Tap, tap, tap!
Lan He lightly tapped her low table, and the murmurs below gradually subsided.
"All right. I only told you all this so that you would understand the nature of the world we live in."
"Your ultimate pursuit is ascending to the Immortal Realm!"
"As for reincarnators, even I have never encountered one."
"A person who possesses the mighty power to seal their own memories and carry them into reincarnation... across the entire Great Xia Domain, you might not come across even one."
Only then did the crowd breathe a sigh of relief, having assumed such individuals were common.
Lan He continued, "The reason I brought up the Immortal Realm was to tell you another thing."
"The Immortal Realm and the Human Spirit Realm are not completely cut off from each other!"
*Boom!*
The moment those words were spoken, everyone in the hall was visibly shaken!
Even Li Guanqi was profoundly shocked.
*Could it be that the immortals of the upper realm can actually interact with the lower realm?*
Lan He paused for a moment and said softly, "It is not what you imagine. If that were the case, what point would there be in cultivating the Dao and ascending?"
"What I am about to tell you next is of utmost importance!"
"Spirit ruins! Destiny crest!"
Li Guanqi furrowed his brows, having no idea what those terms meant, and the others were equally bewildered.
Lan He said gently, "No need to rush. I will explain it to you slowly."
"Those who reach the Foundation Establishment realm before the age of eighteen can unlock their spirit ruins through a special ritual and formation!"
"The spirit ruins exist within the spiritual terrace, manifesting all manner of things, and are inherently innate."
"In ninety-nine percent of people, their spirit ruins are completely empty. Only in very, very few will objects be found."
"Yet even those objects are not necessarily useful; only weapons, magic treasures, and the like are truly valuable."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi frowned slightly and inquired in a low voice, "Elder Lan, what purpose do the objects in the spirit ruins serve?"
Lan He smiled faintly. With a beckoning gesture of her hand, a blue silk ribbon unexpectedly bound every disciple in the hall in an instant!
"This was the object from my spirit ruins back then—a blue silk ribbon."
"It can be used to trap enemies, or to attack!"
"An object from one's spirit ruins is like a magic treasure; it can connect with one's mind and spirit inside the body and be refined internally."
"If paired with a matching magic treasure, its might is even greater."
At this point, Lan He's tone gradually turned solemn, and she said deeply, "The spirit ruins can only be opened once in a lifetime! Remember: never attempt to forcibly open it again!"
The crowd below understood what the spirit ruins were, but few harbored much hope.
Lan He then said softly, "When you break through to the Core Formation realm, you will experience a profoundly wondrous sensation of unity with heaven!"
"If you are fortunate, an immortal from the upper realm will bestow a destiny crest upon you!"
"A destiny crest allows you to briefly borrow the power of an upper-realm immortal against your foes!"
"Therefore, if you ever encounter someone bearing a destiny crest, be extraordinarily cautious when fighting them!"
Zhong Lin spoke up suddenly, "Elder Lan, do you possess a destiny crest?"
Lan He smiled faintly. Immediately, a mysterious, milky-white pattern lit up between her brows.
The pattern flashed and vanished. Lan He said softly, "Most disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect obtain a destiny crest upon breaking through to the Core Formation realm."
"For our Great Xia Sword Sect's ancestor is a mighty cultivator who ascended to the upper realm!"
Before her words had fully faded, gasps of astonishment erupted from the disciples in the hall.
"Woah! Our Great Xia Sword Sect actually has an ancestor in the Immortal Realm?!"
"Heavens... other sects probably don't have that, right?"
"An ancestor... how many years ago must that have been?"
"Joining the Great Xia Sword Sect is truly the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me in my life."
Every new disciple of the Great Xia Sword Sect felt their pride swell to bursting at that moment.
It was a special sense of sect honor.
When the clamor died down, Lan He said softly, "All right, so much for the basic knowledge."
"Next is the very first lesson of embarking on the Dao!"
"Body Tempering!"
"..."
In truth, most of the disciples admitted into the sect were mortals who had no idea what Body Tempering was.
Following Lan He's explanation, everyone grasped what it entailed.
Afterward, Lan He distributed scrolls containing a basic Body Tempering formula and training methods.
"The Body Tempering realm takes three months at best, or a year at the slowest, to reach Body Tempering great perfection."
"For instance... Li Guanqi."
