WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 5
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Most of the children showed little interest in the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art, so Wang Jin continued the passionate pitch.
“The Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art has many advantages. Its true qi flows smoothly, and it’s simple to use. Once you’re familiar enough with the method, you can cultivate without sitting cross-legged. You can absorb spiritual qi while standing, walking, or even lying down.”
‘Lying down...? That sounds pretty good.’
“Then can we cultivate in our sleep?” someone asked.
“Well... in theory, I suppose there’s no reason you couldn’t. Anyway, the important thing is that the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art has no drawbacks except its slow cultivation speed. In fact, even that isn’t much of a problem.”
Wang Jin raised the book and added,
“If you produce results while working as a spirit-plant grower and enter the inner sect, you’ll be granted a better cultivation method. When that happens, you won’t need to disperse your primordial unity true qi. Since it’s spiritual power that favors no particular attribute, you can convert most of it into the spiritual power of your new method. The Greenwood Vitality-Nourishing Art, Scarlet Flame Art, Thick Earth Art, Metal Edge Art, and Dark Water Art are all only tier-one cultivation methods anyway. If you become an inner-sect disciple, you’ll learn a better method. Wouldn’t it make sense to start with the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art and then achieve results in spirit-plant cultivation?”
Wang Jin swept a hand over the six piles on the table.
“That’s all for the explanation. Each of you may take one copy of the cultivation manual you want.”
Perhaps Steward Wang Jin’s sales pitch had worked: more than half the children chose the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art.
‘Learn the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art, produce results as a spirit-plant grower, and become an inner-sect disciple? If joining the inner sect were that easy, why would only a handful of people manage it...? But I never wanted to become an inner-sect disciple in the first place, so it doesn’t matter.’
‘The Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art is my best choice. If I want to work my own spirit fields and grow spirit plants later, I’ll need to use spells of several different attributes.’
After a little thought, Yi Hyeon also chose the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art.
Some of the more suspicious or thoughtful children chose one of the other five methods.
The children took their books, sat down, and briefly looked through them. Then one child asked a question.
“Steward, what is this Primordial Unity Body mentioned near the end of the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art?”
‘Primordial Unity Body?’
Yi Hyeon also turned to the back of the book and found a cultivation method described there.
“Don’t get your hopes up. It’s useless.”
“Why? It seems to train the whole body. Isn’t it a body-tempering method? I heard that immortal cultivators become stronger by developing their essence, qi, and spirit evenly.”
“The Primordial Unity Body isn’t an ordinary body-tempering method. Most body-tempering methods draw on outside resources. They might temper the skin by soaking the body in a special bath made from demonic beast blood essence, or require spiritual materials or pills to temper the bones, muscles, and internal organs.”
The children listened quietly.
“Some methods involve training the body inside a special formation, or enduring the heat in places where earthfire rises.”
“Then how is the Primordial Unity Body different?”
“For one thing, it doesn’t depend on special outside resources for cultivation.”
Wang Jin’s answer caused another small stir. A method that didn’t require expensive resources sounded ideal to the poor outer-sect candidates.
“It sounds good, doesn’t it? But if there really were a way to grow stronger for free, why would the world’s body cultivators risk their lives to obtain resources?”
Wang Jin tapped the cover of the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art with a finger.
“The way to develop a Primordial Unity Body is simple. Instead of concentrating spiritual power in the dantian, you turn your entire body into something like a dantian.”
Wang So tilted his head.
“Wouldn’t it be good to have your whole body become a dantian? It sounds like you could store much more spiritual power.”
“Yes. If we only consider the advantages, that’s true. Spiritual power constantly flows throughout the body, bathing the skin, muscles, bones, and all the internal organs without pause. If you succeed, your physical body will grow stronger without a separate body-tempering method. You’ll also be able to hold far more spiritual power than any other cultivator at the same realm. In fact, tempering the body is only a side effect. At its core, this is closer to a unique way of cultivating spiritual power.”
Wang Jin looked around at the children for a moment, then pointed at a tall boy in the front row.
“You. What do you think a dantian is?”
Caught off guard by the question, the boy faltered.
“Isn’t it... an organ below the navel that holds spiritual power?”
