The sensation of touching the ring was entirely ordinary, and upon closer inspection, the forged materials and craftsmanship were nothing out of the ordinary either. Yet, Yu Ci had a distinct feeling—a sense that the ring was merely an outer shell, and that something seemed to be wrapped up inside it.
Perhaps, pry it open?
Accompanied by this absurd thought, he clenched it tightly in his palm. Of course, he did not exert any force, but the tactile sensation in his palm was solid and real, to the extent that the size and shape of the ring were imprinted in his mind, down to the finest detail.
Then, a wondrous thing happened.
Originating from somewhere unknown, a tiny hammer struck with a crisp bang, truly like cracking open an eggshell. The image of the ring in his mind suddenly shattered, and immediately afterward, Yu Ci's mind was filled with a multitude of things, packed so full that it felt as though an entire room had been crammed inside.
He gave a violent start, and the overwhelming sense of fullness shifted accordingly, moving from his mind to his palm. In that instant, his palm seemed to expand, and what he held no longer felt like a small ring, but rather a room filled to the brim with all sorts of miscellaneous items.
Yu Ci drew in a deep breath, and then understood completely:
Storage Ring!
His real-life experience finally merged with the fragmented memories of the past. Yes, this was the legendary, wondrous portable space possessed by those cultivators, possessing the divine ability to pack Mount Sumeru into a mustard seed. When he was young, he had seen such things on the twin immortals; that was an iconic item almost inextricably linked to a cultivator's identity.
Good stuff... Just as this thought rose up, Yu Ci suddenly froze, because an extremely surreal notion thrust itself in from the side, like a sudden hurricane on a calm sea. The emotions in his heart churned like a raging tide, battering and washing over his chest.
This surge of emotion was at complete odds with the Storage Ring itself. He was still holding the ring, the expansive sense of fulfillment was clearly discernible, and the objects arranged in layers within its inner space were practically bursting to overflow. Yet, these things were completely ignored by him.
At the crest of the surging emotional tide, the last shred of his remaining sanity was roaring:
Are you there? Are you still there?
He did not care about this ring; at least compared to that other thing, he truly did not care. He only wanted to know whether that "little hammer"—the very same "little hammer" that had just come from the void to shatter the outer shell of the Storage Ring—was still there. Where was it?
With a soft ding, the Storage Ring slipped from his palm, struck a protruding rock, and bounced far away.
This was done intentionally by Yu Ci. He did not immediately pick up the ring, but instead stood in place for a long while. During this time, he forced himself to forget those sensations and memories just now, willing his mind to become a blank slate, before stepping forward step by step, bending down, and picking up the ring once more.
Yes, he was going to try again.
His breathing was somewhat labored, and the hand holding the ring was even trembling.
Drawing a deep breath, Yu Ci wanted to exert force; if possible, he would even crush this precious Storage Ring. But there was no need to go to such trouble. With thought preceding action, the moment a thought stirred in his mind, the ring in his palm vibrated gently with an imperceptible amplitude. Then, the solid sensation of expansion transcended the limitations of his physical body, feeding directly back into his mind.
Everything went precisely as desired!
A blissful dizziness spread, and Yu Ci had to use all his strength to hold onto that last sliver of sanity and issue a final command.
Amidst a clattering sound, countless miscellaneous items poured out from his half-open palm. More concrete than the mental fulfillment were the genuine physical objects right before his eyes; the sundries conjured out of thin air piled up into a small mountain, sitting right there in front of Yu Ci.
Things of value and things of no worth, useful things and useless things... No matter what kind of objects they were, they existed with absolute certainty. More importantly, they had been drawn out from that wondrous Storage Ring purely by Yu Ci's own power.
Yu Ci had no need to search for any "little hammer" anymore, because that hammer was himself. That wondrous power originated entirely within his own divine soul, fused with his life; it arose the moment a thought stirred, and vanished the moment the thought ceased, acting just like the instinct of breathing.
He recalled a very long time ago, the single occasion when the Crimson Yin Female Immortal had described the realms of cultivation:
"Differentiate Consciousness, Transform Thought, circulate divine intent, and you achieve spiritual penetration."
Yes, only when the divine soul grew strong and divine intent came to fruition; only when divine intent differentiated and transformed into conscious spirit and spiritual thought, could one open a Storage Ring.
What did that represent?
It represented truly transcending the Three Mortal Gates, truly possessing spell-based divine abilities, and truly stepping into the realm of spiritual penetration.
Yu Ci felt all the blood in his body rush to his face, until his lips grew numb. He struggled to maintain control, keeping that tiny shred of sanity alive in his mind. Then, he stretched out his hand. Without activating the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror, he simply used his own finger to trace out those supremely familiar trajectories in the void, stroke by stroke.
As his fingertip moved, his heartbeat suddenly grew steady. At the same time, the wondrous pulsation of the divine soul appeared once more. Yu Ci felt as though an extra "self" had been added, but along with the self-adjustment of his heartbeat, the two pulsations of his divine soul and his heart were merging and resonating at an astonishing speed, eventually blending into one.
Perhaps spiritual light gathered on his fingertip, or perhaps it did not, but before Yu Ci's eyes and within his heart, a familiar world was unfurling.
Within the primordial chaos and great void, it was empty, vast, and dim. Yet Yu Ci's finger seemed imbued with magic; with every movement, it lit up a star and pulled a bright beam of light from that star. Slow yet hurried, hundreds of stars lit up, becoming brilliant nodes in the picture of the void.
When a talisman was completed, spiritual resonance answered. Right in this drizzly weather, in a certain corner of the wild and desolate mountains and forests, a huge blue electric arc suddenly flared, piercing into the sky to merge with the upper layer of dark clouds, like lightning reversing course—strange and beautiful—followed immediately by rumbling thunder.
A single operating pivotal Five Thunder Talisman drained Yu Ci of all his strength. His knees trembled rebelliously, and he half-stooped, panting heavily. Yet no matter how one looked at it, this panting posture looked just like a frantic, desperate laugh.
Spiritual penetration was an invisible, hard-to-overcome high wall; it was the starting point for a mortal to truly step onto the Great Dao of longevity.
And at this moment, that high wall collapsed right in front of Yu Ci, turning to dust and smoke!
"Ah!"
Amidst a roar, Yu Ci lashed out with a kick. The small mountain of sundries before him collapsed with a booming crash, and the shattered fragments and parts splattered in all directions.
This erupting emotion seemed to come from nowhere, yet it had undeniably been festering deep within Yu Ci's heart.
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