Calculating Cultivation

“Let me explain what exactly is happening. Also, you may sit, before you fall over,” Xu Xiaoli said while I quickly took a seat. She sat as well and gave me a small smile, which reminded me more of a shark than of a kind grandma.

“The Liquifying Poison is attempting to degrade both your cultivation and body. To turn it into a state of being with water. It is a spiritual poison, but it also has strong physical components that work in synergy. Your physical constitution is on par with a body cultivator, which is why your arm has held togeather for so long.” I nodded at this paying close attention to everything she said.

“The same with the spiritual aspect of the poison. Your soul constitution is strong enough to resist. And your mind is strong enough to resist the pain. Without any one of this things, you would have died a horrible and messy death.” Solutions, give me solutions! I didn’t say that and tried to keep my face under control. Since I had paid a huge fee and had spent so much time traveling, it would be rude and stupid to rush her. Still, it was aggravating. I just wanted the pain to end.

“Your cultivation is so dense, it has held togeather as well. I can’t say if you are incredibly lucky, or it is fate for someone of your cultivation to receive such an injury. Regardless, the physical poison is gone, expelled from the wound on your arm. Your physical body is slowly self-healing.” That was good.

“The spiritual side of the poison remains. It is not decreasing, but slowly spreading through your body. That is due to the suction vortex. Your body naturally holds in energy. Without that, I could easily fix the issue in seconds, forcing the poison from your body. Now, such a procedure would shred your cultivation.” That was bad.

“Has the pain been getting worse?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation and Xu Xiaoli nodded at this.

“The spiritual side of the poison is spreading throughout your body. It is a slow process, but it is occurring. Your cultivation is soft and malleable. There were attempts in the past to use such a poison to make the third stage of cultivation easier. Unfortunately, no one could withstand such a thing. Carving out channels requires rigidity. With the poison, it would be like trying to purge goo instead of sand. All the delicate structures you are building would not be possible, even if digging the channels is far easier.” That was very bad.

“In addition, your channels and meridians would be tainted by a different attunement while you are carving them out. Still, you can do nothing, and you would recover in about a century, give or take a decade.” That was never going to happen. “It would be quite interesting to see the impact such an event has. But the time frame is a bit long.”

“Elder Xu Xiaoli, what are my other options?” I asked politely.

“The first option, which is not really an option, would be for an Immortal to purge the poison from your body safely. Even with your unique cultivation, it would not be worth their time or effort. Nor do you have the resources to even entertain such a notion,” she said.

“That leaves to proactive solutions. The first would be to force you to draw the poison into the rest of your body. Spreading it out and reducing the time it would linger. This would not be simple, but it is doable. As for the recovery time, it would be around a decade instead of a century.” That was much better. “The pain would be immense. Your body is handling the poison at a subconscious level as quickly as you can process the pain. Speeding this up would likely break your mind.” That was much worse.

“Still this option is the cheapest and I could perform the procedure right now without any additional cost on your part.” That was good.

“The final option would be to counter the poison with a medicine of some kind. But that would take research and materials, neither of which would be cheap.” That sounded expensive.

“Elder Xu Xiaoli, is there a general antidote?” I asked.

“There are some, but they would not work in this case. They are for lesser poisons and for lesser cultivators. The cost would be at least ten rank 6 spirit stones. But I wouldn’t be sure unless I contacted a friend specialized in healing and poisons.” That was way too expensive for me.

None of the options were good. The first option of doing nothing, was not happening. With much I was in pain, there was no way I would last another century. My mind was at its limit in terms of endurance. The second option to get an Immortal’s help was a throwaway option, just to pad the number of options she was presenting.

The third option while sounding the best, and cheapest, was a nightmare. More pain for ten years. That just wasn’t possible. The fourth option was too expensive. “Is there anyway to mitigate the pain from the third option or sleep through it?” I asked with as much hope as I could muster.

“If it was a physical issue that would have been possible. But your astral soul itself has been poisoned. Anything that would put you into stasis would also lock your soul. As for sleeping, that would…well it should be possible to physically sleep.” I perked up at that, since she seemed to change her mind mid-sentence.

