Chapter 205: Four Methods Acquired in the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, Returning with a Full Load!

【Heavenly Eye Art】

【High-Grade: First Transformation】

【Effect: The life soul connects to the power of heaven and earth, allowing one to see ghosts and spirits and pierce through magical disguises.】

"The life soul resides in the fetus, but the mortal eyes and common flesh block the life soul from opening its eyes to see the world."

"But now that I have opened the Heavenly Eye, it is equivalent to a weakened version of divine consciousness and divine thought." Zhao Xing gazed inward at his sea of consciousness.

The life soul in the sea of consciousness looked exactly like him; his body was still somewhat ethereal, but his eyes glowed with a pale gold, far more solid than the rest of his form.

The High-Grade Heavenly Eye Art has a subsequent advancement path that will form a supernatural ability—【Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing】.

This supernatural ability is monstrously powerful; even a thousand li away, one can monitor an enemy's every move.

However, the birth of such a supernatural ability will only occur in the era of the resurgence of spiritual energy.

The Heavenly Eye Art can currently be cultivated only up to the peak level.

"Sixth Rank Heavenly Star, Fifth Rank Pure Origin, Fourth Rank Origin Soul, Third Rank Origin Spirit."

"Step by step, as one grows strong to the Third Rank realm, the life soul will also grow powerful, no longer limited by the physical flesh, and can briefly leave the body."

"However, to achieve soul wandering in the Great Void, one needs much more support." Zhao Xing recalled the 'Blood Spirit Venerable' he had once seen in Gucheng.

Like the 'Blood Spirit Venerable', one could not only wander the soul in the Great Void but also split the life soul.

However, that method relied on the blood sacrifices of believers, using the faith, blood qi, and souls of others as a foundation, stored across the world.

The Blood Spirit Venerable's method could go very far, but individual strength was relatively weak.

Back then in the abandoned workshop in Gucheng, even a Yin Spirit like Donghu Bo could fight it for a long time.

But for the Blood Spirit Venerable, losing a portion of the life soul was no big deal; as long as the main body was not harmed, it was like a fingernail that could grow back after being cut.

If the life soul's main body was injured, that would be quite troublesome; treasures capable of healing souls are mostly Seventh Grade or above.

"When the life soul reaches the Third Rank, one can wander the soul in the Great Void; that is when one becomes truly strong," Zhao Xing thought silently.

This Great Void refers to the vast expanse of space.

Leaving the body with the life soul is a dangerous matter, yet why do some still enjoy doing it?

Of course, there are benefits.

"When I reach the Third Rank Origin Spirit realm, I can let my life soul wander the Yin Realm, searching for rare plants there to bring back and cultivate myself."

"Native species of the Yin Realm are almost all Seventh Grade or above, such as the Soul-Devouring Tree, the White Bone Tree, the Hundred Ghost Vine... these are powerful combat troops."

A powerful life soul brings many benefits.

Consuming such a rare treasure as the Life Soul Pill brings even greater benefits.

If a Seventh Rank martial artist consumes it, once his life soul reaches the Sixth Rank, his control over his body will become extremely strong; for instance, where he could previously only wield a single blade, he can now immediately wield dual blades.

It is equivalent to improving the martial artist's talent!

If a sword cultivator like Long Xiao consumed the Life Soul Pill, he might be able to control an additional flying sword!

The enhancement to combat power is obvious!

For Zhao Xing, once his life soul reached the early stage of the Sixth Rank, his control over primordial energy and his control over spells strengthened.

Immediately, two spells broke through.

However, what Zhao Xing felt was the greatest gain was not the【High-Grade Sleepy Bug】and the【Heavenly Eye Art】.

It was the 'Straw Man Art'.

Zhao Xing had not yet tried it, but he had a feeling that if he attempted 'Four Arts Combined' or 'Five Arts Combined' now, it would surely be much easier than before.

The number of straw men he could control simultaneously would also increase.

"After consuming the Life Soul Pill, perhaps I can master the Self-Straw Man like Old Liu did, mastering ten thousand arts at a young age."

The Self-Straw Man, Zhao Xing would definitely learn.

The Self-Straw Man mastering ten thousand arts is equivalent to low-cost trial and error; for any dangerous spells or spells with side effects, let the 'Self-Straw Man' try them first.

This way, if one encounters an injury that is difficult to reverse, the main body will not be harmed.

The Self-Straw Man is equivalent to a 'human-shaped panel'. One can continuously trial and error to find the most correct direction.

