Circumferential Star Chart

After bringing the panda family back to his Dao Field, Jiang Yun let them loose in the bamboo forest, allowing them to play and romp as they pleased. Spirit bamboo, grown from offshoots split from the original plants, could be seen everywhere in the forest, and the family was thrilled, treating the place as their own territory and patrolling it every day.

As his fortune gradually improved, he gathered quite a few Acquired Spiritual Roots and Congenital Spiritual Materials while traveling around to sort out the Earth Vein Network. What delighted him most was finding a Congenital mid-grade Water Spirit Pearl at one Earth Vein Node and a Congenital low-grade tea tree at another.

The Water Spirit Pearl and the Earth Spirit Pearl he had obtained earlier were two pieces of a set of spiritual treasures. The pearl contained abundant water-element spiritual energy, and when wielded, it could produce various divine waters. Whether used against enemies or to aid cultivation, it had endless applications. Most importantly, the Water Spirit Pearl could produce a drop of Three Lights Divine Water every hundred years.

According to legend, Three Lights Divine Water was formed by merging Sunlight Divine Water, Moonlight Divine Water, and Starlight Divine Water. Used separately, the three could corrode the bones and destroy the soul, but once combined, they could revive the dead, restore flesh to bare bones, and bring back vitality.

The tea tree was a Congenital species. Although it was only low-grade, its supportive effects could not be underestimated.

Every hundred years, it could grow three thousand leaves. A single leaf could help a cultivator calm their mind and enter a meditative state. The first time it was consumed, it could even induce sudden enlightenment, allowing one to comprehend the Dao for thirty days. With long-term use, one's innate comprehension would gradually improve.

Jiang Yun planted it behind the bamboo house. The tall tea tree spread its canopy over the house. With a spiritual root nearby, not only did the spiritual energy within the Dao Field grow denser, but cultivating inside the bamboo house under the spiritual root's enhancement also made it easy to enter meditation, dispel inner demons, and resist the invasion of external demons.

Several more decades passed. On this day, Jiang Yun finally finished sorting out and repairing the last node. Once everything was complete, he channeled his own magic power into the node and connected with the formation patterns, awakening the Earth Vein Spirit Infusion Array he had just set up. The array suddenly generated an enormous suction force, continuously drawing earth qi into itself and transforming it into a massive spiritual power that flowed outward along the Earth Vein Network, like blood flowing from the heart to every limb and organ. Once all the nodes were linked and connected through the flowing spiritual power, the entire Earth Vein Network seemed to come alive, becoming extraordinarily nimble. An Earth Vein Network was formed just like that, making the earth veins increasingly stable and substantial, to the point that even external forces found them difficult to shake.

With all the work wrapped up, and after many years of ceaseless labor, Jiang Yun decided to rest for a few months.

During his free time, he took some Spirit Bamboo stalks of suitable thickness and made a reclining chair. After his daily meditation and cultivation, he placed the chair in the sea of bamboo, held the little panda cub in his arms, and rocked gently back and forth. Listening to the sound of the breeze stirring the bamboo leaves as they brushed against one another, he felt as though he were drifting across a boundless ocean. Beside the chair, the two adult pandas lay on their backs, eating fresh, tender bamboo branches that had been carefully selected for them.

It had already been three months since the panda family moved into the Dao Field. After Jiang Yun's occasional feeding, petting, and other interactions with them, the two sides had grown increasingly close.

For the sake of easier communication, Jiang Yun had even given all three pandas names.

Of the two adults, the male was tall and imposing, and liked wandering around. He would serve as the guardian beast of his Dao Field in the future, so Jiang Yun decided to call him "Gao Shou"! The female was also quite large, but had a simple and adorable air. She was lazy yet clever, so he called her "Ling Xi"! The little one was chubby and round, playful and energetic, soft and adorable, so he named it Huang Bao, signifying that it was the treasure of the bamboo forest in his Dao Field!

To properly nurture the three pandas, Jiang Yun examined their aptitudes and discovered that they each contained a trace of Fierce Beast Bloodline. They were likely a species born in ancient times from the union of some fierce beast and spirit beast. The Heavenly Karma hidden within this Fierce Beast Bloodline had constantly suppressed their souls, preventing their intelligence from developing. They had remained ignorant and unable to awaken the inheritance of their spirit beast bloodline.

Jiang Yun took out some of the Merit Power he had accumulated, divided it into three small clusters, and sent one into each panda's body, helping them cleanse away the Heavenly Karma hidden within their Fierce Beast Bloodline.

