In the infinite darkness, Mo Tiange felt like her body was floating in water and there was nothing to hold on to. She was very scared and wanted to call her mother. However, she couldn't utter a word.
Suddenly, her body stopped floating. A light appeared in front of her and she looked around hastily.
There was nothing - not even a wall. It was a completely empty space. There was just the light with a mysterious origin.
A faint sigh that made her hair stood up appeared out of nowhere. Mo Tiange was shocked and said, "Who's that? Who's here?"
After a brief silence, a voice appeared again, saying, "After so many years, finally there's a descendant who can break the restriction 1 . The Art of Sunu can finally be passed on."
The voice seemed to come from a place neither far nor close. It seemed like an echo that appeared in the void from an unknown place. When Mo Tiange looked around looking for where the voice came from, a soft laugh appeared. The voice said, "Foolish child, you can't see me. I'm only a piece of divine sense 2 sealed inside this memorial tablet."
The voice was both melodious and gentle. It was the pleasant voice of a woman.
Mo Tiange examined the empty room in fear, speaking with a trembling voice: "Who… Who are you?"
"Me?" The voice uttered a sigh and said, "My name is Mo Yaoqing. I'm your ancestor."
Although Mo Tiange didn't understand what a divine sense was, she understood the last two sentences. Mo Yaoqing was the name she saw on the memorial tablet - the ancestor of the Mo family. Then… doesn't that mean she's a ghost?
This thought scared her. After quite some time, she asked: "Are-are you a ghost?" She once heard an adult in the village saying that people became ghosts after they died.
"Ghost? Hehe…" The voice uttered a chuckle before asking grimly, "Did you know there are cultivating Immortals in this world?"
The voice didn't wait for an answer and continued to speak: "You probably didn't. How could a child who lives among mortals possibly know this…" after a moment's pause, the voice continued: "Breaking the restriction proved you inherited my Pure Yin Constitution and possess spiritual roots in your body. First, let me take a look at your spiritual roots."
A blowing wind suddenly appeared, startling Mo Tiange. She felt there was an invisible being moving over her body. However, she couldn't move an inch.
After a moment, the presence hovering over her body slowly disappeared. The voice said in bewilderment, "Five-elements spiritual roots? And they all have the same force? Could you have also inherited that guy's Spiritual Roots of the Origin?"
Five-elements spiritual roots? Spiritual Roots of the Origin? Mo Tiange didn't understand at all. She just had a feeling the Ancestor of the Mo family didn't seem to have any evil intentions towards her and most likely wasn't an evil spirit.
The voice uttered a soft sigh and said, "It never crossed my mind that a child could inherit both our natural endowments. I don't know whether that guy's dead or not. Unfortunately, I don't possess his Art of the Origin and couldn't pass it on to our descendants."
"Child, do you know that if someone becomes an Immortal, they'll have the ability to do everything and won't become old?"
Gee, these words… She thought about the book she read in the library: "The Immortals who live on the Kunwu mountain range absorb the dew from the clouds in the morning and consume the essence of the moon in the evening. They are omnipotent and can do everything."
"Are… Are you talking about the Immortals who live on the Kunwu mountain range?"
"Oh?" The voice seemed quite surprised. It said, "You heard about them?"
This Ancestor's ghost seemed kind so her courage increased slightly. "I read a book at school. It said there are Immortals on the Kunwu mountain range and they're omnipotent and don't get old."
The voice laughed again and said, "People are exaggerating. But they aren't really wrong - if you can comprehend the Great Dao 3 , you'll indeed be omnipotent and won't get old. However, there are only a few who can reach the Nascent Soul realm now. Even I, with all these natural endowments, had to rack my brain to get a chance at advancing into the Nascent Soul realm. Unfortunately, after more than a thousand years after reaching the Nascent Soul realm, I was never able to advance into the Deification realm. I had to let my physical body die in meditation and seal my spirit in this memorial tablet, waiting for a descendant to break the restriction to pass on this technique."
Seeing as Mo Tiange seemed confused, the voice dropped the subject and asked, "Child, do you want to be like those Immortals? To be omnipotent and capable of anything?"
Mo Tiange blinked. She said, "I… Will I be able to cure my mother's illness and find my father?"
"En?" The voice asked with confusion: "What's wrong with your mother? Where's your father?"
