Now I wonder if it would affect children already born...
Be The Icy Beauty! A Xianxia/Cultivation Tale
- Thread starter ninjastar
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
I don't think Bing is a misandrist per se, I am just extremely amused by the idea that she is just enough of a Gender Cryptid that she may basically assume that if you're haughty and wear a dress, then logically you're a Young Mistress, and everyone else is kind of boring and Assigned Male at Qi Condensation.
The Dao of Heaven is not actually mad at her because she has imperilled the very nature of causality and the border between hell, earth and heaven in her quest to attain godlike power. Far worse than that, it's because she is guilty of that most serious of all heavenly sins, tomboy erasure.
(This should not be taken 100% seriously. But I do think Bing getting minor details like her slave's gender, age, hair colour or names wrong sometimes would be extremely funny and in-character for her.)
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
Or giving her his personal spear manual, the sort of thing only done for favored students and family?
A manual that clan admitted was more powerful than any of their manuals and worked with her "qi mutation"?
Although I wonder if the Heavens are getting as tired of this as Xi Fu. "Damn, this guy again?"
Could just be her not wanting to bother with it. Whats the point in subordinates if you don't delegate?
Qi Cultivation Mortal
ninjastar
(Verified Taoist Immortal)
- Location
- Your mom's house
While very unlikely to, everything below not already mentioned in the story is technically subject to change.
A method of cultivation usually centered around absorbing and refining the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into usable Qi via the Meridian System. However, cultivation manuals can greatly differ in the process and results of cultivation.
Qi Cultivation is the Yin half of cultivation, concerned with the spiritual, as opposed to Body Cultivation, which is the Yang half and concerned with the physical.
The Meridian System is an unnatural Spiritual Organ grafted onto the human race by the early Cultivation Culture. It consists of a central Dantian which stores the majority of the Qi, a system of interconnected channels, and Seventy-Two Aperture points that serve like valves, connecting the channels to each other and to the outer world.
The Dantian is the most unstable portion of the Qi system. Even mortals tend to have functioning Meridian channels, but most have countless cracks and holes within their Dantain, leaving it unable to contain Qi, as it would leak out faster than it could be absorbed.
Generally only those with perfect or mostly perfect Dantians can cultivate any significant amount, and this is what is looked for when one tests for basic cultivation aptitude.
The Dantian in humans usually finishes maturing at around twelve years of age, and cultivating before that requires special items of methods to circumvent the immature Dantian.
Spiritual Energy is the Qi that belongs to Heaven and Earth, flowing through the world. It is both the unified essence and fuel of natural processes.
Spiritual plants and beasts naturally feed on it in accordance with Heavenly Law, while Humans and Demons steal it, forcefully removing the Heavenly will and purifying it. It can settle into objects to birth spiritual treasures like spirit stones and crystals.
It can be drawn into human being's meridians through the breath, at least until they have enough to open their apertures and directly suck in the energy.
Those in the Saint Realm can wield the energy directly, merging their will with that of Heaven and Earth.
The First Great Realm of Cultivation, in which one sheds their mortal nature and strives for immortality.
Enter: Learn to sense and gather the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into one's Meridian System through breath, and then the Apertures
Cultivate: Purify and condense the Qi increasingly taking it from a weak 'gaseous' state, to a thicker 'liquid' state until the Sea of Energy has completely formed.
Breakthrough: Condense the Qi even further, to the point it forms a solid, stable spiritual object known as a Dao Platform, which often takes the form of a pillar, base or mountain.
Details/Abilities:
In Qi Condensation, one can use raw Qi to enhance oneself and perform simple mystical feats like manipulations of the elements. Ranges from 'Peak Human' to the power to destroy a small hill or multiple buildings.
*All power levels and abilities stated are average, they can and will vary greatly between individuals, manuals, areas and more*
Qi Cultivators have a sensitivity to Qi that is commonly called Spiritual Sense. This allows them to feel the strength and affinity of Qi, auras and other types of energy. Those skilled with it can even begin to use it as a full sixth sense, allowing them to fight without their other senses. Spiritual Sense eventually becomes Soul Sense in the Nascent Soul Realm, where one can truly directly perceive the outside world with their soul, though the distinction is only thought about in the lower realms.
Enter: Crystalize the Qi that makes up your Sea of Energy into solid Dao-Platform(s) that serve as the basis of all future cultivation.
Cultivate: Refine the Dao Platform, adding layers to it.
Breakthrough: Melt your completed Dao-Platform and condense it into a Core.
Details/Abilities: The central Dao-Platform allows for the stabilization of Qi, therefore those with it gain the ability to control their qi beyond just raw manipulation, allowing for more complex magical abilities like flight and telekinesis to be learned.
Enter: Melt your completed Dao-Platform and condense it into a Core
Cultivate: Shatter and reform the Core, refining and purifying it each time.
Breakthrough: Draw one's soul and will into the Core
Details/Abilities:
One's Core acts as a sort of 'nucleus' or brain of the Qi system, allowing one to control their Qi to a far more advanced degree. Only those in Core Formation or above can create 'true' magical treasures, pills etc. One Core can be taken from their corpse and they are considered valuable, though using human cores is taboo.
Enter: Draw one's soul and will into the Core
Cultivate: Nourish and expand your soul feeding it your Core from within and allowing it to blossom forth
Breakthrough: Begin to purify your fully bloomed soul of impurities.
Details/Abilities:
During Nascent Soul one gains the ability to use the more esoteric aspects of cultivation, like soul attacks, possession and more. In Nascent Soul the soul swells up and presses against the spatial laws of the continent. By piercing them teleportation and other such spatial abilities can be used. In Nascent Soul one's Soul Sense is unlocked, the 'true' version of Spiritual Sense. Nascent Souls are usually a rainbow color due to the impurities within them.
