Day after day, ten days passed in succession.
After the first spring rain of the year, tender seedlings sprang up across the mountains and plains. The air was filled with the scent of flowers and grass—the scent of life surging into bloom.
"Everything is reviving. Spring has come."
Chen Fusheng continued cultivating in the back mountain. In the state brought about by the Furnace Contemplation Method, the world had completely changed. Life force surged vast and mighty, the Sun Star shone brilliantly, and the aura of new life was exceptionally dense.
He sat quietly atop the mountain, black hair draped over his shoulders and blue robes fluttering as he absorbed the rosy clouds and swallowed the qi.
Mouthful after mouthful poured into his abdomen like Jade Nectar. A golden halo rose from his flesh, his Root Bone rang out, and his Five Organs resonated together. Every bodily indicator seemed to awaken from hibernation and began climbing steadily.
"Roar..."
Chen Fusheng suddenly stretched lazily, twisted his neck, and spread his limbs. A clear howl rang from his chest, resembling a tiger's roar and a dragon's cry—deep, sonorous, and reaching into the distance.
"Boom!"
As the Life Essence Blood in his limbs withdrew into his body and poured into his organs, the sounds of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning immediately rang out, fierce and swift.
The sounds seemed faint, but they truly originated from the mysteries of the flesh and the wonders of the Five Organs. The source of the heart resembled an ape; it was of paramount importance, the sovereign of the Five Organs and the master of the Five Entrails.
The kidneys, liver, spleen, and lungs governed the body's functions. When the Five Organs were strong, the flesh was strong; when they were weak, illness entered the marrow.
The Five Organs contained the five elements and resonated with the workings of Heaven and Earth. As the Five Organs Source Medicine continuously nourished them, the treasures within his organs opened. With a single breath, the Five Organs thundered, and his flesh instantly surged with blood and qi like a tide!
It was like a gale rolling past, sweeping through the old forest with a crash and sending great flocks of birds fleeing.
"Crash!"
The pores across Chen Fusheng's body swallowed and exhaled tides of blood and qi, surging violently across the four directions and eight extremes. Though he had only just entered this realm, he was far more ferocious than the books described!
It had been nearly a month since he had embarked upon the path of cultivation, and Chen Fusheng had smoothly stepped into the Seventh Heaven of the Star Guiding Realm. His initial cultivation of the Five Organs had yielded abundant gains.
"The Five Organs are the foundation of my flesh. I still need several batches of Five Organs Source Medicine to keep strengthening them, but right now..."
Chen Fusheng fell silent and gazed up at the Sun Star hanging high in the sky. He pushed the Contemplation Method to its extreme and vaguely discovered that the Sun Star was much closer to him than before!
His body was like a little boat, roaming through the vast sky. Then, in a daze, he seemed to ascend along the bridge to the Other Shore, giving him the sensation of resonating with the Sun Star!
"Furnace Contemplation Method!"
Suppressing his excitement, Chen Fusheng stood up. Had he truly established the foundation for his flesh to plunder the essence of the stars?
He completed all one hundred and eight posture changes in an instant and concluded his practice. Then he sat down on the ground, Five Hearts Facing Heaven. Within his meditative state, the Sun emerged inside the furnace of Heaven and Earth!
Within the furnace, the sun was like the source of life, the mother of Heaven and Earth, hanging at the edge of the sky. Yet in his contemplation, he felt himself coiled within the sun, his life breathing in rhythm with it!
He could even sense the sun's fire. In some mysterious way, he felt as if he were borrowing it to temper his body!
Chen Fusheng was shocked and delighted. Was this the meaning of storing an image in the mind? It was clearly an illusion, yet he had actually touched something material!
Chen Fusheng steadied his emotions. With Five Hearts Facing Heaven, his crown bone was like a bridge connecting to the starry sky!
Within the contemplation, Heaven and Earth fell utterly silent.
He forgot everything, forgot himself, and drifted weightlessly into the blue heavens.
Closer. Even closer!
He felt only that he was coiled within the Sun Star. He was even the Sun Star itself. During the contemplation of his flesh, the sun seemed to hang high within his body!
Storing the image. Storing the image!
Clearly, he had stored the sun within his body!
"Contemplating and storing the image!"
This was an extraordinary state. He had stored the Sun Star within his body. It looked like an illusion, but in truth, the two were resonating with each other. A hazy solar landscape was reflected within him!
"The stars have shone into reality, into my body!"
Chen Fusheng's entire body blazed with light. The landscape within him resonated with the sun on an even deeper level, and his absorption surged explosively, drawing forth layers of dazzling dawn clouds that sank into his body.
His shell was scorching at first, then numb and tingling, until the sensation finally poured into his heart.
"Boom!"
His heart trembled violently and belched fire. Flames shot from Chen Fusheng's mouth and nostrils, and with a whoosh, they scorched the ground into charred earth.
Chen Fusheng's eyes brimmed with hot tears. Just now, he had become an acknowledged vessel of the Sun Star and displayed part of the might of a star master of the Other Shore Realm.
"I understand now. The Five Organs correspond to the five stars. Later, I can contemplate the five stars to fill the Five Organs."
"However, my heart has already refined two heart-source medicines. The other four organs still need one set each."
