Inside Thunder Mountain Residence, Stellar Transformations

The teleportation array's seven-colored spiritual light enveloped two people and a beast. Around them, the light and shadows of distorted time and space blurred past, while the howling sound of something tearing through the air rang in their ears. Qin Yu felt as light as a feather, yet a gentle force held him securely in place. Yun Ce stood beside him with his hands behind his back, his expression calm. Xiao Hei folded his wings and pressed close to Yun Ce, his sharp eyes full of wariness, with a hint of curiosity hidden within.

After only a few breaths, the spiritual light abruptly vanished, and the solid ground beneath their feet came into focus. Qin Yu instinctively opened his eyes, then froze, stunned by the sight before him.

This was not the Chaos Stone Wasteland in the Great Wilderness, but a tranquil lakeside. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth deep within the Boundless Wilderness was so dense here that it seemed almost ready to condense into mist. One breath was enough to set the spiritual energy within his body slowly circulating, filling him with an indescribable sense of ease. A massive mountain-like building stood beside the lake. It had not been built from ordinary bricks and stones; its entire surface gleamed with a faint metallic sheen. Though it had only two stories and stood no more than eight or nine meters tall, it covered an enormous area, stretching well over a hundred meters in both length and width. It was imposing, with an unusual style unlike anything Qin Yu had ever seen. It lacked the carved beams and painted rafters of buildings on the Hidden Dragon Continent, yet its clean, orderly lines carried a curious sense of precision.

Yun Ce looked around, then fixed his gaze on the building and smiled knowingly. He knew this was the Thunder Mountain Residence left behind by Lei Wei. (Of course, Qin Yu had given it that name.) It was exactly as described in the original story: a product of combining technology with cultivation.

"Master, is this place..." Qin Yu came back to himself, his voice still full of undisguised astonishment as he turned to Yun Ce.

"That's right." Yun Ce nodded slowly, his tone calm but certain. "This is the cave abode left behind by Senior Lei Wei—the Thunder Mountain Residence. It is also where the opportunity meant for you lies."

Xiao Hei seemed to sense that the surroundings were safe. He fluttered his wings and let out a low cry, curiously studying the strange building, his sharp eyes full of scrutiny.

The two people and one beast walked slowly into the building. As soon as they stepped through the entrance, a cool sensation washed over them, entirely different from the dense spiritual energy outside. The air here was gentler, with a faint metallic quality. The rooms inside were arranged in an orderly fashion, and every one of them looked lavish. They were filled with objects Qin Yu had never seen before. Various glowing fixtures were embedded in the walls, casting soft light that made the whole building shimmer. The colors and styles of those lights were utterly unlike anything on the Hidden Dragon Continent—strange and fascinating.

Beyond the corridor lay a spacious hall. Its floor was pure silver, smooth as a mirror, reflecting the lights overhead. It was as if they were walking across a silver void. Just as Qin Yu was curiously looking around, a clear childlike voice suddenly rang out in the hall, accompanied by a soft meow: "Welcome, Master! Welcome, everyone! I'm Xiao Xing, the housekeeper of this residence. Meow~"

Qin Yu was startled and instinctively clenched his fists. Xiao Hei immediately tensed as well, spreading his wings slightly in a guarded stance. Yun Ce alone remained calm, thinking to himself, Here it comes, just as expected. This is Xiao Xing, the intelligent housekeeper of the Thunder Mountain Residence.

The childlike voice remained bright and continued excitedly, "Xiao Xing is the housekeeper of this residence, an artificial intelligence. The first owner of this villa was Master Lei Wei. I traveled through the universe with Master Lei Wei~"

At that, the wariness in Qin Yu's eyes gradually faded, replaced by curiosity. He asked softly, "The universe? Artificial intelligence? What are those?"

Xiao Xing's voice carried a note of patience as it explained, "It's all right if you don't know, Master~ Our original universe was a technological universe, where technology was highly advanced. Master Lei Wei refined this villa using a special method, and it can even be stored in a spatial ring and carried around~ Once, Master went on an adventure and entered a black hole. After coming out, he arrived in another universe, and then found the planet you live on~"

Yun Ce stood to one side, listening quietly as the details matched the original story one by one. Everything was exactly as he knew it.

