Every morning, he rose before sunrise and walked alone to a cliff on the eastern side of the island, where he sat cross-legged facing the sea. It was one of the places on Divine Wind Island where spiritual energy was most abundant, and the best spot to watch the sunrise. At the moment when the world's yang energy first rose and yin gave way to yang, he practiced the basic breathing method from the Star River Sword Canon, drawing the spiritual power within him into resonance with the stellar power of heaven and earth.
This breathing method was entirely different from ordinary cultivation methods. Ordinary methods focused on absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and converting it into one's own spiritual power. The Star River Sword Canon's breathing method, however, used the practitioner as a conduit to draw down stellar power from the heavens above, blending it with the spiritual power within to temper the meridians and dantian.
The process was painfully slow, and agonizing. Stellar power was domineering and icy cold. Every time he drew it into his body, it felt as though countless fine needles were piercing his meridians, the stabbing pain spreading through his limbs and bones to his internal organs. After every breathing session, Chen Ming was drenched in sweat and pale-faced, and needed a long while to recover.
But he did not retreat.
Only those who endured the bitterest hardships could rise above others. He knew well that the reason he had come this far from an obscure unaffiliated cultivator in just a few decades was his unyielding tenacity. He could endure any hardship others could endure, and he could endure those they could not.
He spent his mornings handling the island's administrative affairs. Although most matters had already been delegated to Liu