Chapter 68: Cultivation Complications

Chapter 68: Cultivation Complications

The pain is getting worse, I mumbled as I sipped some more energy potion. I had been constantly taking them for the last 100 years or cycles as they called time around this place. I had accumulated 106,800 drops, divided equally between all 9 sub-divisions of cores, which meant 11,866.6 drops per core.

Each of my cores had quickly progressed through the stages of gas, liquid, and solid. Now they were putting out immense amounts of pressure on my cultivation system and body, while I was squeezed the other way from the energy potions. I needed to keep drinking them to get more drops, but the main in the center of my body was becoming much worse. Enough that it was distracting.

While my pain tolerance was high, this was enough, that it was a struggle to do techniques and keep up my robberies from war zones. Bones and I had already accumulated 2.4 million credits in total. Not counting the money spent on general supplies, everything was divided in half. I had spent a lot of my wealth on potions, while he was saving his credits up to replace his body.

You need to get someone specialized to take a look. That was not good. I had about 200,000 credits left of my share of 1.2 million. The rest had gone into energy potions.

A faction specialist, I said with a groan as pain laced through me.

Yes. We have made inquiries, we just need to go sooner rather than later. Thankfully Bones didnt make an objection when we left the conflict area a bit sooner than planned. We would only get a couple hundred thousand credits from selling goods, but they had been adding up over the last century.

The hardest part was finding good targets and the longest part was waiting for an opportune moment to strike. While the Forever City was incredibly large, we couldnt afford to get too greedy or just steal trash. Sometimes Bones would call off a heist due to the risk he perceived. I didnt argue with him. While we were stealing pocket change from the factions, no one liked to be robbed.

I made my way to an open floor, and then paid a vehicle a couple thousand credits to take me to the first ring of the Forever City. I also changed my clothes. The TripleX faction had charged a fee for the information on an independent cultivation consultant. Normally their services were used by rich cultivators who wanted a second opinion for their child or a unique cultivation method. Or fixing mistakes by these rich scions.

When I got out of the vehicle, the sight was completely changed. The air was clear outside the tower, and the towers had symbols and decorations on the outside. It was like night and day to the other parts of the Forever City. The first ring and core of the Forever City has always been quite nice. But also expensive. There are no stairs here. Well there are, but they are closed off. We will need to pay an attendant to transport us through the elevator shaft.

I made my way over. Floor 12, I said to the attendant.

Five hundred credits, they calmly replied. I paid the fee without hesitation. This was just the first road block to visit a specialist. The faction that was protecting them, charged high visitations fees that would only be a minor annoyance to other cultivators in factions. It would also keep the riff raff out. I stepped on the platform with the attendant and I didnt feel any force as it moved into the elevator shaft.

I could sense the forces acting on it, but I didnt physically feel it as we transversed 781 levels in the span of a single breath. We reached floor 12 and I exited off the platform. There were several medical facilities lined up on this level of this tower.

While the TripleX faction didnt control this tower, they were allied to the faction that did, along with being allied with several smaller but service-oriented factions. The idea being, to keep customers inside their alliance to generate as much profit as possible. Bones said it left them exposed, but they probably had a super stronger backer that was keeping quiet in order to have a wide ranging information network using other factions as proxies.

In the end it was all about who you knew. There was no internet that was searchable. The pad only gave major locations and local information that was updated. Over the years we had filled in swaths of the Forever City, but the total amount was probably less than 2%. The Forever City was just that big.

Another thing of the Forever City beyond my paygrade. The important thing was to visit a specialist. I entered a small shop labeled, Ten Thousands Paths One Destination. There was no attendant standing around which was not the norm for most places.

Oh, a customer, a middle aged man stepped out from a back room into the tiny lobby area. Are you a customer? they asked.

Yes, honored senior. My name is Yuan and I require a consultation and discretion about my cultivation, I said.

I am Ming Jiei. Expert on unique cultivation methods. I will do a general assessment and then give the price for my advice. First thing, you will need to remove the observation absorbers so I can take a close look, he said. I didnt argue and put them away in my spatial rings. I saw a look of growing shock on his face.

Who did this to you? And you are still alive? Three path cultivation. Four, no five, wait. Nine distinct core structures. I count 1,304 channels. Already over 100,000 drops. The pressure on your soul is immense. Force cultivation. A suction vortex. Body, soul, and mind base refinements, Ming Jiei said as he pierced through my cultivation in seconds. This was why I needed all those observation absorbers.

There has been an increasing amount of pain in my core area, or gut, I said.

I can see that. Well, a diagnosis will cost you 50,000 credits. That includes possible solutions, Ming Jiei said.

Will that include issues related to breaking through the bottleneck to the next stage? I asked.

That? I dont even know where to start there. I need to think on that issue. But that is a separate issue with a separate price, he said.

