Formless Opens the Aperture

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside the spiritual cavern beneath the lake, fierce winds gusted in waves, whipping shattered stones and dust into the air. From midair came the roar of rolling tides, while the spiritual power of heaven and earth surged and howled like rushing rivers!

Xu Yan's black robes snapped in the wind. His brows were tightly furrowed, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

From time to time, the spiritual aperture within his body boomed as though divine beings were beating war drums, exploding inside him like thunder cast upon the earth. The sheer force of it was terrifying.

Formless was all forms; it encompassed everything beneath heaven and earth. Be it innate astral qi or the yin and yang, the five elements—it rejected nothing that came.

Within this Ancient Yang spiritual vein lay the purest, most consummate rigid yang qi of heaven and earth. Nothing could have suited Xu Yan better.

His bones and physique were unusual. Since childhood, he had been weak and sickly, with yin flourishing and yang declining. That was also why, for ten years without fail, he had practiced the body-tempering arts within the Ancient Solar Record.

Before long, wisps of mist like moonlight quietly rose from Xu Yan's body.

The moonlit mist grew thicker and thicker until it spread through the entire spiritual cavern. Like mountain forests at dawn during the spring equinox, the vast moonlight mist gradually condensed into spiritual pearls like diamonds, hanging from the cavern ceiling and settling within the earth veins, crystal-clear and radiant.

Just then, a bright moon shone forth from within his body.

It was the Formless Crown Aperture.

Beautiful beyond compare, it resembled the full moon of the fifteenth day of the eighth month, casting gentle, limpid radiance over the world. Yet there was one flaw: within that silver-jade disc of a Crown Aperture seemed to be a dim patch not yet fully cleansed, where murky qi coiled thickly.

Xu Yan panted lightly. After ten consecutive days of spiritual power battering the aperture, he was utterly exhausted.

But he was only a hair's breadth away from fully opening it. How could he stop here? He had to strike while the iron was hot!

The lines of Dao script he had deciphered from the Myriad-Character Stele surfaced in his mind. Xu Yan tried silently reciting a few lines, and in an instant, the spiritual power around him came rolling in.

Xu Yan hurriedly guided the spiritual power of heaven and earth, launching one final assault upon his Crown Aperture.

Two days later, moonlit fog rippled through the spiritual cavern.

That patch of darkness finally vanished from within the Crown Aperture. In that instant, vast spiritual radiance howled out from the Crown point atop his head!

The manifested Crown Aperture buzzed loudly as mist and spiritual qi from all directions rapidly drew inward, like seawater receding at low tide.

Within it, a formless face suddenly appeared in the silver mirror—a Xu Yan without eyes, nose, or mouth. It was utterly horrifying.

Xu Yan suddenly opened his eyes. They were like stars, cold and clear.

The formless face within the Crown Aperture vanished at once, like flowers in a mirror and the moon in water.

At the instant his aperture opened, Xu Yan seemed to hear the sounds of all creation.

The flutter of birds' wings above the earth veins. The wriggling of earthworms beneath the soil. Even the hushed exchanges of the scholars discussing the Dao within Pursuing Sun Academy all entered his ears.

Xu Yan's gaze darkened, and he immediately steadied his mind.

Only after quite some time did he let out a long breath of turbid air and wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

"A Formless One opening an aperture—this is likely the first time since Great Yin was founded."

He slowly rose from the meditation cushion, spiritual power like moonlight winding around his body, formless and shapeless.

It was somewhat like the spiritual power of the lowest-grade spiritual aperture, the Mist Aperture, but Xu Yan's spiritual power was clearly far more profound.

He only felt his spiritual platform become clear and luminous, his steps light. After opening his aperture, it was as though he had shed his mortal bones.

He curled his fingers and gave a gentle sweep. Cool spiritual qi rippled faintly.

"No wonder everyone in the world seeks the Dao. Such great power is enough to overturn heaven and earth." Xu Yan focused his mind and pondered.

Even the most peerless great Confucian scholar, no matter how many principles he expounded, would likely fail to convince the masses if he possessed not the slightest cultivation.

Master Xun and Master Yuan had achieved much in the literary Dao, yet their cultivation still placed them among the worldly mortals of this age.

