This was made in

December 2019.
Beginner’s Guide to the Mortal Realm (Pre-Ascension)

In this guide I will introduce the important functions of the game before ascension and a
suggested method of ascending. Please note that this is an immortal cultivation simulation
game so perhaps it would be more fun creating your own path.

I. Ascending to Heaven
The main goal of the mortal realm is to ascend to heaven. You are able to begin by
reaching the Gate of Heaven which is after beating stage 20 of adventure. There are 3
types of ascension and different benefits for each method.

Array of Heaven​: 4000 free stat points but requires higher attributes to complete this
method. You also gain a special aura.
Ascension by Guidance​: 4000 stat points distributed equally, but requires other people
to have already ascended in order to pick you up. This is the best method unless you’re
one of the first on your server so you’ll have to do array. ​RECOMMENDED.
Ascend with Body: ​4000 stat points distributed equally and 1000 perception, requires
Heavenly Being level body cultivation. You get a special aura and background. If you
want to do this method, I would suggest getting to Ascension I or Half Immortal I before
starting to invest into body. You will also be ​VERY​ weak for delaying your ascending with
this method if you do not p2w after ascending. ​NOT RECOMMENDED if you care
about personal progression relative to other players.

II. Cultivation Levels

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll only list as far as you should be before ascending. Most
people will be able to ascend by help in Nihility or Ascension realm. Also remember that
higher realm ​does not​ mean you are stronger than a lower realm. Power is gained from
having high attributes. Realm is mainly to unlock the different functions of the game.
ALWAYS​ breakthrough with 100%. You ​NEVER​ have to buy pills or make pills, you will
get enough pills until Ascension realm from adventure. Afterwards you will be getting
pills from exchange in sect.
 Body​: Mortal Flesh - Soul Forming - Mind Scattering - Sarira - Bone-Refining - Nirvana -
Golden Body - Godly Force - Heavenly Being
Realm​: Qi Gathering - Foundation - Gold Core - Soul Wandering - Nascent Soul -
Ensoulment - Nihility - Ascension

III. Spiritual Root and Skills

Spiritual Roots and Skills are the main ways for you to improve your characters
attributes. These character attributes can be viewed by clicking Inventory -> Magnifying
Glass icon. Always remember to level up your spiritual roots/qi gathering array and skills,
with a focus on spiritual roots as they provide more attributes. Skills can be obtained
from sects, purchased from the market, or rob/help from the market. When your
cultivation realm increases you will unlock additional floors which have higher tier skills
to purchase. Always purchase out the lv1-2 books and lv3 if you have extra spirit stones.
Do not purchase lv4 books until you are mostly done with lv3.
Spiritual Roots have a very high limit (they still go up after level 150+ qi array). Skills cap
out at level 10 which is level 96 qi array.

IV. Sects
Sects are important as they give you access to skills, pill recipes, higher tier cauldrons
and companions. You will be weak if you try to roleplay as a sectless cultivator. Before
ascending, you will most likely only interact with tier 1 to tier 4 sects. You can choose tier
1-2 sects, but tier 3-4 sects are random unless you purchase the keepsake in the
reputation hall. All sects have 4 sect skills that correspond to the main 4 attributes of life
essence, strength, vital energy, and dexterity. Some sects have perception, absorption,
or ultimate skills. You will need to stay in sects to gain contribution in order to acquire
their skills. I do not recommend staying as sub sect leader for more than a day or two
unless you are going for body ascension. Here are some of the notable sects in tier 1 to
4:

Tier 1 (No Req.)​: Valley of Fallen Blossoms (5 female companions)

Tier 2 (Gold Core)​: Afterglow Palace (Ultimate skill equivalent to tier 5 sect), Raging
Flame Sect (Perception skill), Deployment Sect (Absorption skill)
Tier 3 (Nascent Soul)​: Three Purities (Perception skill), Wild Goose (Perception skill),
Cloud Capped (Absorption skill)
Tier 4 (Nihility)​: Miraculous Peasant (Absorption skill)

V. Dwelling
Spiritual Mountain:​ Very important for progressing the qi gathering array and
adventure. I would suggest something like a 4:3:2 ratio for food, wood, and iron levels.
Max apprentices into food and gather iron/wood as needed while keeping food
 production at 0 or higher. Ignore spirit stone level until post ascension. Spirit stones are
heavily used after ascending.
Wine Cellar​: Limit on daily wine brewing so remember to brew wine daily. You can get
masterwork wine from alliance coins if you are f2p and don’t have spirit jades for it.
Equipment Room/Alchemy Furnace:​ 10k spirit stones gives you exp for a little over a
day. It is important to level these so that you are able to craft pills, gear, and storage
stones. If you are low on spirit stones, I would suggest blacksmith having a higher
priority over alchemy.
Fate:​ This is where all your companions are recorded. Once you reach 100 favor with
them, you can couple with them for benefits. Some companions can also ascend to
heaven to be your servant in the future.
Talisman Soul & Meridian:​ Fairly negligible unless you p2w. Talisman soul stones and
meridian pills are available from alliance events, dungeons, treasure maps, and p2w
elements.
Study Room: ​Very important as it gives you another source of cultivation. The automatic
reading function is a very nice investment. If you do purchase it, then leave it on auto
read on a biography type book. If you do not, then you can read whichever book
depending on how often you can check the game. You can also use the same book
multiple times.

