Chapter 53 – Cultivators Face Calamity

Tai’an Island, within the island protection formation.

“A bottleneck? The Heavenly Tribulation?” Li Fan flipped through the copy of 《Miscellaneous Notes on Cultivation》 he had purchased, his brow furrowing slightly.

Ever since returning from Ten Thousand Immortals Island a few days ago, he hadn’t stopped cultivating for even a moment.

He had originally planned to strike while the iron was hot and break through to the late Qi Refining stage in one push.

Yet despite clearly sensing that the breakthrough was not far off, no matter how Li Fan cultivated, he always felt as though he was just a hair’s breadth away.

This seemingly minute gap loomed before Li Fan like an unbridgeable chasm.

After reading through 《Miscellaneous Notes on Cultivation》, Li Fan finally confirmed that he had encountered a bottleneck.

Even in the ancient era of cultivation, the concept of cultivation bottlenecks already existed.

During the process of cultivation, one’s progress might stall at a certain threshold, unable to advance even an inch.

In the current cultivation world, bottlenecks had an even greater impact on cultivators.

Starting from the mid Qi Refining stage, every cultivator would inevitably encounter a bottleneck when attempting to break through each minor realm.

This kind of bottleneck could not be overcome through sheer hard work and relentless training alone.

One had to find the destined opportunity sensed in the depths of one’s consciousness — only then could the bottleneck be dissolved and the breakthrough achieved.

This opportunity might come from seeing a painting, or drinking a cup of tea.

It might come from a sudden moment of enlightenment, or a flash of inspiration amid a life-or-death battle.

It could also come from a casual remark by a stranger, or the careful guidance of a senior.

In short, there was no pattern to follow — one could only rely on the inscrutable workings of “fate.”

The existence of bottlenecks undeniably suppressed the speed of a cultivator’s progress to a great degree.

Like a calamity sent down by the heavens, they blocked cultivators from advancing.

And so, cultivators gave them another name: the Heavenly Tribulation.

In any case, this Heavenly Tribulation had now descended upon Li Fan’s head.

His plan for a quick breakthrough had come to nothing.

After sitting motionless within the formation for several days, Li Fan still couldn’t sense where his opportunity for a breakthrough lay.

Knowing that this matter couldn’t be forced in the short term, he didn’t let himself grow anxious. He temporarily set aside his cultivation of the Minor Ripple Water Art and turned instead to cultivating 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》.

《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》 had five layers, which in the ancient era corresponded to the five great realms: innate, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul.

The innate realm was a rather special existence found in the techniques of certain sects during the ancient era.

It emphasized expelling all the impure energies accumulated after birth and returning to the pristine state of innate purity.

Those sects believed that beginning cultivation from the innate realm would make it easier to comprehend the Heavenly Dao.

Both the speed and upper limit of cultivation would far surpass those of ordinary cultivators.

The Celestial Mysteries Sect was one of the sects that advocated beginning all cultivation from the innate stage.

But after the new methods replaced the old, cultivators seized power from heaven and earth, no longer pursuing the harmony of heaven and man.

Naturally, there was no longer any talk of returning one’s energy to the innate state.

However, the most fundamental part of 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》 as a complete technique was precisely the innate realm.

So what Li Fan had to do was substitute Qi Refining for the innate realm and complete the first layer of cultivation.

Generally speaking, using a higher realm to substitute for a lower one would naturally be backward-compatible, and cultivation would tend to be relatively easy.

But when the matter involved the differences between the ancient and modern cultivation systems, things were not so simple.

Especially since Li Fan was merely a beginner who had only been cultivating for a few years, with a severely insufficient foundation of relevant knowledge.

This was also why it had taken Li Fan an entire year just to reach the entry level previously.

And that was while under the enhanced comprehension from having taken the glazed pill.

Now, after Li Fan’s cultivation of the Minor Ripple Water Art had hit a bottleneck, he began working on the second layer of 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》.

He planned to cultivate both techniques simultaneously to the mid Qi Refining stage, hoping this might help him break through the bottleneck.