Liu Tianning being awesome has its reasons!

With so many Self-Straw Men in his Ten Thousand Arts Palace, practicing spells almost constantly, it is hard to imagine Liu Tianning's true combat power.

When Zhao Xing broke through the Platform of Conscience, the illusion formed by his subconscious ultimately sought the help of 'Liu Tianning' to break free from the illusion's strong interference.

This was actually because Zhao Xing thought of Liu Tianning, recalled the scenes in the Ten Thousand Arts Palace, and only after self-verification did he break free from the illusion.

Otherwise, he would have been unable to concentrate his thoughts, unable to focus his mind to think, and would have remained trapped in an endless cycle within the illusion.

"I now know eleven High-Grade spells; I wonder if Liu Tianning knows over a hundred?" Zhao Xing couldn't help but sigh. "He has already entered the Military Realm Inspection Department, and that threshold is very high."

When the investigation team came out last time, Tantai Ming and Fan Zhaoli were all veterans, having lived at least three or four hundred years, yet Liu Tianning was younger than them all.

After consuming the Life Soul Pill, Zhao Xing became refreshed; he familiarized himself with his physical condition and entered the Great Dream Academy once more.

He remembered there was still the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets within the academy that he had not yet visited.

Previously, he had been kicked out directly because the effort of breaking through the Platform of Conscience was too great.

"Voom~"

Upon entering again, Zhao Xing flew over the clouds and mist, arriving directly before a pavilion.

The Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets was a tower-like structure; Zhao Xing looked up, and this pavilion pierced straight into the clouds, its top completely invisible.

The only part visible was the first five floors of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets.

"This is a new building; the Yunmeng Academy during the Wu Di era did not have the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets," Zhao Xing thought silently.

Why would the Wu Di remove the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets? Zhao Xing could guess the reason.

Because within the Military Realm of Great Zhou, there existed a mysterious organization named the 'Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets'.

Those kept inside were all the imperial court's【Appointed Officials】.

The Great Zhou Taizu slashed hard at fortune-telling professions like diviners and yin-yang masters, yet the royal family itself put them to use, annually selecting the most outstanding members of the clan to enter the Hall of Heavenly Secrets.

The function of the Hall of Heavenly Secrets was to predict the future, glimpse the changing fate of Great Zhou, forecast the course of wars, natural disasters, changes in grotto-heavens, and so on.

Its classic divine artifact was the 【Wheel of Creation】.

The Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets within the Great Dream Academy should be of similar nature to the Great Zhou's Hall of Heavenly Secrets, which is why it was removed by Wu Di.

"Different dynasties have different practices; it seems Great Li's Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets is not limited to the royal family." Zhao Xing took a deep breath and walked into the pavilion.

Upon entering the pavilion, an ancient, long-standing voice whispered in his ear:

"Calculating and deducing, exhausting the source of creation; divining fate and hexagrams, seizing the changes of heavenly secrets."

Zhao Xing looked up and gazed around, following the sound, and discovered a small bird perched on a standing cabinet, chanting.

It held a scroll in its beak, shaking its head and swaying.

After Zhao Xing clearly saw the bird's appearance, he was startled.

"The Black Bird of Heavenly Mandate?!"

"Is this a mechanical beast or real?"

The Black Bird of Heavenly Mandate has a long lifespan; living for tens of thousands of years is not impossible. Could this be a living bird?

Just as he was stunned, the Black Bird of Heavenly Mandate spread open the scroll and turned a page with its claw.

Immediately, the mist in the entire layer of space dispersed.

"Scholar Zhao Xing, I am the Guardian of the Black Bird. You may browse freely within the first five floors of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets. Learn as much as you can; if you cannot learn it, do not force it."

Zhao Xing was slightly stunned, then clasped his hands and bowed to the Guardian of the Black Bird: "May I ask, Guardian, must I pass any trials?"

The Black Bird glanced sideways at Zhao Xing:

"The Book of Divination, the Book of Fate, the Book of Physiognomy, the Book of Hexagrams, the Book of Heaven; their scriptures number in the thousands, their meanings infinite. The threshold for learning is the greatest trial."

"I see." Zhao Xing understood, ceased asking questions immediately, and after bowing to the Guardian, stepped past the Black Bird and walked forward.

On the first floor, rows of large standing cabinets appeared, filled with books.

Each row of bookshelves was forty to fifty meters high, like walking into an ancient library.