“The issue with physically sleeping is that a strong medication, which would be poison for anyone else would need to be used. There could be complications and interactions that are unknown, which would create more trouble. Such a medication would have to be routinely administered over the entire decade.”

“What about something to cut off my sense of pain? Since it feels mostly physical?” I asked.

“Possible but it would be limited. It is a spiritual pain. Your other arm hurts right?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I replied, and she nodded.

“Along with the rest of your body. The poison has spread. The greatest concentration is still in your left arm, but it is spreading out. The pain you are feeling is beyond the physical. Your spirit itself is trying to hold itself togeather. My advice is to wait the century,” she said.

I was 59 years old right now. At my current pace of carving out channels and meridians I had planned to be completed with the third stage of cultivation around 200 years of age. If I lost a century, I would be 300 years old, which was the upper limit of lifespan for someone in Meridian Attunement.

With my cultivation I could make it that long, but it would be pushing the limits of my lifespan. There would be no wiggle room for the rest of this stage. While I would get another 600 to 1,200 years for the fourth stage, I needed as much time as possible to overcome the first bottleneck.

“There is no option for paying an Immortal?” I asked and Elder Xu Xiaoli shook her head.

“If you had past your first bottleneck, then you would show you had potential to go the distance. They might accept a future favor or assign you a task. With your cultivation, crossing the first bottleneck and reaching the fifth stage is impossible.” She held up her hand to stop me from saying anything.

“I have no doubt you will struggle and there might be a chance of you succeeding. But the possibility is too remote to gamble on. While it would be only take a day to fix you, an Immortal’s time is more valuable than your life.” I wanted to protest and say they were immortal, it was right there in the name, so they had time to spare. However, that would be way too flippant and rude. I had already pushed enough by asking.

“There is also another topic of concern I wish to bring up, which will influence my decision in regards to my treatment. The Cloudy Moon Sect was attacked by the Demonic Blood Sect. While it has not been destroyed, they can no longer support my cultivation. I wish to sell my business, and was hoping you could mediate for me Elder Xu Xiaoli,” I said.

She owned twenty-five percent. The Han family owned fifteen percent. The Cloudy Moon Sect owned ten percent, while I owned the rest. The value of my refining business was immense, but I had no doubt the vultures were already circling.

“A shame such a thing happened.” There was no sympathy in her voice. The cultivator world was dog eat dog, and there was no sympathy for people who died or failed. “And what precisely are you looking for?”

“Funding my cultivation through the rest of the third stage and a large payment.” I then went onto explain the force chamber I would need and the spirit stones that would need to be invested for my cultivation. It was a lot, but my share of the business was quite valuable.

On Earth most businesses only looked ahead by three to five years. In cultivation land, they looked ahead much further in terms of assessing value, since everything was so stagnant. Getting new opportunities was hard, and there was a lot of static wealth that was horded away. For once the static nature of the economy was playing to my benefit.

“Your cultivation through the third stage and no further, ten rank 6 spirit stones, and a treatment plan worth twenty rank 6 spirit stones,” Elder Xu Xiaoli finally said. While it seemed like I was making out like a bandit, I was on the losing side long term. But I needed the short-term money to pay for my treatment and my cultivation. It pained me to sell my portion of a functional business, but there were no other options.

I had no doubt Elder Xu Xiaoli would be gobbling up my entire share herself. That was the nature of this world and how the Imperial Sect had structured both society and the economy to benefit their interests long term. Like a casino, they were content to let people gamble and try new things, but in the end the house would always win. And if the house didn’t win, they would break some knees.

It was incredibly frustrating to be put in such a position, but that was the difference in power. I was actually very lucky that Elder Xu Xiaoli did not squeeze me for more. The Imperial Sect had rules, but I had no doubt she could have put forward a much more scam deal if she wanted to. Who would I even complain to?

So, the deal was both incredibly generous and a complete rip-off at the same time. I had been doing valuations while traveling to Imperial City, and one needed to look at a millennium of operation, not just one year. With that kind of timeframe, I was getting scammed heavily. But I wouldn’t make it another millennium, let alone another year with my injury.

