After eating, Xia Zhi lay on the bed to sleep. She rested her head on Lin Xun’s pillow, covered herself with Lin Xun’s blanket, and, of course, she slept on Lin Xun’s bed.
Xia Zhi was direct and straightforward, and, when she did speak, she always spoke in a forthright manner. She was very quiet and seldom spoke, which made her seem very unusual.
She only looked like a little girl when asleep. Her eyelashes curved like a fan; her breathing was light and her beautiful-near-perfect face was sweet and innocent.
As Lin Xun gazed at Xia Zhi, who was deep asleep, a smile formed at the corners of his mouth. He felt the little girl had shown only him kindness, goodwill and even dependence.
Lin Xun no longer cared that he couldn’t find out about Xia Zhi’s past because he realized that Xia Zhi had made his life no longer lonely. She added a sense of steadiness and stability to his life, which he had never felt before.
Perhaps this was a feeling of dependency?
Lin Xun wasn’t sure what it was but he felt that Xia Zhi had integrated into his life.
……
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Lin Xun held his breath in deep concentration and began to cultivate.
The Organ Opening Stage, the third layer of the True Martial Stage, put importance on drawing aeth power to circulate into the five internal organs and consolidating a cultaivator’s foundation, for the next stage was the Orifice Unlocking Stage.The so-called Orifice Unlocking Stage was to unlock the acupoints and orifices in the entire body. The unlocking of orifices would strengthen the practitioner's spirit and resulted in abundant vital energy, qi and blood.
After reaching that stage, a person’s cultivation base would undergo transformation once again. Not only would their strength double, their entire body would be further tempered and the impurities inside would be removed.
After Lin Xun experienced the fierce battle four days ago, he had distinctly felt his cultivation base further consolidating and being refined. With diligent practice, it wouldn’t be long until he could make another breakthrough!
This was the benefit of real-life battle. Being tempered through the flames of combat would not only significantly improve a person’s combat techniques, skills and experience, but also their cultivation base.
The time it took to burn an incense stick passed by.
Lin Xun circulated his aeth power thirty-six times around his body before and began to visualize the Star Cycle phenomenon.
The Little Divine Meditation Art was undoubtedly mysterious and profound. Despite it only having three great stages, the Star Cycle, the Moon Phases and the Sun Illumination, each one was broad and all-encompassing. The more a cultivator comprehended, the more they would notice how unfathomable it was.
In Lin Xun’s mind-sea, a starry sky spectacle began to emerge. The starry sky was vast, mysterious, and stippled with millions of stars. However, every star was dim and unreachable.
Lin Xun felt embarrassed to say that he hadn’t been able to break through the Star Cycle despite daily practice of the Little Divine Meditation Art.
Regardless, Lin Xun’s spirit had been refined and strengthened after each training session. The benefits it had brought were evident.
Hu—
Lin Xun exhaled long and slow. In his mind-sea, he was fully concentrated on illuminating the billions of stars in the starry sky.
Only when he could perceive and cross the star paths to trigger a star to shed its light would he be truly considered to have touched upon the Star Cycle.
That step was called Illuminating the Stars.
Undistracted by any other things and devoid of any desires, Lin Xun silently meditated. Suddenly, he felt he had drifted up thousands of miles into the sky. Despite flying thousands of miles, he didn’t feel tired. A natural force was pulling him upwards.
He passed the sky, went beyond the nine heavens, and flew into the vast boundless starry sky.
Countless stars came into his sight, but he came to realize that the stars were not fixed in position and were constantly changing. They were orbiting along different paths.
It was as though an invisible hand was controlling their movements. The cycle and path of each star was indescribably mysterious and they resembled heavenly steeds soaring across the sky,
As far as the eye could see was the chessboard-like starry sky. The stars were chess pieces dotted on the chessboard while the star paths were where the chess pieces would move.
Lin Xun quietly watched and observed. As time passed, a perplexed feeling crept to his heart.
If the starry sky is the chessboard and the stars are the chess pieces, who is the one playing the game of chess?
It’s me!
Lin Xun felt a flash of realization. His perception spread like a ray of light rushing into the starry sky, and lit up one of the stars!
It was as though an invisible hand had placed a piece on the chessboard!
The stars, which were the chess pieces, would light up, and the chess pieces would be brought to life. When it did, the real journey would begin.
Hua—
At the same time, the originally dim starry sky in Lin Xun’s mind-sea changed. A blurry star suddenly turned incredibly bright and shed rays of light. The rays passed vast nothingness and into his mind-sea.
Lin Xun snapped to his senses. He felt an indescribable refreshing feeling both inside and outside his spirit field. It was so comfortable that he felt like he was soaking in a hot spring and almost even groaned out loud.
The Star Cycle Realm!
He had finally touched upon the Star Cycle Realm!
Lin Xun was brimming with excitement. After two months, he had finally inadvertently lit up the first star in his mind-sea.
At that moment, his perception felt like a delicate cobweb spreading out and enveloping the courtyard.
Everything in the courtyard was vividly presented in his mind. The grass swayed by the night wind, the crickets perched on the window, a drop of dew forming on the side of the well, the weeping willow illuminated by the moonlight…
Everything was so clear, vivid and ethereal.
