'Though, I thought you said cultivating starts at six years old?' Li Fen asked sceptically.
'There are still some things we can do despite being in the body of an infant, the main reason why children start cultivating at six is it is quite difficult to grasp the method required to cultivate'
Zhang Wei replied, slowly enjoying the hope he felt growing in Li Fens mind.
'One of the most important things about cultivation is ensuring that the essence you absorb is very pure. As the purer it is the stronger you would be, and the more potential you would have in the future. Do you remember me saying that earlier?'
Zhang Wei asked his arrogant tone replaced with newfound seriousness. Li Fen nodded as she did remember him talking about this earlier.
Seeing that the Dragon was taken this to seriously, made Li Fen realise how important this is, thus she placed her full attention onto the conversation to ensure that she doesn't miss the slightest bit of the information coming up.
'We need to ensure you first have a very strong foundation of very pure essence. Usually, when one requires to absorb the essence in the surroundings they enter meditation. Another reason why it is so difficult to start cultivation is that meditation needs a specific position at the beginning to help facilitate the refining process. The more used to the refinement of your essence you get, the easier it is to absorb.'
Li Fen nodded attentively, the information did make sense, though she was not certain if it would be of any help to her because she had years to go before she can even begin meditation.
'I do know another means of gathering pure essence' Zhang Wei said, 'However, the method is very taxing, and it will take a lot longer in comparison to if you allow your body to meditate naturally.'
Li Fen felt excitement overtook her as she heard that there was another method to begin cultivation now. She quickly calmed down, and asked, 'So I can begin cultivation now!?'
Expectation was evident in Li Fens voice, which made Zhang Wei feel very pleased about her eagerness. After all, his revenge and revival depended all on Li Fen.
'It is indeed possible', Zhang Wei said before continuing, 'Though this method will take far longer than the usual one, as usually when a six or seven years old begin cultivation using meditation they take around half a year to progress into the first rank, whereas with using this method you would take double the time they required to reach a similar level and this is the minimum requirement to form a soul contract.'
Li Fen felt a little shocked at how big the difference is, but this would do nothing to deter her from using the method to cultivate. After all, what else could she do in this infant body besides cultivation? Therefore, she patiently waited for Zhang Wei to inform her of the method.
'Our current body at the moment is really too small to take in the essence needed.' Zhang Wei said, 'But, this may not necessarily be a bad thing as the smaller amount of essence, the easier it is to compress and refine it which would make your essence much purer by doing so! And this will no doubt benefit you greatly in the future, after all, to ascend to further cultivation realms, the purity of an individuals essence also plays a factor.'
'This method will indeed, allow you to gather better quality of essence in comparison to your peers, however, the only downside of it is that it requires you to put much more effort into doing so, which is why most children won't use it. As they would never have the patience required to do so.' Zhang Wei said with a laugh, as being reborn was beneficial to them.
'For now, it requires me to explain everything to you, but as soon as we form a soul contract I will be able to easily transmit my knowledge to you.' Zhang Wei said a sigh, which represented his frustration about how much time would be wasted to explain everything. However, even if he was impatient he still needed to explain everything thoroughly.
'Close your eyes and steady your breath' Zhang Wei ordered, in which Li Fen immediately did what she was told.
Anyone who saw the newborn baby would remain completely unaware of the current conversation going on within Li Fens mind, as two souls were currently communicating within their shared infant body. Zhang Wei knew that the current Li Fen would be unable to cultivate with the body she has now, so he decided to teach her a unique method of cultivating, one which he was working on in his previous life.
'Alright, I need you to enter your body and find the left-side of your chest, flow through your veins until you reach the area directly beside your heart.' Li Fen did what she was told and was immediately consumed by the sound of her blood flowing through her veins. Shock filled her mind as she noticed an astral projection of herself which was standing in the middle of the tunnel-like a structure within her body.
'Focus!' Zhang Wei said, 'What you feel is the consciousness of your soul, we will be using it to channel this cultivation method!' Zhang Wei calm voice assured as Li Fen allowed her soul to continue to descend further and further down until she reached an area beside her heart which continued to beat rhythmically.
Li Fen found herself within a strange-looking organ, one which she was sure she has never seen before of any diagram of the human body. Observing the translucent figure of herself she realised she wasn't in an infant form within her soul form and was instead what looked to be a replica of herself before she died.
'It's fairly big.' Said Zhang Wei approvingly looking at the dark chamber of the organ, 'This should be able to gather a fair amount of essence.' Li Fen felt that the size of the organ may be due to perhaps both her and Zhang Wei cohabiting within this body.
'Sit down and cross your legs, now I want you to form these hand seals.' Commanded Zhang Wei. Li Fen felt a bit surprised but still did what was ordered of her.
'Steady your breath and follow the blood out towards your skin. Now when you reach the outer layer of your skin open up within a suction force and then keep moving at a sudden circle until you have made a full circle around your body.' Zhang Wei explained in the best way he could, as Li Fen have an affirmative nod before her consciousness turned into a streak of light before it began to suck the essence from outside.
