The sound of pages turning filled the room,
the person reading was a young man no older than 18 named Archean, who was in an old library, reading books endlessly
The books he was reading were cultivation manuals, they contained theoretical knowledge involving cultivation
As a member of the black mountain cultivation sect, he was selected from youth to be trained to become a cultivator
Even with that being the case, cultivation is not something for the faint of heart, it takes endless determination, patience, and knowledge,
So it is not common to begin qi cultivation before the age of 18, the time before that isn't wasted though.
Becoming a cultivator is a learnt profession with a necessity for various skills
Even the most talented people would fail to cultivate if they didn't have extensive knowledge about the human body,
How could you expect to make your body evolve if you didn't understand the limits they possess
Suddenly the sound of Pages turning stopped, The boy sighed and thought to himself
'it's already been 18 years, i've waited so long, but now it just doesn't feel real'
'Today is the day'
His face turned into a smile as he continued to read
He was a reincarnator from earth, and was an avid fan of cultivation novels, so when he reincarnated he was extremely joyful
Right now he was reading through his options of body tempering manuals
The first step in cultivation is to temper the body, to reach a level capable of absorbing spirit qi,
spirit energy is extremely dense, and when not handled properly can deal massive damage to the mortal body
He finished book after book, searching for a body tempering manual that would be suitable for him
"This one seems like a good option, it temperes a neutral ki, that refines the body, and it's a quick to use technique, but it seems that practicing it would be painful"
He says with a smile, as he took out the book titled 15 openings
The threat of pain didn't really seem to bother him, as from the moment he joined the sect,
Archean realized that he should face his fears and pains headfirst, or he would never make it as a cultivator
If he could not even handle this amount of pain, then he should just go home, and quit being a cultivator
"Hey old man, I picked one out"
He spoke, as he walked to an old man siting at a table towards the front
He then handed the book to the old man
"Watch your tone brat, this? Ha, if you want to train in this technique, might as well stab yourself"
"Pick a different one Arc, this one is too hard for beginners"
This old man was the librarian, and Arc was the nickname of the young man
Each outer sect member was required to work within the sect, as a way to make up the costs for their training, the sect couldn't be expected to train them for nothing
Arc's job was a librarian aid, as he was a quick learner who loves to read, he quickly found himself in-love with the position
And the old librarian became his mentor, someone who he viewed like his grandfather
The old man never had children so he wasn't apposed to this, and while he never spoke it out-loud, he does care for Arc, and will often give him advice
"its alright, i have a plan, and if i can't even take this amount of pain, i don't deserve to become a cultivator"
Arc spoke, with confidence, and determination
"Then take it brat"
He hands him the book, as well as another book
"if your choice doesn't work out this technique is also a good option"
"Thanks old man"
Arc said with a smile, arc didn't refuse the librarian's kindness
Arc then left the library, and headed to his home
Each sect member is given a small home near the entrance of the mountain
The higher ranking cultivator, the closer to the top of the mountain, and in turn a higher concentration of spirit energy
Most sect falsities including liberty are were on the 3 peak of the mountain,
Meaning walking down the mountain took a few hours
When he reached his room it was already night, he took out the training manual began attempting it
"AAHHHH"
With 30 seconds he was forced to stop, as it really was just as painful as the book stated
"why did i sign up for this"
Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face, and this was a worse pain than any punch could muster
The next few months that follow will be a difficult period for arc as he he decided to continue following his plan,
The plan was simple, and its goal was even more so, to lay a strong foundation for his future cultivation
The body tempering art he chose uses an elemental neutral ki, laying a foundation that won't conflict with future qi cultivation manuels
The use of this ki technique was merely step one of his plan,
Arc has read most the books in the library that he was given access to, he had a possible theory of how to artificially increase his "talent"
The overall goal is to increase his affinity to spirit energy, increasing his cultivation speed and the purity of the energy he absorbes
There are a few methods to do this, expanding your meridians, awaking a physique, and eating certain spiritual plants
The first one being the only one arc has access to attempt, ki cultivation is build in 10 stages
Expanding meridians would forcibly temper them to withstand more energy this is referred as ki cultivation stage 11-15 for simplicity sake
He has a possible theory on how to forcibly create-or awaken a physique
But that will wait until he reaches body tempering stage 15
For now all that he can do is temper his will to resist the pain of his chosen body tempering art
'That was freaking painful'
Arc thought to himself on the floor his back covered in sweat
It took several minutes before he could get back up, he forced himself to his feet to attempt again
"AHHH"
This time unsurprisingly, he lasted a even a shorter period of time
'This is gonna be a long night'
Arc thought
The next morning , Arc needed to head up the mountain, as yesterday was the day all new disciples chose their tempering techniques
Today would now be lecture time to discuss, what they had experienced, and what they should do to improve their foundation
After reaching the third Peak he walk towards the lecture hall, He spent the entire night practicing, so he had questions,
After all theoretical knowledge can only go so far, having actual experience as well will help more
Finding an empty seat was difficult, but he found one towards the back, after taking his seat even more people started to come
Once all the feet seats were full, people started standing around the seats, as this was one lecture, no one would want to miss
"it appears you have all arrived, and if there's anyone missing, they took too long, so we will be starting now"
The man who spoke had short black hair a large beard, and was wearing long robes
The man was an Elder of the sect, he then began to answer most of the questions easily until Arc asked his question
"in reference to the 15 openings ki manual it states that….."
