123 First Cultivation

Whether his cultivation plan could be carried out smoothly would have to be determined through practical testing. Depending on the results, some minor adjustments might still be necessary.

As for the ancient Daoist arts and martial secrets Pan Wu had cultivated over several thousand years, Xiao Yao could simply follow the experience of the past and continue practicing them. The same was not true of cultivation methods. He could only draw upon past experience; he could not copy it outright.

After Pan Wu’s final reincarnation, the method with which he initially began cultivating was the Mysterious Origin Divine Art, a method of refining essence into energy that he had created himself by drawing upon numerous supreme arts.

Its level was naturally far inferior to the orthodox inheritance he had practiced in his first life as an energy cultivator. Back then, he had cultivated the supreme method passed down from the ancient energy cultivators: the Great Dao of Mysterious Origin, Purity, Emptiness, and Immortal Longevity.

The very first step in cultivating this method was “gathering energy”—drawing upon the innate primordial energy of Heaven and Earth. From the moment one began cultivating, one entered the innate realm.

By contrast, the Mysterious Origin Divine Art he had created was a method of refining essence into energy, gathering the body’s vital essence and transforming it into energy. Whether in cultivation efficiency or in the results achieved after entering the path, it was vastly inferior to the orthodox inheritance of the ancient energy cultivators.

If its cultivation was so inefficient and its results so poor, why had Pan Wu abandoned the ancient cultivation method and chosen instead to practice an inferior art of his own creation?

Naturally, he had had no choice.

During the Age of Declining Dharma, the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth had become incomparably thinner than it had been in ancient times. Apart from a handful of people with extraordinary gifts, almost no one could cultivate the methods of antiquity anymore.

Pan Wu had cultivated his soul for several thousand years. He was precisely one of those people blessed with an exceptional gift, and could still practice the ancient arts.

However, the spiritual energy of the modern world was simply too scarce. Without the aid of medicines to establish his foundation, cultivating the Great Dao of Mysterious Origin, Purity, Emptiness, and Immortal Longevity was actually slower than cultivating the Mysterious Origin Divine Art.

Thus, during his final three reincarnations, the method with which Pan Wu began cultivating was always the Mysterious Origin Divine Art rather than the ancient inheritance known as the Great Dao of Mysterious Origin, Purity, Emptiness, and Immortal Longevity.

Pan Wu could choose to cultivate the Mysterious Origin Divine Art, but Xiao Yao could not make the same choice.

Although Pan Wu’s memories contained countless cultivation methods, there was only one whose potential reached the highest level: the orthodox inheritance of the ancient energy cultivators—the Great Dao of Mysterious Origin, Purity, Emptiness, and Immortal Longevity.

This was a method that pointed directly toward immortality. Yet it was extraordinarily difficult to cultivate. Even in ancient times, only a very few had truly reached the realm of immortality through it.

Pan Wu’s cultivation talent had already been exceptionally high, but even he had never been confident that he could cultivate this method to its highest realm. Otherwise, after obtaining the Sacred Soul Art, he would not have abandoned his pursuit of an indestructible body in favor of seeking an indestructible soul.

If he were in Xiao Yao’s place, he would certainly have made the same choice.

By comparison, the Sacred Soul Art, which allowed one to forge the foundation of a sacred soul through a shortcut, was far less difficult to cultivate than the Great Dao of Mysterious Origin, Purity, Emptiness, and Immortal Longevity.

Since both could ultimately lead to immortality, it was only natural to choose the method that was easier to cultivate.

Now that Xiao Yao had seized three thousand years of Pan Wu’s cultivation achievements and accomplished the goal of making his soul indestructible, only one pursuit remained: an indestructible body.

Among all the cultivation methods Pan Wu had created or obtained, only the Great Dao of Mysterious Origin, Purity, Emptiness, and Immortal Longevity could allow him to achieve that goal.

Therefore, he had no other choice.

The reason Pan Wu had abandoned this method during his final three reincarnations was that there was no shortcut before one truly entered its gates.

From the beginning of cultivation to successfully entering the path, the thin spiritual energy of the modern world meant that it would take approximately thirty to fifty years.

To successfully enter the path meant reaching the first level of the first heaven of the Great Dao of Mysterious Origin, Purity, Emptiness, and Immortal Longevity—in other words, entering the innate realm.

This method was divided into nine realms and nine heavens: nine levels in all, with each level further divided into nine heavens.

The first realm was the Realm of Primordial Unity. Successfully entering the path brought one to the innate realm, which was the First Heaven of the Realm of Primordial Unity.

Although this method was extraordinarily difficult to cultivate, since Pan Wu had been able to practice it, Xiao Yao believed that he could do so as well.

The only problem was that the time required to enter the path was so long that it was difficult to accept. It demanded tremendous patience.

Fortunately, after entering the path, one could rely on medicines to aid cultivation, and the speed should increase considerably.

The requirements for establishing a foundation upon entering this method were extremely high, and its difficulty was naturally immense. Even in the Primordial Era, this had been universally acknowledged.

Now Xiao Yao had no other choice but to cultivate this one method. He was filled with anticipation for the cultivation that was about to begin, yet he was also deeply uneasy.

He had already prepared himself to face hardship. The modern world was an age of declining Dharma, and he had no need to rely on the formidable martial power this method could provide. Spending several decades merely to enter the path was something he could easily afford.

Even if he could not progress very far in this method, he would have no regrets. Having personally experienced cultivation once, he believed that after his next reincarnation, his cultivation speed would surely be faster.

At midnight, Xiao Yao sat cross-legged on the floor of his bedroom, his five centers turned toward Heaven, and formally began cultivating for the first time.

The first difficulty in cultivating this method was visualizing and sensing the primordial energy of Mysterious Origin within Heaven and Earth. Visualization was not especially difficult, but sensing it was extraordinarily so.

Before one formally began cultivating, only those with exceptional talent could sense the existence of the primordial energy of Mysterious Origin within Heaven and Earth.

Generally speaking, the stronger one’s soul, the easier it was to sense.

Once he entered a state of cultivation, Xiao Yao reached the deep, obscure realm of meditation within only a few breaths.

Having fused with Pan Wu’s cultivation memories, Xiao Yao’s initial cultivation proceeded naturally and swiftly.

After entering that profound meditative state, Xiao Yao no longer needed to visualize. He could already sense the primordial energy of Mysterious Origin that filled every corner of space.

The most difficult hurdle—sensing the primordial energy of Mysterious Origin—felt completely natural to him, no different from breathing or drinking water.

Once he sensed its existence, the next step was to gather it.

Drawing in and absorbing the primordial energy of Mysterious Origin from Heaven and Earth was a long process of constant repetition.

It was not until the sky began to brighten that Xiao Yao awakened from his meditative state.

He first examined the spiritual energy within his dantian. A cloud of hazy energy, roughly the size of a pigeon’s egg, had already gathered there. This mass consisted entirely of pure primordial energy of Mysterious Origin, slowly rotating within his dantian without pause.

The primordial energy of Mysterious Origin surrounding his body was continuously drawn toward this mass in his dantian. More and more energy gathered around it, and its volume continued to increase. Although the change was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, there was no doubt that the spiritual energy within his dantian was steadily growing.