Very well senior Ming Jiei, I said and paid his fee. There was no point going to a top end specialist if you werent willing to pay out the credits for their advice.

The problem is your physical body. It is not an adults body. But the pressure on it is not good either. That is the first problem. The best solution is to wait until you grow to an adult body and then continue cultivation, Ming Jiei said.

That would not leave me enough time to gather the drops of energy I need, I replied and he tapped his clean shaven chin with his right hand as he continued to stare at me.

The root of the first problem, is the impact on your body. Your soul is pushing against its physical constraints, and it will only get worse. Your physical body needs to get bigger. There is too much pressure and force being applied from multiple directions, he explained.

A channel system is not meant to take in energy from the body like you are doing. You are abusing energy potions. While cost effective, channels are meant to absorb energy from the outside, or at least yours are. If you wanted to go through direct absorption, then you need a pocket type structure instead of channels.

Pocket type structure? I asked.

Reinforced areas of your body to draw and transmit energy from your physical body into your core. Thankfully your cultivation is dense enough that you arent exploding. But you have about a century of accumulated stress. You have to stop all use of energy potions.

What about alternatives to waiting? I asked.

A chamber of some kind to absorb outside energy is the best bet. More expensive, but it is the best solution. More energy potions will only get worse, since your cores are pushing back on your channels. But your physical body is trying to push energy into your channels. That is why you are experiencing pain all over. If you keep using energy potions, your body will collapse in about four to seven decades. Which brings up the second major issue with your health and cultivation.

Soul instability. While your internal structure is incredibly strong. One of, if not the strongest internal structure I have seen, you have carved most of your soul out.

Isnt a soul supposed to be carved out? I asked.

Yes, it is. One of the common problems I see, is soul instability from putting in too much. Your base refinements of the aspects of your cultivation had mitigated your death. But the remaining portions of your soul are experiencing stress cracks. There is just too much pressure, primarily from your cores.

They are solid, arent they? I asked.

You are going to try and ignite them? Increasing the pressure so much, that the solid energy collapses? Ming Jiei asked me.

Yes senior. That was the plan, I replied.

Your cores are sending minute vibrations out in your soul. The base material is developing very tiny stresses. With how far it appears you plan to go with your cultivation, this issue will quickly become unmanageable once your cores ignite. Instead of a solid core being compressed denser and denser, your cores will ignite, actively pushing back.

I was thinking I could use my Force cultivation to contain them better, I replied.This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Really? That would be amazing. That would lower my expenses by a million credits, putting me at a target of 6.5 million credits, I worked out.

It will be a good test run to work out any minor issues in containment. With you, it would just be some lost energy, which is a minor expense. With the ingredients I am using, including my bones, there is only one shot. I cant afford anything to be leaking out, Bones explained.

That is a lot of credits we have left to steal, another 13 million, I said since we were splitting credits earned evenly. We were earning at a good clip, but I hated stealing. I wanted a passive income, or a business. While I was running a criminal enterprise with two members, it was not a real business.

Trust me. I would prefer credits to flow to us without complaint, but it is what it is. We dont have the identity or backing to start a business of any kind. If you breakthrough, then you might be able to start something or negotiate with a faction to a degree. You wont be able to steal anymore. You strength will not go unnoticed.

Cant I just get better observation blockers? I asked.

Even with them, your astral soul is a single point. After you reach the next stage, it will no longer be a single point and have weight. While incredibly light, it will have weight, and can be detected. That is why we are able to get away with so much constantly. Even with high ranking cultivators looking for us, we blend in with the background. But if you have weight to your soul, well there is a chance to be noticed. Incredibly small chance, but a chance nonetheless, which makes stealing impractical, Bones explained.

So, I better stock up on credits while I can, is what you are saying. As for a temporal compression chamber, could we hire someone to make one? I asked.

Temporal techniques, from skills to crafting, are highly valued. The chamber my faction used was maintained by a cultivator from the Heavenly Alliance. You are talking about a handful of people with the skills to make such a thing. Then there is the issue of materials and power. But it has given me some ideas as to the breakthrough problem.

Other things that can alter my perception of time? I asked.

Exactly. But they each have their own risks and problems. The best option would be to break through in the Astral Plane itself. You would have unlimited time there, since your soul would be exposed.

I am sensing a big issue with this plan otherwise more people would do it. I am guessing it will be a beacon for anything that wants to eat me or consume me? I asked.

Yes. A beacon would be the perfect way to describe this. With your cultivation exposed like that, everything will come for you. No one would willingly protect you either from the threats out there. You could enter someplace important, and then break through. Then you would just have to escape from some incredibly pissed cultivators afterwards.

They wouldnt be able to target me during my breakthrough? I asked.

