《Stubborn cultivation (let's try to be virtuous)》 Chapter 1 (New World) My name is Adam a normal American teenager. I am now on an undiscovered island close to the telman Empire. How did I get here you ask Well I don¡¯t know I just woke up in a cave thinking where the fuck I am and how did I get here. Walked out of the cave which was on a hill with thick forest on the left and frozen snow covered tundra to the right. And in the distance saw a boar and a snake the size of a semi truck fighting each other. That moment I knew I got transmigrated just like in those novels. Now I just have to know which kind of world I dropped into That was answered by a book inside the cave titled ¡°Cultivation the path to immortality¡± The book also gave me a brief explanation on where I am. The continent of Golgareth which is occupied by the Ebonreich Empire. This world has the spiritual energy the so called Qi but the Qi here is sparse so sparse in fact there are conflicts happening everywhere over resources And not just that there is a realm below the starting realm of cultivation called the ¡°body mind attunement¡± where your body must have Elite athletic level power so that you are so energy efficient with all the senses like sight, hearing,taste,smell so that your body can sense the Qi in the atmosphere it¡¯s like saying you have to be strong first in order to get stronger faster. That in itself will take a year to achieve I have no chance of survival in this forest with just that. luckily the beast doesn¡¯t seem to want to come to this place or be anywhere near by. I am safe from now. There was another old book called ¡° The encyclopedia of plants ¡° according to it eating specific spiritual fruit can let me skip past that stage to the body mind att realm I just have to find it in this forest In the body tempering you have to temper your bones->organs->(muscles and skin) in order for best efficiency according to the book. Since a big boar and a snake exist there is no doubt that Qi is denser here than the main continent. ¡°That¡¯s it my first priority is to achieve body tempering so as to have even a chance of surviving¡± Silverroot berry which nourishes and strengthens the inner structure of bone and Titanstone peach hardens the outer layer of bone which acts as a substitute for the pill, the only difference between pill and fruit is its effectiveness. I need more fruit to have the same effect as a pill. With that I started exploring the forest below luckily there were no beasts trying to attack me That might be because of the fight between the boar and snake I found all the fruits mentioned in the book and went back to the cave The book said that eating the fruits by specific combination can be substituted for the bone tempering pill So I eat it accordingly and wait to see what kind of effects it shows Some kind of warm energy starts scratching my bones ¡°Damn this is extremely uncomfortable and painful¡± I power through this and after a while it subsides ¡°Finally it¡¯s over. This warm energy must be the so-called Qi ¡° If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I get up not feeling that much fatigue ¡°Maybe I should try again¡± I try again afterwards I get up again but this time I immediately faint it was already night So I woke up the next morning and I already feel somewhat stronger than before ¡°I feel 50% stronger than before I might be able to go further outside¡± There were still some fruits left so I thought I should go outside in my best since the fight between the 2 beasts might have come to a conclusion and the other beasts might have come back I tried the fruits again but this time I did not faint but felt very tired During this time I had a sudden thought ¡®since I transmigrated do I have some kind of golden finger like system¡¯ ¡°Status!¡± ¡°System!¡± I called every word that I could think of but nothing happened ¡°Looks like only human language has been given ¡° After a long rest I get up again ¡°A +10% more increase¡± ¡°How do I know if the limit has been reached I don¡¯t want to do this for a long time and then find that too much of this is detrimental to cultivation¡± I went outside and found a strong stick which I used for self defence There were no big beasts coming to eat me but there was a fox trying to pounce at me I noticed him a while ago looking at me with sharp eyes behind the bushes ¡°I have to do something about this¡± I let my guard down a bit by ignoring it It was a little too eager to pounce at me ¡®guess it was too hungry ¡® Anyways I bashed its head with the stick mid air. My reaction was too fast. Every thing appeared slow for me like a 0.3s delay While it was stunted I grabbed it by the snout and it was growling at me I snapped a vine from a tree and tied the fox to the stick and brought it along with me After foraging more fruits which I tied in my shirt / pouch I go back to the cave ¡°Now what will I do with you?