I chose the safe way for the medication to be developed while a long term force chamber was prepared. I would only be allowed to exit once every decade once I entered. Elder Xu Xiaoli had suggested 20 years per session, but I had to put my foot down, just in terms of supplies and my mental health. She had thankfully to a decade. By the time was injury was treated, the force chamber would be ready for my long-term use. It would be located within this building, guaranteeing my safety and that I would not be interrupted as well.

While Aoyin might be brazen enough to attack the Cloudy Moon Sect, attacking the Imperial Sect would be laughable. Even a covert mission was foolish. That would draw the attention of the Immortals in charge of this place. That was one thing everyone agreed on, they were too strong to risk messing with in any way.

I was shown to Elder Healer Song immediately after concluding the necessary transactions with Xu Xiaoli. One thing about the Imperial Sect was that they were quick and efficient once you were paid up.

The older lady poked my arm and as well as the scabbed over wound. “What a mess,” she muttered, and I didn’t respond. “Little Xiaoli was right to send you to me. Anyone else would struggle treating this.” She then rolled up her sleeve, had me lay down, and placed a bucket under my arm.

“The first step is to fix the physical damage. That is the most important thing.” I was glad she was willing to explain things as she checked me over and treated me. “There is excess fluid buildup as your body partially dissolved.” She began poking my arm harder and I had to contain a wince.

“Liquifying Poison from a rank 6 beast. You are lucky,” she said.

“Thank you, Elder Healer Song,” I replied.

“You are paying, this is just tedious and your wealth. I am slowly saturating your arm with my energy. Once it is enough, I will begin my compressing your arm, and forcing the excess fluid out. Don’t worry your cultivation is fine. If you have a question, ask,” she said. That was much nicer than most other cultivators I had met. I guess her bedside manner was quite good, or I was overpaying her.

“Will there be long term damage?” I asked.

“Physically, no. Your arm and shoulder will recover in full after a century. You plan on cultivating during this time?” I winced as a pulse of pain went through my arm.

“Yes, Elder Healer,” I replied.

“Then there should be no worries physically. Your body will recover due to your cultivation. The bigger challenge and issue is the spiritual side of the poison. I plan to build a flesh pustule, draw the poison inside of it, then cut off the entire thing both spiritually and physically.” That sounded unpleasant, but I trusted her to do her job.

“Will there be long term damage?” I asked.

“That is hard to say. With your suction vortex and all the other aspects of your cultivation, it is impossible to predict. What I can do is lessen the spiritual poison by drawing most of it out. Little Xu Xiaoli’s idea of treating it with medicine is foolish in your case. But it is the preferred way. Letting a poison linger is an affront to me as a healer.” Specialist knowledge was clearly better than general knowledge. This was why coming to the Imperial Sect instead of somewhere else was worth it, even if the treatment was more expensive, I knew I was getting the best.

It was the difference between having a cutting-edge laparoscopic procedure to perform surgery instead of cutting the patient open. Or having tailored made cancer treating drugs, instead of a general regimen. This was the forefront of cultivation medicine.

“If we used alchemy to make a pill, figuring out the effects and ingredients for your specific case would take way too long. It isn’t worth the headache or complications. While the poison will take a couple of years to fully go away, the pain will be much less,” she explained.

“No long-term damage to my cultivation?” I asked.

“That is much more complicated than one would think. A standard cultivator at your stage of cultivation would be dead. So, making a base level comparison is impossible.” Another wave of pain went through my arm as she kept tapping all over it.

“The real risk is that your soul will remain soft for a while. Looking at your finished channels, I would recommend not cultivating for another year once I am done treating you, to allow your soul to firm up a bit. The risk otherwise is too high,” she explained.

“I could make a mistake?” I asked.

“Yes and no. The walls between your motes around the wound are incredibly fragile. If before they were like stone walls, now they are paper. After a year they should harden up into wood.”

“What about channels in other parts of my body?” I asked.

