Upon arriving at the Cheongmun Clan's territory, I received an entry plaque that allowed me to access the area and went to meet a Qi Building elder.
Cheongmun Mok, the Qi Building elder, checked my recommendation in his room and said,
"Hmm, this is a recommendation from an elder or someone higher from the main clan. It seems you were recommended by one of the seniors who recently ascended."
"An ascended senior?"
"Never mind that. It's not something you need to worry about. Anyway, the authenticity of your recommendation is confirmed, so we will accept you as an external member of the clan..."
He then asked for my name, age, nationality, and current cultivation level.
"My name is Seo Eun-hyun, 30 years old. I was born in Lianshan City of Yanguo, and my current level... I have not yet learned any cultivation methods."
"Hmm? You haven't learned any cultivation methods?"
Cheongmun Mok's eyes flickered.
His consciousness swept over mine.I had compressed my consciousness using the Hidden Consciousness Technique, making it appear much smaller, roughly at the level of Qi Refining 1st Star.
"To have Qi Refining 1st Star level consciousness without learning any cultivation methods is remarkable. Is that why you were recommended? Do you know what type of spiritual root you possess?"
"I am told it's Five Elements Spiritual Roots."
"Five Element..?"
His eyes flickered again.
"...Hmm. Your slightly exceptional consciousness seems to be the only reason you were recommended...? Never mind. It's not my place to question the decisions of the main clan elders. I'll give you an identity token that symbolizes your status as an external member. I'll also arrange your residence."
Following the elder, we headed to a location within the territory.
Unlike the Makli Clan or Jin Clan, the Cheongmun Clan's territory was not established on flat land but in a rugged mountainous area.
Thus, the residences of the clan members are more like caves carved into the sides of mountain ravines than actual houses.
Cheongmun Mok led me to one such cave and, pointing to it, said,
"This will be your residence from now on. You will live here, elevate your cultivation, perform assigned duties, and accumulate contributions for the clan. Once you've amassed enough contributions, you can use them to receive support from the clan.
Additionally, external members and branch families receive basic cultivation resources from the clan once a month. The more missions you complete and the higher your cultivation stage, the more resources you'll receive. Since you only have potential and lack not only spiritual energy but also a Law-Transforming Dantian, the basic support you'll receive will be..."
He rummaged in his robes and handed me a small box.
Inside the box, there were tiny yellow bamboo ginseng roots, significantly smaller than the arm-sized ginseng I had dug up in Dangseunhyang.
'Judging by the size and appearance, these are cultivated ginseng, around five years old.'
"Be content with this for now. Once you reach the Qi Gathering stage and ascend to Qi Refining, you can receive at least one spirit stone per month. Also, take these."
I received two books from Cheongmun Mok.
One was a Qi Gathering cultivation manual, and the other contained the clan's rules and regulations.
"Make sure to read the rulebook and use the Qi Gathering manual to reach the Qi Gathering stage. Since you're now a member of the clan, you must complete at least four mandatory missions a month. When you want to take on a mission, come to me, and I'll assign you tasks suitable for your level."
"Understood."
After receiving the books and bidding farewell to the elder, I entered the cave.
The cave was empty, but having been homeless in several past lives, I was more than satisfied with just having a roof and walls.
I first opened the Qi Gathering manual given by Cheongmun Mok titled, 'Cheongmun Method of Qi Gathering,' and the 'Myriad Qi Gathering Methods' I bought from Mr. Eom at the Spirit Path Conference.
Soon after, I closed the Cheongmun manual and set it aside.
'The manual seems too rudimentary for someone with Five Elements Spiritual Roots...'
Compared to the Myriad Qi manual, the Cheongmun method was less user-friendly and contained too many incomprehensible terms.
In contrast, the Myriad Qi manual included methods suitable for each spiritual root, and detailed explanations about the Qi Gathering stage.
The process of creating a Law-Transforming Dantian is as follows:
First, one must activate their inherent spiritual quality, transforming their dantian to be optimized for that quality.
Afterward, by gathering Yin and Yang energies and circulating them within the dantian, it becomes imbued with primordial chaos energy, making it suitable to absorb the heaven and earth energy. Thereby, achieving the transformation into a Law-Transforming Dantian.