Mo Tiange dropped her head, saying with a low voice: "My mother has always been sick. She doesn't get better no matter what we try. The physician said her illness is innate. At first, she was only going to live until the age of twenty. It's already a blessing that she was able to live until now. Also, my father disappeared before I was born. My mother said he had a matter to attend to and would come to pick us up in the future. But he hasn't returned…"
This piece of divine sense was left behind years ago by the Ancestor of the Mo family, Mo Yaoqing. Mo Yaoqing was an expert in the Nascent Soul realm. Thus, once she heard Mo Tiange's explanation, she instantly knew what was wrong with Mo Tiange's mother. Thinking that this person must also be one of her descendants, she couldn't help but say sadly, "Pure Yin Constitution can cause both fortune and disaster. Your mother must've inherited my Pure Yin Constitution. Unfortunately, she doesn't have spiritual roots and is bound to have a short life. Don't be sad…"
Mo Tiange didn't understand what Pure Yin Constitution was. Although she already guessed the truth, she couldn't help but feel saddened when she heard the Ancestor's ghost saying her mother couldn't be saved. She said, "Immortals aren't omnipotent if they can't save my mother."
The voice was rendered speechless by her words. After a while, the voice continued, "But if you learn the Law of Immortality, you can go and search for your father. Isn't that good?"
"This…" She had never met her father. In fact, she really wanted to see how her father looked like. However, she never asked because she was afraid of hurting her mother.
The person behind the voice realized something and hastily continued to speak in a stern voice without waiting for Mo Tiange's answer: "I'm only a piece of divine sense. Since the restriction has been broken, I can't exist for too much longer. Child, listen to me… You'll understand these matters when you grow up."
"Thousands of years ago, I was a cultivator from Yunzhong… Yunzhong is the name of the mountain range in the south of the Celestial Pole. You have to pass the mountains of Kunwu and cross the South Sea to reach Yunzhong. When I was a child, it was discovered that my body possessed spiritual roots. Furthermore, I also possessed the extremely rare Pure Yin Constitution. Thus, ever since I was a child, I was admitted into the Danxia Sect."
"I was endowed with double spiritual roots and Pure Yin Constitution. Therefore, the progression of my cultivation wasn't worse off than that of a cultivator with a single spiritual root. By the time I was a hundred years old, I already formed my Gold Core. I once thought the future of my cultivation would be limitless. Yet unknown to me, a Nascent Soul martial uncle in the Sect set his eyes on my constitution as soon as I entered the Sect. He decided that after I reached the Core Formation realm, I had to perform a Dual Cultivation 4 with a younger member of his bloodline."
Mo Tiange didn't understand what she was saying. She could only understand from Mo Yaoqing's tone that she seemed to be mournful at first before her sentiment turned into wrath.
The person paused for a moment to calm her mood before continuing her story. "I managed to escape Danxia Sect with a lot of difficulties and henceforth became an individual cultivator. 5 Having gone through such experiences, I learned to be ruthless. Every time there was a cultivator who coveted me, I sucked up all the skill he had in his body. Gradually, I became famous. They called me Witch Jinling."
"After I formed my Nascent Soul, I wandered around the Celestial Pole. Unfortunately, I was trapped in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Because of that, I had to let my physical body die in meditation and seal this piece of divine sense inside this memorial tablet, waiting for one of my descendants to break the restriction so I could pass on the Art of Sunu."
"The Art of Sunu is a hidden cultivation method of my former master's sect, Danxia Sect. Only women with Pure Yin Constitution can cultivate using this technique. It's said that this method of cultivation even has a portion that discusses the Deification realm. It's a pity that the version I possess only teaches up to the Nascent Soul realm. If in the future you're successful in your cultivation, you could go to Yunzhong to find the missing part. However…" she sighed and said, "Considering your spiritual roots, if you can't obtain the cultivation method of your other ancestor, I'm afraid your cultivation process will progress very slowly and it'll be very hard for you to enter the Nascent Soul realm. Without a particular method of cultivation, Spiritual Roots of the Origin are nothing but wasted spiritual roots…"
"Before passing on the cultivation technique to you, I'll give you some general knowledge about cultivation first. There are people who possess spiritual roots among mortals. These people absorb the spiritual aura in the world, move it around their meridians and store it in their dantian 6 . They'll eventually gain supernatural powers. That's what cultivating means. Through the cultivation process, they have to clean both their muscles and marrow, discharge all the foulness of the secular world from their body and move closer to the standard of an Immortal. Once their cultivations reach the peak, they'll immediately become Immortals."
