Moon Gazing

After returning to his quarters, Chen Fusheng never regretted what he had done that day.

The Second Order Foundation Establishment Fluid was already in his hands, and the Other Shore Realm was within reach.

As for the Red Sun Fish and the others, he had sold them to Xu Guifen and obtained one hundred and fifty thousand star stones. The Flood Dragon Diagram could finally be charged!

As for the young fish, it was with Mu Zhen. She had volunteered to take care of the little fish for a few days.

"Although I took an enormous risk, the harvest was astonishingly rewarding. When there's a fight to be had, I still have to fight."

"And Xuan Yuanchang, that bastard! He turned around and suppressed me for his own benefit. He's shameless to the extreme!"

Chen Fusheng's greatest goal was the Other Shore Realm. After that, he would soar until his qi and blood billowed like wolf smoke!

As for the future, whether fortune or disaster awaited him, he would at least have the strength to retreat intact.

Just as he was preparing to refine the Foundation Establishment Liquid, Xu Changfeng knocked on the door and entered his room.

"Palace Master." Chen Fusheng rose and saluted.

"Enough with the useless formalities. How sure are you that you can win?"

Xu Changfeng was nearly tearing his scalp off. He deeply regretted taking out the Star Cloud Bag in front of all the disciples. Why had he needed to show off for no reason?

The crux of the matter was that his treasure now depended on whether a menial servant won or lost. Wasn't that absurd?

Chen Fusheng had never expected the formerly dignified Xu Changfeng to be scratching his head and rubbing his ears now. The towering image he had held of him in his heart began to crumble.

"Palace Master, have you ever heard of Dragon Seeking Bait?"

"You have Dragon Seeking Bait!"

Xu Changfeng nearly knocked his own jaw off. "Then why are you wasting time? Hurry up and win the Gathering Star Pearl!"

"Uh, what I mean is, His Royal Grandson Your Highness took out the Gathering Star Pearl to bet against me. Could he have Dragon Seeking Bait?"

Xu Changfeng fell silent, then earnestly lectured him, "In the future, don't say only half of what you mean. That's very rude."

"As for the Dragon Seeking Bait, I don't know whether he has it. But even if he does, he won't use it, because its value exceeds that of the Gathering Star Pearl. To be precise, Dragon Seeking Bait is a priceless treasure."

Chen Fusheng was stunned. Just what kind of background did that old man on the bamboo raft have?

"The disciple is mainly worried that His Royal Grandson Your Highness has some special scented bait! To prevent any accidents, I don't plan to compete with him in fishing. I plan to compete with him in swimming ability instead. In any case, no final terms have been set for what we'll compete in."

Xu Changfeng looked at Chen Fusheng's face of baffling confidence. Had he lost his mind?

A fishing competition naturally included swimming ability. Besides, Xuan Yuanchang could not possibly enter the contest himself—his cultivation was simply too powerful.

But this was the depths of the Black River. A contest of swimming ability had an extremely high mortality rate!

"Are you planning to stall for time after he refuses, or are you truly confident?"

A terrifying Soul Light suddenly flared in Xu Changfeng's eyes. Under his gaze, Chen Fusheng's body seemed cast from steel, with vigorous life force flowing through it.

His pupils narrowed slightly. "Your constitution is excellent. With the help of a Second Order Foundation Establishment Fluid, it would become even stronger. If the person standing before you had a special water-element constitution at the Other Shore Realm, how sure are you that you could win?"

"Fifty percent."

The moment Chen Fusheng said that, Xu Changfeng flared up. He continued, "I'm going to buy Five Organs Source Medicine now. By then, I should have sixty to seventy percent confidence."

"Don't go. Refine the Foundation Establishment Liquid properly!" How could Xu Changfeng dare let him delay? He did not expect Chen Fusheng to win. If he could force a draw, the heavens would already be blessing them.

"Wait, that kid didn't give me any star stones?"

Xu Changfeng had just turned to leave when he hesitated at the doorway for a moment. He truly could not bring himself to ask.

Forget it. He would settle the whole account after Chen Fusheng lost!

At present, the matter had caused an uproar aboard the Flood Dragon Ship. Xu Changfeng, who had always been smooth and accommodating, had suddenly become opposed to Xuan Yuanchang, leaving the various star officials deeply shocked.

It was just that all these conflicts had been ignited over a single menial servant. It sounded somewhat comical, but word that he had hauled up Longevity Fish and the others had also caused quite a stir.

"People fear fame, while pigs fear growing fat. Fusheng has become completely famous this time!"

Liu Bai was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. In front of Xuan Yuanchang, they were figures no bigger than sesame seeds.

"If you gamble again, I'll chop off those dog paws of yours!" Wang Lie cursed furiously. Small gambling was harmless, but big gambling damaged the body. Why did this reckless wager feel like it would end with them reduced to ashes?

"Ling Yao's faction went to the Royal Grandson's quarters. Who knows what they were muttering about?" Wang Dapang was deeply worried. He had gone to great lengths to get aboard the Flood Dragon Ship. He had obtained the money, but trouble had come along with it.

Big Black Fatty analyzed the situation. With Xu Changfeng and Xuan Yuanchang fighting in secret, the best possible outcome for Chen Fusheng was a draw!

