The Stars Beyond

Chapter 323: Blending Into Reality

The miniaturized Sword Immortal drew closer to Wang Xuan, utterly captivated by the experience of the silver mist. With her eyes closed, she inhaled deeply again, seemingly intoxicated by the mist, which, though not inebriating, left her feeling slightly tipsy. Her small head swayed, and she felt as if she might float off the ground.

Amazed, she wondered, "How can he, at his level, emit such mysterious substance?" Now fully awake and devoid of any sleepiness, she delightedly muttered, "I'll just inhale a little bit more, just a little more..."

She found the silver mist addictive. Rich with vitality and possessing extraordinary properties, it was irresistibly enticing. Without realizing, she moved closer to Wang Xuan, almost touching him, enveloped partially by the ascending mist.

"Yuck, that's disgusting," she exclaimed, recoiling quickly. Nearby Wang Xuan, she noticed some charred patches on the ground. These spots, shrouded in the silver mist, could easily be overlooked.

"It looks like he's been struck by lightning and shed a layer of skin," she commented, wrinkling her nose. With a wave of her hand, she flung those blackened materials and the affected soil up to the surface.

Meanwhile, in the void, Wang Xuan sat meditating in the Life Pool, his vitality increasingly robust. He was startled to see changes on the nearby mound of soil where the Nine Calamities Lotus was planted. The new leaf and budding sprout of the plant, previously a vibrant green, now had hints of red at their edges. Astonished, he pondered, "Is the plant absorbing the red mist I emit each time I return?"

Though he had purified the most destructive elements of the red mist through his cultivation, the fact that a mere plant could absorb it was remarkable. "This Nine Calamities Lotus is undergoing a mutation!" he thought, observing the plant closely. If this trend continued, the leaves might even start to shimmer with the colors of a sunset.

Wang Xuan sensed that the distance between his Life Soil and his current location was narrowing. He was absorbing the silver mist, and similar wisps of silver were emanating from his Life Soil, continuously absorbed by the two Nine Calamities Lotuses.

What intrigued him more was a faint sensation of his physical body. Although he couldn't see it, he vaguely felt its presence. This didn't surprise him, considering Chen Yongjie had mentioned that the silver substance was synchronizing within his physical body.

His concentration intensified, and his spiritual eye scanned the surroundings. It was as if glimpses of time flashed briefly before vanishing. Intrigued, he felt as if he had perceived the miniaturized Sword Immortal. It was more a flash of insight than a visual sighting, a mysterious instinct from his physical self, assuring him of no immediate danger.

It seemed like there was a new, tiny presence beside him. Wang Xuan, immersed in thought in the pool, marveled at the mysteries of his physical and spiritual selves, now seemingly worlds apart.

"Definitely worth exploring further," he muttered. Then, feeling slightly mischievous, he wondered if the Sword Immortal really was beside him. The thought of pinching her collagen-rich, baby-soft cheeks was quite tempting.

......

As Qingmu's small spacecraft flew over Ancheng and streaked across the sky, heading straight for the remote mountains and wilderness, he was on his way to the retreat location he had discussed with Wang Xuan over the phone.

Inside the spacecraft, Chen Yongjie, despite being repeatedly shaken by the superhuman aftershocks, managed to maintain his realm without falling. The impact of these aftershocks seemed to be most severe on those at the "ceiling" of their realms, who were the first to be shaken down.

"Low mountains stretch endlessly, a desolate expanse," Chen Yongjie remarked as they approached their destination.

"A mountain isn't valued for its height, but for the immortals that dwell within," Qingmu replied, hinting at the presence of the miniaturized Sword Immortal in the area.

Gu Lin also disembarked from the spacecraft with them. Chen Yongjie, with his sharp perception, immediately sensed familiar auras and traces of silver mist seeping from the ground ahead. He strode forward and, upon reaching the site, confirmed Wang Xuan's presence underground, along with the miniaturized Sword Immortal.

Chen Yongjie, lacking the Spiritual Eye, could only sense part of the truth and was unable to see the true state of the Sword Immortal shrouded in the mist.

"Why have you come here?" the miniaturized Sword Immortal asked, slightly annoyed at the constant disturbances in her sleeping spot. Just as they unearthed an "oddity," others followed, seemingly attracted to the curiosity.

