Cloud Seal Secret Patterns Mutate! (Seeking Collection! Seeking Votes!)

Inside the cave.

Iron Ox and Xiangcao continued their dance, which resembled a mysterious ritual.

Watching Iron Ox's sturdy frame struggle through one stiff movement after another, Zhou Hao curled his lips and shook his head slightly.

Xiangcao, on the other hand, performed the movements with a hint of ancient charm, making them appear far more standard.

Soon, the two reached the final posture.

They knelt down, hands held out in front of them as if cradling the Lunar Star in one palm and the Solar Star in the other.

The cave fell into a deep silence; Ren Liang, standing nearby, didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Would they successfully sense the two supreme stars?

Zhou Hao waited as well.

Ever since he realized he was in the world of Desolate Era, the content of the book he had once read finally gave him a clearer understanding of this reality.

This was a vast, magnificent world where Gods and Devils lurked, spanning endless time and space, divided into the Three Realms: Heaven, Earth, and Man.

Heaven was the Heavenly Realm, inhabited by Celestials and Asuras.

The myths and legends passed down from his past life—the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, the Lingxiao Palace, and so on—were all said to be located there.

However, when Zhou Hao read the book in his past life, it was still being serialized, and the plot concerning the Heavenly Realm had yet to appear, so he remained unclear about what it was truly like.

Earth was the Underworld, home to nether ghosts, Yama Kings, and judges. It governed the merits, punishments, and reincarnation of countless deceased souls through the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Ji Ning, the protagonist of the original book, had arrived in this world after death by transmigrating through those very Six Paths.

Zhou Hao also remembered that when Ji Ning was reincarnated, mysterious forces had attacked the Six Paths of Reincarnation; he wondered how that had played out.

Man was the Human Realm, consisting of three thousand Great Worlds and countless small worlds.

Zhou Hao guessed that he and his master were in one of these small worlds, but because the path to immortality had been severed, they had turned to the development of technology instead.

"It's working, it's working."

Ren Liang's hushed exclamation brought Zhou Hao's consciousness back to the present.

Faint, sparkling specks of light were gathering around Xiangcao's body.

These lights were primarily gold and silver. As they converged, they gradually formed two thin threads of starlight that seeped into her body.

As for Iron Ox, he had knelt there cradling the air for a long time without any reaction. Hearing Ren Liang's voice, he simply stood up and gave up.

"I'm done," Iron Ox laughed. "I've been sensing for ages and almost fell asleep without feeling a thing."

"Fair enough, don't force it if you can't get the hang of it." Zhou Hao smiled too.

Better to stop than to have Iron Ox suffer through the practice while everyone else suffered watching him.

Seeing the two threads of starlight merge into Xiangcao, whose complexion now appeared more radiant, Zhou Hao nodded to himself.

"To enter the gate on the first try is good. Once her divine power nourishes her soul further, she will be able to absorb even more of the Lunar and Solar energies. If her progress remains slow, we can always switch to other techniques later."

At this moment, Iron Ox walked over and said to Zhou Hao, "Young Master Zhou, you should practice too. Ren Liang and I will stand guard for you."

"Alright." Zhou Hao didn't want to wait any longer. He stood up, walked to the spot where Iron Ox had been practicing, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

Because Zhou Hao had practiced Taoist internal visualization techniques since he was a child and had already cultivated divine sense within his soul, he entered the state almost instantly.

Over the past three days, he had flipped through the book several times and had long since memorized every word.

Recalling the contents in his mind one last time to ensure nothing was forgotten—

Whoosh!

Zhou Hao moved, and the movements of the first of the nine diagrams flowed from him like water.

"So fluid, as if the Young Master has done this countless times before. There's an indescribable charm to it," Ren Liang whispered in admiration.

Before, watching Iron Ox's movements had felt awkward and painful; watching Zhou Hao now was a pure pleasure.

By then, Xiangcao had finished refining the Lunar and Solar energies she had absorbed into her body. Opening her eyes to see Zhou Hao already practicing, she stood up and moved to the side, watching him silently.

He is so talented; he will definitely succeed.

Swish!

As he completed the final movement, Zhou Hao felt his consciousness enveloped by a mysterious force, guided through layers of world barriers until he entered an endless, vast void.

In the deepest reaches of this infinite void hung two incomparably massive stars.

"The Lunar Star, the Solar Star," Zhou Hao marveled as he 'looked' at them.

These were not the sun and moon of a small world, but the supreme stars whose brilliance shrouded the endless time and space of the Three Realms.

Zhou Hao 'watched' the endless flames raging upon the Solar Star and the towering Osmanthus Tree amidst the icy, infinite moonlight of the Lunar Star, his heart shaken to its core.

"So beautiful!"

Xiangcao, Iron Ox, and Ren Liang stared at the scene before them in astonishment.

Countless specks of starlight were gathering around Zhou Hao's body. The scorching golden light and the icy silver light grew more and more intense, slowly spreading toward the three of them.

"Get out quickly," Xiangcao exclaimed, "these are the essence powers of the Lunar and Solar stars. If we absorb them and cannot refine them, we will explode and die."

Whether it is the power of heaven and earth essence or the essence power of the stars, more is not necessarily better.

One can only eat as much as one's stomach can hold.

Eating too much causes bloating or even death by overeating; absorbing too much star essence power leads to the same result.

This is especially true since these are the powers of the two supreme stars, the Lunar and Solar, which are far more overbearing than those of other stars.

Standing outside the cave, through the countless starlight, the three of them could vaguely see that on Zhou Hao's hands, which were held out in front of him, countless Lunar and Solar powers were converging, eventually forming two miniature stars.

On the silver star floating above his left hand, an Osmanthus Tree was growing on its surface.

Above his right hand, which was held out in a supporting gesture, floated a fiery star, with a Golden Crow faintly circling and dancing around it.

"This, this is?" Ren Liang looked at Zhou Hao, who was holding the stars and surrounded by countless starlight. Although he did not know what this phenomenon meant, it was undoubtedly far more miraculous than the phenomenon Xiangcao had displayed earlier.

He did not know this phenomenon, but Xiangcao and Iron Ox, who had read the detailed contents of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, knew what the scene before them meant.

"The legendary 'Lunar in one hand, Solar in the other'?" Xiangcao murmured, "Even the Osmanthus Tree and the Golden Crow have manifested..."

Even though she had great confidence in Zhou Hao, when the top-tier, legendary phenomenon recorded in the Chiming Nine Heavens Map appeared before her eyes, it still left Xiangcao shocked beyond measure.

"Lunar in one hand, Solar in the other! And there is even an Osmanthus Tree growing and a Golden Crow circling!" Iron Ox exclaimed in wonder, "Brother Zhou is truly no ordinary person."

The Chiming Nine Heavens Map is extremely difficult to cultivate, and even entering the threshold is incredibly hard.

Even for those who can enter the threshold, there are various phenomena.

The first type is 'Starlight Like Silk'.

This is like what Xiangcao experienced earlier, where only two threads of starlight gradually merge into the body. It is the worst of the entry-level phenomena, destined to make cultivation extremely slow.

The second type is 'Starlight Like Clouds'.

This is when a large amount of starlight wraps around the body like clouds and mist. It signifies good aptitude, with the hope of cultivating to the Purple Mansion or even higher realms.

The third type is 'Starlight Like Vortex, Lunar in one hand, Solar in the other'.

When this situation occurs, countless starlight will swirl around the body like a vortex, and the phantom images of the Lunar Star and Solar Star will appear above the left and right hands.

This situation belongs to the top-tier aptitude; it is rare to see someone with this aptitude even once in many years among countless cultivators.

In legend, if the two miniature stars can condense into reality, and even the Osmanthus Tree and the Golden Crow appear, that is the most supreme phenomenon in legend, holding the hope of becoming an immortal or a saint.

"Whoosh~~"

A layer of frost suddenly spread from the inside out on the animal skin clothes Zhou Hao was wearing.

Immediately following this, a "hissing" sound was emitted, as if flames were burning inside his body.

Freezing and burning are the normal phenomena when the body naturally condenses Divine Patterns on its surface after absorbing the Lunar and Solar powers while cultivating the Chiming Nine Heavens Map.

Cultivators with ordinary aptitude, because the Lunar and Solar powers they draw in and absorb are scarce, may take decades to condense Divine Patterns. However, Zhou Hao possesses the most legendary top-tier aptitude, and he began to naturally condense Divine Patterns from his very first cultivation session.

Once the first layer of Divine Patterns is successfully condensed, it means the first layer of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map is complete.

"With the star essence that Brother Zhou is drawing in and gathering, I fear it will take ten days or half a month just to absorb it," Iron Ox said, "Ren Liang, come with me to cover up the traces we left behind earlier. I hope the Black Hand Tribe won't find this place in the next few days."

"Alright." Ren Liang nodded quickly.

With Motai Jie dead, he had no way back, and naturally, he did not want to be caught by the Black Hand Tribe.

Iron Ox and Ren Liang left, and Xiangcao, feeling uneasy, kept watch in the corridor outside the cave.

...Time passed.

Under the cover of the mottled animal skin clothes on Zhou Hao's body, golden and silver brilliance flickered on both sides of his back.

The cold silver light on the left flowed continuously, gradually forming an image of a rabbit.

The scorching golden light on the right also flowed continuously, gradually forming another image of a bird.

These were the two great Divine Patterns: the Lunar Moon Rabbit and the Solar Golden Crow.

Everything was going exceptionally smoothly, but as more Lunar and Solar power was absorbed into Zhou Hao's body, the nine Cloud Seal patterns on his left arm, which had already become faint and nearly invisible, began to grow increasingly intense in color for some unknown reason...