He constantly contemplated and absorbed the sun's essence. The source of his heart always seemed on the verge of a qualitative transformation. In the end, the Sun Star's essence was simply too fierce.
At first, his heart had changed greatly, improving by roughly thirty to forty percent.
But as he continued cultivating, the speed at which his heart grew stronger slowed!
"That's it. The sun's essence has completed the foundation of my heart, so continuing to cultivate has brought slower growth."
Chen Fusheng finally understood what painstaking cultivation meant. Sitting in meditation and cultivating day and night without resources—that was the life of a bitter cultivator.
He began examining himself. His heart's blood-making function had grown stronger, while a stream of Pure Yang Qi had emerged from his bones. His eyes were as clear as an infant's, and his entire body possessed a handsome, masculine quality.
"Hmm?"
Chen Fusheng discovered that his left eye had suddenly become scorching hot. Golden light glittered within it, and when it opened and closed, tangible rays of light shone out. His right eye, by contrast, remained unchanged.
"Why did such a sudden mutation occur?"
Chen Fusheng sank into thought. The vision of his left eye exceeded that of his right by fifty or sixty percent!
"Could it be?" Chen Fusheng pondered, "The left eye governs the Sun Star, while the right eye governs the moon?"
"Eyes like the sun and moon?" His heart pounded. If he continued cultivating for a long time, how astonishing would the changes in his eyes become?
He increasingly felt that the Contemplation Method was terrifying. It was hard to say what the extraordinary people had used as their root system before opening up chapters of scripture and following that path.
The root system was the main branch of Contemplation Method cultivation. Beast diagrams and methods of nourishing the flesh with the stars were all branches and leaves growing from that root.
If those extraordinary people had not fixed the direction of cultivation, could it be that they had merely happened to walk the path through by sheer coincidence?
"Mortals create methods. Between one Meditation Method and another, who dares say that no one will walk out along a third path in the future?" he thought.
"Aw-aw!"
Suddenly, a muffled horn sounded. The sound waves rolled forth, deafening to the ears.
Chen Fusheng hurriedly dashed down the mountain. The Flood Dragon horn had sounded—the day the ship set out at the beginning of spring was today.
Wang Dapang had already secured their places. He and Wang Lie would board the Flood Dragon Ship as laborers and servants, completing a few odd jobs each day and spending the rest of their time freely!
Over the past few days, news of Teng Xiong's disappearance had spread, but it had not implicated him.
Chen Fusheng had also remained wary of Ling Yao. Later, Liu Bai told him that Ling Yao had to bathe and change clothes every day before going to the Star Palace to pay respects to some important figure.
The reason seemed to have something to do with Mu Zhen. Liu Bai did not know anything more. In any case, Mu Zhen seemed to have stumbled into tremendous good fortune.
"Fusheng, hurry and change into your laborer's robe. It's time to leave."
Wang Lie was already waiting in the courtyard. In a mere ten days, he had stepped into the Third Heaven of the Other Shore Realm, benefiting from the resource rewards granted upon entering the Star Gazing Manor, as well as from that day's banquet.
Moreover, through Wang Dapang, Wang Lie had secured a position in the Spirit Chef Hall. He swallowed dozens of pounds of fruit and nourishing food every day, so it would have been difficult for him not to improve.
Not to mention Wang Dapang—even Wang Lie's status had influenced the East Courtyard's Dining Hall. The new head chef served Huang Tiancheng fine wine and delicacies every day, and his life had been turned upside down compared with before.
Before Chen Fusheng left, Huang Tiancheng placed half a spirit fish treasure in a bottle and handed it to him, telling him that it would be extraordinarily effective for breaking through barriers and that he should not use it lightly.
"Grandpa, please take good care of yourself. Third Brother, I'm leaving the household to you!"
Chen Fusheng and Wang Lie departed in a cloud of dust, heading for the banks of the Black River!
Lei San waved with a foolish grin. He now possessed limitless strength and boundless energy, and his heart brimmed with infinite longing for the future.
"Is that the Flood Dragon Ship?"
They had just run down from the back mountain when Chen Fusheng was struck by the sheer visual impact.
It did not resemble a ship at all. Its scale surpassed that of a mountain. Lofty and immense, it had twelve levels, and a surge of Primordial Exotic Beasts' might rushed toward them.
Chen Fusheng raised his head. Before the Flood Dragon Ship, he was as tiny as dust. What did a single living being count for? Even the river demons had to hide away and tremble.
The ship could accommodate ten thousand people, and it even contained luxuriously decorated cabins. Of course, those were secondary. The truly important thing was the dark pearl suspended atop the enormous ship, crackling with lightning!
"Look, Fusheng! That's the legendary Flood Dragon Lightning Pearl. Whenever it turns, it draws on the wind and lightning stars to send down divine light. With storm and thunder complementing each other, it can easily tear apart a star master of the Spirit Wandering Realm!"
Wang Lie cried out, "The Flood Dragon Lightning Pearl, the Flood Dragon Ship, and the Dragon Locking Chain—the three Top Grade Star Artifacts command the Ten Thousand Li Black River. Even the flood dragons don't dare cause trouble in the outer waterways. They are the inherited treasures of our Tian Yuan Star Observation Manor!"
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