¡± Looking at the tied up fox whimpering while being at this hill ¡°Well whatever I¡¯ll deal with you later, stay there for now¡± I ate the fruits again this time the effects were less than before so I ate twice as much and faint again woke up faster than before it was evening when I ate the fruits but now it¡¯s night time ¡°Maybe after a few more times this will not have any effect anymore this might be how I know my bones tempering is completed¡± I look at the fox besides me tired from all the whimpering I decide to tame it. So removing the vines around its jaws it growls at me ¡°Relax I am not going to hurt you¡± I threw some of the fruits I foraged. The fox looks at me for a few moments and starts eating them. Since it¡¯s night already I eat the fruits again faint and wake up in the morning I get this feeling that after 1 more time the bone tempering will be finished but I look around seeing that all fruits are gone from eating before. ¡°Looks like I have to forage for twice as more. But first I have finished my morning business ¡° After taking a fat dump near the hill and covering it up with dirt after using leafs as toilet paper. Adam go back to the forest foraging After a few hours gathering everything I go back to the cave on my way there in the middle of the path I see the big ass boar looking at me I froze standing the boar sensing me stare me down and charge fast. ¡°It¡¯s fast!!¡± Adam dodge to the side fast missing by a foot and run for the caves the boar is still chasing after me slowly getting closer and closer. Keep in mind I¡¯m running 40 mph faster than Usain Bolt¡¯s top speed. Slowly getting near the cave ¡®Please don¡¯t follow me to the cave !,please don¡¯t follow me to the cave!¡¯ When I reached the hill the boar seemed to have stopped there huffing. I look at the boar from a distance. Staring at each other the boar uninterested goes back into the forest ¡®¡¯Huff Huff¡¯¡¯ ¡°Damn that could have gone bad ¡° ¡°The beasts don¡¯t want to come here for some reason the bigger ones don¡¯t want to either, there must be something deeper inside the cave¡± Resting in the cave eat the fruits giving some to the fox. It looks at me for a moment again and eats the fruits it doesn¡¯t growl at me anymore It looks at me as It awakens some kind of intelligence akin to a dog. I try to pet it ¡°Grrrrr¡± ¡°Not there yet huh¡±. Looking at a dark passage inside the cave ¡°There must be something deeper inside the caves I have to check out¡± ¡°But now is not the time¡± ¡°My bone tempering is completed it has only been a few days. Eating more of those fruits doesn¡¯t have an effect anymore.¡± ¡°It¡¯s time to refine my organs¡± ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that I left the specific fruit for this for future use¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see here¡± ¡°I have the purging sunfruit¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± ¡°I have to cook the medicine ¡° ¡°¡­..¡± ¡°The fuck am I supposed to cook with. Where the fuck am I supposed to find a pot in this wilderness ¡° ¡°¡­.¡± ¡°¡­.¡± ¡°Maybe I can make a mortar with a boulder and cook with it. ¡° ¡°Yeah I should go with it¡± The next day. With a makeshift mortar and fireplace alchemy begins. Chapter 2 ( first organ tempering experience ) Chapter 2 ( first organ tempering experience ) "Hmm.." "Is it supposed to look like this" Looking at the black tar like substance "I did it perfectly as the instructions...." "Is it because of the cookware" Looking in the book he saw a particular note ''remember alchemists you have to control the flame perfectly'' "That explains it" "I will have to make do with this" Drinking the tar while suppressing his urge to vomit he sits there waiting for elixirs effect "Nothing is happening it''s been roughly 30 min" "Oh something is coming up it''s the same feeling as before the same warm feeling of Qi" "It''s flowing towards my organs and it''s getting warmer" A warm liquid drops on his hand "Blo.. blood" The blood starts flowing from his seven orifices he vomits out dark blood. Falls down still vomiting dark blood. "It hurts.. it hurts soo fucking much... my insides are burning...they are liquefying" After what felt like 3 hours of agonizing torment the pain subsided. He gets up grunting. analysing his body sweating a black substance which smelled quite horrible. "This must be the impurities present inside of me" "There is a lot of it... It''s on my clothes too.It is going to be hard removing this stain and stench" "I should find a river and just jump in it " "I''m breathing more clearly now it feels a lot fresher I can hear more clearly I can see more further my skin feels more sensitive and my nose too. The world looks more colourful now more vibrant." "I feel more alive and, I feel like I wasn''t living much before " After getting hard from this euphoric experience he looks back into the book [Do until the effects of the elixir disappear] Remembering the agonizing pain he shudder "Cultivation is not for the weak willed" A smirk appears on his face "But seeing the gains it is exciting" "A chance to gain power and eternal life is far more exciting than this temporary pain" Adam goes to a river close by and jumps in it. washing away all the Grimes and stains Time goes by. For weeks on end Adam did nothing but forage for the materials and further advancing his realm. The fox started to loosen up with him. He let go of the restraints and it now acts like his hunting dog. The fox has gotten bigger than before almost the size of a grey wolf. "I''m gonna name you Red" Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. "Because of your deep red fur" Red helps in foraging leading to elixirs material