Chapter 9: Meilian's Cultivation and Sect Classes

Harry and Meilian spent some time getting to know each other over the next few days. Meilian's peppy attitude countered Harry's reserved one greatly. As such Harry began to open up to a few of the friendlier people in the sect. He never spoke about some of the harsher punishments he received when his relatives perceived him doing something wrong but it was defiantly a work in progress.

Meilian had thanks to Harry's already impressive cultivation quickly been running through the Body Tempering realm and had reached the 5th stage late the prior night. She was on track to breakthrough to the 6th stage sometime within the next few days.

The two of them had a panicked moment the previous day as well when Harry asked if she wanted to come out and get something to eat for her first meal. Meilian had found that she did not know how to leave Harry's core. This had Harry running off trying to find an Elder for close to 2 hours before he slowed down enough to just ask someone in the Archive if they had any information. It turned out that until a Dragon Viper reaches the Core Foundation stage they don't have the ability to leave the core of their partner. This cooled of the terror that was brewing between the two.

This was also the moment that Harry had received news that the Sect's quarterly classes were about to start up and while none of the classes were required by the Sect Harry missed the school classes he had while he was in England. They were one of the few times he didn't have to worry about having chores or being beat up on. When he went to sign up he found that the Classes were quite small. They only required the Disciple to go to classes two time a week for two hours at a time. At that time one could take any number of classes that the Sect had going.

The classes the Disciples could take ranged greatly from Introduction to Cultivation classes to History Classes to Combat Classes. Harry thought that Spirit Beasts and their many uses was a class he would enjoy going to but with his limited knowledge on Cultivation he decided to take the Introduction to Cultivation class instead. The Classes were set to start on Monday which Harry had to check when that was as his days had been blending together since he had arrived at the sect. Turns out it was Sunday July 15th only 16 days away from Harry's 8th birthday.

Breakfast was eaten quickly and Harry quickly reached the classroom. The layout surprised Harry as he was used to the classrooms from the west. Instead of desks he found rows of benches and there was a lack of any writing surface. Thinking about it Harry decided there likely wouldn't be any book learning really nor was there going to be much note taking. This was proven correct when the last of his classmates arrived and an older woman that looked to be around 35 walked in. Before turning to address the class.

"Greetings, I am Xiu Ying but you will refer to me as Master Ying. I am one of the Masters of this Sect. For most of you this will be the first time you hear of the rank of Master. A Master is one who stands above the rank of Disciple in a specific field. I am a Master of Learning while someone who works in the Alchemy labs would be a Master of Alchemy."

"I will be your Master for this class over the Basics of Cultivation. Some of you might feel you know how to cultivate but this class covers more than just how to cultivate and covers many different details you might not know."

"First let me tell all of you who have just passed the Trial that each of you have been marked down to receive one additional manual from the Archive. We like to reward our Disciples who take the initiative to get stronger as quick as you can. For those of you who decided to wait a Quarter you all are out of luck you get nothing."

Harry could hear a few of his new classmates begin to complain before a sudden weight settled on the class and every went quiet. Master Ying began to speak again.

"It's your own fault for not taking the class when you had a chance but we will move on to the class now. Most of you just felt the massive weight settle on you a moment ago correct? This is what we call suppression and that can be carried out by someone that sits at a realm that is much greater than you. I stand at the Qi Fusion realm, which many of you have never likely even heard of. This knowledge is what this class will impart. Let us begin."

With but a wave of her hand a chart began to unroll behind her on the wall. To Harry it looked like a illustration of a tower. At random points a line was drawn from sections and names were given. He quickly deduced that this must be the known realms before Master Ying began to speak again.

"This chart displays all the known Realms of Cultivation. At the bottom as you can see are Body Tempering and Core Foundation. These two realms are considered to be some of the most important as failing to properly temper the body or build a proper foundation can and will result in crippling injuries or impossible bottlenecks at a later point in your cultivation."

"The next realm is Core Compression this is where most of you are now. Core compression requires each of you to compress the Qi in your Core down denser and denser. This renders you able to hold more Qi as well as making the Qi you do have much stronger. Each of these three realms are 7 Stages long. The next stage is only 3 stages but don't believe for a moment its an easy realm."