However, there was a problem.
'Those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots take a day, True Spiritual Roots take a month, Mixed Spiritual Roots – the fast ones take a year, the slow ones take three to five years.'
The more elements one possesses, the exponentially longer it takes to create a Law-Transforming Dantian.
For those with a single spiritual quality, such as Heavenly Spiritual Roots, it was enough to activate this one quality and optimize the dantian, then gather Yin and Yang energies to purify it with primordial chaos energy. This could be achieved in just one day.
However, cultivators with more than one spiritual quality had to activate and optimize their dantian with the energies of these qualities, ensuring that the energies of the different qualities were perfectly and evenly distributed within the dantian.
For those with dual qualities, it was a matter of precisely balancing the two energies 50-50. But starting from triple qualities, it became exceedingly difficult to balance the energies.
Thus, for those with the same True Spiritual Roots but three qualities, it would take one to three months just to balance these energies.
And from the fourth and fifth qualities, it was said to be the beginning of hell.
Yes, one must perfectly balance the concentrations of five different energies, and during the evolution of the dantian with primordial chaos energy, these concentrations must not change at all.
'Hmm...'
I understood the Myriad Gathering Method and Analysis of Qi Gathering as I read, comprehending the stages of Qi Gathering..
After organizing my thoughts, I came to a conclusion.
'No problem at all.'
Uniformity of energies?
That issue was completely resolved when I ascended to Five Energies Converging to the Origin, undergoing a complete transformation.
The five qualities within me are now perfectly balanced.
I just need to activate all the qualities and infuse them into the dantian.
The notion that I must never lose focus or allow any fluctuation in the uniformity of qualities during the evolution of the dantian with primordial energy is meaningless to me.
'Compared to maintaining sword energy all day long, this isn't even difficult.'
Moreover, using the Hidden Consciousness Technique gifted to me by the hunchback old man, my training speed should increase significantly, so time is not a concern for me.
The last remaining issue was the spiritual energy needed for training.
Rumble-
The thousand or so spirit stones brought by the Mahkli Clan cultivators were still there.
I spread the spirit stones I had poured out from my storage bracelet all around the cave, savoring their aura.
'Hmm, this should be enough...'
It seems I wouldn't have to worry about training.
After estimating the energy of the spirit stones, I put them back into my storage bracelet and went to see the Cheongmun Clan elder to receive my mission.
Since I had to complete at least four missions a month, I thought it would be better to get it over with all at once and train in peace.
When I arrived, the Cheongmun Clan elder gave me a simple and somewhat trivial task.
He said to go to a small village in the Jurungsung province of Byeokra to verify if someone with spiritual qualities had appeared.
I teamed up with a member of the Cheongmun Clan and headed to Jurungsung.
'I had wondered where cultivators kept finding new members, and now I know.'
I learned something I had been curious about while carrying out the mission with a member of the Cheongmun Clan.
How do the cultivator clans continue to replenish their numbers over hundreds of years?
Inbreeding among family members with spiritual roots would eventually lead to intensified genetic diseases, and it seemed unlikely that they would marry members of other clans they were competing with.
However, it seemed that the cultivator clans tasked their branch families with missions like this one, sourcing people with spiritual qualities from all over the country.
It was surprisingly easy to find people born with spiritual qualities.
'Almost annoyingly so.'
In the village, children who claimed to see ghosts, or those who continuously saw illusions, or whose minds were not entirely sound, turned out to be individuals with spiritual qualities in over 80% of the cases.
It appeared that going to villages with rumors of children seeing ghosts or peculiar children was a way to find individuals with spiritual qualities.
'Although determining the specific type of spiritual quality requires detailed verification, at least knowing whether someone possesses spiritual qualities or not is easy to discern...'
Those with spiritual qualities or open spiritual channels have their consciousness protruding outwards from the upper dantian, forming a circle around their brows.
Although these individuals had not learned any cultivation methods, making their consciousness only about twice the size of their heads, it is still easy to recognize, especially when compared to ordinary mortals who let out their intent in the form of threads, not consciousness.
