Changes to the Ability and Journal Publication!

"My power can travel along the voice line. Can other things pass through as well?" Huang Tian concentrated in thought for a brief moment. With a wave of his hand, a small swirl of dust flew into his palm. With a shift of his will, he tried to send the dust through the voice line, yet the dust remained suspended motionless above his palm. "It won't go through..." After a moment's consideration, he brushed the dust away, replaced it with a small pebble, and tried again. "Still nothing." He then tried several other items, but none worked. "It seems I can't transmit physical objects across for now." Huang Tian felt a slight touch of regret. He had hoped to develop the ability to teleport items across space. Unfortunately, it was impossible—at least for now. Perhaps when his ability evolved again in the future, he might gain such a power. While Huang Tian was busy testing item transmission, back in the tea room, Daoist Shanjing finished two cups of hot tea, rose to his feet, and walked back toward his quarters. "Power can pass through, but objects cannot. What about sound?" Watching Daoist Shanjing walking along the path through the voice line, Huang Tian pondered for a moment. "I'll test it on him. Afterward, I'll veil his memories and leave him some compensation." With that thought, he coughed softly. "Huh? Who's there?!" Daoist Shanjing's heart seized in fright. An electric jolt seemed to race from the base of his spine straight to his scalp, bursting open all at once! He quickly looked around, but saw no one ahead or behind. The trees bordering both sides of the path cast hazy, swaying silhouettes under the dim moonlight, radiating a chilly gloom. "Is... is someone there?" Summoning his courage, he forced himself to speak calmly. Yet no one answered. Only faint wisps of night breeze stirred the leaves, making them rustle softly. Uncertain and terrified, Daoist Shanjing suddenly recalled the inexplicable breeze that had drifted into the tea room earlier, and the chill in his heart deepened. *Could there really be dirty spirits in this world?! Or did I just hallucinate that sound?* He sucked in a sharp breath of cold air and muttered under his breath, "Ancestral Masters protect me, Ancestral Masters protect me... All evils keep away, all evils keep away..." Muttering continuously, he subconsciously quickened his pace toward his quarters. *Clack—* The door swung open, and he hurriedly turned to lock it from the inside. Then, grabbing several prepared talismans from the nightstand, he slapped them onto the back of the door. *No, should I go find Senior Brother right now? In horror movies, anyone who hides alone always ends up dead... Bah, I'm a Daoist! What monsters or ghosts should I fear? No, I'd better go find Senior Brother Shanzhu. I just hope he won't laugh at me...* Clutching several talismans in his hand, he psyched himself up to head out and look for Daoist Shanzhu. Right at that moment, an overwhelming wave of drowsiness struck, making his head spin groggily. *Wait... why am I so sleepy? I... I want to sleep so badly...* The hand clutching the talismans suddenly went limp, scattering them across the floor. In a daze, he stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it without even taking off his shoes, instantly plunging into a deep slumber as rhythmic snores began to rise. "Sound can pass through as well," Huang Tian mused. "All in all, my power and voice can travel along the voice line, but objects cannot. Next, let's see if other people's possessions or consciousness can be drawn over." His gaze fell upon the talismans scattered beside Daoist Shanjing's bed, which lacked even the slightest spark of spiritual intent. Urging his spiritual power forward, the talismans floated up lightly, but they merely hovered in place and could not travel along the voice line back to his apartment. "Just as expected." Unfazed by the failed attempt, Huang Tian shifted to using his spiritual power to guide a wisp of the sleeping Daoist Shanjing's consciousness, attempting to draw it into his own mental world. *Whoosh—* "It worked!" Huang Tian's eyes lit up. There, within his boundless mental world, Daoist Shanjing lay bewildered on the ground, still wearing his Daoist robe. "Wait... what? Where on earth am I?!" He climbed up in confusion and looked around, only to find himself standing in the middle of a vast plain. Before his eyes stretched an endless sea of grass and blossoms. Not far away, dense forests rolled in undulating waves. Above, wisps of clouds drifted beneath a brilliant sun pouring down its radiance. When a great wind blew, the flowers, grasses, and trees swayed, showering the earth in golden shimmer. "Is this still Blue Star? Wasn't I in the temple? And I remember it was night just a moment ago. I drank tea with a few patrons and went back to my room alone... Wait, I remember now! I fell asleep. So, am I in a dream?" For a moment, he felt utterly lost. *How can my mind be so clear while I'm asleep? Could this be a lucid dream? Or did I not fall asleep at all, but transmigrated?