Star River Chart
Three days later.
Zhou Yueming rediscovered the Gu Jinlai and took out a picture.
As he unfolded the image, a vast array of stars could be seen, dotting the dark, boundless universe.
Numerous stars slowly rotated, vaguely revealing the shape of a galaxy, which looked remarkably similar to the Milky Way as perceived Gu Jinlai.
"This is..."
"Star River Map".
Zhou Yueming handed the scroll to Gu Jinlai: "This is one of the top inheritances of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty. When cultivated to its peak, one can even glimpse the realm of immortality!"
"Immortal?"
Gu Jinlai quickly understood. "Divine Realm!"
That is, Golden Immortal level nine and above, level ten to twelfth.
"The Celestial Star Lord learned of your needs and made a special trip to the Celestial Dynasty's treasury to select these for you."
As Zhou Yueming spoke, his expression became somewhat solemn.
I have carefully examined this book on the art of Spirit Refining, Gu Jinlai.
The Milky Way map and the star map are quite similar.
Even...
The Star Chart seems to be a simplified version of the Spirit Refining Method derived from the Star River Chart. When practicing it, the loss of mental energy is estimated to be less than 10%.
Upon seeing this Spirit Refining Method, Gu Jinlai can be confirmed that the Celestial Star Lord indeed knew that he possessed the cultivation level of a Golden Immortal at the third stage, and that he was cultivating the Star Chart.
When he fought against Xuanhe and others, he used the Starlight Rotation Technique, a mysterious inner technique that belonged to the Star Chart.
"Scholar Gu, we have carefully studied the data you provided regarding the improvements to the third-generation nuclear reactor over the past period of time, and we have found that there are still many areas that can be improved..."
Zhou Yueming said.
Gu Jinlai quickly understood Zhou Yueming's meaning, and also understood why Zhou Yueming's attitude had changed slightly compared to a few days ago.
He smiled understandingly and said, "I do have many other ideas, which were originally impossible to realize due to the lack of the corresponding equipment. However, with the full help of Palace Master Zhou and all the scholars, I think we will be able to produce results soon."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yueming finally smiled and said, "Is that so? Then I'll wait for your good news. You know, the Heavenly Star Lord values the talent you've shown quite a bit."
"I will work as soon as possible to improve the reactor to be more stable and have higher output power. Once the improvement is complete, I hope to have an audience with the Celestial Star Lord."
This Gu Jinlai.
"Do you wish to see the Star Lord?"
Zhou Yueming seemed to understand the implication of Gu Jinlai's words, and said with a smile, "Alright, if you can really improve the reactor again, Tianxiang Xingjun will definitely meet with you in person."
"I look forward to that day."
He said with a smile, "Gu Jinlai."
"You seem very confident."
"It will take anywhere from a few months to a year to see results."
This Gu Jinlai.
Zhou Yueming's smile brightened even more, "In that case, I'll be waiting for your good news."
Gu Jinlai nodded and took out the jade box containing the Essence of Myriad Spirits.
He planned to exchange the Myriad Spirits Divine Essence for the Spirit Refining. Now, Zhou Yueming not only brought over the Spirit Refining God Technique, but it wasn't the kind he had expected that could only be cultivated up to the sixth level of the Golden Immortal realm. Instead, it was a top-tier Spirit Refining Technique that directly aimed for the ninth level and above. Clearly, he had exceeded the value of their transaction, so he naturally had to return the Myriad Spirits Divine Essence.
But...
Zhou Yueming did not take it. He glanced at Gu Jinlai and said, "I have said that this Star River Map was not obtained by me. Instead, it was specially obtained by Tianxiang Star Lord from the Immortal Dynasty Treasury. Therefore, you do not need to return this Myriad Spirits Divine Essence to me."
"The Celestial Star Lord..."
Gu Jinlai nodded. "I understand, when the time comes..."
"No need."
Zhou Yueming smiled and said, "The Celestial Star Lord said that if you can improve the third-generation nuclear reactor again, the Myriad Spirits Divine Essence will be your reward. And now you say you are so confident that it will take a few months or a year... We can wait that long. Therefore, you can keep the Myriad Spirits Divine Essence."
He paused, then said, "If you are truly confident in your research, you may use the Essence of Myriad Spirits now, at your discretion."
"Good."
Gu Jinlai, there has never been another instance of declining the offer.
Zhou Yueming left quickly.