“Wrong.”
Wang Jin’s answer was firm.
“Anyone who has killed someone and cut open their belly would know that there’s no separate organ called a dantian inside the human body.”
Several children turned pale.
“Meridians do physically exist. But a dantian is merely an area designated by a cultivation method for storing spiritual power. Following the method’s instructions, you define a particular area below the navel. By repeatedly gathering refined spiritual power there, you gradually turn it into a dantian.”
Wang Jin pointed at the lower abdomen.
“The reason we use the center of the body is simple, too. It makes it easy to send spiritual power to the limbs, head, or any of the internal organs.”
“But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to store spiritual power throughout the body, does it?” the boy asked cautiously.
“I didn’t say it was impossible. I said it was useless.”
Wang Jin raised one finger.
“The hardest part of cultivating immortality isn’t drawing in spiritual qi. It’s gathering that qi in one place, compressing it, and changing it into a higher-quality form of power. When a Qi Refining cultivator advances to Foundation Establishment, they must compress their gas-like spiritual power and turn it into liquid true essence. Most cultivators fail to condense even the spiritual power held in a space as small as the dantian, despite spending their entire lives trying.”
This time, Wang Jin pointed at all the candidates.
“And you want to use your whole body as a dantian? How much larger do you think the entire body is compared to the dantian? It varies by method, but it’s usually about a hundred times larger. Even compared to methods that create an especially large dantian, it would still be fifty times larger.”
The hall fell silent.
“Do you think our predecessors chose to cultivate within the small area called the dantian because they lacked wisdom? They found the most efficient way to achieve a change in quality with limited spiritual qi and resources.”
Wang Jin opened the book to the section on the Primordial Unity Body.
“A method like this, which uses the entire body as a dantian, was probably created long ago. Perhaps it came from the ancient age, when the spiritual qi of heaven and earth was said to be far denser than it is now. Or perhaps it’s only practical somewhere like the immortal realm, where spiritual qi floods into your body with every breath.”
A sharp-eyed boy sitting near the back raised his hand.
“Wouldn’t a wealthy cultivation clan or a major sect be able to do it? If they poured in enough pills and spirit stones, it seems they could turn the entire body into a dantian.”
“It’s possible in theory. But what faction would do such a thing?”
Wang Jin gave a dry laugh.
“Now, if you were the master of a sect, would you train a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, or just one Foundation Establishment cultivator whose entire body was a dantian?”
The children had nothing to say.
“Foundation Establishment isn’t the end. What about Golden Core? Nascent Soul? Common sense tells you the returns are far too small for the resources invested. Crossing a major realm raises your combat power to an entirely different level. No matter how small an early Foundation Establishment cultivator’s dantian might be, do you think a tenth-layer Qi Refining cultivator whose entire body was a dantian could defeat them...?”
Wang Jin fell into thought for a moment.
“Hmm... now that I think about it, perhaps they could. Anyway, even then, it certainly wouldn’t be easy. And there’s an even bigger problem!”
Wang Jin drove the point home.
“How many Foundation Establishment Pills would that person have to swallow to break through? Fifty? A hundred? It’s absurd. Ordinary late-stage Qi Refining cultivators risk their lives on missions just to obtain a single Foundation Establishment Pill.”
Wang Jin clicked their tongue.
“Qi Refining cultivators may live longer than ordinary people, but their lifespans are still only around a hundred to a hundred and fifty years. In practice, their vital essence declines once they pass eighty, and the risk of dying during a Foundation Establishment attempt rises sharply. Most Qi Refining cultivators fail to reach Foundation Establishment because they can’t properly condense even the spiritual power in that small dantian below the navel within a hundred years. How could they possibly condense the spiritual power stored throughout their bodies?”
Wang Jin tossed the book onto the table.
“There’s no harm in reading it. It might help you study the principles of cultivation. But if you actually try to practice this method, you’ll feel as helpless as someone trying to fill in an endless ocean alone.”
By the time Wang Jin finished the long speech, the children had lost interest in the Primordial Unity Body.
Yi Hyeon, however, was even more interested!