"That child must be the one said to see ghosts."
A member of the Cheongmun Clan, who had teamed up with me and at the 1st Star Qi Refining stage, pointed out a child lying under a bridge in Maeyeol Village, Jurungsung Province.
The child was bruised all over and seemed to be staring blankly at the flow of heaven and earth energy.
"He has an open spiritual channel."
I observed the shape of the child's consciousness around his upper dantian, centered on his brow, and commented.
The Cheongmun cultivator nodded and descended under the bridge.
The beggar family under the bridge seemed flustered by the sudden approach of someone in fine clothes, murmuring and getting up from their spot.
"What's the name of that child?"
"Oh, my lord. This child's name is Gusan. If he looked rudely at you, I apologize. That child, he claims to see ghosts..."
Just then, the child named Gusan suddenly screamed and pointed at us.
"Waaah! Monsters! Monsters! Waaaah!"
It seems like it is his first time seeing someone with our kind of consciousness, and his reaction was quite extreme.
The face of the beggar family head contorted in anger.
"This damned child, speaking nonsense to important people, bring a stick! We must teach him a lesson..."
"It's fine. Instead, are you willing to sell this child to us? We'll pay a good price."
Clink!
The Cheongmun member pulled out a purse full of money and handed it over.
The head of the beggars looked at the purse, seemingly confused.
"Uh, what? Why would you want such a child..."
"Enough. Are you selling or not?"
Prompted by the Cheongmun member, the head of the beggars quickly grabbed the child and brought him over.
"Ah, yes. We'll sell. Haha, lucky you! You're going to wear fine clothes and eat better food. Go follow them!"
"No, daddy, no. They're not human. People let out thoughts like threads, but theirs are round! They must be monsters!"
"This damned child, still babbling about ghosts and monsters! Just follow them already!"
The beggar boy screamed in fear upon seeing our consciousness.
The Cheongmun member sighed and told me.
"You take the boy. I don't want to deal with this dirty kid."
"Alright."
Eventually, after being beaten a few times by his father, the boy was sold to us, and his father brandished the purse full of money with shining intent.
"Waaaah! Waaaaah!"
The boy cried out loud as I led him away.
The Cheongmun member, bothered by the noise, was about to use a spell to silence him, but I stopped him to let the boy cry his heart out.
'Cry. It's only fair given your situation.'
Unable to bear the boy's crying, the Cheongmun member walked ahead quickly, increasing the distance between us, while I continued to hold the boy's hand, letting him cry.
After the boy's voice became hoarse, I spoke to him in a calm voice.
"Don't worry. We are not monsters. Just think of us as people like you."
"Sniffle, sniffle..."
However, the boy's consciousness was clouded with a dark blue color, the color of sadness.
"...Will I never see my mother and father again?"
"Well, perhaps when you grow up, you can come back to visit. Once you learn cultivation methods and grow strong enough to take on missions, you might be able to return."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll understand later. Don't worry, you'll see them again."
Hearing my words, the sadness in Gusan's consciousness seemed to lift slightly.
I asked the Cheongmun member walking ahead.
"What will happen to this child?"
"First, he'll be taken to the clan for a talent assessment. If his talent is above true spiritual roots, he will be entrusted to external members of the clan for education. After learning the Qi Gathering Method, basic techniques, and rising to the level of Qi Refining, he will be treated as an external member.
However, if he has mixed spiritual roots, he will be given to the lower echelons of the clan. He'll study under them for a few years, go through Qi Gathering, and once he reaches Qi Refining, he will become part of the lower echelons. If he accumulates enough merit, he might even be promoted to an external member."
"What if we find someone with heavenly spiritual roots?"
"If that happens, the main house will come personally to educate them. They will learn the main cultivation methods and then be married into the direct line of the main house, becoming a son-in-law. They will grow with the support of the main house's direct line. However, I've never encountered such a case in my life."
"I see..."
I gained a deeper understanding of how the cultivator clan’s replenish their ranks as he explained.
I soothed the child as we returned to the Cheongmun Clan's territory.
After a thorough examination, the child was identified as having mixed spiritual roots and was to be adopted by a lower echelon member of the clan supported by a powerful family in Byeokra.