Enter: Begin the process of purifying your soul and cultivation base from impurity
Cultivate: Continue to cleanse your soul until it is completely pure.
Breakthrough: Once completely clear of Impurity, sync the rhythm of your soul with the flow of Qi in the outside world.
Details/Abilities:
The Transcending Impurity Realm is a transitory realm between the Nascent Soul and Saint Realms. Some consider it more of a 'pseudo-realm' than a true, full realm. In the Transcending Impurity Realm, one's soul loses its chaotic rainbow appearance, often becoming pure white, transparent, gold or something else, depending on the cultivation method used.
Enter: Once completely clear of Impurity, sync the rhythm of your soul with the flow of Qi in the outside world.
Cultivate: Integrate and immerse oneself in nature, cultivating a connection to the natural power of the world.
Breakthrough: Once you have become fully one with nature, you become receptive to the absorption of that which is one with nature and can sense and contemplate the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages to comprehend a piece of natural law.
Details/Abilities:
Those in the Saint Realm can become in tune with the natural energy around them, allowing them to manipulate it rather than use their own power. Reaching the Saint Realm is considered the largest relative increase in power between any realm. It is said to be impossible for a Saint to ever lose a fair battle against even the strongest lower realm cultivator.
Enter: Contemplate the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages to comprehend a piece of natural law.
Cultivate: Through a deeper understanding of the natural law, build a Law within oneself that connects to the Natural Laws of Heaven and Earth.
Breakthrough: When fully connected to the natural laws, peer deeper into the heavenly mysteries and divine a piece of wisdom not known to any.
Details/Abilities:
Those in the Great Sage Realm have the ability to manipulate the world through their understanding of and connection with natural law. While now the Orthodox path, the Great Sage realm was not always the seventh realm, as cultivating it requires the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages, which did not exist when the first human Dao-Fathers were cultivating.
A structured substance of natural law, left behind by the comprehension of an Ancient Sage. When one comprehends natural law in the Ancient Sage Realm, they order the muddled natural around them according to their comprehension. Those fully in tune with nature in the peak of the Saint Realm, can study it to gain a shallow understanding of natural law and step into the Great Sage realm.
Enter: Peer into the Heavenly Mysteries and divine a piece of wisdom not known to any.
Cultivate: Study and gain enlightenment of the deepest Heavenly Laws and truths of world, generating the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages
Breakthrough: Complete one's understanding of Heaven and Earth and begin to sense Dao(Half-step Dao-Seeking). Determine a path that connects your way to the Dao of the world.
Details/Abilities:
Those in the Ancient Sage Realm can peer into the secrets of Heaven and Earth and comprehend knowledge unknowable to others. Ancient Sages naturally order and tidy the natural law around them according to their comprehension. This ordered law is known as the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages, which can be studied by those in the Saint Realm to cultivate the Great Sage Realm.
Enter: Determine a path that connects your way to the Dao of the world.
Cultivate: Deepen one's understanding of their way and the Dao of the world
Breakthrough: Formulate one's existence according to the Dao and undergo your first Dao-Trial
Details/Abilities:
Enter: Surpass the first Dao-Trial
Cultivate: Go through nine further Dao trials, with the third, sixth and ninth being especially dangerous.
Breakthrough: Finally confirm one's Dao fully and undergo the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation, the Tenth and final Dao Trial.
Details/Abilities:
Undergo Dao trials to confirm your Dao according to the Standards of Heaven. A Dao-Trial is a form of tribulation that can manifest in any way to test one's dao and their connection to it, whether illusions and heart demons, heavenly thunder and strange calamites.
Qi Cultivation
General
A method of cultivation usually centered around absorbing and refining the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into usable Qi via the Meridian System. However, cultivation manuals can greatly differ in the process and results of cultivation.
Qi Cultivation is the Yin half of cultivation, concerned with the spiritual, as opposed to Body Cultivation, which is the Yang half and concerned with the physical.
Meridian System
The Meridian System is an unnatural Spiritual Organ grafted onto the human race by the early Cultivation Culture. It consists of a central Dantian which stores the majority of the Qi, a system of interconnected channels, and Seventy-Two Aperture points that serve like valves, connecting the channels to each other and to the outer world.
The Dantian is the most unstable portion of the Qi system. Even mortals tend to have functioning Meridian channels, but most have countless cracks and holes within their Dantain, leaving it unable to contain Qi, as it would leak out faster than it could be absorbed.
Generally only those with perfect or mostly perfect Dantians can cultivate any significant amount, and this is what is looked for when one tests for basic cultivation aptitude.
The Dantian in humans usually finishes maturing at around twelve years of age, and cultivating before that requires special items of methods to circumvent the immature Dantian.
Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth
Spiritual Energy is the Qi that belongs to Heaven and Earth, flowing through the world. It is both the unified essence and fuel of natural processes.
Spiritual plants and beasts naturally feed on it in accordance with Heavenly Law, while Humans and Demons steal it, forcefully removing the Heavenly will and purifying it. It can settle into objects to birth spiritual treasures like spirit stones and crystals.
It can be drawn into human being's meridians through the breath, at least until they have enough to open their apertures and directly suck in the energy.
Those in the Saint Realm can wield the energy directly, merging their will with that of Heaven and Earth.
Mortal Great Realm
The First Great Realm of Cultivation, in which one sheds their mortal nature and strives for immortality.
First Realm: Qi condensation: Lifespan 150 Years
Enter: Learn to sense and gather the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into one's Meridian System through breath, and then the Apertures
Cultivate: Purify and condense the Qi increasingly taking it from a weak 'gaseous' state, to a thicker 'liquid' state until the Sea of Energy has completely formed.
Breakthrough: Condense the Qi even further, to the point it forms a solid, stable spiritual object known as a Dao Platform, which often takes the form of a pillar, base or mountain.