Gu Jinlai also went to his laboratory, announced that he would be conducting the next round of improvement attempts, and assigned a series of tasks.
While the stability and power of the third-generation nuclear reactor are impressive, it is merely an improvement Gu Jinlai the fourth form of the Great Sun Eternal Law, which he had already cultivated to the sixth level of perfection.
He brought out the fifth perfect reactor form, which could double its stability and output rate, and would surely satisfy Zhou Yueming, Tianxiang Xingjun and everyone else.
"Speaking of which, we might be able to get back to the sixth level of perfection and exchange it for another round of rewards..."
Gu Jinlai returned to his office and pondered.
If necessary, he can also elevate the Great Sun Eternal Law to the seventh or eighth level of perfection, and then...
However, he quickly banished these thoughts.
No matter how high the Great Sun Eternal Law Heaven is, it is still of little significance if it cannot escape the influence of the Devouring Great Dao.
On the contrary, if one can raise one's mental and spiritual realm to the ninth, or even the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth level, or even the thirteenth level which symbolizes a new path to immortality, the advantage that it brings will be truly immediate.
With this in mind, he quickly began to peruse the Star Chart.
The traces of the new method are not obvious on the Star River Map.
Clearly, although this Cultivation Method was transformed from the old method, the transformation was not complete. The further back in time, the stronger the traces of the old method became.
This phenomenon should not be limited to the Star River Map; it should be the case for all the Spirit Refining Methods of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty.
Those Golden Immortals with extremely high mental and spiritual realms can easily transform low-level old methods into new ones, but high-level old methods are clearly beyond their capabilities.
Just as one can freely create a method to cultivate to the True Immortal realm Gu Jinlai, the optimization of the Celestial Immortal and Profound Immortal realms is helpless without relying on Qingguang.
"A map of stars, a map of the Milky Way."
Gu Jinlai, people have looked at these two methods of Spirit Refining, and as they looked...
It was as if they had figured out something.
"These stars..."
He suddenly looked up and gazed at the horizon.
There lies the boundless sky of the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm.
Compared to the occasional sight of a sky full of stars in the Xuanxian Realm, the Changsheng Realm, and Blue Star, in the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm, the sky is completely filled with starlight transformed from hundreds of star gods and more than two thousand star lords. Apart from these three thousand star gods and star lords, there is no other starlight.
Wrong!
There is also the Human Emperor Zhou Huang, who represents the glorious sun, and the Taiyin Star Lord, who is second only to Zhou Huang and is responsible for handling all matters of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, as well as the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper and the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper.
He quickly picked up the research instrument in his hand and used his bachelor's degree privileges to search for information.
As he continued his search, news about star lords, star gods, and star rulers filled his field of vision.
It was only then that he realized that there were almost no entertainment stars in the entire Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty.
Or rather, the Star Lord, Star God, Star Sovereign, and the Human Emperor who, without needing any publicity, commands the heartfelt reverence of the people of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, are the biggest stars.
Within the territory of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, the greatest event is also related to the change of the Star Lord.
Star gods who have cultivated to the Great Dao Golden Immortal are hard to find, but there are countless Heavenly Dao needed to maintain the operation of the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm.
Therefore, the competition for the position of the Star Lord of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty is extremely fierce.
Most star lords have a background as a Great Dao Golden Immortal.
And those star lords without the background of a Great Dao Golden Immortal are replaced very frequently.
The few remaining star lords, without exception, are all Nine Heavens Mystic Immortals...
Or rather, the best of the best among level nine pilots, incredibly powerful.
In terms of combat strength, it is estimated that he could escape unscathed even against an ordinary Golden Immortal like Bi Yuan, the vice president of the Immortal Shadow Society.
Due to the regulations of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, every ten years, the Star Lord must face challenges from everyone to prove that he is qualified to assume the position of Star Lord. Therefore, the Star Lord Challenge held every ten years is the grandest event in the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, and everyone's attention and mind are focused on those Star Lords.
This kind of dependence...
"The will of all living beings."
From Gu Jinlai, they have murmured to themselves.
The Star Lord absorbs the will of all living beings.
All the star lords, star gods, and star deities revolve around the Human Emperor Zhou Huang...
This situation reminds Gu Jinlai of the scene where Zhao Xi used the beings of the immortal kingdom to fight against the creator.
However, compared to the crude methods Zhao Xi used at the time, Zhou Huang's actions seemed to have a traceable pattern.
It's like...
They had been through the same thing.
