Chapter 14: 9th Level Stairway to Heaven
Chapter 14: Ninth Grade Stairway to Heaven
In the days that followed, Chu Tai continued to study under Taoist Fu Guang. During this process, Taoist Fu Guang, as he said, taught Chu Tai everything he knew. The content of his teachings was very broad, not limited to the methods of cultivation, but also included music theory, chess, poetry, calligraphy, painting, arithmetic, appreciation, medicine, woodworking, and so on.
Chu Tai didn't quite understand at the beginning that he needed to learn such complicated content. He admitted that after many skills reached the peak, it would be of great help to his own practice. But now Wo Dan was eyeing him covetously, and there was also a Tianmen God who was in an unknown state in secret. What he urgently needed to supplement was not these miscellaneous studies, and he didn't want to spend so much time on these things.
"The Great Dao is invisible, hidden between heaven and earth, omnipresent and all-encompassing. Our daily routine is also a kind of practice, so I only need to teach you the basics of practice. However, first-class music, chess, calligraphy and painting are different. This is the accumulation of humanistic wisdom. If I don't lay a foundation for you now, you don't know how much time it will take if you want to study in depth in the future. More importantly, you are a little impatient now."
Letting out a long sigh, Taoist Fu Guang looked at Chu Tai and said with a little concern: "Your cultivation speed is much faster than that of ordinary people, but the purity and control of your magic power have always been lacking. Instead of spending these two years practicing hard and increasing your cultivation, it is better to spend two years quietly to grind away the temper in your magic power and polish it to your satisfaction. This is the right way."
"Moreover, the later we get in the cultivation of immortals, the more we need to maintain our self-identity and understand our original intentions. As time goes by and the world wears away, can we maintain our original intentions? If we can't maintain them, then how can we hold on to our long life after we have achieved success in cultivation and not fall into the side paths? And not fall into the end of the evil path?"
"In the past, when the sect was at its peak, the master would let you, a cultivator, go to the human world to experience the life of ordinary people, as a starting point for your future as a human being. But now it is not realistic to let you go down the mountain to gain experience, so it is necessary to use one or two skills to express your emotions and cultivate your sentiments."
Taoist Fu Guang's reasons convinced Chu Tai. Under Fu Guang's guidance, he read books such as "Music Theory", "Ten Rules of Go", "Meng Qiu", "Nine Forces", "Golden Formulas", and "Zhuquan Xiaopin".
Interestingly, Taoist Fu Guang discovered that Chu Tai also had an inexplicable talent for learning and understanding these books. By observing Chu Tai's learning speed of different knowledge, Taoist Fu Guang also grasped some of the characteristics of the Dao Fruit fragments in Chu Tai's body, and began to tentatively help him master the power of the Dao Fruit fragments.
"As expected, your improvement is not a strengthening of a certain aspect, but an improvement in all aspects..."
Half a year later, after a long period of research, Taoist Fu Guang looked at the information he had summarized and sighed.
Chu Tai, who was standing next to him, was also quite surprised when he saw his conclusion.
After years of study, Chu Tai already knew that there was no clear realm division in Dongji Chenguang Datian itself, or that the realm division systems of different cultivation systems were independent of each other, and their ultimate pursuits were also different.
Not to mention the distant ones, those who have just achieved the lower level of ghost immortals may not be able to defeat Chu Tai now if they do not have the magic treasure in their hands.
Moreover, this kind of situation does not only exist in the ghost immortal system. In the many classics provided by Taoist Fuguang, people who follow the celestial immortal method are not necessarily that powerful.
The most recent record is that seven hundred years ago, a wandering immortal who had made some success in his practice and had just condensed his primordial spirit into that of a baby was eager to ascend to heaven when the catastrophe had not yet passed and his external strength was insufficient. As a result, he was intercepted halfway and was almost refined into a second primordial spirit by someone.
Similar situations are also recorded in the system of earthly immortals and the system of gods. They were all recorded by the predecessors of Jinhua Sect as typical cases to warn future generations.
Therefore, from ancient times to the present, the cultivation system of Dongji Chenguang Datian has been very vague. Becoming an immortal is more like a status, and cannot be used as a standard for a high level of realm. At the same time, a high level of realm cannot be used as a standard for strong combat power.
The situation remained like this until Taiyi Zhenjun preached the Dao of Datian, at which point a rough nine-grade division was reluctantly established, also known as the Nine-Grade Ascension to Heaven.
