The Art of Grotto-Heaven

Yu Xian sat quietly for a while. Seeing that the other three didn't look like they would make it across anytime soon, he turned his attention back to Li Zhangzong. Craning his neck to peek, he saw Li Zhangzong holding a writing brush, inscribing characters upon a black stone stele. "The heart is the vessel of the Dao; the spirit is the foundation of the divine." "Unite form and spirit, steal the secrets of heaven and earth, refine the essence of yin and yang, and enact the transformations of the cosmos." "Take Mount Sumeru into a mustard seed, conceal the sun and moon within a pot, grasp the river of stars in a square inch, and observe past and present in an instant." Every character Li Zhangzong penned flowed with a serene rhythm. As Yu Xian watched, his originally restless mind gradually settled into calm, his stray thoughts smoothed away by this miraculous cadence. He simply watched in silence. Li Zhangzong clearly did not mind his looking; upon finishing one stele, he produced another and continued to write. "Great, with nothing outside; small, with nothing inside." "Neither emerging nor present; neither lost nor corrupted." "Harmonize with the void without lack or surplus; blend the myriad phenomena into a unified mass..." Li Zhangzong did not write quickly, nor was Yu Xian in any rush. The two remained like this—one writing in silence, the other watching in silence. About two hours slipped by before Xuanming and Zhu Yuan finally arrived, one after the other. Li Zhangzong flicked his sleeve, and two meditation cushions landed before them. Xuanming and Zhu Yuan glanced at Yu Xian, then took their seats. After a moment, the two noticed Yu Xian watching Li Zhangzong write. Following his example, they also tried sneaking looks, but after ten minutes or so, both grew bored. Though Li Zhangzong's calligraphy was indeed magnificent, they felt he was merely jotting down broad, empty platitudes. So they turned their eyes toward the youth sent by Azure Dragon for a while. Seeing him still dashing about like a headless fly, they took out their phones and began browsing. Another hour passed before Li Zhangzong finally put away his brush. After reading the very last character Li Zhangzong wrote, Yu Xian slowly closed his eyes. His Super Brain was whirring at frantic speeds, and the mutated blood energy in his dantian churned as though boiling. The surrounding space grew somewhat unstable. The expanse, originally equivalent to over a dozen football fields, suddenly contracted slightly, instantly catching Li Zhangzong's attention. He turned to look at Yu Xian. Astonishment came first, followed by delighted surprise, until he could no longer hold back a burst of hearty laughter. Xuanming and Zhu Yuan stared at the two in sheer shock. They vaguely sensed they had missed out on some grand opportunity, yet they also felt deeply defeated—for even if they hadn't missed it, they likely could never have grasped it anyway. ... The Art of Grotto-Heaven. What Li Zhangzong had inscribed upon the steles was a grand grotto-heaven divine ability that could rival Universe in the Sleeve. He had set down in exhaustive detail how to open a grotto-heaven, how to use it, how to strengthen it, and how to wield it against foes. And Yu Xian had truly learned it all. His spatial talent had always been exceptional, meaning spatial spells posed almost no barrier to his understanding. Coupled with Li Zhangzong's deliberate instruction, he had thoroughly and completely mastered the Art of Grotto-Heaven. Spell of Vast Inside, Small Outside. Yu Xian opened his eyes. On the finger of his right hand, a marble-sized grotto-heaven bubble appeared, yet he was able to reach his entire left hand inside this tiny sphere. Spell of Small Inside, Vast Outside. As he cast it, the bubble grew thicker and more opaque, looking much like a glass marble. Yu Xian withdrew his left hand. To his surprise, his hand had shrunk dramatically. The junction connecting the large arm to the tiny hand looked grotesque and deformed, yet miraculously, no matter how he moved, that minute point of connection never broke. The Art of Grotto-Heaven was, in truth, a grand divine ability composed of eight divine abilities and nine spells. The eight divine abilities were: Building the Dao Foundation, Stealing Heavenly Secrets, Refining Yin and Yang, Transforming the Cosmos, Taking in Mount Sumeru, Concealing