"To cultivate, one must first enter a meditative state through meditation. This is not difficult, but it does take some time for most people,"
"Once you enter the meditative state, you will feel the energy around you, but don't pay attention to it, as it's the energy of our world and cannot be absorbed. I will act as your guide and capture a pure energy to give to you. What you need to do is use your own willpower to guide this pure energy into your body and try to retain it, preventing it from dispersing."
"The power of will is very important. If your will is not strong enough to move energy, then you have no talent for cultivation."
"But once your body successfully absorbs the first portion of energy, then your path to cultivation opens up."
Lin Yue's words rang in Li Yi's ears.
At this moment, Li Yi sat with his eyes closed, attempting to enter meditation.
Lin Yue corrected Li Yi's posture and breathing, along with some details of meditation, to help him enter the state more quickly.
As time passed bit by bit.
Li Yi's body gradually lost sensation, and his consciousness seemed to sink into darkness, as if he were about to be engulfed by the abyss. A sense of helpless fear surged in his heart, which immediately woke him up, causing him to directly exit the meditative state.
"Scared?" Lin Yue asked with a smile as she looked at him.
Li Yi wiped his forehead and found no cold sweat, but he still felt the aftereffects: "I felt like my consciousness was being swallowed by darkness, as if I would never wake up again."
"Don't be afraid, that is a normal reaction. Your consciousness has been integrated with your body for twenty years. Now, to move independently from the body and experience fear is normal. The reason it felt so dark is because your consciousness was freed from the influence of the five senses. Imagine one day you wake up from sleep and find you can't move, can't hear, and can't open your eyes—wouldn't you be scared?" Lin Yue patiently explained.
"What you need to do is conquer that fear and adapt to the feeling. Then, continue to delve deeper. Once you get past that phase, your consciousness will develop a new way of perceiving. This perception is not visual, not auditory; it is a special kind of existence."
"I understand, I'll try again," Li Yi said, nodding his head before closing his eyes once more.
The second attempt at meditation took longer, perhaps because he was trying to overcome the fear from his previous attempt.
This time, Li Yi's consciousness fell into darkness once more, and the fear returned.
But this time, he did not resist the fear and allowed it to envelop him completely.
However, his consciousness seemed to be trapped in darkness, without direction or time, like a cage.
Soon.
Li Yi shuddered and woke up, exiting the meditative state again.
"Failed again?" Lin Yue inquired.
Li Yi nodded: "My consciousness was trapped in darkness, and an instinct made me want to break free."
"That's your brain checking to see if your body is dead, which is why your consciousness was forcibly called back. Don't worry though, the body's adaptability is very strong. After a few more attempts, your brain will understand that the state you were in is not death, and this will no longer happen."
"Cultivation is not a simple matter. Along the way, you must overcome various mental states and train repeatedly to adapt both body and mind to the feeling. It's said that cultivation involves great terror, and that's true. But if you can't get past this hurdle, I advise you to give up on cultivation altogether."
Lin Yue spoke earnestly.
"I understand, I'll try once more," Li Yi breathed deeply.
Lin Yue said, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Take it slow, there's plenty of time."
Li Yi nodded.
He didn't say much, for he was very clear that he didn't have much time to live in peace. Trouble would soon come knocking on his door, and before that, he had to step into the path of cultivation to determine if the half a Sword Coin in his possession was indeed a Mysterious Object.
He continued to try entering meditation...
It was unclear how much time had passed.
The office door opened.
Uncle Biao carefully walked in at this point, glanced at Li Yi, and gestured slightly to Lin Yue.
Lin Yue walked out with light steps.
Uncle Biao asked softly, "How is Li Yi's cultivation progressing?"
"It's not going very smoothly; he hasn't truly entered meditation yet," Lin Yue shook her head and replied.
"No matter, it's very normal. Didn't I experience the same when I first started? Just be patient. After all, this is his first encounter with cultivation, previously knowing nothing about it," Uncle Biao said.
Lin Yue replied, "Uncle, do you still remember the condition of Li Yi's father, Uncle Li, during his first cultivation?"
She raised a finger as she spoke, "Once, just once, and Uncle Li was in meditation, then started to absorb Cosmic Energy, officially beginning his cultivation."
Uncle Biao hummed and said, "His dad was a true genius. There's no comparing them. Otherwise, how could he have become one of the Silent Ones? Not anyone can do that. It's just that the first group of cultivators progressed too quickly, without fully understanding everything, and when problems arose, that's how they ended up."
"Niece, tell me, does Li Yi have any talent for cultivation?" he asked as he nudged Lin Yue's arm.
After pondering for a moment, Lin Yue replied, "It's hard to tell now, but he did enter meditation on his first try. He was just inexperienced and got frightened, which is why he exited the meditative state. However, these days, cultivation talent is not measured by how quickly one enters meditation, but by their efficiency in absorbing Cosmic Energy."
