Rise of the Alchemy God

.

From the little Ethan knew about the next two stages of mortal cultivation, once a cultivator reached the peak of the third stage, they were supposed to find the soul of a beast compatible with them and assimilate it into their dantian.

But according to what Bai Yu had said, the soul needed to be developed by oneself.

Furthermore, she hadn't called it a beast soul, but a spiritual beast.

The difference between the two might seem small, but in cultivation, such things couldn't be taken lightly.

Just as he was about to ask more about it, Bai Yu, who had paused to give Ethan enough time to digest the information, resumed her explanation:

"When that elder from your sect fully released his cultivation base at the peak of the fourth stage, I sensed that what he was using wasn't a spiritual beast, but the soul of a beast.

For those unaware of what spiritual beast are, using a beast soul might seem like a valid alternative, but this is far from being a good approach.

At first, I thought it was just an issue with this elder, but then the person who later fought the creature that emerged from the portal also seemed to have used a similar method.

I don't know why the people on this plane have adopted such a cultivation method, but I can tell you that it's far from the standard practice humans in the Celestial Plane use to cultivate up to the peak of the mortal cultivation realm."

Ethan didn't interrupt her.

He thought it was natural that humans from two different planes would have different cultivation methods.

But if the previous owner of the Seven Sages' Amphora had managed to ascend to the Celestial Plane while others hadn't, there had to be a reason.

Ethan didn't believe that person used the same method as the inhabitants of the mortal plane, because if she did,

Bai Yu wouldn't have just now noticed this problem with their cultivation method.

He could only assume that the previous owner had either found the right method or another alternative.

In any case, she had ascended long ago, so it didn't make much sense to dwell on it.

What was more important now was learning how to proceed correctly with his own cultivation.

He was already at the third stage and knew he couldn't take things lightly anymore.

He just wondered what the system would propose once he reached the peak of this stage.

'Could it be that I'll continue paying in SP to advance to the next stages without any bottlenecks or other issues?' he wondered.

"The reason cultivating a beast soul within your body isn't efficient is that, no matter how compatible it may seem with the cultivator,

the percentage will always be below what is needed for complete fusion when reaching the peak of the fifth stage.

We beasts and many other races don't need this process because our souls are naturally strong, so we simply surpass this stage by cultivating.

But for humans, it's different. You are one of the few races whose souls aren't strong from birth.

If you continue to cultivate without strengthening your soul, it will eventually become a bottleneck, and if you try to force it, you risk putting even more strain on your soul and damaging it.

And that's something to avoid since soul damage is one of the most lethal and hardest to recover from.

In fact, 90% of the time, damage to the soul is irreversible, and you can only wait to die slowly, as your accumulated cultivation disperses."

Ethan wasn't sure what it was like to suffer damage to the soul, but just hearing about it, he could tell it wasn't something he wanted to experience.

"Your ancestors developed a method to cultivate a secondary soul similar to your own to merge with and strengthen your soul.

I don't know if they ever tried cultivating the souls of captured beasts, but it's easy to understand that the souls of two different entities would rarely be able to fuse and harmonize.

Finding one that is completely compatible is almost impossible,

which is why they adopted the method of cultivating one themselves and then assimilating it with their own," she said, then paused as if contemplating something.

"I have no idea what method your race uses since I've never needed anything like that, but designing a similar method isn't difficult.

For your current self, it doesn't make much sense to practice this method now because you must first reach the end of this stage,

but laying the groundwork now can only benefit you when you start cultivating one and integrating it with your soul," she said.

Ethan understood why she believed the method adopted by all the sects was flawed, at least in part, and if what she had said was true, he could agree with her.

He didn't mind starting to practice the correct method now; after all, time wasn't an issue for him, and if it could help him overcome any obstacles he might face in the future, all the better.

He decided to accept the idea and follow her plan, but there was one problem.

'How the heck do I perceive my soul?'

In theory, one was supposed to first examine their soul and then cultivate one based on that.

He wasn't sure how it worked in detail, but it didn't matter, since at the moment, he didn't even know how to take the first step.

Apparently, perceiving one's soul was a standard process for a cultivator.

They would use the typical meditation pose to isolate themselves from any stimuli from their surroundings and immerse themselves in their cultivation,

where they would carefully circulate the spiritual energy absorbed into their dantian and refine it.

Based on what Ethan had heard from Bai Yu, to perceive the soul, something similar needed to be done.

Instead of stopping after refining spiritual energy into Qi, one had to circulate the Qi through the rest of the body and feel how it moved through the body's various channels.

Circulating Qi was something every cultivator knew how to do since it was the foundation of their strength and their attacks once they reached the Qi Refining stage.

To perceive the soul, one had to dive even deeper, and as Bai Yu had said:

"Dive into the flow of Qi circulating within the body."

At first, Ethan didn't think much of it and gave it a try, but after several hours, he achieved no results.

He wondered if he was doing something wrong, but Bai Yu told him it was normal.

According to her, achieving that level of immersion was something that was difficult for everyone at first and often took days or even months.

Ethan realized it wasn't something he could accomplish in a short time, so he decided to handle all his tasks for the day first and then remain in the minor dimension to meditate for the rest of the time.

One day in the outside world was more than three months here, so he took care of everything he needed to do that day.

He didn't have much to do, aside from delivering the batch of pills to Da Shu.

Even though he had become the sect master's disciple, in the last week, he hadn't received any tasks from her, nor had he needed her help with anything.

His life hadn't really changed much from before, except that now he lived in his own residence, far away from, well, everyone.

He barely saw Da Shu, who now also had his own residence in the inner sect.

The only times they had seen each other in recent days were when he came to deliver his batch of pills.

There could have been other occasions to meet, like in the dining hall or similar places, but he still preferred to cook his own meals.

What they served in the dining hall wasn't worth the trip for him.

Even though he had discovered that, as the sect master's disciple, he could order different dishes beyond the usual ones they served.

Not that he didn't understand why.

Most cultivators spent their time cultivating, and cultivation sessions could last a long time depending on the cultivator, so having a good meal was an occasional thing for them, and when that happened, they went directly to some restaurants in Sun City.

The further along they were in their cultivation, the less they tended to interact with the outside world.

The dining hall existed mostly because cultivators at the first stage, especially newcomers, still had the habit of interacting frequently with each other.

So, he completed all the small tasks he had and prepared to enter closed-door cultivation for three months in the minor dimension.

He did as Bai Yu had instructed and dove deeper into his cultivation while also feeling the Qi exiting his dantian.

He didn't achieve any results in the first few days, but after nearly a week, he began to sense something.

And so, the days passed as he tried to expand his perception.

Bai Yu, who resided in his sea of consciousness, constantly monitored his progress.

For the dragon race, the stages of the mortal realm were similar to those of humans in several aspects, but unlike them, the dragon race surpassed these stages in much shorter times than humans.

For them, these early stages were like open doors they simply needed to walk through.

It was only starting from the Celestial Realm that they also faced their challenges in cultivation, so she could only help Ethan through this phase to a limited extent.

A week passed.

Then two, then three.

Before he knew it, almost two months had passed, and Ethan hadn't moved from his position.

After the first week in which he had finally been able to sense something, he had immersed himself more and more in that sensation, entering a trance-like state.

Then, after nearly three months, a sudden change occurred in his spiritual sea.

Bai Yu, who had returned to her body under the water's surface, suddenly opened her eyes as she sensed an oppressive aura strike Ethan's sea of consciousness.

What had been a calm environment suddenly became turbulent.