The Bewildered Sky Dream Ice Silkworm

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was extremely nervous. Trembling, he said, "What are you doing? Why can't I understand what you're doing?"

"Start the fusion, now! Hurry!"

Qian Chaoguang offered no explanation. He merely spoke quickly in his mind before circulating the Spirit Communication Art with all his strength, driving his Pseudo Divine Sense upward.

"How did I end up with such a strange human brat!"

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm grumbled resentfully, steeled himself, and began increasing the intensity of the Spiritual Origin fusion.

The dense White Light grew increasingly solid as it slowly flowed into Qian Chaoguang's body. Meanwhile, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's physical body gradually became transparent and shrank in size.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had already realized that Qian Chaoguang had been right.

If they did not quickly open up the Sea of Consciousness he had mentioned, the two of them would be finished together.

According to the Spirit Communication Art, this was an extremely difficult hurdle. One careless mistake could lead to death.

Once a cultivator's cultivation reached the completion of the first level, they first needed to open up something known as the Sea of Consciousness before they could continue cultivating further.

Only by opening up the Sea of Consciousness would the Spiritual Power that transformed afterward have somewhere to reside, preventing it from exploding and turning the cultivator into an idiot.

This was the process Qian Chaoguang was undergoing now.

He controlled his Pseudo Divine Sense, carrying a massive amount of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Spiritual Origin upward until it reached the Niwan Palace, known as the upper Dantian.

Because it differed from the traditional cultivation methods of Douluo soul masters, the location of Qian Chaoguang's Sea of Consciousness naturally differed from the traditional soul masters' Sea of Spirit as well.

The Pseudo Divine Sense shone at the very top. Drawing upon Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's vast Origin Power, it effortlessly broke through the sealed bottleneck and charged straight in.

"Prepare for the impact. I'm going to detonate my Spiritual Power after compressing it to the extreme. The moment I detonate it, quickly inject your origin into it. Everything depends on this one move."

"What? Detonate your Spiritual Power? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Qian Chaoguang's sudden words gave Sky Dream Ice Silkworm a fright.

In his view, Spiritual Power was the foundation of a living being. Once it was detonated, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But...

Even if he objected, it would be useless.

Before Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could say anything, the Pseudo Divine Sense rose and fell like a heart, and a violent boom exploded within Qian Chaoguang's mind.

An explosion like the birth of the universe occurred within his Niwan Palace. The enormous amount of compressed Spiritual Power blasted the Niwan Palace open, expanding it to an unbelievable extent.

This was the newborn Sea of Consciousness.

At that moment, some unimaginable transformation seemed to occur at the center of his brow.

The Ancestral Aperture opened at that instant, seemingly becoming a bridge connecting heaven and earth with the nascent Sea of Consciousness.

Starlike points of light spread out, scattering everywhere and dyeing the entire Sea of Consciousness a pale gold.

The Pseudo Divine Sense had completed its transformation at that moment, evolving into true Divine Sense.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm stared blankly at everything before him.

He could sense that this Divine Sense was incomparably powerful, and that the Sea of Consciousness was as stable as an eternal fortress, yet he simply could not understand what had happened.

By his understanding, Qian Chaoguang's Spiritual Power had instantly surpassed his own, evolving to the point where it possessed both form and substance.

To him, this was simply too unbelievable.

As a Million Year Soul Beast without precedent, he had failed to complete this transformation even after striving for a hundred years. Yet at this moment, the host he had chosen had accomplished it.

"Don't just stand there. Speed up the fusion. We've only taken the first step of the Long March. How far the two of us can go in the future depends entirely on this. It'll be harder than ascending to heaven if we want to expand the Sea of Consciousness later."

Qian Chaoguang's voice rang out within the newborn Sea of Consciousness.

At some point, Electrolux's Divine Sense had also transferred into the Sea of Consciousness.

