85: Chapter 85 Worldview! Domain Expansion!

Xie Feng sat beside the low table, with the cold crystal blind staff leaning against his side, and the tea had already gone completely cold.

Zuo Ciyuan pushed the teacup aside, pulled a roll of silk scroll from his sleeve, and unfolded it on the low table; it was a map of the Nine Provinces.

The mountains, rivers, and cities were outlined in extremely fine brush strokes, the Sect stations were marked with red dots of cinnabar, and the imperial court's prefectural seats were circled in blue ink.

"As for the cultivation system of the Nine Provinces, you have studied in the Qingyun Sect for nearly two years, and your Foundation is not bad." Zuo Ciyuan got straight to the point without a single word of nonsense.

He extended a finger and pressed it onto a blank space on the map. The Spiritual Qi at his fingertip seeped out from beneath the pad of his finger, condensing into nine extremely faint dots of light on the silk surface, arranged in a row from bottom to top.

"The First Realm opens the Meridians, the Second Realm condenses the Qi, and the Third Realm solidifies the Dantian. Different places have different names for the first three Realms, but they all lead to the same destination.

These three Realms are the Foundation, training the Cultivator's own body.

The Meridians are opened, the Spiritual Qi is condensed, and the Dantian is solidified; this is the starting point for all Cultivators.

Before the Third Realm, in our eyes, you are just a martial artist who can take a beating slightly better than a Mortal."

His finger pressed onto the fourth dot of light, and a faint halo suddenly appeared around its outer edge.

"The Fourth Realm is a barrier.

After the Dantian is stabilized, the Spiritual Qi begins to seep outward. To a certain extent, your Spiritual Qi can evoke the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi outside the body.

Without needing Cultivation Techniques or carving talismans, you can sense that the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and you are the same thing.

Upon reaching this Realm, Cultivators can borrow the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to lift themselves up. This is why those in the Fourth Realm can fly; Cultivators briefly melt themselves into the flow of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, and the heaven and earth carry you along."

Xie Feng recalled Tu Ziguan muttering something about how the Fourth Realm could fly. At the time, he thought that once the Spiritual Qi was sufficient, one could naturally fly; turns out this was the principle behind it.

Physically sensing Spiritual Qi, stirring the heaven and earth, and integrating oneself into the flow of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

"Then, as the Spiritual Qi seeps out, it gradually transforms your body. The divergence between immortals and Mortals begins from this moment."

Zuo Ciyuan's finger continued to move upward, pressing onto the seventh dot of light.

The halo around the dot of light suddenly vanished, replaced by the dot itself becoming translucent, its edges bleeding into the ink on the silk scroll so that it was impossible to tell where the dot of light was and where the silk surface was.

"The Seventh Realm is the second barrier.

The Fourth Realm is integration, and the Seventh Realm is becoming.

When Cultivators reach this step, their entire body's Spiritual Qi is completely connected with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Their flesh and blood, Meridians, and Dantian are no longer solely their own; at the same time, they are also a part of the heaven and earth.

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi will actively nourish the Cultivator, and the Cultivator will actively nourish the heaven and earth in return.

The boundary between the two becomes blurred."

Zuo Ciyuan turned his head to look at Xie Feng. "This is why those above the Seventh Realm can see those things on your body."

Previously in the Qingyun Sect, Xie Feng had always thought that the cognitive isolation's effectiveness had weakened against high-Realm Cultivators. The explanation given by Zuo Ciyuan was more fundamental:

The reason cognitive isolation failed against those above the Seventh Realm was not because the shielding was not strong enough, but because Seventh-Realm Cultivators themselves are a part of the heaven and earth.

Outer Gods and Old Ones belong to external existences that do not belong to this Realm and earth; their existence leaves cracks within the rules of heaven and earth.

Low-Realm Cultivators cannot perceive such cracks, but Seventh-Realm Cultivators themselves are a part of the rules of heaven and earth. To them, those cracks are within their own bodies, just like an injury, so naturally they can see them.