Details/Abilities:
In Qi Condensation, one can use raw Qi to enhance oneself and perform simple mystical feats like manipulations of the elements. Ranges from 'Peak Human' to the power to destroy a small hill or multiple buildings.
*All power levels and abilities stated are average, they can and will vary greatly between individuals, manuals, areas and more*
Spiritual Sense
Qi Cultivators have a sensitivity to Qi that is commonly called Spiritual Sense. This allows them to feel the strength and affinity of Qi, auras and other types of energy. Those skilled with it can even begin to use it as a full sixth sense, allowing them to fight without their other senses. Spiritual Sense eventually becomes Soul Sense in the Nascent Soul Realm, where one can truly directly perceive the outside world with their soul, though the distinction is only thought about in the lower realms.
Second Realm: Foundation Establishment: Lifespan 250 Years
Enter: Crystalize the Qi that makes up your Sea of Energy into solid Dao-Platform(s) that serve as the basis of all future cultivation.
Cultivate: Refine the Dao Platform, adding layers to it.
Breakthrough: Melt your completed Dao-Platform and condense it into a Core.
Details/Abilities: The central Dao-Platform allows for the stabilization of Qi, therefore those with it gain the ability to control their qi beyond just raw manipulation, allowing for more complex magical abilities like flight and telekinesis to be learned.
Third Realm: Core Formation: Lifespan 500 Years
Enter: Melt your completed Dao-Platform and condense it into a Core
Cultivate: Shatter and reform the Core, refining and purifying it each time.
Breakthrough: Draw one's soul and will into the Core
Details/Abilities:
One's Core acts as a sort of 'nucleus' or brain of the Qi system, allowing one to control their Qi to a far more advanced degree. Only those in Core Formation or above can create 'true' magical treasures, pills etc. One Core can be taken from their corpse and they are considered valuable, though using human cores is taboo.
Fourth Realm: Nascent Soul: Lifespan 1000 Years
Enter: Draw one's soul and will into the Core
Cultivate: Nourish and expand your soul feeding it your Core from within and allowing it to blossom forth
Breakthrough: Begin to purify your fully bloomed soul of impurities.
Details/Abilities:
During Nascent Soul one gains the ability to use the more esoteric aspects of cultivation, like soul attacks, possession and more. In Nascent Soul the soul swells up and presses against the spatial laws of the continent. By piercing them teleportation and other such spatial abilities can be used. In Nascent Soul one's Soul Sense is unlocked, the 'true' version of Spiritual Sense. Nascent Souls are usually a rainbow color due to the impurities within them.
Fifth Realm: Transcending Impurity: Lifespan 1000 Years
Enter: Begin the process of purifying your soul and cultivation base from impurity
Cultivate: Continue to cleanse your soul until it is completely pure.
Breakthrough: Once completely clear of Impurity, sync the rhythm of your soul with the flow of Qi in the outside world.
Details/Abilities:
The Transcending Impurity Realm is a transitory realm between the Nascent Soul and Saint Realms. Some consider it more of a 'pseudo-realm' than a true, full realm. In the Transcending Impurity Realm, one's soul loses its chaotic rainbow appearance, often becoming pure white, transparent, gold or something else, depending on the cultivation method used.
Sixth Realm: Saint: Lifespan 2500 Years
Enter: Once completely clear of Impurity, sync the rhythm of your soul with the flow of Qi in the outside world.
Cultivate: Integrate and immerse oneself in nature, cultivating a connection to the natural power of the world.
Breakthrough: Once you have become fully one with nature, you become receptive to the absorption of that which is one with nature and can sense and contemplate the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages to comprehend a piece of natural law.
Details/Abilities:
Those in the Saint Realm can become in tune with the natural energy around them, allowing them to manipulate it rather than use their own power. Reaching the Saint Realm is considered the largest relative increase in power between any realm. It is said to be impossible for a Saint to ever lose a fair battle against even the strongest lower realm cultivator.
Seventh Realm: Great Sage: Lifespan 5000 Years
Enter: Contemplate the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages to comprehend a piece of natural law.
Cultivate: Through a deeper understanding of the natural law, build a Law within oneself that connects to the Natural Laws of Heaven and Earth.
Breakthrough: When fully connected to the natural laws, peer deeper into the heavenly mysteries and divine a piece of wisdom not known to any.
Details/Abilities:
Those in the Great Sage Realm have the ability to manipulate the world through their understanding of and connection with natural law. While now the Orthodox path, the Great Sage realm was not always the seventh realm, as cultivating it requires the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages, which did not exist when the first human Dao-Fathers were cultivating.
Wisdom of the Ancient Sages
A structured substance of natural law, left behind by the comprehension of an Ancient Sage. When one comprehends natural law in the Ancient Sage Realm, they order the muddled natural around them according to their comprehension. Those fully in tune with nature in the peak of the Saint Realm, can study it to gain a shallow understanding of natural law and step into the Great Sage realm.
Eighth Realm: Ancient Sage: Lifespan 10,000 Years
Enter: Peer into the Heavenly Mysteries and divine a piece of wisdom not known to any.
Cultivate: Study and gain enlightenment of the deepest Heavenly Laws and truths of world, generating the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages
Breakthrough: Complete one's understanding of Heaven and Earth and begin to sense Dao(Half-step Dao-Seeking). Determine a path that connects your way to the Dao of the world.
Details/Abilities:
Those in the Ancient Sage Realm can peer into the secrets of Heaven and Earth and comprehend knowledge unknowable to others. Ancient Sages naturally order and tidy the natural law around them according to their comprehension. This ordered law is known as the Wisdom of the Ancient Sages, which can be studied by those in the Saint Realm to cultivate the Great Sage Realm.