Once the karma in their bloodlines had been completely purged, the intelligence of all three pandas opened wide. The spiritual energy from the various foods they had consumed since birth, which had lain hidden within their bodies, began circulating according to the cultivation techniques inherited through their bloodlines. In the blink of an eye, Gao Shou and Ling Xi refined the horizontal bone in their throats, transformed their souls into primordial spirits, and achieved the realm of Heavenly Immortal. Huang Bao also successfully achieved the realm of Earth Immortal.

However, the two beasts chose not to transform into Innate Dao Bodies and continued to maintain their beast forms. Although they had gained intelligence, their habits from years of living were still difficult to change. As for Huang Bao, its young mind had not yet matured. Though its intelligence had greatly increased, it still only cared about playing and paid no attention to anything else!

"Gao Shou, Ling Xi, now that the two of you have gained intelligence, you will serve as the guardian spirit beasts of my Spirit Bamboo Valley in this Dao Field from now on. What do you think?" Jiang Yun said to the two intelligent beasts.

"We owe our thanks to the Immortal Venerable for using Merit Power to cleanse the Fierce Beast Karma from us, allowing us to gain intelligence. We are both willing to guard the mountain and protect the Immortal Venerable!" the two beasts hurriedly replied after hearing this.

"Mm... From now on, call me Perfected One! My Dao name is Yun Yazhi."

"Yes, Perfected One."

After arranging matters for Gao Shou and Ling Xi, Jiang Yun glanced at Huang Bao, who was breaking bamboo for fun nearby, and spoke again. "Huang Bao's mind has not yet matured. When the time is right, I will accept it and have it stay by my side as a child attendant!"

"Thank you, Perfected One!" the two beasts said in unison.

After arranging these trifling matters, Jiang Yun had more or less rested enough during this period.

The following day, he sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion in the bamboo house and took out the Dao Derivation Disk from his primordial spirit.

When he had first obtained this extraordinary treasure, he had already been very interested in the Star Dou Formation Diagram on the back of the Dao Derivation Disk. However, various external matters had constantly disrupted him, leaving him without the time or energy to deal with it.

Now that everything was settled, he could finally study the formation diagram in peace.

Jiang Yun tried channeling his magic power into the Star Dou Formation Diagram. As his magic power continued to flow in, the diagram seemed to activate, and the stars on it lit up one after another.

With a thought, Jiang Yun increased the output of his magic power. The stars lit up much faster. When the final star was illuminated, the diagram seemed to come alive. The star chart immediately detached itself from the bronze disk and floated in midair, transforming into 365 dazzling points of light that enveloped him. The instant his divine sense was forcibly dragged into the vast Sea of Stars, he saw his bones turn transparent as glass beneath the starlight, while the congested spiritual energy nodes in his meridians corresponded to the dim star known as Tianshi.

"So that's how it is!" Enlightenment erupted in his Sea of Consciousness. The small world within the human body and the Lesser Heavenly Cycle of the primordial world's stars could actually be mapped one-to-one. These 365 stars must correspond to the 365 acupoints within the human body.

His divine sense wandered through the Sea of Stars. The trajectories of the stars and the distribution of the Heavenly Cycle Stars all appeared clearly before Jiang Yun at that moment.

He gathered his spirit and qi, quietly comprehending the patterns of the stars' movements before him. The Northern Dipper, the Southern Dipper, the Twenty-Eight Mansions—one star chart after another was broken down and recombined, until, at a certain moment, all the star charts converged into a single formation diagram composed of 365 stars...

After all the variations of the formation diagram had been demonstrated, Jiang Yun's divine sense returned to his body once more.

He withdrew the magic power he had infused into the Dao Derivation Disk. The 365 points of light surrounding him also returned to the bronze disk, transforming back into the Star Dou Formation Diagram.

This meditation had allowed him to understand the connection between the Heavenly Cycle Stars and the small world within the human body. He had also gained a Lesser Heavenly Cycle Star Formation. This formation was a simplified version of the Greater Heavenly Star Array. The original Greater Heavenly Star Array used 365 Archaic Main Stars as its core, supplemented by 129,600 Secondary Stars. It could draw in starlight for teleportation, offense, and defense, and could even command the stars' true forms to attack, possessing tremendous might.

The Lesser Heavenly Cycle Star Formation only required 365 formation eyes to set up. Although its power was weaker and it could not achieve starlight teleportation, it was still highly effective for drawing in stellar spiritual energy and establishing a defensive formation.

With that thought, Jiang Yun began incorporating the Twelve Yuan Chen Guardian Array into the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Star Formation, upgrading the protective formation of his Dao Field. At the same time, he used the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Star Formation to draw in the stellar spiritual energy of the night sky, then had the Spirit Plant Conversion Array transform it into spiritual energy, thereby increasing the spiritual energy within his Dao Field.