hall.

I saw myself sitting in a crude replica of Luo Meng's form. I had hoped to see Luo Meng in the hall as well but, she wasn't here yet. Time to test my theory. I willed for her body to appear inside the hall but that failed.

I manipulated my real form to go sit behind Luo Meng and put my hand on her shoulder and I willed my necklace to project her into my hall as well.

My Theory was basically, that since I could control the Hall with my mind, I could give commands to it and if it is possible it would do it.

This failed as well, I needed a connection so I decided to use the particles to make a train from inside the girl's chest to my necklace. Once that was complete, I willed her body to appear again inside the Hall and it finally worked this time.

I got more cautious as I tried to see if she could feel anything different. Neither her real body nor the one mirrored showed any signs of surprise or panic. I also checked to see if there was consciousness in the Hall but didn't find any signs. Awesome. No need to go down the dark path.

I could finally see cultivation in vivid detail. When she took a breath, tens of Qi particles went inside her nose and into the body. Suddenly her body in the hall started glowing, I could see the particles from her face moving towards her lungs where one hole meridian glowed and continued towards the large intestine where the second meridian was shining weakly. The path that she used kept glowing even after the particles passed them. I noticed that only two of the Qi particles actually joined her meridian and the rest were lost in transit. Her Qi pathways had many holes and it looked like trying to drink water with a sieve.

It probably took half an hour, before one complete cycle of the method was completed. The particles were very slow while moving and it would not take extra particles except that make their way inside on their own.

I tapped her shoulder as she was going to start again. She paused as she looked confusingly at me.

"I would be trying something to help you. If you feel something wrong, stop cultivating and tell me. Alright?", She looked at me seriously and nodded.

Alright kiddo, time for your reward, if everything goes well.

When she started again and decided to take a breath, I shoved all the particles that I could control in front of her mouth. This time, instead of one line, there were several lines and they automatically twisted on themselves forming a thread of Qi as it went inside Luo Meng's nose.

This time, her reflection in the hall shone brightly as so much Qi came flooding and passed through the heart towards the second meridian. Qi forming a thread also had the benefit that it passed through the pathways with little to no losses due to holes in them.

The accumulation time was significantly longer this time but, after an hour, more than one hundred Qi particles had joined her second meridian. A lot more would have joined but there seemed to be an efficiency issue here as well. When she finally finished, she could only stare at me with shock and she suddenly rushed at me as she hugged me. Seeing her so happy made me giddy as well. Not to mention that now I knew exactly how to cultivate the Purple Dew Art, I chuckled as I hugged her back.

After a few moments, she backed away a few steps and went on her knees, and put her forehead to the ground. I wanted to stop her but I didn't know what she was doing in the first place. For all I knew, it might be a ritual after cultivation or something, so I said nothing. She bumped her head to the ground three times and said, her voice cracking just a little bit.

"Elder, I know that I am not worthy to be your disciple but I have accepted you as my master. Please accept my kowtow. I offer you my life if I have offended you. " She stood up again and went to wait near the table.

"I am not going to take your life, after all, I gave my word to your father. Go, I will speak to your father about it. Bring some food to my room. I am tired.", I sighed as she ran outside the room.

I had no plan on taking a disciple when I didn't know what it entailed. Even if I did, I am the one who needs to become a disciple of someone. I had no idea what was going on after all.

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There was a lot of work to do. Cleaning, washing clothes, opening wine, and buying food. None of the work was done today, I was too nervous waiting for my daughter to come back from that old cultivator's room.

I hope she didn't anger him with her impulsiveness. It was possible and I was around, ready to beg for forgiveness if I noticed anything.

She came running towards me, I could see her big smile and finally let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. She tried to wrap around me in a hug but I was too big for that. Before I could ask anything, however, she asked for food to be delivered to the old cultivator.

By the time, I went to fill the soup, she already had a plate with bread and cheese. She took the food and sprinted towards his room.

What the hell happened to her?

When she finally came down, she explained everything that happened inside. I couldn't believe my ears. Who had ever heard of dozens of times of improvement? From what she said, he didn’t even look at the cultivation art properly.

"If I can get such results every day, I would be in the Third stage of body-tempering in a month.", Meng'er babbled excitedly.

I smiled at her but I was very worried about my meeting with him again. I had to try my best that he takes her as an in-name disciple at least. I was willing to sell myself for it.

I looked at my daughter's excited face and strengthened my will.