Ninth Realm: Dao Seeking: Lifespan 25,000 Years
Enter: Determine a path that connects your way to the Dao of the world.
Cultivate: Deepen one's understanding of their way and the Dao of the world
Breakthrough: Formulate one's existence according to the Dao and undergo your first Dao-Trial
Details/Abilities:
Tenth Realm: Immortal Ascension\Truth-Dao: Lifespan 50,000 Years
Enter: Surpass the first Dao-Trial
Cultivate: Go through nine further Dao trials, with the third, sixth and ninth being especially dangerous.
Breakthrough: Finally confirm one's Dao fully and undergo the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation, the Tenth and final Dao Trial.
Details/Abilities:
Undergo Dao trials to confirm your Dao according to the Standards of Heaven. A Dao-Trial is a form of tribulation that can manifest in any way to test one's dao and their connection to it, whether illusions and heart demons, heavenly thunder and strange calamites.
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Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
It is always interesting, the way that Cultivation starts by acting against the Dao, but finishes by integrating back into it. So much time spent claiming and purifying energies, only to later match those energies to the world again.
Well yes, safe to assume that someone described as a heaven-defying spear-man would have some degree of similar vibes to a show that's called "Pierce The Heavens Crimson Eye"
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Lol, when she gets to this level.
Meilu: "crap, I already know all this crap, how can I re learn it?"
Well, how Private Ji has a great foundation and is still alive might count.
Maybe the Taiji too.
She's not a misandrist, she's a misNPCist.
If you aren't talented and special by the standards of the highest realms you're an NPC and lucky to have her bother to remember your skillset, nevermind name or gender.
At least she's purely meritocratic. Nothing else about you matters to her.
It's a bit like that scene in Hellsing Abridged when Rip accuses Alucard of being racist and sexist. "I hate everyone equally."
- Location
- Cyberspace
Well, it does now; recall that the whole meridian-and-dantian system was the result of coercing the world. Possibly to make the process of getting to the "comprehension really matters" stages easier for human beings.
It probably used to be straight "comprehend the harmony of the world", with very few human beings able to do it. Then one of those that managed to do so managed to also reach above complete understanding, decided that human beings needed a leg up, and then promptly smacked Heaven and the world around until it was so.
So little wonder that that part of cultivation is "acting against the Dao".
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Maybe understanding idiots is a critical part of the ascension process but is left behind at higher stages of cultivation, and must be regained laboriously?
Some of the comments here about only caring about cultivation remind me of a line from another story, the line having been posted by the author:
www.reddit.com
Reddit - Dive into anything
www.reddit.com
ninjastar
(Verified Taoist Immortal)
- Location
- Your mom's house
Ah yeah, I forgot how funny that story was, shame he dropped it. It's from These Heels Step HeavenwardSome of the comments here about only caring about cultivation remind me of a line from another story, the line having been posted by the author:
Reddit - Dive into anything
BarbatosLupus008
Certified Not Killer Giant Robot
- Location
- Behind You
Private Ji maybe heading down the path of the Spirit Dog but Xi Fu is the one getting a leash at this point.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Then again, Xi Fu is perhaps uniquely qualified to break any confinement placed on him...
Chapter 50: Core Formation
ninjastar
(Verified Taoist Immortal)
- Location
- Your mom's house
Transmigrated back into the body of her child self, can the mighty Celestial Bing Meilu survive in a Xianxia world all the while staving off the advances of arrogant young masters and wannabe protagonists alike?
Why is life so hard for the Icy Beauty?
Any corrections or criticisms are welcome, I hope you enjoy Chapter 50: Core Formation
---
Bing Meilu leapt forward. Above massive, apocalyptic tribulation gathered. Xi Fu sat at the center, laughing in disbelief. His entire body was soaked in sweat and exhausted.
"Take this," she ordered, pressing a whole bottle of Battle-Continuation pills into his palm.
Even providing slight assistance like this was interfering with a Tribulation, which brought down Heavenly Punishment... but since when did Bing Meilu care about something like that? It wasn't like she and the Heavens of the Bird Talon Continent could be any more opposed.
"The Five-Coloured Lightning is the sign of the completion of your Core Formation cultivation. Surviving it will baptize and complete your Inner Core," Bing Meilu explained. "You can block or destroy anything else, but not that."
Xi Fu numbly nodded. A hail of thunderbolts shot down towards Bing Meilu, the tribulation locking onto her. She sneered frostily, raising her hand.
"Heaven-Earth Inverting Palm!"
The lightning froze.
"You can keep attacking me if you wish, and I'll end this tribulation myself," Bing Meilu declared. "Or you can do your task and oppose Xi Fu's breakthrough. You lack the power to do both!"
"Hey!" Xi Fu looked at her in protest. "What do you mean you can end the tribulation? Do that!"
"A cultivator has to overcome obstacles," she explained wistfully as the pressure of the tribulation rose. "Trust me, one day you'll look back at these tribulations with fond reminiscence for your youth."
Xi Fu gave her a look of disbelief. With that, Bing Meilu flew out of the tribulation. She waved her hand, surges of icy wind reaching down to grab the members of her faction. Together, they flew miles away, watching as a huge thunderstorm gathered above.
---
Meanwhile, Xi Fu stood alone in the hot spring valley, staring blankly up at the tribulation gathering. Sweltering heat filled the air as Heaven Qi poured out, the 'Law' of the Tribulation locking onto him.
His spatial ring flashed, and his trusty old ebony-shafted spear flashed into his palm. The comforting weight filled his hand, his sweat soaking into the porous wood.
"You know, if I survive this, I'm definitely going to spend a week-no, a full month just relaxing with some wine and girls," the young man sighed. "If...No-When."
He could feel his meridians shaking and swelling as the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth surged into him without out, his cultivation rising and rising.
