112 Rules of Oath - 9 Mortal Stages.

"So, I'm sure there's some questions you want to ask". Wu Zhong asked as he sat at his desk, sipping some tea that someone had bought him.

After Shu He had finished the blood oath they had left in silence, Wu Zhong had guided him to his office that was located inside the 'outer wall' of the sect, it was a large wall like building that bridged between two cliffs and served as the main entrance for the sect.

Shu He would have normally reacted to it, but he was busy thinking in a daze.

Seeing those golden threads stretch from the bowl to him and hundreds of others had shocked him a little, while he had gotten used to the idea of cultivation, what he has experienced barely amounts to a manipulation of this worlds forces, while it's fantastical in a sense it no longer felt groundbreaking to him.

But those threads were different, as he watched it form in front of him and did his best to trace it to the source, he couldn't, it was beyond his capabilities right now; However he felt like he instinctively understood where the thread connected to.

And that was his soul.

Of course it wasn't just him, the four great elders and Wu Zhong had it too, as did a myriad of other disciples when they walked back, it was quite a sight to see; He can easily distinguish outer disciples and inner, core disciples now because outer disciples haven't taken the oath.

This was the first time he truly came upon something other than the core flame that touched upon the idea of the soul, something so ephemeral he wouldn't truly believe it existed had he not reincarnated.

He also understood fully the consequences of breaking the oath now as well, it was like he instinctively knew and could feel the shackles around his soul now; If he broke it his soul would be separated from his body, killing him then and there, there was no way to prevent this.

It was an iron clad punishment with no recovery.

But there was one thing that interested him, it was the existence of the bowl itself; His impressions of the oaths before taking it was that they were some form of magical promise, like a self-inflicted curse that was not removable, but now it was clear that wasn't the case.

It seems like the bowl acted as a host for the oath, as all the strings were gathered on it like a tether.

Which leads him to the question-

"If that ritual bowl broke, what would happen?" He asked.

"Wha-" Surprised, the cup of tea slipped from Wu Zhong's hands as he fumbled around in midair spilling some before catching it finally "Don't ask such a thing! It's a bad omen" he spat as he glared at Shu He.

"You said to ask anything…" Shu He complained.

Wu Zhong waved his hand as the spilled tea moved and poured back into the cup, clean.

"You need to word it better" he sighed "Blood Oaths require a ritual catalyst to become the vessel of the oath, it can be anything as long as it can hold a large amount of Qi; Once the oath is made there is basically no way to remove it, except one".

"Destroy the vessel?" Shu He asked, seeing where the conversation was going.

"Exactly, that's why we keep the sect's oath vessel in a secure place and under guard at all times" Wu Zhong explained.

Yet inside Shu He's head he was realising he had made a massive mistake.

"Shit…" He couldn't help but murmur.

"What was that?" Wu Zhong frowned as he took another sip of tea.

"Oh, nothing just thinking" Shu He shook his head, but he wanted to slap himself right now.

Shu He didn't have only a single oath thread, rather he had two; The other was currently heading in the direction of the Covetous Dragon Pagoda.

'That damn scroll became the vessel of my oath, the one I know nothing about, and I went ahead and gave it back to the old man!'

But there was one thing he didn't understand.

"When I took my oath I read out the rules before I activated it, was that necessary?".

"Hm? No, not technically, but there are some restrictions behind how oaths are made".

"Such as?"

"Each vessel has rules inscribed on it at creation, if someone reads out the rules knowingly, accepts them, and pledges to the oath, it will activate."

This was what Shu He experienced.

'But with that scroll I did no such thing'.

"You said 'knowingly', so does that mean someone can't be forced to sign an oath unwillingly?"

"Yes, if the signing part is unwilling then the oath will not activate… well there is a bit more nuance to it than that; The idea of being 'accepting' is very different from 'fully understanding', for example… if someone is asked to give their blood to stamp something and they do it willingly without understanding what they're doing, the oath will still activate".

Shu He grimaced slightly.

"Surely that's abusable, right?"

"Of course, it's a loophole in the system but at the same time someone that offers their blood without thinking is a fool, the loophole is the very reason people read the rules before the oath, if the rules they are accepting are different from the actual rules of the oath vessel, the oath won't go through, so no foul play about changing or obfuscating the rules can happen".

"Just who made this system…" Shu He asked, not expecting an answer.

"We don't know for sure, it's been around since ancient times and was supposedly made to impose law and order after cultivators rose up."

"Just how long ago was 'ancient' times?" He was always curious, the records he has seen barely touch a couple thousand years, which by mortal standards is a very long time however for cultivators, it shouldn't be that much, right?

"I'm not sure about that one" Wu Zhong leaned back in his chair and pinched his small beard in contemplation "I could be tens of thousands, maybe hundreds or millions of years honestly".

"That long?..." Shu He said, his eyes wide.

'Would any records even last that long?' He questioned.

"Well, don't take my word for it, there's not any actual records of ancient times left, the Iris country is only a few thousand years old after all" The elder murmured, taking another sip.

"That's still pretty old… what about neighbouring countries? Do they have more history?" He asked, he had quickly looked up such things in the library but found no books or records on such topics which he found exceedingly odd.

Wu Zhong paused and stared at him weirdly.

"What?" Shu He frowned back, thinking he didn't deserve the look.