Looking at this immortal Xuanhuang Realm, he couldn't help but think of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors who had appeared in the history of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty. They should have already attained the status of immortal Golden Immortals and were immortal. He couldn't help but have an extremely bold guess in his mind.
"The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors once fought against evil gods..."
After this thought came to mind, he felt even more fortunate about his decision to come to the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty to seek a way to fight against the evil god.
"It seems we finally see hope of defeating the evil god."
From Gu Jinlai, they have murmured to themselves.
He focused his gaze on the star map in his hand, concentrated his mind, and quickly began to comprehend it.
Although the Star Chart is far more mysterious than the Star Chart, thanks to the foundation of the Star Chart, Gu Jinlai have only just begun to understand it in just one month.
At the very moment of entering the Star Chart, the spiritual world, Gu Jinlai, finally witnessed the emergence of a second orange radiance following the Star Chart.
Compared to the dim and shimmering Star Chart, which resembles a counterfeit product, the Star River Chart is undoubtedly much more normal, but it still doesn't reach the dazzling level of the Radiant Gold skill.
"Finally, I've mastered it."
Gu Jinlai.
He glanced at the more than two thousand beams of clear light in his spiritual world, and then at the Myriad Spirits Divine Essence beside him.
Breakthroughs in one's mental state differ from cultivation Cultivation Method and often require the assistance of all things.
When a cultivator comprehends this, their mental and spiritual realm will naturally improve.
The same applies to the Milky Way map.
The entire star map is divided into three parts: starlight, nebulae, and the Milky Way.
Each part is divided into beginner, minor, major, and perfect stages, which can be roughly correlated with the Way of Humanity, the Way of Earth, and the Heavenly Dao.
The three parts of the Perfection stage all describe how to break through to a higher realm.
For a moment, people from Gu Jinlai present lingered on this sphere of light, and then, beams of clear light poured into it.
Just as switching from the Gate of Mysterious Female to the Star Chart didn't cost much Clear Light, switching from the Star Chart to the River Chart cost even less Clear Light.
With just three beams of clear light, he had already cultivated the Star River Diagram Starlight Chapter to the minor completion stage.
After the ten beams of clear light were exhausted, the Starlight Chapter was completed.
His mental state returned to the third level.
Moreover, the Starlight Chapter at the Great Perfection stage also developed a secret technique-like characteristic called Starlight Mist, which can create a special mist that can confuse the mind.
As for the effect...
It seems to be even more intricate than the rotation of a nebula.
After three days of adjusting to the revised mental state, the gazes of people from Gu Jinlai have once again fallen on the Starlight Chapter of the Star River Map.
This time, he used a full forty beams of light to bring the Starlight Chapter to its completion.
The Starlight Chapter, at its perfect level, gave him a sense of imagery bursting forth from his mental power.
Without hesitation, he quickly took out the Myriad Spirits Divine Essence and absorbed and refined it.
Instantly, his burgeoning mental power, like a seed, grew vigorously. He could clearly feel his mental power rising steadily along with the imagery.
One month later.
Gu Jinlai barely managed to stabilize his realm, and although he still needed to hone his mental strength, he clearly did not intend to continue in a step-by-step manner.
The nuclear reactor is waiting for him to take charge.
He then turned his attention back to Kiyomitsu.
Because his mental state had already broken through, the Star River Diagram, which originally might have required hundreds of beams of light to break through, was completed in less than thirty beams of light, and he had already entered the introductory stage of the Nebula Chapter.
The Nebula chapter in the introductory stage allowed him to reach the pinnacle of control over his mental power, as if he had been honing his skills for hundreds of years in the fourth stage, without any trace of the awkwardness he had when he first broke through.
"Continue."
Gu Jinlai, attention has been focused on the Nebula chapter.
Under the cleansing light, the Nebula Chapter quickly reached the Lesser Completion stage and began to advance towards the Greater Completion stage.
At this moment, he was like a solitary practitioner, letting his body float in the vast and boundless starry sky, letting the radiation and energy rays in the starry sky constantly wash and erode him, day after day, year after year.
One day, he floated to the front of a special celestial body composed of three stars, and witnessed the celestial body struggling to operate day after day under the intense light of the three Star Sun. As if struck by a sudden inspiration, his mind and spirit underwent a transformation.
Not only did it instantly reach the fifth rank, but it also spread uncontrollably into an even deeper realm.
