Magical power

As the two spoke, they had already headed straight into Forget-the-World Peak.

On Forget-the-World Peak, there were distinctions between the peak master, Daoist attendants, Daoists, and lay practitioners.

Those like Yuan Tianhe, who had entered the path late in life and sought only to cultivate a wisp of magical power to prolong their lives, were called lay practitioners.

Those brought to Forget-the-World Peak as children who had yet to cultivate magical power were Daoist attendants.

Once they possessed magical power, they could call themselves Daoists.

As for the peak master...

Following Peak Master Tang Yue's death, the new peak master, Ning Qing, who possessed the water spirit Dao body, was still only in the night wandering realm and did not qualify for the title of True Person.

When Yuan Tianhe brought Qin Lian to a courtyard near the mountainside, they saw an old man with white hair and a white beard sitting across from another old man, playing a board game.

Seeing Yuan Tianhe approach, the white-haired, white-bearded elder immediately stood. "I have guests. Let's leave it here today."

"Young Yuan? There's no rush. Only three moves left. It won't take long."

The other elder refused.

"Stop throwing your age around. Young Yuan brought someone to visit this old man. Am I supposed to put on airs?"

The white-haired, white-bearded elder took the initiative to greet them.

As he moved, his robe brushed over the board, scattering the pieces.

The smile on his face grew even warmer once the pieces were in disarray. "Young Yuan, which of our Chunyang's fine young talents is this? Robust blood and qi, abundant true qi, brimming with vitality... excellent, excellent. Divine intent is within reach."

"Supreme Elder, this is Qin Lian, the newly ranked grandmaster we mentioned a month ago."

Yuan Tianhe introduced him.

Clearly, this was Daoist Shan Hui.

"Grandmaster Qin Lian?"

Daoist Shan Hui nodded slightly upon hearing this. "A fine-looking young man indeed. Cloudmist Peak has a worthy successor."

"Greetings, Supreme Elder."

"There's no need for formalities here."

Daoist Shan Hui beckoned Qin Lian over. "Come, come, sit. What brings you here? A storm is brewing, and Sect Master Li is under considerable pressure. If there's anything this old man can still lend his light and warmth to, speak freely."

A storm is brewing?

It seemed Chunyang's upper ranks had indeed recognized the peril of the current situation.

Qin Lian immediately felt reassured and cupped his hands. "I came to discuss and examine the Great Void Visualization Diagram with you, Supreme Elder."

"The Great Void Visualization Diagram?"

Daoist Shan Hui looked at Qin Lian.

That gaze...

It actually gave Qin Lian the feeling that he had been seen through from head to toe.

The next moment, the Supreme Elder readily agreed. "Very well."

Once Qin Lian sat down, Daoist Shan Hui got straight to the point. "Your visualization method should have reached minor accomplishment? What don't you understand?"

Qin Lian proceeded to explain his understanding of the Great Void Visualization Method.

Daoist Shan Hui nodded at first as he listened, but soon afterward, his brow furrowed slightly.

During this time, Yuan Tianhe and the other elder left of their own accord without disturbing them.

After quite a while, Daoist Shan Hui suddenly said, "Hold there."

He looked Qin Lian over anew. "You've... fallen into a barrier of knowledge and perception!"

"A barrier of knowledge and perception?"

"Indeed."

Daoist Shan Hui said frankly, "You have a completely different understanding of the 'Great Void.' That understanding differs from the essence of the Great Void Visualization Method. The two conflict, forming a barrier. Unless you break through it, you will never find it easy to refine divine intent through the Great Void Visualization Diagram."

Qin Lian froze briefly.

"Based on your description of the Great Void..."

Daoist Shan Hui pointed casually.

Vapor rose from the teacup on the stone table and, through a series of transformations, turned directly into a dim, boundless void.

The display immediately made Qin Lian's eyes widen.

"Merely a few trifling tricks with magical power."

Daoist Shan Hui offered the explanation casually.

Magical power...

Watching those transformations, Qin Lian could not help yearning for it.

Magical power was essentially equivalent to thoughts given tangible form.

A wisp of Divine Sense could be refined into a strand of magical power.

Compared with true qi, magical power's versatility and nimbleness surpassed it by far more than a little.

Of course, thoughts were intangible and elusive. Even refined into magical power, they could not match the overwhelming force with which blood, qi, and true qi directly interfered with the material world.

One generally needed to unite with the Dao in truth, study the patterns and laws of the natural world, and master spells before one could guide the prevailing forces, draw upon the power of heaven and earth, and unleash might surpassing blood, qi, and true qi.

