Chương 375: The refinement stages

The youth also expressed some surprise on his face.

"You're quite confident, but I won't entertain you. You might have refined your cultivation, but you're still no match for me. Perhaps if you train in the inner peak for a couple of months, you'll be worthy to challenge me." Qiu Yushi's brows knitted together instantly.

"What of my test?"

"You pass. I can't be bothered to test someone who already refined his cultivation. I don't think I can make you lose either way." The youth yawned and turned around.

"Don't think I'm backing down or anything." He casually added.

"That's exactly what this seems like to me. Why else?" Qiu Yushi replied.

"Why? Because I've seen through you. And you've seen nothing of what I can do. Amongst all of them, only you and that sword Imperial are able to pique my interest. If you train in the inner peak for a while, we can have a rematch." The youth replied genuinely, not speaking with his usual belittlement or arrogance for the first time. While his extreme arrogance was still there, there was no doubt that he viewed Qiu Yushi as close to his level.

The warden saw that Qiu Yushi wanted to speak again and quickly interfered.

"If both of you fight here, you might end up bothering the elder. That won't be good. Yushi, you should stand down. You'll have more opportunities in the future." Qiu Yushi furrowed his brows but didn't say anything.

"Old man, you can take the corpse and the unconscious one and leave. I'll take it from here." The youth glanced at the warden and spoke.

"Yes." The warden nodded and scooped up the two unmoving deities, one dead and one unconscious before he prepared to teleport back to the outer peak. The youth then glanced at the ten deities, or rather nine deities and one Imperial with a helpless look.

"This is so annoying. I have to waste more time on you guys…" he sighed.

"Come on. I'll introduce the inner peak to you along the way and you'll all receive your new identity tokens and robes." The youth led the way, walking out of the hall and they all followed behind him in silence.

"This is the Dao Heaven Hall. I presume you know it's purpose, so I won't explain." As they walked down the mountain that was nearly twice larger than the outer peak, the youth continued introducing several places, including the training grounds and the battle grounds. As he kept speaking, everyone gradually got bored. After a while, the youth finally stopped speaking.

"If anyone has a question, you can ask. I suppose I can do that much since you'll be joining the inner peak as well." That drew Long Feng's attention, and he decided to ask a question that had been in his mind for a while after a slight hesitation.

"What are the refinement stages you mentioned?" In truth, the question he wanted to ask was, 'how are you so powerful', but he decided to rephrase it based on what he already knew. If the so called refinement stages was what made both him and Qiu Yushi so powerful, then Long Feng needed to know what it was.

"Hm? That old man didn't explain?" Long Feng shook his head. At least, no one explained anything to him.

"Ah. So annoying…" the youth rubbed his forehead.

"The refinement stages is a method developed to enhance the density and power of true essence while building greater foundation for the Dao realm." The youth began. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Everyone has a spirit core, and that is the base of everything. Once you become a deity, the core will expand to contain true essence. Each breakthrough expands it more, but each expansion equally weakens your foundation. In view of this, the ancestors came up with a unique method. To refine the cultivation. When an early stage deity reaches the mid stage, they can consume a special pill produced specifically to compress your very cultivation, making your core smaller and more compact.

In the process, your cultivation will fall back to the early stage deity realm, but in reality, you have the power of a mid stage deity, along with the same true essence density while as an early stage deity. Do you understand?" Long Feng's mind was shaken by this revelation. So this was what the refinement stages meant… to literally refine your entire cultivation. An early stage deity would therefore have the power of a mid stage deity! Which genius came up with this method?

"So you are…"

"That's right. I reached the peak of mid stage deity realm before I refined my cultivation, falling back to the early stage. In other words…" he grinned, "I have the strength of a peak mid stage deity." Long Feng now realized why the youth was so powerful. They were literally fighting against a peak mid stage deity! How in the world were they supposed to win?

"This fellow over here, he also refined his cultivation from the mid stage deity realm. But he was too impatient and didn't wait to reach the peak. In pure energy density, I am already above him, not mentioning my superior techniques." The youth casually added, causing Qiu Yushi to smile slightly.

"We can go a few rounds to test your words." He proposed.

"Don't worry. There'll be plenty time for that later." The youth replied. While they spoke, Long Feng frowned deeply while thinking about this refinement stages. To think something so astonishing was possible! But… what exactly happens after the refinement? Also, there seemed to be a huge flaw.

"If so, can't someone simply keep refining his cultivation several times, eventually having the strength of a peak deity as an early stage deity?" He asked. The youth couldn't help but laugh.

"You're right. It is possible in theory. But In reality, nothing is more impossible than that." He continued to explain.

