Heavenly Master

The Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method was easy to get started with, but difficult to master.

The first three stages used vital essence to ignite spiritual fire, evolve the Great Sun, temper the spirit, and extract divine sense.

The middle three stages used divine sense to stimulate the soul and nurture the Yin Spirit.

By the final three stages, one condensed the Primordial Spirit, and the profound mysteries began to reveal themselves.

"Spirituality is the power scattered from the soul, while spirit is the power of thought and the mind. The two were originally vague and ethereal concepts, but after being forged by the spiritual fire of vital essence, they transformed into divine sense, formless and without substance."

Gu Jinlai flipped through the books, unconsciously becoming immersed in them.

The first stage of the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method required visualizing the Great Sun and reflecting one's spirituality upon it, causing the two to resonate so that spiritual fire could transform into the sun.

Once spirituality manifested, one ignited it with vital essence, evolved the Great Sun, and made the visualized sun blaze with brilliant, scorching radiance, tempering the spirit and extracting divine sense.

"The entire foundation of the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method lies in visualizing the Great Sun. Only when the Great Sun is powerful can one use less vital essence and spirituality to temper the spirit more efficiently and refine more divine sense."

Gu Jinlai closed his eyes.

In his mind, fragments of everything related to the Great Sun flashed continuously.

The Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method described the Great Sun as a ball of fire.

A super ball of fire.

High temperatures, intense light, and a preliminary touch upon the concept of radiation.

Its structure could be the Divine Sun Crystal, the divine bird Golden Crow, or subterranean magma.

Before understanding the true nature of the Great Sun, anything with a high temperature and bright light could be regarded as the Great Sun and used as the core of visualization. At most, one merely had to enlarge it.

But the people of this world did not understand the true nature of the Great Sun...

He did.

The core, radiative zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and corona.

Take the sun outside Blue Star as an example.

The temperature at its core reached as high as twenty million degrees, while the pressure was equivalent to two hundred and sixty billion atmospheres. At every moment, four hydrogen nuclei underwent nuclear fusion to become one helium nucleus.

According to the mass-energy conversion formula E=mc, six hundred million tons of hydrogen underwent nuclear fusion every second, becoming five hundred and ninety-six million tons of helium and releasing energy equivalent to four million tons of hydrogen.

That was the true foundation of all its light and heat.

"I once did a segment on solar science popularization and studied the birth of the sun in detail. Although I've forgotten most of the details by now, but..."

Gu Jinlai "looked" at the clear light within his spiritual world.

All of this remained settled in his mind. Once the clear light washed over it, it would help him sort everything out.

Cultivating the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method required using vital essence as kindling to ignite spiritual fire. It would inevitably leave one severely weakened, so Gu Jinlai could not possibly do it in Changjun City.

He planned to find a safe place, have Gu Xiangyang bring people to protect him, and then begin cultivating the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method.

As he finished packing and was about to leave Changjun City, a burst of knocking came from outside.

Gu Jinlai sensed carefully for a moment, then went to the small courtyard and opened the door.

Three people were already waiting at the entrance to the small courtyard.

One Core Former and two Gang Condensers.

Gu Jinlai recognized one of the Gang Condensers.

It was precisely the middle-aged man whose young master had been abducted by a Demonic Beast the previous night.

"Elder Gu."

The middle-aged man hurried forward.

Beside him, a young man who looked twenty-three or twenty-four respectfully bowed. "Jiang Xiyu thanks Elder Gu for saving my life."

Clearly, he was the young master who had been abducted by the Demonic Beast.

"It was just a small effort. There's no need for such courtesy."

Gu Jinlai spoke a few words.

"To Elder Gu, it may have been a small effort, but to me, it was a debt for saving my life."

Jiang Xiyu took a sword case from the old man behind him. Inside lay a treasured sword with cold light flowing across it. "This meager gift cannot express my gratitude, but please accept it, Elder Gu."

Gu Jinlai only needed one glance to tell that this treasured sword...

was absolutely a high-grade sword.

It was precisely what he needed.

Gu Jinlai glanced at the Core Former elder behind him.

To have a Core Former as a bodyguard, Jiang Xiyu clearly had no ordinary status.

