Growing golden cores, if you're going to call it growing.

[ He heaves a sigh and tries to wrap that sect leader dignity around him, though he isn't feeling it much at all right now. ]

What we cultivate is our spiritual energy into forming a golden core; we cultivate our own bodies and minds. In very simple terms, the qi every living being has is cultivated into something which permits us to fly on swords or use talismans to cast spells, or heal faster than common people do.