The Star Chart Heavenly Pillar

Abyssal Realm.

Tian Yuan Star Observation Manor.

Servant Quarter.

It was deep winter, and the chill of the night cut to the bone. In a secluded courtyard in the southeast corner, the steady sound of chopping wood rang out.

The boy had delicate features and looked about fourteen or fifteen. His blue robe was far from thick, and both his hands were frozen red. The ax he gripped felt like a lump of ice, and every swing brought a tearing pain.

"Three hundred eighty-one logs, three hundred eighty-two..."

Chen Fusheng silently kept count. Seeing that it was nearly the middle of the night and the weather was growing colder by the moment, he hurriedly loaded the firewood onto a handcart. Facing the biting wind, he struggled to drag it toward the East Courtyard.

"Lie-ge, Lie-ge..."

Hundreds of blue-brick, black-tiled houses stood connected in one stretch. Chen Fusheng softly called toward Courtyard Eight, cupping his hands over his icy cheeks as he waited for a response from within.

The courtyard gate soon opened, and a wave of warmth poured out.

Chen Fusheng shuddered, then felt his body warm slightly. The courtyard was the residence of an Outer Sect Disciple, and braziers filled the grounds, making everything toasty.

Looking at the burly figure standing bare-chested in the doorway, Chen Fusheng's eyes filled with reverence and envy. "Lie-ge, I've finished chopping the wood."

Wang Lie was terribly annoyed. "This little chore disturbed my sleep. Come again tomorrow."

"Lie-ge, my grandpa's health is getting worse and worse. Please, show some mercy. I promise I'll chop more wood tomorrow." Chen Fusheng pleaded softly.

Wang Lie was just about to shove him away when shouting came from inside the courtyard. "What are you making such a racket for? Old Lie, are you damn well going to let me sleep or not? Hurry up and send him off!"

"Take it, take it!" Wang Lie grew even more irritated and pulled a packet of medicinal herbs from his pocket.

"Thank you, Lie-ge." Chen Fusheng accepted it gratefully and ran off.

"That dead kid is so single-minded. He doesn't even know enough to come inside and warm himself! How many more days can Old Huang live? Better to die early and be reincarnated sooner, instead of suffering alive and dragging the kid down with him."

Wang Lie cursed furiously. Old Huang had once been the head chef of the Dining Hall, but after contracting a strange illness last year, he had been bedridden. Out of regard for their former friendship, they had looked after him, but as time passed, no one could bear the burden any longer.

Chen Fusheng had no special skills either. Every day, besides helping out at the Dining Hall, he spent the rest of his time completing rough labor tasks for the Outer Sect Disciples, earning medicinal herbs to treat the old man. Gradually, he had grown familiar with Wang Lie and the others.

On the way home, Chen Fusheng recalled Wang Lie's mighty, sturdy physique, and longing flashed in his eyes.

"If only I could become an Outer Sect Disciple. Then I'd have the strength to earn money and treat Grandpa's illness. But I don't possess spiritual mental power for cultivation."

Chen Fusheng's mood sank. In the Abyssal Realm, Star Masters were supreme. On the path of cultivation, one first had to guide the stars.

In the Star Guiding Realm, spiritual mental power was used to guide the energy of the stars and store it in the qi sea, thereby awakening abilities beyond those of ordinary people.

When Chen Fusheng had his talent tested the year before, he had been told that his spiritual mental power was zero. He could only be an ordinary mortal for the rest of his life.

"Creak."

Back in the courtyard, Chen Fusheng quietly opened the door and entered the house. He was just about to boil the medicine when he heard the old man in the inner room let out intermittent, pained groans.

Chen Fusheng's eyes reddened. He forcibly held back his tears, and memories from his childhood surfaced in his mind.

It had been a boundless world of snow. Young as he was, he had not known where he was. He only remembered crawling out of a snowdrift and stumbling around in search of food, until he soon froze unconscious.

When he woke again, he was lying in this warm, comfortable room. Old Huang had carried him back, fed him, and adopted him. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed.

He remembered nothing of his past, knowing only that his name was Chen Fusheng.

"Grandpa raised me for ten years, but I can't repay him. Am I really destined to be nothing but a mortal? In a few days, I'll be able to retest my spiritual mental power. They say mental power grows stronger with every year of age. If only I could possess three points of spiritual mental power—no, even one point would do!"

