Volume Two - The Map of the Nine Provinces Appears, Entering the Spirit Ruins Chapter 64: The Path of Cultivation

In the four months since joining the Spirit Ruins, Chen Yu had lived in relative comfort. After handing in a mission, he kept busy for a few more days and then found himself with ample free time. During this period, he devoted himself earnestly to cultivation, spending almost all his hours within the Myriad Books Pavilion.

The spiritual energy of the Spirit Ruins was far denser than that of the surrounding towns, so just four months of cultivation allowed Chen Yu to reach the seventh breath of dantian power. At his current pace, he would soon attain the ninth breath, at which point he could participate in the trial for outer disciples of the Spirit Ruins.

Only by becoming an outer disciple could he obtain the techniques necessary to break through the Dantian Yellow Court stage.

Although outer disciples would occasionally come to the Servant Hall to expound on the Dao, all Chen Yu knew was that the next realm was called the One Origin Realm; beyond that, he was completely in the dark. Eager for answers, he searched the Myriad Books Pavilion.

Fortune favored the diligent. After reading two or three hundred volumes, he finally found an old book titled “A Detailed Explanation of Cultivation.”

According to the book, cultivation was a process of enduring nine tribulations and three calamities.

What were the nine tribulations? Sinking the qi to the dantian and merging primal energy; repaying karma, with good and evil returning in kind; freeing the heart of attachments and resolving emotional entanglements; shunning fame and profit, abandoning greed; expelling lust and wickedness, keeping the mind as clear as a quiet pool; seeing through illusions and maintaining true self; transcending heaven and earth, with a mind as broad as the world; unwavering faith and self-possession; never forgetting one’s original intention, thus seeing things through to the end.

These nine tribulations were ever-present in a person’s essence, energy, and spirit. A single misstep along the path could lead to confusion and deviation—one might become a murderous fiend or perish, their Dao dissipated. Only by cultivating the mind and steadying the Dao-heart could one remain free from danger and roam the world in peace.

The three calamities referred to the calamities of wind, thunder, and fire. Each time one broke through a cultivation barrier, ghostly fire would ignite beneath the bubbling spring acupoint, burning up through the mind palace; the five organs would turn to ash, the limbs would wither, and a thousand years of bitter cultivation could all become illusory.

The torturous wind would enter through the crown, pass through the internal organs and dantian, pierce the nine orifices, thinning flesh and bone until the body unraveled.

The thunder calamity was the heavenly tribulation of lightning, which, once overcome, would temper one’s foundation.

Reading this, Chen Yu couldn’t help but draw a deep breath. Though he had yet to feel the nine tribulations, he had actually endured the three calamities, especially the trials of fire and wind, which he had faced multiple times. He had even survived the thunder calamity once when breaking through the Innate Realm.

“So that was the three calamities,” Chen Yu thought to himself in wonder.

Calming his mind, he continued to read.

In the lands of the Nine Provinces, cultivation was divided into ten realms.

After the ninth breath of dantian power came the One Origin Realm. “One Origin” signified the reopening of heaven and earth, a renewed intimacy with all phenomena, the discernment of the origins and ends of things, and the understanding of beginnings and conclusions.

Beyond One Origin was the Yin-Yang Realm. The transformations of yin and yang, of heaven and earth: heaven as yang, earth as yin. The interplay of heaven and earth gives rise to the dual energies of yin and yang.

Next was the Human-Heaven Realm. Heaven, earth, and man merge as one; this is the unity of man and heaven. Essence refines into qi, earth refines qi into spirit, heaven refines spirit back to emptiness—united, they gather at the mysterious pass, rendering one impervious to all calamities.

The Four Symbols Realm followed, where the energies of the four extremes cycle from nothingness to existence and back, with all phenomena in constant succession.

The booklet’s mysteries ended here; the subsequent realms—Spirit-Nurturing, Divine Ability, Path Elaboration, Fate-Knowing, Universe, and Immeasurable—were left unexplained.

Closing the booklet, Chen Yu found even these brief outlines of the four stages worthy of deep study.

He realized that relying solely on the ninth breath of dantian power would not suffice to pass the outer disciple trials; other skills would be necessary. Yet, as a servant disciple, the cost of learning the Spirit Ruins’ stored Daoist arts was far beyond his means. While the Myriad Books Pavilion housed many techniques, most were incomplete and unusable.

Suddenly, Chen Yu thought of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Astral Arts and the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Techniques. Perhaps the key to his breakthrough lay within them.

He had already done a cursory study of both and believed they were worth cultivating, but he still wished to understand their origins before committing. After all, he still had some time before reaching the ninth breath.

With this in mind, he once again immersed himself in the Myriad Books Pavilion, hoping to find more information about these two arts.

Sure enough, he soon found several volumes related to them. However, these books only touched on the two systems briefly.

Legend had it that these two sets of arts encompassed all techniques in the Nine Provinces; even the secret tomes safeguarding the great sects were said to have originated from them. Of course, this was likely just a rumor, for both arts were so common, having been passed down since ancient times.

Most major sects possessed copies, though rarely complete. Nonetheless, for a price, one could assemble a full set; in the Nine Provinces, they were neither secret nor particularly profound.

Still, it was undeniable that the all-encompassing Thirty-Six Heavenly Astral Arts and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Techniques formed the foundation of most techniques in the land.

The Thirty-Six Heavenly Astral Arts were presented as Daoist arts—such as the Nine-Breath Energy Absorption Method—which could be practiced directly. The Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Techniques, by contrast, mostly manifested as talismanic arts and the crafting of magical tools.

At this point, Chen Yu understood: the Flame-Spitting, Wind-Borrowing, and Staff-Disintegration he had witnessed before were all derived from the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Techniques.

For now, the only arts suitable for his cultivation were the Thirty-Six Heavenly Astral Arts, as the Earthly Fiend Techniques required rare treasures and materials to master. Even just the talismanic arts demanded yellow talisman paper, cinnabar infused with spiritual blood, and special brushes—things utterly beyond his means.

Nevertheless, this was enough.

Returning to his spiritual field, he set his affairs in order and took out the silk scroll he kept close to his person, then began to study the Thirty-Six Heavenly Astral Arts intently.

These arts included the Manipulation of Creation, Reversal of Yin and Yang, Shifting of Constellations, Restoration of the Sun, Summoning Wind and Rain, and many others—a total of thirty-six Daoist techniques.

After a night of careful deliberation, Chen Yu selected four: Summoning Wind and Rain, Golden Light Traversal, Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming, and Transmuting Beans into Soldiers.

He chose Summoning Wind and Rain because he had acquired a similar technique as a servant; practicing Golden Light Traversal would allow him to transform into golden light and travel swiftly, vital for escape or pursuit; Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Taming would greatly enhance his strength and grant him mastery over both; and Transmuting Beans into Soldiers would enable him to conjure soldiers to tend his spiritual fields, giving him more time for cultivation.

With his mind made up, Chen Yu wasted no time, silently reciting the incantations and beginning his practice.

Gifted as he was, having experienced the three calamities in the Lawless Lands and the Heavenly Severance Mountains, his foundation was already tempered. Now, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

For Chen Yu, mastering these four Daoist arts was as natural as turning his hand—if not entirely effortless, then nearly so.