Both Qian Chaoguang's Spiritual Power and Electrolux's Spiritual Power were called Divine Sense, but they were fundamentally different.

The "divine" in the former referred to the divine nature of spirit.

Through one's own power and a special method, the spiritual body was directly elevated to an extremely high level before cultivation began. It was like being born in Rome; from then on, cultivation was basically a matter of accumulation, with almost no bottlenecks.

The "divine" in the latter referred to the divine nature of a god.

It was the enhancement and transformation Spiritual Power gained as a byproduct after one's very essence of life had been elevated. The difference at its root was immense.

It was difficult to say which was superior.

The emergence of Divine Sense allowed Qian Chaoguang to pull off all kinds of wild tricks with Spiritual Power in the early stages, but the price was that the difficulty of cultivation skyrocketed geometrically.

This was mainly reflected in speed.

Mm...

However, Qian Chaoguang had no time to think about such things now. Even greater difficulties awaited him.

Under the control of his newly born Divine Sense, his Soul Power within the Dantian underwent a violent explosion as well.

This explosion did not destroy his Dantian, but it shattered all the Meridians within his body into tiny fragments.

Qian Chaoguang let out an inhuman howl, his face twisted in agony.

Severing every Meridian throughout one's body—such pain was nearly impossible to describe with words.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, still in the midst of the fusion process, was dumbfounded.

First he detonated his Spiritual Power, and now he was detonating his Soul Power and all the Meridians in his body. Was he really trying to kill himself?

Was it still too late for him to run?

Qian Chaoguang's Bones and sinews began producing a dense series of crackling sounds. Though the noises were not loud, they were enough to make one's heart pound, as though his entire body might burst apart the next second.

Purple-red blood also continuously seeped from the surface of his body. The fragments of his shattered Meridians flowed directly out through his skin along with the blood.

If someone had been observing from the side at that moment, they would certainly have been stunned by the sight before them.

Qian Chaoguang had completely become a man of blood. His clothes were soaked through with purple-red blood, then frozen by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's cold aura into a layer of bloody garments, making him look utterly horrifying.

The scant life energy remaining in Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's physical body continuously poured into the Dantian, replenishing its deficit.

Now, a vortex formed from Soul Power gradually took shape within Qian Chaoguang's Dantian. The Soul Power that had scattered throughout his body during the earlier explosion was controlled by the vortex and Divine Sense, continuously gathering into phantom outlines of Meridians.

That was right. Reconstructing the Meridians was the first official step of cultivating the Qi Cultivation Art, and also why his previous cultivation had progressed so quickly.

Because that had not been true cultivation at all. It had merely been nourishment for reconstructing the Meridians.

Qian Chaoguang no longer had the strength to howl. Only ragged, wheezing breaths continuously emerged from his throat.

This was truly too painful!

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cried out within the newly opened Sea of Consciousness, "Hey, hey, hey! Are you okay!? Don't tell me you've croaked?"

"Shut up! Speed up your fusion process!"

Qian Chaoguang roared painfully within the Sea of Consciousness, then began guiding Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's remaining origin to merge with himself.

At that moment, his aura rapidly plummeted, falling from Level 10 all the way back to what it had been before his awakening.

The Soul Power vortex Within the Dantian emitted a powerful suction force, drawing in the surrounding World Origin Energy as well as the last trace of power within Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's body.

These powers could not be absorbed by Huo Gua in the Original Work, but Qian Chaoguang's physique was strong enough to withstand them, making them just right for him to use.

The vast World Origin Energy was drawn into the Dantian and continuously compressed and shaped within the Soul Power vortex, solidifying into an inverted trapezoidal Golden Base. It looked as though it had been forged from pure gold, dazzlingly magnificent.

The instant the Golden Base took shape, Qian Chaoguang's fallen aura rapidly surged, shooting directly into the range of Level 13 before stopping.

The most crucial part of the Qi Cultivation Art—the Sea of Qi—had been opened!