It was just that in place of using Qi, cultivators use Soul Essence which isn't present in the Mortal Realm. It is only present in the Divine Realm and the Dao Realm.

The only use of Soul Essence however wasn't like Qi to control the elements around a cultivator and rather to strengthen one's soul.

Also, unlike the various Realms of Cultivation related to the Lower Dantian, there weren't that many Realm related to the Middle Dantian.

There were only a total of five Realms of Cultivation with each having their own purpose and no sub realms inside them.

The Realms of Cultivation related to the Middle Dantian were - Nascent Soul Formation Realm, Fate Weapon Realm, Soul Splitting Realm, Spirit Beast Manifestation Realm, and Eternal Palace Realm.

There was no clear distinction to let one know which stage or level they were inside one particular Realm of Cultivation, but thee cultivator themselves would clearly understand their progress.

In the Nascent Soul Realm, an eternal soul which doesn't get destroyed even when the physical body was destroyed would be created.

For some like Jian Shen who ascended after bearing with the nine heavenly tribulations and possessed a body worthy of being considered as a False Immortal's this wasn't really that great and only a safety measure in case something unexpected happened.

But for those who were born in the Divine Realm, they didn't possess the same amount of vitality as those that ascended and therefore possessing an Immortal soul was a must for them.

After all, even if their physical bodies ended up expiring, they had more than enough methods to create another body for themselves and continue cultivating as if nothing had happened.

In the second stage, the Fate Weapon Realm, the cultivator will choose the weapon they want to fuse with their soul so that they would innately he better at using that particular weapon at all times.

This will also make it possible to be linked to the weapon on the level is soul making it a part of the body and not an addition or extension.

This is perfect for Jian Shen who already possesses two swords which he would never need to change due to how strong they were.

Fusing then with his soul at such a young age would be very beneficial to him in the future.

Next was the Soul Splitting Realm. In this stage, the cultivator will split his soul into multiple pieces.

The number of pieces would depend on how much pain he is willing to bear, because the more pieces they split their soul into, the more painful it would be on them.

However, the more pieces they had would allow them to be stronger in the later stages.

That was in the Spirit Beast Manifestation Realm where the spirit of a beast could be fused with each of the split soul.

Fusing the spirit of a beast with one's soul had two benefits for the cultivator.

One, depending on the spirit they had fused with, their body would innately receive a few bonus abilities.

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For example, fusing with a bear, ape, or elephant related beasts would gift the cultivators with an increase in their physical strength.

The second benefit was how the piece of soul which was fused with the spirit of a beast didn't just provide an innate boost but even an active boost.

As the cultivators could choose it the piece of soul to act as the main one instead of his actual soul, he would receive even more benefits in the bonus of traits he received from the particular beast spirit.

That is an even greater physical strength for as long as the cultivator has the piece of soul with the beast spirit taking the place of his actual soul.

Still, this could only be done for a short time and was temporary because replacing the main soul with a part of the mixed beast soul would damage the cultivator's body from the inside.

Despite this limitation however this ability was something that all of the Divine Realm Cultivators appreciated the most.

After all, just think about the abilities they'd gain from fusing the spirit of a dragon with their soul.

And finally there was the Eternal Palace Realm.

In this a palace is created inside the Dantian by using Soul Essence as a place to keep the main soul of the cultivator and the various pieces he had split out of it inside it.

This palace is what makes sure that the pieces of souls that were split and fused with beast spirits won't get destroyed or lost when their body was destroyed.

This would greatly help in reducing the individual's effort when if they manage to recreate their body and restarted cultivating.