Depends. It is just an idea, not even a good one. But I dont see any other option, unless Ming Jiei has a massive breakthrough. It isnt just slowing your perception, but the rate your cultivation collapses back togeather after detonating your cores. Thats why you cant just drink a potion to slow your perception. You will only be able to act so fast. You need the entire process spread out as much as possible, Bones explained, which clarified some confusion I was having.

So, a place would be like the arrival station for the cylinder ships? I asked, since they traveled through the Astral Plane from what Bones had told me.

Precisely one of those locations. But you breakthrough in such a location, then you will piss off a lot of very powerful people. Getting away will not be simple or easy. There is a reason no one does it, even if it is one of the best solutions to this problem. There are things out there, that scare even me.

So basically, not a good option. You cant section off a portion of the Astral Plane, like build a fortress?

Physical things attract attention and arent a real barrier. There is no real barrier to many of the threats out there. Many of them operate on completely different principles than either of us understand. Traveling through the Astral Plane has immense dangers. It is the layer between the Firmament upon which we stand, and Chaos.

And Chaos is bad?

In the sense of living. But it is more the environment. Good example are temporal effects. You have a cause and an effect. Even if something loops backwards, there is a cause and effect. But the further you go, you can eventually skip the cause. And when you have things that can manipulate such an outcome, it is very dangerous. Beyond dangerous.

That didnt make much sense. But my understanding of reality was clearly lacking. Like being attacked and taking damage, but there is not attack? I asked.

Yes. Those kinds of things can enter the Astral Plane. There are memetic hazards which you experienced before. Not thinking about those numbers. And countless other threats. The further they move away from the layer of Chaos, the harder it becomes for them to do certain things and leaves them weak. That is why most of them dont show up and kill everyone and everything. Hmmm, let me give you the example I was given when traveling.

I listened closely. Bones didnt often share stories of his adventures or background. He only liked to provide explanations of things that were immediate concerns. There is something that propagates backwards through time through physic emanations formed by knowledge of this things existence.

Isnt it dangerous to talk about then? I asked worriedly.

I dont know its name and it stays unnamed. Just that once one being knows of it, it comes into existence, propagating backwards in time sending out physic emanations to propagate itself to other people backwards and forwards.

And how would that even work with time travel? Like going backwards, wouldnt it change things, or are there multiple realities? I ask.

No multiple realities. But you are missing the point. There is only one singular point in time. But if this thing can possess you and propagate to you, then it will do so throughout your entire existence, killing you. But that is the level of threat that will come at you in the Astral Plane, or any other cultivator. Things that make no sense based on logic and progression.

So I can suddenly, just die, based on a mistake of my future self? I asked.

Temporal mechanics is complicated. The answer is both yes and no, depending on where you are. Right now, causality holds within the Forever City. But if you risk that, then you and a lot of people you know could be wiped out. Each situation is unique, when you break causality, or something else does.

Note to self, never go into the Astral Plane ever again, I muttered.

Many people dont. The last time you went, you were weak and easily ignored. A breakthrough of your magnitude would be a disaster of epic proportions. You need to be aware of the dangers that can occur. Even if they make absolutely no sense, and are not easily explained.

This is all I can think about now. It is hurting my head.

That is why I didnt bring this kind of thing up before. It is best to ignore rationality and put it all in one box that you wont touch, until you reach that point. The threats on that level are the kind that would threaten the Forever City.

I have a million more questions, I muttered.

I dont have answers unfortunately. I gave you the same warning and explanation I was given. Until you get much stronger, stronger than even me, dealing with things that break the foundations of reality is a very bad idea. Avoiding the Astral Plane and going lower, is a very good idea.

I will remember that. But couldnt one go to a place like that, and get super powerful without having to do anything? I asked and Bones began to laugh.

I asked the same question. Is it possible yes. Will you get the outcome you want. No. Firmament topology is an incredibly advanced topic. Its like the energy potions. Could you keep drinking them and somehow survive and become more powerful. Yes. But you will probably die horribly.

The only shortcut is credits. Well if you come up with any more ideas, let me know please? I asked Bones.

I will. But your situation does not have a simple resolution. If you do survive to immortality, then I shudder to think of how immense your foundation will be. And how many credits are spent in pursuit of that goal. I might even shed a tear at the immense cost you will incur.

Well at least I had a path forward in the immediate future. Get lots and lots of credits. There was less of a time crunch with how well I had been doing. I wouldnt slow down and had no plans to. But the main concern was surviving entering the next stage.

My cultivation was already incredibly complex, now there were just countless issues that were the result of that complexity that needed to be addressed. Before, I just needed to get some basic supplies and help, but now I was entering untrod ground. The fact that there was no readily available solution in the Forever City, with its massive size and length of existence was incredibly scary.