Chapter 140: Chapter 140: One Step, One Level

Chu Mu returned to the cave and once again sat cross-legged. He held the book, *Spiritual Ability Basics*, which he had spent his entire fortune on, and began to read it intently.

The book was very thick, almost the width of a fist. True to its title, *Spiritual Ability Basics*, the contents were far simpler and clearer than the Blazing Fire Technique.

Chu Mu read page by page, his pace slow as he mulled over every single word.

As he absorbed the book’s contents, his once-vague understanding of this paradoxical Cultivation Immortal Realm gradually came into focus.

What was called Spiritual Power was, in fact, Spiritual Qi.

Spiritual Qi, in turn, was divided into two types. One was emitted from Spirit Veins formed by Heaven and Earth, permeating the world and existing everywhere.

The other type originated from Spirit Stones. Spirit Stones were produced by Spirit Stone Ore Veins, and despite their name, they were filled with pure Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The Energy Level he had learned about at the Learning Pavilion was equivalent to the units of measurement from his past life, such as a liter of gasoline or a kilowatt-hour of electricity.

According to the book, the mining of Spirit Stone Ore Veins followed the conventions of the Cultivation Immortal Realm, with the stones being graded based on the intensity of the Energy they contained.

The so-called Broken Spirits were actually just scraps from the mining of Spirit Stone Ore. Standardized to represent a single unit of Spiritual Power, they became the Spirit Stone unit known as a Broken Spirit.

Above Broken Spirits were Lower Grade Spirit Stones, standardized at ten units of Spiritual Power, while Middle Grade Spirit Stones were one hundred units. The decimal-based division was undoubtedly clear.

However, the book also described that the purity of the Spiritual Qi contained within took a huge leap with each successive grade of Spirit Stone.

Of course, this leap in purity didn’t apply between Broken Spirits and Lower Grade Spirit Stones. Both originated from the same ore veins; Broken Spirits were simply the scraps left over from mining Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

Clearly, the Broken Spirit was an artificially created smaller currency unit for Spirit Stones—or perhaps, the smallest unit used for a Monthly Stipend...

The implication was quite clear.

And the purer the Spiritual Energy, the greater the benefit to a Cultivator.

Thus, despite the decimal-based system, ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones were not enough to trade for a single Middle Grade Spirit Stone. To put it another way, very few Cultivators who had access to Middle Grade Spirit Stones would ever trade them down for Lower Grade ones.

By the same logic, those who could afford Upper Grade Spirit Stones would not exchange them for Middle Grade ones.

As for Top Grade Spirit Stones, the book offered no description, only leaving behind the two words "rare treasure." Evidently, even in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, Top Grade Spirit Stones were exceptionally rare.

Furthermore, a Cultivator’s practice—be it Cultivation Techniques, Magic, or the Hundred Skills of Cultivation Immortal—was inseparable from Spiritual Qi.

The only difference lay in the various ways they utilized Spiritual Qi.

According to the book, the Immortal Path he so longed to walk was divided into two roads: Body Refining and Qi Cultivation!

Though their names were different, they shared a unified realm designation: the Qi Cultivation Realm!

The reason they were both unified under the name ’Qi Cultivation Realm’ was that the fundamental purpose of both Body Refining and Qi Cultivation was to draw the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth into one’s body through Breathing.

The difference lay in their application: one involved Breathing Spiritual Qi to strengthen the body, following a path of breaking all techniques with overwhelming force. The other involved Breathing Spiritual Qi to forge Magical Power, following a path of myriad techniques that utilized the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth—things like Magic, Magical Artifacts, and the Hundred Skills of Cultivation Immortal, all of which required the support of Magical Power.

Qi Cultivation was clearly the mainstream path in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, while Body Refining was merely a minor, supportive one.

According to the book, these two paths were actually one in ancient times when the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was incredibly abundant. They had only diverged as the Cultivation Immortal Era wore on, resources grew scarce, and Cultivation became more difficult, slowly evolving into two separate roads to Cultivation Immortal.

Even now, Cultivators who practiced Body and Technique Dual Cultivation were not uncommon. Most Cultivators, even if they lacked the resources to fully support dual cultivation, would still dabble in the other path to some extent.

It was not until the next morning that Chu Mu slowly closed the book, *Spiritual Ability Basics*.

The book was packed with information; its title, *Spiritual Ability Basics*, was truly well-deserved.

Its contents were rudimentary, containing no profound knowledge. It was, in essence, a primer for aspiring Cultivators.

And that was precisely what Chu Mu needed.

He already possessed sources of profound knowledge. He had purchased the Blazing Fire Technique, and the knowledge from the Alchemy and Puppet legacies was even more advanced.

What he lacked was a foundational understanding.

This copy of *Spiritual Ability Basics*, which had cost him his entire fortune, was the perfect thing to begin filling that gap.

Chu Mu put the book away and stepped out of the cave. Not far off, a sheer cliff face shot straight up into the clouds.

Jade Emperor Valley was hidden among the mountains, leaving no trace, but occasionally, one could see flashes of Spiritual Light shooting toward the heavens, or figures darting through the clouds.

’Late Stage of Qi Cultivation...’

Chu Mu murmured to himself. According to *Spiritual Ability Basics*, a Cultivator had to reach the Late Stage of Qi Cultivation—the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer or higher—to possess the foundational Magical Power and Divine Sense required for Flying.