"Cultivation in our world can only reach up to the Deification realm. As for how to break through into the Deification realm, no one knows right now. If one day you reach the Nascent Soul realm, the extent of your knowledge would be the same as mine. For now, I'll only give you the basic knowledge about cultivation. If in the future you're successful at cultivation, you'll naturally learn about the rest."
"The world we live in is the mortal realm, also known as the secular world. Our cultivation levels can be divided into five great realms. Absorbing spiritual aura into one's body and storing it in one's dantian is the beginning of cultivation, known as the realm of Aura Refining. When the spiritual aura in one's dantian reaches a certain threshold, a change will happen. The spiritual aura will be compressed into the spiritual liquid. This is the second realm, Foundation Building. Spiritual aura absorption will proceed after Foundation Building. When the amount of spiritual liquid is sufficient, compression will continue and form the Gold Core. This is the third ream, Core Formation. When one reaches the peak stage of Core Formation realm, the spiritual aura in the body will also reach a peak and cultivation can't be continued. To proceed with cultivation, one can only merge one's primordial spirit and Gold Core, transforming them into a Nascent Soul. This is known as the realm of Nascent Soul."
"Now there are only a few among humans who can cultivate up till the Nascent Soul realm. Nascent Soul cultivators have the ability to transform nature, so they could be considered Immortals on earth. The last realm is called Deification. To reach the Deification realm, the primordial spirit has to be cultivated until it reaches the peak. It must reach a stage where a magic weapon can't inflict any injury. Those who have reached this realm have been extremely rare throughout the ages. Even I too was trapped in the Nascent Soul realm and couldn't proceed with my cultivation."
Extreme grief filled the voice. Although Mo Tiange didn't really understand the meaning of her words, she could feel the desolation in her tone.
"If one day you decide to abandon your life in the secular world and step into the cultivation world, you must bear in mind that the differences between each small realm such as the early stage and the late stage of the same great realm are enormous, not to mention the differences between each great realm. You must never provoke someone with higher cultivation than you. The path of cultivation is extremely difficult and dangerous. Although cultivators are afraid karma will produce inner demons and wouldn't dare to commit a sin by killing unjustly, they'd do anything if they're motivated by a strong incentive."
"Moreover, you also possess a body with Pure Yin Constitution. Female cultivators with Pure Yin Constitution are exceedingly rare. For male cultivators, performing Dual Cultivation with them would reap a lot of benefits. If a female cultivator with Pure Yin Constitution appears, countless male cultivators would fight to possess her. Back then, it was also because of this that I had to work very hard to protect and keep myself safe…"
After saying all this, the voice uttered a sigh and seemed to become a lot weaker. Then the voice continued to say, "I'm about to vanish. I'll pass the cultivation method onto you. Unfortunately, I can't hand over the thing I possessed back then. Only after achieving sufficient cultivation will you find the appropriate objects. When you succeed in cultivation, you can go looking for the things I gathered and hid years ago."
Mo Tiange was completely bewildered. But at this moment, a burst of pain appeared in her head. All of a sudden, countless things were drilled into her mind.
"Remember, a female cultivator with Pure Yin Constitution is the Human Furnace 7 every male cultivator yearns for. If you can't hide your constitution, you definitely can't step into the cultivation world!"
A barrier/seal around a place/object. (神识) Cultivators' spiritual consciousness that can be emitted from their body. Cultivators can use to sense something (creatures, spiritual aura, formation etc.) by scanning the area around them. Sometimes, it can also be used in fights. (大道) is the 'ultimate truth', the origin, the body, the rule, the principle, the realm etc. Dao gives birth to every beings and exists in everything.(cr: Baidu). (双修) Taoist sexual practice. Practitioners believe that by performing these sexual arts, one can stay in good health, and attain longevity or spiritual advancement. Cr:Wiki Cultivator who isn't tied to any cultivation school, sect, or clans. Dantian (丹田/dāntián): a place where aura resides in one's body (炉鼎) People who become the object during dual cultivation. Why 'object'? Because they rarely gain anything and would lose their aura/energy/essence instead.