"No matter. Starting today, your training will be doubled. Within three months, I want you back at the Body Refining Peak!"
Ji Qingzhu turned, hands clasped behind her back, and said this flatly.
Ji Yuan: "???"
He felt this mattered quite a lot, actually!
Days went by in a haze of Ji Yuan’s wails and shrieks.
"A cultivator must first refine the body before undergoing Mortal Shedding, only then can they ascend to the Divine Ability Realm and master profound wonders that transcend the mundane world."
"What we call 'Body Refining' is simply strengthening the physique. From childhood, you have been nourished by the family with precious meat and cleansed in medicinal baths, which spared you the arduous labor of the initial Qi Nourishing Realm."
Ji Qingzhu was mapping out the path of cultivation for Ji Yuan and Chi Mengli, and she couldn't help but glance at her little brother as she spoke.
"The Body Refining Realm is the initial stage of martial arts. It is the beginning of practice and the foundation of the Great Dao. Its aim is to circulate the blood and Qi throughout the body, tempering the skin, flesh, tendons, and bones. Once perfected, one can cleanse the marrow, exchange blood, and be reborn."
With the Body Refining Great Accomplishment, one’s blood and Qi are robust. Having tempered a copper-skinned and iron-boned body, one can rip apart tigers and leopards with bare hands, shatter monuments and boulders, and be impervious to the pull of five horses!
However, those in the Body Refining Realm remain mere mortals. Their lifespan is no more than two generations. In fact, because martial artists are often involved in vicious combat, they tend to accumulate hidden injuries; the most formidable fighters do not necessarily live the longest. Thus, once their youthful period of peak blood and Qi passes, it becomes difficult for a martial artist to make further breakthroughs.
"Ji Yuan, you are different from ordinary people. Normally, after passing the Five Body-Refining Barriers—the Skin and Flesh barrier, the Tendon and Fascia barrier, the Bone barrier, the Viscera barrier, and the Blood Marrow barrier—and resting for a time, a martial artist can step into the Innate Mortal Shedding stage. Yet, you have been trapped in a cycle of the initial and final two stages of the Five Body-Refining Barriers."
"I know, it takes nine blood refinements to achieve Mortal Shedding, right?" Ji Yuan rubbed his nose and laughed dismissively.
"I am not joking. There are those born with extraordinary constitutions. People with special physiques find cultivation twice as effective with half the effort, and they reach incredibly high heights. You possess one of the most powerful constitutions; as long as you can provide enough essence to awaken it, your future potential will be limitless!" Ji Qingzhu glared at him.
"Alright, alright. I'll protect you, Sister, once I become stronger," Ji Yuan said with a smile.
Ji Qingzhu shook her head and continued her explanation.
"After Body Refining, comes Mortal Shedding."
"Mortal Shedding means shedding one’s mortal coil. In the secular world, such people are known as Innate Masters. There are three stages in Mortal Shedding: Smoke of Blood and Qi, Refining Essence into Qi, and Practicing Qi into Gang."
In the secular world, experts at the True Qi and Yuan Gang Realm levels can be appointed as generals or commanders. Their bodies have undergone transformation, and their lifespans exceed those of ordinary people by more than sixty years.
"Once the Gang Qi is perfected, one can attempt to burn their essence, energy, and spirit to break through the constraints of the physical body. By absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and combining it with Gang Qi to transform it into one’s own Dharma Power, one enters the Divine Ability Realm!"
"The Divine Ability Realm is about Divinity Connection. Once you master Dharma Power, you can traverse the heavens and earth, fly swords through the air, control water, and walk on waves..."
As she spoke, Ji Qingzhu demonstrated her own divine abilities. She split her Dharma Power into two streams, lifting both of them ten feet off the ground. A crystalline flying sword then darted around them like a fish, before she summoned a water dragon that swallowed Ji Yuan in one gulp.
"The power of a divine ability is truly terrifying!" Ji Yuan gasped, remarking that she should not ask him to be the subject of such demonstrations next time.
