Soul Transformation was the Realm I currently resided in; it was where I could begin to mold the inside of my body and sharpen my soul, tempering myself physically, mentally, and spiritually.
The Qi inside your body began to grow purer and more potent compared to before, and each droplet of Qi stored inside your dantian was enough to fuel a Nascent Soul Cultivator for months on end, if not a year.
You gained access to a technique that was used by everyone of this Realm and above; Astral Projection, which was a disconnecting of your mind and body.
This was where you became a true immortal, and not just a strong, long lived mortal like before.
Separating your soul from your body enabled you to continue to live on, so long as your soul was capable of accepting the new body you provided it, or if you were of a strong enough will to ignore it.
Spiritual Weapons are made from people like that, either willingly or unwillingly; many who reach the end of their lives will transfer their soul into a weapon or tool of some kind, creating an item that would further along someone else's cultivation.
Of course, not many were willing to do so; even when one was almost dead, most Cultivators would instead enter the cycle of Samsara, or rebirth, wiping their memories clean and being born as something new.
That was the Realm I had reached; I was capable of separating my mind and body and strengthening one or the other, which opened up the three paths that all Cultivators were presented.
Did I wish to train my body, meridians, and Qi to its pinnacle, ignoring the mind and placing my trust in the physical?
Did I wish to hone my mind, soul, and control to their peaks, using them to overcome all obstacles with technique alone?
Or did I wish to slowly train both, strengthening my body and mind equally to be good at everything, but masterful at nothing?
It was a choice that didn't allow you to backtrack easily, and it would be something that held pain and obstacles no matter the path chosen.
This was a choice that was mine alone to make, and one that I needed to think through completely.
That was how my first few days were spent in Closed Door Cultivation; thinking and gathering Qi, pondering my choices and listing out the positives and negatives of each.
It was through those few days that I decided to hone my mind, wanting to learn how to control my Qi so that I could eventually learn a trade like Alchemy or Inscriptions.
Something that would make me useful, and something that I could use to help my daughter along during her childhood.
That was my desire, and I chose it willingly.
So, I began to funnel my Qi not to my muscles and bones, but to my organs and brain instead, allowing them to seep into each before focusing on the feeling I received from them, sharpening my control and mental abilities as best I could.
Gao Chen remained silent beside me, occasionally getting up to go through her Saber Arts before sitting back down, returning to her meditative state to focus instead on figuring out the next stage of her Arts.
I mirrored her, taking some time to instead train my control by moving my Qi outside of my body using the Crashing Wave Technique, focusing on the flow of Qi and how to better push it from my body, lowering the amount used to achieve the same results.
For three long, grueling months we trained and cultivated, and during those three months my belly continued to swell, the child in my womb growing larger and larger as it grew closer to its due date.
With only a few months left, I went up another Realm, reaching the Ascendent Realm with Gao Chen's help.
The energy from increasing my Realm poured into my soul, and I desperately grabbed onto any and all strands of heavenly energy that I could, using it to temper my mind and soul further.
Stepping into the Ascendent Realm at the age of 18 was considered average in the Moonlit Orchard, so I would no longer be receiving the looks of scorn I had before.
Of course, for the first few appearances out into the Sect, many would scrutinize me and try to find faults in my foundation, but as I continued to whole heartedly cultivate, that would only prove to be worthless to look at as I grew stronger.
Continuing to hone the mind, I used the boredom of cultivation as a catalyst to progress further and faster, whilst also focusing on the growing plant inside my dantian, discovering more and more about what I had been gifted.
The little plant had flowered completely, and dark blue, almost black petals speckled with pale, icy blue sprouted from the deep green stem, whilst the roots had firmly transformed into my meridians, spreading the Qi inside me further and faster than before.
Of course, when I investigated the changes and tried to discover if they had been made apparent, I found that the roots were laid over my meridians, and that when I focused on them specifically and thought that Gao Chen might be looking, they receded and faded away, just like the plant.
It seems that the thing inside me is more complicated and mysterious than I had thought...
Not that I had thought too deeply about it; admittedly, I had accepted this gift with the goal of living my life as best I could, before eventually passing away when the time came, be it soon or in millennia.
With those thoughts on my mind, I opened my eyes and let out a turbid breath, waving it away before trying to get to my feet.
However, with time progressing further again, I failed to realize that my belly had grown even further, and I was no longer allowed the same range of motion I had before.
"Gao Chen..?"
Glancing towards the tanned woman, I saw her open those orange eyes and glance indifferently at me, before she got to her feet and lifted me up.
Looking me over a few times, she nodded before leading me from the courtyard, the silence between us no longer cold and heavy, but simply... barren.
Guiding me towards the bath, the woman watched as I slipped into the large pool of medicinal water, moaning softly as the medicine began to take affect.
Nodding, Gao Chen spoke for the first time, her voice still as she said "Wait here, I'll be back in a moment. I need to send word to the Matriarch and tell Da to prepare a meal for us."
Watching her go, I sighed as I leaned back into the water, drifting along as I caressed my stomach.