Beihai

"Dao arts." Yaoguang searched briefly through his mind. Since the progress of [Immortal Path: Void Refining] had only reached 41%, it only encompassed thirteen Dao arts, and they were all merely rudimentary—not even close to minor mastery. On the other hand, the supreme divine abilities... After digesting the information for a moment, he sensed over ten thousand of them. Yet these ten thousand-plus supreme divine abilities pointed to only three thousand Grand Daos. Clearly, when the same Grand Dao was comprehended by different Dao Lords, different Dao arts and supreme divine abilities would be derived. As for their relative merits... He could only judge for himself. Yaoguang was in no rush to choose one or more supreme divine abilities to cultivate to perfection. Instead, he immersed his mind in the Dao Fruit divine ability that had emerged from the progression between the Void Piercing Realm and the Void Refining Realm. "The previous Dao Fruit gave me the 'Divine Heart' talent, which I discarded in the Cangwu Great World. This time..." Child of the Void? Looking at this talent, Yaoguang immediately thought of Child of the Stars, which had long been made obsolete back during his body-refining stage. At once, he felt... "How perfunctory." He complained internally, but nevertheless sensed the traits of this "talent." Darling of the Void. Allowed for a deeper perception of void transformations and precise insight into the circulation of the void, reducing the difficulty of reaching the Void Piercing Realm and the Void Refining Realm. "These traits..." Memories and insights regarding "advancing to Void Piercing"—richer than rich could ever be—flowed through Yaoguang's mind. Did he need something to lower the breakthrough difficulty? Useless. These traits were utterly useless. Fortunately, the traits of Child of the Void did not stop there. Reduced the consumption of void-related divine abilities and Dao arts. Decreased the strain of void-related divine abilities and Dao arts. Increased the casting speed of void-related divine abilities and Dao arts. These three traits finally perked up his spirits a bit. In colloquial terms, it essentially reduced skill consumption, lowered cooldowns, and boosted casting speed? Looking at it that way, it actually seemed quite decent. However, it was ultimately a talent pegged to the Void Piercing Realm; its exact effects would only become clear once he actually cultivated to that realm. For now... He needed to select a batch of supreme divine abilities to adapt to and master. "The Three Thousand Grand Daos constitute the essence of the world. Perhaps in that respect there is no difference among them, but for us practitioners, there are ultimately superior and inferior ones." He quietly searched through the numerous divine abilities among the information he had received. On Beihai Star, there was a distinction between divine abilities, great divine abilities, and supreme divine abilities. The difference lay not in their raw power, but in their upper limit. Supreme divine abilities directly pointed to Dao arts, being the inheritances of Dao Lords. Great divine abilities pointed to incomplete Dao arts, being merely the inheritances of the Void Shattering Realm. Divine abilities, meanwhile, referred to secret arts and abilities created by Void Refining cultivators based on their own conceptions, pointing toward the Grand Dao, though their specific efficacy had yet to be proven. In other words, without touching upon the level of Dao arts, the power of a standard divine ability was not necessarily inferior to that of a supreme divine ability. Of course, how could the vision of a Void Refining cultivator compare to that of a Dao Lord or a Void Shattering expert? Even a simplified supreme divine ability or great divine ability possessed profundities far beyond anything a Void Refining cultivator could envision or invent. Consequently, divine abilities that were genuinely more powerful than great divine abilities or supreme divine abilities were exceedingly rare. "When my realm advanced toward 'Void Refining,' I received thirteen Dao arts. The supreme divine abilities corresponding to these thirteen Dao arts..." Yaoguang examined them for a moment, an odd expression appearing on his face. The supreme divine abilities corresponding to the thirteen Dao arts all belonged to life-saving, defensive, escape, and cultivation types. "Is this the truest reflection of my subconscious mind?" However, judging by Susan and the others' descriptions of Beihai Star, in this world, the more you yielded, the more aggressively others would push you, not resting until they drove you to your