As he thought, Xu Yan fixed his gaze on the Literary Gold Shuttle atop the table. Something occurred to him. With a curl of his fingers, cool spiritual qi quietly emerged and entered the Literary Gold Shuttle. The gilded Script upon its body immediately lit up, and it began trembling faintly as it rolled across the tabletop.

"So heavy—it's like lifting a small mountain!"

A look of astonishment appeared on Xu Yan's face.

He concentrated completely. His Crown Aperture trembled and hummed without pause as vast spiritual power flowed from his fingertips, doing its utmost to control the Literary Gold Shuttle.

After half an incense stick's worth of effort, he finally managed to lift it into the air!

The Literary Gold Shuttle was incomparably sharp. Its chilling aura made Xu Yan's flesh-and-blood hand ache. Catching sight of a huge boulder not far away from the corner of his eye, Xu Yan's thoughts stirred, and he suddenly flicked his finger.

Whoosh!

Metal astral qi tore through the air with a buzzing hum.

With a clang, the huge boulder was instantly pierced through. The opening was exceptionally neat, without a single chip of stone left behind!

"What a sharp magical artifact. It must be at least upper grade."

Magical artifacts throughout the world were divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Above them were innate spiritual treasures left behind from ancient times. As for even more powerful magical artifacts, they were likely natal artifacts refined by those supreme experts who had reached the pinnacle of the human path.

Over the years, Xu Yan had learned quite a bit about all sorts of miscellaneous Dao texts and classics.

As a child, he had been deeply interested in them. But after Xu Yan came into contact with Primordial Script and then deduced his own bones and physique, learning that he might be a Formless One, those strange tales of flying swords seeking the Dao and cleaving great demons in half had all become dull.

Walking forward and picking up the Literary Gold Shuttle, Xu Yan pondered for a moment. Since I can study literature and read, I wonder if I can practice martial divine abilities as well...

With that thought, Xu Yan sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion with great interest.

He held the Literary Gold Shuttle in his left hand and gripped the Human-Snake Ancient Jade hanging around his neck with his right, his eyes lightly closed.

Before long, his mind sank beneath that boundless, vast starry sky.

Meteors streaked through the heavenly cosmos. The river of time was like the Milky Way hanging deep within the universe, flowing with extreme slowness, mysterious and unfathomable.

Xu Yan glanced at his left hand. The Literary Gold Shuttle had yet to fully manifest; it flickered in and out of sight.

Perhaps I am not focused enough.

Xu Yan took a deep breath and sensed the shape of the Literary Gold Shuttle. Only after half an incense stick's time did the Literary Gold Shuttle in his left hand fully take form!

Its Script patterns and even its weight were exactly the same.

Delight surged in Xu Yan's heart. "It actually works. If so, practicing divine abilities within this ancient jade would be more than twice as effective with half the effort!"

He immediately began trying it out, using spiritual qi to control the Literary Gold Shuttle and familiarize himself with its methods of operation.

Xu Yan was exceptionally patient. Ever since obtaining the Human-Snake Ancient Jade in Taihao Temple, he often came here to read and study. Each time he entered, he would remain for days. After all, one felt neither fatigue nor hunger here.

Such a wondrous treasure—even the great Dao artifacts of ancient times might be no more than this.

Xu Yan thought in amazement. This object was his family's greatest secret and absolutely could not be revealed to others. Otherwise, it would surely stir up storms of blood and rain; even Xu Fei would not be able to protect him.

Again and again, he controlled the Literary Gold Shuttle without growing weary, making it fly and stab back and forth beneath the vast starry sky, circling his body as it darted about.

Trying out divine abilities for the first time, Xu Yan was utterly absorbed. He remained there for a full seven days before finally withdrawing.

Less than half an hour had passed outside.

The flow of time within this ancient jade was terrifying. A year inside was only a day outside.

Biting his finger, Xu Yan let a drop of essence blood fall into the Literary Gold Shuttle.

Then he controlled his spiritual power and suspended the flying shuttle in midair. He stepped onto it with one foot, using spiritual power to balance his Dao body. He had already tried this method many times within the ancient jade's space; practice made perfect.

With a thought, there came a whoosh, and Xu Yan rode the flying shuttle through the air, fleeing outward at tremendous speed.