“Those could be done, but very slowly and carefully. Take your time. I know cultivators like to push forward, but you must be extra careful in the next year throughout your entire body. Then extra careful only in your left arm for the next decade. But the longer you wait before you start up again, the better off you will be,” Elder Healer Song explained.

“Any other long-term effects?” I asked.

“An increased affinity for water and poison. If you were attuning your channels to either of those then you could gain a benefit,” she explained.

“Could I still do so?” I asked more out of curiosity than anything. She turned her head to look at me.

“FOOLISHNESS!” She then flicked my forehead, and I felt my head slam back into the cushion on the table I lay upon. “Your cultivation, to put it as kindly as I can, is an utter mess. Three types of cultivation. An energy vortex. Five cores. You want to add more.”

“You only said it is foolish, not impossible,” I replied.

“It is both. Just surviving should be considered a miracle worthy of an Immortal. To keep your cultivation and mind intact is beyond any kind of expectation. To seek to profit off this, foolishness.” She went back to poking my arm. So much for asking questions and a good bedside manner.

“Will I be able to resist this poison better in the future Elder Healer?” I asked.

“Actually, the opposite. You will be weaker to this type of poison. While that weakness will go away over time, it will never completely go away. It will become marginal at best.” She tapped again and another wave of pain went through my arm.

“Is it working?” I asked.

“Slowly. I need to make sure your physical arm comes back togeather properly. Any faster and there are risks of mistakes. This will take three days or so,” she replied. My eyes went wide at that. “After that you will rest, to let your body recover a bit. Then I will create and draw the poison to a flesh pustule.”

“What exactly is that?” I hesitantly asked.

“You know what pimples are?”

“Yes, Elder Healer,” I replied.

“Think of it like that. I will create a flesh sac over your wound, fill it up with your blood, and then draw the poison into the sac. Once I fill it up as much as possible, I cut it off. That will only take a day. While complicated, the procedure is actually easier than physically fixing your arm, even if the base skill requirement is much higher.”

She kept poking my arm as I thought about everything that was being told to me. It was nice to know what was actually being done to my body. “Could a person cultivate with poison?” I asked.

“You can cultivate with almost anything. Poison is a sword without a hilt. It is possible, but you damage yourself. How would you even get more poison type energy? More poison? Perhaps a body focused cultivator could last, but it would be a struggle. The amount of poison you got would work well for someone with a standard cultivation. With your cultivation, you need enough poison to fill an ocean or kill an Immortal.”

“You couldn’t dilute the poison?” I asked. Since she was willing to answer questions, I was more than happy to ask questions to expand my understanding.

“You can. But the problem is that you are cultivating the concept imbued into the energy to attune your channels and meridians. If you are diluting the poison, that defeats the purpose. You are cultivating force, it is like having a weaker level of force energy applied so you can handle it more easily,” she explained.

“Couldn’t you have a constitution or train up to resist high level poisons?” I asked.

“If it was just poison then yes. But this Liquifying Poison, is both a poison and a liquid. Poisons are composites of other substances. That is why attunement rarely goes with such esoteric concepts. Sticking with the classical elements, allows for a more focused approach. Your choice of force is actually quite good in this regard,” she explained. At least I wasn’t a complete idiot.

“But the cost is quite high compared to other options. While you might have the wealth to afford it, most cultivators cannot. And getting resources isn’t simple.” She kept tapping my arm as the occasional wave of pain went through it as we talked about cultivation.

“Also, techniques?” I asked.

“That as well. Certain things have a much greater legacy than others,” she explained.

“Is there anything I could take with me in case I get poisoned again or injured?” I asked.

“Not really no. Or at least anything affordable. You would need something to match your cultivation level and a general application will always pale compared to a focused application. Even if I had been right next to you when you got injured, the only thing that would really change is the extent of the physical effect. The spiritual effect happened instantly, or close enough that nothing could be done.”

“So don’t get injured,” I replied.

“Exactly. But as you increase your cultivation you become harder to injure. But that also means you are harder to heal. I could treat cultivators missing a limb up to the fourth stage for the most part, but after that it is impossible. A lot of healing techniques don’t work past a certain point.”