This was perception!
A power from his spirit.
It was also known as the spirit from the orifice reflecting all things in the mind.
Generally, only when a cultivator had broken through the True Martial Stage and had reached the Spirit Dipper Stage would they possess such power of perception.
But now, Lin Xun, who was only at the third-layer True Martial Stage, had managed to achieve that step!
Naturally, this had to be credited to the Little Divine Meditation Art!
He had already possessed such powers when he had just touched upon the Star Cycle Realm. Thus this Spirit Refining Art was incredibly mysterious and profound.
From what Lin Xun knew, reaching the perfect realm of the Star Cycle only happened when he could control his power of perception to light up all the stars in the starry sky of his mind-sea and illuminate everything.
Lin Xun found that he could perceive everything within a radius of ten feet.
Huh?
Lin Xun was about to get up to engrave a rune with his rune brush to check the changes brought about by his strengthened spirit but when he opened his eyes, he found that Xia Zhi was resting her head on his lap and curled up sleeping. A trace of a longing flickered over her beautiful and peaceful face.
A rare and almost imperceptible smile touched the corners of her lips.
Lin Xun thought for a while and carefully moved Xia Zhi’s head away. But she scrunched her brows and mumbled, “No” while hugging Lin Xun’s leg.
Lin Xun smiled wryly. He had no choice but to test his new powers in the morning to avoid disturbing the little girl.
Lin Xun lay down and gazed at Xia Zhi who was lying beside him. He pondered about how to face the upcoming second test of the Omega Secret Realm.
After an unknown period of time, Lin Xun also drifted off into deep sleep.
……
The next morning.
Lin Xun got up early and repeatedly practiced the Marching Army Fist in the courtyard until he was drenched in sweat and his blood was bubbling. Then, he rinsed himself with the cold water from the well, changed into some clean clothes, and started to prepare breakfast in the kitchen.
Lin Xun felt much more energetic, spirited and stronger, and all his senses felt renewed.
Xia Zhi immediately woke up when she smelled the aroma wafting from the kitchen. It was as though sleeping and eating were the most important things in her world and mustn’t be neglected.
While eating, Lin Xun suddenly remembered something he wanted to ask the little girl. “Xia Zhi, have you ever learned any body tempering arts?”
Xia Zhi blankly shook her head. “No.”
Lin Xun pointed to the giant hammer tossed to one corner of the courtyard. “Then how did you mold that hammer?”
“I just used my hands.” Xia Zhi casually replied.
Lin Xun: “…”
Xia Zhi frowned and studied Lin Xun for a while before saying, “Are you going to strengthen your body?”
Lin Xun nodded. He had given it a deep thought overnight. Given that the second test of the Omega Secret Realm was called Body Tempering, it had to be related to the tempering of the body.
Additionally, since there were 108 chances to pass, it suggested it was very difficult and the rate of failure was extremely high.
In that case, Lin Xun had to be prepared. It would be even better if he could strengthen and improve his body beforehand.
However, Lin Xun knew no methods of doing so except for consuming the flesh and blood of rare beasts and the decoctions of various aeth ingredients.
There were many methods in the world that specifically aimed to temper the body but Lin Xun knew none and it was impossible to find any in Feiyun Village.
In truth, based on the cultivation stages, the nine layers of the True Martial Stage was a kind of refinement of a cultivator’s body.
The first layer, Qi Drawing, trained a cultivator’s awareness of their body of qi.
The second layer, Inner Strengthening, toughened a cultivator’s muscles, bones and limbs.
The third layer, Organ Opening, tempered the five organs in a cultivator’s body.
The fourth layer, Orifice Unlocking, strengthened the acupoints and orifices in a cultivator’s body.
The fifth layer, Essence Refining, purified the marrow and essence of a cultivator’s muscles and bone.
The sixth layer, Blood Igniting, improved the blood in a cultivator’s body.
The seventh layer, Little Cycle, and the eighth layer, Big Cycle, were the same in that they were a comprehensive refinement of a cultivator’s flesh, blood, tendons, bones, acupoints, orifices and organs.
The Little Cycle was a preliminary refinement and the Big Cycle was a further refinement.
The ninth layer, Aeth Transformation, refined the aeth power inside and outside the cultivator’s body to initiate a transformation.
All nine layers of the True Martial Stage helped a cultivator to establish a solid foundation in order to successfully form Dipper Qi from Aeth power at the Spirit Dipper Stage!
However, Lin Xun was only at the third-layer True Martial Stage and it was impossible to further improve his body in such a short time without resorting to other means.
Xia Zhi pondered for a moment and said, “How about we fight?”
Lin Xun repeated in puzzlement, “Fight?”
Xia Zhi seriously nodded. “Yes, fighting with pure physical strength is one of the most direct ways of strengthening your body.”
Lin Xun exclaimed in surprise, “How do you know this?”
Xia Zhi’s eyes looked dazed and confused. She shook her head after thinking for a long time. “I can't remember it, but I know it can’t be wrong.”
Lin Xun clenched his teeth and decided to trust Xia Zhi. “We should give it a try.”