AGM 191 - Art of Nine Astrarium
The moment after Qin Wentian and the rest stepped into the windstorm tempest, they felt powerful blades of cold wind gusting about. They immediately circulated their Astral Energy, protecting their bodies.
For Stellar Martial Cultivators, their bodies were inherently weaker. Only demonic beasts were an exception.
It was impossible if one wanted to use their physical body to withstand the tempest. Maybe with his powerful physique, Qin Wentian could just barely withstand it, but it would still be impossible for him to do so without aid from circulating his Astral Energy.
Within the tempest, Qin Wentian held onto Mo Qingcheng’s hands, as they walked shoulder to shoulder, advancing slowly ahead. Their bodies were shrouded in the brilliant glow of Astral Light, and they could feel that the rate of Astral Energy consumption was incredibly fast. This was also the reason behind the deaths of the earlier cultivators. Luckily, Qin Wentian and the rest all had Stellar Fruits to replenish their energy reserves.
“Qingcheng, we should consume the Stellar Fruits in advance,” Qin Wentian spoke in a loud voice to Mo Qingcheng beside him, trying to drown out the keen of the wind. Mo Qingcheng nodded her head; they had already crossed a third of the path, and upon consuming the Stellar Fruits, their energy reserves were restored to the brim.
An hour later, their bodies filled with fatigue, Qin Wentian and the rest finally breached the final barrier, as they heaved a sigh of relief.
“How beautiful.” The pretty eyes of Mo Qingcheng gazed ahead. The celestial lake formed a total of seven celestial pools, and each pool was surrounded by sky-high, towering astral stone pillars. The pillars seemed to reach out to the constellations above in the Heavens, causing the shimmering, beautiful starlight to cascade downwards. Nothing more beautiful could be imagined.
This scene, was akin to something in a dream. It was truly gorgeous.
“The Celestial Lake.” Those from the Mystic Moon Hall and Ouyang Kuangsheng had arrived. Smiles could be seen flickering in their eyes as they locked gazes. After all, it was because of their joint alliance that enabled them to reach this place. The entire journey wasn’t easy, indeed.
Qin Wentian pulled Mo Qingcheng along, walking towards the three cultivators from the Mystic Moon Hall. Looking at the veiled lady, he smiled, “Thank you.”
Qin Wentian, when gazing upon the veiled lady, observed that while her eyes were extremely bright and clear, it was as though there were some emotions still left unspoken within them. This caused Qin Wentian to be bewildered, did he know this lady?
“No problem.” The veiled lady lowered her head as she lightly replied.
Qin Wentian nodded, as he cast a glance towards Ouyang Kuangsheng. And just when he was about to speak, Ouyang Kuangsheng interjected with a laugh. “I’m Ouyang Kuangsheng from the Azure Continent. Although we really are friends now, no matter what it would be better to introduce ourselves again.”
“I’m Qin Wentian, from Chu, a country under the administration of the Nine Mystical Palace.”
Qin Wentian smiled as he nodded to Ouyang Kuangsheng, his countenance at peace, his eyes extremely clear, a total contrast from how demonic he had looked earlier.
“How unexpected. To think you originate from a country under the administration of the Nine Mystical Palace.” Ouyang Kuangsheng had never heard of Chu before, but he knew of the Nine Mystical Palace. Who would have thought that a small country under the administration of the Nine Mystical Palace actually produced such a heaven-defying genius.
“Haha enough of this, let’s get straight to the task at hand.” Ouyang Kuangsheng laughed as he gazed ahead, looking at the celestial pools. Everyone nodded their heads as they strode forwards in the direction of the celestial pools. The radiance of inexhaustible amounts of starlight could be seen shimmering within the pools.
“I’m going in.” Ouyang Kuangsheng stepped into one of the celestial pools beside him. The instant he stepped in, the stone pillars surrounding the celestial pool began to flicker with resplendent brilliance, as they actually started to shift. Due to the abundance of Astral Energy, an almost oppressive atmosphere manifested. Ouyang Kuangsheng’s figure could no longer be seen, his whole figure hidden by a screen made from motes of beautiful Astral Light.