* As a Daoist in his thirties, it wasn't as though he lacked recreation. While he didn't play video games, he read web novels and was thoroughly familiar with concepts like transmigration, rebirth, and systems. Just as his thoughts ran wild, a burly man in black robes stepped out from the forest opposite him. The man stood more than half a head taller than him, his shoulders thick as a brick wall, with sinewy veins bulging along his bare arms. Daoist Shanjing hesitated before asking, "Excuse me, patron? Might I ask where this place is?" The burly man ignored the question entirely. Expressionless, he strode right up to him, and then launched a straight punch toward his face like an artillery shell firing from a cannon! In his horror, Daoist Shanjing instinctively raised his arm to block. The instant his left forearm collided with the fist, he distinctly heard the crisp snap of his own bone fracturing, accompanied by an agonizing pain that left half his body numb. "Holy crap!" Cursing aloud, he stumbled backward, but the burly man's second punch followed immediately, slamming heavily into his abdomen. "Ugh!" Daoist Shanjing doubled over violently, feeling as though all his internal organs had been knocked out of place by the blow. Stomach acid mixed with bloody foam spewed uncontrollably from his mouth, and sheer terror took root in his heart. Cold and detached as ever, the burly man seized his pain-bowed head, raised a knee, and drove it viciously upward! *Crack!* The sound of his nasal bridge shattering rang out. Daoist Shanjing's vision instantly dyed crimson. He fell back limply, the back of his head smacking hard against the ground. *Whoosh—* The wind whipped up as a right foot came stamping brutally down toward his neck. His eyes widened in rage and terror. He wanted to resist, but had no strength left in his body, forced to watch helplessly as the foot plummeted toward him. Right at that instant, however, everything froze. Seated upon a cloud observing the battle, Huang Tian glanced at the half-dead Daoist Shanjing, then extended his perception to look at the physical Daoist Shanjing, who was still snoring away soundly outside the mental world. "Sure enough, whether this small wisp of consciousness is injured or not does not reflect too noticeably upon the physical body. Even if this wisp dies, it will merely feel like a nightmare to him, leaving his spirit languid for a short period rather than killing him outright. "Unless I pull his entire consciousness over and destroy it, he won't become a vegetative invalid..." With that thought, he lightly tapped his finger. As if time were rewinding, the burly man returned to the forest, and all of Daoist Shanjing's injuries completely vanished. *Whoosh—* The wind resumed, and everything returned to normal. Daoist Shanjing collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, his right hand clutching his throat. "I... I didn't die?!" *Thud, thud—* Footsteps sounded as the same burly man strode out from the forest once more, advancing toward him. "Damn it, again?!" He scrambled up from the ground. Recalling the scene of being ruthlessly slaughtered moments ago, a fierce resolve flared in his heart, and a vicious glint surfaced in his eyes. "You really think this Daoist is a soft target, don't you?!" Earlier, he had been caught off guard in his panic. In a straightforward one-on-one fight, he had little reason to be terrified; after all, he had practiced martial arts and swordsmanship for years. Even if his physique wasn't extraordinarily powerful, his movements were sufficiently agile and nimble. "Besides, it seems I won't die here, and even if I do, I can reset. What the hell am I afraid of!" With that realization, he lowered his stance slightly, muscles tensing, his eyes locked onto the burly man's every move. Nearer. *Whoosh—* The burly man closed in, throwing another straight punch! This time, Daoist Shanjing did not block. The instant the fist was about to graze his face, he ducked aside sharply. The knuckles brushed past his cheek, leaving a stinging trail of heat. At the same time, he gritted his teeth, threw his entire body forward, and drove his forehead fiercely into the burly man's chin! The burly man grunted, his momentum faltering slightly. Seizing the opening, Daoist Shanjing pressed his advantage, bringing a knife-hand chopping down with all his might straight at the man's Adam's apple! "Urk!" The burly man's eyes bulged instantly, his massive frame wobbling. Daoist Shanjing did not let up. Pressing his advantage to the hilt, he drove his knee repeatedly and wildly into the man's groin, flailing with hands and feet alike—biting, headbutting, elbowing... employing every dirty tactic at his disposal. The burly man swung his fists in counterattack, landing several blows on his back that nearly made him cough up blood, but Daoist Shanjing held the upper hand. Following another savage headbutt that sent blood splattering, the burly man's towering frame crashed backward to the ground. Daoist Shanjing pounced on top, raining down punches like a torrential downpour until the man beneath him fell completely silent and ceased moving altogether before finally stopping. "Hah... hah... Who told you to kill me earlier? Serve you right!" He slumped to the side, panting raggedly, every breath searing his chest with sharp pain. His entire body trembled faintly, unable to tell whether it was from exhaustion, adrenaline, or lingering dread. Right then, the burly man's corpse suddenly dissolved into glittering motes of light, leaving behind only a white orb of radiance. "Huh? Don't tell me this is gear and a skill dropped from beating a mob?" Daoist Shanjing wore a bizarre expression. Cautiously reaching out, he touched the white orb. The moment contact was made, the orb shuddered and shot into his forehead with a *swish*. His body froze, drifting into a stupor. Only after a good while did he snap back to his senses, his eyes shining with delight. "It really is a skill?! The Roaming Dragon Sword Technique? It feels like this swordsmanship has been branded straight into my mind. Too bad I don't have a sword on hand." *Clang—* An iron sword fell right beside him. Daoist Shanjing froze in place. *Someone has been watching me all along?