"Some people might be able to absorb ten units of Cosmic Energy but only retain one or two units. Such a conversion rate indicates poor cultivation talent."
"But there are others who can absorb a maximum of five units of Cosmic Energy and retain all of it, achieving a one hundred percent conversion rate. Such talent is considered very high, and the potential is great. With the help of a guide, they can reach the level of a genius."
"Of course, some people, despite a low conversion rate, can capture a hundred portions of Cosmic Energy in one breath. Even if they can only transform twenty percent, that's still quite remarkable."
"Whether Li Yi belongs to that kind is something I'll have to determine after some testing."
"Then I'll leave it all to you. I'll treat you to a meal later," Uncle Biao said with a smile.
Lin Yue rolled her eyes, "Don't get ahead of yourself; I must say this upfront: if Li Yi doesn't have much talent for cultivation, there's nothing I can do. After all, I'm just a human, not an immortal who can grant others the talent for Immortal Cultivation. As for how talented Li Yi is, three days of guidance will tell."
"Haha, that won't be necessary. A tiger doesn't father a dog; Li Yi surely has great talent. Rest assured, three days is plenty of time for him," Uncle Biao said.
It wasn't that he had confidence in Li Yi's cultivation talent, but rather he knew that Li Yi was a sensible child. If there wasn't any progress in three days, he probably wouldn't continue to trouble Lin Yue.
"Hope so."
As Lin Yue spoke, she suddenly hushed, "It seems he has succeeded in entering Meditation; Uncle, you go ahead with your work, I'll go check on him and test his cultivation talent."
Uncle Biao nodded and left tiptoeing away.
At this very moment, Li Yi, who had entered a state of Meditation, began to adapt to the sensation of his consciousness sinking into darkness.
His mind was as calm as still water, without the slightest hint of panic or turmoil.
Once his consciousness detached from the influence of his body and adapted to the darkness, new changes began to emerge.
Bits of light gradually appeared in the darkness.
These lights filled the surroundings, flowing like rivulets, albeit with a somewhat eerie color. They were grayish-white, as if contaminated by something, which instinctively made one want to reject them.
"This must be the contaminated Spiritual Energy that pervades reality; such things cannot be absorbed," Li Yi realized in his heart.
However, soon within this grayish-white world, another unusual light appeared. It was ancient and clear, like a sharp blade of light that instantly tore open a hole in the contaminated area. Then the light expanded, slowly forming the shape of half a Sword Coin.
Within the range covered by that light, pure Cosmic Energy flowed, nearly as brilliant as a cosmic galaxy to his perceiving consciousness.
At this moment, Li Yi became somewhat excited.
He understood that the half Sword Coin in his hand was indeed a damaged Mysterious Object, capable of creating its own Energy Field to purify the contaminated Spiritual Energy. With this, wouldn't his cultivation speed be extremely fast?
But this wasn't the time to get excited.
Li Yi tried to guide that energy with his thoughts.
At first, the energy didn't change at all, but after a little while, several points of light, as if attracted by some force, began slowly to flow into his body.
The guiding with intention had succeeded.
It seemed he did have a talent for cultivation.
However, the Cosmic Energy he had guided into his body dissipated rapidly before being absorbed and then merged back into the grayish-white world, ultimately becoming completely assimilated.
"Did I fail?" He remembered Lin Yue's words.
Guiding Cosmic Energy into the body is only the first step; the second step is to retain it, absorb it.
If one cannot accomplish the second step, then no matter how much Cosmic Energy is guided, it is pointless.
Li Yi tried again.
Several more portions of pure Cosmic Energy entered his body.
This time, the result was the same; the energy dissipated and was assimilated, vanishing without a trace.
But Li Yi did not become discouraged because the Cosmic Energy within that Energy Field seemed infinite to him at the moment, allowing endless trial and error.
On the third attempt, the fourth... on the fifth attempt, he was able to bind a pure portion of energy within his body without it dissipating. Instead, it began to melt, as if being absorbed, and he felt a refreshing sensation flooding his mind, indescribably invigorating and comfortable.
He had succeeded!
After five attempts, one was successful.
Li Yi continued with his cultivation.
At this time, he noticed that several specks of light appeared within the surrounding grayish-white contaminated world. It seemed to be Cosmic Energy seeping out from a wormhole, although it was pitifully sparse compared to the abundance within the Energy Field.
"Why is that energy flowing towards me?"
All of a sudden, Li Yi realized that the few specks of pure energy within the grayish-white world, as if drawn by some other power, were entering his body.
"Is Sister Lin guiding it for me?"
With this thought, he didn't hesitate to try and absorb it.
Li Yi succeeded in absorbing some, but failed with others. The unabsorbed energy was wasted, polluted by the world.
Overall, the chances of failure were high, with successful absorption being the minority.
In this way, Li Yi gradually immersed himself in the practice of cultivation.