Chapter 122

In just five days, Ding Huan had reached the peak of Level Nine as a gene cultivator.

He wanted to achieve gene Foundation Establishment, but he had not the slightest clue—he had no idea where to begin.

Ding Huan knew cultivation wasn't something to rush; in his past life, his cultivation level had been low, but his cultivation time had been long, and he still had some experience.

So Ding Huan didn't stubbornly keep pushing toward gene Foundation Establishment.

It was time to prepare to leave Earth; before leaving, he still had several things to do.

The first was to go to Beijing and search for Yongtang Gene Corporation and the Qin family—his father Ding Baishan's disappearance was connected to these two places.

The second was to visit the Human Corridor Defense Line and kill the demon dragon and the giant gorilla. Such powerful beings must not be left on Earth.

The third was to go to the Qu family and ask Hearing Qu Yonghe to forge a long spear, and also to see Seeing Qu Yi—ideally, he could pass on the Nine Paths to Qu Yi.

Unfortunately, during his trip to Kunlun Mountain, he hadn't obtained any good materials.

Without materials, if he wanted Hearing Qu Yonghe to forge a spear, he'd have to ask Qu Yonghe to find them himself.

Ding Huan suddenly remembered the war saucer—could he chip off a piece of material from it to forge a long spear?

Whether it worked or not, he had to try.

The only concern was that the war saucer was too hard to cut.

Ding Huan tidied up his belongings—he didn't have much; the only things of value to him were the Level Nine great owl's demon core and a hide scroll…

Thinking of this, Ding Huan pulled the star-shaped pebble from his pocket.

The thing looked unrefined, even crude.

What puzzled Ding Huan was why his spiritual sense couldn't penetrate it?

It wasn't because his spiritual sense hadn't solidified—he could penetrate other objects just fine.

Ding Huan carefully examined the star-shaped pebble; after confirming his spiritual sense couldn't penetrate it, he set it aside and slashed at it with a wind blade.

Crack! The wind blade left a white scar on the pebble.

With his strength, this strike hadn't even cracked the pebble.

Picking up the star-shaped pebble again, Ding Huan now knew this pebble was no ordinary object.

His wind blade could easily cleave through steel, let alone a normal stone.

Ding Huan forced his spiritual sense to penetrate again—this time, he used the Qi Qi Xinyue Sect's method of merging true qi.

When Qi Qi Xinyue taught him the Divine Concealment Art, she explained how to fuse spiritual power with true qi using divine incantations.

In truth, spiritual power was the embryonic form of spiritual sense; Ding Huan could directly fuse true qi with his spiritual sense to achieve the same effect as solidifying spiritual sense.

This time, as Ding Huan fused true qi into his spiritual sense, he immediately touched a dense network of patterns.

Ding Huan pushed his spiritual sense to its limit, striking those dense patterns—immediately, a powerful backlash surged back.

Ding Huan felt a sharp pain in his head and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Damn, Ding Huan muttered inwardly.

The patterns he'd just seen resembled, slightly, the markings carved on the Immortal Spider and the Cosmic Guidance Orb of Zhan Shen Continent.

Deep in his memory lay knowledge of arrays—he could vaguely sense these were what were called array patterns.

But he understood nothing about them.

Even without understanding, Ding Huan was certain: behind the array patterns within the star-shaped pebble lay something hidden.

Ding Huan rested for a long time before attempting to penetrate it again with fused spiritual sense and true qi.

This time, prepared for the backlash, he didn't go all out—he restrained his true qi.

Indeed, because he held back, the backlash was much weaker.

After several attempts, Ding Huan was astonished to discover: each time his spiritual sense struck the pattern, the backlash weakened slightly the next time.

This discovery thrilled Ding Huan—he began repeatedly striking the internal patterns of the pebble.

Once, twice…

After hundreds of consecutive attempts, Ding Huan was still striking the patterns over and over.

Excited by the prospect of uncovering the truth, he didn't even realize his spiritual sense was draining.

Until his spiritual sense was overused, his vision went black, and he finally collapsed unconscious.

…

Qi Qi Xinyue had been training outside, practicing Wind Blade and Fireball techniques, and only arrived at the Blue Star after nightfall.

When she saw Ding Huan lying pale on the ground, she rushed over and lifted him up.

After sensing his breath was normal, she exhaled in relief.

Fortunately, Ding Huan had merely exhausted his spiritual sense; after Qi Qi Xinyue massaged a few acupoints, he opened his eyes.

A faint fragrance and softness reached him—he opened his eyes to see Qi Qi Xinyue massaging the acupoint on his forehead.

And he was lying in her arms.

"Xinyue, I'm fine, thank you."

Ding Huan said this and tried to sit up to resume studying the star-shaped pebble.

"Mm." Qi Qi Xinyue, seeing Ding Huan awake, released her hold.

Only then did she realize how intimate her embrace had been—her face flushed, and she quickly helped Ding Huan sit up.

"Xinyue, have you heard of divine patterns?" Ding Huan asked.

Ding Huan changed the subject to ease Qi Qi Xinyue's embarrassment; after thinking carefully, she replied:

"My master once mentioned the concept of array patterns—I don't know if divine patterns are the same as array patterns."

"You know about array patterns?" Ding Huan exclaimed in delight.

Qi Qi Xinyue shook her head: "I don't know array patterns myself—I only know they are markings carved by powerful divine masters, based on their understanding of cosmic laws, designed to resonate with cosmic laws and serve some purpose…"

The divine patterns on the Immortal Spider are probably similar in effect, right?