It took Li Fen a full half an hour before she managed to complete one circle within her body, and when she returned to the strange-looking organ she brought a mist of essence that was hanging around her consciousness.
Zhang Wei approved in acknowledgement, content at the sight.
'Now sit down before and make the same seals you have done before. Do not open your eyes no matter what happens.' Zhang Wei said and was satisfied that Li Fen carried out his orders with no questions asked.
'The difference between a warrior and Mage is how they cultivate the essence from this point forwards. Both would store their essence within this organ, but they would use it for two different purposes, a warrior would use the essence to strengthen their body continuously whereas a Mage would use it to nourish the Soul and their consciousness. This led to two completely different forms of attacks, a Mage would attack externally with the strength of their soul by forming attacks outside of their body, whereas a Warrior would use the essence to support their already strong body strength. Both have strengths and weaknesses, but I will not allow you to have any vulnerabilities which can be exploited. A true genius would cultivate both, which may seem fairly time consuming but there are methods to get around this.' Zhang Wei explained, as he continued.
'Now I want you to keep breathing steadily, with each breath inhale the essence within your surroundings. Let it spin like a cyclone inside of you until the essence has become as clear as the purest pool of water without a single speck of impurities. The more clear it is, the purer the quality of the essence is.' Zhang Wei gave a final order as he continued to watch Li Fen attentively.
Li Fen spent seven hours to refine the essence. When she was finally done so, all the essence within her surroundings vanished and was replaced by a fine thread of essence. It seemed to be of the perfect quality, as it shone like that of the purest gemstone as it swirled itself around inside the organ.
Li Fen felt a great deal of exhaustion but was satisfied as a great deal of effort she put on amounted to this small thread of essence, which looked alone as it wandered around the organ.
However, even though it didn't seem much it was a result of Li Fens hard work which left her feeling satisfied inside.
'Well done Li Fen, that is a very high-quality essence!' Zhang Wei praised honestly, as he had never actually seen essence this pure before. Li Fen spent more time refining than even he expected, 'Rest for the day, we will continue tomorrow. This takes up a lot of time and energy.' Li Fen listened to Zhang Wei as although she wished to do so for the possibility of being a great talent, she knew throat it wasn't very likely.
The days continue to pass one after the other, as she spent around seven hours every day absorbing the essence and refining it continuously. She wanted to absorb it twice a day, but Zhang Wei instructed her not to do so as refinement takes up a lot of energy. If she were to try twice a day, the quality of her essence will likely drop.
Upon hearing the answer, Li Fen could only agree silently as she wanted the purest essence possible.
Deep inside she now felt great full to what the Dragon has given her, almost gone was the previous animosity between them as despite the Dragon distasteful behaviour he began to treat her less haughtily as he was astonished himself at her perseverance in cultivation.
Li Fen never once muttered an ounce of complaint, as she laboured each day to absorb the essence and refine it. Li Fens' essence is many times purer than Zhang Wei's was before, which couldn't help but make him astonished at the young girl. This led to Zhang Wei began to take a liking to the girl with such perseverance.
Apart from refining essence, Li Fen quickly discovered that she was born into a poor family. She had no siblings, similar to her previous life but her parents were both young. Her mother named, Hui Ying was younger than she was in her previous life, leaving Li Fen feeling rather awkward about the situation.
Her father, Hui Bingwen, earns money by being apart of the Towns guard. Which although offered an average income within the Town still left them in poverty as he was the sole earner for the Household and had to support the entire family. Both her parents were cultivators, although it was the most primitive form of one, people in this World naturally follow the Warrior cultivation path by default if they don't specifically follow a cultivation technique, though they are the worst type of Warrior Cultivators as their cultivation purely comes from naturally absorbing the essence of the world through breathing it in and consuming essence-infused food.
This means that they have no idea how to use the essence contained within their bodies and that they are just stronger than the average person with their bodies being likely even weaker than a Mage on the same level. Her Mother is a Third Rank Apprentice whereas her Dad is Seventh Rank Apprentice, probably due to him training his body regularly.
Though as a result of the both of them not knowing a proper cultivation technique, even if they reach the 9th Apprentice Rank they would be unable to break through to the next realm as their essence quality is too impure to do so.
Li Fen was currently living in a relatively small town in which the main source of income was the forest nearby which contained a fair-sized amount of low levels beasts and herbs. Many in the Town worked as herb gatherers to earn a bit extra money despite the dangers involved, but other than that the Town was a peaceful and stable one which stayed relatively quiet all year round. There may be a few adventurers or students from academies nearby to visit for using the beasts to training, but other than that the Town received few visitors.
Li Fens new mother looked after the shack they live in while growing vegetables. During the day she also helped work in the local herb store run by an old lady for the extra coin. She would bring Li Fen with her as she carried out her daily chores to watch over her, but Li Fen would usually be sleeping.
