"You see, not having such a nucleus from the Mortal Realm was a huge hindrance to those races that weren't blessed with innate longevity."

Humans among them, of course.

Xiao Wu raised an eyebrow, wondering why that would be the case.

Cheng Hao picked up on it and emphasised, "To call the Core the prime construct would be an understatement. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the footing of our whole system. In other words, there were no constructs that could match up to a Core, and in the early Stages especially so. The early stages had inadequate architectures barely any more efficient than mere piles of Qi Strands and Spiritual Energy. Functionally speaking, they were laughable. As such, having only those to rely on, it took prodigies decades to centuries just to advance a single Stage in the Mortal Realm."

The clear voice of the youth flowed like streamwater. The emerald-eyed girl took a pensive sip, immersing herself in the picture he was painting. A nascent cultivation world, whose olden secrets rapidly unravelled to her as the boy articulated.

"We recall now that only the Ageless Realm would bring a sizeable increase to one's lifespan. Immediately, a glaring issue arises." Cheng Hao raised a finger, "For humans and their like who could barely scrape by for a single century, that goal was virtually unattainable by default. Their short lives would have run their course without even getting close to Ascending."

Xiao Wu's dark purple lips parted in enlightenment, understanding the implications.

The boy's fingers rhythmically rapped the tabletop. "One thing was immediately obvious to the lower races."

"For things to change, they needed a way to condense a Core in the Mortal Realm." The rich tapping of his nimble fingertips came to an abrupt stop, in emphasis. "And to do so, they first had to brainstorm how to resolve the problem of impurities!"

At this point, he leaned back with a bemused smile, "What followed, was nothing short of shocking, on all fronts. First and foremost, numerous Primordials barged into the picture."

The girl squirmed in her seat in anticipation at the mention of the olden gods.

"The Primordials, beloved by the world, innately possessed the ability to endlessly rebirth and restart their lives from scratch from the Ageless Realm. This made their already long lives virtually eternal. The moment they felt their time fast approaching and they failed to become Immortals, they'd just have to run the clock back for another attempt. Naturally, this meant they'd be at their weakest then."

"To these beings who would Rebirth every so often, the prospect of shortening the period at which they'd be the most vulnerable was rather enticing."

At that, Xiao Wu nodded in acknowledgement.

Cheng Hao recounted with fervour, "The Primordials thus chimed in with their own insights, some even willing to spare a few centuries of their time to rebirth at the lower races' behest: like so, they tested the theories they found most promising. They were the best test subjects the lower races could have hoped for. Similarly, the olden beasts were left in awe of their collaborators' resourcefulness and creativity, despite their short lives. Their cooperation went swimmingly. Even as the centuries and millennia passed, the grand task was handed to the later generations."

"Until, eventually, there was a major breakthrough."

"Those brightest minds had come up with the blueprint of a Qi River, an architecture in words only, that would freely flow in one's Sea of Consciousness. When Condensing the Core, one would draw upon its accumulation of vetted strands, and not need to take in copious amounts of unfiltered Qi from the outside world."

"The River's Flow was thoroughly investigated, and meticulously calculated. The Sixth Stage's Flow, with a Reverend's ample leeway in terms of their Sea of Consciousness' capacity, was the first to be figured out." Cheng Hao noted, "Sixth Stage Cultivators could now accumulate Qi over many years, until they had gathered enough Sixth Stage Qi Strands. The perpetual Flow of the river helped to keep the balance in the Sea of Consciousness, even as the years passed and the number of Strands required to Condense surpassed the limitations of their current cultivation base."

"The accumulation would take a considerably long time. However, it was a fair compromise, given that progress with a polluted cultivation base would be even slower," he triumphantly announced, "While this process completely removed pollution of foreign Qi from the equation!"

"Henceforth, the condensation of the Core became possible by the sixth stage of the Mortal Realm. All that remained, was to study how a Mortal Core would be impacted by the Ascension and the moulding of their bodies into an Ageless Physique."