The breakthrough from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation was massive. He had not even stabilized his cultivation and he could tell he was already dozens of times more powerful.
"You know, I never imagined I'd reach Core Formation at age twenty-four," he sighed, as the first attack of the Tribulation gathered. "I think that makes me by far the youngest Core Formation in Seventieth Port Snake, except for Ji Longyi, who was nineteen."
Hundreds of lighting swords rained down on him. Spear-Intent flared out from him with a single thought, exterminating each sword.
"And like, I appreciate the progress, I enjoy being talented, and to a degree, even Bing Meilu's 'enthusiastic' teaching style... but this is a bit much, even for me, ya know?"
Xi Fu didn't know if spilling his emotions out onto a faceless tribulation was a sign of a sane mind, but he needed to vent at the moment.
Hundreds of bolts of raging lighting coiled down to bite at him. His own boiling vortex of Heaven Defying Spear Intent shot out, hundreds of spar spectral spears tearing through the lightning bolts.
"Is it too much for a man to enjoy being a Foundation Establishment for a few months before making it to Core Formation? I haven't even had the time to learn a flying technique, for Heaven's sake!"
Nine lighting orbs formed, each taking on the shape of a vaguely human body with a spear. Supposedly talented spearmen who died in the Spear-Heart Tribulation would be stored in the heavens to challenge new up-and-coming geniuses. At least, that's what people said.
The nine spearmen danced down from the sky, surrounding Xi Fi.
"Honestly, I'm just tired. Even with a bunch of pills, there is no substitute for real rest. Tribulation after fucking Tribulation, can't I get a god damned break?"
The spearmen exploded toward Xi Fu. Each moved at such incredible speed the ordinary human eye would see nothing but a blur. The man sighed.
Xi Fu narrowed his eyes.
"Cloud Carving Spear."
Nine lines of turbulent light seared through the air. The spearmen were no more.
"Honestly, it occurs to me that all this mess is arguably your fault! Why the hell do Tribulations have to be a thing in the first fucking place? If you just stopped being such a dick, breaking through would be far less stressful for us cultivators!"
Rivers of lighting poured down to attack him. This time he dodged, dancing across the flattened ash, lines of spear light piercing the air to shatter various branches of the surging thunder.
"You know, my good friend Jiang died in his Second Realm Tribulation. Sincerely, on behalf of all cultivators... Go fuck yourself!"
The Heavens shuddered, the pressure crashing down from them rising higher and higher. Four calamitous auras appeared. One of metal, one of wood, one of fire and one of water.
A huge dragon of wood exploded down from the sky, raging down towards Xi Fu.
"Cloud Carving Spear!"
His spear intent flared out, ripping through the center of the dragon. It exploded into countless pieces, each rapidly growing outwards.
"Not on my watch!"
A second flash of Spear-Intent and the wood dragon was no more. However, Xi Fu was starting to run low on Qi.
"I'll have to fight more conservatively," he admitted, popping another Batte-Continuation pill.
A huge tiger of solid gold pranced down from the clouds, roaring angrily. When its huge claws slashed, lines of metallic light cleaved toward him. Instead of fighting back, he evaded, dodging each blow with his supernaturally fast, qi-enhanced body. Soon the next calamity came, an enormous tortoise of chilly black water and ice.
The pressure of the fight ramped up as the two huge beasts attacked him. Even with the incredible speed of a core Formation expert, it was difficult to evade the attacks.
Finally, an enormous bird of scorching inferno dived from the sky towards him.
"Sky Erasing Spear."
A line of fire ripped through the air. The Three calamity beasts blinked away.
'Killing two birds with one stone, or is it three?' Xi Fu.
Even still, that one attack had used up a huge amount of his Qi. He had perhaps one-fifth left. Popping a third Battle-Continuation pill, he felt another fifth return.
An aura reminiscent of the Elemental Five grew in the tribulation above. This must have been the 'Five-Coloured Lightning' Bing Meilu mentioned. Xi Fu steadied himself, boiling white spear intent shrouding around himself like a shield.
In a split second, the world turned white and an earthshattering explosion of thunderbolts sounded out as five bolts of lightning came from the sky. One was red, with a fiery aura, one black with a watery aura, one yellow with an aura of earth, one green with an aura of wood, and one white with an aura of metal
The light bolts slammed into him and he let out a full-throated scream of pain and rage. His skin seared and turned scrip, like well-fried pork. Blood burst out of his mouth. His legs shattered from the sheer downward pressure.
Within his Dantian, the five-coloured lightning surged into his Embryonic Spear Heart, which took the place of his Inner Core. He felt his cultivation explode forward, solidifying and deepening.
'That is it- I've reached the first stage of Core Formation!'
Above the tribulation still raged, power gathering for the next blow.
"No, I think we're done here. Go fuck yourself."
His Sky Erasing Spear stabbed through the air like a fell omen. The tribulation blinked from existence, and Xi Fu fell unconscious.
---
Xi Fu awoke atop a bed of ice. His head ached and his body was sore. Slowly blinking open his eyes, he caught sight of Bing Meilu, who sat in meditation a few feet from him.
Around her swirled a strange formation. Red light surged towards her clockwise, only to suddenly switch into a blue light, pouring into her apertures.
"You're finally awake," she said.
"How long was I out?"
"A week."
Xi Fu blinked in shock. A week? How could it have been that long? As if reading his mind, Bing Meilu answered.
"The stronger a cultivator gets, the longer it takes for them to recover and the harder it is for them to heal, generally. That's why the old monsters of a sect might slumber for centuries without making a move or spend decades recovering from a single wound."
Xi Fu stood. He could feel an intensely powerful energy within him. Compared to being in the second realm, he felt like he had experienced a metamorphosis- like he had been living wrapped in a thick woollen blanket and only now was unrestricted.
