Chapter 005

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‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

<> for non-verbal communication like telepathy

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Warning: May contain mature content (18+) of an adult nature. Read at your own risk.

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After their meal, a few outer disciples wearing grey robes escorted the new outer disciples to their cottages. Each of the cottages was fenced, small and single storied, but with a backyard adjacent to it. Fang Hao estimated that the backyard was half the size of a basketball field and was squarish in shape. The outer disciple leading them spoke “These are the unused cottages on this peak. Just select one, and drop blood on the amulet hanging on its gate. That will make it so that only you can enter it.”

Fang Hao and the others each selected a cottage. He took the grey amulet from the gate, and bit his forefinger and dropped a drop of blood on it. The amulet absorbed the blood and he could instinctively control some kind of field which allowed or restricted entry. He tried to open the gate, and it did so even though he felt that the field was on. He closed the gate behind him as he entered the cottage.

Inside there were three rooms. One room just had a bed, a mat on the floor, and a small upturned bamboo-basket covering something on a small stool. He removed the basket, and a there was a small pale blue orb sitting in a wineglass like holder. The pale blue orb was emitting a gentle light which made everything significantly brighter. He noticed that on a nearby wall, there were a few water skins hanging. He kept the light-stone uncovered and investigated the other two room.

One of the other rooms had no windows, had thick sturdy walls and a heavy door. There was only a thin mat on the floor. He assumed this to be the closed-door cultivating room. The remaining room was a bit strange. It had a small light-stone mounted on the ceiling. There was a pit which was lined by gnarled roots in one corner with a bucket and mug near it. There was a translucent curtain separating that corner. There was also what looked like braid of saplings in the opposite corner which jutted out at waist height with a bucket and mug below it.

For some time, Fang Hao was puzzled about its usage and then it suddenly clicked. ‘It is a bathroom! That curtained area is an Indian style shitter. Those twisted saplings look like a tap.’ Having investigated his dwelling, he took a quick shower, and changed into a set of grey robes from his sack. He then took a book out of his sack and started reading by the light-stone.

It was a brief history of the sect, its notable personalities, some general information about cultivation and the sect and the rules. Fang Hao first thoroughly read the rules, and for the most part it was what Old Man Zhu had said, but in more details and exceptions. One notable rule he found was that different grades of disciples had different permissions on whether they could fly or not in different regions of the sect.

He then read the general information section. It had a brief overview of cultivation. The first realm was Qi Gathering Realm. In this realm, the practitioner was just stronger, faster and healthier than a regular mortal. The practitioner slowly gathered Qi in his dantian in a gaseous form. The increase in longevity, or lifespan, was barely a couple of decades. A peak practitioner at this realm could expect to live a little over a century.

The next realm was the Qi condensation realm. The practitioner compressed the Qi in his dantian to a liquid state. In this realm, the practitioner could finally bind and use magic treasures; learn and cast magical spells and techniques. The expected lifespan of the practitioner at the peak of Qi condensation was around 150 years.

The next realm of Qi cultivation was Foundation Establishment. In the foundation establishment realm, the liquid Qi in the practitioner’s dantian partially crystallized, continuously generating wisps of Qi. In Foundation Establishment the cultivator could fly without the use of magical treasures! This realm also increased the cultivator’s longevity to almost three centuries!

Each of the three mentioned realms had four stages; initial, intermediate, late and peak. Initial, mid and late stages again had beginning, middle and advanced sub-stages. The peak realm was just peak, it had no sub-stages.

‘Foundation Establishment, huh? The manual doesn’t mention any other realms…but it obvious it is laying the foundation for something. Also the levels of a realm are quite neatly divided. 3 for initial, 3 for intermediate, 3 for advanced and 1 for peak. So there are a total of 10 levels for each realm.’

He then read briefly about the history of the sect. The founder had found the mountain peak and was exploring it, when it was not much different from the nearby regular mountains. By chance, he saw a corner of dull grey jade sticking out of the ground. He tried to dig it out, but the tip was unusually sharp and he accidently cut his palm. His blood was absorbed by the piece of jade and there was an earth shattering change!

The piece of jade turned out to be the tip of a jade pagoda! The mountain he was on, in the blink of an eye, expanded thousands of time and the massive Jade Pagoda erupted out of it! In a chance encounter he had refined what would be the core foundation of the Jade Pagoda sect.

‘Somehow, that sounds more like a fairy tale…but then again Cultivation is real here, so it’s possible. Now it is time to read the Qi gathering Manual!’ thought Feng Hao as he withdrew a scroll which was the first three layers of a Qi gathering technique. He first read through once through all the three layers.

It was titled the Sublime Qi manual and was essentially a set of postures, breathing techniques and mnemonic chants. He then thoroughly read and re-read the first layer until he had it memorized. By the time he was done, he was feeling tired and his belly was rumbling. Looking out the window, he saw that it was almost dawn.

‘I am tired, hungry and have limited supply of fasting pills. It wouldn’t be too productive to start cultivating now. I should eat heartily, take a nap and then start cultivating the Sublime Qi Manual.’