While foraging Adam finds a trap door covered by leaves and mud. Opening the trap door he only sees pitch black darkness. "Should I go inside. It seems risky" Red jumps inside "Damn it " "RED!!" In the darkness Red barks "Thank God " Adam decided to jump in too Falling to the ground with a grunt "This is moderately deep" Looking at the entrance he gets a sudden realisation. "ooooh noooo..." "I cannot jump out of this now" "Damn it this is what I get for jumping without thinking" "so stupid" "I hope there is another exit in there" Walking through the dark hallway. Adam reaches a giant 10ft door "This door is covered by a talisman for some reason" "Since there is no other way out I have to go through this one" Adam tried to open it but it felt like it weighed 1 tone "Huu.. I can open it if I give it my all" Adam pushes with every single fibre of his being he managed to open an 8 inch gap Red passed through the gap. Adam tried to slip through the gap but his hand got crushed by the door Adam uses his other hand to open it up again and frees his hand. The crushed hand was dripping blood. Having experienced much more pain he managed to deal with the current pain. Looking around the room which appears to be an alchemy room on one side and library on the other side with stairs leading to a deeper level. Miasma was present in the air that seemed to slow down healing significantly. Adam picks up a book titled ''The Two-Faced God '' which was extremely old by how worn and torn the book looked. It talked of a major god that brought chaos to the realm 70 million years ago and contributed to the thinning of Qi turning this realm from an upper realm to a lower realm. Adam looked around the library it was all about alchemy then he went to the deeper room It was like a cave with a sun hole on top and in the middle of an Altar with markings on it. Around the Altar there were a lot of dead bodies of both animals and human beings which gave off a putrid and vile smell of rot. Standing in the middle Adam looks up at the hole in the roof. The markings suddenly glow. " Why did it activate!" Noticing the blood dropping from his hand and absorbing into the markings. The bodies turn to mist and converge at a point above the altar. the blood red orb turns bright white making it hard to look at. The orb shines with a divine like aura then it Pierce into Adam''s forehead. "I don''t know what this ritual is for but what is going to happen to me now" Adam feels his vision turning black. "Where am I" "You are inside your consciousness" "Wh-who are you" "You know me. You''ve seen my picture moments before " "The Two faced God" "Yes but call me zayk" "So what now?" "Do you know what kind of ritual that you did" "That was an accident I didn''t mean to " "That don''t matter, you activate it That too with a low quality sacrifices But the quantity made up for the quality of them" "Seeing your memories. you are not from this realm. But from earth" "You know earth ?" "Yes of course although rare you are not the only otherworlder ended up here whether intentionally or unintentionally " "There are others like me? From earth too? " "A few are still in this realm and you will meet them in the near future" "Let''s go back to the topic" "The blessing ritual. Although it is called that but this ritual does nothing but call forth a higher being to the lower world " "I will give you 2 things that you need right now in exchange I will take a part of your lifespan" Hearing this cost his lifespan he turns serious "How much exactly?" "60 years out of the 100 years you have" "That''s too much! " " Unless the thing I am getting is worth that much I am not taking it " "Watch your tone mortal. I can just take all your lifespan now and be done with this but seeing your fate connected to that ''beings'' I am letting this go " " I am going to give you an sky grade stealth techniques and a sky grade weapon " "Can... I get something else" "Now you want to bargain. Ok then let''s hear it" "Can I get a memory manipulation ability" "Hoo" "I can give you that ability But that is gonna cost you 6000 years how are you going to possibly give that now" "It doesn''t have to be now. I can give you in instalments" "ok" " let''s hear it" "Every time I breakthrough I get more lifespan. Right now I am in the body tempering realm I only need 1 yr to break through so you can take half of the excess lifespans FROM breakthroughs. 10 years, for the next 35, for the next 100, 400, 2000 and finally the rest 3455. Then all of the lifespan will be paid off" "A very interesting but high risk deal" "But this will be a loss for me if you die before paying it all off" "How about I gave you another condition as well ''you cannot kill anyone you cannot be the direct cause of their death. Humans, demons, evil spirits or not and you cannot make others kill for you they must do it on their own violation. how about that and if you died before paying the dept I will take your soul. The memory manipulation ability will only work up to people 1 major realm higher than you. It will grow along with you. It will be undetected by others. Now whether you can upgrade this is all up to you." "Think of this as an entertainment for me" After some contemplating Adam agreed "I must say. You Are Naive and stupid. You do remember that you