The moment this crazy idea appeared in Meng Qi’s mind, it stirred up a storm…
Using the spiritual sea as the cauldron…
Using the spiritual sea as the cauldron?
Using the spiritual sea as the cauldron!
Vaguely feeling that she had touched upon a critical threshold, Meng Qi raised her head to look at the sky, a trace of confusion flashing in her eyes. If the spiritual sea was the cauldron, then what should be used as the array to ignite the fire for refining the inner core?
Meng Qi shook her head, trying to dispel the fog in her mind. She vaguely remembered that someone had once said something similar to her, which had led to such a crazy idea. And these wild thoughts, in this almost isolated place where she could only see the vast earth and sky, seemed to wipe away the dust from the corner of her memory, revealing a dazzling light once more.
Using the spiritual sea as the cauldron…
Meng Qi turned in place, her hands clasped behind her back, looking up and muttering to herself. If the spiritual sea were the cauldron… beneath the spiritual sea were the flesh and meridians. The meridians crisscrossed, almost running through the entire human body.
Then… could the body’s meridians and blood vessels be used as the array?!
“Demons cultivate by absorbing the power of the stars for their own use…” As soon as this thought emerged, a voice, both unfamiliar and familiar, echoed in her mind, belonging to a young man.
“Absorbing the stars, using one’s own body as the array… the array exists within our flesh and blood, in our eyes, ears, mouth, nose, heart, lungs, liver, and gallbladder…”
“As one’s body grows stronger, so does the strength of the array… the stronger the array, the more it nourishes the blood vessels…”
“Human, demon, and devil cultivation, all follow the natural order… without nature, there is no cultivation…”
“…Going against the heavens is also going with the flow…”
“Those who go against the heavens… shall be destroyed by the heavens…”
Like the wind from a mountain valley, the young man’s voice was torn apart, and Meng Qi could not hear the most crucial part. Some fragmented images suddenly flashed in her mind, showing a giant white tiger, a sky full of stars, vast earth, and mountains that seemed to pierce the clouds.
In that instant, she met a pair of deep, profound eyes.
The eyes were bright blue, reflecting the image of the stars.
“Ah—” Meng Qi let out a small cry of surprise. The arrangement of stars in those bright azure eyes formed an array, and it was one array she was extremely familiar with.
The Big Dipper!
The seven brightest stars formed the shape of the Big Dipper, and the direction the Dipper’s handle pointed was not a brighter star, but a small, ancient, and seemingly unremarkable cauldron. The cauldron was dark green, with simple, ancient-looking patterns etched onto it.
Meng Qi was all too familiar with those patterns; just a few strokes conveyed the solemnity of a vast ocean of stars, very similar to the patterns on the silver knife in her hand.
“So that’s it…”
Meng Qi watched the stars slowly revolve around the small cauldron. The stars rose and fell, but the cauldron remained unchanged, solemnly and majestically situated at the center of the stars.
“So that’s it!” She couldn’t help but cry out, “I understand now!”
“What did you understand?” Li Che, who stood beside Meng Qi, watched as her expression shifted continuously. From confusion to deep thought, and now to this moment of sheer joy—he had never seen so many emotions on her face before.
“Thank you for the guidance, Senior,” Meng Qi didn’t answer Li Che’s question but instead bowed deeply to the space before her. Although she didn’t know who had enlightened her from the shadows, she had indeed figured out something that had troubled her for a long time.
Almost without hesitation, Meng Qi knelt beside the still unconscious Yan Xuan. The silver needle once again entered the young man’s spiritual sea. The nether aura raged within the spiritual sea, and though he appeared unconscious, Yan Xuan’s inner body was a scene of terrifying turbulence.
Meng Qi quickly grasped a few spirit stones and started channeling aura into Yan Xuan’s meridians. Where the silver needle passed, it left a faint glow, which quickly connected to form an array. The silver light grew in intensity, intertwining and gradually enveloping Yan Xuan’s spiritual sea. If someone could strip away the flesh and observe Yan Xuan’s spiritual sea at this moment, they would see that the faintly flickering silver light resembled stars, encircling his spiritual sea.
It looked somewhat like the scene Meng Qi had just witnessed, where the stars of the Big Dipper surrounded a small cauldron.
“You… you guys… did you teach her in secret… No, wait!” On a distant cliff, the black-robed sword cultivator’s expression grew stern. “She brought that thing in with her!”
His gaze suddenly shifted to a far-off place, where another intense struggle was unfolding across the mountains. “It was given to her by him! That object still carries his aura!” His eyes turned cold.
“What a bold man…” the white-haired medical cultivator said slowly. “And not only that,” he paused before continuing, “He must have revealed his natal array to her; otherwise, that young girl wouldn’t have thought of this method so quickly.”
“Such an insanity…” the black-robed sword cultivator murmured, though it was unclear whether he was referring to Meng Qi or the person who had so willingly exposed his natal array to her.
“It is indeed insane,” the white-haired medical cultivator smiled faintly, “For a great celestial demon to expose his natal array is almost like placing his life in someone else’s hand.”
He lowered his head and sighed softly, “He must truly love her.”
“What’s so special about that girl?” the black-robed sword cultivator grumbled, “Her looks aren’t extraordinary, and her talent is just average…”
“Just average?” the white-haired medical cultivator rarely interrupted, but now he slowly repeated the words, “Her talent is terrifying.”
“Terrifying?” The black-robed sword cultivator sneered, “She’s only slightly better than average. She…”
“Don’t forget, she is the one chosen by Lin Yan’s notes. That note would only choose the person most suited to it.” The white-haired medical cultivator interrupted him again, “And then there’s the Ji clan.”
As the two argued, the silver points of light surrounding Yan Xuan’s spiritual sea had already merged into a brilliant display. The nether aura that had been churning wildly now seemed to become as docile as a child, while Yan Xuan’s shattered golden core floated to the center of his spiritual sea. Earlier, Meng Qi had used the earth as a cauldron to refine the nether aura, and now she was using Yan Xuan’s spiritual sea as the cauldron to mend his broken golden core.
The spirit stones in her hand had turned into a few dull, gray pebbles, a sign that the aura they contained had been entirely consumed.
Meng Qi looked up at the sky.
“What is she about to do?” This time, even the black-robed sword cultivator grew tense.
“If I’m not mistaken, what she saw was the natal array of the celestial demon white tiger,” the red-robed spell cultivator said slowly, “The white tiger’s natal array is the Big Dipper.”
“Big Dipper…”
“The Big Dipper is the strongest and the most suitable array for cultivation,” the red-robed spell cultivator continued. “A fully matured white tiger could absorb all the star power in an entire region if they wished.”
As she finished speaking, the small space where Meng Qi and the others were seemed to tremble. The heavens and earth resonated with Yan Xuan’s slow breathing, and Meng Qi looked up to see the sky split open with the first fissure.
Her eyes brightened.
On the ground, the motionless Yan Xuan finally opened his eyes.
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