Chapter 14 Cultivation of Mind

Moreover, it was said that the "Four Elites", "Five Talents" and "Seven Braves" were elected in a particular way. The "Four Elites" were the top four in the Grand Competition, and Yao Yong was one of them. The "Five Talents" were the youngest five people among the top sixteen. Four of them were women, and they were also the only four women who entered the top sixteen in the Grand Competition. Shi Lingling was very angry about this. She found the only man in the "Five Talents", a cultivator who had just reached the ninth level of Blood Refining. Then she defeated him in public and took away his position in the "Five Talents". As for the "Seven Braves", Lu Ping was ranked first among them by some busybodies. Lu Ping was dismissive of this, but he had no way to stop himself from being famous. He highly respected Immortal Senior Liu. After he entered the late stage of Blood Refining, Immortal Senior Liu had given him meticulous coaching several times. After Lu Ping made a breakthrough and was injured in the Grand Competition, Immortal Senior Liu protected him from being interrupted when he was running spells, gave him a precious highest-grade wound healing elixir to stabilize his condition, and stopped his cultivation from collapsing. Immortal Senior Liu's lectures in these three days were rich in content. Lu Ping was greatly benefited and was even somewhat shocked. On the first day, Immortal Senior Liu taught him cultivation experience. He patiently explained all kinds of problems and situations Lu Ping might encounter when he was at the eighth level and the ninth level of Blood Refining. Besides, he told Lu Ping what he needed to prepare before he entered the Blood Dissolving stage. The gap between cultivators of the same level at the Blood Refining stage was not obvious, but the Blood Dissolving stage was a watershed. The gap lay in cultivation methods, cultivation resources, wisdom, determination, courage, and even the luck they had when they encountered difficulties. They had to advance bravely. A little relaxation and hesitation would result in narrowing or even ruining the road of cultivation. After the first day's lecture, a question haunted Lu Ping, "Why do we cultivate?" Lu Ping thought about it for a whole night. He came up with thousands of answers. At last, he stopped haggling over this question, and his eyes became clear again. When Immortal Senior Liu asked this question the next day, Lu Ping replied with only three words, to be immortal! Immortal Senior Liu said, "Is that the only reason? Are there other reasons?" Lu Ping shook his head and said, "At first, I came up with many complicated reasons. All of them were feasible, but in the end, I found that only this reason was the most practical and eternal. Other reasons will disappear with time, but this one will exist forever." Immortal Senior Liu laughed, "You have a good opinion. How smart you are!" After that, he looked at Lu Ping with a complicated look that was mixed with joy, jealousy, sentiment, and bitterness... Lu Ping didn't know that this was a test for the mental state of the disciples who had reached the eighth level in True Spirit Academy. Each cultivator had different purposes, aims, and reasons for his cultivation. They had many thoughts. At the time, cultivators might think it was a fuss about paying attention to these things. But with the improvement of their cultivation and the changes of their mental state, every thought would become an obsession. Every obsession would be a fetter for their future cultivation. Thousands of years later, their previous reasons for cultivation might be shattered and become unrealistic with time. If these thoughts got entangled deeply, they might even turn into inner demons, threaten the lives of cultivators. Only by setting up an unchanging and stable idea of cultivation could a cultivator go further. Lu Ping didn't know all this at the time. Maybe years later, with the improvement of his cultivation, he would realize the significance of Immortal Senior Liu's question. The lecture of the second day was about the experience and precautions for disciples who were at the Blood Refining stage and wanted to make a spurt towards the Blood Dissolving stage. In addition, Immortal Senior Liu taught Lu Ping the ways of cultivating he needed at the Blood Dissolving stage, which made Lu Ping gape in amazement. Looking at Lu Ping's expression, Immortal Senior Liu said with a smile, "Why? You already think it's difficult to cultivate?" Lu Ping nodded and said, "I'm determined to move on no matter how difficult it is, but I did not expect that it would be such a cultivation process." Immortal Senior Liu said, "Do you know how many chances the cultivators of Blood Refining have to enter the Blood Dissolving stage?" Lu Ping said, "One in a hundred." Immortal Senior Liu asked again, "How about the chances the cultivators of the Alchemy stage have?" Lu Ping shook his head, and Immortal Senior Liu said, "At most one in a thousand. Every step of the Alchemy stage is dangerous and is related to the final achievement of cultivation. Even I know little about it. There are tens of thousands of disciples in our True Spirit Sect and the other academies, but only a few thousands of them are at the Blood Dissolving stage. We got such a number of them because the life span of cultivators at the Blood Dissolving stage is twice as long as that of cultivators at the Blood Refining stage. Zhenrens at the Alchemy stage can live five hundred years to eight hundred years, but there are only more than a dozen of them. As for the legendary Grandmaster of the Dharma stage, I have never seen him, but I know such a bigshot does exist in our sect." Hearing this, Lu Ping was already excited and looked forward to meeting those strong cultivators. Seeing Lu Ping's expression, Immortal Senior Liu knew that he was already absent-minded. He said, "So much for today. I'm tired. All you need to do is to keep what I said today in your mind." On the third day, the lecture was about the ways of the cultivation world and the matters needing attention, and the situation of the cultivation world. Even Immortal Senior Liu didn't know much about those things. However, Lu Ping got more and more questions as he listened to Immortal Senior Liu. Immortal Senior Liu stopped him from asking questions and said, "The cultivation world is vast, and even I can't know everything about it. I can only tell you the basic information. In the future, you will solve your doubts by yourself." After this lecture, Immortal Senior Liu took out two jade slips and said, "One of these jade slips records all kinds of heaven materials and earth treasures that can be used in the cultivation world. They are summed up by the ancestors of our sect who had traveled all over the world over the years. Although they are not complete, they are enough for cultivators at the Blood Refining stage like you. The other records the local conditions and customs of the cultivation world, which is indispensable for traveling." Lu Ping took the two jade slips and pondered, "Immortal Senior, does the sect need us to go out to perform tasks? Otherwise, why would they help us make such comprehensive preparations?" Immortal Senior Liu froze and then laughed, "You are smart, but what you said is not completely right. Traditionally, disciples who have reached the eighth level of Blood Refining are required to go out to travel. Although there are no formal rules about this, we try our best to help the disciples to get fully prepared for the travel. There is no special situation this time. After all, you are the hope of our sect. Maybe one of you will become the future Grandmaster of the Dharma stage, the pillar of our sect. There might be some secrets behind this thing, but I don't know the details. Just wait for the news from the sect." Immortal Senior Liu's words confirmed what Lu Ping thought, but Lu Ping was more confused and worried. He came out of Immortal Senior Liu's cottage. Recalling what Immortal Senior Liu said, he gave a dismal smile. Even Immortal Senior Liu didn't know much about those things. Zhenrens at the Alchemy stage or people who were stronger than them were up to something. How could a little cultivator of Blood Refining like him worth being scheming against by them? Even if they schemed against him, with his cultivation, he could only obey without any chance to escape. The only thing Lu Ping could do was to cultivate hard step by step so that he could have a chance to save himself in the scheme of those strong people.