“You can tell me that?” I asked in surprise.

“It isn’t a secret. It is not bragging to say that I am the top three of all healers on the continent, not counting the Immortals. But they can just brute force their way to success. Actual healing is incredibly complicated. That is why smart cultivators don’t get injured,” she said.

“Ah, well, there was no way I could run from a rank 6 beast. Winning was hard enough,” I replied.

“I am not saying don’t fight, but just realize, that any future injuries will be incredibly difficult to heal. This is why cultivators who fight are in the minority.”

“What about demonic cultivators?” I asked. Elder Healer Song paused for a moment before continuing.

“They take the cultivation of others to boost their own. Normally the cultivation is condensed down to pills or potions, but there are grafting techniques. It is also how beasts try to sneak into cities, by wearing a cultivator’s body as a flesh suit. Once you go down that path there is no going back,” she said.

“Really, even at the fourth stage to get drops?” I asked.

“There are exceptions, but the risk is incredibly high. Look at your cultivation. I know you aren’t a demonic cultivator, since there is no way to find another person’s cultivation like yours. While people are tempted to pursue that path, you will never cross over the second bottle neck to immortality.”

“What? Really?” I asked in surprise.

“Hmm, it isn’t well known, but it is a fact. Demonic cultivators’ own cultivation is too disjointed. Even if it was flawlessly done with the minimum of mistakes, the problems come from the slight differences. Cultivation is a journey of a million paths, which lead to the same destination. Soul, body, and mind cultivators all end up in the same place while aiming for immortality. The first bottleneck is the peak difference of one’s path proving its viability. The second bottleneck is everything coming back togeather in the end.”

“With Daos right?” I asked.

“You really like asking all the questions.”

“My apologies Elder Healer Song,” I quickly said.

“It is no problem. I enjoy teaching. And this technique is simple, just time consuming to do right in order to fix your arm,” she replied. “None of these things are really secrets. I won’t teach you a technique, but basic knowledge has no real value.” I would strongly disagree with that, but I wasn’t about to complain.

“As for Daos. They are paths one follows. To understand a concept in such depth they become one with that concept. Once a person understands enough, they will break through to Immortality. If you ever make it to the eighth stage of cultivation, Conceptual Formation, then you will have a very strong chance overcoming the second bottleneck.”

“That is good to know,” I replied.

“But leading up to that will be a nightmare. The concepts you pick will have a huge impact on your development. Force, blood, power, and consume seem to be the strongest concepts after the poison.”

“You can sense that?” I asked in surprise.

“The suction vortex drawing in energy and your attunement are painfully clear to someone of my caliber. Don’t even begin to ask me how you will manage three different types of cultivation, once you get past the first bottleneck.”

“Any advice?” I asked.

“With soul cultivation, one would need to stabilize their cultivation and then construct pillars to the astral plane. For body cultivation you draw in energy, to turn one’s body into a single pillar or a conduit to draw in energy to strengthen ones self. And for mind cultivation, you would harmonize to make oneself as an astral core, or a nexus to draw in energy.”

“Did no one go over this with you?” she asked.

“Everyone was focused on me reaching the fourth stage and possibly beyond that,” I explained.

“Idiots. All of them idiots, and you can quote me on that. Yes, triple cultivation is perceived as the pinnacle, the most powerful, but it is completely unwieldly. Instead of one path, you will have to pursue multiple at the same time, on top of all your cores.”

“Wouldn’t they help each other?” I asked.

“At the very last step. When you attune with the universe itself. If you make it that far, there would be no second bottleneck. But in exchange, you will experience a nightmare of cultivation in the fifth stage onwards,” Elder Healer Song explained.

“There is nothing I can do?” I asked.

“Your path is already set. If you somehow get the drops needed for the fourth stage, which is impossible, then there is a chance. But you need the maximum number of drops possible. Let me guess, half a million?”

“610,000,” I replied. She let out a scoff.

“Impossible. Even an Immortal would spit out blood at such a number. But if you somehow make it, then you will need to focus on several things. I will prepare a book for you,” she said.