Arc spoke asking the question that he considered the most concerning, as the answer would directly impact his foundation plan, moving forward
"…. You practice the 15 opening?"
The elder was beyond confused, as he once attempted that technique after already being a cultivator to improve his poor foundation, and he failed due to the pain
After a moment of thought the elder's eyes lit up while considering Arc's question, as he responded
"Yes that is quite interesting, i do not see why it wouldn't work"
'Perfect! This can work!'
Naturally Arc didn't give away his plan to artificially create a physique, all he asked was of the possibility of using the 15 openings technique to reach the innate realm
The innate realm was the pinnacle of flesh and bone, the highest peak one can reach without the use of spirit energy
Once someone reaches that state, their bodies will force pass their normal human limitations and reach a physical might comparable to foundation establishment realm
The elder seeing Arc face turn into a smile couldn't help but ask how long can he use the 15 openings technique without stopping
Arc thought for a moment then spoke
''My current record is 3 mins, it's not very long, but with how the technique works, this is still faster than normal body tempering''
Arc was completely oblivious, to how conflicted the elder felt as all he was thinking about was how his plan has merit
The other outer disciples were ignorant of the 15 opening technique and many decided to look into it to see what freaked out the elder so much
The lecture ended without a hitch, and Arc then returned home
Immediately he grabbed a empty notebook and began to write down in detail what his plan would be
Body tempering has 10 stages normally, but with expanding meridians one could reach a level equivalent to stage 15
And once they begin cultivating qi, they would see an increase in the amount of spirit energy they could absorb
The negative being expanding meridians is painful and dangerous, the 15 openings technique is one developed to make your body "ready" to expand your meridians
As such pain would no longer affect you once you get used to using that technique
A qi cultivator power comes from their ability to manipulate their qi, having more energy is always helpful especially since most cultivators use long range energy based attacks
His plan to develop a physique is fairly simple, reach ki cultivation stage 15
And take advantage of the innate advancement by simultaneously cultivating qi, making his body forcibly transform into an innate physique that is compatible with spirit qi
He wrote swiftly
Step 1 in the plan, reach body tempering stage one
Step 2 find/ purchase a Ki condensation array
Step 3 refine ki to a level compatible to a qi condensation cultivator
Step 4 take in spiritual qi, and force ki to merge into the body
Step 5 begin merging qi as well
Step 6 the blending of energies within the body will either cause massive damage, or the body, which will have been strengthen to stage 15 body tempering
will further be tempered by the pressure and become innate
Step 7 physique awakened!! (hopefully)
After organizing his thoughts, he then began to continue his cultivation,
Arc while not on a time limit, does wish to complete this plan as quickly as possible, as to not miss the sect competition to advance to inner disciple
But considering the technique he was using, he will progress quickly, as long as he can resist the pain
"AAAAHHHHH"….
'This is gonna be annoying'
Arc thought to himself as he took a deep breath
Each use of the technique brought inhuman amounts of pain, having experienced reincarnation Arc had a higher pain tolerance than the average person
Yet he could help but fall upon the floor like a fish out of water, when using the technique
Several weeks pass, and arc has continued to follow the same schedule
Go to library "complete duties" read cultivation books ,Head home temper body
After doing this for weeks he began to develop a reputation within the sect, as his neighbors complained of his frequent screaming until one day it randomly stopped
They just assumed he switched body tempering arts, they could not be further that the truth
He just tortured himself everyday until that level of pain wouldn't cause him to make a sound
'I'm already Body tempering stage 8, the people who started the same time as me are at most stage 4, the advantage of this technique is finally revealing itself '
Arc thought to himself, his face was emotionless, but the veins clearly popping out of his head showed the amount of pain he was in
This expression remained on his face for 30 mins before he finally stopped for the night
he opened up the book that he "wrote"
' I apologize to the novelist from earth, who wrote this novel, but plagiarism makes money'
Yes Arc. plagiarized a novel from earth in the hopes of making money off of it
Undergoing Reincarnation strengthened his soul significantly, and with the constant body tempering he's been undergoing, his mind, and his body reached a state that was impossible in his previous life
He can remember most things that he's seen or read in his life to a high degree of accuracy
Allowing him to take advantage of the endless streams of information he absorbed during his life
He in his past life was a welder and fabricator; who dabbled in other trades depending on the available work, or any projects he wanted completed
Due to this profession, he has a very good understanding on how things work , or how to put most things together to some degree
While He couldn't build a car from scratch, He would be able to fix a problem with it given the proper tools and equipment
Arc had several ideas and plans regarding this knowledge, but they require funding and time, currently he is making next to nothing working in the sect library
This has caused him to think of other possible sources of income, leading him to think of selling books or art
While Arc was someone who very much enjoyed drawing, and painting he didn't believe it would be worth much money so he chose to copy a book
In this world with creatures that have insanely long lives, They naturally they will have hobbies to kill time, one of those being reading making it very profitable to write a bestseller
After Finishing the book, Arc made sure to put the correct author's pen name, and marked himself as the "translator",
which is not inaccurate as he did translate it to the language of a different world
And with the immortal world being so outrageously large , there are countless unknown languages, so to the natives of this world this is a completely common thing to see
Taking his "newly written" book, he left the sect, heading towards the nearby city by the foot of the mountain
Right next to the sect, there was a city for cultivators, a place for both rogue cultivators and sect cultivators, to trade, sell and exchange items
Arc wandered for a bit before finding his target, the white cat bookstore, "Hello sir, how may i help you today?"
