Shen Lan had been wondering which of her three new disciples would be the first to ask a question, so she was surprised that it was the one she had the least impression of. Ji Kang had the gangly appearance that teenagers sometimes got that could only be compared to adolescent giraffes, combined with an unremarkable face, short dark hair, and hard eyes.
Ji Kang had three things on his mind at this moment. He knew that first impressions were critical and that Shen Lan was still forming one of him, so now was not the time foolish questions. But he couldn’t allow himself to obviously show off for fear of ruining the work he had already put into his relationship with Lu Wu, either by overshadowing him or giving Lu Wu the impression that he was particularly intelligent. The third thing on his mind was a burning, desperate need to know more about the world that he had recklessly jumped feet first into.
“I’ve heard that there are many different paths of cultivation, but I haven’t heard a detailed explanation of any of them. Could you introduce them to us?”
“Oh? Why would you need to know about any of them other than the Imperial Cultivation path, hmm?” Shen Lan seemed to have seen through Ji Kang’s hesitation to commit himself to a particular cultivation path, but she didn’t insist on hearing an answer and smirked before continuing.”
“There are countless paths for cultivation in this world, but most hit a deadend at some point, so over the generations those who came before us have gravitated towards those paths that allow cultivators to advance the furthest. Imperial Cultivation is the path that was popularized by the Mo dynasty that ruled thousands of years ago. Many of the cultivators trained in this system outlived the dynasty itself, and so although you’ve likely never heard of the Mo dynasty, Imperial Cultivation has remained in the mainstream of the cultivation world to this day, and it is the path that the majority of us here at the Azure Grove Sect follow.”
“There are four major stages that you can achieve in this lower realm and it is unknown how many stages there are for immortals who have already ascended. Those stages are as such: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and finally Nascent Soul. Each of those major stages contains several minor stages within them, four minor stages for Qi Condensation, eight for Foundation Establishment, and from Core Formation onwards the cultivator can choose the number of minor stages for themselves based on when they feel they are ready to advance.”
“After reaching the Nascent Soul stage the cultivator truly becomes immortal, and the only limit to their lifespan will be regular Heavenly Tribulations every 100 years with each tribulation increasing in difficulty until the cultivator has successfully advanced or failed and been killed. Attempting to advance also calls down a particularly deadly Heavenly Tribulation, and as soon as they have successfully passed their final Heavenly Tribulation the laws of this realm force them to ascend. In fact every cultivation path that’s worth the name has a point where the cultivator is forcefully ejected from this realm and forced to ascend.”
There was a lot of information in what Shen Lan had already said so she paused in order to let them digest it for a few moments before continuing.
“Two other mainstream paths are Buddhism and the Path of Gu. I’ve heard that there are more paths that are considered mainstream than just these three in far off lands, but their popularity isn’t very high in this part of the world and so you are unlikely to see much of them.”
“When Buddhists act according to their scriptures they will accumulate merit and they can use this merit to unleash incredibly potent and mystical techniques or they can infuse their merit into their bodies to permanently gain stronger, faster, more durable bodies, in large and small increments that mirror the stages of Imperial Cultivation. When unleashed with sufficiently high quantities of merit, their techniques are able to utilize the power of laws, usually within the domains of karma, fate, and time, though not always.”
“This path of cultivation offers very easy access to high level power, but forces its users to follow the rules set out in their scriptures and their merit power once used does not return. They have to do more good deeds in order to return to their peak condition whereas Imperial Cultivators merely need to meditate to restore their qi.”
“Also worth noting is that Buddhists don’t attract heavenly tribulations, rather they must make and fulfill virtuous Wishes in order to advance their cultivation from their equivalent of Core Formation to the stage equivalent to Nascent Soul. These Wishes must suit the individual’s understanding of Buddhism, attempt to right what they see as a grievous wrong in the world, and be sufficiently difficult that the enormous surge of merit gained from completing the wish is enough to propel their breakthrough.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Although there are significant differences between Buddhism and the Imperial system, they share the same number of major stages, and in general have similar combat strengths and abilities at equivalent stages, though like I said Buddhists are able to unleash extremely potent attacks by spending their merit that most Imperial Cultivators at their level won’t be able to match.”