In this system, the ninth level of mortals refers to ordinary people who may have extraordinary abilities but not extraordinary powers. A typical example is some masters who have practiced external skills but have not yet mastered the art from the outside to the inside. Although they are beyond ordinary people, they cannot directly affect external objects.
The eighth level mostly refers to unorthodox methods, such as sorcerers and witches. Their magic power is mostly generated by magic. When they practice a magic, they can condense a magic power. Compared with the ninth level, they have certain extraordinary abilities, but the overall improvement is limited. They still belong to the level of mortal bodies. Their lifespan and life essence are almost the same as those of ordinary people. The apparent difference in lifespan is mostly to make up for the acquired loss, rather than the improvement of innate lifespan.
The seventh level of learning the law means obtaining a law in the Tao, which can form an internal circulation of magic power in the body and obtain certain legal principles. The essence of life has been initially improved, and the span of ability at this stage has begun to increase.
Chu Tai had made some achievements in studying the Mingyue Guancun Fa before, which could be regarded as a typical example of a seventh-grade student who was partial to the subject. Now, he has made up for many deficiencies and is still at the seventh-grade stage of learning. Within the Jinhua Sect, these three levels are also called the third level of seeking the Tao, or the third level of entering the Tao. They belong to the stage of polishing the foundation. The specific combat ability needs to be based on actual combat. There is no saying that entering the seventh level is definitely stronger than the ninth level.
Above it are the three levels of seeking the Tao, or the three levels of becoming an immortal, which means transforming into an immortal and enjoying longevity.
The lowest of these three grades is the sixth grade gathering spirit. The circulation of magic power in the body is perfect, forming characteristics similar to Yin God, spiritual fetus, true talisman, and golden elixir. The essence of life has undergone a certain transformation. It is described in Taoist scriptures as condensed true nature and Tao nature, and it has the ability to continue to survive even after the physical body dies.
When determining the many grades of abilities, Master Taiyi considered the lower-level achievements of ghost immortals as the threshold for this grade.
According to Taoist Fuguang's own description, Taoist Wudan is at this stage, and he himself is also at this stage.
From here, Chu Tai also saw a major feature of the practice in this great world. It is not difficult to achieve immortality, just like becoming an immortal or being promoted to the sixth rank.
But it is not easy to achieve immortality, just like ascending to heaven, or like Fu Guang who has been practicing for sixty years but still remains at the sixth level.
The fifth grade above the sixth grade is the casting grade, and its characteristics are the further fusion of essence, energy and spirit, and some achievements in Yin God, spiritual fetus and true talisman. If Taoist Fu Guang had successfully sublimated the Qi of Taiyi Yaoluo Danyang a hundred years ago, he could have broken through this realm. It's a pity that he was affected by the collision for two days in the middle, and failed. Now his cultivation has been reversed.
The most typical feature of this realm is the formation of the primordial spirit, or the condensation of the golden elixir for the third time, the transformation of the true talisman to produce a purple and green color, etc., which represents that it has the corresponding status and is also the basis for the inheritance of the celestial immortals to ascend to heaven.
According to Taoist Fuguang's speculation, the God of Tianmen, who condensed the dark and misty Qi of the Nine Springs, should be an existence of this level. However, now he is also practicing magic, and he was seriously injured before, so it is very likely that his realm has reversed. I don't know if he can still maintain this status.
But regardless of whether the Tianmen Divine Lord's realm has regressed, after hundreds of years of practice, his combat power must be much stronger than that of an ordinary sixth-grade cultivator.
The four levels above are called celestial beings in the words left by Master Taiyi, representing the complete fusion of essence, energy and spirit. They themselves are completely separated from mundane concepts and can no longer be considered the same from a physiological point of view.
Great supernatural powers such as moving mountains and seas, shrinking the sun and the moon, and manipulating the universe are considered standard at this level. The range of combat power is further widened, and it is also the realm reached by many powerful people from other sects today.
Irresponsible small classroom of Yiqi:
To make it easier for everyone to understand, we will simply use games to divide the realms in the book.
The fruit position/merit/position of immortality: similar to employment. The lowest merit of a ghost immortal is a third-rate profession, with very small bonuses and even certain negative effects, but the immortal gains the characteristics and identity, as well as a longer lifespan.
Ninth level realm: similar to the character’s actual level and attributes.
Cultivated mana: similar to the length of the health bar, or the depth of the mana pool.
(End of this chapter)