Xiao Xing's voice remained excited. "This planet is entirely devoted to cultivation! There were cultivators in our original universe too, but in a universe dominated by technology, there were very, very few of them. Yet this planet has cultivators by the thousands. It's amazing~"

"Master spent some time on this planet. Later, when he was about to undergo his Heavenly Tribulation, he worried he might fail, so he left me here in the Great Wilderness ahead of time to wait for a second master~" The childlike voice turned a little aggrieved, then quickly grew cheerful again. "And sure enough, after all these years, a teleportation array finally activated and brought you here, Master~ Meow~"

By now, Qin Yu had begun to understand. His arrival here had all been arranged by Senior Lei Wei. He had triggered the teleportation array because, under his master's guidance, he had cultivated the Three Heaven-Reaching Charts to perfection and formed that suit of multicolored armor made up of 108 pillars of energy.

"It's all right if you don't know what technology is, Master," Xiao Xing's voice chimed in at the right moment. "Old Master Lei Wei prepared a book for you. It's written in the language of the Hidden Dragon Continent. Take your time reading it, and you'll understand everything. Just tell me when you need me to turn the page~"

As soon as the voice fell silent, a virtual book floated into the air before Qin Yu, Yun Ce, and Xiao Hei. Its pages glowed with a faint white light. There were no words on the cover, yet it carried an antique air. Qin Yu reached out and touched it gently. A cool sensation brushed his fingertips, as if he were touching real paper. He slowly opened the first page, which clearly described all kinds of knowledge about the technological universe, interstellar travel, and artificial intelligence. The explanations were easy to understand, and the more Qin Yu read, the more engrossed he became. Gradually, he learned about Senior Lei Wei's origins.

A moment later, Qin Yu closed the virtual book, having pieced together what had happened. Senior Lei Wei was a powerful man from another universe who had arrived in the Hidden Dragon Continent by chance. Worried he might fail his tribulation, he had left behind the Thunder Mountain Residence and its intelligent housekeeper, Xiao Xing, to await someone who could cultivate the Three Heaven-Reaching Charts to perfection. Qin Yu was the one who had been chosen.

Just then, Xiao Xing's voice rang out again, playful and light. "Meow~ Master, the first master left behind a recording. There are some things he wanted to tell you. Would you like to see it?"

Qin Yu was startled and instinctively turned to Yun Ce, his eyes full of questions. He was curious, but he knew this was no trivial matter and found himself wanting to ask his master's opinion.

Yun Ce nodded with a smile and said softly, "It wouldn't hurt to watch. Senior Lei Wei was a visitor from beyond this world, with unfathomable strength. At the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, he could slay experts at the Great Ascension Stage, multiple Loose Immortals, and dozens of experts at the Tribulation Transcendence and Emptiness Realm stages. Though he ultimately died after failing the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, his life was still a legend. His words might give you a great deal of insight."

Qin Yu felt reassured. He spoke softly toward the empty air. "I want to see it."

"Coming right up~" Xiao Xing's voice brimmed with delight. As soon as it finished speaking, the clear childlike voice vanished. At the same time, the wall on one side of the martial arts hall lit up, and brilliant images appeared—scenes of the stars and universe. Stars slowly wheeled across the wall; nebulae swirled, and star systems rose and fell. For a moment, Qin Yu, Yun Ce, and Xiao Hei seemed to be standing in the vast universe. The silver floor beneath their feet had become a vision of empty space, with not a trace of support beneath them, as if one step would carry them into a sea of stars.

Qin Yu was intensely curious. He stared fixedly at the images on the wall, his breathing growing soft. Yun Ce raised his brows slightly and looked at the display. Though he already knew Lei Wei's story, he could not help being captivated by the sight of the universe and its stars now that he was seeing it with his own eyes. Xiao Hei's sharp eyes widened in astonishment. From time to time, he let out a low cry, as if marveling at the wonders of the world.

Suddenly, a tall figure appeared out of thin air in the void before the two people and one beast. With his back to them and his hands clasped behind him, he gazed at the countless stars and let out a soft sigh before slowly turning around.

He was a handsome, middle-aged man, with a trace of carefree arrogance between his brows. Though there was no spiritual energy emanating from him, he carried an air of authority above all things. It was Lei Wei. He looked gently at Qin Yu and began to speak, his voice coming through the recording with the weight of years. "Hello. If you're seeing this recording, it means I, Lei Wei, really did fail my tribulation."