His mind flashed back to his breakthrough, to what had happened. He looked at the meditating Bing Meilu with narrowed eyes.
"The 'Swordfather' you showed me in that parable... I saw him. In Ji Hui's Meridians."
"After you comprehend the secret behind Dragon Scales, I was wondering if you'd be able to discover the secret of the Meridian System," Bing Meilu smiled.
Xi Fu gave her a probing look.
"So, that's the origin of human cultivation then? A Heavenly Law created by that swordsman?"
"Not quite. At the start of cultivation culture, humans, through the use of their exceptional intelligence, created and grafted onto themselves the Meridian system, in order to steal and wield the Spiritual Power of Heaven and Earth that was denied to them."
"However, like all overstep of the bounds of nature, they incurred the wrath of Providence and were struck down with constant tribulations and heavenly punishment. Those who were able to endure and rise up the unknown ranks of cultivation through determination and sheer chance became known as the Dao Fathers. In the end, only twelve of them managed to survive and reach the peak."
"...But that kind of Heavenly Punishment doesn't happen anymore, because of that man carving a law into Heaven? And now, all humans are born with an innate meridian system, rather than having to be given one?"
"Indeed."
"How do you know all this? I've never even heard an inkling of any of the information."
"I'll tell you one day," Bing Meilu waved her hand dismissively. "When you're strong enough."
Xi Fu frowned, feeling his Spear-Intent rage at the dismissive treatment. Uncompromising, and dominant, that was the nature of Heaven-Defying. He was in Core Formation now, a realm above Bing Meilu, and yet she still treated him like a pathetic weakling. Still, he could never try and rebel against her because of the blood contract. It wasn't that he was ungrateful for her guidance, but the least she could do was show her strongest subordinate some respect, right?
Bing Meilu slowly opened her eyes, staring at him. An amused smirk covered her face at his obvious anger.
"If you think you've strong enough to matter because of a mere Core Formation, then let's spar. I'll give you a hundred free blows. If you can manage to make even a strand of my hair move an inch out of place, I'll free you from the Blood Contract and become your subordinate."
Her Qi aura exploded outwards, like seventy-two people superimposed. Xi Fu felt his knees shudder. There was something deeply terrifying about her freezing Yin Qi, like he was facing something so far beyond him that he was an ant. Even the double tribulation had not given him a sense of danger like her aura.
"No-no, forgive this lowly slave for his slight," Xi Fu grimaced, bowing in apology.
"Hmph. There's nothing wrong with being arrogant, so long as you have the strength," she waved her hand. "So, if you don't want to be treated as a weakling, naturally you can remedy that by becoming stronger."
The young man nodded at her words obediently.
"Now, I want to see the move you used to summon the Tribulation of Art backed by your Core Formation cultivation base." Bing Meilu said. "Give it your all."
Xi Fu nodded. He pointed his spear in a random direction-
"Use it against me," she ordered, rolling her eyes.
"Sky Erasing Spear!"
---
Omake
"Did you just dual cultivate with Ji Hui?" Bing Meilu's frosty voice rang out, interrupting his internal thoughts.
Xi Fu spun to stare at her, a look of horror and disgust on his face.
"...What?"
"You poured your Qi into him and suddenly rose up several ranks. Don't tell me you dual cultivated with an unconscious man?!" she narrowed her eyes.
Xi Fu's jaw dropped. No matter how you looked at it, the situation she described did sound incredibly suspicious.
"Whoah, whoah, it's not like that. I'm not into men that way- I just received a piece of enlightenment while studying his meridian system!" he waved his hands defensively.
"I know. I was joking."
Xi Fu blinked in complete shock and confusion. Bing Meilu frowned.
'Humor is a tool that can be used to foster closer relations with a subordinate, correct?' she remembered the words of Shui Wu, her junior disciple sister.
Honestly, Bing Meilu had spent little time on anything other than growing stronger. Her power had been the backing of the Crystal Providence Heavenly Palace. She had not spent very much time actually getting to know her subordinates personally. That was a task left to her attendants, Sect Elders and so on.
Perhaps she had not properly employed it? Well, like all aspects of natural law, she would eventually attain enlightenment of it. Bing Meilu was a genius after all.
'Perhaps I'll divine its true use in the Ancient Sage Realm,' she shrugged.
Why is life so hard for the Icy Beauty?
Any corrections or criticisms are welcome, I hope you enjoy Chapter 50: Core Formation
---
Bing Meilu leapt forward. Above massive, apocalyptic tribulation gathered. Xi Fu sat at the center, laughing in disbelief. His entire body was soaked in sweat and exhausted.
"Take this," she ordered, pressing a whole bottle of Battle-Continuation pills into his palm.
Even providing slight assistance like this was interfering with a Tribulation, which brought down Heavenly Punishment... but since when did Bing Meilu care about something like that? It wasn't like she and the Heavens of the Bird Talon Continent could be any more opposed.
"The Five-Coloured Lightning is the sign of the completion of your Core Formation cultivation. Surviving it will baptize and complete your Inner Core," Bing Meilu explained. "You can block or destroy anything else, but not that."
Xi Fu numbly nodded. A hail of thunderbolts shot down towards Bing Meilu, the tribulation locking onto her. She sneered frostily, raising her hand.
"Heaven-Earth Inverting Palm!"
The lightning froze.
"You can keep attacking me if you wish, and I'll end this tribulation myself," Bing Meilu declared. "Or you can do your task and oppose Xi Fu's breakthrough. You lack the power to do both!"
"Hey!" Xi Fu looked at her in protest. "What do you mean you can end the tribulation? Do that!"
"A cultivator has to overcome obstacles," she explained wistfully as the pressure of the tribulation rose. "Trust me, one day you'll look back at these tribulations with fond reminiscence for your youth."