His life was bound to change significantly from before.
I received another mission from the Cheongmun Clan elder and went off to find new candidates with spiritual roots, successfully completing three months' worth of missions.
Although it took time to travel around Byeokra, this mission involved tracking down rumors to their source and verifying whether individuals had open spiritual channels.
Bringing spiritual root holders back to the clan was treated as a separate mission, so I was not pressed for time.
With about three months gained, I returned to my cave.
"Now, it's time to learn the Qi Gathering Method."
After sealing the entrance of the cave with a wooden plank, I spread out a thousand spirit stones and sat cross-legged in the center.
The Myriad Qi Gathering Method specific to those with five spiritual qualities, the Five Elements Secret.
I began to absorb the heaven and earth spiritual energy flowing around me, using the Five Elements Secret, and activated the spiritual roots in my body according to the Secret's instructions.
Woong-
Remembering how the Five Elements spiritual energy harmoniously entered my body when I reached the Five Energies Converging to the Origin, I operated the Five Elements Secrets and the Five Elements spiritual energy began to be drawn into my dantian from the surrounding spiritual energy.
Other cultivators would have focused all their effort at this stage to harmonize the spiritual energy, spending years just on this. My body's spiritual energy was already perfectly balanced, so simply pouring the existing energy into the dantian resulted in a perfectly harmonious concentration.
In an instant, the dantian achieved perfect harmony of five elements.
From there, I began to optimize the dantian for the Five Elements spiritual energy according to the Secret's instructions.
Time passed.
One day, two days, three days.
And on the fifth day,
I finally succeeded in optimizing the dantian for all five elements.
"Now I'm halfway there."
The next step was to absorb Yin and Yang energies, circulate it, and transform it into primordial chaos energy, evolving the dantian to receive spiritual power.
Typical cultivators with five spiritual qualities would take months or even years to absorb heaven and earth energy at this stage, but I was different.
Woong-
I drew spiritual energy directly from the thousand spirit stones around me.
Kugugugugu!
Clutching handfuls of spirit stones, I absorbed spiritual energy furiously.
Due to being a five-spiritual-quality cultivator, the efficiency of energy absorption wasn't great, but I compensated with the sheer quantity of spirit stones.
After absorbing a vast amount of spiritual energy, I divided it into Yin and Yang energies according to the Five Elements Secret.
Then, I circulated it in the dantian, mixing Yin and Yang energies to create primordial chaos energy.
With this primordial chaos energy, I filled the dantian and began its evolution.
Kugugugu-
Changes started occurring in the dantian.
Despite the drastic changes trying to disturb the balance of the harmonized Five Elements spiritual energy, I maintained perfect balance with firm consciousness and allowed the primordial chaos energy to work.
How long did I continue to push primordial chaos energy into the dantian using the Five Elements Secret?
Finally.
Flash!
Light seemed to emanate from the dantian, and the primordial chaos energy no longer caused any further transformation.
Instead, the dantian began to operate the primordial chaos energy on its own, refining and collecting it into pure spiritual power.
"Haah..."
I exhaled and operated the Five Elements spiritual power inside me.
The Five Elements spiritual power moved at my will.
Huuuh-
As I inhaled, the heaven and earth energy naturally absorbed into me following my intent.
I realized that I had achieved great success with the Five Elements Secret.
The implication was clear.
"Now, I can ascend to the Qi Refining stage."
I opened my eyes, left the cave, and asked the mortals working in the Cheongmun Clan's territory about the current date.
I learned that a month had passed since I started my closed-door cultivation.
"Since I've already completed three months' worth of missions, I have about two months left."
I quickly decided.
Returning to the cave, I took out the Five Surpassing Paths to Cultivation.
"With the remaining time, shall I try advancing to the first star of Qi Refining?"
Translator notes: From my understanding spiritual energy is the basic form of energy that exists in the world, it's the heaven and earth spiritual energy. Spiritual power is when the spiritual energy is transformed by the Law-Transforming Dantian into 'power' that can be used and manipulated by a cultivator. Spiritual power can also be translated as law power which explains the term 'Law-Transforming Dantian.
***
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