"I was a prince of an empire in the Milky Way Galaxy, but I had no interest in imperial power. I only loved interstellar adventures and cultivation." Lei Wei gazed into the distance as if recalling the past. "Where we came from, cultivators existed on only one planet: Earth. I didn't learn that until I had reached a certain level of cultivation."

"I kept cultivating, and later I obtained a secret manual, the Three Heaven-Reaching Charts. It contained only three pages, with thirty-six illustrations on each page. To cultivate the Three Heaven-Reaching Charts, one's body had to reach the Xiantian realm. I tried everything I could and trained diligently, enduring all kinds of hardships. At last, I succeeded." A look of reminiscence appeared on Lei Wei's face. "I gave up my position as a prince, piloted my spaceship, and ventured among the stars while continuing to cultivate the Three Heaven-Reaching Charts. Then, one day, the Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation descended, and I was lucky enough to survive it. But... I had no cultivation method to continue with."

"While adventuring and wandering through the universe, I heard talk of Golden Cores and Nascent Souls, but I never obtained a single cultivation method. They were simply too precious." A trace of helplessness entered Lei Wei's voice, then gave way to pride. "With no cultivation method at my disposal, I chose to forge my own path. I knew that cultivation meant pursuing the Heavenly Dao... But what was the Heavenly Dao? Was it nothing more than forming a Golden Core and cultivating a Nascent Soul?"

At this point, Lei Wei's face took on an air of firm confidence. "No, I didn't think so. I believed the Heavenly Dao was the most primordial, natural thing, not something imposed by people. I observed the natural evolution of the stars and universe, and gradually came to understand something. Following those insights, I began creating a new cultivation method. It was derived from the evolution of the stars and universe, so I named it Stellar Transformations."

Lei Wei continued, "After that, I went through a series of battles and adventures, and finally discovered the gathering place of cultivators throughout the universe: Earth. I spent a hundred years on Earth and obtained several cultivation methods, but... in my view, none of them came close to the Stellar Transformations I had created."

"I left Earth and continued adventuring through the universe. Then, one day, I was sucked into a black hole. Its power was simply too great for anyone to resist. When I awoke, I had arrived in a new space and discovered the nearest planet—which was this planet of yours." A look of wonder crossed Lei Wei's face. "This planet is enormous, unbelievably so. It's at least ten thousand times larger than Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. Once I entered it, I discovered that cultivators here were even more numerous than I could have imagined. They were counted in the tens of thousands."

With that, Lei Wei smiled wistfully and looked at Qin Yu again, his voice gentle. "Young man, my study contains some cultivation methods I collected, some from Earth and some from this world. If you don't want to cultivate the Stellar Transformations, you can practice one of those instead."

"But the Stellar Transformations is an incomplete cultivation method, following a path no one has ever taken before." Lei Wei's voice grew solemn. "I wandered the universe for thousands of years before creating the first six stages: Nebula, Meteor, Star Core, Planet, Tribulation Transcendence, and Constant Star. Even the Constant Star Stage is only something I imagined. I have no idea what comes after it. If you practice my method, even if you successfully transcend your tribulation and reach the Constant Star Stage before ascending to the Immortal Realm, you'll have no further method to cultivate."

Qin Yu's heart sank at these words, and he instinctively looked toward Yun Ce. He knew what an incomplete cultivation method meant. If he reached its limits with no subsequent method to follow, he would have to endure the torment of being unable to make any further progress. Yet he could also sense the profound mysteries contained within the Stellar Transformations—a great way that seemed to accord with the natural world.

Sensing Qin Yu's gaze, Yun Ce nodded slowly, his eyes full of encouragement and confidence. He already knew the flaws in the Stellar Transformations, and had long since worked out how he could help Qin Yu address them and complete the method.

Looking at Qin Yu's expression, Lei Wei gave a faint smile. "The Stellar Transformations, huh? Whether cultivating this method will be a blessing or a calamity is hard to say. Well, young man, the choice is yours. If you decide not to cultivate it, then if you get the chance someday, help me find a successor. Unfortunately, to cultivate the Stellar Transformations, one must first reach the peak of the Xiantian realm through External Martial Arts. In other words, one must cultivate the Three Heaven-Reaching Charts to perfection. Finding someone like that won't be easy. But... that's something you'll have to think about in the future."

