Lightning Is the Only Way

"Yeah, you already have tempered organs and blood," Forneus said.

"But that's impossible! In my entire life, I have not even heard anything specific about cultivation. How could I have already tempered my body?" Gravis shook his head.

Forneus looked at him with boredom in his eyes. "Remind me, who is your father again?"

Gravis understood. So, it was his father, after all. But when? He couldn't remember any time where his father could have tempered his organs and blood.

Seeing how Gravis looked absentmindedly at the ceiling, Forneus chuckled. "You don't need to look so confused or think about a time when that happened. Your body slowly grows stronger with time with tempered organs and blood. Judging by how vigorous your blood is flowing through your veins, it probably happened around 15 years ago. You should also be around 15 years old, so it would be a miracle if you actually remembered."

Gravis' eyes widened. "But how?"

Forneus shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know. Don't ask me. Ask your father. Tomorrow, we will have a guest who will strengthen the Dantians of everyone. You can skip that one too. Your Dantian has been strengthened as well. You don't need to come tomorrow." Forneus then turned to the class and looked around the youngsters. "Alright, everyone has ingested their pills. Now, let's continue."

Forneus cleared his throat again. "Let's continue with the next cultivation realm. After you have tempered your whole body, your body will be able to resist the pressure of natural energy. That means that you can start to absorb the energy in the air. Energy is in the air, soil, water, fire, lightning, stone, ore, wood, humans, beasts, basically everywhere."

"So, the first step after tempering is feeling the energy and pulling it into your Dantian to create a swirl. The swirl will then absorb the energy automatically. Then you have officially stepped into the second major realm: The Energy Gathering realm. Just like the name says, that realm is all about gathering as much energy as possible. As you accumulate more energy, it grows, and at some point, you will reach a situation where your energy can't grow anymore."

"That means, you are at the threshold of the next lower realm in the major Energy Gathering realm. When that happens, make a pause, get a drink, get some food, sleep a little, and simply relax for a couple of hours or days. When you are at your peak, release all your willpower and gather your energy like your life depends on it. You will need a strong enough push in order to increase the density of your energy. When you can't condense it anymore, you officially reached the next smaller realm. You do that nine times, and you have reached the tenth level of Energy Gathering. Most lower worlds only do eight condensations. You need a strengthened Dantian to do nine. You will get your very own strengthened Dantian tomorrow."

same thing. Since middle and upper worlds have no contact with lower worlds, there is no overarching terminology for natural energy in those worlds. We call it energy since it's the most straightforward definition. Also, our world is the highest, so we kinda got dibs on naming rights."

and not in the Dantian. Experience has shown that the most stable and most accessible part for the energy swirl is in your Dantian. By the way, for those of

tempered bodies never reach the Energy Gathering realm? Well, that's at least true for the lowest worlds. The reason is that it is hard

slowly seeps into the earth, and some naturals ores can absorb it, thus creating energy ore. If energy ore leaves its natural place under the earth, it slowly gives off the energy it has accumulated over the years. We are going to use that to get

but before they had their fill, the stone vanished, and another stone appeared, this one black. "This is a void stone. It's one of the very few ores that don't have any

was focused on Forneus. Most of them have never come in contact with energy stones or void stones. This was something entirely new to them. "In the next couple of minutes, I will switch between the energy stone and the void stone every five seconds. The energy in the room will then go up and down. In a couple of minutes, everyone should be able to feel the

alternating between the two stones. Some youngsters closed their eyes, while others looked transfixed at the rocks. Gravis closed his

harder. His eyebrows furrowed, but he felt nothing but that annoying wind. This wind was honestly driving him crazy. When he tried

Gravis was not sure. It did not feel

it with concentration, willing the energy to come here. After a

in a voice only they could hear. "Gathering energy outside the body is a possibility. It's not really useful since it takes a while to concentrate it into a sufficient density, but just doing this can train one's will. You can do that more in the future if you want. It will make it

just felt a strong wind coming from inside his palm, but strangely enough, the 'wind' was not pushing his hand or fingers away. It felt bizarre. Gravis looked up, but Forneus

"Alright, when you have tempered your bodies, just remember this feeling and try to imagine the energy entering your body and gathering in your Dantian. That

training your mental energy. Your mental energy is your will, your understanding of the world, and your understanding of yourself. As you progress, you get smarter, your sensitivity grows, your willpower improves, and you get more creative. You probably heard the saying that in secluded cultivation,

and shook his head. "That's not true. Actually, the opposite is true. Doing the same thing over and over without any outside stimulus is dull and boring. Only our improved willpower helps us through those

Dantian, into your brain. You will feel some pain, but after you emptied your Dantian once, you will start to feel different. It's hard to describe actually. It's just different. Just keep doing that. At some point, you

the further the seed will grow. It will grow to be a sapling, then a tree, and finally, it will transform into a copy of yourself. Most lower worlds don't know about the last stage. They think

started walking to the exit. "When you have achieved the Self Stage, you will automatically know what to do. The