Basic Knowledge of Spiritual Practice

At the dinner hall in the evening, the brother and sister who were in high spirits for not being scolded sat in the private room eating while telling Li Miaoxin about what happened in the afternoon. This included their encounters with Tang Xin, the four-armed monkey, the giant rabbit, the hippopotamus that gave them the middle finger, the three-headed dog, and the penguins and other interesting things.

Li Miaoxin just listened gently, occasionally responding with a sentence or two.

"I'm going to settle the score with that group of penguins sooner or later." Lin Xiaolu cried out, "Senior Sister, when I cultivate to what level in the future can I defeat that group of penguins?"

Li Miaoxin thought for a moment before smiling and said, "Emperor Penguin Seniors are spirit beasts at the Foundation Building stage, so Xiaolu, if you want to defeat Emperor Penguin Seniors, you would at least need to reach the Foundation Building stage."

"Is it difficult to reach Foundation Building?" Lin Xiaolu asked curiously.

Li Miaoxin nodded bitterly, "Of course it's difficult. Take me for example, I started cultivating when I was 10 years old. I'm 16 this year, so I've been cultivating for 6 years, but I'm only at the third layer of Qi Condensation."

Lin Xiaolu didn't quite understand. He didn't know the difference between Qi Condensation and Foundation Building.

And Xiao Yuer, being only 5 years old, just kept shoving food into her little mouth while sitting at the table.

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu didn't understand, Li Miaoxin smiled and explained to him, "There are stages in cultivation. At the beginning, it is the Qi Condensation stage from first to tenth layer.

After breaking through the tenth layer of Qi Condensation and establishing the foundation, it is the Foundation Building stage. For example, Emperor Penguin Seniors you met are at the Foundation Building stage. Senior Sister Tang Xin is also at the Foundation Building stage. And our Eldest Senior Brother who is in closed-door training is also at the Foundation Building stage."

Li Miaoxin said, "At Emei, the chief personal disciple of each branch is a powerhouse at the Foundation Building stage, and is also the backbone of the entire Emei."

Lin Xiaolu was shocked to hear this. He didn't expect Emperor Penguin and Rakshasa Ghost Witch to be so powerful. He thought they were about the same as his Senior Sister.

"Then what is above Foundation Building, Senior Sister?" Lin Xiaolu asked.

"Above Foundation Building is Core Formation." Li Miaoxin explained, "Like our Master, he is at the Core Formation stage. The elders of the other branches are also at Core Formation stage, and among them our Master is the strongest of the nine branch elders."

"Oh~" Lin Xiaolu suddenly realized and nodded slightly. After the patient explanation from the young girl, he had a general concept about cultivation.

Li Miaoxin went on to say with a smile, "Above Core Formation is Nascent Soul. In the entire Emei, only our Sect Leader has reached this stage. However, I don't know the extent of the power at this stage, nor what supernatural abilities the Sect Leader possesses, because although I have been in Emei for seven years, I have never seen the Sect Leader make a move."

"Are there other stages above Nascent Soul?" Lin Xiaolu asked curiously.

"Of course there are." Li Miaoxin nodded and answered, "But I don't know what those stages are called either. I only heard Master mention it in passing. Master said that the ancestral patriarch of our Emei, who was also the master of him and the Sect Leader, left Emei to seek opportunities in China to enter the realms above Nascent Soul."

Lin Xiaolu listened with a dumbfounded look on his face, feeling like a door to a new world had opened.

Qi Condensation first to tenth layer, then Foundation Building, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and realms above Nascent Soul, he didn't expect there would be so many stages in cultivation.

In fact, Lin Xiaolu was quite looking forward to cultivating. After two days in Emei, he had already witnessed many miraculous abilities, such as Master Li Mingru bringing him and his sister to Emei by flying through the air as a white rainbow.

There was also old man Yang at the literacy class curing other people's injuries with a wave of his hand, and Rakshasa Ghost Witch conjuring butterflies with her fingers to make his sister laugh.

These profound and mysterious abilities made him yearn for them very much. Just imagine, if he could become so powerful in the future, be able to fly and summon the wind and rain at will, how would that feel?

At that time, let alone not paying for candied haws, even going to any small mortal kingdom to become an emperor would probably not be a problem!

"Senior Sister, teach me how to cultivate!" The boy said eagerly, "I also want to become as powerful as them, to be able to fly, heal injuries, and turn into butterflies."

Li Miaoxin couldn't help but laugh when she heard this. She jokingly said, "There's no rush for this. Junior Brother, focus on learning literacy at the literacy class. Only when you can recognize words can you understand the profound methods and charms, and learn all kinds of mysteries.

When you have some basic literacy skills, Teacher Yang will teach you how to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and start the most basic cultivation to test your talent for cultivation."

"Talent?" Lin Xiaolu asked in puzzlement, "What is talent?"

"Talent refers to one's sensitivity to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and whether one possesses a special spiritual root."

Li Miaoxin smiled and explained, "Don't worry, Junior Brother and Sister. Emei is very strict about accepting inner sect disciples. Those without outstanding talents would never be directly recruited.

Since you are the first disciples Master has accepted in twenty years, you must be extraordinary geniuses. Senior Sister has absolute confidence in you about this."

"Mm-hmm." Lin Xiaolu also nodded when he heard this. He also felt that he and his sister must be very awesome to shamelessly accept Li Miaoxin's words.

"Senior Sister, if one doesn't have talent, can they not cultivate?" Little Yuer, who was eating, suddenly asked unclearly.

"That's right." Li Miaoxin nodded with a smile and explained, "In fact, most mortals are unable to cultivate, because the vast majority of people are insensitive to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They cannot store the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for their own use, let alone perform various profound methods."

"Aren't mortals very pitiful then?" Lin Xiaolu asked, "Mortals have no spiritual power and cannot cultivate. If they encounter some bad cultivators, won't they be bullied?"

"That is indeed the case." Li Miaoxin looked at the siblings and patiently explained to them, "Cultivators pursue longevity and can live for thousands of years, while the lives of mortals only last for decades, fleeting like a glimpse of cloud smoke. Therefore, in front of cultivators, they are often like ants, with no power to protect themselves. Even the armies of mortal empires would be crushed instantly when facing powerful cultivators."

"Then why don't the cultivation sects massacre mortals?" Lin Xiaolu asked curiously, "Is it because they are too strong and too lazy to bother with mortals now?"

"Of course not." Li Miaoxin smiled and said, "The reasons for this are complicated, mainly two points."

She raised two of her delicate fingers to explain to the two children:

"First, although mortals have no spiritual power and cannot cultivate, they can provide faith power to the cultivation sects in their region in exchange for protection. For example, around Emei's territory, there are several countries that rely on us.

Their people usually worship and pay tribute to us Emei cultivators as their gods, calling us the Immortals of Emei. Mortals' faith and worship will produce a kind of faith power, which is also a form of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that can subtly help our cultivation. And we need to protect them in return, ensuring peace and prosperity.

After speaking, Li Miaoxin raised a second finger:

"Second, wantonly massacring mortals will lead to backlash from the Heavenly Dao, not only generating karmic obstacles, but also easily producing inner demons during future cultivation. You should know that once inner demons take over, minor cases may lead to losing thousands of years of cultivation, and serious cases may lead to complete annihilation."

"So it is precisely because of the existence of faith power and karmic demons that almost no cultivator in China would indiscriminately massacre living beings. Do you understand?"

With snot dripping from his nose, Lin Xiaolu nodded dumbly.