As his words faded, Lei Wei's face took on a deep, wistful look. He sighed softly. "The Milky Way... Dream Planet..."

Along with that sigh, Lei Wei's figure gradually grew transparent, then vanished completely among the countless stars. The cosmic images on the wall slowly faded, and the martial arts hall returned to normal. The silver floor beneath their feet became solid once more.

Silence fell over the hall for a moment. Qin Yu remained where he was, Lei Wei's words echoing in his mind as his heart churned with conflicting feelings. Xiao Hei had also lost the astonishment in his eyes and stood quietly beside Yun Ce, as if he too could feel the weight of the moment.

"Master, I..." Qin Yu turned to Yun Ce, hesitation in his voice.

Yun Ce patted him on the shoulder and spoke gently. "There's no need to hesitate. Follow your heart. Though the Stellar Transformations has flaws, it is a unique path of its own. As long as I'm here, I can help you make up for its shortcomings and complete the method. Trust me."

At these words, Qin Yu's hesitation vanished, and a look of determination rekindled in his eyes. He knew he had already been drawn to the great way embodied by the Stellar Transformations. Besides, his master had told him long ago that cultivating the Stellar Transformations would bring him many benefits in the future. And more than that, he had great faith in his master. He believed Yun Ce could help him address the method's flaws.

With Xiao Xing guiding them, Qin Yu, Yun Ce, and Xiao Hei then made their way to the study on the second floor of the Thunder Mountain Residence. It was enormous, with rows of bookshelves filled with all kinds of books: common cultivation methods from the Hidden Dragon Continent, cultivation manuals from Earth, and many books about astronomy, geography, and interstellar knowledge. The sheer variety left Qin Yu dazzled.

On the top shelf of the most prominent bookcase sat an ancient-looking book. The three words "Stellar Transformations" were written across its cover in powerful strokes, and it radiated a faint spiritual glow. It was the cultivation method Lei Wei had created.

Qin Yu hurried over and carefully took down the Stellar Transformations. He opened to the first page, where Lei Wei's notes were clearly written: "Are Golden Cores and Nascent Souls truly the right path of cultivation? The so-called pursuit of the Heavenly Dao—what is the Heavenly Dao? By observing the evolution of the universe, I created this method, which is also a path of cultivation. This method has six stages. Let us begin with the first: the Nebula Chapter."

"When ordinary cultivators successfully transcend their tribulations, their innate true energy in the dantian becomes liquid. It must be gathered into a sphere like a ball of water, then refined into a Golden Core. But must it be done this way? Must it be gathered?"

"The first step of my Stellar Transformations is dispersal—turning the innate true energy back into gas and scattering it. It must spread not only throughout the dantian but even beyond the body. With the dantian as its center and the body as its bridge, it links the universe with the heart, allowing them to evolve together according to the natural order of the Heavenly Dao..."

The more Qin Yu read, the more engrossed he became, as if he had been drawn into an entirely new world of cultivation. The spiritual energy around him began circulating of its own accord, and he became completely immersed in the profound mysteries of the Stellar Transformations.

Standing nearby, Yun Ce watched Qin Yu's absorbed expression and smiled with satisfaction. He knew Qin Yu would ultimately choose to cultivate the Stellar Transformations. It was not only Lei Wei's legacy, but also the path Qin Yu had to follow to reach a higher realm.

After that, Yun Ce casually took a book from the shelf and began to read. It was a book about general knowledge of the Earth Cultivation World. Its contents differed completely from the cultivation system of the Hidden Dragon Continent, yet had their own unique logic. As he read, he considered how to draw on his knowledge of the original story to help Qin Yu address the Stellar Transformations' flaws and set him more quickly on the Starry Path. Still, he knew there was no need to rush. He could only help Qin Yu complete the Stellar Transformations after Qin Yu reached the Constant Star Stage. It was far too early to think about that now.

Xiao Hei paced back and forth through the study, occasionally rubbing his head against the books on the shelves. His sharp eyes were full of curiosity, and every now and then he let out a soft cry, adding a touch of liveliness to the quiet room.

The light was soft in the second-floor study of the Thunder Mountain Residence, and the air was filled with the scent of books. The two people and one beast each immersed themselves in their own world.