“The Path of Gu however, is radically different from either of the paths we’ve discussed so far. Gu Masters refine, nurture and utilize Gu. Gu at the lower stages are all insects, most commonly worms which is where the name comes from, but at the higher stages Gu become much more abstract and are no longer bound by this convention. You may or may not have heard of or even seen Gu before, because they can be found everywhere, but mortals tend to mistake them for common beasts.”
“What separates them from insects or other mundane objects is that all Gu have a miniscule fragment of the Greater Dao inside of them, require a specific type of food, and when infused with a Gu Master’s essence can unleash a mystical effect. I’m sure you can see where the difficulty defining what is or isn’t a Gu comes from, since by definition, the Greater Dao is in everything, Gu simply have more than typical objects or animals.”
“Gu Masters start cultivation by using a specific Gu to awaken their Aperture inside their dantian. From then on when they meditate, they will absorb qi and convert it into liquid essence which is stored in their Aperture. They can use this essence to activate their Gu or to nourish their Aperture walls and advance their cultivation.”
“Whereas for Imperial Cultivators the main bottlenecks stopping advancement are the result of lack of comprehension of the natural laws, for Gu Masters the thing that mainly hinders them is a lack of resources. Because Gu require specific foods at regular intervals or else they’ll starve, and average Gu Masters will typically have between four and fifteen Gu, Gu Masters have an enormous appetite for cultivation resources that they must race to fulfill or they risk losing all of their Gu. A Gu Master without any Gu is no stronger than a mortal and not much faster or more durable. Nor does their cultivation inherently grant them longer lives the way it does for Buddhist and Imperial Cultivators, they rely on Lifespan Gu for that. You might think from what I’ve told you so far that the Path of Gu is at a great disadvantage compared to the other mainstream paths, but Gu Masters by their nature have an incredibly flexible repertoire that neither Buddhists nor Imperial Cultivators can match. And although each individual Gu only has one effect, there are innumerable types of Gu with all kinds of miraculous effects.”
As Shen Lan finished they came into view of her courtyard once again and so the topic came to a natural conclusion. Once inside Shen Lan sat down on the edge of the porch and scrutinized the three boys once again.
“The last thing that needs to be mentioned is cultivation talent. Earlier I told you all your talent grades, but I didn’t explain the system we Imperial Cultivators use. Talent comes in five grades, represented by the letter A, B, C, D, and E. E grade means there is no talent, if you had E-grade talent it would mean that your spirit fundamentally lacks the ability to interact with the Primeval Qi in the environment, making all paths of cultivation unavailable to you. D grade means you are just barely capable of stirring the Primeval Qi, but that you would be so slow at cultivating that you would have to spend the entire lifetime of a mortal, 100 years, meditating in order to leave Qi Condensation. Our sect does not accept disciples with D grade talent. C grade is just passable, it’s possible with dedication, hard work, and luck to reach core formation with this talent, but it will take a large portion of your extended lifespan as a cultivator. B grade means that as long as you work hard you can achieve Core Formation before you’ve used up even half of your lifespan, and you will then have a couple hundred years to try for Nascent Soul. A grade however, is the most talented it is possible for a human to be. With A grade talent reaching Core Formation within 30 years of cultivation is not impossible. Whenever a potential disciple is discovered to have A grade talent they are immediately accepted into the sect as a Core Disciple. Core Disciples have abundant resources available to them and a limitless future ahead. This system applies across all cultivation paths, because all cultivation ultimately relies on the Primeval Qi that permeates our world, and a spirit's ability to manipulate that qi is what determine talent."
“Now that you have a better understanding of what cultivation is, it's time to decide what to do with all of you. I’ll tell you right now that you will all be Imperial Cultivators and it should be fairly obvious why. Gu Masters require a steady stream of cultivation resources that our sect is not optimized to provide, so all of our sect’s disciples who have become Gu Masters over the years are lackluster at best and pitiful at worst. As for Buddhism, I find their smug self-righteous hypocrisy incredibly irritating. Now that that’s clear, all that’s left is to impart the sect’s standard breathing technique to you.”