Immortal Only Accepts Female Disciples

Chapter 168: Side Story: Soul Cultivation

Chapter 168: Side Story: Soul Cultivation

The world was vast and endless and there were countless immortals. Many lost their lives everyday but even more rose up to fill its ranks. Such an important book like 'Staying Immortal' that every new Spirit Lord needed remained so tightly controlled because of a single reason, human greed.

Every mortal wanted to become a spirit lord and at the same time, every immortal at the higher realms also wanted the new spirit lords for themselves. Any Spirit King or higher cultivator could easily teach the contents of the book but they would only do so for their disciples. The Immortal Association was no different and the book was a ploy try and gather loose cultivators under their banner.

Chen Wentian owed Gong Liyun a large favor for the book, but this didn't mean he would join her. If her request ended up being too distasteful, he would simply pay the borrowing fee and leave. Still, having a supporter in the association was convenient even if that support was ambiguous.

The book was very long and had a lot of mumbo jumbo with it. Chen Wentian slogged through the archaic and mind-numbing paragraphs for days until the key concept gradually became clear. It described how there was the clear distinction between spirituality and the soul. People at the mortal realms easily confused the two and used them interchangeably but the book made it clear these were two completely different things and the distinction was important for cultivating in the immortal realms.

Spirit, spiritualty, or spiritual energy; this was the universal constant of the world, the mysterious connection between all things, living or not. Everything from the rocks in the mountain to the currents of the ocean, all of them had spirit. Trees had spirit, rays of starlight had spirit, but none of these had souls. Things without a soul can collect incredible amounts of spiritual energy but none of them cultivated. Cultivation realms were meaningless and were merely artificial labels.

Cultivation was a symbol of a higher form of life, one that had a soul. It was a mysterious artefact that came into existence within the brain. All beings with brains had a soul, this was without question. It was born thoughts, self-determination, and the will to survive. Only those with a brain could cultivate their body, form the mind sea, and utilize spiritual energy. But their soul was neglected because it was ethereal and formless and difficult to grasp.

The new concept within the immortal realms was that the body, mind, and spirit from a triangle of power that supported the soul. At the same time, the soul was the anchor that connected everything together. Without a powerful soul, a being could not improve in other aspects. Without a powerful soul, their body, mind, and spirit could not improve

To cultivate in the immortal realms, one had to cultivate their soul!

This was the hidden secret, one that would take a clueless newbie forever to figure out on their own. It would waste away the primes of their extended lifespan, leaving them little left to try for the next realm.

In the mortal realms, comprehension was the most important factor to breakthrough. In the immortal realms, comprehension was still important but the most important factor was now soul strength. The result of this dependence was within each immortal realm, the soul had to be strengthened seven times. Each time the soul strengthened, it allowed for a corresponding increase in their body, mind, and spirit. These were known as the seven stages.

Seven was a powerful number in the world of cultivation. There were seven immortal realms; lord, king, emperor, overlord, master, saint, and demigod. There were seven colors in the rainbow; red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet. Seven days were in a week. Seven stages of soul strengthening. There were also myths and legends of the seven heavens and the seven hells.

Immortals like Chen Wentian and Jasmine were extremely powerful but they still had not entered the first stage so they were simply considered the zeroth stage. It was unclear what stage Murong Aiyin and Fen Jue had reached but it could not have been high. Combat prowess was still ultimately dependent on experience, acc.u.mulation of martial arts, and the power of one's immortal Dao or bloodline. He did not fear any cultivator below the Spirit King Realm, even after learning about the seven stages.

Chen Wentian chuckled as he finally closed the book and put it away. His doubts after entering the Spirt Lord Realm had been resolved. The book did not provide a lot of details about soul strengthening. It only gave some boring suggestions such as cultivating one's unique Dao, introspective meditation, and going through life and death experiences. But he wasn't worried and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

His secret art was his heaven defying Dao of the soul. His soul was already much stronger than normal but it still needed to go through soul strengthening, he couldn't bypass these heavenly laws. However, his soul art made it completely trivial. What was extremely difficult and arduous for normal people would take no time at all. He had a fleeting suspicion that its origin might be from beyond even the Spirit Demigod Realm.

He immediately returned to the sect and entered his private cultivation room below the manor to undergo his first strengthening. He laid down a myriad of shadow anchors and sealed the room so no one would bother him. The most complex cultivation array was drawn, supported by orange spiritual crystal. And the resources needed for soul strengthening? It had already fallen into his hands inadvertently.

Chen Wentian entered his soul, the endless black void filled with tiny stars. He materialized in front of two foggy shapes floating in empty space. One was split apart into many of tiny strands, spinning around each other randomly. Soft m.o.a.ns of anguish and despair emitted from them like an eerie song. The other was solid and looked like an elderly woman. She was furiously struggling against invisible bindings and screeching like a mad beast.

They were none other than the souls of Fen Jue and Murong Aiyin!

Fen Jue had self-imploded and his soul was partial destroyed. Chen Wentian was only able to collect fragments as a majority had already dissipated. Murong Aiyin had still been alive and he forcibly captured her whole soul, killing her in the process.

Human souls did not behave well as weapon or armor souls because they were too rebellious. He also did not want to add these two detestable souls to his collection for no reason. He had to constantly exert soul power to keep them trapped all these weeks but it was worth it in the end. They would serve as the perfect fuel for his cultivation

Chen Wentian opened his eyes after ten days, having finally burned through both souls. He sensed his own soul was finally finished with its first strengthening. Boundless energy erupted from his body, mind, and spirit. He flew out of the room, his aura blazing a fiery trail as he launched into the air.

He laughed joyfully at the clear blue sky; he was now at the 1st Stage of the Spirit Lord Realm!