"Of course they don't there are none." Wu Zhong's weird stare continued.

"Huh?" It was Shu He's turned to stare blankly as he tried to process what was said.

"Right, you didn't have any formal education…" Wu Zhong shook his head as if he was excusing a child's ignorance, but Shu He's mind twisted.

'What does he mean? there's no other country? Does he mean that they're so small they don't matter? Or that Iris rules it all? Surely…' He tried to think of an explanation as his brain spewed out thoughts in rapid fire while waiting for the elder to continue.

"Iris is a country that exists in isolation, other than the grand sea to the north-west the only thing that exists outside Iris is the endless barrens without a single sign of life, Iris is essentially an oasis in a never-ending desert" Wu Zhong explained.

"But surely there's other's out there right? If you travel far enough?" Shu He asked, hoping there was more.

But Wu Zhong shook his head "There have been many that dared to challenge the endless barrens and great sea in hope of finding a greater civilisation, the only ones that returned were lost for days, months or even years without finding a thing, the rest…"

Dead.

It was Shu He's turn to lean back in his chair, shocked by this revelation.

"There's nothing more… just this country…?" He murmured.

"You don't need to be so discouraged, Iris is giant and has plenty to live for, what does it matter if there isn't anything outside of it?" Wu Zhong chuckled, thinking how this disciple was being over-dramatic.

Shu He sat up and sighed.

What Wu Zhong said was true, he hadn't even began exploring this country; But he still couldn't help but feel a bit dismayed as his world felt oh so smaller.

"Well, if it's that shocking to you then you just need to work on your cultivation" Elder Wu said, making Shu He's ears perk up.

"What do you mean?"

"Huhu" He chuckled "When I said to ask me questions, I mean about cultivation, seems we're finally getting there" He placed his cup down and sat up straight.

"Now that you're an inner disciple and have taken an oath, you may learn about the cultivation stages that exist in the mortal realm."

"All nine of them!" An intense pressure exuded from Wu Zhong, making Shu He gulp slightly.

This was something he had wanted to know for a while now.

'Finally!' He can see where the path ahead of him will go!

"Listen well, I'll only say this once! I'll give you an overview of each level, when you reach that point you may request additional information on how to reach it".

"You should know the first four, they are as follows.

Qi Ignition, which is the lighting of the core flame inside your body, the beginning of cultivation.

Blood Enhancement, you use your Qi to awaken your blood and initially open the meridians.

Meridian Awakening, you awaken the twelve major meridians, 6 yin and 6 yang to refine your qi and prepare for the next stage.

Balance Attainment, absorbing yin, and yang energies you create a source of each power which will influence and refine your core flame, allowing it to achieve balance."

"The next four, will be new to you."

"Elemental Infusion, absorb and infuse your core flame with sources of the 5 elements, the propagation effects of the 5 elements drastically improves the power of the core flame.

Foundation Building, use the sources of yin, yang and 5 elements to further refine the core flame and the body together creating a harmony, there are 9 cycles of refinement to this stage.

Core Compression, restructure and compress your core flame to form a shell known as an alpha core, a highly concentrated version of a core flame that can create higher quality qi, faster.

Seed Creation, an incredibly delicate stage usually done through closed door cultivation, you need to infuse and combine the yin, yan and 5 element sources with the alpha core, creating a core seed."

Wu Zhong stopped talking, letting Shu He drink the knowledge he had just gained.

Shu He did just that, committing everything to memory.

'The last few stages seem different… up until elemental infusion it was basically all culmination, but then it suddenly turns to refinement and transformation… wait.'

"What about the 9th stage?" He asked, realising Wu Zhong had said there were nine, but had only spoke about eight.

"The 9th stage is unique, and has some special restrictions behind it, before that let me tell you something; The 8th stage, Seed Creation, is where the journey of the vast majority of cultivators end."

"?! Why?"

"Because the 9th stage is quite different from the 8th and below, there are many reasons but the biggest is simple."

A serious expression grew on Wu Zhong's face as the words were dredged out of his mouth.

"Just trying to traverse the ninth stage results in mortal peril."

Shu He's heart skipped a beat.

"What is the ninth stage?" His curiosity far overcame his fear.

Wu Zhong sighed "Well, you won't understand unless you see it…" before he cleared his throat.

"The ninth stage is called Mortal Rebirth, it is the last stage of the mortal realm and also serves as a bridge to the ascended realm, to reach this stage is simple, yet also lethal; You must trigger your heavenly tribulation and, under the rain of heavenly lightning, destroy your mortal body exposing your core seed, and then using the residual energies, you must create an ascended form from the seed."

"..What?! You need to kill yourself?!" Shu He stared in disbelief.

"No, just your body".

"How is that any different?!".

"You should know about the three centres of cultivation, mind, body and soul, with the spirit of cultivation, your core flame being an anchor between the three, through the process of seed creation you essentially create a second body awaiting growth."

"That's insane…" Shu He murmured.

"It is, but that is what you need to do to traverse the stage, do you see now why very few attempt to?"

Shu He nodded.

"That isn't the only reason people don't reach the stage though, even those that want to attempt it may not be able to."

"…" Shu He didn't even bother asking why at this point since he had done so too many times already.

"There is only one place in this country that you can invoke a heavenly tribulation, and that's the Heaven's Pillar inside of the capital, and the only way you can access it is with permission from the emperor himself".