Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The real Li Yao was now basically in the upper half of the Nascent Soul Stage and caught at the bottleneck to break into the Divinity Transformation Stage. He had been considering how to enter the new level.

Hearing his professor’s introduction, he could not help but crane his neck.

“In the Divinity Transformation Stage,” Professor Mo Xuan said, “the soul and the body will be even more separated. The ‘Nascent Soul’ that could only stay inside the brain at first is now free to leave the body and exist independently as a life of spiritual energy.

“For example, the soul and the body of a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator can be compared to a ship and a port. Before the Divinity Transformation Stage, the ship is too small and shabby without the protection of the mother port, and it will be knocked over by the overwhelming tides the moment it sets sail. But in the Divinity Transformation Stage, it finally grows a huge ship that can cruise on the ocean against the furious wind!

“Naturally, even the biggest ship cannot completely get rid of the mother port. They have to return to the mother port for supplies, maintenance, and such. Therefore, the body is still necessary for a Cultivator at such a level, albeit much less important than before.

“It is exactly because of the independence of the soul that Cultivators at the Divinity Transformation Stage boast their ‘domain’? What is the domain if not the virtual worlds created by their soul? Think about it. Isn’t it so?”

Li Yao thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense!

Professor Mo Xuan went on. “Above the Divinity Transformation Stage will be the Divinity Branching Stage, in which the soul can split, or rather, ‘duplicate’ into multiple copies. They can exist in many places at the same time but also maintain a subtle connection with each other. I haven’t quite figured out how I should describe it. It seems a bit inaccurate to call it ‘quantum entanglement’, but I think it will suffice for now!

“Above the Divinity Branching Stage is the Void Refining Stage. Different people have a different understanding of ‘void’, but for me personally, I think it means ‘higher dimension’. The Void Refining Stage means that one will be able to march into the universe of higher dimensions as a life form of pure energy. Chances are that they can even establish wormholes and travel among every part of the universe without any restriction!

“As for the levels above the Void Refining Stage, they should be the different, mysterious presentations of the pure-energy life form in the higher dimensions. That is not something that we can understand with our barren computational ability when we are still trapped in the three-dimensional universe today.

“In conclusion, the ultimate level that all the Cultivators pursue is in fact always to evolve into a pure-energy life from a pure body of flesh and blood. After they reach a certain level, while they cannot abandon their physical body altogether, they do make the physical body return to the original function—nothing but a shell!

“You must’ve heard a lot of tales and myths of the ancient times.

“In the tales and myths, certain magnificent beings can turn into a lot of other creatures, or even grow three heads and six arms. They can even enlarge or shrink their body. When they are huge, they can hold the sky like a mountain. When they are small, they are as tiny as the mustard seeds, which allows them to crawl into the enemy’s stomach and cause great trouble there. How do you explain that?

“From the material point of view, even if someone has trained their body to the maximum, it is impossible for them to reshape their body easily like that. Where do the cells and the mitochondria get all the energy? How do the tissues grow out of nowhere? Even if proliferation and expansion of a certain degree is possible, how on earth can they be so fast? It does not agree with the fundamental laws of our world at all!

“But it is easy to understand if you use the theories of ‘energy life’ and ‘shell’. Everything is just because those magnificent beings are essentially clusters of souls. Their vastly different appearances, from the huge bodies like high mountains and the tiny ones like germs, are nothing more than the ‘combat shells’ that they prepare for themselves. When they are in need of a new shell, they will simply pick up the shell from a certain ‘dimension’ with a piece of magical equipment similar to the Cosmos Ring and then cram their soul into the shell to drive it!”

Hearing his professor interpret the different levels of Cultivation, no matter whether he really had a scheme or not, Li Yao was still greatly enlightened. He sincerely said, “Professor Mo Xuan, you truly deserve to be one of the greatest masters in the Star Glory Federation to explain the levels classified by the ancient people with the latest theory!”

Professor Mo Xuan smiled and said, “We shouldn’t underestimate the wisdom of the ancient people, but we shouldn’t be superstitious about it, either. In fact, I don’t quite agree with the classification of levels that have been passed on from ancient times.

“Because our civilization of ancient Cultivators was in fact an abnormal, crippled civilization. At that time, we had just evolved from monkeys and did not form our real wisdom yet. But on the other hand, we were ‘stuffed’ by the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan with too much knowledge that far exceeded our era. The combination of the two factors resulted in our ancestors’ crazily worshipping ‘training’ and ‘techniques’. It also forced them to add too many imaginary things into the theories that they couldn’t comprehend!

“Refinement Stage, Building Foundation Stage, Core Formation Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, Divinity Transformation Stage… The five phases are relatively easy to reach. A lot of experimental data can be found. Therefore, the descriptions of the ancient people are generally accurate.

