Chapter 476: Twenty-Two-Year-Old Heavenly Palace Realm!

Outside the Wu Quxing Hall, starlight surged to the heavens!

Starlight shot from within the hall, piercing through the roof and straight into the clouds.

The radiance was dazzling, illuminating the sky for miles around.

The color of the starlight kept changing—from gold to deep blue, from deep blue to purple-gold, finally settling into a translucent glow between reality and illusion.

Within the Star Palace, white clouds were dyed in seven colors, and floating islands were gilded with divine radiance.

Several figures simultaneously shot out from their respective star halls.

The Tianfu Star was the first to burst from his hall, hovering midair, gazing toward the Wu Quxing Hall, exclaiming in astonishment.

"Is Wu Qu about to break through to the Heavenly Palace realm?"

"The Gate of the Destiny Palace has already opened."

Said the Di Kong Star Lord in a low voice.

Behind his mask, his eyes locked tightly on the towering starlight, his voice laced with unmistakable shock.

"Look at the changes in this starlight—it's an omen of spiritual transformation. First, gold light—that's the innate glow of the spiritual body; then deep blue; finally, it becomes colorless—that's the sign the Gate of the Destiny Palace has opened."

The Tianxi Star Lord and Hongluan Star Lord stood side by side, their masked faces betraying astonishment.

The Taiyang Star Lord hovered with hands clasped behind his back, his aura blazing like the sun. He stared at the starlight, his voice filled with disbelief.

"I recall Wu Qu Star Lord entered the Star Palace only a few years ago. When Ju Men recommended him, Wu Qu had just broken through to the Earth Altar realm. In just a few years, he's reached the Heavenly Palace realm? This…"

Everyone fell silent.

From Earth Altar to Heavenly Palace in just a few years?

Which one of them didn't spend decades?

The Tianfu Star Lord turned his head, gazing at a figure not far away.

Ju Men Star.

He still wore the plain white undergarment, over which his star robe hung, his frame even thinner than before.

Though severely wounded and supposed to rest in his hall, Ju Men Star had emerged upon sensing this disturbance.

Now, he hovered in midair, staring fixedly toward the Wu Quxing Hall, motionless.

No one knew what expression lay beneath Ju Men Star's mask.

Shock.

Unparalleled shock.

Others didn't know Chen Mu's true identity, but Ju Men Star, as his recommender, knew perfectly well.

Chen Mu is twenty-two years old!

Twenty-two years old—and already at the Heavenly Palace realm!

If this news leaked, the entire world would tremble!

More prodigious than Lu Chen, the perennial No. 1 on the Hidden Dragon List, known as the "Living Immortal!"

Ju Men Star took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the storm within his heart.

He knew Lu Chen.

A once-in-a-thousand-years genius of the Grand Void Monastery, personally taken as a disciple by the abbot, nurtured with the entire sect's resources.

To ensure Lu Chen built a solid foundation, the Grand Void abbot even forcibly suppressed his realm, forbidding him from rushing breakthroughs, demanding he exhaust every realm to its utmost limit.

Even if all restrictions were lifted and Lu Chen were allowed to break through freely, at best he'd now be at the Earth Altar realm's fifth stage: Seeing the Divine, Unbreakable.

The five sub-stages of the Earth Altar realm: Crossing the Divine Bridge, Gathering the Three Flowers, Unifying the Five Qi, Seeing the Divine, Unbreakable, Ascending to the Heavenly Soul Altar.

The first three stages could be swiftly cleared with high talent and strong comprehension.

But starting with Seeing the Divine, Unbreakable, talent and comprehension alone were no longer enough—you needed resources piled high!

Because Seeing the Divine, Unbreakable required accumulating spiritual power to strengthen the spirit.

This stage offered no shortcuts—it had to be brute-forced with resources.

The celestial treasures for strengthening the spirit were each priceless, available only at astronomical prices—if at all.

Even the Grand Void Monastery, a sect with a millennia-long legacy, could not freely provide unlimited resources for spirit-strengthening.

Even if they could, Lu Chen would still need time to absorb and metabolize them.

The medicinal power of those celestial treasures couldn't be swallowed whole and absorbed instantly—it required slow refining, slow integration.

And Chen Mu—

A patrol inspector of the imperial court's Martial Suppression Bureau, with no powerful background, no abundant resources—how could he break through to the Heavenly Palace realm so fast?

Ju Men Star didn't know.

But he knew he hadn't misjudged the man.

This young man was far more unfathomable than he'd imagined.

…

As the Star Lords marveled, the inner aura of the Wu Quxing Hall erupted once more!

This aura was utterly different from before.

No longer the restless energy of a breakthrough, but a stable, profound rhythm, resonating with heaven and earth.

"The second stage has begun," said the Tianfu Star Lord softly.

The Taiyang Star Lord nodded. "Entering the Destiny Palace with the spiritual child is only the first step. The second is to keep the child inside the Destiny Palace, not expelled."

"This step is harder than entering the Destiny Palace."

Said the Di Kong Star Lord gravely. "The Destiny Palace is a realm of nothingness; the spiritual child is a tangible entity. A tangible entity entering a realm of nothingness naturally faces rejection. The stronger the rejection, the shorter the child's stay."

"If the third stage isn't completed before the rejection forces the child out, this breakthrough fails—and the next attempt will be twice as difficult."

Everyone nodded, continuing to watch in silence.

……

Inside the Wu Quxing Hall.

Chen Mu sat cross-legged, starlight swirling around his body.

In his mind sea, the spiritual miniature figure stood at the center of the Life Palace, surrounded by a faint aura.

The repelling force had begun.

It was an invisible power, surging from all directions, trying to push the miniature figure out of the Life Palace.

This sensation was like standing in a gale, 随时 ready to be blown away.

But Chen Mu had prepared long ago.

He took out a card from his palm space.

A special skill card, recording the "Heaven and Human as One" state, capable of perfectly fusing the mind, body, and soul with the external heavens and earth.

He had kept this card unused all along.

Now was the time.

Chen Mu activated the card.

Hum—

An unfathomably mysterious energy instantly enveloped him.

In an instant, Chen Mu "awoke."

Not from a dream, but from the state of "thinking I was awake."

He suddenly realized that his past self had always lived inside a small cage.

That cage was called "the Self."

There was a boundary between the Self and heaven and earth. I was I, heaven was heaven, earth was earth. I lived between heaven and earth, yet was separate from them. I saw mountains as mountains, water as water, but had never truly felt the weight of mountains or the flow of water.

But now, that boundary vanished.

Chen Mu felt the flow of the wind—

Not the sensation of wind blowing against his body, but the very life of the wind—where it came from, where it went, its joy as it passed through mountains, its gentleness as it skimmed over water.

Chen Mu felt the transformation of the clouds—

How clouds formed from water vapor, and how they turned into rain to nourish all things.

Chen Mu felt the breath of the starlight—

Those distant points of light, each with its own rhythm, its own pulse.

Chen Mu felt the pulse of the void—

The void was not empty; it had its own rhythm, its own life.

He was no longer "living between heaven and earth," but "becoming part of heaven and earth."

Like a fish in water, discovering for the first time that it lived within water.

That feeling could not be described in words.

After an unknown length of time—perhaps an instant, perhaps eternity—the unfathomably mysterious energy gradually faded.

The Heaven and Human as One state ended.