are in a cultivation world it is either ''kill or be killed'' and you just dug your own grave" "Let''s see if you can survive with your condition and mine together " "I will be watching you" Adam awakens in the ritual room "...." "I will prove you wrong" "I am proud of my 0 kill count and I am planning to keep it that way before you made this deal anyways. And now you just did me a favour" "Watch me " Chapter 3 ( discovering the undiscovered ) Chapter 3 (uncovering the undiscovered) In the cave Adam ponders on what to do. " If there is a point where I have to kill someone it will be troublesome " "I have to make sure that I will not be there in that sort of predicament " "I will deal with it when the time comes" "I have to only temper the muscle and skin to complete full body tempering. " And so a week passed Adam has now completed the organ tempering. "I''m about 2 times stronger than a peak level human . How much stronger will I be after the first realm" "Now to find the materials for skin tempering" To strengthen the skin cultivators use ironhide mycelium found in deep dark humid caves. "I will have to try my luck in the cave I''m in right now." Adam goes deep into the dark passage. Red did not come with him as the fox will not even move an inch towards the passage so Adam had to go alone. Reaching deeper and deeper the humidity increases. "This might be enough for that mycelium to grow. Not all caves that are humid will have this particular mycelium." Adam can see clearly even in complete darkness but even then the passage was getting a little darker and darker the deeper he went. Eventually he found the mycelium. "Damn there is a lot of it" So much so that it blocks the passage completely. He picks a lot of them and goes back to the entrance. "I am not strong enough to completely venture inside yet" While studying the book for the next recipe Adam comes across an interesting piece of information. ''you might be wondering why can''t you just take in the Qi after the body mind attunement. That is not possible because the body naturally expels Qi when you take it in since Qi is a foreign substance not present in your body. Body tempering makes your body into a vessel which can contain Qi this is the reason body tempering is a requirement and not an option.'' "Hmm this means the chance of the opportunity of being a cultivator is low maybe about 1 in 1000. Only the rich and those who fight for the resources have more chances of starting cultivation. I am lucky that this place has abundant resources the Qi is dense and I have no one to fight over it. This place might as well be considered a holy land for cultivation." Adam makes the medicinal paste of the mycelium and applies on every nook and cranny of his body. The effect of the paste kicks in Adam wriths in pain while grabbing his balls. "Applying on my balls was a very bad idea but this shit is necessary." This goes on for another week and the skin tempering is completed. Adam crouched low, pressing into the damp earth. The boar sniffed the air, its jagged tusks glinting. Did it smell him? A step closer. Adam¡¯s breath slowed. The beast huffed, ears twitching¡ªthen turned, distracted by rustling in the bushes. Adam exhaled silently. It worked. He wasn¡¯t just hiding anymore¡ªhe was vanishing. Adam was getting better at hiding and was now able to hide from the big boar and other beasts even fooling their keen senses. "Now for the muscles I need frostsinew elixir found near icy water falls" "Guess I have to go to the frozen tundra." ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.¡­¡­¡­+¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­+¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ GREAT HARMONY SECT- ELDERS HALL The great hall of the grand harmony sect was silent as the air filled with a thick smell of inscent and the weight of authority. At the head of the hall was the sect leader his gaze sharp as he listened to the report before him Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. "So grand elder guo you bring word of an undiscovered island." A middle aged man with an insignia that identifies him as a core formation realm expert stepped forward and cupped his first in a respectful gesture. "Yes sect leader I have obtained this information from a fisherman. While he was trying to find fish further from the coast towards the ocean he claims he spotted an island which does not appear to be on our map. He tried to approach but could not go further after sightings of a sea serpent in the distance. He believes the beast ignored him because of his small boat." Murmurings were heard throughout the assembled elders. The sect leader remained expressionless.but his fingers lightly tapping on the armrest of his chair "A sea serpent..." he mused " if that beast exists at those waters must be at the core formation stage at the least. That means the island must hold something valuable" The room feels silent at the implications The sect leaders gaze sharpened. "We must not let the other sects discover this information. As a core formation stage grand elder you must investigate this island. Take a trusted team with you. But keep this matter quiet. If the resources are worth claiming that must belong to our sect alone." Grand elder guo bowed deeply. "Understood sect