"A treasure vault, truly a treasure vault," Zhao Xing thought silently.

He casually picked up a shimmering book—【The Great Mystery Classic】.

Upon opening it, within seconds, Zhao Xing felt drowsy and put it back in its place.

The book lived up to its name; it was too mysterious, completely incomprehensible.

He picked up the next one, 【The True Explanation of the Great Mystery: The Chapter on the Birth of Things】, and this time he finally understood a little.

"Things are born with forms; forms are born with numbers. Calculating and deducing, exhausting the source of creation... This speaks of using numerology to calculate and deduce the principles of heaven and earth."

After reading for a while, Zhao Xing put it back; the Great Mystery Classic was merely a general outline, lacking specific methods.

Classics are generally theory and thought.

Spells are application.

After looking, Zhao Xing knew this Great Mystery Classic was not what he wanted; to learn its mysterious methods, one must understand ten thousand scrolls of classics, and only then could one possibly master its techniques. This entire row contained the content of the Great Mystery Classic.

He did not need to learn everything; Old Master Zhao's time was extremely precious now and had to be allocated reasonably. Moreover, such metaphysics easily traps one; a slight memorization to achieve a basic understanding was sufficient.

Arriving at the second row, Zhao Xing saw another book, 【The Book of Imperial Extremes and the World】.

This was a book investigating the origin of heaven and earth, natural changes, and social history.

"Observing the waxing and waning of heaven and earth, deducing the fullness and shrinkage of the sun and moon, examining the degrees of yin and yang, inspecting the forms of hardness and softness; thus, the Yuan is the warp, the Hui is the weft, the Yun is the beginning, and the Shi is the end. Based on the Way of Heaven, verified by human affairs, rise and fall, order and chaos, nothing is not recorded."

He was quite interested because this was a book of "calculating the past," using the past to govern the present and future worlds.

For instance, a passage mentioned: "In the 2158th Ji, Year of Jia Chen, floods cut the sky, and the world fell into great chaos."

One Ji in this text is one hundred and twenty years.

It meant that twenty-five thousand eight hundred and ninety-six years before the Li Dynasty, a colossal flood occurred, nearly splitting the sky, causing great chaos in the world.

It also prophesied: "In the 3247th Year of Gui Chou, the Western Extreme Ice Sea will thaw, bringing endless calamity and chaos."

The numbers were too large; one could not know if such prophecies were correct because they could not be verified.

"The Extreme Ice Sea did thaw in later generations, but the timing does not match."

"Between Great Li and Great Zhou lies approximately fifty thousand years; its prophecy that the Extreme Ice Sea will thaw three hundred and eighty-nine thousand years later is pure nonsense."

"Spiritual energy will revive in just over two thousand years; the thawing of the Extreme Ice Sea is not that far off."

"And claiming that Spiritual Energy will revive three Ji after the first year of the Li Dynasty is even more pure nonsense." Zhao Xing curled his lip and put the book back on the shelf.

Such deduction methods have limited accuracy; involving the era of revival, they are even more ridiculously wrong.

However, the Spiritual Energy era was, in the ancients' minds, no different from legend; being wrong was no great harm.

Great Li was merely a dynasty of fortune in the Era of Primordial Qi, possessing certain limitations in deduction methods.

Zhao Xing continued browsing and quickly found useful books on the second floor.

【The Great Expansion Classic】

"The Great Dao is fifty; Heaven expands forty-nine; Man escapes one. Heaven and earth resonate with their movement; human movements are each different."

Seeing the Great Expansion Classic, Zhao Xing immediately showed a faint smile.

Finally, a useful one had arrived.

The Great Expansion Classic expounds on fortune. On this row of bookshelves, Zhao Xing found a technique called 【The Great Expansion Method of Gazing at Qi】.

"The Method of Gazing at Qi can reveal the fortune of living beings, not just humans."

"This secret technique is much more practical."

Seeing others' fortune, if one encounters a Child of Fortune, then stick close, follow along, and reap benefits.

If one encounters a loser, one can avoid them.

"This also mentions methods to increase fortune; one of them is to seize the spiritual beauty of heaven and earth to grow."

But it didn't explain how to seize another's fortune—of course, Da Li, as a legitimate fortune dynasty, would never teach such a method; one must seek it among the Fangwaizong Sect.

The Method of Gazing at Qi is easy to learn, because its foundational threshold is the Soul Soul and the Bright Eye Technique.

It was precisely because Zhao Xing reached this threshold that he could enter.

