Chapter 374 - Heavens Above

"Cultivation realms?" Ryfon was taken aback by Hao Xuan's sudden query. "Well, where do I begin? How thorough do you want me to be? Cause I could literally talk for days about cultivation."

Hao Xuan contemplated for a bit and decided to go with a general overview.

"Just the most basic things, no need for too much detail."

"Hmm," with a pondering expression on his face Ryfon leaned back. He was silent for a few seconds, putting his thoughts in order.

"So let's start with the 'absolute' basic thing then. I haven't talked about this in decades so excuse me if I'm a little rusty," he waved his hand and the roof of the carriage opened up and a hologram was projected in the air, showing a person sitting with crossed legs. It had three glowing spots in a straight vertical line.

"First! The mortal body has three vital parts. The first is in the forehead, simply called the Spiritual center. The second one is in the middle of your chest, called the Energy center, and the third is at the bottom of the abdomen or just above the pelvis, called the Physical center. They all work in tandem to keep your body working as usual, each interconnected with the other in one way or another."

"These are different from meridians that are actual nerves and blood vessels. Normally you can't see them unless you have high cultivation or a special constitution. And even though every "normal" being is born with these 3 centers, they might not always be in the right order or even be fully present. They could be weak or strong, or have some sort of an issue or illness. And whatever is wrong with them can affect a cultivator in the future both negatively and positively."

"For example, if someone has a weak physical center, that means their physical abilities are weak and in return, they could easily break their bones, have a weak immune system, etc. But because of that, they will have a much stronger Spiritual or Energy center to compensate. So depending on what type of techniques they master, the result could be significantly different. This is why it is important to conduct a detailed examination before allotting cultivation techniques."

"Second, is the usage and effects of each center. The Spiritual Center is located right above a meridian in the forehead. It is where the soul is stored and from where spiritual energy is created. The spiritual energy is different from your Qi and is able to affect immaterial things and creatures. Once you reach the Profound realm or have high enough spiritual energy, you can look into your spirit center. It is different for everyone. For some its a never-ending sea, for some a desert or a forest."

"The Energy Center is where your Qi is stored once the dantian is created. It is the basis for your cultivation and most cultivators focus on developing it among others."

"The Physical center is related to your physical health, ability, and sometimes, features. The stronger or more developed the Physical center, the longer you can live, and the stronger your body can get. If I'm not wrong, you should have a significantly robust physical center," he gestured towards Hao Xuan's abdomen.

Hao Xuan ignored his gaze and nodded, "I understand. What about cultivation levels then?"

"Well, as you might know, there are several species and creatures in the universe that are born at a high cultivation level. These are far more evolved and stronger than their counterparts. For example, there is a beast in this year's tournament location called the 'Zinogora'. Its offsprings are born at the same cultivation level as profound cultivators. It's the same with many human species, like elves. We are born at the Origin realm, with our flesh and bones already cleansed and purified while we are in the womb."

"Technically, from Qi formation realm all the way to the Origin realm, these are all just preparatory phases for when you really step into the world of Cultivation."

"Up until the Spirit realm, you are preparing your body and soul to take that most important step into the Profound realm. And until the Spirit Realm, cultivators use the energy that they have stored inside their own bodies, the energy and Qi stored in the meridians, which is severely limited."

"But when you step into the Profound Realm, you connect your internal body to the world outside, effectively being able to borrow the power of the heavens and use it as your own. This is also how Profound Realm cultivators are able to fly. We basically become one with the world."

"After the Profound realm comes the Saint Realm, and cultivators of this level are called Saint Lords. Saint Lords can affect the outer world in a much bigger capacity by bringing their Mind Palaces to life. They can summon their mind palaces to the physical world, using them to borrow even more energy and use devastatingly strong abilities."

"After the Saint Realm is the Emperor Realm and after that is the...."

Time passed by in the blink of an eye, and by the time Ryfon finished his explanation about cultivation levels, an hour and a half had passed.

Hao Xuan took well over 10 minutes to digest everything, and there was a lot of it. He looked back up at Ryfon after going over everything in his head.

"What about 'Laws'? What are they?"

He remembered hearing about them before.

"Ah, that's pretty simple," Ryfon smiled. Looked like it was his favorite topic.

"The energies you are cultivating right now keep evolving and becoming stronger along with you. The stronger your comprehension, the stronger they become. And once you choose a specific attribute or property of an energy to focus on, it can be transformed into a law by aligning it with one of the universal truths and is then able to affect the world."

"For example, if you are comprehending Frost energy, you can choose to comprehend the attribute of coldness, of freezing, of sealing, etc, anything that is related to frost. And once your comprehension is strong enough, it becomes a law. There is a girl in this year's batch that has comprehended the Law of Gravity. She can basically control gravity at will to an extent."

Hao Xuan's mouth fell open, "Is she really high level?"

"Nope, Spirit Realm the same as you. You can comprehend laws regardless of the cultivation level. But if it is done before reaching the Profound realm, then when you breakthrough, the laws will become much stronger due to the Heavenly Tribulations. The more laws you have, the stronger the tribulation you will have to face. Since learning laws basically means we are trespassing into the domain of the high heavens, they won't just let it slide that easily."

"If you're interested, I know a kid who is breaking through to the profound realm soon. He was the brightest student of the last batch and has already understood two laws.. Although you can't be there when he breaks through because of the elders of the academy that will come out of closed-door cultivation to make sure nothing goes wrong, I can still record it and send you a video after it's done."