“But starting from the Divinity Transformation Stage, most of the descriptions become pure poppycock. I don’t believe that there were so many experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage, the Divinity Branching State, the Void Refining Stage, and above in the ancient times fifty thousand years ago. Most of them are just rumors! Even if the ancient people did reach those levels by chance, they couldn’t have understood what happened to them at all, and it was barely possible for them to describe their experience to the people who were still in three-dimensional space. So, they could only resort to bullsh*t. But we don’t have to follow their bullsh*t now that we have better explanations, do we?

“In my opinion, it is very simple. In fact, there are only three major levels in total. Below the Divinity Transformation Stage, it is the level where the fleshly body still plays the dominating role. Between the Divinity Transformation Stage and the Void Refining Stage, it is the level where the fleshly body and the soul are equally important. Above the Void Refining Stage, it is the level where one’s soul will be dominant, allowing them to break into higher dimensions, and the fleshly body will become a pure shell, or a tool when they arrive at lower dimensions.

“Representative Lin, you are now in the Nascent Soul Stage, and your soul is already quite solid. It is possible for you to release your powerful telepathic thoughts and interfere with the material world. If you keep on training and make a huge leap forward, you will be your soul instead of your body. Do you think that it is inappropriate?”

Li Yao cackled and could not help but scratch his cheeks. He replied, “The Divinity Transformation Stage is too far away from me. I haven’t given it any thought.”

“No. No. Not far away at all!” Professor Mo Xuan widened his eyes and said, “Do not let your mind be restricted by the ancient people’s concepts of training. Training today is absolutely different from training in ancient times!

“What did the ancient people know? For them, even flying was difficult to accomplish. But today, with the advanced magical equipment, even the ordinary people can fly on shuttles or airships. With the assistance of crystal processors, they can also perform dazzling, soul-stirring aerobatics that even the Cultivators in the ancient times might not have been able to achieve!

“The other training techniques, as well as entering the ‘Divinity Transformation Stage’, are exactly the same as flying. In ancient times, there was no such thing as the Spiritual Nexus. Of course, it was terribly difficult for a Cultivator to get their soul out of their body and travel in the great nature! But right now, with the Spiritual Nexus, even the consciousness of ordinary people can also travel in cyberspace as fast as light. Isn’t it the ‘Divinity Transformation Stage’ in a different sense?

“The bottom line is, the old rules of training and classification of levels are already obsolete thanks to the development of technology. Maybe one day, everybody will be able to enter the Divinity Transformation Stage without much trouble. It will be even more convenient for the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators like Representative Lin to reach it! I’ve run some studies in that regard. If you are interested, we can talk more after the first launch of the tinder!”

Not knowing whether Professor Mo Xuan’s invitation was genuine or not, Li Yao simply replied, “Okay!”

Ling Xiaole pouted her lips and remarked, “Professor, I still feel that what you said is a bit unbelievable. It feels… weird!”

Professor Mo Xuan continued smiling. “It’s perfectly normal to feel weird, because we are talking about the future. A future far, far away. From a different point of view, if you ask an ancient person living forty thousand years ago to come to our era and visit our lifestyle and social form, they will feel that it is weird and uncomfortable, too!

“Besides, Miss Ling and Representative Lin, both of you are very successful in the material world. As an agent of the Secret Sword Bureau and the captain of Team Red Lotus on Firefly, all your materialistic and mental needs can basically be satisfied in the real world right now.

“But what about the ordinary people?

“It’s a shame that humans’ desires are infinite. However hard we excavate the resources in the material world, we cannot satisfy all the people. Not just the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance, even in the federation, a lot of people living at the bottom level of our society are still impoverished.

“The material world is too small, too crowded and too mean? Let me give me a simplest example. Do you know the house price in the capital city today? Most college students often can’t earn enough money for one square meter’s space in the capital city after working hard for three years!

“Put yourselves in the shoes of the ordinary people. Now, there are two different lives. The first one is the material one. You will live in a tiny nest like a snail without any hope for the rest of your life. Most of your wages will be used to pay for your rent.

“The second life is to enter the Spiriters’ Realm. Even the college students who have just graduated can purchase a villa with a garden with ‘virtual cash’ at the cost of a tiny bit of money. Then, they can enjoy the life of a magnate in the outside world!

“As long as the simulation is good enough—there is no need to be perfect, ninety percent accuracy should be more than enough—which life do you think an ordinary college graduate, who does not have any extraordinary intellectual faculty or physical strength, will choose?

“For the federal government, if some people are willing to live in virtual cabins, the pressure on housing, transportation, the environment, and many other aspects will be greatly reduced. The diseases on our cities today will be healed immediately!

“Both people and the government are satisfied. Theoretically, it is an out-and-out ‘win-win’!”