Having his name called out so abruptly, Li Guanqi rubbed his nose in slight embarrassment.
Then Lan He pointed to the hundred-jin stone millstones prepared beforehand and laughed softly, "Come, Guanqi. Give everyone a demonstration of lifting a hundred-jin stone with one hand."
Since she had put it that way, Li Guanqi could hardly decline.
Five massive stone millstones were strung together on a steel bar.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Li Guanqi slowly walked over.
Upon entering the sect, everyone knew how monstrous Li Guanqi's talent was.
Yet, seeing his frail frame, someone couldn't help muttering, "That millstone weighs at least a hundred jin. Can a scrawny kid like him really do it? He isn't even as well-built as me!"
Another chimed in, "Exactly. Can he do it? Hope he doesn't get crushed to death..."
A gleam flashed across Zhong Lin's eyes. He, too, was at Body Tempering peak. Watching Li Guanqi walk toward the millstones, he silently calculated in his heart that with his own physical strength, he could lift three hundred jin at most.
Meanwhile, Li Guanqi was in a bit of a quandary; he didn't know how much Lan He meant for him to lift.
Standing before the millstones, he shrugged, slowly extended his right hand, and gripped the bar in the middle.
*Whoosh!*
*Hiss—!*
A collective sharp intake of breath echoed through the hall.
With utter casualness, Li Guanqi lifted all five millstones straight over his head with a single hand!
Swinging them casually through the air a couple of times, Li Guanqi looked back and asked, "Elder Lan, like this?"
At that moment, Lan He's eyes were wide.
*He lifted a five-hundred-jin stone mill just like that, with one hand?!*
*Judging by the way he swung it twice, just what level has his Body Tempering realm reached?*
Keeping her face impassive, Lan He cleared her throat and said, "Ahem, that's enough. Put it down."
Li Guanqi casually set the millstones down with a dull thud. Even sitting on their cushions, everyone felt the stone floor of the hall tremble.
Zhong Lin wore a look of utter disbelief!
*Swinging it so effortlessly, his shoulders didn't even waver!*
*Just what method did he use during his Body Tempering to forge such terrifying strength?!*
Afterward, Lan He passed down the Qi Refinement mantras and instructed the disciples to keep them safe.
Li Guanqi examined the scroll with his mind's eye, adopting the meditation posture recorded upon it.
Three breaths later, his breathing grew rhythmic and steady.
Lan He paid it no mind, continuing to speak to the inner sect disciples who were still in the Body Tempering realm: "Drawing heaven-and-earth spiritual energy into the body is the most critical step in cultivation."
"Follow the mantra to sense heaven-and-earth spiritual energy, identify the elemental power that matches your spiritual root, and draw it into your body."
"Finally, stabilize it within your dantian to form a cyclone. That marks your breakthrough past Body Tempering and your complete entry into the Qi Refinement realm."
"The hardest part of the Qi Refinement realm is perceiving the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."
"The purer one's spiritual root, the clearer one's perception, but drawing it into the body remains exceptionally difficult."
"Even for a heavenly spiritual root, this step takes three days at fastest, and often several months or more."
"Therefore, we must take it step by step, with diligent... er... Li Guanqi?!"
*Hum—!*
A mysterious wave of power suddenly rippled out from Li Guanqi across the hall.
Lan He's expression changed instantly. Her blue silk ribbon materialized, sweeping all disciples within ten zhang of Li Guanqi away in an instant.
She then tossed down a circular formation plate and inserted six palm-sized spirit stones into it.
A beam of spiritual light descended, and the spiritual energy around Li Guanqi surged violently.
The spiritual energy drifted like faint, wispy smoke.
The white vapor was drawn into Li Guanqi's nostrils, and before long—
*Pop!*
A soft popping sound echoed from within Li Guanqi.
Immediately following that, countless black impurities began oozing from his skin, clinging to his body like mud.
When Li Guanqi opened his eyes, unaware of what had just happened, he was met with the shock flashing in Lan He's eyes.
Li Guanqi had broken through to the first layer of Qi Refinement right here during her very first lecture!
The first layer of Qi Refinement!
Even a genius like her, possessing a heavenly water spiritual root, had taken a full two and a half days back then!
*Is this the disparity between people...?*
Not only Lan He, but the disciples in the hall also wore changing expressions.
Envy showed on their faces, but in the end, it could only dissolve into a sigh.
Chapter 20