leader. I have already taken measures to ensure secrecy." "And what of the fisherman" The sect leader asked narrowing his eyes slightly. "He was clever" Grand elder guo admitted "In exchange for his silence he requested that his son and daughter take the yearly aptitude test if they show exceptional talent. Let them be joined to the sect as a core disciple candidate and he also requested to take him as a guide for the expedition to the island." A pause and a low chuckle from the sect leader "For a fisherman he certainly aims high." He mused. "But being ambitious is not a sin." The amusement faded. After a pause he made his decision. "Very well. Have his children tested during the yearly examination. If their talent is exceptional, they may be considered as core disciple candidates. If they fall short, they may still enter as inner disciples, provided they meet the minimum qualifications. As for the father¡ªallow him to accompany the expedition, but keep him under close watch. If he proves useful, his family may yet gain further favor." ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­+¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­+¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..... Sea lions surrounded Adam, eyeing him curiously¡ªas if he were a tall, pale, disfigured version of themselves. Adam decided to follow these sea lions because the material that he needs is found near the banks of frozen lakes and rivers these sea lions seemed to be going towards them. Some of them are blue coloured and have ice like crystal scales which might be from being in a place concentrated in ice element. Red keeps his distance from the sea lions. sea lions gave him a curious glance and lost interest and went their way. sea lions soon reached below a waterfall and swam in the pool of water. On the banks of the waterfall the frostsinew grows protected by ice elementals which don''t seem to attack the sea lions and their keeping a distance from the frostsinew. Adam approaches the frostsinew. As soon as he stepped closer. the ice elements sturred and materialised jagged ice spikes and shot him with lethal precision. Adam felt a chill down his spine. His Instinct screaming to him of the danger. His body reacted before his mind could process. He twisted his body dodging the ice spikes by a hairs breadth "So this is killing intent" His heartbeat steady "After completing organ tempering I can sense it so much clearer" His gaze turned towards the ice elementals. Watching their patterns. They seemed to attack at random intervals. yet with enough predictability to be exploited. "Hmm" "If they are gonna keep this up I might as well use them for training." Adam had a thought of using the memory manipulation on them but he could not touch them as they seemed to radiate an icy aura which seemed enough to freeze his hand solid Adam trains dodging the spikes for some time. He then steals the frostsinew and retreats to the cave. "Now we need to make it into a soup while slowly simmering it" After creating and consuming the elixir Adam''s body goes numb with a sudden cold which seems to spread all over his muscles. His skin starts forming flakes of ice. Frostburm seared through his flesh while simultaneously suffering a brain freeze. After what seemed like an hour of suffering the effects subsided. "...." "I have to go through this again for a week." "....." "....." "I miss my home." "Mom and Dad will be worried sick about me." Adam starts staring at the ceiling contemplating. "If I reached the highest realm, maybe... Just maybe, I can find my way back" "...." "But by then... they''ll already be gone" "...." "The moment I appeared here my life on earth is.....gone" "...." "...." "I hope... they can move on without me" A week goes by "I have finally completed muscle tempering. Now I feel 3 times stronger than when I first came here" "With this body tempering is completed" "Now should I venture deeper inside?" "...." "No I should be more careful. I will go after breaking through to the next realm" After 2 days of rest Adam begins his Qi condensation. Qi condensation has 3 pathways. Magic/formation array path- Let Qi flow towards the upper dantian. Which corresponds to mind power. Healing/Taming path- Let Qi flow towards the middle dantian. Which corresponds to the emotions. weapon/physical path- Let Qi flow towards the lower dantian. Which corresponds to strength. "I should complete the upper dantian first. Since what I lack the most is a magical offence'' Adam starts meditation after 10 minutes or so he stops. "Why is the Qi absorption so difficult?" "Feels like trying to drink water out of a 70 inch straw" He looks into the book where he skimmed through a section. ''IF you are having a hard time taking in Qi. This either means you have skipped the body-mind attunement realm completely or have an underlying condition.'' ''In the first case, seek the help of an elder or your master to open up the Qi channels. if you don''t have anyone to help..... starve yourself. Your body will eventually force the channels open." "Qi channels close after generations without exposure to a Qi-rich environment." ''Remark: kids these days, always looking for shortcuts. tsk tsk'' Adam exhales slowly,closing the book. "haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"