Xukong never expected that the boy who had the fortune of obtaining such a powerful artifact barely had any knowledge about the cultivation world. Xukong wondered how the boy managed to even enter the Qi refining realm.
"Tell me Lin Mu, what do you know about the cultivation realms?" Xukong asked.
Lin Mu was unfazed by senior Xukong's words and answered to the best of his ability.
"I know that the cultivation realms start with the Qi refining realm and the next realm after this is the Core condensation realm. As for the cultivation realms above this, I don't know, as the strongest cultivator in this region is of the Core condensation realm." Lin Mu answered.
Xukong was a little disappointed and sad upon hearing Lin Mu's words. He did not think that such a great treasure would be lost in a backward place like this. But he knew that since the artifact had chosen the boy, the only way for him to take advantage of the ring was to ensure that the boy stayed alive.
'If I want to keep absorbing the spatial energy for a long time, I must teach this boy. If I don't, he'll easily succumb to the ruthless cultivation world and die before I'm even able to overcome my bottleneck.' Xukong deeply thought.
After thinking for a while, Xukong had begun planning out how he would be teaching Lin Mu. The one good thing that came out of Lin Mu being uninformed about the cultivation world is that he won't have any biases. This is one of the disadvantages of a low-level cultivation world. Most of the cultivators end up following certain concepts that are wrong or are only applicable to that world.
"Lin Mu, would you be willing to learn about the world of cultivation?" Xukong asked.
Senior Xukong's words surprised Lin Mu and rendered him speechless. Joy bloomed on Lin Mu's face after he comprehended what it would mean if he learned from senior Xukong. He knew that his biggest drawback was that he knew next to nothing about the cultivation world, and all that he knew was figured out by stumbling and struggling. If he got a proper teacher, everything would become much easier and his progress would improve by leaps and bounds.
"YES! Senior, please teach me." Lin Mu exclaimed.
"Let me inform you before this, I won't be able to give you any qi cultivation technique nor any martial techniques. The ones that I know are incompatible with humans or are only usable if you have a high enough cultivation." Xukong said.
Lin Mu was not bothered by Senior Xukong's words and accepted him wholeheartedly.
"It does not matter, senior Xukong. I'm still grateful that you are willing to teach me." Lin Mu respectfully replied.
Xukong inwardly chucked at the boy's response and thought that he may be able to mold the boy into a peerless cultivator.
"I have some conditions that you will need to absolutely follow if you are to learn from me." Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu nodded to show his acceptance and listened to senior Xukong's words.
"First, you need to strictly follow my words and ignore whatever others tell you about cultivation if I disagree with them. People in this world simply don't know about many aspects of cultivation.
Second, the world of cultivation is ruthless. Thus you will have to become ruthless as well if you want to survive.
Third, I want you to become patient and steady. Cultivation itself is going against the heavens, thus you need to know when to progress and when to retreat. Countless people have lost themselves to their cultivation because they could not judge well." Xukong spoke with an authoritative voice.
Lin Mu carefully listened to senior Xukong's each and every word. He pondered over them and made sure that he understood everything before speaking.
"I understand and accept all of your conditions senior Xukong." Lin Mu answered with a firm voice.
Xukong inwardly nodded and was content with Lin Mu's decisiveness.
"Now for your first lesson, I'll teach you about the cultivation realms." Xukong said.
Xukong then explained to Lin Mu about the different cultivations realms. The Cultivation realms started from the Qi refining realm in which a cultivator would refine and store spirit qi within their dantian. They would refine spirit qi by the use of a cultivation technique.
The second realm was the Core condensation realm. In the Core condensation realm, a cultivator would further refine the liquid spirit qi within their dantian and condense it into a solid core. This solidified core was also known as the golden elixir or the gold core. In order to progress further in the Core condensation realm, a cultivator would have to increase the size of their core.
The cultivation realms that came after that were the Nascent Soul realm, Dao shell realm, Dao treading realm, and finally the immortal ascension realm. Xukong did not explain these cultivation realms in detail as they would only become a hindrance to Lin Mu and would impede his cultivation.
After Lin Mu finished listening to senior Xukong's words he felt enlightened. He also asked some questions such as how to progress in the Qi refining realm. Xukong was unsure what Lin Mu meant by that.
"Your cultivation technique should already have an explanation about it." Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu was confused as he did get any explanation when received the Nine divine heart sutras from the ring. He was also confused about how the technique did not explain which meridians to be used for circulating the spirit qi.
The meridian pathway that he was using right now was devised by himself and was not learned from a manual. Lin Mu wondered if he had made a mistake when choosing the meridian pathways.
"But senior, I did not get any explanation about that when the ring imparted me my cultivation technique." Lin Mu replied.
"Imparted by the ring? Is it a legacy artifact?" Xukong inwardly spoke.
"What cultivation technique are you practicing?" Xukong inquired.
"It's called the Nine divine heart sutras. Though I only know the first two parts of it." Lin Mu answered.
"Demonstrate it for me." Xukong said.
Nodding in answer, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged and chanted the calming heart sutra. After this, he chanted the severing heart sutra. Xukong was impassive at first, but as Lin Mu continued chanting, confusion appeared in his mind, which then turned into shock.
'Aura of the Buddhist path and the Sword path? Two different cultivation paths in one technique. How is this possible?' Xukong inwardly thought.
In order to resolve his thoughts, Xukong asked Lin Mu about the meridian pathways that he was using. Lin Mu then explained that he had figured out the meridian pathways on his own when he ate the grape-sized purple spirit fruit.
'The boy was able to successfully able to figure out the meridian pathways on his own. Though he may be ignorant of the ways of the cultivation world, but he can be considered a genius to be able to do this.
Unknowingly, this boy has comprehended the path of primordials. If those old monsters ever learned of this, I wonder if they will start another war just to accept him as a disciple.' Xukong thought.
'Though eating an unknown spirit fruit was a reckless decision that he made. It was lucky that he survived and did not implode.' Xukong further thought.
Lin Mu was getting nervous as senior Xukong had not replied to him in a while, and he was starting to wonder if he had indeed made a mistake.
"I don't think the nine divine sutras is a cultivation technique, or rather it's not a full-fledged cultivation technique." Xukong said.
"Then what kind of technique is it?" Lin Mu impatiently asked.
"My best guess is that it is an auxiliary cultivation technique. Auxiliary cultivation techniques are supportive techniques and usually help in covering the flaws and drawbacks of an actual cultivation technique." Xukong explained.
"As you said, the calming heart sutra enhances your perception, while the severing heart sutra stills your mind, suppressing your emotions in the process. Both of these are helpful for cultivators who practice overbearing cultivation techniques." Xukong elaborated.
Lin Mu was at a loss upon hearing senior Xukong's explanation.
"Then do I need to obtain a new cultivation technique?" Lin Mu questioned with a heavy heart.
"No, rather you should continue practicing as you are right now. You won't understand it right now, but the method you are using right now will be advantageous to you in the future, even though your progress may be slow right now." Xukong replied.
Wanting to confirm if the ring was indeed a legacy artifact, Xukong asked him a few more questions.
"What else did you obtain from the ring?" Xukong asked.
After hearing senior Xukong's question, Lin Mu went on to explain about the two skills he received from the ring after he broke through to the Qi refining realm and also the rings' ability to open spatial rifts. He then told him, how he found the booklet for the boulder collapsing fist and many other items from the spatial rifts.
'This boy is just filled with surprises.' Xukong thought with a chuckle.