VI. Alliance
I suggest joining an alliance once it’s open. It gives you access to many pre ascension
and post ascension materials. Banquet and Exorcism is started by the leaders of the
guild, remember to ask them what the scheduled time is because the rewards are quite
hefty. Skill levels will transfer even if you switch alliances so don’t worry.

VII. Adventure
This is where you are able to farm base gear, breakthrough pills, and all kinds of
materials. You will have to manually do it until you have the soul wandering skill. You
can wander 300 times in total, with the second 100 times having a 50% penalty, and the
third 100 times having an 80% penalty. It is worth doing 300 times as long as you have
the food for it. Gate of Heaven is available once you complete stage 20.
Destiny:​ These occur from a special tile while wandering or randomly if you use the
automatic soul wandering. There are 3 types of important NPCs you can encounter while
the rest have small benefits that I won’t cover. The first type is the NPC that offers you
his children as servants; always pick the first option or else he will decline. The second
type is the book seller NPCs. They are always worth purchasing since you can use the
book even if you have it. The third type is the drunkard that offers you a choice of
spending 1 or 10 spirit jades. It roughly gives around 2.5 million cultivation at Nascent
Soul for the 1 spirit jade option and 5 times that for the 10 spirit jades option. This scales
with cultivation realm, but not that great later on.
 Fishing:​ Gives you a lot of useful items, especially if you have the censor/inspector
positions. Always remember to fish, it is an amazing source of sect contribution,
reputation, and spirit stones.
Fortune Land:​ Gives you pills and cultivation. First type of PvP in this game from
robbing.
Beast:​ You only need to sign up once a day. You do NOT need to be online during the
actual event. This is where you’ll get books for your study room.
Dungeon:​ It’s a small puzzle with a mini wander type room. Gives meridian pills and
some materials. There is a daily limit so remember to do it once it’s unlocked.

VIII. From Orphan to Immortal

This section is a suggested method of ascending to heaven in regards to sect and skill
choices. The background choice does not really matter since the stats are miniscule but I
would pick orphan or scholar. The first sect you join really doesn’t matter; you will be
leaving the moment you reach Gold Core. Valley of Fallen Blossoms is a good choice for
the companions.

When you reach Gold Core, join Afterglow sect. You will be staying here to get the
ultimate skill which will add 4x strength to your attack. From here on the main attribute
you will be focusing on upgrading is strength since now it gives you 4x strength in
damage and 5x strength in defense. The other stats are important, but less so. Buy out
every single 499 and 4990 skill from the sutra hall. Buy every 30k skill that increases
strength and use extras on some that increase life essence and dexterity. Don’t
purchase 100k skills until you’re done with 30k skills of that type (mainly for strength).
Remember to save 50k spirit stones for soul wandering to purchase the two skills for
automatic wandering (unless you purchase Censor position).

When you reach Nascent Soul, hopefully you would be done or close to be done with
getting the Afterglow sect manual. Once that’s complete, join the Three Purities or Wild
Goose sect to get the perception manual. Three Purities gives +6 alchemy exp over Wild
Goose sect but join whichever you have the keepsake for. By the time you get the
perception manual, you should be close or already at Nihility. If you’re very quite far then
you can get the manual at the other sect but it’s not recommended. If you’re p2w, then
you can ignore the above and just hop around tier 3 sects getting the first 4 manuals up
to retinue position until you reach Nihility.

At Nihility, just hop around random tier 4 sects to get their first 4 manuals. If you did not
spend any money, you can consider going to Miraculous Peasant sect to get their
absorption manual to increase your qi gain. At this point you should be trying to raise
your stats more than cultivation realm. By now your alchemy and blacksmithing should
be at least level 3, so upgrade gear and concoct pills to reach the maximum. Continue
buying out skills in the sutra hall.
 You need roughly 85k/85k/45k attack/defense/evasion with the Afterglow ultimate to
complete stage 20 which you can then ascend with help. If you’re the first group of
cultivators then you will require roughly 180k/180k/90k attack/defense/evasion with the
Afterglow ultimate to complete the barrier charge ascension. Stats can vary if one stat is
a lot higher.

IX. Spending
These are some of the things I find have especially great value if you choose to spend
(in no particular order). If you have a maximum budget for the game that’s in the several
hundreds or higher, then keep most of it for post ascending.

- Moonwatching Platform: Provides a lot of spirit jades and materials.

- Censor: A ton of convenience functions and it’s a permanent investment.
Inspector is decent to have as well especially if you managed to get a good
fishing rod.
- 1/10/100 Perception/Absorption skills: The earlier you purchase them, the more
benefits you gain out of it. 1/10 will speed up your early game a lot. If you’re
already at Nascent Soul then don’t bother purchasing them.
- Auto reading: Saves you a lot of time from checking back into the game every 30
minutes if you want to be efficient.
- Housekeeper: It’s a dollar for 13 jades over a week, some extra materials, and
automatic fishing.
- Until it’s changed, $10 for 68 spirit jades is a better value than $100 for 648 spirit
jades.
Recommended ​NOT​ to buy:
- Auto treasure hunt: You get this for free after ascending.
- Boutique: This is a gacha/lootbox mechanic so it’s almost always not “worth” it
unless you just want the outfits.
- Treasure Maps/Message Jade/Materials/Pills from the spirit jade market are too
expensive. Recipes are fine though.