“Let us enter as well,” Qin Wentian spoke to Mo Qingcheng, as they respectively stepped into two other celestial pools.
Two females from the Mystic Moon Hall also stepped inside the other remaining celestial pools, leaving only the veiled lady behind. A teardrop rolled down her face, as she saw Qin Wentian stepping into a celestial pool. However, she was smiling behind her veil. Her tears, were tears of happiness.
“Wentian gege.”
A light crisp voice rang out, the sound of a young woman.
The veiled lady lifted one of her hands to wipe away the traces of tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She was truly happy, she had finally managed to be of help to her Wentian gege.
In the span of a year, she had suffered many ordeals and also finally met her master, who brought her to the Mystic Moon Hall located in the Spirit Continent. Her master was extremely strict towards her, but she knew that it was all for her own good. However, with no kin by her side, abruptly being thrust into such a life made her feel tired, so very tired.
It truly felt good to see her Wentian gege again.
“Wentian gege, although I really wish to have a good chat with you, I can’t do so now. My master is excessively strict with me and she would surely find out. I could only secretly arrange for Gu Xing to travel to Chu to help you back then. After knowing that all is well with you and that you even managed to become the champion of the Jun Lin Banquet, I’m truly happy. Just like everything I’ve ever imagined you to be, your radiance is finally shining.”
The young lady murmured to herself, she was only able to use such roundabout methods to ‘speak’ with Qin Wentian.
“Mmm, right, you will be even more illustrious in the future. Not only in Chu, not only in the nine states cities, even the Grand Xia Empire will have your story.” The young lady smiled as she finally stepped into one of the celestial pools. Swiftly after, her silhouette couldn’t be seen any longer, as the screen materialised from motes of Astral Light surrounded her.
Qin Wentian wasn’t aware of how the veiled lady murmured to herself. After stepping into the celestial pool, he could sense how saturated with Astral Energy the pool was. Inclining his head and gazing at the Heavens, he could see starlight cascading downwards, flowing down through the astral stone pillars. This kind of sensation felt extremely marvellous, and it was like Heaven when compared to the hellish torture they underwent in the windstorm tempest.
Qin Wentian sat down cross-legged, as he entered into his dreamscape. One of the effects of the Great Dreamcast Art he was cultivating, was the tremendous boost to his cultivation speed when he cultivating through his dreams.
Releasing his Astral Souls, columns and columns of Astral Light shot into his Astral Souls. After the grinding and refinement of his Astral Souls, the Astral Light was converted into Astral Energy before once more flowing into his body. Gradually, the Astral Energy stored within his body filled up to the point of overflowing, as the energy started to stimulate the arterial pathways, meridians and energy channels of his entire body.
Gushing sounds rang out, as each of his nine arterial pathways roared. Over here, it felt as though Astral Energy was unlimited in supply. Wouldn’t he be letting himself down if he didn’t do his utmost to absorb it all?
Qin Wentian understood very well that for Stellar Martial Cultivators, especially during the Body Refinement and Arterial Circulation Realm, levelling up basically depended on the amount of Astral Energy one’s body could hold. The accumulation of Astral Energy was paramount, if one wanted to breakthrough. However, once one steps into Yuanfu, breaking through to the next level would no longer have such a heavy dependence on the amount of Astral Energy gathered any longer.
After all, when one steps into Yuanfu, the capacity of one’s Yuanfu will be determined at the time of formation. At most, Yuanfus could only be filled to the brim, and any excess energy after that limit was reached, would be impossible for the cultivator to absorb. If one wanted to breakthrough to the next level, they would need to increase the capacity of their Yuanfu, and this wasn’t something that could be accomplished by merely absorbing Astral Energy. This was also the reason why the celestial lake was so attractive to peak Arterial Circulation Realm, as well as early stage Yuanfu Realm cultivators.
The dip into the celestial pools lasted three days. Qin Wentian could feel his arterial pathways all expanding to their limits. He was only one step away from the formation of his Yuanfu.
At that moment, he opened his eyes, as Astral Light flickered within.