"Immediately, the Primordials testing it found that a Mortal Core fit the process like a glove. You'll see why that is once I deem it time to discuss Ascending in more detail, when your understanding of the Sea of Consciousness reaches the desired standards." Cheng Hao waved his hands dismissively as he took a brief break.

Xiao Wu took the time to reorganize her thoughts.

To think the Qi River, which was nowadays but the construct of the Basic Stage, would have such an impactful role...

The notion that the classifications of stages went beyond their constructs rang true in her mind. In fact, as she found was a more appropriate way to put it, each particular architecture had been designed and revisited to fit each Stage like a glove. She was reminded of the word 'artificial' that the boy had used to describe them, finding it rather apt.

Then, a clear voice overtook her pondering.

"It's difficult for me to describe just how formidable of a task it was to condense a Core before that one breakthrough. With the high density of the Qi at the Ageless Realm, all the while breaking through an Ascension... That was the best chance a cultivator had, and even then it would be a herculean task."

"At that time, the Core at the Reverend Stage was the single, largest upheaval in cultivation history... aside from the invention of the Core itself, of course."

"That one victory was but the start, a spark that lit the land of countless planes ablaze. The researchers were reassured that the dreams of their ancestors were possible, while more and more Primordials actively joined in once the revolutionary success was publicised. That, and with the precedent of the Qi River laid down, all they had to was expand upon it, exploring the Flow of the other stages in the Mortal Realm. Everything proceeded smoothly thereon."

"In no time at all, The Core was moved from the sixth stage to the fifth, fourth, and finally the third. Today, we call it the Advanced Stage. They wouldn't find any way to condense a stable Core any earlier, but that was more than enough. By then, it became a matter of refining upon that foundation, and building upon those concepts"

"Decades and Centuries were gradually shaved away. Together with the other lower beings, humanity's greatest geniuses gradually succeeded in Ascending in their late years, setting a historic landmark. Alas, they had overcome their innate lifespans, opening the road to Immortality. The lower races were finally recognized, and granted the name of Spirit Beasts, from the unshakable will that had let them achieve the impossible and change their fate."

"Like so, it was the lower races' ambition that paved the way. More than a hundred thousand years later, all budding cultivators of the lower races have them to thank for opening the path to Immortality."

Cheng Hao finally fell silent. He drank a mouthful from the gourd and let out a long sigh, lost in his thoughts.

Meanwhile, Xiao Wu was still sparring with all those novel notions.

“Boy’s full of surprises, is he not?”

Goldy’s voice startled her.

With a yawn, the hatchling dragon added, “I was surprised at first, ‘cause I did not remember telling him anything about those old days, and it had just come out of nowhere. According to him, at some point that we spent apart, a roaming tower came to him. He spent two months reading the many books in there, and their content was firmly rooted in his mind for him to peruse...”

“Eh?“

Xiao Wu was suddenly confused: why did that story sound so familiar?

Blindlight immediately regretted his whim: to explain the situation would take way too much time… and he was a lazy drifter by nature. “Oh. On second thought, do pay little mind to that. Just some random ramblings from a very old snake, please pay attention to the lecture.”

Cheng Hao nodded, “Thank you, Professor Mc. Goldy-“

“M-Mc Go-!” Blindlight was enraged, “What did my poor ears just hear your depraved mouth utter? For those foul words alone, I should snap your spine in half with my fauces!”

"Ooh, you're baring your gums. I'm so scared..."

The golden dragon was ruthlessly shut down.

The youth proceeded unperturbed, “Tch. There's an order and timing to everything. That lazy snake never figured that out, and as such was the worst teacher growing up."

"It is best for these kinds of things to speak for themselves. Realization is far more convincing and entertaining than revelation." Cheng Hao's eyes glimmered with amusement, "Naturally, for your Clan's Ancestor to have sought me, it's apparent I'm not just a normal child. I have lived a complicated life, and have come to know many things. What I said earlier about things such as the Core being freely switched around was the truth, and the list of such changes throughout history goes on and on. This is because, as I said before, the sequence of the constructs is synthetic! There is only one thing that stays the same no matter how much one tries to switch stuff around…” the boy's eyes gleamed as he raised a finger, “And that is the density of one's Qi, which increases with each stage."

