Heavenly Cycle Star Body

Every hair on Zhen Xu's body stood on end. He sprang up like a venomous snake whose tail had been stepped on, and two daggers steeped in deadly poison instantly slid from his sleeves.

He stared fixedly ahead. In the center of the previously empty secret chamber, a young man in a moon-white robe had appeared at some unknown moment.

"Who are you?! What happened to the guards outside? Why didn't the formation give any warning?!" Zhen Xu's voice held terror he could barely conceal. This secret chamber lay a hundred feet underground. Not only was it heavily guarded outside, but there were also a poison formation and an Alarm Formation he had personally laid down. How could anyone possibly slip inside without a sound?

Qin Chen did not even glance at the poisoned daggers in his hands. His gaze rested only on the Tongtian Diagram as he said indifferently, "The formations outside were too crude. I couldn't be bothered to break them, so I came straight down. As for those guards of yours, they're sleeping soundly. They'll probably never wake up."

"Arrogant fool!" Zhen Xu roared. Knowing there would be no peaceful resolution today, he bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. An extremely cold, sinister surge of xiantian true qi erupted from his entire body, and he became a blur. The poisoned daggers in his hands darted like the flickering tongues of venomous snakes, stabbing straight at Qin Chen's throat.

Faced with this utterly ruthless assassination strike, Qin Chen merely raised one finger slowly.

Clink!

A crisp clash rang out. Zhen Xu's poisoned dagger, sharp enough to cut through gold and jade and capable of corroding even xiantian astral qi, struck Qin Chen's fingertip. Yet it failed to leave so much as a white mark. Instead, a terrifying recoil shattered it into fragments that filled the air.

"This... how is this possible? Your body..." Zhen Xu's pupils contracted sharply, and despair engulfed him in an instant.

"Too weak." Qin Chen flicked his fingertip, and a streak of purple-gold thunder true qi instantly pierced Zhen Xu between the brows. This spymaster, whose very name struck terror throughout Chu State, did not even have time to scream before he toppled stiffly to the ground, his life extinguished.

Qin Chen stepped forward and put the Tongtian Diagram on the table into his Storage Ring. Then his figure once again became a phantom and vanished from the spot.

By the time the first light of dawn fell upon Cloudmist Manor's hot spring, Qin Chen had already returned.

Beside the hot spring, Qin Yu was bare-chested, carrying a Black Iron Heavy Sword weighing several hundred jin on his back as he struggled through squats beneath the pounding waterfall. His muscles trembled, and his sweat mingled with the spray, but the resolve in his eyes had never wavered in the slightest.

"Little Yu, stop for now," came Qin Chen's gentle voice.

Hearing him, Qin Yu immediately set down the heavy sword, wiped the water from his face, and ran over in delighted surprise. "Third Brother! Have you finished your business?"

Qin Chen smiled and nodded, then led Qin Yu to sit at the stone table beside the hot spring.

"Little Yu, I told you before that I would give you a surprise. Now it's time to keep that promise."

As Qin Chen spoke, he turned his wrist, and three dark-gold, diamond-shaped iron plates appeared in a neat row on the stone table.

Each iron plate was densely engraved with thirty-six illustrations of human figures in different poses. Together, the three plates held exactly one hundred and eight illustrations.

"These are..." Qin Yu froze. He could sense an ancient, boundless aura emanating from the three iron plates.

"This is called the Tongtian Diagram." Qin Chen looked at Qin Yu, his expression becoming utterly solemn. "It's an extremely unusual cultivation method. It doesn't require the practitioner to have a dantian or accumulate internal energy. It relies purely on these one hundred and eight extreme movements, combined with a special breathing method, to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to temper the flesh, bones, and meridians directly!"

Qin Yu's body jolted. His eyes instantly widened, and even his breathing grew rapid. "Third Brother... you mean this cultivation method can be practiced without a dantian? And it can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth?!"

"That's right." Qin Chen patted Qin Yu's shoulder, his eyes full of encouragement. "The limit of external cultivation is the houtian peak because a mortal body cannot withstand any more power. But this Tongtian Diagram can break that limit, allowing your body to transform continuously until you ultimately enter the Dao through martial arts and achieve bodily sanctification! These three Tongtian Diagrams are my gift to you."

Qin Yu stared fixedly at the three Tongtian Diagrams on the table, his eyes instantly reddening. He understood their value all too well. For someone like him, a cripple whose dantian had been unable to gather qi since birth, they were nothing short of priceless treasures that could defy heaven and change his fate!

"Third Brother..." Qin Yu choked out. He abruptly stood and pulled Qin Chen into a tight embrace. "Thank you! I won't let you down!"

The instant Qin Yu accepted the three Tongtian Diagrams, the system notification Qin Chen had not heard in so long thundered through his mind.

[Ding! Detected that the host has gifted the key story character 'Qin Yu' the complete set of the supreme treasure, the Tongtian Diagram!]

[System return conditions met. Calculating karmic weight...]

[Ding! Congratulations, host! A tenfold critical return reward has been triggered!]

[Distributing reward... Congratulations, host, on obtaining the supreme Body-Refining Cultivation Method-Heavenly Cycle Star Body!]

Along with the system's voice, an inconceivably vast torrent of information poured into Qin Chen's mind like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

Qin Chen closed his eyes and immersed his mind in the newly acquired cultivation method, towering waves surging within his heart.

The Tongtian Diagram was merely the precursor to Stellar Transformations. Though powerful, Stellar Transformations required the practitioner to simulate the evolution of the universe within his body. The process was filled with unknowns and dangers; the slightest carelessness could cause cultivation deviation and make his body explode, killing him.

But this Heavenly Cycle Star Body was a tenfold refinement and extrapolation built upon Stellar Transformations!

It bypassed those dangerous exploratory stages entirely, aiming to turn every cell in the human body into a miniature star.

There was no need to painstakingly evolve a nebula, meteor, and constant star within the dantian. Instead, it would directly forge the physical body into a perfect inner universe!

What an overbearing cultivation method! What a heaven-defying boon! Qin Chen cried inwardly.

After settling Qin Yu in, Qin Chen returned alone to the secret chamber.

The chamber's stone door crashed down, shutting out every trace of the outside world.

Qin Chen sat cross-legged on the Cold Jade Bed, forcibly suppressed his excitement, and began carefully contemplating the profound principles of the Heavenly Cycle Star Body cultivation method, as vast as a mist-covered sea within his mind.

This cultivation method was truly immense in scope. Ordinary cultivators followed the principle of absorbing spiritual energy and storing it in the dantian, continually expanding its capacity. The Heavenly Cycle Star Body, however, regarded the body's countless millions of cells as a boundless universe, using the flesh to bear the birth and death of stars. The first step in cultivation was to open up chaos within the body and ignite the first speck of micro star-dust.

"Whew..."

Qin Chen let out a long breath of stale air, his gaze becoming utterly resolute.

With a thought, the Storage Ring on his finger immediately began to shine with dazzling light.

Clatter!

Amid a dense series of crisp clattering sounds, medicinal ingredients, pills, and spirit herbs scattered across the floor, instantly forming a small mountain on the secret chamber's spacious floor.

These were all the resources he had accumulated over the past three years.