Though his body had shrunk, Yu Xian's actual weight hadn't changed at all.
Beneath his shoes was a dense cluster of bubbles—some spatial bubbles, some adhesive bubbles, and others elastic bubbles.
Using Super Brain, he could freely control these bubbles to perform their intended roles, such as floating through the air, boosting his bounce, or sticking to surfaces.
The reason he hadn't sunk into the ground under his full weight was likewise thanks to the presence of these bubbles.
Otherwise, with his shrunken size and full body weight, the pressure would have easily exceeded the ground's compressive strength, and he would have sunk straight into the earth.
Neither the mantis nor the little sparrow could understand why such a tiny being was so heavy. After flapping and struggling for a bit, however, the sparrow decisively abandoned the mantis and swiftly flew away.
Yu Xian pried open the mantis's sickle-like foreleg that was clamping him, leaped onto the leaf of a wild chrysanthemum, and sat down amidst the floral fragrance, savoring a fleeting moment of peace.
The Art of Large Within, Small Without and the Art of Small Within, Large Without were arguably the two simplest spells of the Art of Grotto-Heaven; he now had a firm grasp on how to play around with them.
In fact, the two spells could also be applied in reverse, which would turn him into a giant.
With the spatial energy he had stolen so far, using the Art of Small Within, Large Without in reverse would allow him to grow into a giant around ten meters tall. Yet just like shrinking, his weight and mass would remain unchanged, making him essentially no different from a hollow balloon—hardly useful in combat.
Of course, he could turn it against others.
For instance, he could enlarge an enemy to turn them into a giant moving target, making it easy for everyone to focus fire on them.
In truth, all nine spells comprising the Art of Grotto-Heaven served the grotto-heaven itself. These two were mainly meant for Dao foundations whose grotto-heavens were too small in area.
The quality of a Dao foundation dictated the size of its grotto-heaven.
For example, if someone used a teapot as their Dao foundation, an ordinary teapot could at most hold spatial energy roughly the size of a single room.
In such cases, the Art of Large Within, Small Without and the Art of Small Within, Large Without came in handy. Even a tiny area could be fashioned into a microscopic world, and the user could shrink down to live inside without feeling cramped.
Yu Xian's Dao foundation was mutated blood energy, so he had no such worries. Once spatial energy combined with mutated blood energy, he could create grotto-heaven bubbles at will.
As long as the mutated blood energy inside him continued to grow, he would certainly be able to create colossal grotto-heaven bubbles in the future.
"The Art of Vast Without Exterior is actually spatial cycling?"
Sitting on the chrysanthemum leaf, Yu Xian snapped out of his daze and manifested a grotto-heaven bubble in his palm.
After studying it for a while, he realized that the Art of Vast Without Exterior could only be cast inside a grotto-heaven bubble. Once unleashed, the interior of the bubble was stripped of boundaries, connecting end to end.
This was akin to a spatial loop or spatial folding.
Yu Xian teleported a Spirit-Melting Gu insect over from Mars and placed it inside the grotto-heaven bubble.
Sure enough, no matter how the Spirit-Melting Gu insect flew within the bubble, it could never touch the spatial barrier. It could only fly endlessly within, never reaching any boundary.
This spell could make a grotto-heaven much more natural, allowing wind to truly flow and water to circulate.
Without it, wind would blow against the spatial barriers and then travel either straight up or straight down along them, rendering the entire grotto-heaven world unnatural and bizarre.
Having deciphered the function of the Art of Vast Without Exterior, Yu Xian moved on to investigate the Art of Minute Without Interior.
The Art of Minute Without Interior did not mean the grotto-heaven shrank until it had no interior space; rather, the spell acted upon the Dao foundation itself, allowing it to become unimaginably minuscule.
It could become smaller than an atom—clearly an ability meant to conceal the grotto-heaven.