"The Ninth Realm." Zuo Ciyuan pressed on the final dot of light. The dot of light vanished, and all the ink marks on the entire silk scroll—mountains, rivers, cities, and Sects—all flashed brightly for a moment.

"Upon reaching this Realm, wherever the Cultivator passes is the Cultivator's own heaven and earth.

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is no longer a nourisher, but a follower.

Currently, throughout the entire Nine Provinces, there are no more than twenty Ninth-Realm individuals who can still move about.

For every province in the Nine Provinces to have a Ninth-Realm expert holding down the fort is already the fortune of the imperial court."

Withdrawing his finger, all the dots of light scattered, and the silk scroll returned to being an ordinary map.

Then Zuo Ciyuan pointed his finger again at the lower right of the map, where an area circled in ink was marked with several lines of extremely tiny characters, with symbolic markers drawn next to them in sequence.

"As for the grading of Anomalies, the imperial court and the Sects each have their own set of standards.

The Sects classify them by Realm; an Anomaly that can confront Fourth Realm Cultivators head-on is called a Fourth Realm Anomaly, and so on.

The imperial court does not use this set.

The imperial court classifies them by the scope of the Anomaly's influence: one that can only affect a single residence is called Mansion-grade; one that can affect a city is called City-grade; one that can affect a province is called Province-grade.

That fragment of the Old Ones in Ranhuo City is above the Seventh Realm according to the Sect standards, and Province-grade according to the imperial court standards.

The two sets of standards do not conflict and can be converted. When you submitted the official document to the Penal Hall in Cangyun City, you used the Sect standards; the imperial court's case files will automatically convert it into the imperial court standards. You do not need to convert it yourself, but you must know that these two parallel systems exist."

He withdrew his finger from the map.

"The attributes, rules, and scope of influence of various Anomalies have already become systematized.

The more extreme and difficult-to-evade a rule is, the greater the scope of influence of the corresponding Anomaly.

The highest tier currently determinable in the Nine Provinces is usually simultaneously marked as an extremely high Realm and cross-provincial influence.

If you encounter similar situations in the future, you need to pay special attention to three elements: attributes, rules, and scope of influence. They are the basis for classification."

Xie Feng fell silent for a moment, picked up the teacup, and took a sip.

The tea had already gone completely cold, and the bitterness of the cold tea spread from both sides of the root of his tongue, making him squint slightly.

When he stood in the darkness atop the ruins of Ranhuo City with four Old One marks hanging on him simultaneously, Elder Qin looked at him with an extremely complicated expression from the side, muttering to himself, "What on earth are you?"

At that time, Elder Qin was probably not looking with his eyes, but rather using that part of his Seventh-Realm Cultivator body that had already transformed into heaven and earth, feeling the external cracks from within his own body.

He himself was the source of those few cracks.

"Finally, there is Spiritual Qi. Spiritual Qi is a mixture of the essences of the Five Elements of heaven and earth. The reason why you junior Cultivators do not need to study so many Cultivation Techniques is simply because you do not yet have the ability to differentiate the Five Elements from Spiritual Qi, so most of you generally use sword techniques and physical combat. After the Fourth Realm, however, one can independently choose Cultivation Techniques and utilize the different attributes within Spiritual Qi to perform them."

When he first saw an Anomaly in Ranhuo City, the source of the fire-attribute Spiritual Qi contained in the hands of that Tianque Sect team leader was also explained. At the time, Xie Feng was too busy reminding that person not to attack the Fire Vampire with fire-attribute abilities, and hadn't paid attention to why that person's Spiritual Qi had color.

"Thank you, Senior." This time, Xie Feng did not stand up to bow, but simply sat in his original place and pushed the teacup toward Zuo Ciyuan.

Zuo Ciyuan glanced at him and picked up the teacup. "Tomorrow at the Hour of Chen, we continue. Clear out all those messy common sense things you learned at the Qingyun Sect."

"As for the imperial family's Cultivation Technique, once you go to the imperial city, you will naturally know."

Zuo Ciyuan took a sip of the cold tea and furrowed his brows slightly, presumably finding the tea too cold.