The shop attendant, noticing is clothes were of the black mountain sect spoke respectfully
"Yes i would be interested in selling a book i wrote to this store"
"Yes sir allow me to ask my supervisor regarding this"
The shop attendant spoke quickly before heading to the back
A few moments later the attendant returned with a older woman
"I heard you wish to sell a book, allow me to take a look please"
She spoke
"Yes of course"
Arc handed her the book
She placed the book within a box, that the glowed green, confirming they didn't have a copy of this book at any of their locations
" yes, this is a new book, We can have it, copied and put on sale immediately if you wish, of course, remember that we retain 40% of the profits"
"Yes that will great please do so as soon as possible"
Arc spoke with a smile
The white cat bookstore had over 100,000 active locations and it was backed by Nascent soul cultivator
These factors are what led Arc to choose this bookstore, even though they take such a large cut
After sorting everything in the bookstore, Arc prepared to head back up to the sect, he would come check in to the bookstore in a few weeks
After leaving the bookstore the lady opened his book up and began reading it out of curiosity, as anyone who works at a bookstore would definitely enjoy reading.
And she was instantly captivated by the book, it was like a different world come to life, sounds she has never heard, weapons she has never seen, foods she has never tasted, she found herself finishing the book the same night.
'Oh this will sell nicely, i may buy a copy for myself'
she thought to herself before looking around and realizing she had lost track of time and was locked in the store as the store attendant closed it….
Arc then began to walk around the city, to get a better understanding of where each store is, he then noticed something, a formation store called 'starry array'
He walked in hoping he could commission the formation he requires for his plan
"Hello how may i help you sir"
The store attendant spoke, without removing his attention from the formation disc he was working on
"I was just wondering if you have a ki condensation formation"
" that would be 40 spirit stones"
'That's nearly all my saving, umm i should still get it, the book should make some more money fairly soon'
"Yes i'll take it"
Arc spoke as he handed over the spirit stones
After getting the formation disc, Arc was finally ready to return to the sect
By the time he made it home it was very late so he went straight to bed, after a quick training session
The next morning he headed to the library as usual, and after completing his duties, he started to look at the combate manuals
Different from the training manuals, these are mortal combate martial arts that use ki
Arc's plan require incredible precision in ki manipulation, so he has spent a period of time researching these techniques to train his energy control
He ended up picking the book names eagle claw, by focusing ki unto his hands he can make them increasingly sharp and hard, capable to cut through stone
The reason he chose this technique is purely because he felt it was cool, and it seemed better to him to choose a technique which he would enjoy practicing,
Because if every training session was just straight back to back torture, he would subconsciously find ways to avoid training
No one enjoys pain, and suffering, he is only now putting up with it so that he can avoid pain in the future
It was not difficult, it was one of the simplest techniques, but overall it achieves it purpose, at the more delicate your control over your ki, the shaper the hand, and the less energy wasted
Arc's goal in using this technique was to reach a near zero energy lost when attacking
Reaching zero percent energy lost was physically and scientifically impossible, but he would attempt get as close as possible to it.
'if I can maintain this technique with little to no energy loss for more than 22 hours, my energy control will be comparable to a foundation establishment cultivator'
' not an easy thing to achieve, but this would be the only way to go through with my plan'
Arc thought to himself before beginning to practice, Arc didn't strictly follow the technique to the letter
He experimented and tested to find the way the technique seemed to work best for him
Developing a ki technique from scratch would be difficult but if he slowly altered this one while practicing his energy control then he would been hitting 2 birds with one stone