death and devoured every last crumb. Therefore, merely having life-saving, defensive, escape, and cultivation abilities was not enough. He needed to master sufficiently powerful offensive arts of slaughter. Soon, he had selected five supreme divine abilities. Defensive: the Chaos Body of Countless Stars, pointing to the Star Dao. Escape: the Nine Transformations of Heavenly Walk, pointing to the Void Dao. Offensive: the Sky-Cleaving Strike, pointing to the Void Dao. Support: Taishang Wangqing, pointing to the Mind Dao. Cultivation: the Kunpeng Sky-Devouring Technique, pointing to the Devouring Dao. Five supreme divine abilities, each fulfilling its own role and each with its unique strengths. "Originally, I should have considered five abilities pointing to five distinct Grand Daos. But with the Child of the Void trait, the two void-based abilities, Nine Transformations of Heavenly Walk and Sky-Cleaving Strike, will yield even better results. As for the remaining three..." Yaoguang made his selections based on his current condition: "The Chaos Body of Countless Stars complements Star God body refining; the Kunpeng Sky-Devouring Technique paired with the Star Devouring Technique can further accelerate the enhancement of my Star God body; and the remaining Taishang Wangqing... is geared toward the application of spirit refining and mind power. By casting aside all seven emotions and six desires, one attains a state of oneness with the 'Taishang,' unleashing a hundred or even a hundred and twenty percent of one's full strength." Through "High-Dimensional Cognition," he already possessed a sufficient understanding of these supreme divine abilities. Next, he only needed to spend some time to master each of them, bringing them to great attainment or even perfection. By that time, to say nothing of how strong he would become, he would certainly be able to hold his own against a genuine Radiant Sun Golden Core. ... One month later, the Void Disk was gradually captured by Beihai Star's "gravity." This process was extremely perilous for many factions entering Beihai Star. According to Susan, many cultivators roved the outskirts of Beihai Star in packs to rob travelers, taking advantage of the moment when newcomers were unable to pull away to slaughter them and plunder every resource they carried. This was the very first trial of entering Beihai Star. Under these circumstances, Li Hanqiu, as a Void Piercing cultivator, had to pause his refinement of the World-Suppressing Ring and take over the controls of the Void Disk. While releasing his aura as a Void Piercing powerhouse, he seized the opportunity to execute a spatial transit. Relying on this spatial transit ability, the Void Disk skipped right past the "gravitational" capture phase and bypassed what would have been one to two months of travel to formally reach Beihai Star, appearing directly at its outskirts. Looking ahead at the outskirts of Beihai Star, a halo of azure radiance came into view. It was the visible glow emitted by raw spiritual energy. If one were to lay down a spirit-gathering formation in this space, there was no telling how many spirit stones it could produce each year. At this moment, however, neither Li Hanqiu nor Yaoguang had the mind to ponder such things. Beihai Star's pull on the Void Disk grew ever stronger, dragging the vessel in a rapid plunge toward the ground like a spaceship about to crash into the planet. "It's the spiritual energy!" Li Hanqiu sensed it for a moment and said, "Beihai Star is 'drawing in' all the spiritual energy in this region of the void. The spiritual energy and spirituality contained within a supreme treasure like the Void Disk are also being pulled toward the depths of Beihai Star. Unless we shut down the Dao artifact's operation, this pulling force will only grow stronger until it completely drains all the spiritual energy and spirituality inside, causing the Void Disk to disintegrate." "Can it hold?" Yaoguang asked. "In the past, when my primal cavern was unstable, I wouldn't have dared give you a definitive answer. But now..." Li Hanqiu smiled and glanced at the marked coordinates. "Hold on tight." As he spoke, ripples abruptly surged across the Void Disk under his control. Imbued with the power of the void, these ripples forcibly deflected the terrifying "gravitational pull" radiating from Beihai Star. Seizing the opening, the Void Disk accelerated sharply, hurtling toward their preselected location with a roar. Shielded by intense vibrations and the continuously radiating spatial ripples, the Void Disk swiftly pierced through Beihai Star's outer spiritual energy layer. Instantly, an expanse filled with