His family likely had a Spirit Refiner among its elders.

After a moment, he seemed to have guessed something. "The Jiang Family? The Jiang Family of the capital?"

"The Jiang Family has flourished in the capital's Starlight City for three hundred years. There are quite a few collateral branches, and I am merely from one of them."

Jiang Xiyu spoke.

A collateral branch.

But he was still a Jiang Family disciple.

When he left Changjun City, he would inevitably leave traces and draw the attention of Lin Xiao or Zhou Yunyi.

He planned to refine qi into spirit and take the Heavenly Master path. During the period when his vital energy was depleted, he would inevitably be weak. If Lin Xiao and Zhou Yunyi kept their eyes on him, his situation would certainly be perilous. But if he could slip out of Changjun City unnoticed and hide in the capital...

Give him a little time to create some means of protecting himself, and Lin Xiao and Zhou Yunyi would find it difficult to threaten his safety again.

"As for the sword, forget it. If you truly wish to thank me, why not use the Jiang Family's channels to secretly send me to the capital?"

Gu Jinlai said, "You've heard something of my circumstances. Lin Xiao has been pressing me relentlessly, while the elders of the sect stand by with folded arms. This has left me utterly disheartened. The rumors that I suffered cultivation deviation are true, because I intend to refine qi into spirit and take the Heavenly Master path. Heavenly Masters are not skilled in combat. Once I reach the capital, I should be somewhat safer."

Use the Jiang Family's channels to send him to the capital...

Jiang Xiyu hesitated.

Gu Jinlai had saved his life. Such a debt had to be repaid.

But he did not wish to have much contact with a demonic cultivator like Gu Jinlai, so he had planned to give him a high-grade treasured sword and settle the debt of gratitude.

Now that Gu Jinlai had asked to use the Jiang Family's channels to go to the capital...

Jiang Xiyu pondered for a moment before saying, "Is it really true that Elder Gu intends to switch to the Heavenly Master path?"

"Of course it's true. Long ago, I no longer wished to involve myself in the disputes of the Purgatory Demon Sect. Half a year ago, I requested a transfer to Changjun City. Although it was partly to avoid Lin Xiao, I also intended to distance myself from the worldly turmoil and switch to the Heavenly Master path of artifact forging."

Gu Jinlai said, "I have studied the Heavenly Master path day and night. A month and a half ago, unable to contain my impatience, I tried to refine qi into spirit, which left me severely weakened. Today, I even exchanged my achievements from slaying Demonic Beasts for a Heavenly Master Method. If I truly did not intend to switch paths, why would I waste them?"

Jiang Xiyu was rather surprised to hear this.

Whatever Gu Jinlai had exchanged his achievements for, Jiang Xiyu could certainly find out through his Jiang Family connections by asking around at the Demon Refining Hall. Gu Jinlai would not make reckless claims about this matter.

If he had truly refused to exchange them for the Spirit Nourishing Pill that could restore his cultivation, choosing instead to exchange them for a Heavenly Master Method...

Then he might really intend to specialize in the Heavenly Master path and retreat from the front lines.

"My foundation in Spirit Refining remains, and I have studied it for many years. Now that I have obtained a Heavenly Master Method as well, it should not take long for me to complete the visualization and enter the Heavenly Master path."

Gu Jinlai spoke again.

Jiang Xiyu exchanged a glance with the Core Former expert.

Only after seeing the old man nod slightly did he say, "Elder Gu saved my life. Whatever you ask, I will do my utmost to fulfill. I'll make the arrangements at once."

"Thank you."

Gu Jinlai cupped his hands and let out a long breath.

Star Province was nominally still under the control of its governor.

As one of the four great families of Star Province's capital, the Jiang Family still possessed tremendous influence even in Changjun City.

In merely half a day, they had arranged a way for Gu Jinlai to leave without a trace.

Night had fallen.

Inside a carriage, Gu Jinlai narrowed his eyes and gazed at Changjun City, shrouded in darkness.

He had not formed many good memories of this city.

But it was the first place he had stayed since crossing into this world.

"I left in rather sorry fashion."

Gu Jinlai muttered under his breath.

But...

"I'll be back."

(The solar data differs from Earth's. Please do not apply it directly.)