Chapter 475: Beginning the Breakthrough!

When the twelve beads are activated simultaneously, they generate a strange force.

This force has no form or substance, yet it can resonate with the spirit soul.

As Chen Mu's spiritual awareness first touched the interior of the beads, he felt a warm current flowing upward along his spiritual awareness, straight into his mind sea.

In the mind sea, the spiritual miniature figure opened its eyes.

The warm current swirled around the miniature figure, as if a pair of gentle hands were lightly cradling it.

"So this is how it is…"

A flash of understanding passed through Chen Mu's eyes.

The most crucial step in breaking through to the Heavenly Palace realm is the transformation of the spirit soul.

The final step in ascending from the Earth Altar realm to the Heavenly Altar is sensing the mysterious "Gate of the Destiny Palace" within the mind sea.

This gate has no form or substance, yet it truly exists.

It stands before the spiritual miniature figure, blocking the path ahead.

Only by pushing open this gate and allowing the spiritual miniature figure to enter the "Destiny Palace" beyond can one truly step into the Heavenly Palace realm.

And the twelve Palace Beads aid precisely in this "push!"

Chen Mu was overjoyed.

Immediately, he gathered his spirit and began adjusting his state.

True qi flowed slowly through his meridians, cycling endlessly, gradually settling into stillness.

His heartbeat dropped from seventy or eighty beats per minute to thirty or forty, finally becoming nearly imperceptible.

His breath grew longer and slower; each inhalation and exhalation separated by half a cup of tea's time.

His entire body became like a deep pool of water, not a ripple stirred.

After an hour, his state reached its peak.

Chen Mu opened his eyes and formed a seal with his hands.

The Duan Tianhe Scripture, activate!

The Great Luo Martial Classic, activate!

The Star Transformation visualization method, fully unfold!

Deep within the mind sea, a vast expanse of stars slowly unfolded.

Countless stars shimmered; the Milky Way stretched across the heavens, magnificent and mysterious.

Nebulae rotated slowly; shooting stars streaked through the void, leaving brilliant trails behind.

This starry expanse was more real than ever before, more vast than ever before—as if the Star Transformation visualization method was evolving alongside his rising realm.

Beneath the stars, a tiny figure stood silently.

It was Chen Mu's spiritual miniature figure.

It emitted a faint golden light; its features were identical to Chen Mu's own, bearing the same calmness and sharpness in its eyes.

The miniature figure stood no more than three inches tall, yet it radiated an aura of towering immovability.

Behind the miniature figure lay the path it had come from—a shimmering void, the path of its cultivation journey.

Before the miniature figure stood a gate, faintly visible.

The Gate of the Destiny Palace.

The gate bore no patterns, no runes—only an oppressive force that choked the breath. Standing before it, the miniature figure seemed impossibly small, like an ant facing a mountain ten thousand zhang tall.

But the miniature figure's eyes held no fear.

Chen Mu's spiritual miniature figure looked up at the gate and the invisible membrane before it, drew a deep breath.

Then, it stepped forward.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

With each step, the golden light on the miniature figure grew denser. When it was only three zhang from the Gate of the Destiny Palace, its golden light erupted suddenly.

The light grew brighter and brighter, fiercer and fiercer, like a tiny sun blazing fiercely within the mind sea.

The golden radiance pierced the darkness, illuminating the entire starry expanse, dimming even the distant stars.

At the same time, Chen Mu activated the Twelve Palace Beads!

He formed a seal with his hands and whispered softly.

"Awaken!"

Hum—

The twelve beads trembled violently.

They ceased their slow rotation and spun wildly, fast enough to form twelve swirling rings of deep blue light!

Within each bead, the nebula-like patterns churned furiously, releasing brilliant deep blue radiance.

The light instantly engulfed Chen Mu's entire body, piercing flesh and blood, surging through meridians, reaching straight into the mind sea!

In the mind sea, a new force suddenly appeared behind the spiritual miniature figure.

It was the power of the Twelve Palace Beads—formless and intangible, yet undeniably real.

It was like a pair of gentle yet resolute hands, gently pressing against the miniature figure's back, slowly pushing it forward!

The golden light on the miniature figure merged with the deep blue light behind it, transforming into a radiant violet-gold hue.

The distance between the miniature figure and the Gate of the Destiny Palace shortened, until…

Boom—

In an instant, Chen Mu's consciousness went utterly blank.

Countless images flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

Past life and present life.

Each image passed, then shattered, dissolving into specks of starlight that pierced the invisible membrane and merged into the nearby "portal."

The Gate of the Destiny Palace began to loosen.

Not pushed open, but "melted."

The invisible membrane began to tremble, its first crack appearing.

The crack was thin, so fine it was nearly invisible, like the mark left by a single hair drawn across ice.

But it had appeared—and that meant it could be torn open!

Chen Mu clenched his teeth and pushed the Twelve Palaces Beads to their limit.

The pressure from behind grew stronger; the glow of the spiritual miniature figure brightened.

A second crack.

A third.

A fourth…

Cracks multiplied, grew denser, gradually merging into a single web.

The invisible membrane was riddled with cracks; the surface of the portal now bore spiderweb-like fissures spreading outward from the center.

The miniature figure extended its hand, pressing the invisible membrane against the portal.

Instantly, both the invisible membrane and the portal erupted in vast cracks, radiating outward from the palm.

Finally—

"Puh~"

Crack!

Two strange sounds echoed nearly simultaneously within his mind-sea.

They were not real sounds, but spiritual resonances.

Yet Chen Mu heard them clearly—as if thunder cracked in spring, as if morning bells and evening drums rang out, as if the first cry of creation had split the heavens.

The invisible membrane was torn open! The fissure in the Gate of the Destiny Palace widened!

The faint rays of light that had previously seeped through the crack now blazed forth with full intensity.

This light differed from the Jin Guang in his mind-sea, and from the deep blue glow of the Twelve Palaces Beads. It had no color, no form, yet seemed to contain all the mysteries of heaven and earth.

Chen Mu did not hesitate.

The visualization technique of The Starry Transformation roared into motion; the entire sky of stars blazed with brilliance.

Starlight surged like a tide, pouring into the spiritual miniature figure from all directions.

Each star's radiance transformed into pure spiritual energy, merging into every inch of the miniature figure's body.

The Great Luo Martial Scripture also activated, opening countless paths of martial cultivation for Chen Mu to traverse—ten thousand pathways, all available.

The spiritual miniature figure moved.

It took one step, pierced the invisible membrane, then stepped into the widened fissure of the portal.

The fissure widened again.

This time, it was not forced open—it expanded willingly; the gate itself welcomed Chen Mu's arrival.

One step, two steps, three steps…

When the miniature figure's entire body vanished into the fissure, the Gate of the Destiny Palace burst open with a thunderous roar!

Beyond the gate lay an entirely new realm.

There were no stars, no galaxy—only boundless, endless void.

The void was filled with a profoundly mysterious aura, as if the chaos of heaven and earth's first dawn, or the eternal stillness after all things had returned to silence.

This aura flowed gently, like wind, like water, yet heavier than any physical substance.

The Destiny Palace.

The core of the Tiangong Realm, the final abode of the spirit-soul.

The spiritual miniature figure stood at the edge of the Destiny Palace and looked back.

Behind it, the Gate of the Destiny Palace hung half-open, half-closed.

The miniature figure turned and stepped into the depths of the Destiny Palace…