—–

Louis wanted to end this. Deep down, he felt that finishing the dream might be connected to the old man and Yang’s goal.

That goal was definitely tied to what Yang would become in the future: a proud, ruthless, and heartless sect master.

Strength.

That was what Yang desired, the same as Louis.

Yet although they had walked such different paths, Louis felt disgusted by how similar they were.

Still, curiosity got the better of him.

“Master Kai, would you be kind enough to explain more about this Cultivation you speak of? How many Realms are there?”

Elder Kai smiled kindly and nodded.

“Well, you’re curious, huh? The First Boundary is where we mortals reside. It consists of Qi Gathering, Qi Refining, Qi Building, Core Formation, Nascent Soul… and those who ascend even higher, Celestial Beings.”

“…!!!” Louis felt a surge of excitement. “And what about Venerables?”

“V-Venerables? Those are not a Realm, but a Title given to those who have reached the Realm of Great Immortals.”

“…!”

“They are mythical figures, so forget about them. We will never reach that high, hahaha. Life is only so long.”

“… “

“Well, Cultivation increases lifespan too, but even then, it is simply impossible.”

“Hm…”

Louis nodded, committing everything he learned to memory.

“Here, this is your present for winning the match so effortlessly.”

Elder Kai handed Louis an old-looking book: a Cultivation Manual.

“This is a Qi Gathering Cultivation Manual,” he said. “It is your gift, so read it carefully and practice the method inside. Tomorrow we will begin your proper cultivation. Your goal is to reach the peak of Qi Gathering. With your talent, it should not be too difficult.”

Louis nodded silently and began reading the book. His eyes widened as he absorbed knowledge he could never have discovered otherwise. “T-This is amazing…! There was such a method?!”

“Hm? You have never read a cultivation manual before, Yang?” Elder Kai asked, surprised.

“Well, not like this.”

Louis continued reading in detail. When the school closed for the day, he was expected to return home but chose to stay instead.

“Don’t you have your own home to return to, Yang? What about your father?”

“I don’t care about him.”

Louis truly did not care. He was reading the method and could not be bothered with the father of someone he barely knew inside this realm of memories.

“W-Well… alright then. You can stay here. There are some empty rooms over there.”

“Thanks.”

Louis walked there in silence and spent the entire night reading the cultivation manual until he fully understood the method.

He closed the book at 5 AM, then spent the next five hours meditating and circulating Qi throughout his body.

Qi Gathering, the first Realm of Cultivation, required the cultivator to possess a Spiritual Root that allowed Qi to flow through the body. First, one had to create a Law-Transforming Dantian.

The process was as follows:

First, activate the inherent spiritual quality and transform the Dantian to optimize it for that quality.

Louis could feel his three Dantians: Upper, Middle, and Lower. They already seemed to be in harmony, making it easy for him to activate their spiritual qualities.

Afterward, by gathering Yin and Yang energies and circulating them within the Dantian, it became imbued with primordial chaos energy, making it suitable to absorb the energy of heaven and earth. This achieved the transformation into a Law-Transforming Dantian.

One had to perfectly balance the concentrations of five different energies, and during the evolution with primordial chaos energy, those concentrations could not change at all.

Louis replicated the process perfectly. He gathered the Yin and Yang energy he had already collected earlier with his Heaven and Earth Gathering Method and infused it into his Dantian. In the end, a new one was forged at the Middle Dantian, as if all three had merged into one.

“Incredible.”

FLUOSH!

The results were ridiculously fast. Louis felt an immense surge of energy and power explode from his chest. By circulating the heaven and earth energies, he achieved his Law-Transforming Dantian after only five hours.

Afterward, he balanced the Five Energies within his Spiritual Roots: Wood, Metal, Fire, Earth, and Water. He concentrated them within the Dantian, generating a small speck of primordial chaos energy.

This energy was what allowed a human to evolve into a Cultivator.

And this evolution was no mere metaphor.

ZAAAP!

Lightning-like Qi surged from his body as Yang’s entire form underwent a sudden change. He became stronger, more muscular, taller, and more handsome. Even his hair grew longer. Imperfections on his skin vanished, leaving him as pale as candlewax and almost supernatural in appearance. The transformation shocked Louis.

