Cultivation Online

“I’m done. Did you wait long?”

After his meeting with Shura concluded, Tian Yang went outside and spoke with Ren Xia.

“Huh? Did you fail to contact the Outer God?” Ren Xia asked.

“No, I succeeded. What made you think that I’d failed?” he asked with a puzzled face.

“I have been out here for less than a minute,” she replied.

“Really?” Tian Yang mumbled with a dumbfounded face.

While he didn’t speak with Shura for long, it definitely lasted for several minutes, not to mention how long it felt for his consciousness to enter the starry sky just to meet Shura.

“Not only did I speak with the Outer God, but I even received help from him. I’ll tell you more inside.”

Ren Xia nodded and went back inside the room.

Once the doors closed, Tian Yang recalled his conversation with Shura.

“The beings we call Outer Gods call themselves Eternals, and they have existed for trillions of years.”

“T-Trillions of years?!” Ren Xia exclaimed in shock.

It was simply an unimaginable amount of time for someone who has only lived a few measly thousands of years.

“Not only did he say he’d help with Kulas’s situation—as long as I uncover the identity of the Eternal interfering with him—but he also showed me how to reach the next cultivation realm,” Tian Yang said, unable to hide his excitement.

“Huh? How does that even work?” she asked.

“It’s hard to put into words,” he replied. “It was as if he fed the knowledge directly into me, almost like passing on a technique. It felt exactly like a moment of sudden realization… like enlightenment itself.”

“So… are you going to break through to the next cultivation realm soon?” she then asked.

A bittersweet smile suddenly tugged at his lips, and he replied in a somewhat defeated voice, “Just because I know the path required to enter the next realm, it doesn’t mean I’ll be able to get there soon. As a matter of fact, even with this knowledge, I highly doubt I’ll be able to break through in the next ten… fifty thousand years.”

“Fifty thousand years?! That long?!” Ren Xia exclaimed with a bewildered face.

He nodded. “At least fifty thousand years, so it could take even longer. And it’s only this short because the answers were given to me. If I had to figure this out by myself, it could’ve easily taken ten times as long.”

“Why does it take that long? Is it because of our understanding of Celestial Qi?”

“That is only a small portion. After we reach a certain level of understanding, we must cultivate Celestial Qi and also our souls.”

“What? Did you just say our… soul?” Ren Xia raised an eyebrow at his last word.

In that era, the concept of cultivating one’s soul was still in its infancy. The soul was the most sensitive and vulnerable part of any being, so most were reluctant to tamper with it, leaving only madmen willing to attempt such cultivation.

Because the subject was so rarely explored, there were scarcely any soul cultivation techniques in existence. And even if such techniques were freely offered, few—if any—would dare to practice them.

“So… did the Outer—Eternal give you a cultivation technique to strength the soul?” she then asked.

Tian Yang shook his head.

“Unfortunately, he did not.”

Ren Xia sighed, “Although it’s great that we now know how to reach the next realm, it doesn’t really help. Not only do we need to create a cultivation technique for Celestial Qi, but we also need to cultivate our soul.”

“Oh.” Tian Yang suddenly spoke, “While he didn’t give me a soul cultivation technique, he did give me a cultivation technique to cultivate Celestial Qi.”

“Really?!” Ren Xia’s eyes shone with bright excitement.

Tian Yang smiled at her reaction and asked, “You want it, too? I thought you wanted to ascend to the next realm through your own efforts.”

Ren Xia sighed and said, “This and trying to sense Celestial Qi are two different things. Even I must admit that I am not talented enough to create a cultivation technique for Celestial Qi with my own efforts—at least not for several million years.”

“Alright, I’ll share the technique with you… but not now. I need to examine it to make sure there’s nothing wrong with it first,” he said.

Despite what Shura said, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t try to mess with him, as the Great mammoth Body Refinement technique did. “It’s good to be cautious, especially when we are dealing with beings that are still beyond our comprehension,” Ren Xia nodded. “Be careful.”

“In the meantime… I will leave the continent to look for a soul cultivation technique,” she added.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded.

“Even if we have a cultivation technique for Celestial Qi, we still need one for our souls. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing for me to do here to help Kulas, and I have been idling enough.”

“I understand. When will you leave?”

“I’ll leave in a few months.”

“Alright.”

Several months later, Ren Xia left Giant’s Continent to search for a soul cultivation technique. Meanwhile, Tian Yang remained on the continent and started studying the cultivation technique without cultivating it. A hundred years passed in the blink of an eye, and Ren Xia returned to the palace.

“How was the search?” he asked.

“It was a waste of time,” Ren Xia rested her body on Tian Yang’s as she sighed out loud. “Although I found several soul cultivation techniques, they were all trash and had a high fatality rate. However, on my way back here, I heard of a certain rumor—that the Three Pillars of Heaven have recently developed a safe and powerful soul cultivation technique.”

Tian Yang raised an eyebrow at this information.

“The Three Pillars of Heaven, huh? So they still have the time to create new techniques while in the middle of a war,” he sighed.

“Honestly, I was thinking about going there to check things out, but I wanted to return first to get your opinion,” Ren Xia suddenly said.