After all, in this era where cultivation techniques were precious, an ordinary cultivator like him who could train in multiple techniques simultaneously was truly uncommon.

According to 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》, upon successfully cultivating the second layer, one would master the divine ability of “Qi Discernment.”

“Qi Discernment,” as the name suggested, meant the ability to distinguish and perceive the various vital energies between heaven and earth.

This was also the very foundation of 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》.

Only by first discerning and perceiving these vital energies could one then proceed to capture and refine them.

The difficulty of cultivating the second layer exceeded even Li Fan’s imagination.

If the Minor Ripple Water Art was a straightforward manual that told you exactly how to cultivate without a single wasted word,

then 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》 buried its cultivation instructions within heaps of deliberately mystifying language, leaving you to figure things out on your own.

Not only that, it would intermittently weave in insights about the Heavenly Dao, cite anecdotes from the ancient cultivation world, and so on.

All sorts of disparate content jumbled together — Li Fan could only read until his head spun and his blood surged.

After reading through it once, he felt like he had understood it. But when he actually tried to cultivate, he realized he hadn’t understood anything at all.

Fortunately, Li Fan was not one to give up easily.

Despite the formidable difficulties, Li Fan patiently studied and contemplated every single word and phrase.

Through Li Fan’s diligent cultivation, another year passed.

His cultivation of 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》 had made virtually no progress.

Li Fan was not discouraged.

On his second trip to Ten Thousand Immortals Island to collect his agent’s compensation, he exchanged all 800 contribution points and the five Tai’an Fruits he had accumulated over two years for a collection of ancient cultivation technique insights.

Afterward, Li Fan activated the assisted cultivation mode in the Celestial Mystery Realm.

He didn’t practice any techniques — he simply read through these insights, cross-referencing them against the experience he had summarized over the past year.

It was like an epiphany pouring over him. All the puzzles and difficulties he could never figure out before were now answered, every single one.

When he reached the most brilliant passages, Li Fan couldn’t help dancing with joy, his delight overflowing.

In that moment, Li Fan finally began to understand the saying: “If one hears the Dao in the morning, one can die content that evening.”

The five days passed quickly.

Having gained new understanding, Li Fan hurried back to Tai’an Island and entered secluded cultivation once more.

This time, his cultivation was incomparable to before.

All the obscure and difficult parts of the technique had been clarified, and naturally there were no more obstacles to his cultivation.

Li Fan’s consciousness quickly became immersed in the process.

In cultivation, one loses track of time.

One day, a golden, mist-like spiritual energy — utterly different from water-attribute spiritual energy — suddenly emerged in Li Fan’s dantian.

Li Fan’s eyes snapped open, joy spreading across his face.

“The second layer of 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》 — I’ve finally mastered it.” Li Fan let out a long breath of relief.

Stretching his somewhat stiff body, he turned to check the time and was momentarily dazed.

He hadn’t expected that this period of secluded cultivation had lasted an entire year.

Yet to Li Fan’s perception, it had felt like nothing more than a single night’s sleep.

Fortunately, hard work always yields rewards in the end.

Li Fan focused his mind. As golden spiritual energy gathered in his eyes, he activated “Qi Discernment.”

“Let me see what these so-called vital energies of heaven and earth actually look like.” Li Fan was somewhat excited as he tested his new divine ability for the first time.

He gazed out toward Tai’an Island.

What he saw was a sight that made his blood run cold.

Dense, thick black death energy, like gathering storm clouds, blanketed the entirety of Tai’an Island!

The death energy was so concentrated it seemed almost tangible, making the still-daylit Tai’an Island look like the underworld itself!

He dismissed the technique, then activated it again.

Only after looking several times in succession did Li Fan confirm that his eyes were not deceiving him.

“How can this be?” Li Fan was shocked and bewildered.

Suddenly, as though he had finally remembered something, he hastily conjured a Water Mirror technique and peered at his own reflection.

What he saw was this:

The death energy gathered above the Li Fan in the mirror was a thousand times denser than that over the mortals on the island!