Without spells at one's disposal...

A spirit-refining True Person being punched to death by a true qi martial artist was no empty fabrication.

"This is the Great Void as you understand it..."

The vapor in Daoist Shan Hui's hand shifted, gradually...

It actually recreated a hint of "outer space."

Once the scene had been fully recreated, even Daoist Shan Hui looked surprised.

Only after quite a while did he pause. "Perhaps... the scene you've seen is not necessarily without substance."

He thought for a moment. "Our Chunyang Patriarch once went Wandering the Great Void in spirit and spoke of the realm beyond the nine heavens as vast and boundless, stretching for countless tens of millions of li..."

The vapor shifted, gradually forming an entirely new scene.

It looked...

Remarkably similar to the "Great Void" Qin Lian had described.

Only, the Great Void Qin Lian spoke of lay within the endless starry cosmos, while in this newly formed Great Void...

The sun, moon, and stars all seemed close enough to touch.

It felt as though all the suns, moons, and stars were clustered together in "near-planet orbit."

"A hundred years ago, our Chunyang had a Chi Xiao True Person. He possessed a Dao body, yet cultivated both spirit and qi. For his qi refining, he practiced the Great Void Visualization Diagram. He once sent his yin spirit flying out, intending to venture deep into the Great Void. This brought heavenly thunder crashing down, grievously injuring his yin spirit. He entered seclusion and died."

Daoist Shan Hui spoke with some wistfulness. "Before entering his final seclusion, he said the Great Void was not empty, but held rivers of stars filling the heavens. Therefore..."

He looked at the scene of the "Great Void" Qin Lian had described. "There may be nothing wrong with holding to your understanding. You might even perfect the Great Void Visualization Diagram, cultivate high-grade divine intent, and take its power a step further."

"Supreme Elder, are you asking me to abandon the understanding in the Great Void Visualization Diagram?"

"A visualization diagram is only a reference. A thousand people will have a thousand insights and impressions, but your personal understanding and the defining nature of your divine intent come from you alone."

Daoist Shan Hui pondered for a while, then said, "I've practiced the arts for many years, but among Forget-the-World Peak's nine great spell inheritances, I have only attained some proficiency in the Dream-Wedding Technique. If you trust me, take a short nap in this courtyard. Let me give you three autumns in a single dream and let you relive my experience of comprehending the Great Void back then."

The Dream Marriage Technique?

For someone without a Dao body, cultivating even a little magical power was exceedingly difficult.

Daoist Shan Hui was willing to cast a spell for him...

"Thank you, Supreme Elder."

Qin Lian rose and bowed.

"Haha, no need for thanks. Guiding the younger generation and witnessing the indigo drawn from blue surpass the blue itself-that is what I desire."

Daoist Shan Hui laughed and had Qin Lian sit in a reclining chair nearby.

Once Qin Lian focused his mind and fell asleep, he immediately steadied his spirit and activated the Dream Marriage Technique.

For a time, in his daze, Qin Lian seemed to become a spirited grandmaster once more, sitting motionless for three years amid the white snow atop Shouyang Mountain's highest peak, gazing up at the heavens and seeing into the sun and moon.

As winds rose and fell and clouds unfurled and gathered, he realized that a hundred years in the mortal world were but a grain in the vast sea. Born insignificant, one should all the more burn with abandon and attain greatness.

Through this realization, he completed the transformation of his spirit, distilled divine intent, and attained the second grade.

And amid these dream-borne insights, Qin Lian's progress in the Great Void Visualization Diagram climbed steadily...

77, 87, 97, 99...

Until it finally reached major accomplishment.

The instant his Great Void Visualization Diagram reached major accomplishment, his consciousness and thoughts soared directly from the snow-covered summit of Shouyang Mountain into the blue heavens, then passed through the atmosphere and reached the starry cosmos.

At this point, the rounded curve of the planet beneath him slowly unfolded.

At the end of that arc, the edge of a star appeared. As the planet rotated, it gradually emerged, radiating boundless brilliance.

Qin Lian spread his arms, letting the light shine upon his body.

Warm, vast, profound, infinite.

He looked at the land beneath him...

At some point, a strange thought arose in his mind.

Isn't this Blue Star?

Yet he distinctly remembered that he had transmigrated.

To another world.

A world...

Where one could practice martial arts and cultivate the Dao!

At that thought, Qin Lian's form was involuntarily caught by the planet beneath him and plummeted toward it. As he fell...

He also opened his eyes in the reclining chair in the courtyard on Forget-the-World Peak.