Recalling the empty glass room in the Transcendent Containment Facility, Yu Xian finally understood. Li Zhangzong's Dao foundation had undoubtedly used the Art of Minute Without Interior, which was why none of them had detected a grotto-heaven world in that room.
If Li Zhangzong had refused to see them, they could have stood in that glass room for a million years without ever setting foot inside his grotto-heaven world.
"I wonder what Elder Li's Dao foundation is?"
Yu Xian mused with a hint of curiosity. He then stuck a grotto-heaven bubble onto the underside of the chrysanthemum leaf; from now on, this would be one of his secret bases.
Next, he produced another grotto-heaven bubble and cast the Art of Neither Departing Nor Absent inside it.
"..."
Yu Xian closed his eyes to sense the effect, only to be left speechless.
Due to the properties of mutated blood energy, he already had an intimate grasp over everything inside the grotto-heaven bubble. The Art of Neither Departing Nor Absent merely enhanced that inherent ability.
It had its uses, but not many.
After getting a basic feel for it, Yu Xian proceeded to examine the next spell.
He had initially intended to cast the Art of Neither Loss Nor Damage directly on the grotto-heaven bubble, but quickly discovered it couldn't be done; another object had to be present to apply the spell.
Even so, that immediately made him understand the spell's true purpose.
Casting the Art of Neither Loss Nor Damage on an inanimate object inside the bubble was essentially recording its current state. No matter how much time passed, so long as the object remained inside the grotto-heaven bubble, it would suffer neither energy loss nor decay.
For instance, if Yu Xian cast the Art of Neither Loss Nor Damage on a flame inside the bubble, the fire would burn perpetually, frozen in that exact state.
Yu Xian immediately thought of countless uses—such as creating an artificial sun and moon, or crafting furniture and appliances that would never break down.
The Art of Grotto-Heaven truly lived up to its name as the ultimate grand divine ability for home and travel, murder and arson alike. The Art of Neither Loss Nor Damage alone guaranteed that the caster could live in sheer comfort within their grotto-heaven, enjoying inexhaustible electricity, water, and fire.
Suddenly, Yu Xian felt his traditional Chinese villa sprawling across three mu wasn't so appealing anymore. He wanted nothing more than to build a grotto-heaven world with his own hands; just imagining the possibilities after applying all these spells made his mouth water, itching to start right away.
Yet remembering he still had an unfinished mission, he had no choice but to shelve the thought for the moment. Once all of this was over, he would definitely create a grotto-heaven world exclusively his own.
He then continued researching the remaining three spells.
The Art of Mending the Void was essentially a spell for repairing a grotto-heaven. If the space came under enemy attack and developed cracks or similar damage, the Art of Mending the Void was required to mend the spatial fissures.
The Art of Neither Deficiency Nor Excess, on the other hand, had to be used in conjunction with the Art of Blending All Phenomena. Together, these two spells allowed everything within the grotto-heaven to bypass countless transformation cycles and return to its primordial state.
While that sounded similar to the Art of Neither Loss Nor Damage, it actually produced an entirely different effect.
The Art of Neither Loss Nor Damage merely kept specific objects from degrading, whereas the combination of the Art of Neither Deficiency Nor Excess and the Art of Blending All Phenomena could make something like a plastic bag skip the lengthy cycle of natural decomposition and revert directly into raw materials.
These two spells were practically fundamental to maintaining a grotto-heaven; the growth of all living things, decomposition, and natural cycles all relied on their participation.
For instance, with animal droppings, having the Art of Neither Deficiency Nor Excess paired with the Art of Blending All Phenomena meant that the moment an animal defecated, the feces would be decomposed the very next second, breaking down into elements to be absorbed by the earth and rapidly entering the next cycle of rebirth.
Without these two spells working in tandem, once the animal population reached a certain point, the entire grotto-heaven could easily reek.
Furthermore, when used alone, the Art of Blending All Phenomena possessed yet another extraordinarily potent effect.
Chapter 164