Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance Chapter 412 Other Forms Of Cultivation

Chapter 412 Other Forms Of Cultivation

There were still a few more books left after Mira finished going through the [Mortal Cultivation Realms] and [Dao for Dummies] books. She still had books on Weapon, Body, and Soul Cultivation, along with books regarding the grading system for items and how to make techniques or abilities.
Although Mira was excited to learn more about body cultivation, she had a feeling that the information in the book wouldn't be of much use to her. The same goes for Soul Cultivation. Now that she's the inheritor of the F.LD.I.L, she felt like her path would be slightly different compared to what's known by most people.
Still, these were all things she needed to know in case she ends up facing a body or a soul cultivator in the future.
So, the next book Mira read was the book on Weapon Cultivation, though calling it a book is a bit of a stretch. There are only a few pieces of paper on what Weapon Cultivation is.
After a few minutes of reading, Mira understood the gist of Weapon Cultivation and why it's so sought after.
She can also use what she learned from Celaine to make sense of the things written here as well.
Weapon Cultivation is different from other forms of cultivation and can't really be called 'cultivation' at all. Though it's often called Weapon Cultivation, some people seem to refer to it as Weapon Endowment as well.
To progress further down the path of a weapon is all about one's foundation, comprehensive ability, and luck.
The foundation is, to put it simply, how well you've attuned your weapon to your body structure and fighting style. If you just copy someone else's moves and fail to come up with your own to perfect your own style, your foundation will be severely lacking.
You need a high comprehensive ability because just training without understanding what you're actually doing is pointless.
As for luck, well, to reach the next Realm, you first need to be enlightened. This enlightenment will help pave the way forward for you based on your foundations and understanding of your weapon.
Of course, this enlightenment can also go hand-in-hand with one's comprehensive ability, but most people need some form of luck to reach a state of enlightenment.
All of this sounded pretty vague to Mira, but seeing how little people actually know about the Realms of Weapon Endowment, it makes sense.
All she was able to get out of it is that one's Weapon Endowment is unique to each person and that as long as she trains her scythe to the point where she can bring out its maximum potential with her body alone, she'll be able to progress to the next Realm: Intent.
Just as the name implies, Intent is when you reach a point in your understanding that you're able to enforce your will(intent) on the world around you.
For example, Celaine's Saber Intent is nothing but her understanding of the Saber forced upon the world with her willpower.
However, of course, things aren't necessarily that simple. Although Mira's willpower is abnormally high, she can't just force her understanding of the scythe to manifest outside her body by sheer willpower before even reaching that stage.
Not only will doing that be a waste of time, but even if she succeeds, it wouldn't be nearly as powerful compared to if she went through the process naturally.
,m That's what the enlightenment is for! It's to help one fully understand their path and foundations while also helping them turn this understanding into something tangible.
Not much else other than that is known about Weapon Intent. The primary reason for this is that people who have comprehended Weapon Intent are already rare, to begin with. Lastly, nobody wants to share their secrets with the world. Those who are able to progress down the path of Weapon Endowment have a natural advantage over others in combat.
Weapon Intent and the Realms after it are not only harder to defend against, but how much one can use it is solely reliant on their willpower. So, if someone has extraordinarily high willpower like Mira uses, they have a near-infinite source of power that doesn't rely on any outside forces!
Unfortunately, there are a few 'downsides' to Weapon Endowment. Such as, the quality of one's Intent is dependent on one's understanding. It can't be increased in any other way. So, if Mira were to use Scythe Intent, despite how much willpower she has, she won't be able to increase the power of her Scythe Intent without the necessary comprehension.
To put it simply, one's Willpower is the quantity, one's comprehension and foundation are the quality, and enlightenment is the way to break through each major Realm.
As for the actual Realms of Weapon Endowment, there are only 3 known Realms in the Mortal World: [Intent], [Manifestation], and [Ruler].
Unfortunately, there is no information about the [Manifestation] and [Ruler] Realms. At least, Mira doesn't have the necessary credentials for this information. As for what Qi Cultivation Realms these correlate to, [Intent] correlates to the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Realms. [Manifestation] correlates to the Soul Transformation and Mortal Shedding Realms. While [Ruler] correlates to the Divine Sea and Ascension Realms.
This doesn't mean that Celaine is as strong as someone in the Nascent Soul Realm with her Saber Intent. It just means that the limits of power of someone who has comprehended [Intent] are between the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Realm. The actual power one holds is based on their comprehension.
Unfortunately, Mira couldn't do much with this knowledge. She was hoping that maybe there would be something a little more useful in these papers about Weapon Endowment, but it seems she'll just have to keep training with her scythe until she eventually is able to create Scythe Intent.
Moving on to the next subject, Mira decided to focus on the other two forms of cultivation she was interested in: Soul and Body Cultivation.
She knew that Body Cultivation was a thing, but she didn't know if one could cultivate their Soul as well.
Unfortunately for Mira, there wasn't much information regarding Soul Cultivation, and it was all just theories.
This is because several Realms, like the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation Realms, exist in Qi cultivation that focus on the Soul; not many people want to waste their time focusing on something that they've already done.
The theories only state that Soul Cultivation might be possible or other races might focus more on the Soul than their body and Qi, but for those following the Qi Cultivation path, it's not necessary to focus on cultivating the Soul and is only a waste of time.
The papers also state that Qi Cultivation is almost like the best of both Body and Soul cultivation because as one absorbs more Qi, their bodies get stronger as well. Not as much as a Body Cultivator, but it still has to be strong enough to hold all that Qi.
The same goes for the Soul. Since there are Realms that focus more on the Soul in Qi Cultivation, it, too, grows stronger the farther one progresses.
As for Body Cultivation, the papers Elder Sandra gave Mira didn't mention much other than there are various forms of Body Cultivation and that they vary per race as well. To start out with, there are technically two types of Body Cultivation: External and Internal.
External Body Cultivation is when someone uses a technique like Mira's Magma Dragon Body Tempering Technique to strengthen their body. External Body Cultivation uses techniques, pills, or other forms of training to strengthen one's body. There's nothing wrong with doing this, and often times these techniques or training can bring benefits other than strengthening the body.
However, Internal Body Cultivation is more focused on bringing out the maximum potential of one's body. In a sense, this form of body cultivation is more like evolution than actual cultivation. For example, Humans have various 'gates' hidden in their bodies, and by unlocking them, a human gets closer to reaching the apex of what their race is capable of.
Unlocking these gates not only can make the body stronger, but it also provides various abilities for each gate that's opened.
Elves, Demons, Mermaids, and all other races have different ways to raise their Internal Body Cultivation, and the effects are different as well. Elves, for example, also have their own Internal Body Cultivation, but it doesn't raise their physical strength much compared to humans and instead is more focused on their affinity for the elements and Qi.
That's the extent of the information Mira was allowed to read, but she was satisfied with just this amount. Mira was no longer human, actually, she's not quite sure what race she is. Therefore, this information helped prevent Mira from needlessly trying to cultivate a Human's Internal Body Cultivation technique.
However, at the same time, she felt like her roots were still intertwined with humanity, so she might be able to take inspiration from their Internal Body Cultivation to help her find her own.