towering mountains, great lakes, wild plains, and dense forests unfurled before Yaoguang's eyes. Accompanying the view was an overwhelming rush of spiritual energy hitting him in the face. Because of the sheer abundance of spiritual energy, all the flora and fauna across Beihai Star had undergone transformations, growing massive, hardy, and aggressive. Moreover, the planetary core in the deepest reaches of Beihai Star seemed to be drawing and pulling spiritual energy and spirituality from the entire starry sky. Consequently, the soil, vegetation, and stone deposited across the surface had all been steeped in spiritual energy without exception, their very composition altered. Without exaggeration, if even the most ordinary stone from this planet were taken outside, it could serve as material for refining spirit artifacts. Much like neutron star matter, where even a single gram brought out for study could yield milestone breakthroughs for the technological advancement of certain technological planets. "It truly lives up to the name of the Beihai Spirit Realm. The spiritual energy is simply overwhelming," Yaoguang said in genuine admiration. Li Hanqiu nodded in complete agreement. Exuding his coercive aura as a Void Piercing powerhouse, he piloted the Void Disk, hurtling across the primeval forest-like landscape beneath them. No! It was not hurtling! Because the binding force radiating from Beihai Star's core was so immense, the Void Disk had to expend a massive amount of energy just to counteract the restraint and pull, reducing its flight speed to less than Mach 10. It was only because the spatial ripples rippling from the supreme treasure constantly negated "air resistance" that its flight caused no violent shockwaves or sonic booms. As the Void Disk swept past, it alerted countless cultivators residing in the mountains and forests below. Looking at the Void Disk, these cultivators' eyes filled with envy and greed. Yet they all wisely buried that envy and greed deep down, not even daring to poke their heads out. They feared that if discovered, a flying sword might flash across and take their lives on a whim. ... After flying for about an hour and covering tens of thousands of li, the Void Disk came to a stop above a city nestled amid the mountains. At once, everyone throughout the city scrambled into hiding. The gazes that some directed toward the Void Disk were filled with sheer terror. Yaoguang and Li Hanqiu quietly surveyed the city. Soon, Yaoguang stepped forward and walked out of the Void Disk. He formed a hand seal, unleashing a distinct fluctuation that rapidly swept across an area of... Three thousand li! Yaoguang sensed it for a moment, his brow furrowing. Only after a good while did he realize that his divine mind really had only reached three thousand li. Beihai Star's core swallowed not only spiritual energy, but spirituality as well. Spirituality was a form of soul power; anything that was "alive" possessed spirituality. Divine mind was no exception. Because of this, his divine mind, which theoretically could cover tens of millions of li, could extend no further than three thousand li under Beihai Star's suppression before petering out. Furthermore, with a brief attempt, he found that attempting to project the Virtual Spirit Realm on Beihai Star incurred an astronomical drain on his divine mind. It was as if a monster was devouring his mental power at every passing second, multiplying the cost of sustaining the Virtual Spirit Realm by a thousand- or ten-thousandfold. "This world really is just as Susan and the others described... It's like compressing the essence of ten thousand li into a single li... No wonder those Golden Cores felt an immense sense of relief upon arriving in the Cangwu Great World. I originally thought the psychological pressure of living on Beihai Star was simply too great... Who knew that alongside the psychological pressure, there is also physical pressure," Yaoguang thought to himself. After sending out his divine mind via his secret technique, he waited a moment... There was no response. For a moment, he had no choice but to try again. Still, no one came forward to make contact with him. "The hand seal wasn't wrong, and neither were the coordinates. According to Wan Liugui, he indeed arranged for someone here to maintain an escape route..." Yet right after, he seemed to notice something. This city... Had undergone turmoil?! And it had happened less than a year ago?! Sensing something amiss, he swiftly rose into the air. His divine mind washed directly over the city below, locking onto its strongest life-form—a cultivator of the Fission realm. "Come see me at once!"