Typhon took a deep breath and closed his eye, focusing inwards to try and determine the innate traits this body had. Unfortunately, Typhon was utterly unaware of how magic worked. Given that he could only sense a red core dantain in this body, he knew that summoning a spirit from beyond the grave would be impossible, so magic had to work independently of known cultivation systems that he knew. Slowly, Typhon let his mind drift, and he soon found himself in a void-like area that he recognised as his mental realm.
In simple terms, the mental realm was a base of mental strength that cultivators tapped into when learning different techniques. Therefore, it was one of the most important parts of spiritual cultivation, as the area of your mental realm determined how many techniques you could use. In a stroke of luck, Typhon still had his entire mental realm from his past life.
'It would seem the mental realm is tied to the soul, not the body; how interesting.'
Typhon collected any powerful techniques he could get his hands on back when he was alive, if only so that he could pass them down to his kids no matter what path they took. Unfortunately, most of these techniques depended on having at least an 8th-revolution green core, the baseline dantian core of someone who could be considered 'gifted' in cultivation. Someone who had never touched cultivation would have had a single revolution red core if they could even cultivate to begin with.
Thankfully, this wasn't much of a downside for Typhon, who had several 5-star cultivation techniques he used in his past life that would drastically boost his cultivation speed. For now, what was most important was determining if this body had a martial bloodline and a martial skeleton. Typhon directed his mental realm through his body until he stopped at his heart. Typhon slowly peered into his heart with his mental realm before he jolted with shock.
'The Celestial Emperor bloodline! Un-fucking-believable! This bloodline is comparable to my Heavenly Dragon bloodline in terms of strength! Truly I am blessed this day!'
Typhon laughed to himself inwardly with a zeal that was rare for him. Nothing would deflate his elation at this revelation, even if he had the most mundane of martial skeletons. Something that did strike Typhon as odd was the odd blue shards of strange Qi that sat around his heart, nearly forming a circle. Seeing as though they were jagged and not connected, Typhos assumed that whatever it was, was shattered in his accident.
'Well, whatever it is, fixing it can wait until after I get out of the hospital. Right now, I should focus on what I know.'
Shifting his mental realm to his spine, he inspected his martial skeleton. Once again, Typhon was left in shock at his exceptional good luck.
'The Sun and Moon Supreme skeleton! This is just fucking ridiculous! Even if this kid was a genius at magic, wasting this amount of cultivation talent is just shameful!'
Now that Typhon had confirmed that cultivation was a viable path to power in this body, his mind shifted to magic and those floating bits of unknown Qi around his heart. He recalled that Carmine had called the spell his old self used a '9th circle spell'. These circles seemed to be how magi ranked their power, but without resources and knowledge, attempting to fix whatever it was would be too great of a risk.
Coming out of his mental realm, Typhon opened his eye and looked towards the window. The sun was now setting, telling him several hours had passed while he was in his mental realm. Typhos had about three days to cultivate peacefully in the hospital before he was discharged from what he saw of his body's state. There were still fresh wounds from where his arm was blasted off, but he was out of a critical state.
'Three days wouldn't be much for most cultivators, but it's enough for me to at least reach the 9th rotation of a yellow core. The question is, which technique do I use?'
The one that Typhon used in his past life was explicitly designed for dragons, so his now human body would gain very little from using that breathing technique. Immediately, Typhon could think of three that would suit his current state:
The Immortal Asura cultivation technique focused on using void and death energy to create powerful attacks that devastated their opponents. While it was powerful and relatively simple, it did negate one of the most significant strengths of the Sun and Moon Supreme skeleton, which was universal elemental affinity.
The Demonic Tyrant technique was a much better fit for his current situation. It had aspects that touched on all world elements and provided significant benefits to the body, including regeneration. However, the trade-off was that demonic cultivators tended to go mad and get much more aggressive as they grew in power. While Typhon was sure he could deal with the side effects, it would slow down his progression through the cultivation ranks.
The final technique up for consideration was the Heavenly Soul technique. It contained many ways to increase one's affinity with all the elements with minimal effort, but it came at the cost of physical strength. Those who practised the Heavenly Soul technique were unbeatable in spirit cultivation, but it reduced their body to a mortal's strength. Of course, defensive techniques existed but not having the weakness, to begin with, was preferable.
'To be honest, they all have pretty significant weaknesses. I can't make a proper decision without knowing what I'm getting into. Since I know nothing, falling back on what I know is for the best, but I lack my dragon body. What to do...'
Typhon meditated on the question for an hour before something clicked in his mind.
'If I recall, I picked up an exceptionally unique technique a long time ago simply out of its uniqueness. If I recall...'
Returning to his mental realm briefly, Typhon searched his memory for the technique he was thinking of.
'Ah-ha! Here, the Celestial Beast Steps technique! It has good options for both soul and physical attacks and allows cultivating all the elements! The good thing is that it focuses on physical martial arts, which is more in line with what I'm used to.'
After he retrieved the technique, Typhon pulled himself out of his mental realm and reviewed the breathing part of the technique in his mind. Then, correcting his posture, Typhon sat in the lotus position and began taking in the Qi in the air and gently merging it with his dantian. The red core was low enough in rank that filling it up with such an advanced technique was done in a matter of hours. The sun had finally set, and Typhon sat on his bed looking out at the moon with a nostalgic expression on his face.
'Starting from the bottom again... what a strange feeling. Well, now is no time to be waxing nostalgic, time for me to complete my first rotation.'