CHAPTER 257: HOW TO CULTIVATE [PART 1]

[What? Your soul already reached nascent maturity without you forming a core?] The empress stared at Xiang Yu in shock.

"Well, yeah, it was... but not anymore," Xiang Yu explained.

[What do you mean?] The empress asked.

"Well, I don’t know how, but after merging with the flame, I don’t feel like a Nascent Soul anymore. I feel like..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the empress interjected with sudden understanding. [Infant?] she asked.

Xiang Yu nodded. "Exactly. It’s like I’ve regressed, but I don’t feel any weaker."

[Ah, that’s understandable,] the empress said. [Since your soul has evolved, your standards have also changed accordingly. Right now, you should be just at the beginning stages of the infant realm.]

[Wait... even if you have regressed in classification, the actual power should have increased significantly. How can your spiritual sea possibly handle such a transformation?] She spoke in concern.

"My mind cultivation was at level seven before, but after the merge, it shot up to level ten. It seems to be hitting some kind of bottleneck there," Xiang Yu spoke.

The empress nodded in understanding. [I see. It seems I have underestimated you,] she admitted. [As for the bottleneck you’re experiencing, that represents the absolute limit for a mortal cultivator. If you want to advance beyond that threshold, you would need to either grasp a law, or undergo the immortal tribulation.]

"Grasp a law?" Xiang Yu’s eyes lit up with intrigue when he heard this.

[Don’t think about it too much right now. You still have a long way to go before reaching that level,] the empress spoke aloud, though internally, she wasn’t as convinced. With everything Xiang Yu had demonstrated up until now, surprise after surprise, she low-key wouldn’t be surprised if he casually mentioned grasping a law tomorrow morning.

[Anyway,] she continued, changing the subject, [you mentioned something about having a bridge structure in your spiritual sea?]

"Yeah, that’s right. What does it actually mean?" Xiang Yu asked.

[I suppose I should properly explain this to both of you,] the empress spoke thoughtfully. She then turned her attention toward Li Yao, who was helping the elemental clone water the herbs. [Come here.]

"Bye, Senior Brother Huo!" Li Yao called out cheerfully as she rushed back toward them, leaving the fire elemental clone to continue its careful tending of the herbs.

Xiang Yu sighed in relief as she departed from the garden. Finally! If she had continued much longer, she would have destroyed all his herbs.

Li Yao bounced over and settled herself comfortably between Xiang Yu’s legs, facing the empress eagerly.

[I’ll begin by explaining the Soul Formation realm, since both of you already understand the Nascent Soul realm,] the empress announced. Both of them nodded attentively.

She proceeded to explain that when a cultivator successfully enters the Nascent Soul realm, virtually all their accumulated qi becomes concentrated within their spiritual sea. The Nascent Soul then begins refining this qi, slowly turning it into the far superior true qi. This transformation is the only major qualitative change in qi energy before reaching the immortal realm, and its importance cannot be overstated.

In the higher cultivation realms, she continued, attempting to harm an opponent without true qi becomes virtually impossible. The energy differential is simply too vast to overcome through quantity alone.

As a cultivator diligently refines their basic qi into true qi, the Nascent Soul simultaneously bathes in this purified energy, using it to continuously refine and strengthen itself as well. This creates an endless beneficial cycle where the soul grows stronger while producing even purer energy, which in turn further enhances the soul’s development. This process continues relentlessly until the soul finally achieves complete adult maturity and successfully breaks through to the Soul Formation realm.

[Generally speaking, adult maturity is considered the full maturation point for a cultivator’s soul,] the empress explained. [Though there do exist additional soul realms beyond that level, they contribute very little to actual realm breakthroughs and function more like body cultivation. Just as there are specialists who focus entirely on body cultivation, there are others who dedicate themselves exclusively to soul cultivation.]

[The various soul cultivation realms are quite complicated and honestly don’t matter much for general cultivation advancement, so I won’t delve into those details right now. Moving on...]

...

At the Soul Formation realm, a cultivator continues the arduous process of transforming more and more of their accumulated qi into true qi. This transformation becomes their primary advancement path. When all of their qi has been successfully converted into true qi, they will finally achieve the status of a peak Soul Formation realm expert.

[This stage is where the vast majority of cultivators find their journey permanently halted,] the empress explained. [It is even said that this point marks the true beginning of cultivation]

[In order to breakthrough from Soul Formation to the Void Traversing realm, one must either create a domain-type ability or successfully learn an existing one. This requirement alone eliminates ninety-nine percent of cultivators who reach peak Soul Formation.]

[Domains are extraordinary abilities that allow complete control over the space around us,] she spoke. [Here’s an example of a domain type ability...

As she finished speaking, the empress waved her hand and performed some hand signs. Instantly, everything in their surroundings seemed to freeze in place, as if time itself has stopped. The gentle breeze that had been stirring the spiritual herbs stopped completely. Dust particles hung motionless in the air. Even the fire elemental clone tending to the herbs remained perfectly still. Only the three of them retained their ability to move freely.

[This is a time-related domain ability,] the empress explained. [At my peak, I would have been capable of freezing time across a range spanning several billion light years. However, in my current state, I can barely manage to affect this small area around us.]

As she spoke these words, the frozen space surrounding them began developing visible cracks before completely shattering, returning normal time flow to the surrounding.

Xiang Yu and Li Yao watched in awe, their mouths slightly agape at witnessing such overwhelming power.

"Did she just say several billion light years?" Xiang Yu thought in complete shock, his mind struggling to process such an incomprehensible distance. He couldn’t even begin to properly imagine such a massive scale.

To put this into perspective for you mortals out there, Xiang Yu’s divine sense coverage extended approximately five million miles—which represented roughly 0.0001% of a single light year. Just how terrifyingly strong had the empress been during her prime? And if she seemed genuinely afraid of the original void flame’s power, exactly how much stronger was it?

Observing their stunned expressions, the empress blushed slightly. "Who would have thought that these little tricks were this effective in showing off," she thought. Though she quickly corrected herself internally, she wasn’t showing off intentionally. It was just that these two are such monsters that it’s hard to surprise them.

"Now that I think about it, my senior sister and I were also called monster geniuses back in the day, kekeke," she reminisced fondly, a small smile playing across her lips as old memories surfaced.

She suddenly noticed both disciples staring at her with strange expressions. Realizing that her facial expressions had been changing while lost in thought, she quickly composed herself back into her usual dignified bearing.

[Ahem,] she cleared her throat with slight embarrassment. [As I was saying... when you successfully create or learn a domain-type ability, you become capable of breaking through to the Void Traversing realm.]

[People often say that the difference between the Soul Formation realm and the Void Traversing realm is like heaven and earth,] the empress said with renewed seriousness. [Thats because it actually is, a Void Traversing realm expert gains the ability to control absolutely everything that occurs within their domain. If you don’t possess a domain of your own to counter this influence, you might as well be facing the heavens.]

[Now, let us move to the main subject—the Soul and Body Integration realm...]

...

A/N: Is this boring lol (I’ll add it as an extra Chapter)