Eight Nine Arcane Art

Zhou Qing suddenly spotted the command banner in the young man's hand. Wasn't that the ritual banner he had used to set up the Heavenly Gods and Demons Array? How had it fallen into that man's hands? Could it be...? Was this man the figure behind the Tianxuan Blood Demon? No wonder! With such a formidable figure backing him, the Tianxuan Blood Demon had brazenly set up the Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Yin Formation, yet no one from the Daoist Sect had come looking for trouble! Damn it, why did someone this powerful have to be coming after him? This was bad. Zhou Qing finally understood the reason.

An incomparably tyrannical divine sense swiftly enveloped everything within a hundred li. Every slightest movement entered Dharma King Xuan Yuan's mind. The spiritual energy formed by the talismans surrounding Zhou Qing was swept by that overpowering divine sense and began to fluctuate violently. The spiritual energy actually started dissipating at a rapid pace.

Realizing this, Zhou Qing was thrown into utter confusion, not knowing what to do. The spiritual energy fluctuated more and more fiercely, and a small portion had already scattered into the void. In only a few more seconds, Zhou Qing's true body would be exposed beneath Dharma King Xuan Yuan's divine-sense scan. That would be even worse than stripping naked for someone else to see—this was practically an X-ray.

At such a critical moment, Zhou Qing took a deep breath. Instead, his mind calmed. His Spiritual Platform became clear and pure, his will tempered and cleansed, his heart an empty expanse. His divine sense hovered between presence and absence. Bang! The spiritual energy around Zhou Qing could no longer withstand the impact of the divine sense and finally scattered in all directions. The divine sense swept past Zhou Qing's hiding place, yet found nothing there, then moved on elsewhere.

It was Zhou Qing's good fortune that, at the moment of danger, his mind had entered a state of emptiness. Coupled with the powerful True Essence of his Second Primordial Spirit, he had temporarily entered the path of Union of Heaven and Man. His body and divine sense became inseparable from heaven and earth; how could Dharma King Xuan Yuan's divine sense possibly discover him?

"Could there truly be nothing?" After searching for half an hour without finding anything, Dharma King Xuan Yuan withdrew his divine sense. The Heavenly Vision and Earthly Hearing Great Art consumed far too much mental energy; even he could barely endure half an hour of it. "Forget it! There will be plenty of time later. The magical artifact I refined is in my hands—how can he escape Old Ancestor's palm? Better go stir up some trouble for Shu Mountain." Shaking his head, Dharma King Xuan Yuan twisted his body and vanished.

At that moment, Zhou Qing was within a wondrous realm. The path of Union of Heaven and Man could be encountered but not sought. One used one's own heart to commune with Heaven's heart. Some cultivators could spend their entire lives unable to enter such a state, while others who had cultivated for only a few days could attain it through a moment of insight. It had absolutely nothing to do with the depth of one's cultivation, the strength of one's True Essence, or the profundity of one's Dao attainment. It was purely an indescribable stroke of fate. No one could clearly explain whether entering the path of Union of Heaven and Man was good or bad. Some comprehended Heaven's heart, their power surging and their Dao advancing by leaps and bounds. Others lost themselves in Heaven's boundless heart, their spiritual bodies assimilated by it until they ceased to exist.

Fortunately, Zhou Qing had experienced something similar when practicing the Summoning Gods Chapter and calling upon the divine power of the Nine Heavens Thunder God. He kept hold of his true heart, undisturbed by external things, and retained his consciousness. Yet Zhou Qing suddenly discovered a grave problem: he had inadvertently entered the path of Union of Heaven and Man, but did not know how to withdraw from it. If too much time passed, his physical body would dissipate. Then all that would remain would be a cluster of consciousness floating through endless void—truly a fate worse than death.