Li Fen spent the night cultivating and then spent the day pretending to be a child while observing my other children she was supposed to be playing with. Li Fen would typically sleep her days away or just discuss information with Zhang Wei.
Li Fen was a very beautiful baby. Everyone adored her big doe eyes and fair skin. Her skin never seems to tan, even when her parents took her out in the sun all day, leading to the people of the Town saying she was as fair-skinned as Noble ladies.
The days quickly went past as Li Fen day-by-day cultivates until 8 months quietly passed. Li Fen diligently cultivated during this time, refining her essence into fine strands.
The quality of the essence cultivated by Li Fen has not dropped at all since she began her cultivation, but the previous single thread had turned into dozens which were swirling all around inside of the strange organ. Nevertheless, something suddenly did change one day when Li Fen was gathering essence all the threads of essence gathered towards each other as they merged into a large bundle of the essence and it began to form a spherical shape which shone brightly within the dim strange organ.
The light-emitting from the sphere filled Li Fen's infant body to the brim imbuing it with a newfound power she never felt before. An expression of pure happiness emerged on her face as she understood she finally broke through to become a Rank 1 Apprentice.
'Well, done.' Zhang Wei said, as his illusory body moved towards the essence sphere, 'Now are you willing to make a contract with me?' He asked whilst inspecting the sphere, Li Fen nodded almost immediately feeling a hint of excitement to what's about to happen.
As soon as she replied, she saw that the sphere of essence began to shake, as the essence in her surroundings began to surge and combust towards her.
'What the hell is going on?' She asked questionably, but as soon as she answered she felt a feeling within her soul as if a connection has been established and a sudden feeling of loss of energy occurred within her but this was quickly replaced by something else as she realised that the flickering sphere of essence which previously lost some of its radiance with the forming of the contract began to swirl as a great suction force emerged from the sphere as it greedily started to suck in the essence in the surroundings.
'Sorry, kid you need to be unconscious for this moment. After all, this is a new technique I have come up with, although it technically hasn't been tested yet. In theory, it is likely to succeed' Zhang Wei said which did absolutely nothing to stop Li Fen from panicking.
'Wait, what do you mean it hasn't been tested yet...' But, before Li Fen continued she felt her mind going dark.
'Hmm. This is for your good, kid. To catch up with those people and match up with them in the future you need every edge you can get.' As Zhang Wei finished the sphere of essence continued to condense more and more as it began to become solid, beginning to form something which should only be in possession of beasts.
'It looks like I was right with the right foundation, something which should only belong to the beasts can be transferred to a human.' Zhang Wei mumbled in elation as he saw the 'core' was close to completion.
But, before he can celebrate in elation the core which was about to be formed suddenly became unstable as it began to tremble as if it was going to fail to condense just before completion.
Though Zhang Wei seemed prepared for this as he said, 'Nothing can so simple in this World when allowing a human to cultivate like a beast this is why I already made ample preparations.'
All of a sudden a drop of pure-silverly blood seem to float beside the orb, as soon as this blood appeared a faint majestic, suppression emerged from within as even the previous chaotic orb of essence froze to a complete halt as if it was in awe of the blood itself.
A drop of the purest Silver Dragon bloodline essence when I was alive, this should allow you to step on the path I would have never had the opportunity to do so. The potential in becoming a True Silver Dragon! I hope you don't take this for granted, kid.' Zhang Wei thought as his arrogance and lustful tone seemed to completely have disappeared, replaced by the aura of a bonafide expert, one which stood at the peak.
The drop of blood fused with the orb, as the orb seems to grow larger and larger until the strange organ seems to merge with the orb itself as if the orb replaced the purpose of the strange organ. As the strange organ and orb finally completely merged, a pulse seems to emerge from the newly formed beast core as the blood around it seem to be turning a silvery hue with each throb of the beast core. As the blood underwent its transformation, the heart continued to pump the blood around the body, continuously nourishing the body as each cycle passes.
'She will surely be surprised in the morning' A sly smile emerged on Zhang Wei's face.
As the day passed, and morning finally rises while Li Fens father was on his way to start his shift as the Towns guard, his eyes suddenly fell upon his daughter who was still in the crib. His eyes widened as he exclaimed in surprise as he rushed to wake up his Wife.
"What's wrong?" Asked Hui Ying as she woke up groggily while rubbing her eyes.
"Our daughter has White Hair now!" Hui Bingwen said with a look of disbelief as his eyes never left their daughter in the crib.
The words caused Hui Ying to furrow her brows sceptically, but as she looked at their baby she instantly shrieked. The shriek woke up the sleeping Li Fen who woke up wondering what that Dragon was planning to do to her. But, her awakening caused her to feel curious about what has happened because of her parents' drastic reactions. However, that question was soon answered.
"Her eyes are silver!" Hui Ying said with an expression of utter shock.