Does it connect with the rules of heaven and earth?

Ding Huan muttered to himself, thinking of that energy vein.

Qi stones, Qi veins, Zhan Shen crystal stones, energy veins…

These things all contain Qi and can allow cultivators to cultivate.

The difference lies in some Qi being richly concentrated, making cultivation seem to deepen one's understanding of the Dao.

Some Qi is meager, seeming to only enhance cultivation level.

Could the thing that deepens one's understanding of the Dao be the rules of heaven and earth?

The more Ding Huan thought, the more certain he became; he once again used his spiritual sense to grind the patterns on the stone.

In Ding Huan's mind, these were very likely formation patterns.

Just as Qi Qi Xinyue had said, the function of these formation patterns was to block him from probing the secrets within the star-shaped stone.

He did not understand the rules of heaven and earth, but when his Luo Shi Jing performed a Zhou Tian circulation, it certainly contained a trace of heavenly Dao principles.

Otherwise, he could never have used the Luo Shi Jing to gather true Qi to cleanse his meridians and elevate his cultivation.

The energy veins from Zhan Shen Continent, when cultivated upon, allowed him to understand the Luo Shi Jing more clearly—this must be his best source of Qi.

This time, Ding Huan sat directly on the energy vein and circulated the Luo Shi Jing, treating the patterns on the stone as a vital point the Luo Shi Jing must pass through.

Each time the Luo Shi Jing reached this point, he gathered his spiritual sense and struck.

As the Luo Shi Jing circulated, the true Qi within his body was already flowing; he needed not fuse true Qi into his spiritual sense.

After the first Zhou Tian passed, Ding Huan sensed a clear difference.

First, he felt no backlash from the patterns inside the stone; second, he felt this strike was far more effective than all previous attempts.

He had guessed correctly—these patterns inside the stone were a type of formation pattern connected to the rules of heaven and earth.

This filled Ding Huan with joy; he continued his endeavor to grind away the stone's formation patterns.

Time flowed on, and Qi Qi Xinyue, seeing Ding Huan focused on his task, did not disturb him.

Lao Liu had decent emotional intelligence; seeing both Qi Qi Xinyue and Ding Huan aboard the Blue Star, he simply built a resting spot on the trunk of a tree beside it.

In his eyes, he must win Ding Huan's favor.

If Master Huan was satisfied, perhaps he could help generate a spiritual root for him.

If he barged into the Blue Star now, and Master Huan and Miss Qi were doing something indescribable, he'd be doomed.

He had seen such things before—in Qian Luo Mountain, he'd seen plenty.

A Huang was proud by nature; otherwise, the number of ferocious beasts queuing daily to beg for mating at A Huang's shabby hut would be countless.

The night passed like this.

Ding Huan still repeatedly used the Zhou Tian circulation of the Luo Shi Jing to strike the stone's patterns.

Qi Qi Xinyue wanted to tell Ding Huan to rest, but she did not know what he was doing and feared stopping mid-process might cause major consequences.

The only thing she could do was avoid disturbing Ding Huan.

Stepping out of the Blue Star, Qi Qi Xinyue saw Lao Liu still snoring far away and asked: "Lao Liu, why didn't you come aboard the Blue Star yesterday?"

Lao Liu chuckled, giving her a look that said, "You know."

Qi Qi Xinyue was puzzled; she had little contact with Lao Liu and had no idea of his lewd thoughts.

Seeing Qi Qi Xinyue didn't understand, Lao Liu skillfully pulled out paper and pen from his pouch and wrote:

"Miss Qi, no matter what you and Master Huan are doing inside, don't worry—I won't enter."

Qi Qi Xinyue finally understood; she spat, then turned and walked away.

Lao Liu was shameless—she felt her face burn, but she didn't take it to heart.

On the second and third days, Ding Huan still labored tirelessly on grinding the formation pattern.

Qi Qi Xinyue felt pity watching him, so she placed roasted owl meat beside Ding Huan for him to eat when he rested.

In truth, at Ding Huan's cultivation level, going without food for days had little effect.

Ding Huan paid no attention to the owl meat Qi Qi Xinyue brought; he felt that with one more push, he could grind away the formation pattern.

He didn't understand formation patterns—but that didn't stop him from removing it with the most basic method.

"Crack!"

When a crisp sound only Ding Huan could perceive rang out, he nearly shouted out in excitement.

He seemed to see a vast space—was this what the formation pattern concealed?

"Big Brother, are you alright?" Qi Qi Xinyue had been watching Ding Huan closely; sensing his agitation, she hurried over to ask.

"Thank you, Xinyue…" Ding Huan's heart surged; he leapt up and embraced Qi Qi Xinyue tightly.

He had a vague thought, but he dared not yet confirm it.

That was the Sumeru Space.

Too excited, too disbelieving—he could not control himself.

Qi Qi Xinyue had seen Ding Huan's body before, even shared bathing with him, and hadn't minded.

But now, held in his arms, she felt as if on fire and immediately went limp.

Ding Huan snapped back to reality, awkwardly releasing Qi Qi Xinyue:

"Sorry, Xinyue—I just discovered something that will greatly benefit my future, so I got carried away."

Qi Qi Xinyue's face flushed red, but she only lowered her head and murmured, "Mm."

(That's all for today's update, friends—goodnight! Please support with monthly votes!)