To Chen Yongjie's surprise, upon arriving at the site and encountering the wisps of silver mist, he felt stabilized, free from the unsettling turbulence he had experienced earlier. Knowing that the Sword Immortal was nearby made him feel uneasy, recalling the time she had struck him with her celestial sword in the Inner Landscape. That experience had been so traumatic that he felt nauseous at the sight of swords for a while.

After undergoing the Sword Immortal's harsh training, Chen Yongjie's swordsmanship had improved dramatically, a clear example of great pain leading to great gain.

"Bowing to the Immortal!" Chen Yongjie greeted the miniaturized Sword Immortal with a formal gesture from the surface of the ground.

"Sigh, since you're here, you might as well sit down and absorb this strange substance. You'll regret missing out," the diminutive Sword Immortal said listlessly.

Chen Yongjie remained seated above ground, his mind anything but calm. He felt surprisingly stable here, no longer experiencing the unsettling tremors. He wondered if this was a mere coincidence or if it was somehow related to Wang Xuan. The substance produced from Wang Xuan's cultivation seemed extraordinary.

Chen Yongjie then urged Qingmu and Gu Lin to sit down as well, thinking that if even the Sword Immortal didn't care about appearances and rushed to Wang Xuan to absorb the silver mist, it must be worthwhile.

At that moment, Wang Xuan's body was radiating a faint silver glow, emitting strands of mist rich in vitality.

The Sword Immortal speculated, "Where has his spirit gone? Could he have accidentally entered a high-level spiritual world and collected some sacred substance, causing this phenomenon?"

After a while, she abruptly leaped backward, coughing out a red sword aura from her little red mouth. "Pah, pah, pah! I was just praising him, and what is this?" she complained, continuously expelling air to rid herself of the red light, her chubby cheeks flushing red and her eyes widening in surprise.

On the ground, Chen Yongjie reacted swiftly. Sensing the Sword Immortal's distress, he immediately used his secret power to teleport Qingmu and Gu Lin a safe distance away.

Chen Yongjie, engulfed by a sudden flush of red light that emerged from the ground, leaped up in pain, gasping sharply. His entire body turned red, his eyes widened in shock, and from his mouth burst forth flames.

"What is this?" he exclaimed, startled by the intensity of the sensation.

He then noticed the changes in Wang Xuan below. The silver glow and mist around Wang Xuan had dissipated, replaced by a flow of red light. Wang Xuan's body appeared slightly charred, as if his skin was being stripped away.

Chen Yongjie didn't flee. Instead, he vibrated with spiritual excitement, uttering tremulously, "This is the feeling I've been seeking—the burning pain like tearing apart. But this is exactly what I want!"

Letting his spirit emerge, he carefully drew in a wisp of the red haze. Despite his excitement, he was cautious, drawing in only a tiny amount.

His body reddened like a grilled shrimp, and his spirit seemed slightly ignited, almost self-immolating.

"My master... has gone mad again!" Qingmu remarked, recalling Chen Yongjie's earlier attempt to rush towards the sun and use nuclear radiation for cultivation. Now, he seemed to have lost his senses again.

"Yes, this is the sensation I've been looking for!" Chen Yongjie sat down in meditation, cautiously drawing in strands of red mist while simultaneously attracting solar fire.

In his body, streams of golden elixir energy and particles of Buddha's relics, the active substances, merged together. They were incinerated and tempered by the red mist, amalgamating into a new form of power.

He understood that he was still not free from the traditional mythological system, but he had now taken a firm step on the path he envisioned.

"Transformation won't happen instantly; it must be gradual," he thought, as he integrated the solar fire into the mixture within his body.

"Burn, remove the dross and preserve the essence!" His spirit plunged into the fray, refining himself in the fire.

At this stage, he didn't possess a golden elixir or Buddha's relics, but the energy of the golden elixir and the active substances of the relics were being generated daily, rapidly accumulating within him.

Chen Yongjie spoke out, "Qingmu, check the spaceship's mid-level arsenal for any controllable nuclear weapons. Dismantle and bring me some of the radiation."

Gu Lin couldn't hold back and said, "Old Chen, what are you thinking? Cultivation can't be achieved overnight. Don't be too radical!"