"The spirit core has a natural limit. It is a limit that no talent can ever overcome. You can only refine your cultivation once in every stage. Countless people have tried to do it twice, but their spirit cores all shattered instantly without exception. From ancient times till now, no one has ever succeeded in refining their cultivation twice in a stage. And buy stage, early stage is naturally exempted.

If you take the pill as an early stage deity, then your spirit core won't be able to withstand it and will instantly crumble, wasting your cultivation. Mid stage is the beginning. Once you refine your cultivation once, you become a refined early stage deity, meaning you have the strength of a mid stage deity. Once you cultivate back to the mid stage deity realm, you will have the strength of a late stage deity, but you will no longer be able to refine your cultivation until you reach the late stage.

After refining a second time, you'll fall to the mid stage while having the strength of a normal peak deity! That way, the normal power ceiling of the deity realm was completely shattered and restructured." The youth explained, leaving Long Feng shocked. This was the first time he was hearing about something as amazing as this, and he appeared to be the only one who didn't know about it already. Based on what the youth was saying, a refined mid stage deity would have the strength of a peak deity!

That meant a refined late stage deity would have the strength beyond normal peak deities! Wasn't that… the Dao realm? The youth seemed to have read his thoughts and laughed.

"A refined late stage deity would have reached the peak deity realm and refined their cultivation for the third time. They would have surpassed the power of normal peak deities, but they'll still be nowhere near the Dao realm. The Dao realm is more than just another realm. It is a complete transformation, something I can't explain. And three refining stages is the limit for everyone. Unless you wish to destroy your cultivation, no one would dare to try it a fourth time.

Also, the refining stages have been tested to only be possible for the deity realm. The spirit core of Imperials is too fragile and the Dao hearts of Dao realm masters are on a different level, such that they can't ever refine their cultivation." Long Feng nodded, fully understanding the situation. Looked like there was balance in everything. The spirit core made it possible to break through the normal power ceiling of the deity realm, but it also restricted them to only three refinements.

Apparently, no one in history had ever broken that restriction. As he thought of that, a strange thought appeared in his mind.

"The spirit core is the cause of that limit… but I don't have one. Would my spirit cyclone have the same restriction?" More importantly, would it even be possible for him to refine his cultivation? His spirit cyclone was fundamentally different from the spirit core after all. It's very existence was a huge mystery that shouldn't be possible at all, and it's abilities were similarly shocking, like it's devouring ability.

Anything was possible, and since he didn't exactly have a user's manual for the spirit cyclone, he would eventually have to figure it out by himself.

"Does that mean everyone can refine their cultivation?" That would make it quite boring, as the entire deity realm structure would have to change permanently. But since it hadn't and there were still ordinary deities, then it was unlikely. And indeed, the youth shook his head.

"How's that possible? The world would have lost structure if that were to happen. Unfortunately, it's impossible. Very few people are able to achieve the full three refinements, and they're all among the greatest geniuses in the entire Mainland. The foundation we lay from the spirit realm to the Imperial realm actually plays a huge role here.

When you reach the mid stage deity realm and take the pill, there's a high risk of failing and destroying your core if your foundation was not steady enough, and it happens often even here. You'll completely waste your cultivation. If you do succeed, you might reach the limit your foundation can allow for your spirit core to be compressed again. That means you can never refine a second time. Luckily, you will feel if you've reached the limit of your foundation so as to avoid ruining yourself.

Very few people can complete the three refinements, and some of them might end up with a cracked core that'll actually ruin their chances of becoming Dao realm masters. In view of that, even top geniuses usually prefer to pause at two refinements, not daring to do the final one. Take me for example. My core should be able to handle a second refinement, but there's a high risk of it crumbling or ending up with cracks.

That's why I plan to take my time strengthening my foundation in every way I can before I reach the late stage deity realm, otherwise I would not dare to take the risk. The cost is too high." He explained. Long Feng nodded. This was extremely balanced… almost eeriely so. Everything was suddenly returning to the foundation laid from the spirit realm. And comically, the spirit realm's foundation depended on the foundation laid from the Connate realm itself!

If either of those was weak, then even a single refinement would be suicide. This would explain why many people wouldn't even bother about the refinement stages, so much that it wasn't famous. While it granted great power and a higher chance of reaching the Dao realm, it also demanded a great price, one that very few could pay.

"Many people never focused on their foundations during the previous realms, and even if they do, a single mistake can erase everything. Just like my recent chain of breakthroughs that weakened my foundation… looks like I really have to fix that. Since I now know of the refinement stages, then my aim won't be low. It's either the full three stages or nothing!"