Although Zhou Qing recognized the severity of the problem, he did not dare let his mind wander, lest he lose himself in Heaven's vast heart. Clusters of radiant, multicolored clouds drifted by, immortal aura washing over him. Countless flying celestial maidens flitted through the air. Jade pavilions and jeweled towers stood amid flocks of immortal cranes. It was truly a wondrous scene of the immortals. But Zhou Qing knew that this was all a world of spirit. If he regarded it as real, then it was real; if he regarded it as false, then it was false. Truth and falsehood were no more than a single thought apart. Then the scenery changed again. All around was emptiness—no objects, no currents of air, not even color, nor the flow of time. It was as though he stood within primordial chaos, like a fly frozen in amber, suffocatingly still and despairing, enough to drive one mad.

Zhou Qing remained unmoved, holding fast to his true heart and hoping the chaos enveloping his spiritual body would vanish quickly. Yet that chaos seemed to know Zhou Qing's intentions. It remained stubbornly unchanged, always presenting that suffocating scene. He did not know how long passed—perhaps centuries, perhaps an instant. Zhou Qing was human after all; he had not attained the realm of emotionless transcendence. Though his will was resolute, after remaining in such an environment for so long without knowing how to escape, a profound despair began to ripple through his heart.

The moment his mind lost its guard, that chaos surged forth and wrapped around Zhou Qing's spiritual body. An invisible suction pulled at him, and his spiritual body steadily drained away. Zhou Qing felt himself on the verge of dispersing.

"The heart is the master of the body, the commander of the hundred gods. In stillness, it gives rise to wisdom; in motion, it becomes muddled. Delighting amid illusory realms, one alone calls them real; feasting gladly within the realm of action, who realizes its emptiness and falsity? When the mind's awareness is overturned into madness, it is because of the place upon which it rests!"

With life and death hanging by a thread, a flash of understanding suddenly struck Zhou Qing's heart. Wasn't this an incantation from that strange technique? Like a drowning man clutching at a lifesaving straw, Zhou Qing plunged into the incantations of that strange cultivation art without regard for anything else. Countless bizarre symbols and twisted, tadpole-like characters imprinted themselves deeply upon his spiritual body. Once the despairing negative emotions vanished, the chaos slowly retreated and dissipated. At last, it vanished without a trace. Before him stretched a vast starry sky. Countless meteors streaked through the void with dazzling brilliance. Enormous black holes constantly devoured matter and light. Smaller planets crashed into larger celestial bodies, shattered into pieces, and fell upon them, becoming part of those bodies. Then the larger bodies themselves were swallowed by black holes, leaving behind only emptiness. Everything revealed the universe's fundamental law: the weak were meat for the strong.

"Heaven and earth have eight extremities, and living beings have nine apertures. Reach the eight extremities and open the nine apertures, and one may endure between heaven and earth. This is the Eight Nine Arcane Art!" When the final character branded itself deeply upon Zhou Qing's spiritual body, he completely understood the cultivation method of the Eight Nine Arcane Art. Waking up, Zhou Qing discovered that he was lying prone at the roots of a great tree.

"Ha ha! My luck is truly not bad. Not only did I not die, I even comprehended the key to a divine art. Could it be that I am a lucky star descended to earth? Possessed by a true god?" Having retrieved his spiritual body from Heaven's boundless heart and returned alive, Zhou Qing was naturally overjoyed.

"Heh heh! Old Ancestor knew you were here! You brat are quite cunning! Too bad Old Ancestor won't fall for your tricks!" A sinister voice entered Zhou Qing's ears, nearly frightening him out of his skin. Who else could the terrifying young man standing not far before him be?

Zhou Qing secretly blamed himself for being too careless. He fully circulated his Second Primordial Spirit, while the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber within his body stirred restlessly. If things went wrong, he would slash at him. It was not that Zhou Qing did not want to strike first, but the other party's cultivation realm was simply unfathomable. Zhou Qing had no confidence that he could kill him in a single blow. He could only hold his position and watch for changes.

At midnight tonight, I hope everyone will come vote!!!!!!!!!!! I really don't want to drop in the rankings, hehe.