Chapter 95

Yan Buji opened the cultivator's miscellaneous talks, which clearly recorded how to roughly judge the strength of a Lianqi Phase cultivator.

Lianqi Phase cultivators need to accumulate mana and constantly break through realms, so the amount of mana directly determines their combat power index.

But nothing is absolute!

Here the miscellaneous talk even uses the two words "footing" to explain that even a Lianqi Level cultivator, if his footing is extraordinarily heaven-defying, you wouldn't dare to act even if you are at the peak of Lianqi.

Therefore Lianqi Phase cultivators mainly focus on laying foundations; combat and other aspects depend on personal preference, but isn't the purpose of cultivation to achieve immortality?

Breaking through Foundation Establishment Stage is the most crucial.

Looking at the rest, besides the explanation of footing, Yan Buji actually also saw a classification of footing strength and weakness.

"Setting aside family background and origin, the ultimate beneficiary of cultivation is still the cultivator himself. Then the talent within footing is a major factor determining the cultivator's upper limit."

"Talent is either a gift from heaven, or family inheritance, or a fortunate coincidence. But regardless, while there is no high or low in the law, people have nobility and baseness."

"The appendix records introductions to common talents; those interested may peruse it."

Yan Buji flipped to the end and glanced at the talent catalog.

Talent is divided into mortal body, bone refinement, immortal aptitude, and saint embryo.

Things like fire spirit body and water spirit body are only called mortal body, meaning the perception and absorption of a certain type of heavenly and earthly spiritual qi is a bit faster than ordinary cultivators, and practicing similar method techniques yields a strength increase of one to three tenths!

Bone refinement, however, is completely different. The text records that cultivators must pass the difficulty of ascending to immortality, a major hurdle entering the Nascent Soul Stage; those with bone refinement talent find it somewhat easier than other cultivators, but the specifics of how it's easier are not recorded.

As for the later immortal aptitude and saint embryo, there's no need to say more—there is simply no record at all.

Therefore talent concerns the speed of cultivation realm advancement, which is understandable.

Yan Buji nodded; even if he were merely a mortal body, he estimated he wouldn't be unable to sense any spiritual qi at all.

"So I really am just an ordinary person." Yan Buji's expression turned strange.

However, this also says that those who possess these talents are already not ordinary cultivators, meaning most cultivators lack talent.

The miscellaneous talk further records that everyone can cultivate, as long as they open the Mud Marrow Palace and transform their spirit into spiritual awareness, they have a chance to embark on the cultivation path!

But.... how much hardship has a person like Yan Buji, with no footing at all, endured to reach this point?

He still counts as having some talent in martial arts; although he doesn't know whether his martial arts talent is related to his cultivation talent, it's certainly not bad.

Even so, Yan Buji now feels his steps are difficult, making it hard to continue on the martial path.

Because the cultivator's miscellaneous talk also mentioned that martial arts flourished for tens of thousands of years, but was severed by sages ten thousand years ago; from then on martial cultivators could only cultivate up to the Golden Core Stage, unable to cross the immortal-mortal divide, truly reaching the Nascent Soul Realm!

The text says that only the Nascent Soul Stage counts as a true immortal dao cultivator.

Below the Nascent Soul Realm, all are merely mortal cultivators.

"Ah, I see—so the martial path has indeed been cut off by the sages, leaving worldly martial artists able to cultivate only to the Golden Core Stage; no wonder...."

Yan Buji frowned; the text also mentions that after Lianqi and Foundation Establishment, there is a Golden Core Formation Stage, which is a transitional stage between Foundation Establishment and Golden Core, without specific level divisions.

One can imagine that Golden Core Formation cultivators, even if not as strong as those who have truly formed a Golden Core, are still stronger than Foundation Establishment cultivators.

I don't know if it's because prodigies of all ages have forcibly raised the limit in Foundation Establishment, allowing them to be not much different from Golden Core cultivators at that stage, thus giving rise to this Golden Core Formation Stage.

As for Accumulation Devices, Yan Buji finally gained an intuitive understanding.

One to Fivefold Transformations become mortal Accumulation Devices; Six to Ninefold Transformations are called Immortal Accumulation Devices.

The text states that the function of an Accumulation Device is an important object aiding cultivators in their practice; any cultivator must possess one.

"Accumulation Device.... I originally thought it would be like the legendary immortal's treasure, but this name really fits the actuality."

Yan Buji glanced at the overall introduction of the Accumulation Device, feeling it was just like the puzzle blocks that ordinary children play with, assembled from individual 'accumulations' refined from spiritual materials to obtain the Accumulation Device!

Why not directly, by refining a large quantity of materials into a complete Accumulation Device, wouldn't that work?

Although an Accumulation Device can, in essence, obtain any desired effect and power through infinite combinations and arrangements, who can guarantee that this time's assembled device matches one's intention, and that the next assembly will certainly suit oneself?

"How strange."

Cultivators in the cultivation world aren't fools; don't they know that something whole is generally better than something assembled?

At least it wouldn't have so many seams, nor would it have so many hidden dangers, right?

Yan Buji pondered for a moment, then upon seeing the introduction of cultivators' cultivation methods, instantly understood everything.

"Damn it! Isn't this trying to kill me? The Blood Heaven Ascension Degree just needs gathering three internal arts plus a general outline to practice, but it actually tells me that cultivators' cultivation methods also require me to personally find suitable doctrines, then combine them one by one to form new doctrines to match my cultivation ability, step by step breaking through realms?!"

Huh?!

This is vastly different from what Yan Buji imagined.

In other words, even his own Martial Dao Profound Skill might possibly need to seek other Martial Dao Profound Skills to combine and arrange into a new technique suitable for him to break through his martial realm?!

Ah???

Yan Buji's face flickered with ferocity, then after a moment he calmed his complex emotions and gritted his teeth.

"Since breaking through requires combining and arranging multiple doctrines to form one's own cultivation method, for me that means I need to gather more and more cultivation methods!"

No wonder a cultivation market has so many basic cultivation methods for people to choose from; it turns out cultivators throughout history have created countless cultivation methods, with the basics being like a drop in the ocean, a grain of sand in the desert.

Take your pick; I'm not afraid you'll snag a bargain.

Anyway, if you snag a huge bargain, you might end up exhausting yourself adjusting your cultivation method, causing your strength to plummet!

So... cultivation methods aren't worth much in the cultivation world?

Perhaps one could say that there's no principle of not lightly transmitting a method!

My method is my method; you can use it, but you'll definitely not be as strong as me, and what's the harm in paying a certain price to pass it on to you?

You can only rely on yourself to arrange and combine one by one, matching your own cultivation path, to become ever stronger.

No wonder such a treasure as the Accumulation Device used by cultivators appears; it's precisely because one worries that if one's cultivation method changes drastically someday, the cultivated treasure would become unusable, which would be a waste.

Rather, it's better to shift thinking and rely on assembling scattered pieces of Accumulation Devices to adapt to various challenges!

Reasonable!

Yan Buji took a deep breath, having grasped the basic common sense of the cultivation world.

Just the ten levels of the Lianqi Phase require ten basic cultivation methods to break through each minor stage!

Yan Buji scratched his head, his scalp feeling a bit numb.