Once in the Divine Ability Realm, one is no longer a mere martial artist of the secular world. It represents a true entry into the cultivation world, with a lifespan doubling that of the Mortal Shedding Realm—living four or five hundred years is no problem at all.
"What is beyond the Divine Ability Realm?" Chi Mengli raised her small hand and asked.
"Beyond Divine Ability lies the Purple Palace!" Ji Qingzhu answered in a deep voice.
The Purple Palace is the Upper Dantian, the seat of spiritual consciousness.
Body Refining cultivates the physical body, the foundation of all things.
Mortal Shedding cultivates Qi energy, which gathers in the Lower Dantian.
Divine Ability is the sublimation of Dharma Power, born in the Middle Dantian.
The Purple Palace Realm opens the Niwan Palace in the crown of the head. Dharma Power merges with the spirit, causing the divine ability to produce all sorts of inconceivable changes; one can even open up an illusory spiritual world within their own mind!
Only then is the initial cultivation of the human body considered complete. A lifespan of eight hundred years is possible, and living for nearly a millennium is not out of the question.
Beyond that lies the level of sensing the heavens and earth, using the power of one’s own body to leverage the immense power of the greater universe. Moving mountains and filling seas, or burning mountains and boiling oceans, are no longer legends but feats that can truly be accomplished.
This realm is called the "Celestial Realm," and because those who reach it easily exceed a millennium in lifespan, they are also known as "Ancient Little Giants."
Higher still are the Dharma Manifestation True Monarchs, like the one Qianlin mentioned before his death—the mighty figures of the world who can rival the masters of the Holy Lands.
The reason he died with lingering regrets was that the Divine Ability Phenomenon Ji Qingzhu possessed was the prototype of a Dharma Manifestation. This meant that as long as Ji Qingzhu did not die prematurely, she was very likely to reach that realm in the future!
Body Refining,
Mortal Shedding,
Divine Ability,
Purple Palace,
Celestial,
Dharma Manifestation.
The journey of cultivation is long and arduous. Ji Qingzhu is currently just at the beginning. As for Ji Yuan and Chi Mengli, they are still lingering in the first realm.
But the future for all of them is full of promise!
That night, on the desk, a scroll of the Rivers and Mountains Map slowly unfurled. Unfortunately, most of the painting was dim and gray—the sacred mountains were dilapidated, and the rivers were dried up. Of the ninety-nine great spiritual veins, only one Dragon Mountain remained, still retaining a hint of vitality; it was the one to which the Cangyuan dragon soul was attached.
In reality, it had fused its own remnants into the map to barely revive one or two tenths of the map’s power; otherwise, the Rivers and Mountains Map would have shattered like the Yinqiu Sword.
"Cangyuan, come out!"
Ji Qingzhu held the Yinqiu Sword and marched into the Rivers and Mountains Map.
"If you tell me to come out, I’ll come out? Wouldn't that mean I have no face?" Cangyuan muttered quietly, huddled deep within the mountain range.
That sword was terrifying even if it was close to shattering; it didn't believe Ji Qingzhu would actually sever the last spiritual vein.
Moreover, it had already bound the map to her as its master. If she chopped the spiritual vein, it would be equivalent to destroying this Saint Artifact. In the ensuing backlash, no one would survive!
Ji Qingzhu was almost amused. She casually stabbed the Yinqiu Sword into the mountainside and silently contemplated the consequences.
"As the protagonist set in my previous life, even though I lost the Rivers and Mountains Map, with my help, Xiao Yuan’s rise in the early stages will be no problem; he won't be ruined by this."
The map was already bound to her, so she wouldn't say anything overly sentimental. After all, having transmigrated, who isn't a protagonist in their own right?
Even if others knew, they would only say she was blessed with great fortune. But as the one who knew everything, she ultimately felt a sense of guilt.
"Don't worry, little brother. I know a few ancient secrets; I’ll find you an even better treasure when the time comes."
"As for now, let your sister whip you into shape!"
Ji Qingzhu understood the utility of the Rivers and Mountains Map. As a special Grotto-heaven opened by ancient sages, the passage of time within the map was different from the outside world. Aside from being used as a massive storage space, its most important function was for "farming."