Xi Fu gave her a look of disbelief. With that, Bing Meilu flew out of the tribulation. She waved her hand, surges of icy wind reaching down to grab the members of her faction. Together, they flew miles away, watching as a huge thunderstorm gathered above.
---
Meanwhile, Xi Fu stood alone in the hot spring valley, staring blankly up at the tribulation gathering. Sweltering heat filled the air as Heaven Qi poured out, the 'Law' of the Tribulation locking onto him.
His spatial ring flashed, and his trusty old ebony-shafted spear flashed into his palm. The comforting weight filled his hand, his sweat soaking into the porous wood.
"You know, if I survive this, I'm definitely going to spend a week-no, a full month just relaxing with some wine and girls," the young man sighed. "If...No-When."
He could feel his meridians shaking and swelling as the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth surged into him without out, his cultivation rising and rising.
The breakthrough from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation was massive. He had not even stabilized his cultivation and he could tell he was already dozens of times more powerful.
"You know, I never imagined I'd reach Core Formation at age twenty-four," he sighed, as the first attack of the Tribulation gathered. "I think that makes me by far the youngest Core Formation in Seventieth Port Snake, except for Ji Longyi, who was nineteen."
Hundreds of lighting swords rained down on him. Spear-Intent flared out from him with a single thought, exterminating each sword.
"And like, I appreciate the progress, I enjoy being talented, and to a degree, even Bing Meilu's 'enthusiastic' teaching style... but this is a bit much, even for me, ya know?"
Xi Fu didn't know if spilling his emotions out onto a faceless tribulation was a sign of a sane mind, but he needed to vent at the moment.
Hundreds of bolts of raging lighting coiled down to bite at him. His own boiling vortex of Heaven Defying Spear Intent shot out, hundreds of spar spectral spears tearing through the lightning bolts.
"Is it too much for a man to enjoy being a Foundation Establishment for a few months before making it to Core Formation? I haven't even had the time to learn a flying technique, for Heaven's sake!"
Nine lighting orbs formed, each taking on the shape of a vaguely human body with a spear. Supposedly talented spearmen who died in the Spear-Heart Tribulation would be stored in the heavens to challenge new up-and-coming geniuses. At least, that's what people said.
The nine spearmen danced down from the sky, surrounding Xi Fi.
"Honestly, I'm just tired. Even with a bunch of pills, there is no substitute for real rest. Tribulation after fucking Tribulation, can't I get a god damned break?"
The spearmen exploded toward Xi Fu. Each moved at such incredible speed the ordinary human eye would see nothing but a blur. The man sighed.
Xi Fu narrowed his eyes.
"Cloud Carving Spear."
Nine lines of turbulent light seared through the air. The spearmen were no more.
"Honestly, it occurs to me that all this mess is arguably your fault! Why the hell do Tribulations have to be a thing in the first fucking place? If you just stopped being such a dick, breaking through would be far less stressful for us cultivators!"
Rivers of lighting poured down to attack him. This time he dodged, dancing across the flattened ash, lines of spear light piercing the air to shatter various branches of the surging thunder.
"You know, my good friend Jiang died in his Second Realm Tribulation. Sincerely, on behalf of all cultivators... Go fuck yourself!"
The Heavens shuddered, the pressure crashing down from them rising higher and higher. Four calamitous auras appeared. One of metal, one of wood, one of fire and one of water.
A huge dragon of wood exploded down from the sky, raging down towards Xi Fu.
"Cloud Carving Spear!"
His spear intent flared out, ripping through the center of the dragon. It exploded into countless pieces, each rapidly growing outwards.
"Not on my watch!"
A second flash of Spear-Intent and the wood dragon was no more. However, Xi Fu was starting to run low on Qi.
"I'll have to fight more conservatively," he admitted, popping another Batte-Continuation pill.
A huge tiger of solid gold pranced down from the clouds, roaring angrily. When its huge claws slashed, lines of metallic light cleaved toward him. Instead of fighting back, he evaded, dodging each blow with his supernaturally fast, qi-enhanced body. Soon the next calamity came, an enormous tortoise of chilly black water and ice.
The pressure of the fight ramped up as the two huge beasts attacked him. Even with the incredible speed of a core Formation expert, it was difficult to evade the attacks.
Finally, an enormous bird of scorching inferno dived from the sky towards him.
"Sky Erasing Spear."
A line of fire ripped through the air. The Three calamity beasts blinked away.
'Killing two birds with one stone, or is it three?' Xi Fu.
Even still, that one attack had used up a huge amount of his Qi. He had perhaps one-fifth left. Popping a third Battle-Continuation pill, he felt another fifth return.
An aura reminiscent of the Elemental Five grew in the tribulation above. This must have been the 'Five-Coloured Lightning' Bing Meilu mentioned. Xi Fu steadied himself, boiling white spear intent shrouding around himself like a shield.
In a split second, the world turned white and an earthshattering explosion of thunderbolts sounded out as five bolts of lightning came from the sky. One was red, with a fiery aura, one black with a watery aura, one yellow with an aura of earth, one green with an aura of wood, and one white with an aura of metal
The light bolts slammed into him and he let out a full-throated scream of pain and rage. His skin seared and turned scrip, like well-fried pork. Blood burst out of his mouth. His legs shattered from the sheer downward pressure.
Within his Dantian, the five-coloured lightning surged into his Embryonic Spear Heart, which took the place of his Inner Core. He felt his cultivation explode forward, solidifying and deepening.
'That is it- I've reached the first stage of Core Formation!'
Above the tribulation still raged, power gathering for the next blow.
"No, I think we're done here. Go fuck yourself."
His Sky Erasing Spear stabbed through the air like a fell omen. The tribulation blinked from existence, and Xi Fu fell unconscious.
---
Xi Fu awoke atop a bed of ice. His head ached and his body was sore. Slowly blinking open his eyes, he caught sight of Bing Meilu, who sat in meditation a few feet from him.