If the fifth tier were also divided into early, middle, late, and perfect stages, he would have skipped the early and middle stages and arrived at the late stage, or even the perfect stage, making the sixth-tier barrier seem no longer a distant prospect.
But at that very moment, his epiphany came to an end.
As the starlight faded, the minds of those from Gu Jinlai seemed to be withdrawn from their cosmic journey and returned to their bodies in the cultivation chamber of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty.
At this moment, he couldn't even tell whether the person in the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty was real, or the cultivator who traveled through the starry sea and constantly cultivated in the vast starry sky was real.
This feeling left Gu Jinlai in a daze for a while before he suddenly snapped back to reality.
"This is..."
His expression changed slightly.
It seemed that due to the significant breakthrough in his mental cultivation, or perhaps because he had unleashed nearly two thousand rays of pure light at once, he had just...
It gave rise to a feeling of Zhuangzi's dream of the butterfly.
"No! It's not Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream..."
Gu Jinlai carefully recalled every detail he had "perceived" through the clear light.
"That feeling... it's as if, in the future, or even at some point now, there is another me, roaming the vast and boundless sea of stars, diligently cultivating, and through this method, achieving a spiritual enlightenment, allowing my spiritual power to break through to the fifth level..."
From Gu Jinlai, they have murmured to themselves.
For a moment, his gaze was drawn to the mysterious Green Lotus.
A question that he had deliberately avoided over the years also came to mind.
This Green Lotus...
What on earth is it?!
What was the reason that Qingguang helped him increase his cultivation level?
His mind raced.
"Blue Star must have had a brilliant cultivation civilization in High Antiquity times, or rather, it was part of a powerful cultivation civilization. Was it destroyed in a fierce war, and Blue Star was just a fragment of it? Or... did a top expert from that cultivation civilization land on Blue Star and leave behind his legacy?"
Gu Jinlai have pondered this.
He personally prefers the former.
Blue Star is a fragment of a powerful civilization that was shattered and fell into the turbulent currents of space.
Under the scouring of spatial turbulence, most traces of cultivation civilizations were erased, and a part of the former cultivation civilization on Blue Star was turned into a dead land.
As for the Green Lotus in his hand...
Perhaps it's related to contact with the world of immortals.
When the two worlds came into contact, some spiritual energy from the Realm of Immortality leaked out to Blue Star. Green Lotus captured it and, by chance, used it to take him into the Realm of fortuitous opportunity.
Is Kiyomitsu a reward for his efforts in maintaining world order?
The power and insights of a certain version of himself from a parallel universe in the future were used by Green Lotus to project onto his present self, thus allowing him to make great progress in his cultivation time and time again.
In just over a decade, he went from an ordinary person to someone comparable to a Golden Immortal?
"If my guess is true, then Blue Star... should still have untapped potential. Since there is a treasure similar to the Green Lotus, is it possible that there are other treasures in existence?"
This Gu Jinlai.
Although those treasures might not be as miraculous as those in the early stages of contact between the two realms, and he was only sent to the Green Lotus in the Realm of Immortality by a very small amount of spiritual energy, even the second-tier treasures would probably have all sorts of powerful abilities.
For a moment, people from Gu Jinlai were moved.
"A brilliant idea!"
He made a decision. "After obtaining the method to fight the evil god from the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty and returning to the Changsheng Realm, I will find a way to increase communication between the Changsheng Realm and Blue Star, and promote a large influx of spiritual energy into Blue Star to trigger a true Spiritual Qi revival on Blue Star."
But he soon realized something.
The reason why Blue Star has reached the Age of Dharma Decline is not because it lacks spiritual energy, but because Blue Star is almost equivalent to having no "spiritual realm" and therefore cannot restrain spiritual energy.
"The spirit world..."
He glanced around.
This is what I'm looking at – this place that should theoretically be called the Immortal Grotto-Heaven.
"The Immortal Xuanhuang Realm is equivalent to a small world or a small universe. Although the three thousand Great Daos within it are not perfect and all the power comes from the Dao Ancestor at the source of the Great Daos, it can barely be used to restrain spiritual energy and prevent it from dissipating. Even if there are some omissions, as long as the amount of spiritual energy injected and produced exceeds the amount of spiritual energy that leaks out, the illumination can revive Blue Star and thus reproduce the wonders of High Antiquity times."
Gu Jinlai have pondered this.
As to how to proceed, we'll have to wait until he leaves the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty and returns to Blue Star to observe things carefully before making a decision.
As for now...
