In the Raging river sect inside of his self built home, Naath sat with his eyes peacefully shut as he worked to train King. The duo had been practicing the shifting of energy types in Naath’s soul sea for about a full day now. It has reached the point where King can now shift in any of the four forms of energy of the True Void Arts in moments. It took a while for the two of them to find a good rhythm for the training and a few times they had to stop because King couldn’t bear the pain of destruction. At the same time though, when King had to stop, Naath would teach him the True Void arts in part.
He didn’t want to teach King past the first stage, while King may be bound on a very deep level to never reveal too many secrets if any Naath was still cautious. The True Void Arts are after all in his own opinion demonstrably overpowered. So he wasn’t planning to teach King anything beyond the first level. Not only that, but how the hell would a rune without a physical body form True Void Membranes? So Naath was slowly imparting his knowledge to King as the two trained slowly in order to allow Naath to properly cultivate his soul.
While this was happening elder Gui also happened to be receiving a guest back at his little island home.
“Wait, wait, hold on a second you mean to tell me he rejected your offer to be his master? Not only that but you let him?! You?! Your an endearing person but by the heavens Gui you can be one stubborn mule. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t just throw him into a hell scape like the ten thousand beast forest as punishment! Why in the world would you let him say no?”
“Oh, haha Sect Master Rin, you don’t need to worry about any of that, I let him say no and go off this time because I see potential in him. When he does eventually come back here though, I’m going to put the little shit through hell as a lesson! Right now though, let him enjoy himself, he is just starting his second life as a cultivator, after all. I’m sure he wants to see this world and figure out his standing here before making any rash moves. He will have his own fun, but that fun I’m sure will not only break but shatter what we believe to be common sense.”
The sect masters eyes went wide for a second and he nearly spat out his tea, after coughing for a minute he asked.
“Elder Gui, are you serious?! Genuinely, you think he’s a reincarnator?! Like in the legends? Please tell me your serious, you cant joke about these things or you’ll shorten my lifespan!”
“Why in the world would I joke about something like that you idiot?! Trust me, I’m far more aware of the kind of benefits that can be had if one forms a good connection with a reincarnator. After all to reincarnate there are only really three ways any of which makes them an outstanding talent! No matter what method they used it means they have insane means of their own and becoming close with a reincarnator is a once in a lifetime, mind the pun, opportunity! Also, to answer you question firmly, I am 100% certain that he is a reincarnator!”
“Ah, elder Gui, you actually know how people can reincarnate?! Quickly tell me! Wait, before that. Why would he hide the fact that he is a reincarnator? If people knew, every single large sect on the planet would fall over themselves to recruit him! I think this explains his monstrous tale- Wait! We have a reincarnator in the sect! Elder Gui I need to go seek out Naath, right now, please excuse me. We need to make sure he is as comfortable as possible in the se-“
“Sect master, calm down and shut up! Think for a whole second, if he hid the fact that he is a reincarnator and you suddenly expose him, what do you think will happen? Look, you haven't been beyond this planet so I know you have no way of knowing, but reincarnators while rare aren’t unheard of in the starry sky. Almost every single of them wears it like a fucking badge. Ever last one! So, for him to go out of his way to hide it, blend in with the sect, follow the rules this strictly… I think he doesn’t want anyone to know for some reason so if you waltz right up to him and expose him to the whole world if we are lucky he will just kill you to keep it quiet! If we are unlucky he will raze the entire damn sect in a few years!
So what do you think, for the sect, is the better choice? Let him be and grow and become a deep part of the Raging River sect, or expose him and wait to feel his wrath?”
“Damn it, Gui. I hate when your right like that. I appreciate you stopping me just then I guess but did you have to be so blunt? Sigh, fine but if we aren’t direct how the hell do we ask him to help guide the sect? He clearly knows ways to cultivate well beyond just whatever cultivation method he uses. We both know this whole body of devour thing is bullshit. Also, now that I’ve calmed down, what were those three method of reincarnation?”
"How did you ever get your position of sect master? You do not have the level head needed to make big decisions, with you at the reigns the future of this poor Raging River Sect doesn’t look bright. Sigh… what a pity, what a pity. Fine I guess I can share some knowledge with you so in the future you cans top and think about things better. First of all the three methods one can use to reincarnate. The first is being blessed the the heavens themselves and being a child of the heavens. Once a person blessed like this dies, they will always get at least a second chance to live life.
The second method is that the reincarnator in their last life was strong enough to simply ignore the heavens rules or samsara and forcefully reincarnate! The final method is that someone close to them on death has that strength to forcefully collect their soul and through some special means that I don’t know send the soul to a suitable body inside of a womb to develop and grow and life a second life.
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Now if you want Naath to slowly release some information for us to use for the sect like cultivation and such then it’s simple. You just need to implement a merit points system like almost every other sect on the planet had. Make it so sharing great cultivation methods or knowledge with the sect is worth a lot. You should add a way for the submission of information to be completely anonymous so not even elder can know. That way in the future if by some chance a weaker sect disciple learns some great secret they shouldn’t know they wont be killed or targeted when they try to share it with the sect.