Interestingly, the primordial chaos energy he generated by combining Yin, Yang, and the Five Energies activated his dormant Void Meridian Sutra Method. It allowed him to forge several Void Meridians across his body, which fed on this primordial chaos energy.

“Amazing.”

The results were incredible. He had already reached the peak of Qi Gathering, or rather, he had technically stepped into the next stage.

“Master Kai, I am done.”

Louis walked toward Master Kai’s room. The elder was meditating and cultivating on his own. When Louis opened the door, he saw dozens of Qi swords floating around the old man, spinning beautifully.

The elder exuded the aura of someone who had reached the Core Formation Realm. It seemed the pills he had purchased had finally helped him achieve that goal.

As Louis sensed the surging aura, he noticed the old man growing younger. The wrinkles that once covered his body had faded by about seventy percent. Instead of looking like a man in his seventies, he now appeared to be in his late thirties, though he still had long gray hair and a beard.

“Hoh, Yang! It seems… you achieved grand perfection already?!” the elder gasped.

“And I see you have already reached the next realm… congratulations,” Louis said.

“Ah, yes. I did it by buying those pills… I spent all my life savings. I am glad it worked!” Elder Kai sighed in relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Now that I am in Core Formation, it might be possible to establish our own sect in the near future, Yang! With you and Ming, it might truly become a reality…”

Louis remained silent. He did not really want to get involved in that. “I have finished cultivating the Qi Gathering Stage. What is next?”

“A-Ah! Right…” Elder Kai nodded. He stood up and walked to the library. “Here, this is the Qi Refining Stage Method Manual. It is quite advanced, so take your time. I will teach both you and Ming about it today as well.”

“I see…”

Louis immediately began flipping through the pages with great interest. His eyes burned with determination to grow stronger and master the cultivation methods of this forgotten world, methods that required no special cores, hearts, or organs.

After breakfast, he met Ming again. She glared at him with furrowed brows, clearly furious.

“Are you angry at me?”

“Obviously! You stole my spotlight and almost killed me!”

“Well, why did you agree to that fight then?”

“I agreed because I thought you were weaker than me and needed to learn a lesson!”

“So you only fight those weaker than you?”

“…! N-No! That is not what I meant!”

“I see. Well, let us cultivate together. Master Kai called us for a private class.”

“Tsk… don’t talk to me like we are friends or something.”

They reached the private classroom where Elder Kai taught them about the various cultivation stages and the methods for each one.

As Louis absorbed the knowledge, his aura gleamed brightly. He felt something pulling at him, drawing him closer.

“Could it be?”

He slowly began to unravel a clue that might finally allow him to leave this memory realm and return to reality, where he was still in the middle of the Dungeon Games.

And that could only be achieved through cultivation.

“That is exactly what I wanted to do anyway.”

He smiled inwardly as he looked at Elder Kai and nodded, absorbing every teaching. He learned that the Qi Refining Stage was far more complicated than Qi Gathering.

In this stage, Louis had to pass through fourteen substages, each one a star. He had to create a star by condensing Qi and learning seventy-two incantations that activated the seventy-two meridians of the body.

It required far more study than any cultivation method he had ever encountered. Elder Kai taught them each stage over many days, weeks, and eventually months.

After three months of relentless learning and practice, Louis slowly felt his soul beginning to falter. It was being gradually assimilated by this memory, by this corrupted consciousness. If he did not hurry, he might lose himself completely.

However, he believed his existing methods gave him a significant advantage, though they only hastened the dangerous process.

“This is hell…”

After three months, the first star had barely begun to manifest. Louis tirelessly moved his hands through the incantations.

Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends True Words.

He had finally learned all the shapes and forms of the fiends of this world, an essential teaching for cultivators.

It was exhausting to learn and memorize, but he succeeded.

FLASH!

Within his Law-Transforming Dantian, a small star emerged, gleaming brightly.

This single star had cost him three months in this distorted dream world. His mind was already warped, and his soul twisted with pain.

“How can I learn the other thirteen stars without losing my mind?”

There were no shortcuts.

Aside from learning swordsmanship from Elder Kai, he trained and cultivated every single day and night.

Thus, a year passed.

—–

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep