Cultivating Palm Buddha Kingdom, Attempting to Create Space

Bai Yi secretly slipped back into Suotuo City.

Without alerting anyone in the city.

He returned to the courtyard.

At this time, Ning Rongrong's room was still lit, while Ye Lingling's room had already gone dark.

Bai Yi pushed open Ning Rongrong's door and saw her dozing off at the table, clearly slacking off.

Hearing the door open, Ning Rongrong abruptly raised her head. The moment she saw Bai Yi, her eyes instantly lit up.

She quickly walked over to Bai Yi and looked him over from head to toe, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that he was still in one piece.

But she quickly frowned, planted her hands on her hips, and glared at him as she said:

"Bai Yi, where did you run off to? You vanished for days. Lingling and I were worried sick."

Bai Yi's expression did not change as he said, "I ran into a little trouble. It's already been dealt with."

Suspicion appeared on Ning Rongrong's face:

"Trouble? What trouble? Hmph, you're always playing dumb. You never tell us anything."

Bai Yi glanced at her and said directly:

"A Title Douluo from Spirit Hall came looking for me."

Ning Rongrong's face instantly turned several shades paler.

A memory flashed through her mind, and a deep trace of hatred and fear appeared in her eyes.

She was silent for a moment before lowering her voice slightly.

"When I was little, Spirit Hall sent people to hunt me down too. They wanted to use me to threaten my father. If it hadn't been for Grandpa Sword..."

Bai Yi quietly watched her.

Spirit Hall truly kept a close eye on forces across the continent that could threaten it.

After all, their goal was to unify the continent.

Ning Rongrong raised her head and said:

"Bai Yi, why don't you come to our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? Once you're there, my father, Grandpa Sword, and Grandpa Bone will all protect you."

Bai Yi shook his head. "No."

Ning Rongrong grew a little anxious.

"Why not? It's too dangerous for you to be out there alone!"

Bai Yi said calmly:

"With my talent, Spirit Hall won't let me off easily. If I go to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, I'll only bring the flames of war to you."

Ning Rongrong's face turned even paler.

Bai Yi continued:

"With Spirit Hall's strength, if they truly make a move, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect won't be able to stop them. If I go, I'll only make them attack your Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect sooner."

He understood clearly that although Spirit Hall's Soul Hunting Operation would not begin for another eight years or so.

But if he joined them, things would be different. It was very likely to prompt them to launch their extermination campaign ahead of time.

Ning Rongrong fell silent for a while, her voice growing softer.

"But if you're out there alone... isn't that even more dangerous?"

Bai Yi raised his hand and gently stroked the top of her head.

"Don't worry. If I want to run, no one in this world can stop me."

Ning Rongrong looked up at him.

Bai Yi smiled.

"But I won't spend my life running around like a stray dog. Stay here obediently, cultivate quietly, and don't let anyone discover you. Once I cultivate for a while, it won't be long before no one can restrain me anymore."

Ning Rongrong bit her lip and remained silent for a long time before nodding firmly.

"Alright. I believe you."

After saying that, she turned and hurried back into her room. Before closing the door, she looked back at Bai Yi once more.

Her gaze was far more resolute than before.

Bai Yi withdrew his gaze and turned to look toward the shadows at the other end of the corridor.

Ye Lingling emerged from there, draped in a thin outer robe, her long pale-blue hair falling over her shoulders.

She walked up to Bai Yi, a faint worry in her eyes.

But she had heard the entire conversation just now.

Ye Lingling did not ask where he had gone, nor did she ask what he planned to do in the future.

She merely said softly:

"No matter what happens, I'll stay by your side."

Bai Yi looked into her clear eyes and fell silent for a moment.

He reached out and gently pulled her into his arms, breathing in the fragrance of her hair as he said softly, "Don't worry. I'll make sure you and your mother live until you're sick of it."

Ye Lingling's body stiffened slightly before relaxing. Her hands wrapped around Bai Yi's waist as well.

She said nothing, merely leaning against his chest and listening to his heartbeat.

After letting her go, Bai Yi turned and walked out of the room.

He stood in the center of the courtyard, raised both hands, and formed a complex hand seal.

The Illusion Technique from the Seventy-Two Transformations spread outward, an invisible barrier shrouding the entire courtyard.

From the outside, this place looked like an ordinary empty lot. No courtyard or people existed there.

After confirming that the concealment was complete, Bai Yi returned to his room and sat down cross-legged.

He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his palm.

The cultivation of Buddha Kingdom in the Palm began now.

The initial stage of this divine ability was to master the power of space.

Bai Yi opened his eyes, his gaze falling on a chair in front of him.

He activated the power of Buddha Kingdom in the Palm, and an invisible ripple spread from his palm, enveloping the chair.

The chair swayed slightly, then slowly rose off the ground.

Maintaining that sensation, Bai Yi controlled the chair as it moved slowly around the room.

Left, right, up, down.

Guided by his thoughts, the chair traced all kinds of paths through the air.

Bai Yi then tried the table, the bookshelf, and the teacup, discovering that both the weight he could control and the precision of that control depended entirely on the strength of his mental power.

His Fiery Eyes gave him exceptionally precise control over minute details. Even the surface of the water in the teacup remained perfectly still.

Bai Yi returned those items to their original places one by one.

He silently pondered to himself.

This was only the most basic application of Buddha Kingdom in the Palm. He was still far from truly creating space and evolving heaven and earth.

Over the next two weeks, Bai Yi repeated the same exercises every day.

He began by controlling all sorts of objects in the room, from light to heavy, from large to small, constantly challenging the limits of his mental power.

After one week, he could already control more than a dozen objects at once, making them follow entirely different trajectories through the air.

By the end of the second week, his range of control had expanded to a radius of one hundred meters.

He could sense everything within that range and move it as he pleased.

Bai Yi turned his attention to the Golden Cudgel.

The Golden Cudgel lay quietly on the ground.

Bai Yi took a deep breath and extended the power of Buddha Kingdom in the Palm toward it.

The Golden Cudgel slowly floated into the air.

Progress was somewhat difficult.

The Golden Cudgel weighed far more than tables, chairs, and benches. Controlling it required dozens of times more mental power than before.

But he held on.

Under the control of his thoughts, the Golden Cudgel slowly spun once before landing steadily back on the tabletop.

Bai Yi fell into thought.

If he stored the Golden Cudgel within the space of Buddha Kingdom in the Palm, along with the fused soul skill—

Then released them in an instant—

This move would definitely be fast enough, and sneaky enough.

He began trying to store the Golden Cudgel in his palm.

That spatial power enveloped the Golden Cudgel, attempting to draw it into the space of Buddha Kingdom in the Palm.

The Golden Cudgel trembled violently, letting out a deep hum.

Bai Yi focused, pouring all his mental power into it.

The Golden Cudgel suddenly shuddered, then vanished from the tabletop.

Bai Yi spread open his right hand and sensed the newly formed space deep within his palm.

The Golden Cudgel stood quietly at the center of that space, towering between heaven and earth as it radiated golden-red light.

With a thought from Bai Yi, the Golden Cudgel flew out of his palm and landed back in his hand.

He gripped the staff, feeling the speed and fluidity of that instant just now, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.

The next thing he needed to attempt was an even more crucial step.

Creating space.

Bai Yi closed his eyes again and sank all his consciousness into his palm.

He tried to carve out an independent space within that void.

The process proved far more difficult than he had imagined.

He needed to use his spiritual power to force open a crack in the void, then use the power of the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm to continuously expand and reinforce it.

Those powers felt as though they were being forcibly squeezed out of his soul. Every expansion came with intense, piercing pain.

But he did not stop.

Several more weeks passed, and the space in Bai Yi's palm had expanded to a radius of tens of thousands of zhang.

That space was pitch-black. Other than the Golden Cudgel standing at its center, there was nothing else within it.

Bai Yi sensed the space and frowned slightly.

It could indeed store inanimate objects, but if he wanted living things to survive inside, this space was still far from sufficient.

There was no light, no air, no distinction between heaven and earth.

If he wanted to store living creatures inside it—or even house living soul beasts in the future—then this space needed to possess the most basic environmental conditions.

Bai Yi sat in his room and pondered for a long time.

He thought of the legend from his past life, of Pangu creating heaven and earth.

The pure rose to become the heavens, while the turbid sank to become the earth. Only after heaven and earth were separated did all things have room to grow.

Could he do the same within this space?

Bai Yi tried pouring the power of the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm into that void, lifting upward and pressing downward.

He wanted to separate the chaotic energy within.

But under the pressure of his power, that chaotic energy merely churned for a while before returning to its original state.

Bai Yi tried different methods again.

He tried to create light within the space, but failed.

He tried condensing a layer of ground at the bottom of the space. The chaotic energy gathered and took shape under his will, but it could not last long before dispersing again.

His spiritual power was depleted extremely quickly, and every failure required him to regulate his breathing and recover anew.

Bai Yi sat there, looking somewhat weary, but he did not give up.

He continuously adjusted his methods in his mind, trying again and again.

Those experiences of failure gradually accumulated in his mind. He could feel his understanding of the divine ability Buddha Kingdom in the Palm deepening bit by bit.

Although he was still very far from truly evolving a world divided into heaven and earth, he was not in a hurry.

After quite some time had passed, Bai Yi withdrew his spiritual power and let out a long breath.

He finally understood that this simply was not something he could accomplish at his current level.

Pangu's creation of heaven and earth—what kind of immense power had that been?

With his current cultivation as a Soul King, trying to evolve a true heaven and earth within a divine ability he had only recently mastered really was thinking too far ahead.

Bai Yi sat cross-legged and tried approaching the problem from another angle.

He did not need to truly create a heaven and earth. He only needed to give this space conditions suitable for living creatures.

He could completely act as a spatial simulator or a mover, using the divine ability of the Seventy-Two Transformations to simulate those conditions, then directly transport whatever he needed inside from the outside.

Bai Yi rose and walked into the courtyard. With a wave of his hand, a streak of golden light shot from his fingertips and entered the space in his palm.

Light Generation.

Golden light lit up within that pitch-black void. Though faint, it truly dispelled the surrounding darkness.

Bai Yi sensed it and found that the light lasted for roughly a dozen breaths before slowly fading away.

He did not try casting another light spell. Instead, he began considering something else.

He walked to the courtyard wall, bent down, scooped up a handful of soil, and sent it into the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm with a thought.

The soil fell into the dark void and hovered there, neither dropping nor scattering.

Bai Yi tried again. This time, he moved a stone inside.

The stone likewise hovered in place, as though something were supporting it.

He then tried pouring water inside. After flowing in, it gathered into a ball of water and floated in midair.

Bai Yi frowned.

There was no gravity in the space. Everything that entered simply stopped in place without moving.

Dead objects would be fine, but if they were living things, they simply could not survive in a place with no sense of up or down.

He needed to create a stable environment within that space.

Bai Yi took a deep breath and immersed his consciousness in the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm once more.

He first used the Light Generation technique, filling the entire space with continuous light.

Then he cast Wind Borrowing, creating a slowly circulating current of air within the space.

Next, he consecutively cast Fire Sitting, Water Entering, Beast Gathering, and Bird Taming, trying one by one to add different elemental conditions.

There was light, air, and wind.

Though there was no real soil or vegetation, it was at least far better than the utter void from before.

Bai Yi withdrew his consciousness from the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm and sensed the changes within that space.

The light from Light Generation continued to shine, while the airflow created by Wind Borrowing moved slowly.

Although it was crude, like a chicken coop thrown together on a whim, that space was no longer one of pure darkness and emptiness.

Bai Yi rose to his feet and stretched his limbs.

He sorted through his next training goals in his mind. At the very least, he needed to train the environment-creating techniques among the Seventy-Two Transformations until he could maintain them for long periods.

Light Generation had to remain stable, Wind Borrowing had to continue without interruption, Fire Breathing had to regulate temperature, and Mist Spreading had to control humidity.

It looked somewhat presentable. Time to find a half-dead creature and give it a try.

With a thought, Bai Yi activated his martial soul and summoned the soul spirit Titan Giant Ape.

Bai Yi said, "Er Ming, go into my palm and stay there for a while. Tell me immediately if you feel anything."

Er Ming scratched his head and said, "My hand? Brother-in-law, what are you talking about? How could someone as big as me fit into your hand—"

Before it could finish speaking, Bai Yi extended his palm.

An invisible suction force enveloped Er Ming.

Its body rapidly shrank, turning into a small streak of light that Bai Yi drew into his palm.

Inside the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm, Er Ming landed in an empty darkness.

It raised its head and looked around blankly. There was only the lingering glow of golden light around it.