As for the value of a single merit point, have it set so one point is worth one martial energy grass. Not one with any sort of element those prices fluctuate wildly just a pure martial energy grass. After all this is the most common magical plant that is only just barely a single bronze star in grade. Does that cover everything, sect master Rin?”
“Ah, y-ye- It does, thank you elder Gui. Sigh, it would be so much easier if you had just accepted my offer to take over as sect master here. The sect would flourish like a lotus in nirvana with you at the reigns.”
“Bah, I told you already I’ll be leaving this world soon enough, one way or the other. I don’t have a whole lot of time left here no matter what I do, if it weren't for this I wouldn’t have even joined the sect as a nominal elder. I’m just glad my soul masters intuition told me to come here, if it weren't for that intuition I’d be long dead already let alone able to hide on this small world to drag out my lifespan. Now it seems like it led me here for more than just saving my own ass for a bit. Now I’ve taken on a reincarnator as a disciple! Now I can pass on everything I’ve learned and pass on without any worries.”
“Okay, okay. Elder Gui let’s not talk about this depressing topic anymore, I don’t want to think about what will happen when you leave this world. I guess right now I’ll go work on this merit system and iron out the details with the other elders. But elder Gui, do you really think Naath will release what he knows just to get some simple merit points? I mean honestly if he is a reincarnator then he can probably attain anything he wants, I don’t even really understand why he decided to join a sect.”
Oh is that what you’re worried about? Sect master Rin, do you know what the first thing he did when he got my token was? He went shopping, yes, shopping. He bought some clothes, some food and spices, and a sword… an odd sword too, I’m curious about that one. The point being immediately after being able to go shopping he used my elders disciple token to buy some crap that even non-cultivators can get easily. I’m sure he has circumstances we don’t know about at all that are preventing him from showing himself as a reincarnator. Hell, maybe his cultivation method is so heaven defying that if he makes any big moves the heavens will send down tribulation.
If we offer merit points for things like information that will help the sect raise our strength and deepen our foundation I’m sure he will bite. Anything he can tell us without suffering tribulation I’m positive he will! I mean honestly what else could he do? Open a whorehouse?”
“Fine, fine elder Gui you win. But are all soul masters like this? The way you look at details and pick up on all this information so quickly and effortlessly is… demoralizing for us normal people. It’s also kind of terrifying.”
“Hahaha, no, absolutely not! Only a few rare ones who have a genuine future in soul cultivation are like this. Only the elites. The elites all have one thing in common that this quick thinking is a result of. We all have a kind of guiding instinct or intuition that we can follow or ignore. I ignored mine once, just once because I was in a hurry and didn’t think it was worth it to take the detour I would have to. I thought that whatever it was I would power through it and keep going. That was a stupid mistake! It took a few decades off of my lifespan and ended with me being fatally poisoned which is why I’m here by the way.
Then after I got poisoned I followed these instinct that led me here. I wonder if my new disciple has the intuition to go as far as I have.”
“Well then, elder Gui, I need to head out and work on all of these things now, I’m going to be busy for the next few days.”
After sating so Sect master Rin left elder Gui’s little home and made his way to the meeting hall to call the elders and discuss everything. While this was happening Naath was getting an explanation on what soul cultivation really is from king.
“Okay Naath, now that I can change my bodies energy type as easily as breathing at this point, I should tell you how to truly cultivate the soul.
There are two parts to it with many smaller parts that can stem from these. The first step is to build a solid base for your soul, the more time you spend on this the better your future as a soul cultivator. In order to do this first step you need to expand your soul sea and purify the energy in it.
The second part is to practice controlling your soul energy, manipulating it to your own will the better and more finely you can control the soul energy the easier various uses for it will be. You will be able to make formations faster, refine better pills and so on and so forth.
Right now you can be considered at the very entrance of soul cultivation, just outside the door of soul discovery. This is because I forced open your soul sea and made you aware of your central soul and everything that comes with that. You have just discovered the most basic parts of your soul. During this phase is the best possible time to build your foundation as firmly and deeply as possible. While your doing so you will naturally come to understand the limits and abilities of your soul and what you can do with it. Eventually, you will reach a threshold and the knowledge of how to move forward should just come to you like an epiphany.
This threshold is different for everyone, but the higher a persons threshold, the farther they will walk down the path of soul cultivation. Some will never make it beyond the second level, others will reach levels so far away that right now it simply wont do you any good to talk about them. Now then, other than what I have told you now, I shouldn’t say anything else. I can provide you with some hints if you get stuck and need them. But a true soul master will rely on themselves to resolve these questions. It is your soul after all and nobody can really tell you how to advance your specific soul energies.
There are some things that can help you t progress faster like formations that can make soul cultivation go more smoothly. I’d help you by setting these things up for you but my lack of physical body and energy to use that's just not possible. S right now all I can do is give some basic advice when your being kind of an idiot about something, now then lets get into the specifics of how shal we?”