“I’ve already passed the test of the Refinement Grounds, but where was the secret hidden by the Azure Emperor? Could it be that I truly have to look for Fairy Qingmei?” Qin Wentian bitterly smiled. As a nameless nobody, how could he even get an audience with Fairy Qingmei?
Rubbing his interspatial ring, the map of Dicang appeared in his hands. There shouldn’t be any mistakes, the place marked on the map should be the Celestial Lake Palace.
“Huh?” At this moment, Qin Wentian’s heart trembled. The map of Dicang suddenly began to glow with a resplendent light. Under the cascading starlight, many ancient-looking words appeared on the map’s flipside, as it suddenly floated up into the air. The words were all formed by the starlight.
This was the real map that would lead to the secret of the Azure Emperor, Dicang! When the Azure Emperor drew that map, it was merely supposed to act as a cover. The flipside of the map, which was totally blank before, was actually the real map! Only under the intense radiance of starlight from the celestial pool would the ancient words show themselves.
Such a discovery left Qin Wentian thunderstruck.
“Art of the Nine Astrarium.” Qin Wentian breathed as he gazed at the floating underside of the map of Dicang. This was a cultivation art, a beyond heavenly-defying cultivation art that would enable one to cultivate up to nine Yuanfus.
The secret of the Azure Emperor, was real!
Qin Wentian studied the map with seriousness as he imprinted the words into his mind. Currently, great waves billowed about in his heart; everyone in the cultivation world could only cultivate a single Yuanfu, but users of the Art of Nine Astrarium were required to cultivate a total of nine Yuanfus.
Not only that, this art could only be cultivated when one was still in the Arterial Circulation Realm. The user must cultivate their first Yuanfu according to the methods stated in the cultivation art, after which, such a Yuanfu would eventually birth a second Yuanfu, while the second Yuanfu would birth a third Yuanfu.
The number of Yuanfus directly correlated to the numbers of Astral Souls a cultivator has. Usually, at the Yuanfu Realm, ordinary cultivators would condense a total of three Astral Souls. This meant that if one lacked the talent, one would be stuck in the Yuanfu Realm. With only three Astral Souls, at most they would only be able to cultivate three Yuanfus.
Other than this, after the Astral Souls were placed within the Yuanfus to be nurtured, that particular Yuanfu would only be able to absorb Astral Energy directly from the constellation the Astral Soul was condensed from. For example, if Qin Wentian chose to nurture the Heavenly Hammer Astral Soul into his first Yuanfu, he would only be able to absorb the Astral Energy that emanated out from the Heavenly Hammer Constellation. This also applied to Astral Light that was converted into Astral Energy by his Heavenly Hammer Astral Soul.
“After I master the Art of Nine Astrarium, I would then have three Yuanfus when I’m at the Yuanfu Realm. In this case, wouldn’t that mean the amount of Astral Energy I possess would be three times more, compared to others?” Qin Wentian trembled with anticipation.
Wouldn’t it be an extremely simple thing for him to slaughter Yuanfu level opponents just by stepping into Yuanfu?
During that time, if he wanted to kill Ye Wuque, it would be akin to squashing an ant. How could he not be excited about this?
With these thoughts in mind, Qin Wentian immediately started on his cultivation. It was very clear to him that there was no other place in this world that would be better suited to cultivate the Art of Nine Astrarium. Perhaps, this piece of map wasn’t drawn by Dicang, but rather, he had discovered it within this place instead. This may also be the real reason why Fairy Qingmei wanted to claim possession of the place, building the Celestial Lake Palace to monopolise the celestial lake.
If that was the case, it further reaffirmed his earlier conjecture that Azure Emperor Dicang had never broken up with Fairy Qingmei at all. Everything was a farce orchestrated by them, both suffering so much emotionally, taking numerous actions borne of necessity before everyone would believe that Fairy Qingmei hated the Azure Emperor to the core. The story of what exactly happened back then, would definitely be an extremely moving tale.
Qin Wentian didn’t know that at this very moment, Fairy Qingmei was watching his every move. After the passage of a few thousand years, a suitable successor had finally appeared!