Chapter 473 - The Gathering.

Yang Dao did not know that the world outside his cultivation room was bustling with activity and the center of it all was him. The boy was currently sitting on a mat and focusing on compressing the spirit energy into liquid spiritual essence. 

The threshold of breaking through to the first stage of the spirit formation realm was to compress one drop of spiritual essence. This realm also had nine stages, each requiring a different quantity of spiritual essence to classify the strength. One drop of spiritual essence was fifty times stronger than spirit energy circulating inside the body. 

The first stage of spiritual formation needed the cultivator to have one hundred drops of spiritual essence inside the dantian, the second needed one thousand, the third needed ten thousand, the fourth needed fifty thousand, sixth needed a hundred thousand. Now, this was where things became tricky. 

The seventh stage needed the cultivator to condense a pond of spiritual essence inside their dantian. Eighth needed them to have a thin wisp of the spiritual essence flowing through the meridians, and the ninth stage needed the cultivator to have this thin wisp condensed into a constant and thicker flow to make a spiritual lake in the body. 

One can only imagine the patience and persistence needed to complete this stage. It was not like the time of compressing the drops will always be too long, the first step is difficult and then it slowly becomes a habit. It was just like the materialization of the proverb, 'practice makes one perfect.'

Yang Dao had been sitting in the same position for three hours and his spiritual energy was gathering inside his dantian. The dantian might look like it was very small but after a cultivator breaks through the second realm, the spirit gathering realm, the constant circulation of the energy inside the dantian nourishes it and enlarges it into a mini dimension made only to contain the spiritual essence.

This space of the mini dimension varied from person to person, and Yang Dao had a blessed physique so his dantian was as big as a boundless field. After his dantian was completely filled to the brim, Yang Dao focused on compressing the spirit energy. The compression was used by focusing it all at one point. (The rest of the process will be unveiled in the future realms.)

So, after the boy started compressing, he realized that the spirit energy had a pressure of itself that was repelling his effort and thus the boy began to focus more and more on it. Slowly the spirit energy began to give way to his persistent approach. The boy did not relax one bit and he kept at it. 

The drop of spirit essence formed, however, it took him three hours to compress it. However, what made him surprised was, according to the books, the drop of spiritual essence should be as big as a sesame seed, however, his was only one-tenth of the sesame seed. He was surprised and recalling the Great Dao Sutra, he relaxed. 

His technique allowed him to have a smaller drop but of the same quality as that of the other people. That settled, he began to cultivate more, the time to compress the spiritual energy became lesser. The lowest time taken by a person to condense the spirit energy into a drop as big as a sesame seed would be thirty minutes. 

Well, Yang Dao was three times faster than that. He was now only taking ten minutes per drop. To him, the quantity needed to progress had become much higher. The first stage will take him a thousand drops. Only in the later stages will he be at the same conditions as the rest, after condensing it all into a pond. 

... 

After a whole day, the boy woke up from his cultivation and sensed his body e brimming with energy. He stood up and stretched his body, then he walked outside the room to take a shower. He pushed open the door and found Alisha standing in front of him. 

The girl smiled at him and then her face froze. She was a golden core realm and could tell that Yang Dao had broken through to the spirit formation realm but what she could not tell was the reason behind his strength giving her a doubtful poke. Yes, she had a doubt that the boy was much stronger than the people in his won realm. However, she did not point it out. 

Yang Dao asked, "Senior sister Alisha, can I have something to eat?" 

Alisha woke up from her daze and said, "Yes, would you like to bathe before you eat?" 

Yang Dao thought for a bit and then nodded. Alisha took him to the bathing room. The boy sighed as he saw a warm spring in front of him. The scenery was exquisitely designed around the pond. The trees were glittering green and exotic flowers were also used to increase the relaxing vibe. 

He said, "I will bathe on my own." to the girl who followed him. Alisha smiled and nodded. She was thankful because despite his age Yang Dao was a boy and she had never been in such close proximity of the opposing sex. That too, in the nude. 

Alisha went outside and Yang Dao took off his robes, he slowly sat down inside the warm spring. The wave of warmth made his stiff body relax a lot and the boy sighed in pleasure. He had been sitting like a stone statue for a day. 

He rubbed his body to remove the non-existence dirt and washed his hair. After he came outside the spring he circulated the water element and all the water slipped off his body. One time he used the fire energy to dry himself and found himself with nest hair. The wind energy was too cold and earth energy was akin to asking for a new bath. So, he used the water-energy only. 

He took out a set of fresh emerald and white robes, this was his uniform as the disciple of the sect master. He wanted to tie his hair back but found that he was not able to do it. After all the effort, he called in Alisha, who helped him tie his hair in a top bun with a shawl left behind on his back. She said, "Young Master, the true disciples, and the prime disciples are holding a gathering." 

Yang Dao tilted his head in confusion and Alisha told him about the distribution of discipline status inside the sect. After he gained an understanding of this, he asked, "Will they have food there?" 

Alisha chuckled and shook her head at this. She said, "I am not aware of this. Why not eat first and then go?"

Yang Dao thought for a bit and asked, "Will it be okay if I was late? You know, I do not want to have a bad first impression." 

Alisha said, "Then how about you eat something on the go?" 

The boy nodded and went to the cultivation room while Alisha rushed to the kitchen and made her own version of spirit chicken roll. The boy did not bring his sword along with him when he came to take the bath, since he was going outside then he decided to bring back his sword along with him. He tied behind his back horizontally with the hilt of the sword to his right-hand side.

When he came back Alisha came over holding two rolls wrapped in paper. She said, "This will last you for a bit." 

Yang Dao nodded and took one roll from her and after unwrapping it he ate it. The boy did not speak much as Alisha escorted him to the place where the people were gathered. As the prime disciple of the sect master, a beast mount was given to Yang Dao but the child took out his flying sword and traveled through the void. 

Alisha followed him on her flying sword as well. Only near the places where the elders lived, flying was prohibited, but the rest of the planet was free, and every few kilometers, there were teleportation gates, that allowed small and quick movement through the void. The two people were heading towards a place called, Soul Searching Pavilion. 

This place was an entertainment zone for the disciples, the disciples and cultivators from outside the sovereign sect were allowed to work here as dance and music courtesans, they were all strictly screened and it was forbidden for them to go outside this zone without permission or invitation. 

Yang Dao was taken to an exquisite building by Alisha, she presented a purple invitation to the guards at the door and the people bowed to Yang Dao in a hurry. Alisha said, "Young Master, inside is the gathering." 

Yang Dao still had half the roll in his hand and a bite in his mouth, he nodded and walked inside while chewing the food. Alisha sighed and mumbled, "To think he wanted a good image." 

...

Inside the building, in a grand hall, a lot of people were gathered, while some wore similar robes, at least thirty people stood wearing different robes, just like Yang Dao, these were the prime disciples. 

Yue Ming suddenly asked, "Where is the person, for whom this gathering was organized?" as he looked around. 

It was as if Yang Dao was waiting for him to say this, he walked in while holding one last bite of the roll, and said, "Hello, everyone, I apologize for the delay, I was cultivating, plus I was hungry as well. Sorry." 

His age was known to everyone, while some wannabe gents scrunched their noses, the girls melted like wax under fire.. Some prime disciples noticed that his cultivation was not the peak of spirit gathering realm but first stage of the spirit formation realm and the gears in their brains began to turn.