At that even Xiao Wu's eyes widened: indeed, that made the most sense.

Be it conversations with her elders, excerpts from books she had read, or even from Cheng Hao's explanation just now; they all acknowledged that, with each breakthrough to the following stage, there would be a difference in density in the Qi Strands one would gather and utilize!

Naturally, this was also the reason there was such a difference in strength between cultivations of different stages: the mediums used were simply on completely different levels!

Cheng Hao sat down in a chair and took another sip.

"You asked me earlier … to enter the Inferior stage, one would only need to sense one’s personal Qi, one's Sensed Qi, and then use it to awaken their Sea of Consciousness. Indeed, that would be the case, but you see…” He smiled, “There is a reason those bright minds didn't push the Core back any further."

"And that was not because they didn't want to."

"They simply didn't find a way."

"The Core is the basis of all cultivation. It's like an extension of the material body in the World of Qi Strands, an outrageously dense and heavy extension at that. The reason why the Advanced Stage can fly now, while millions of years ago only the Ageless could, is it; the Core acts as a reference point, a grappling hold of sorts. Like dropping a heavy, metal bead onto a lightly taut cloth: the singularity folds the world of Qi around it, and the 'weight' from its rotation overpowers the lighter pull from the Laws of gravity. As such, cultivators with a Core can hover weightlessly, and as the nucleus is built upon as one advances to higher Stages, eventually fly more and more freely."

Xiao Wu's breathing hurried as she was familiarised with the magical construct. At this point, she recalled something and her emerald eyes lit up, "So, for you to say we would be condensing a Pseudo-Core, you meant-"

“Wouldn’t it be great," Cheng Hao interrupted her with a teasing smirk, "if we could, have a worthy replacement? Wouldn’t this grant us an unimaginable edge against cultivators that have yet to enter the Advanced stage?”

“I ask you this then; is it truly impossible to form a Core at the Inferior Stage?" Cheng Hao grinned, "It definitely wasn't possible in the Reverend Stage before the lower races resolved the issue of impurities. Similarly, there's the matter of cohesiveness at the Inferior Stage. And that, our Little Wu, is where another Construct comes in, beyond everyone's wildest expectations."

Interrupt, lift gourd, sip, lower gourd, resume.

"Before I go into the technicalities of that one construct, however, let me briefly illustrate the concept of a Qi Sea versus the Qi River.”

"In essence, it's a matter of functionality."

"The Qi river is meant to flow, according to a very specific blueprint. This way it makes up for the gross amount of Qi Strands required to Condense a Core. So long as that Flow isn't interrupted, a Mortal Realm cultivator can hold Strands far surpassing their original capacity."

"The Qi Sea is much more primitive. After all, it has no Flow to speak of. Instead, it has the sole function of making use of the characteristics of Inferior Stage Qi."

"Qi grows denser and richer as it rises in stage. You can think of it as a page being filled, digging deeper and deeper into the subject, growing wordier and wordier, with each stage. Inversely so, the lowest Qi is just as bulky and cumbersome as that of higher stages, with little to show for it. In terms of cohesiveness, it's like air, struggling to expand and fill the environment."

"Gather enough of such gas into a Qi Sea, squeeze an unimaginable amount of it together by making use of its pathetic density, and it'll naturally have an outrageous expansive force. As such, a Core of Inferior Qi would pop like a balloon as soon as it's formed because of this very force."

Xiao Wu’s green eyes had not blinked once during the whole length of this conversation. Only now did her violet eyelashes flutter, as she wondered how one could possibly resolve that.

Cheng Hao leisurely questioned her as he leaned forward,

“Alright. Let’s think outside the box for a minute. We need a strong, collapsing force to counteract that. Does anything come to mind?”

