Dao of the World Walker (Xianxia) Book 2

He took out the first manual in his storage ring, his hand catching without thinking of any particular title, and raised an eyebrow as he realised what he would be reading.

He let his fingers lightly trail over the title of the cover.

Thousand Element Technique.

This was the manual containing the cultivation technique his Master had modified using the Seven Element Technique. He had received it during his first meeting with all his Senior Brothers, but the disciple acceptance ceremony had come the very next day, and they had departed immediately after, leaving him with little to no time to so much as flip open the cover.

Now, sitting here in this delightful place, waiting for that—, and Yang could not believe these words were coming from him —that poor Nascent Soul Cultivator to recover enough to share information about this place, he had the free time to look through it.

Flipping open the manual, he looked at the first page.

Based on the rather powerful but unpopular Seven Element Technique, once considered one of the greatest elemental cultivation arts ever produced. Modified by Daoist Hua Yong, Peak Master of the Soaring Cloud Peak, White Cloud Sect.

Yang’s smiled before his gaze moved to the next page, where the actual information about the technique began.

The Seven Element Technique in its original form required the practitioner to gather exactly seven different types of elemental qi and to condense each of them into a False Core. These False Cores were formed at specific points throughout the body. One within each arm, a half-finger length above the elbow, one within each leg, two finger widths above the knee, one in the chest, right in the center, one beneath the navel, and one in the forehead. Each False Core served as a secondary reservoir, allowing the cultivator to draw upon vast reserves of specific elemental qi without draining the Dantian.

Theoretically and conceptually, it was a brilliant technique. But practically, Yang understood why it had fallen out of favor. Time was a cultivator’s most precious commodity. Every realm had a strict window of opportunity, and the time required to form seven separate False Cores was time stolen from advancing one’s primary realm. He recalled Senior Brother Xiao Zhan’s protest when Master had first brought up the technique; the reaction made far more sense now in light of this knowledge.

He turned to the main body of the text.

Core Principle

Rather than condensing only seven False Cores, the Thousand Element Technique encourages countless small meridians to branch from the primary channels like an ever-growing network of living vines as the cultivator absorbs more and more different types of qi. These vines spread throughout every muscle, bone, organ, and blood vessel, weaving together into an intricate lattice that permeates the entire body, many times denser than the standard meridian network in a cultivator’s body.

Wonderful, another technique that would need him to rework the qi pathways. He was literally treading new paths in cultivation, though it was considerably less exciting in practice than the phrase implied.

At regular intervals along each vine, the cultivator condenses tiny reservoirs known as Origin Seeds. They are to be formed by turning the newly introduced qi in the body into threads and working them into a knot until a small round ball of that particular qi takes shape. Each Seed is supposed to be no larger than one-hundredth of a grain of rice, yet able to function fully as an independent False Core capable of storing a single type of energy.

There was also a marginal note from his Master which read ‘Try other shapes if knots don’t work out.’ Yang just lightly shook his head with a small smile before resuming reading.

Unlike the original technique, there is no theoretical limit to the number of Seeds that may be formed. However, a cultivator must become intimately familiar with the nature of the specific qi before its Origin Seed can be condensed.

Yang paused at that. How intimate did that familiarity need to be? 

He thought of the crystal energy from the Cardwright World. It had altered his own qi in ways that were still unexplained. Was that enough of a foundation to form an Origin Seed from it?

But he needed to take that energy in if he wanted to form an Origin Seed with it, and that seemed impossible for now. The people there were unable to cultivate or absorb energy in any form. Whatever he might try to do there, access to a large source of crystal energy was not available to him.

He gave the rest of the paragraph a quick look, skimming through the actual chants. The manual was concise, which was understandable considering Master had tailored this manual specifically for his unique situation. He would simply have to experiment when the time came.

He returned his attention to the text.

As the cultivator absorbs new forms of energy, additional vines will emerge, and new seeds can be formed along them. Every seed must remain perfectly isolated from the others, preventing incompatible energies from interfering or destroying one another. The technique recognizes no distinction between qi and any other exotic energies. If it can exist as energy, it can in theory become an Origin Seed.

Energy Conversion

The Thousand Element Technique is different from the Seven Element Technique not in its storage capacity, but in its ability to refine one type of qi into another.

Once a Seed has been successfully formed, it becomes an Origin Seed for that specific energy. The cultivator can refine and move along the energy from one Origin Seed to other Origin Seeds using the newly formed vine-like network. The energy can also be transferred to and from the Dantian. 

Yang froze.

He re-read the passage, tracing the words line by line.

This was it. If he could somehow find sources of large amounts of energy in other worlds, then theoretically he could advance along his cultivation realm by adding large amounts of energy to his Dantian. After all, at the most basic level, cultivation was all about attaining immortality. If he could find a balance between advancing both his soul and normal cultivation forward, that would be perfect.

He continued reading.

Using this template, the cultivator can slowly refine one stored energy into another. Before a new energy can be reproduced from other energies, the cultivator must first personally absorb it, stabilize it within the body, and successfully condense its first Origin Seed. It should not be possible to convert any qi into an element whose Origin Seed has not already been developed.

Warning.

Many rare energies are lethal to ordinary cultivators, making each new Origin Seed a potentially life-threatening undertaking. (If you do something asinine like carelessly absorbing poison qi, it will be a race between whether you die first or the Origin Seed forms first.)

As the number of Seeds increases, the complexity of maintaining the vine network may increase exponentially. If too many Seeds destabilize simultaneously, the entire network may collapse, causing catastrophic meridian damage. Maybe even death. Soul should be fine, so don’t try bursting until at Nascent Soul and have a way to get a body.

This technique will not directly advance your cultivation realm. However, once you have developed sufficient experience in converting qi from one type to another, you will be able to absorb large quantities of any particular energy and transfer it to your dantian to accelerate your cultivation. You will still need to cultivate traditionally to absorb the qi required to practice the Heaven-Refining Soul Sutra, since the qi division occurs before qi reaches the Dantian. 

The foundation of this technique is sound, but as a newly modified work, there may be differences between theory and actual practice.

Yang closed the manual and let it rest on his lap.

The last part really comprised the essence of this technique. Normally, when Yang went through manuals, they were absolutely clear statements on what to expect, but looking at this, it was clear that he would be going with one eye closed when it came to trying out this technique. Even reading it felt a bit unclear in places, likely because it was all theoretical at this point. Master was clearly a genius when it came to cultivation. Writing manuals, however, appeared to be another matter entirely.

Truth be told, Yang didn’t mind. Now that he was done, he was even a bit excited; after all, once he found a way to make it work as it should, this would finally give him the boost he needed to accelerate his cultivation. After all, True Talisman Peak certainly wouldn’t be offering up their precious artifacts for him to suck dry, so finding alternative power sources across realms was his best path forward.

He looked up and noticed Senior Brother Fan Xiao back at the injured cultivator’s side and Senior Brother Song Weilong still in the same position he last saw him, while his other three Senior Brothers sat leaning against the wall with their eyes closed.

Yang placed the manual back inside his storage ring, lay back, and rested his head on his laced fingers. Within moments, he was asleep.

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