"I know what I'm doing," Chen Yongjie replied determinedly. "In this era, not being aggressively progressive means getting left behind. The old, decaying path doesn't work anymore; we need to venture into new territories."

Reluctantly, Qingmu dismantled the smallest caliber weapon and handed it to Old Chen.

Chen Yongjie took it and rushed off into the distance. He didn't dare to be too radical and just 'sampled' it a bit before returning.

He then took out a real bone, opened the Inner Landscape, and sent Qingmu and Gu Lin's spiritual bodies inside. He sat at the edge of the Inner Landscape, drawing a massive amount of mysterious factors into his body.

Chen Yongjie's body became like a testing ground, filled with elixir energy, relic substances, solar firelight, residual radiation energy, mysterious factors, and his returning spirit drawing in the red halo to smelt the mixed mass – a veritable melting pot.

On this day, Chen Yongjie truly pushed his limits, tempering himself with various energy substances. He activated two immortal bones twice, using the Inner Landscape to aid his cultivation.

At times, he almost overcooked himself, barely holding on. When he couldn't endure anymore, he would use the mysterious factors to purify and slow down the process, easing the burden.

Below the ground, the miniaturized Sword Immortal blinked her big eyes in surprise, even she thought Chen Yongjie was pushing too hard, almost self-destructing.

She herself was also experimenting, trying to transform the red light into sword light!

"I should return now," Wang Xuan said, feeling that his period of cultivation should come to an end.

At this moment, the outside world was shrouded in gloom, with many transcendent beings on the verge of tears, facing the inevitable.

"I've fallen," lamented the beings sent by Heng Jun. They had 'broken the board', but in reverse, falling from the state of Xiaoyao.

On the surface of the earth, demons howled in anguish, unable to accept the reality of their situation.

In the cosmos, on the planet of wizards, a dragon roared skyward, its massive body writhing in uncontrollable rage.

In the depths of space, on a desolate planet, the seal within a bald mountain loosened, hinting at the emergence of a creature, followed by continuous roars of frustration.

On the New World, Old Zhang stood still, facing the cosmic starry sky, his rust-streaked copper mirror covering his face, motionless for the time being.

Deep under the Daxing'anling mountains, in a bamboo boat carved from a Feathered Divine Bamboo, a white-robed female sorcerer sat up, her entire being glowing, merging with the bamboo boat to create a surreal brilliance.

In a secret realm, a red-clothed female demon's sunset-like dress partially burst open, revealing her fair skin. She danced amidst the heavenly winds, with endless thunder transforming into her battle dress, mending the gaps in her red gown. Her thunderous battle skirt fluttered, casting dazzling light.

In the desolate mountains, the red light on Wang Xuan's body disappeared, and his silver glow flowed again, finally calming down after a moment.

In the Void, inside the Pool of Life, Wang Xuan stood up, satisfied with the results of his cultivation. His spirit had become more resilient and robust, unlike before. He was as if tempered a thousand times, brimming with vitality and a sharp aura, a result of bathing in countless wisps of red light.

"Return," he declared.

He stood up, pulling out the Divine Slaying Banner planted in the pool and retrieving the silver animal hide scroll, both of which had absorbed ample amounts of the silver substance.

Then, he left without looking back.

"Hopefully, when I return next time, the Nine Calamities Celestial Lotus will be safe and sound. If someone plucks it, that would truly be a tragedy in the human world..."

To Wang Xuan's surprise, his journey seemed to have shortened significantly. He no longer needed to rely on his spiritual eye to discern the direction of the drifting mist.

In the distance, his original Life Soil and the two celestial herbs had become beacons guiding him home.

Commanding the Divine Slaying Banner, he streaked through the dark cosmos like a star, returning in just two months to the side of the Life-Preserving Furnace. This not only drastically reduced his travel time but also conserved a significant amount of energy, allowing him to bring back more of the silver substance.

The next moment, as his spirit and body merged, he immediately felt a surge of strength. He was startled to see a little being puffing her chubby cheeks near him, exhaling and then inhaling forcefully.

Was this the manifestation of his distractions and imaginative thoughts in the Void, brought into reality?

Instinctively and quite naturally, he reached out his right hand to gently pinch her baby-fat cheeks.