A thousand years passed.
Then ten thousand more.
The world that Arin had once shaped with his will grew into a realm of countless lives — thriving, struggling, and evolving beneath the silent gaze of the Heavenly Dao.
In the early ages, humanity was scattered — hunters and gatherers dwelling by riverbanks, fearing the beasts that roamed the deep forests and mountains. Yet, among them, a few stumbled upon ancient stone tablets and crystalline monoliths — remnants of the techniques Arin had sown across the land long ago.
The marks engraved on them were neither words nor symbols, yet they resonated in the mind, awakening a spark of understanding.
And so began the First Cultivators.
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The Era of Body Refinement
The earliest cultivators were crude in their methods.
They trained their bodies beneath waterfalls, fought beasts barehanded, and learned to feel the faint pulse of life energy within their flesh.
They discovered that this vitality could be strengthened — tempered through pain, battle, and meditation.
Blood thickened, bones hardened, and hearts pulsed with energy beyond mortal limits.
Those who succeeded were revered as warriors and chiefs, living twice, thrice as long as ordinary men.
It was the Body Refinement Realm — the first threshold in the path of ascension.
Beasts, too, cultivated instinctively. The law that Arin had embedded in all living things — the universal progression through genetic thresholds — guided them forward. Tigers gained awareness; apes learned cunning; even trees began to shimmer faintly with the breath of life.
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The Age of Meridians
Centuries passed, and with them came understanding.
Some cultivators began to feel lines of energy coursing through their bodies — invisible rivers connecting heart, lungs, limbs, and soul.
By following these paths, they learned to open what would later be called meridians, channels through which the flow of vitality could be controlled.
This marked the dawn of the Meridian Opening Realm.
Those who succeeded no longer relied on brute strength; they could sense the faint energies of heaven and earth, though still too impure, too chaotic to absorb.
Clans began to form around these early cultivators — families that passed down the secret art of opening the body's inner pathways.
The first Cultivation Families were born.
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The Discovery of Qi
It was in the next thousand years that humanity made its greatest leap.
Through endless experimentation, they discovered that the energy filling the world — the mist that shimmered above mountains and seas — could be drawn into the body.
The first to succeed entered the Qi Refinement Realm.
They learned to breathe not just air, but energy itself.
Each inhalation strengthened their meridians; each exhalation released impurities.
They began to categorize this energy: some drew from fire and heat, others from stone and soil, some from rivers and rain.
Thus, the elemental paths were born — not the pure fundamentals Arin once studied, but mixtures: earth, water, fire, wind, wood, lightning.
These energies were accessible, vibrant, and abundant — perfect for mortals who were not yet ready to touch the true essence of the cosmos.
From generation to generation, these techniques were refined.
The first manuals appeared — carved into jade, painted on animal hides, whispered by dying masters.
Sect fragments began to take root, though still small and scattered.
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The Dantian Awakening
As the centuries rolled on, cultivators realized that merely flowing Qi through their bodies was not enough.
They needed a vessel — a center of power.
After countless experiments and broken meridians, a cultivator from the Eastern Coast discovered how to condense energy within the abdomen, forming a spiritual core of sorts.
He called it the Dantian, the Sea of Qi.
His discovery spread like wildfire.
Cultivators all over the world began opening their dantians, storing refined energy within.
This became the Dantian Opening Realm, marking the birth of true internal cultivation.
The difference between a Qi Refiner and a Dantian Cultivator was as vast as heaven and earth.
The former could wield strength; the latter commanded it.
Nations began to form around such figures.
Villages turned into cities, cities into kingdoms — each ruled by cultivators who had stepped beyond mortality.
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The Foundation Era
With their dantians open, cultivators soon learned how to refine their Qi further — turning vapor into liquid.
This transformation increased density and purity, marking the transition into the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Those who achieved this stage were no longer bound by disease or aging.
They became kings, queens, sages, and warriors — rulers of mortal realms.
They built temples to the heavens, carved cities into cliffs, and raised armies infused with spiritual energy.
Kingdoms rose and fell in the shadow of these mighty cultivators.
Some nations worshiped them as demigods; others followed them as sect leaders.
In this age, humanity reached its first true peak — the Era of Cultivation Kingdoms.
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The Golden Core Sovereigns
Among the countless cultivators striving across the world, a rare few transcended the limits of the Foundation Realm.
Through unimaginable effort, they condensed their liquid Qi into a solid core within the Dantian — the mark of the Golden Core Realm.
These beings radiated power that could bend rivers, shatter mountains, and alter weather itself.
They no longer merely ruled kingdoms — they founded empires.
Sects rose under their banners.
The largest cities became holy lands.
Schools of thought flourished: some focused on harmony with nature, others on the mastery of elemental forces, a few on refining bloodlines to strengthen their bodies.
The strongest among them gathered disciples, teaching doctrines that would one day define the paths of countless generations.
It was the Golden Era of Cultivation.
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The Age of Stability
Thousands of years had passed since the first cultivator drew breath under the shadow of the mountains.
Now, humanity had become the dominant race across the continents.
Their empires thrived under the rule of Golden Core Sovereigns.
The seas glowed faintly with the presence of awakened beasts, and the skies shimmered with the auras of flying cultivators.
None had yet reached the Truth Realm — none had comprehended the purity of the fundamentals — but they had established the foundation of a civilization that could.
The Heavenly Dao was silent, yet it pulsed with satisfaction.
The world had reached balance once again — order born from chaos, wisdom from instinct, civilization from survival.
The age of mortals had ended.
The Age of Cultivators had begun.