Chapter 30: The First Basic Lecture On Cultivation
"Three roads, two tenets, and one truth—these you must comprehend, remember, and rely on no matter how talented or unique you are. You cannot ignore the basics, the foundation of cultivation.
Elder Ning gestured at them to prepare to write as he elaborated.
The three roads are the major paths to cultivate your way up. They constitute the current orthodoxy.
"Martial Cultivation is the most common road, suitable for pursuit even if you have zero innate talent. Invest resources in your body, learn from your superiors, and practice for perfection—that is all it takes, really.
"Monastic Enlightenment is the least taken road, taking a practitioner towards a life detached from the material world and its pleasures, or sometimes the very opposite, hedonism. It is not meant for the mentally weak, which 999 out of a 1000 are.
"The third road is Mystic Arts, most widely practiced by cultivators like us. It mixes a variety of principles, even from the other two paths. Its advantage lies in its variations and unpredictable nature, and its disadvantage is its potential.
"For the practitioner of an average mystic art, crossing the first major realm of cultivation is hard, and making headway in the second major realm is nearly impossible without luck. Even if you cultivate an exceptional art, you’d be hard-pressed to reach the peak of the second major realm."
While scribbling on the shoddy scroll he had been given, Han Xuhan couldn’t help taking sharp breaths every now and then. Although this lecture contained the most basic knowledge about the world of cultivation, his stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies!
He was in a world where cultivation was easily accessible! And he was about to step on this very path of his dreams! How could he not be excited?!