Around her swirled a strange formation. Red light surged towards her clockwise, only to suddenly switch into a blue light, pouring into her apertures.
"You're finally awake," she said.
"How long was I out?"
"A week."
Xi Fu blinked in shock. A week? How could it have been that long? As if reading his mind, Bing Meilu answered.
"The stronger a cultivator gets, the longer it takes for them to recover and the harder it is for them to heal, generally. That's why the old monsters of a sect might slumber for centuries without making a move or spend decades recovering from a single wound."
Xi Fu stood. He could feel an intensely powerful energy within him. Compared to being in the second realm, he felt like he had experienced a metamorphosis- like he had been living wrapped in a thick woollen blanket and only now was unrestricted.
His mind flashed back to his breakthrough, to what had happened. He looked at the meditating Bing Meilu with narrowed eyes.
"The 'Swordfather' you showed me in that parable... I saw him. In Ji Hui's Meridians."
"After you comprehend the secret behind Dragon Scales, I was wondering if you'd be able to discover the secret of the Meridian System," Bing Meilu smiled.
Xi Fu gave her a probing look.
"So, that's the origin of human cultivation then? A Heavenly Law created by that swordsman?"
"Not quite. At the start of cultivation culture, humans, through the use of their exceptional intelligence, created and grafted onto themselves the Meridian system, in order to steal and wield the Spiritual Power of Heaven and Earth that was denied to them."
"However, like all overstep of the bounds of nature, they incurred the wrath of Providence and were struck down with constant tribulations and heavenly punishment. Those who were able to endure and rise up the unknown ranks of cultivation through determination and sheer chance became known as the Dao Fathers. In the end, only twelve of them managed to survive and reach the peak."
"...But that kind of Heavenly Punishment doesn't happen anymore, because of that man carving a law into Heaven? And now, all humans are born with an innate meridian system, rather than having to be given one?"
"Indeed."
"How do you know all this? I've never even heard an inkling of any of the information."
"I'll tell you one day," Bing Meilu waved her hand dismissively. "When you're strong enough."
Xi Fu frowned, feeling his Spear-Intent rage at the dismissive treatment. Uncompromising, and dominant, that was the nature of Heaven-Defying. He was in Core Formation now, a realm above Bing Meilu, and yet she still treated him like a pathetic weakling. Still, he could never try and rebel against her because of the blood contract. It wasn't that he was ungrateful for her guidance, but the least she could do was show her strongest subordinate some respect, right?
Bing Meilu slowly opened her eyes, staring at him. An amused smirk covered her face at his obvious anger.
"If you think you've strong enough to matter because of a mere Core Formation, then let's spar. I'll give you a hundred free blows. If you can manage to make even a strand of my hair move an inch out of place, I'll free you from the Blood Contract and become your subordinate."
Her Qi aura exploded outwards, like seventy-two people superimposed. Xi Fu felt his knees shudder. There was something deeply terrifying about her freezing Yin Qi, like he was facing something so far beyond him that he was an ant. Even the double tribulation had not given him a sense of danger like her aura.
"No-no, forgive this lowly slave for his slight," Xi Fu grimaced, bowing in apology.
"Hmph. There's nothing wrong with being arrogant, so long as you have the strength," she waved her hand. "So, if you don't want to be treated as a weakling, naturally you can remedy that by becoming stronger."
The young man nodded at her words obediently.
"Now, I want to see the move you used to summon the Tribulation of Art backed by your Core Formation cultivation base." Bing Meilu said. "Give it your all."
Xi Fu nodded. He pointed his spear in a random direction-
"Use it against me," she ordered, rolling her eyes.
"Sky Erasing Spear!"
---
Omake
"Did you just dual cultivate with Ji Hui?" Bing Meilu's frosty voice rang out, interrupting his internal thoughts.
Xi Fu spun to stare at her, a look of horror and disgust on his face.
"...What?"
"You poured your Qi into him and suddenly rose up several ranks. Don't tell me you dual cultivated with an unconscious man?!" she narrowed her eyes.
Xi Fu's jaw dropped. No matter how you looked at it, the situation she described did sound incredibly suspicious.
"Whoah, whoah, it's not like that. I'm not into men that way- I just received a piece of enlightenment while studying his meridian system!" he waved his hands defensively.
"I know. I was joking."
Xi Fu blinked in complete shock and confusion. Bing Meilu frowned.
'Humor is a tool that can be used to foster closer relations with a subordinate, correct?' she remembered the words of Shui Wu, her junior disciple sister.
Honestly, Bing Meilu had spent little time on anything other than growing stronger. Her power had been the backing of the Crystal Providence Heavenly Palace. She had not spent very much time actually getting to know her subordinates personally. That was a task left to her attendants, Sect Elders and so on.
Perhaps she had not properly employed it? Well, like all aspects of natural law, she would eventually attain enlightenment of it. Bing Meilu was a genius after all.
'Perhaps I'll divine its true use in the Ancient Sage Realm,' she shrugged.
Truly, the Dao of Humor is unfathomable if even Bing Meilu cannot grasp it
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
It is as incomprenhensible as the Dao of Doggo.
Perhaps the Dao of Doggo is a subset of it.
Perhaps the Dao of Doggo is a subset of it.
Well, we've established that the meridian system it's erasing isn't, strictly speaking, necessary to cultivate, being an aspect of Heavenly Law written into reality by an early generation of human cultivators. It's theoretically possible to cultivate without it.
So the question you should be asking is: does Bing Meilu think she can do a better job designing a meridian system than her cultivation ancestors, and would she intentionally have a subordinate blank her cultivation in order to do so?
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Does she think so?
Absolutely.
The question you should be asking is:
Is she right?
Absolutely.
The question you should be asking is:
Is she right?