"Qi Transformation is the fourth realm and it is the realm where your partner becomes truly useful. At this stage one must Transform their Qi via their Cultivation Techniques into what we refer to as True Qi. For the Dragon Viper Method we turn our Qi into a toxic and corrosive True Qi. This stage as I stated is only three stages but it is by far the hardest realm you will have come across to this point.

"After you pass through and finish the transformation you enter my realm Qi Fusion. True Qi has a slightly different state to it that the Qi you currently have and to step through Qi Fusion you must compress the loose Qi in your core down into a liquid state. I myself am only at the 4th stage of this realm. As you can tell this realm goes back up to 7 stages a Realm and it will continue in a loop of three 7 stage realms followed by one 3 stage realm then repeat.

"The next realm after this is called True Element and this requires one to take the liquid Qi you have built into your core and separate it into its Elemental aspects. After you finish this realm you move on to the Nascent Soul realm and this realm is where you truly start to age slowly. In this realm you must take your different Elemental Qi and begin to turn your Core into an internal world."

The students were truly quiet at this point. None of them spoke as they absorbed the information Master Ying was dispensing. Harry was sure that this absolute silence is where the saying of a pin dropping came from. Master Ying just grinned as she continued.

"That realm is the last one we truly know about as most of our Elders have reached at least the first stage of the Nascent Soul realm. We don't know much about the next all we have is second hand knowledge and this realm is called Transcendent."

She went quiet after speaking the word and she just stared at the drawing she had hung up.

"Now then lets continue on with the next part of our class where we will go over the various cultivation techniques in use and see if any of you can find a better one."

Just like that the overwhelming silence dissipated and class continued on. Harry though couldn't concentrate as he stared carefully at the Tower on the wall. Class seemed to fly by after this and Harry felt pensive. He wished he knew more information on the Realms but after hearing what each realm was Master Ying never went back to them.

In his core Meilian seemed to be deep in her own cultivation so much so he wasn't even sure if she was paying attention to the class they were just in. He could feel through their connection that she was on the verge of a breakthrough to the 6th stage and wished her luck. He really didn't need to worry as over lunch he felt the shift in her cultivation as she ascended but something seemed a bit strange the pulse he had come to understand her rising a stage seemed to go on for a few moments longer than it should have. The Qi that built up in her spike sharply much higher than would be expected for a single stage advancement.

Luckily it seemed Elder Zhenwei was doing something in the mess hall and Harry could quickly approach him to inquire as to the feeling.

"Elder Zhenwei sir, may I have a moment of your time?" Harry must have had a touch of panic in his voice as the Elder quickly turned to him despite what he was doing at the moment.

"My my what seems to be the problem Disciple Potter?"

"Its my partner I'm not quite sure why but when she just broke through to the 6th stage she used a lot more Qi than I was expecting." Harry quickly turned his attention inward toward Meilian who seemed to still be cultivating. The Elder's eyes seemed to lose focus for just a moment before a grin formed on his face.

"I wouldn't worry to much it seems you just missed the fact she skipped the 6th stage and went straight to the 7th." At Harry's confused face he went on with his explanation. "You just hatched her. As you know to reach the 7th stage you must purify yourself of all impurities. So let me ask this, What impurities has she had since she hatched?"

Harry thought for a moment before looking back up and replying that he didn't know. The Elder just chuckled and continued. "She didn't have any. Normally they would build up from impure Qi or from any meals that are eaten but since she hatched she has had nothing to eat and only the pure Qi you have already purified. As such no impurities to purge and she could just jump straight to the 7th stage."

Harry relaxed at this statement and thinking about it made sense. "Thank you sir. That's all I was worried about."

He quickly excused himself to head home and check on Meilian's progress. Harry knew her core wouldn't take to long to fill and wanted to be alone when she broke through to the Core Foundation Realm.

Monitoring her as he walked showed her to be teetering on the edge already. Luck was on his side though as she took just about three minutes longer than it took him to make it home for her Qi to reach the tipping point and Harry could feel her Qi seemingly shift just slightly as she reached the next realm.

With a strange shifting in his chest she seemed to move and meld through his skin. From around his neck a snake about a foot longer than when she first bonded with him appeared. When Harry pulled her into his arms he could see old dead skin flaking from her body. It seemed like she was just about to have her first shed.