* He looked around in all directions, but saw nothing. *Sigh! Whoever it is, they probably bear no malice, or else I would've been dead long ago.* He picked up the sword. "Let's test this Roaming Dragon Sword Technique!" Standing up, he took two deep breaths and slowly raised the longsword in his hands. *Swish—* Moving his body, his footwork unfolded, and the longsword thrust forth like a swimming dragon, the blade cutting through the air with sharp whistles. A false step with a point of the sword, the tip trembling faintly like an ascending dragon's head. A bow stance with a direct thrust, force penetrating through the blade, followed by a pivot to carry the sword across his flank in a seamless arc. Footwork and sword stances harmonized perfectly, maintaining a steady center of gravity through every advance, retreat, and turn. At times, the blade circled round like cloud hands, tracing rings before him; at others, sudden power erupted into a clean, decisive chop, the force contained rather than squandered, snapping firmly to a halt just before reaching its limit. He was somewhat clumsy at first, but as the sword forms flowed one after another, his execution grew increasingly proficient. A moment later, he slowly drew to a close, bringing the sword before his chest with the tip pointing slightly downward. His breath settled gently, maintaining a posture of calm poise. "I feel like I've completely mastered this sword technique!" Just as joy welled up in his heart— *Hum—* Like ripples spreading through the air, the surroundings froze once more, and the wind ground to a halt. Upon the cloud, Huang Tian nodded slightly. "As long as I draw another person's consciousness into my mental world, I can impart techniques across thousands, even tens of thousands of miles." However, this method of imparting techniques merely imprinted the manuals and stances into their minds; truly mastering the inner essence still required diligent practice on the recipient's part. The more profound the martial art or mystic method, the more time was needed to cultivate it, especially for techniques involving divine intent. Pointing a finger at the frozen Daoist Shanjing, Huang Tian instantly veiled all of his memories from tonight, wiping away the memory of the Roaming Dragon Sword Technique along with them. With another wave of his sleeve, the wisp of consciousness flew out of the mental world, returning to Daoist Shanjing's physical body along the voice line. Simultaneously, Huang Tian guided fine wisps of spiritual qi to cleanse Daoist Shanjing's physical form. "After a cleansing with spiritual qi, he will be free from all ailments and enjoy robust health. Consider it a bit of compensation for using him as a test subject." Just as he was about to sever the voice line, Huang Tian's gaze suddenly locked in place. "An imprint of consciousness has appeared in my mental world!" Sensing it briefly, he discerned that the imprint originated from Daoist Shanjing, and its rate of dissipation was exceptionally slow—it would take at least several years to fade entirely. "What is the use of this imprint?" Lost in thought, he willed the voice line connecting to Daoist Shanjing to disconnect, and the scene before his eyes vanished. After waiting for a brief moment, he lightly touched the imprint in his mental world with his divine intent. In an instant, space and time seemed to intertwine, and a familiar scene unfolded before him—Daoist Shanjing lying in bed, snoring away in exceptionally sound sleep. "So that's how it is! From now on, anyone who has entered my mental world will leave behind an imprint of consciousness, allowing me to view their every move at any time without needing them to mention my name or title!" Huang Tian felt rather energized. "After achieving the Golden Core, my ability has evolved considerably. Still, why does this power feel a bit like the Lord God Space from web novels?" Pulling people into a mental world across thousands of miles, empowering them with cultivation methods and martial arts, monitoring the actions of 'reincarnators' at any moment... Well, physical teleportation was still out of reach for now. Chuckling, he shook his head. He had no intention of constructing a Lord God Space on Blue Star, at least not at present. "Still, even without making some Lord God Space, this consciousness imprint remains exceedingly useful..." He planned to draw the consciousness of several people close to him into the mental world to leave behind imprints, so that if any emergency ever arose in the future, he could intervene from afar at a moment's notice. With his mind made up, he closed the vision and ceased observing others through the voice lines, sitting cross-legged to enter a state of tranquil meditation... *** The next day. Bright daylight broke, the morning sun rose in the east, and the Changda campus was abuzz with excitement. For *Inventiones Mathematicae*, one of the Big Four premier journals in the international mathematics community, had published its new issue! And there, printed prominently on page thirty-seven, was— *Study of the Blow-up Phenomenon for Supercritical Defocusing Nonlinear Wave Equations*!