Exploring the God-Sealing Record Again

Night fell like a vast black curtain over the outskirts of Notting City. Stars studded the sky like glittering gems, dreamlike and illusory. The late-summer breeze brushed against the window lattice, bringing a hint of coolness—and stirring the restless heart of a young boy.

Gu Hengzhi lay in bed with his eyes wide as bells, his gaze so blazing it seemed capable of burning a hole through the roof.

Earlier that day, he had awakened his Martial Soul—a battered ancient Stone Statue, not even fully sculpted, its body covered in mysterious engravings. Brother Yuntao had said that his Innate Soul Power was only rank five. Though it could not compare to Tang Buddha's full innate soul power, it was still exceptionally rare among peers whose awakened soul power was zero.

More importantly... he possessed the consciousness of his past life, along with the mysterious tome hidden within his sea of consciousness—the God-Sealing Record. Even though he knew nothing about any of this at the moment, he firmly believed that this transmigration had not been an accident.

"Since Teacher taught me the meditation method... I'll give it a try tonight."

Moonlight drifted quietly into the room like a gauzy veil. Gu Hengzhi sat cross-legged on the bed, steady as a mountain, gradually regulating his breathing and drawing his awareness inward according to the meditation technique Su Yuntao had explained during the day.

Before long, he sensed an extremely faint stream of soul power, light as morning mist, slowly seeping into his body from the air. It flowed through his meridians like a murmuring brook toward his dantian, finally gathering upon his Stone Statue Martial Soul.

Just then—

A faint tremor came from the depths of his sea of consciousness, as though a sleeping beast were awakening. Gu Hengzhi's heart jolted, and with a shift of his mind, his consciousness plunged into his sea of consciousness like a bird in flight.

Within that dark-blue spiritual space, the Stone Statue Martial Soul stood silently at the center like a towering mountain, exuding majestic might. Behind it, the familiar yet ever-silent presence—the God-Sealing Record—was actually beginning to glow faintly, like the brightest star in the night sky.

Golden patterns spread across the tome's surface like rippling water, as though they had come alive. They silently slithered through the air like spiritual snakes toward the Stone Statue. The statue's originally dull surface also revealed streaks of identical golden markings. The two seemed to be engaged in a mysterious "conversation," or perhaps playing a harmonious note of "resonance."

"This... the circulation of soul power during meditation can actually activate it?" Gu Hengzhi's eyes widened, his heart filled with shock and confusion. He stared at the strange sight before him as thoughts surged through his mind like a tide.

He tried to mobilize the faint soul power within his body, carefully sensing the movement of every trace. Whenever the soul power passed through a certain meridian, the golden glow of the God-Sealing Record brightened slightly, as if responding to his investigation. When he stopped meditating, the tome fell silent again. This wondrous phenomenon left him deep in thought.

"Could it be that the soul power I cultivate is charging this God-Sealing Record... like it's absorbing the residual waves of soul power generated by my cultivation?" Gu Hengzhi murmured, as if he had found a glimmer of dawn in the darkness. He recalled that before he had transmigrated here, amid that darkness woven from chaos and bloody light, the book seemed to have emitted a faint glow once as well. At the time, his soul had nearly shattered, and he had had no time to notice. Looking back now, it seemed to have been silently waiting for something all along.

Gu Hengzhi's expression grew increasingly solemn, and anticipation rose within him. If I'm right... after a few more days of accumulation, once it's fully charged, there might be a new change. He quietly pondered, his heart full of expectations for the future.

Over the following days, Gu Hengzhi focused on writing novels during the day and devoted himself entirely to cultivating soul power at night. He longed for the mysterious God-Sealing Record to bring him an unexpected surprise.

Not until the tenth night did things take a turn...

The night was as black as ink, and heaven and earth were silent...

Gu Hengzhi sat cross-legged upon his bed. Moonlight flowed through the window lattice like water, spilling over his sculpted features as though draping him in a layer of silver gauze. His breathing was calm and deep, as though aligned with the rhythm of heaven and earth. Soul power quietly circulated within him, while his aura flickered in and out of existence, as if he were holding a silent conversation with the boundless universe.

In the depths of his sea of consciousness, the ancient tome that had lain dormant for ten days finally stirred with faint ripples.

Boom—

It was not a real sound, but a tremor from ancient times, as though some primordial existence that had slept for ten thousand years had awakened at that moment. That slight shudder of spiritual awareness was like raging waves, stirring violent turbulence throughout his sea of consciousness.

Gu Hengzhi's mind shook. His soul power seemed drawn by an unseen force as it involuntarily surged into his sea of consciousness. He "saw" it—the tome already deeply imprinted upon his heart, floating quietly at the very center of his sea of consciousness like an eternal divine stele. Its body was pitch-black, ancient and solemn. Its corners were damaged and its page edges tattered, yet faint golden threads coiled around it, flowing with a mysterious, primordial radiance through the darkness, as though it contained endless secrets.

Three great seal-script characters lay across its cover:

God—Sealing—Record

Each character was like a towering mountain, containing limitless power and pressing heavily upon his mind, making even his soul tremble.

"This is...?"

Before he could approach, the God-Sealing Record suddenly began to shake violently. Dazzling golden light poured from its cover like a tide, swiftly engulfing his entire sea of consciousness.

In an instant, he seemed to stand within a hazy, illusory ancient hall. Countless divine figures flickered in the void. Some had human bodies and serpent tails, roaring toward the heavens as though recounting ancient myths; some were encircled by immortal cranes, standing upon the wind and radiating an otherworldly air; some had purple qi arriving from the east, holding brushes as they wrote the laws of heaven and earth...

Those figures were difficult to distinguish as real or illusory. Apart from a few whose faces he could vaguely make out, the rest were shrouded in mist, unfathomably mysterious. The divinity they exuded was ancient and primordial, as though it came from the end of time itself, inspiring reverence in all who beheld it.

Above those phantoms, the gods looked down upon him from on high. Their gaze held neither pity nor hostility, only scrutiny and examination—as if deities were watching a mortal body, waiting to see whether the offering upon the altar was sufficiently devout.

Gu Hengzhi's eyes widened as he watched the God-Sealing Record slowly open, an indescribable shock rising in his heart.

The sound of those ancient, tattered pages turning on their own seemed like a summons from distant antiquity. It carried illusory echoes of rumbling thunder and divine chimes, playing beside his ears like a mysterious symphony. With every page it turned, the sound became clearer, as though ancient gods were conveying some message to him.

When the final page came to rest, a deep, majestic voice crashed directly into his heart and soul like thunder. "The God-Sealing Record has awakened. Sculpt gods, use soul power as the guide and faith as the medium. Any whose heart holds devotion may forge a true god to descend into the world."

The voice seemed to come from beyond the nine heavens, yet also seemed like an echo from within his own mind. Solemn and imposing, it allowed no doubt. Gu Hengzhi's heart quaked violently. He stared at the blurred outline of a divine statue faintly emerging upon that tattered page, filled with astonishment and disbelief.

"Sculpt gods?" he murmured. "I'm only a boy who has just awakened soul power. How could I possibly carve gods?" His heart was filled with doubt and fear, as though this were an impossible task.

Yet the voice did not answer him again. The tome merely closed quietly and slowly sank into the deepest part of his sea of consciousness. Its golden glow withdrew, and it fell asleep once more, leaving Gu Hengzhi alone with a turbulent heart.

"God-sealing... inviting gods to descend..." he murmured, his expression complicated—frightened, yet carrying an inexplicable hint of anticipation and excitement. That ancient, profound power, like something from myth and legend, was quietly awakening in the depths of his soul.