‘I could develop a Primordial Unity Body, couldn’t I? I have more time than I know what to do with, and there’s no reason I have to hurry into Foundation Establishment. It’s not as if I want to get strong quickly.’
‘In the cultivation novels I read in my past life, there were always stronger people ready to pick a fight, no matter how high someone’s realm was... In a cultivation world, the lower your apparent realm, the safer you are. You can make your opponents let their guard down! In that case, perhaps I should learn the Primordial Unity Body and become the strongest person in my realm...’
Yi Hyeon thought the Primordial Unity Body suited his personality very well. Still, he had no intention of practicing it right away. During the early stages of Qi Refining, the sect might find it strange if he didn’t advance at a similar pace to everyone else. He might also struggle to carry out his spirit-plant duties.
‘I’ll learn enough of the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art to get by, study spirit-plant cultivation, and slip away from Cheongha Valley before anyone discovers that I don’t age. After that, I can dig a tunnel and live in hiding. It won’t be too late to develop a Primordial Unity Body then.’
...
When they returned to their room after the lesson, Wang So noticed the 《Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art》 in Yi Hyeon’s hand and asked,
“Did you really choose that?”
“Yes.”
“Brother, I hate to say this, but... there’s no way you’ll become an inner-sect disciple just by producing results as a spirit-plant grower. The cultivation world is a cunning place full of schemes. This is clearly a trap Wang Jin led you into!”
“You brat! You’re just a new recruit, and you dare speak ill of Steward Wang? Have you lost your mind?”
Wang So’s expression froze at Yi Hyeon’s words.
“Haha, I’m joking. You say the cultivation world is full of cunning people, but aren’t you trusting me a little too much when we’ve only just met? You should always watch what you say.”
“You scared me! You’re right, I was careless. But I’m a good judge of character. I thought you were someone I could trust from the start.”
“What did you choose?”
“I chose the Metal Edge Art. An immortal cultivator should become a sword cultivator with the greatest combat power, shouldn’t they? And a sword cultivator ought to learn a metal-attribute cultivation method. How long would it take to reach a high realm by growing spirit plants?”
“Didn’t Steward Wang say the Metal Edge Art damages your meridians?”
“It should be fine as long as I keep taking medicinal herbs.”
“That’ll cost a lot of spirit stones.”
“If I become a sword cultivator and earn merit in battle, won’t the sect give me all the pills and medicinal herbs I need?”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
“No...”
“Neither have I. Honestly, I’m not confident I could fight. Even killing an animal is hard. Imagine how difficult fighting another cultivator would be. I’m going to learn spirit-plant work.”
After chatting for a while, Wang So climbed onto his bed and opened the Metal Edge Art. He read through its cultivation instructions a few times, then immediately sat cross-legged.
Yi Hyeon also sat on his own bed and opened the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art.
The Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art contained far more material than the Cheongha Qi-Drawing Art. It described everything in detail, from breathing techniques for absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth to the process of refining it, circulating primordial unity true qi through the meridians, and using that true qi to cast spells.
‘I need to get the basics down quickly so I can cultivate lying down! Sitting cross-legged is so uncomfortable...’
...
A few days later.
Steward Wang Jin called in the new recruits who had reached the first layer of Qi Refining for individual interviews. Yi Hyeon was no exception.
“You’ll be assigned work soon. Is there anything in particular you’d like to do?”
“I’d like to learn how to grow spirit plants or spirit herbs.”
“Your three spiritual roots are wood, fire, and earth, so you’re reasonably suited to it. Why?”
“It seems safer than fighting people.”
Wang Jin’s hand stopped as they wrote in the register.
“An honest one, aren’t you? But spirit-plant work is far from easy. You have to ward off spirit insects and diseases, and even a slight mistake in the amount of spirit rain can ruin a crop. Some spirit herbs with strong medicinal properties even release toxic fumes. What cultivation method do you intend to learn?”
“The Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art.”
“Is that so? A good choice. You’ll learn your assignment soon.”
* * *
On the hundredth day after joining the sect.
The new recruits gathered in the hall before sunrise.
Today, Steward Wang Jin would formally appoint the recruits who had reached the first layer of Qi Refining as outer-sect disciples and assign them new duties and living quarters.
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