He moved his body slightly and stood up.
The light has been exhausted.
The cultivation should be over. It's time to properly study the more advanced third-generation nuclear reactor and use it as a stepping stone to meet that Celestial Star Lord.
For the next period of time, Gu Jinlai devoted himself entirely to the laboratory.
Under his leadership, the improvement of the new nuclear reactor was progressing at an extremely rapid pace.
Because he spent a lot of time cultivating the Star River Diagram and advancing to the fifth-order Golden Immortal, even so, the new reactor still completed its simulated operation in just five months, and the overall improvement was still over 60%.
The reason why the increase is lower than the expectations of the Gu Jinlai is mainly due to material limitations.
While the use of gravity and nuclear force involved in the Great Sun Eternal Law is not considered cutting-edge technology by the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, there are still many technical challenges to overcome in order to make it compatible and usable.
Fortunately, the 60% performance improvement is still sufficient to handle the task.
All that's left is to actually operate and complete the process. With these two achievements, he will rank among the top scholars in the entire Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty.
"We're just waiting for the new reactor to be assembled."
Gu Jinlai took a Jade Slip and walked towards his rest area.
The Jade Slip records a brand-new design concept for mecha.
These mechs are actually level 10 mechs, which are like laboratory products. However, they are not produced for the public because the cost of producing one is too high and the cost-effectiveness is poor.
Many Star Lords were able to survive and escape unscathed from the clutches of a Great Dao Golden Immortal like Bi Yuan, thanks to their strength as Level 9 mech pilots, because they were equipped with these Level 10 mechs.
Originally, these mechs involved a very high level of secrecy, and Gu Jinlai, who had not yet been nominated as a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, was not qualified to access them. However, his achievements in improving nuclear reactors were too remarkable. In addition, with the combination of level 10 mechs and new reactors, it was even possible to enable level 9 pilots to truly fight against Great Dao Golden Immortals like Bi Yuan, whose equipment was outdated. In the end, this information was still sent to him.
Both Gu Jinlai taken this very seriously.
These mechs are highly complementary to the Cheng Ying mech in various aspects. He hopes to upgrade the Cheng Ying mech again after he returns, and that will depend on these mechs.
As he was pondering this, a student seemed to be approaching him.
Gu Jinlai sensed something and his gaze fell on the student, who respectfully bowed to Gu Jinlai: "Scholar Gu."
Gu Jinlai nodded and returned to the rest area.
But somehow, he now had a Jade Slip in his hand.
As he used his divine sense to sense the information, he quickly "saw" the message left by Bi Yuan inside.
After reading it, Gu Jinlai's expression was somewhat strange. "The Myriad Realms Alliance is recruiting me? As long as I'm willing to join the Myriad Realms Alliance with my third-generation nuclear reactor technology, they'll apply for a Myriad Spirits Divine Essence for me?"
He shook his head, crushed the jade talisman, and threw it into the trash can.
The intelligence and star chart that Pang Yuan provided to him were not actually important, at least not to him as a Golden Immortal of the Great Dao.
The Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty primarily targets Xuanxian who have fallen into the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm, but the Great Dao Golden Immortal, who can be considered a ruler in a world, is clearly on another level.
In other words, Gu Jinlai, unless one is overly cautious, obtaining what the Fairy Shadow Society offers doesn't require much effort.
He doesn't owe the Fairy Shadow Society anything.
Even with the help of others, he still chose not to harm anyone after Xuanhe and the others took action, and his resources were completely depleted.
At most, if Pang Yuan and Bi Yuan were in mortal danger in the future, he would give them a chance to survive.
That's all.
As for the current situation, the Myriad Realms Alliance wants to win him over with a copy of the Myriad Spirits Divine Essence, and also wants him to help steal the third-generation nuclear reactor, and even steal the annihilation reactor technology in the future.
Forget it.
"Speaking of the Divine Essence of Myriad Spirits... the Myriad Realms Alliance brought out this treasure, and the Celestial Star Lord also gave out this treasure. This is probably not a coincidence."
Having thought about it for Gu Jinlai, he further extinguished his desire to join the Alliance of Myriad Realms.
The simulation ran successfully, and the actual operation was not delayed for long.
A month later, the improved, more stable and more powerful nuclear reactor was completed, and once again, exclamations of surprise swept through the laboratory.
It was at this moment that Zhou Yueming found Gu Jinlai again and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Scholar Gu. Get ready, the Celestial Star Lord wants to see you."