Time trickled by drop after drop. Two days and two nights had passed, yet Chen Fusheng still had not finished absorbing the medicinal power of the Foundation Establishment Liquid.

It was more like layer upon layer of blazing fetal membranes, wrapping around his shell at a deeper level.

His flesh constantly gave off waves of new life, emitting an aura as pure as a baby's. It was extraordinarily comfortable.

When he awoke late at night, his vigor was boundless. He almost wanted to fight fiercely for three days and three nights. Then he realized that his own state a few days ago had been like that of an old man sick unto death.

Such a stark contrast heralded his Physical Roots entering an entirely new domain!

Chen Fusheng's body was covered in grease. His pores had expelled far too many impurities. Fortunately, the room was fully equipped. After washing himself clean, he stared at his reflection in the bronze mirror, somewhat dazed.

His skin was exceptionally fair, his black hair falling to his waist. His dark, gleaming pupils radiated spirituality, and his robust body brimmed with masculine vigor.

"This change is rather drastic. It's practically no different from shedding my mortal shell and replacing my bones, isn't it? That old swindler Ling Yao is actually a good person."

Chen Fusheng suddenly understood the true meaning of cultivation. Either one stepped forward to fight for resources, or one curled up and stayed where one was. But the prerequisite was always putting life first.

Chen Fusheng closed his eyes and assumed the Five Hearts Facing Heaven posture. The moment he entered a visualization state, the deep firmament drew infinitely closer to him, more like a colossal curtain enveloping him.

He was astonished. It was as though he had raised a hand and pulled the starry sky right before him. He was going to visualize the starry sky within his body!

"Physical Roots? They've increased by roughly two or three times. Tsk, as expected of a Second Order Foundation Establishment Fluid. Just how formidable would the third order be?"

Chen Fusheng gazed up at the night sky and visualized the bright moon in the firmament. Then he visualized the Moon Star. It was as if he had climbed into the night sky in a dream and stroked the radiant moon with his hand. In the blink of an eye, it seemed a thousand years had passed.

The astonishing tactile sensation made him linger, because it was even more intense than when he had first visualized the Sun Star. Clearly, his Physical Roots had grown stronger!

It was similar to the Meditation Method: the higher one's spiritual will, the better the tactile sensation brought by the visualization process.

Within the vast universe were countless stars, too many to count. Visualizing the stars was like traveling through a dream.

Chen Fusheng's chest rose and fell. Light shone from his crown bone as he drew in the moon's pure radiance, layer after layer sinking into his flesh!

"It worked!"

The Moon Star radiated incomparably dense Great Yin Qi. It belonged to water, stimulating the source of his kidneys until they rumbled.

"Boom!"

Kidney qi surged upward, and the roaring of the Yangtze River and great rivers echoed in his ears. It originated from his kidneys, one of the Five Organs, where an anomaly had emerged. Within them, the hazy and indistinct Moon Star seemed to be reflected!

The sun entered the heart palace, while the moon entered the kidney palace.

Stars such as Jupiter and Saturn were common stars in the boundless starry sky, countless in number.

Once Chen Fusheng grew powerful enough, he would be able to reach stars such as the Azure Dragon Star, Golden Crow Star, and White Tiger Star with his Physical Roots, seize their essence, and strengthen himself from within!

Among the five organs, the heart was the monarch, while the kidneys held the essence of the five organs and stored the body's essence. The stronger they became, the stronger the body's functions would be.

He even sensed something more subtle. His ears seemed to have opened up, and his hearing grew sharper!

Moreover, a projection of the moon shone within his right eye, its hazy light suffused with dazzling moonlight.

"The Five Elements and five organs, the eyes and ears of man, the sun and moon of heaven."

Chen Fusheng gained a faint understanding. Was the human body more like a miniature universe?

He also knew that, in his current state, it would be difficult to reach the Other Shore Realm. In the end, he still needed to plunder the essence of the stars throughout the heavens.

If he obtained the Gathering Star Pearl, he might be able to succeed right now!

The deeper Chen Fusheng's resonance with the bright moon became, the clearer the scene he visualized within his body grew. It was more like a gigantic starry-sky pattern engraved into his body and soul.

But the pattern was complex and difficult to understand. It involved the supreme mysteries of the stars, and he increasingly felt the stars transforming within his body and soul, their forms endlessly varied.

"The changes of the stars... Hmm?"

Chen Fusheng found these changes somewhat familiar. As he pondered, his storage bag opened, and Devour Moon flew out.

Dense specks of light covered the Ink Jade Scimitar, as if gemstones had been embedded across the night sky.

Because his Physical Roots had grown stronger, Chen Fusheng discovered during his visualization that each speck of light was a condensed space.

When he focused on one speck of light on Devour Moon, it seemed like a condensed boundless starry sky!

As his vision plunged inside, he suffered a moment of suffocation before seeing a gigantic scimitar suspended at the end of the starry sky.

The scimitar was like the incarnation of the stars and moon, filled with terrifyingly dark fluctuations. In an instant, it swallowed the edge of the starry sky, smothered the radiance of every celestial body, and plunged the entire world into eternal silence!