Chen Fusheng did not dare hope for too much. While the medicine boiled, he took a pale-yellow scroll from his robes. It was covered with densely recorded diagrams of the human body, showing a total of one hundred and eight changing postures.

This was the cultivation chapter, the Furnace Contemplation Method, that Old Huang had given him. He had told Chen Fusheng to practice by following the postures every day; perhaps he might even become a Star Master.

"There's only one posture left before I can complete all the postures in this Furnace Contemplation Method."

Chen Fusheng closed his eyes and imitated the movements shown in the diagrams. He used both hands and feet, moving sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly, sometimes with force and sometimes with gentleness. The postures were strange and complex.

The shadow behind him took on the shapes of various beasts—snakes, cranes, tigers, horses, oxen, and so on.

After completing the one hundred and seven movements, Chen Fusheng's entire body hurt as though it were about to fall apart.

"I've failed the final movement for half a month straight. Today, I must get past it!"

Gritting his teeth, Chen Fusheng endured his aching body and struggled to sit on the floor. During the Five Hearts Facing Heaven, the soles of his feet, both palms, and the crown of his head all faced upward.

Time trickled by... Chen Fusheng closed his eyes and regulated his breathing, gradually entering a wondrous state.

The world he sensed had changed. It was like a colossal furnace, immeasurably vast and filled with boundless, surging material energy.

"This... this is energy! Only someone with spiritual mental power can sense energy."

Chen Fusheng seemed to be a flame within the furnace. Deeply shaken, he absorbed the energy and guided it into his qi sea.

A person's qi sea was like an ocean of life, vast and unfathomable. Once the energy entered it, a strange blue star chart rose from the bottom of the qi sea and absorbed it.

"Hm? How can there be a chart inside my qi sea?"

This was the first time Chen Fusheng had contemplated his qi sea. The blue star chart was about the size of a palm. He instinctively communicated with it, and after a brief dizziness, his vision appeared within the star chart's Inner World.

The star chart was astonishingly vast. Its surface bore no patterns or engravings, and the space above it resembled a deep, dark starry sky.

At the center of the star chart stood a gigantic pillar. It was towering and majestic, as though it had been cast from molten gold and iron.

Chen Fusheng discovered that this pillar seemed almost like a person.

"Why does the aura of this Star Chart Heavenly Pillar look exactly like the aura of the postures in the Furnace Contemplation Method, as though they were carved from the same mold?"

Even the energy he had gathered himself was swallowed by the Star Chart Heavenly Pillar.

"The Star Chart Heavenly Pillar swallowed all the energy. What am I supposed to absorb?"

Just as he thought this, the Star Chart Heavenly Pillar condensed the energy it had absorbed into a single drop of golden energy. It flew out like a tiny mouse and rapidly crawled along his limbs and bones, causing layer after layer of his skin to swell.

After it finished coursing through his entire body, the golden energy returned to his qi sea. It clung to the edge of the star chart and transformed into a cluster of pale-golden energy that began to spin.

Chen Fusheng instinctively guided the energy. As it was about to burst out through his pores, the paper covering the nearby windows was suddenly blasted apart, and the biting wind poured inside.

Yet the energy was like a fetal membrane enveloping his body, sealing out the external cold. Wild joy and astonishment flashed in his eyes. He had actually stepped into the Star Guiding Realm just like that!

"Crash!"

Something suddenly shattered in the inner room, accompanied by the old man's hoarse, hurried voice. "Fusheng, cough, cough... You—you'd better come here..."

Chen Fusheng hurried into the inner room. "Grandpa, why did you sit up? Lie down, quickly!"

A brazier burned in the inner room. The old man's face was pale on the bed, and a murderous chill filled his body.

Watching the boy anxiously tuck the quilt around him, a kindly smile spread across Old Huang's face. After lying down, his gaze dimmed. He had another thoughtful granddaughter, but she had not come to see him for more than half a year. Perhaps she was busy.

"Fusheng, did energy just manifest in your qi sea?"

Only then did boundless joy surge through Chen Fusheng's heart. He activated the energy in his qi sea and cried out excitedly, "Grandpa, I can cultivate now! I can make a fortune!"

Old Huang was likewise shaken. Then he silently gazed at the boy, worry hidden in his eyes, along with an indescribable dread.