Chapter 85: Star Power

"Cut the nonsense, what's the matter?" the Gray Spirit Butterfly opened its hazy, deep eyes and said impatiently.

"Nothing, I'm just here to greet my master!"

"Hmph, don't call me master anymore; it makes me sound old! Besides, I am a creation of your consciousness; although I accidentally obtained part of the Boundary Butterfly's inheritance, I still remain a consciousness visualization object, so calling me master… is inappropriate!"

Wei Yuning regretted it; abandoning control of the visualization object's thoughts could quickly build a foundation with his consciousness, but the side effects were huge. The visualization object was supposed to be a weak ego‑consciousness thought‑form, controlled by its creator, yet able to aid the creator's cultivation.

This Boundary Butterfly visualization object, which in the dream looks strikingly like a monarch butterfly girl, not only turns the tables but is also a tyrant whose thoughts are often chaotic. The only consolation for Wei Yuning is that the Boundary Butterfly is usually in a dazed state; if he doesn't actively disturb her, she rarely pays him any attention.

"Then what would you like me to call you?" Wei Yuning asked.

"Sounds nice, but the moment something's unsatisfactory you lock me in a dream; you think I enjoy calling you master?" he muttered under his own consciousness.

"From your memory inheritance I see that servants of wealthy families address their young masters as 'young master' or 'miss'; just call me 'Miss'!"

"…Yes, Miss!"

"Speak, what's the matter? I know you must have something!"

"Alright, it's really something!" Wei Yuning detailed the difficulties he had encountered.

"…How strange, why would you come to me? Apart from using Star Power to create tiny spaces that can cross boundary walls, the Boundary Butterfly has no other abilities. However, I do have a solution to your problem. If you're willing to spare a fragment of consciousness to fuse with Star Power, you can easily make the insects have nowhere to escape!"

"Star Power? If it can be fused with consciousness, that's great—I have Star Power right now!" Wei Yuning exclaimed with delight.

He happened to have a Space Stone in his hand, which contains Star Power.

Qiu Hu once said that as long as one can comprehend Star Power, cultivation will surely advance greatly, and one of the creators of the Eternal Immortal City can control Star Power.

He never imagined that the visualization object, having obtained part of the Boundary Butterfly's inheritance, actually possessed a method to control Star Power.

"Idiot! Just because I have a method doesn't mean it's viable; unless you have a rare innate constitution, controlling Star Power demands a huge price, not worth it. The consciousness I speak of is the ego‑consciousness—if even a bit is missing, the human soul becomes incomplete, and an incomplete soul may turn into a fool. Even if you don't worry about becoming a fool, what about me? I'd end up unlucky too!" the Boundary Butterfly scolded.

"Then… Miss, is there any other way?"

Seeing the Boundary Butterfly anxious, Wei Yuning also understood; although the Boundary Butterfly is unlikable, she is ultimately one with him—one's honor is shared, one's loss is shared.

"There is of course a way; it depends on whether you're willing to let go!"

Though it was merely a consciousness communication, in Wei Yuning's sea of thought he seemed to see the shape of Wolf Grandma.

"…Tell me then!" Wei Yuning couldn't restrain his curiosity.

"You can let that big piece of wood beside you fuse with Star Power; it is a construct with ego‑consciousness, and you have no use for it anyway, so better put a waste to use!" the visualization object said seriously.

Wei Yuning was startled, instantly realizing she meant the Golden Ancient Pine.

Almost subconsciously, Wei Yuning immediately rejected, "That definitely won't work!"

Joke—if it hadn't been the Golden Ancient Pine last time, he would have been blown up by the Boundary Butterfly visualization object; in terms of reliability, the untrustworthy pine is far better than the capricious visualization object.

"Fine then, figure it out yourself!" the visualization object said irritably.

"Hey, Miss, wait!"

Just as Wei Yuning was about to give up, a tiny ancient pine appeared in his sea of thought, accompanied by a string of alien babble.

No translation was needed; he understood that the Golden Ancient Pine was willing to offer a portion of its spiritual consciousness. From its appearance, the tiny pine seemed to be a sapling of the Golden Ancient Pine.

The Boundary Butterfly was already within Wei Yuning's consciousness; she immediately sensed the sapling's existence.

"It can actually do that, consider yourself lucky!"

She hummed in displeasure, then reluctantly transmitted a cultivation technique to Wei Yuning.

The conversion of consciousness into Star Power is not direct; it actually merges the unseen ego‑consciousness of the real world with the equally invisible Star Power.

The process is extremely subtle.

Put simply, it's void‑to‑void, fusing two intangible, only vaguely perceptible things into one.

Had Wei Yuning not happened to read the external sect's Daoist technique "Buddha Visualization Method," his deeper understanding of void, he would have almost failed to master this void‑to‑void control.

A Space Stone's Star Power is limited; fortunately, after more than a dozen attempts, he succeeded, and a strange void substance appeared.

Star Power is an extremely unique substance; it connects to all things yet is not any thing, invisible and intangible, only manifesting within a Space Stone. After merging with consciousness, the consciousness perishes while the Star Power remains, now linked to ego‑consciousness and controllable by it.

The unit of Star Power is a "ge"; though invisible, it objectively exists, with a volume ranging from nothing to as large as a football.

Star Power itself cannot affect material objects, but it can achieve indirect control via things in the real world.

For example, the spell vines in Wei Yuning's innate Entanglement Technique are things Star Power can control.

Within a small range, Star Power's speed approaches infinity; it can continuously allocate the spell vines' binding force to where it's most needed, keeping the binding force at its maximum output. This is the terrifying aspect of Star Power users—not only invincible at their level but also unfazed in higher‑level challenges.

The only drawback is that the process demands a high level of consciousness from the user, but compared to the effect, this flaw is almost negligible.

No one dared to disturb Wei Yuning as he sat with eyes closed in contemplation.

Because immersed in thought, Wei Yuning once again entered a state of merging with heaven and earth.

To the onlookers, Wei Yuning was at times clear, at times vague—extremely bizarre.

The surrounding laborers all wore horrified expressions.

And Chang Fei's complexion was even stranger: "What's going on? How does Brother Yuning's technique resemble my family's hereditary technique so closely?"

Chang Fei's ancestor was none other than Elder Guest Minister Yongnian, a cultivator of the Fusion Stage, whom all members of the Cloud Hidden Sect address as brother.