"A treasure?" Xiao Wu pondered out loud.

"That's still a bit vague, however? You can't expect me to give you passing marks for that-" Cheng Hao made to reply.

"A treasure of a high stage. A very, very high stage."

Oh?

The boy's golden eyes gleamed.

"Of a very high stage, you say..." he encouraged her.

"A construct of very high stage Qi. A construct of outrageously dense Qi," she explained. "Dense enough to have a powerful, inward pull, onto the surrounding Qi."

Cheng Hao snapped his fingers in delight, "And as it would need to be in the capricious Sea of Consciousness for potentially forever, it can't be anything material. At most, it can be a construct of Qi and Spiritual Energy, with few exceptions." the boy leaned forward, an expecting smile on his lips.

"A treasure of Immortal Qi and Artefact Spiritual Energy. Among them, is one iconic of the Xiao Clan and Ancestor Xiao Lan..." Xiao Wu's eyes lit up and she smiled ecstatically.

In unison, the two children exclaimed,

"A Martial Way!"

...

"The Artefact Qi; strands weaved together so precisely they perfectly mirror the Sensed Qi's characteristics." Cheng Hao placed the gourd on the table and stood up, dusting his robe.

“Martial Way," he narrated.

"In the jargon of cultivators, terms such as 'way' or 'path' are often used sparingly, for there is a grander meaning to them. As for how grand..."

"Immortal, Xiān, is composed of rén, person, looking on from shān, mountain."

"Immortal Realm deities are those who have treaded a Path to the peak of existence, and whose steps brave further up, paving a road into the skies above even as there is no more ground to walk upon."

“And the Martial Way is the testimony of their Path to immortality.”

He raised his hands to his bosom and, all of a sudden, enormous pressure crashed down upon all things present in the room, with only a bewildered Xiao Wu and the solemn Cheng Hao being spared.

Blindlight, on the other hand, was viciously dragged to the ground, cursing loudly as he floundered about. Especially when faced with a force that was akin to that of a gargantuan waterfall crashing upon its small body, he couldn't even voice its grievances as it pushed him back.

Bastard, bastard, bastard! You heartless, unworthy, unfilial, callous-!

Not taking notice of the poor beast’s cries, Xiao Wu watched on with wide eyes as slowly, an object began to materialize into the world.

It was accompanied by a small hurricane that battered her clothes and hair, and by a golden glow so bright she couldn’t look at it directly.

"The Martial Way is a Pathfinder. The guidance of an Immortal, their long journey crystallized in Artefact Qi and Spiritual Energy."

Whoosh! Immediately following Cheng Hao’s words, a shining, golden tower suddenly appeared, hovering right above the young boy's palms.

It had a total of fifteen levels, one for each of the Fifteen Stages. The first six levels had bronze gates The middle five levels had a single gate that didn't fit with the others, and four silver gates above it. Lastly, the final four levels had prestigious, golden gates. Many of the entrances were covered in chains and locks. It was as if they were keeping something sealed deep within.

It was mesmerisingly beautiful and just as exquisite.

It was also but a few inches tall. An adult would probably be able to hold it in one palm, whereas Cheng Hao was employing both his hands. Naturally, the tower had been drastically reduced in size: had it been its real size, Cheng Hao reckoned the tower wouldn't fit even if given an entire continent.

The gigantic gates were each bigger and sturdier than the previous level's, making up an inverted, golden pagoda, predominantly golden in colour. No matter how one looked, it was not possible to see what was behind the closed gates. It made one wonder what those big golden doors, ridden with seals and locks held inside; what terrifying beasts might be sealed within and what fearful power it would have taken to seal them.

A mysterious, inverted golden pagoda.

A tower as tall as the heavens, with countless secrets lying beyond each gate.

A Spark that had reignited his dying ember.

This tower, he would use to ascend to Immortality!

And for that very reason, Cheng Hao had thus decided to call it…

"IMMORTAL ASCENSION TOWER!”