“Really?! Thank you, Elder Healer Song,” I replied, with heaviness in my heart lifting up.

“Consider it as compensation, for seeing something so incredibly stupid as your cultivation. I know that is why all us old people are content to let you try with this craziness. I haven’t felt my Dao of Healing improve in ages until now. It is only a miniscule fraction, but it is still improvement. If you somehow survive, I have no doubt you will get injured and require my services.”

Less altruism, and more marketing for the future. Happy and alive patients were return customers. Even kindness came with strings attached in cultivation world. Instead of troubling me, this reassured me that Healer Song was still a scheming ancient cultivator at heart. Like a non-profit that had a lot of revenue, by selling their image and services. Far more than other businesses. I could see a niche like that working in healing.

“Nothing more I can do to prepare?” I asked.

“You have already done too much in my opinion. Any more complexity to your cultivation and you will come to a complete stop. Honestly the energy vortex is a bit much, but it will help you in the fourth stage once you finish your channels and cores. Even then, the amount of drops you need is insanity,” she explained.

“Any idea what will actually happen once I break through the bottleneck?” I ask.

“No. Since no one has ever succeeded in what you are trying to accomplish with triple cultivation and multiple cores. It has been speculated on as a thought exercise, but to actually reach such heights, you would become the fattest of pigs.” I winced at that description.

“I can only imagine the resources that have gone into you already. And my soul chills at the very thought of how many more you will need to consume. Even our Imperial Sect would shudder at such a cost, and an Immortal would weep at the expense.”

“I know, my Master told me as much,” I said.

“Well, the fact he let you do this shows a questionable mindset. But it is your life. The heavens know, I warn cultivators, point out issues, but they are content to do stupid things. With how your cores are interlinked, you might create a fourth form of cultivation,” she said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Hmm, it is a possibility. But how that would even work, I have no idea. You are more likely to be completely ripped apart once you detonate your cores. Even with the density of your cultivation, pulling it all back togeather and expanding your astral soul will be difficult. I will say that you will need to step into the fifth stage with all three types of cultivation at the same time. Don’t try to do mind cultivation first or last. It must be part of the process,” she explained.

“A specific reason or your intuition?” I asked.

“Both. The reason being, that attempts to stagger duel type cultivation have all failed. While it is harder, doing them at the same time is key. You aren’t just your mind, or your body, or your soul. You are all three. It is important to remember that.”

“Thank you, Elder Healer Song,” I said.

“Like I said, I am more than happy to teach. If you survive, there is a chance of repeat business. I doubt it, but one can hope.” I sat there in silence for a bit as she poked my arm over and over again, thinking of everything I had learned.

At least my injury would be healed. That was my biggest concern and highest priority at the moment. Getting a specialist had been the right choice. While the occasional wave of pain went through my arm, the overall pain felt more manageable. Once I reached the fourth stage of cultivation, I would be quite poor.

I also realized I wouldn’t be seeing my sister or family again. I could not take the time off to travel. Even exiting the chamber every decade would have a time span measured in days, not months or years. I couldn’t afford to leave and then the deal being changed in some way. While the Imperial Sect wouldn’t cheat me, they would take advantage if they could. I had no doubt if I left Imperial City, they would claim that they thought I had finished my cultivation.

At least that was the impression Elder Xu Xiaoli gave me. Elder Healer Song was a breath of fresh air in comparison. At least I wouldn’t have to deal with the Han family. That old granny Han Xingjuan, who looked like a young girl was a nightmare.

Once I was healed up, I would rest and recover. One thing that did not escape my notice was that no one asked me questions about the Cloudy Moon Sect. It was clear they didn’t care or already knew everything that had happened. Most likely both. This confirmed in my mind that the Imperial Sect ran more like a corporation, or conglomerate, than a government.

I had known this to be the case, but it still frustrated me immensely. This world was without laws. There were informal laws, but at the end of the day, only power mattered. Sure, cultivators would pretend to be civil and follow rules, but when there were serious benefits on the line, the gloves would come off. One did not pursue cultivation without leaving a lot of bodies behind.