The Method of Gazing at Qi is a high-level technique; it has no offensive power, but its auxiliary effects are strong.

After learning it, Zhao Xing continued wandering through the pavilion.

Zhao Xing searched through the pavilion; many books he had seen before, but indeed, as the Xuan Bird Guardian said, most were beyond his ability to learn.

Even if he could learn them, it depended on the era—divination texts, physiognomy texts, and similar works could yield little in Dazhou; they were not meant for this time.

Zhao Xing spotted several books he wished to learn, but his current realm was insufficient—he felt drowsy just looking at them, such as the Tai Xuan Jing, the Huang Ji Zhi Shi Shu, the Zang Jing, and the Liu Yao Jing. He planned to study them later after raising his realm.

These scriptures were too profound; exerting effort now would be futile, because as long as Dazhou stands, fortune-telling professions must remain in the sewers, unable to rise.

But three books could be learned now with benefit, and they could bypass the Taizu's "Grand Vow of Establishing the Dao," allowing even non-Mingguan to wield some power.

Zhao Xing selected the three books he could learn and resolved to study them deeply.

The first was the Gui Qian Gua.

It requires external objects to activate: a spiritual turtle from the sea, a creature of the ocean floor, unregulated by the Taizu's Grand Vow—just as many strange beasts were never incorporated into the fortune dynasty system.

The spiritual turtle can bear the cost of divination and produce results.

The second is special coins, such as Zi Jin Gu Qian and Hong Yun Bi—ancient coins passed down from the primordial Divine Court, possessing miraculous effects; Zhao Xing knew where to find them.

The second is the Zhan Hou Shu.

This divination method is also tied to the Si Nong profession.

Because it can foretell changes in heaven and earth's rhythms—such as where and when a hundred-year rhythm or a thousand-year rhythm will arise.

The Zhan Hou Shu is divided into two parts: the Land Zhan Hou Shu and the Sea Zhan Hou Shu.

After the great war, Zhao Xing will surely transfer to the Civil Si Nong.

Raising horses, tilling fields—those skills will certainly be useful then.

The third is the Wu Zhi Tian Ming.

It is a divination method that requires no external objects.

Commonly known as "pinching the fingers to calculate."

Wu Zhi Tian Ming is a top-tier secret technique, a method one can practice in Dazhou even without being a Mingguan, and it is the destiny-based prognostication art Zhao Xing values most.

"All methods of destiny projection originate from projecting the shifts of heaven and earth."

"Wu Zhi Tian Ming can bypass the Taizu's Grand Vow because it begins from the inner five-element heaven and earth."

"I divinate the five-element inner heaven and earth of the human body—this creates a layer of separation; then, using the results of the inner five-element heaven and earth, I align them with the changes of the outer heaven and earth. This method is Wu Zhi Tian Ming."

Including the Da Yan Wang Qi Method, Zhao Xing acquired four techniques from the Tianji Pavilion that he could practice soon and that were highly useful.

He bowed to the Xuan Bird Guardian and exited the Tianji Pavilion satisfied.

Entering the Dameng Academy, he gained much.

Zhao Xing meditated underground, cultivating his newly acquired secret techniques.

Soon after, Zhao Xing suddenly opened his eyes and smiled.

"My Soul Soul has reached Sixth Rank early stage; the first chapter of the Da Meng Chun Qiu engraved on my Soul Armor has granted me new insights."

"Besides 'Soul Soul Sensing Danger' and the 'Sleeping Bug Technique,' I can now cultivate within dreams."

The first chapter, "Entering the Dream," qualifies as true initiation once one achieves "cultivation within dreams."

Later, as my realm advances and my understanding deepens, I will achieve true "Dream Travel."

To make others enter dreams, then leap into their dreams and kill them.

While Zhao Xing cultivated underground, Chen Shijie entered the Marching Hall.

"Where is Zhao Xing?"

Han Bing, guarding outside, pointed to the ground: "He told me he went down to rest."

Chen Shijie blinked: "What kind of habit is this—sleeping underground?"

Han Bing shook his head: "I don't know. Maybe geniuses have odd habits—some people even sleep inside coffins."

"..." Chen Shijie had no reply.

I just don't understand you young people.

"Are you certain this is the spot?"

"Yes."

Chen Shijie walked to the spot where Zhao Xing had sunk and stomped hard.

Qi surged downward through the earth, stirring the earth veins, spreading outward and transmitting the message: "Zhao Xing, wake up—I need you."