Before reaching the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer, one would need a flight-assisting Magical Artifact or a specific type of Secret Skill to fly.

Both of these, without exception, were exceedingly precious—far beyond the reach of an ordinary Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivator.

Chu Mu stared blankly as thoughts surged in his mind. As his understanding of the Cultivation Immortal Realm solidified, one fact emerged with ever-increasing clarity.

Cultivation required knowledge and material resources. The notion of someone achieving Great Success simply through secluded, arduous training was clearly an impossibility.

And both knowledge and resources were tightly controlled.

Even if he managed to escape his current predicament, another interconnected trap would surely be waiting for him.

’Trying to make it all on my own, fighting a solo battle...’

’Or... should I find a patron?’

Chu Mu pressed his lips together, unable to stop himself from recalling his time as an Inspector.

But he quickly suppressed the thought.

’In the secular world, I was already not in control of my own fate. With all the mysterious and unfathomable methods available in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, I’d truly be nothing more than a disposable pawn.’

Just as he was about to turn back into the cave, a wisp of cooking smoke in the distance suddenly caught his eye.

’There are... other Cultivators?’

Chu Mu’s pupils constricted. He had wandered around the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace before, but his fear of other Cultivators had kept him from daring to explore much of the surrounding mountains.

But from what he had learned recently, he understood that there was simply no place for a struggling, down-on-his-luck Cultivator like him in the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace.

But there were always exceptions. Even if there was no place for them, there would always be newcomers like him who blundered their way here by accident. Not to mention, the Yutai Mine was not far from the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace.

Clearly, the mountains outside the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace were bound to be full of struggling, hard-up Cultivators like him, forced to brave the elements.

After a moment of deliberation, Chu Mu did not return to the cave, but instead headed straight into the mountains.

Things were different now.

Outside the Yutai Mine, everyone had been like him—stuck in a state between immortal and mortal—so he hadn’t been the least bit afraid.

But here, near the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace, given the housing prices in Jade Emperor Valley itself, there were likely many true Cultivators who had entered the Qi Cultivation Realm but still couldn’t afford to live there.

This meant that the mountains outside the Marketplace were not only home to struggling aspirants like himself, but also to actual, bona fide Cultivators who were roughing it in the wild.

The bloodshed outside the Yutai Mine was still vivid in his memory, and Chu Mu had no desire to experience anything like it again here, outside Jade Emperor Valley.

Without hesitation, Chu Mu packed his belongings, dug up the two Jade Scrolls he had buried outside the Marketplace, and headed away from the mountains.

’I’ll return to Jade Emperor Valley when I’ve truly set foot on the Immortal Path!’

Chu Mu didn’t go too far, nor did he head for a secular town. Instead, he ran straight to Jade Pillar Mountain, the place where he had first discovered the existence of Jade Emperor Valley. The distance of several hundred li was enough to give him some peace of mind.

He had wandered around Jade Pillar Mountain for several days back then, so he was familiar with the lay of the land. Chu Mu found a random cave and settled in.

In the mountains, time lost its meaning.

He spent a full seven days studying the single volume of *Spiritual Ability Basics* before he felt even a sliver of confidence about practicing the Blazing Fire Technique.

Night fell. The mountains were silent. Inside the cave, a bonfire flickered, the firewood burning with a steady CRACKLE.

Chu Mu sat cross-legged on a straw mat to one side. In his hands was the manual for the Blazing Fire Technique.

The volume of *Spiritual Ability Basics* had greatly broadened his understanding. Now, when he looked at the cultivation method for the Blazing Fire Technique, he was no longer completely in a fog.

The first layer of the cultivation technique was only a dozen or so thin pages. In just over an hour, Chu Mu had read it from beginning to end.

With his now-broadened understanding, a general outline of the process slowly took shape in his mind.

The so-called Blazing Fire Technique was a process of Breathing the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth and converting it into Fire Attribute Magical Power, which would then become the Cultivator’s source of power.

It sounded simple, but the process was in fact extremely complex.

The cultivation of Qi Blood was solely for the purpose of Concentrating Spirit; everything else was ignored.

Therefore, to practice the Blazing Fire Technique, one also needed to open one’s Meridians and establish a Dantian, as these formed the very foundation of Magical Power.

Magical Power would flow through the Meridians before ultimately being stored in the Dantian, which served as its vessel.

Furthermore, it required the support of one’s Divine Sense, an understanding of the properties of Spiritual Qi, and many other factors.

But at the end of the day, the two words "Qi Cultivation" in the name ’Qi Cultivation Realm’ explained a great deal.

The thirteen layers of the Qi Cultivation Realm, each a distinct stage, were clearly a process of Breathing Spiritual Qi and refining Magical Power.

Each step was a refinement, each step a new level. It was a process of quantitative change that would ultimately lead to a qualitative one: the next realm of Cultivation Immortal!

Also known as the legendary Foundation Establishment Realm!

Chu Mu read the dozen-page manual again and again. With each pass, the rough framework in his mind was slowly filled in with finer details.

Whenever he encountered a point of confusion he simply couldn’t grasp, Chu Mu would decisively use "Spiritual Radiance Blessing." Under the resulting leap in his thinking and wisdom, his limited knowledge was maximized to its fullest potential.

Slowly, he began to truly comprehend and internalize the contents of the thin Blazing Fire Technique manual.

Time... flew by...

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