the Sun and Moon, Grasping the Star River, and Observing Past and Present. The nine spells were: Spell of Vast Inside, Small Outside; Spell of Small Inside, Vast Outside; Spell of Great Without Exterior; Spell of Small Without Interior; Spell of Neither Emerging Nor Present; Spell of Neither Lost Nor Decayed; Spell of Mending the Void; Spell of Neither Lack Nor Surplus; and Spell of Blending Myriad Phenomena. Anyone who mastered these eight divine abilities and nine spells could create a grotto-heaven, or even steal spatial power from other worlds to nurture their own miniature world. The space they occupied right now was, in fact, Li Zhangzong's grotto-heaven world. Just moments ago, Yu Xian had used Stealing Heavenly Secrets to pilfer a sliver of spatial power from Li Zhangzong's grotto-heaven world, using his mutated blood energy as a Dao foundation to forge an ultramicroscopic grotto-heaven. At last, Yu Xian's brain ceased its frantic calculation. Exhaling a breath of warm air, he bowed toward Li Zhangzong. "Thank you, Elder Li, for imparting the Dao!" "This is your own fortune and destiny. No need for such formality." Li Zhangzong looked at Yu Xian with deep appreciation, smiling warmly. Whenever the state sent talented young individuals, he would attempt to teach them the cultivation method for the Art of Grotto-Heaven. Yet several centuries had passed, and Yu Xian was the sole person who had ever learned it. "However, this old man must give you a word of warning: never steal heavenly secrets beyond what your body can endure. Otherwise, the backlash of spatial recoil will plunge you into ruin beyond redemption." His expression turned exceptionally solemn as he addressed Yu Xian. Yu Xian nodded. "This junior will remember." Right now, he had only a minuscule amount of spatial power inside his body. Combined with his mutated blood energy, it could create grotto-heaven bubbles—or grotto bubbles. The spatial power inside this kind of bubble was entirely different from that of his previous spatial bubbles. With his previous spatial bubbles, though the interior space formed a self-contained unit, it still fundamentally belonged to the original world. It was much like water drawn from the same river: once the bubble burst, river water merged back into river water without the slightest resistance. In Yu Xian's current grotto-heaven bubbles, however, the spatial power within was like magma. If the bubble burst in the river, magma and water would clash violently. Because the volume of magma was far smaller, it would naturally end with the magma being extinguished. Yu Xian housing this spatial power inside his body was effectively placing himself between two opposing forces of space. Because the spatial power inside him was currently weak, he could withstand the pressure. But if that internal spatial power grew increasingly vast, the pressure generated between the two spaces would mount accordingly. It would be like being caught between two planets about to collide—Yu Xian would be crushed flat in an instant. Naturally, this dilemma was not unsolvable. First and foremost, his Dao foundation had to be strong enough. Only a sufficiently powerful Dao foundation could bear greater spatial power. Yu Xian did not know what Elder Li's Dao foundation was, but the foundation he had chosen was the mutated blood energy in his body. As long as he continued to expand that mutated blood energy, the spatial power he could hold would grow ever larger. Crucially, using mutated blood energy as a Dao foundation possessed a tremendous advantage: it could not be destroyed. A Dao foundation was essentially like a natal artifact—if an enemy managed to damage it, the practitioner would suffer a horrific backlash. Yet blood energy simply could not be destroyed, and it was undeniably capable of supporting the Art of Grotto-Heaven. In Yu Xian's eyes, using mutated blood energy as his Dao foundation was absolute perfection. Li Zhangzong had recognized this as well, which was why he held Yu Xian in such high regard, believing the young man could travel even further along the path of the Art of Grotto-Heaven than he himself had. Having confirmed that Yu Xian had truly mastered the technique, Li Zhangzong glanced over at the Azure Dragon youth, who was still spinning around in confusion, and let out a helpless sigh. How could the gap between two people possibly be so immense?