Ze Tian Ji Chapter 123

Chapter 123 – Blazing Plains

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Just like he had done on that spring night, Chen Changsheng closed his eyes and forgot everything. His spiritual sense departed his sea of consciousness, separated from his body, and drifted about the still space of the underground cavern. A vague image of the surrounding environment appeared in his mind. The stone walls and the light of the Night Pearls were deformed and then appeared in his consciousness.

When one closed one’s eyes, the sky went dark. Only when the sky was dark could the stars emerge, and only this way could one find the star in the night sky that was one’s Fated Star. However, what he was doing now was not fixing his Fated Star, but performing Meditative Introspection. Thus, his spiritual sense did not continue floating higher, but instead slowly drifted down like snow back onto his body.

Spiritual sense was weightless and shapeless, easily passing through his clothes and skin and entering the deepest part of his body. There, it would send back information on all that it encountered. This was introspection, self-introspection.

There was truthfully no precise boundary for the Meditation Realm. Any cultivator that had condensed their spiritual sense and was able to enter Meditative Introspection as they pleased could be considered to have entered the Meditation Realm. If one wished to continue improving, one had to also pay attention to the interaction between the spiritual sense and one’s meridians. However, the most fundamental method was still self-introspection.

A single phrase was recorded in the cultivation methods regarding Meditation of all sects: ‘Only by inspecting one’s own body can one see the world.’

Why? Because every cultivator’s body contained a world. In contrast to the natural world, the world within the body of a cultivator was much finer and subtler. If one said that the source of a cultivator’s strength was the natural world, if one wanted to become stronger, they needed to constantly remold the small world within themselves.

Purification was the first step cultivators took to remold their bodies, but that was a relatively crude method. Meditative Introspection was observation and also a subtler method for the cultivator to remold their body. Moreover, at the Meditation Realm, cultivators no longer directly used the strength of star radiance, but began to learn how to convert this radiance into true essence.

The radiance of the stars belonged the greater world of nature, while true essence belonged to the small world of the cultivator.

Compared to normal cultivators, Chen Changsheng had special circumstances. He first had to enter his small world and find that star radiance. Then, he would attempt to convert it into his own true essence, which would also be the most dangerous juncture. His body not having undergone Purification, could it contain the explosive power produced the instant star radiance was converted into true essence?

He did not think about these problems as he sent his spiritual sense into his body to begin introspection and his search.

A small world was still a world, and so when he began Meditative Introspection, his spiritual sense became a wisp of cool breeze within this world. His search tonight for the star radiance in his body was like those nights he spent searching for his Fated Star. It similarly required constantly searching a vast world, an extremely long process, so long that he forgot about the passing of time.

The fuzzy horizon and the constantly fluctuating light formed into all sorts of strange sights. These indistinct sights made this world seem equally familiar and foreign.

Land bulged out from the ground like lofty mountain ranges. Were these bones? But what were these cracks in the ground, these earth veins faintly exuding Qi? Meridians?

The cool breeze slowly crossed this world, his spiritual sense constantly searching his body. He gradually got used to this sensation, and the sight within his consciousness gradually became more distinct. Then he saw ruptured cliffs, the firm mountain ranges of granite twisted about, the earth veins shattered. It was a dismal scene of utter desolation.

This was his body, and this was the first time he clearly saw his body’s true appearance. It truly did make him feel utter dismay. Were those ruptured cliffs and shattered earth veins his severed meridians? Or perhaps they were sections of meridians? Was this the shadow of death hidden within his body?

But…where did that terrifying strength that could deform mountains come from?

The cool breeze drifted across thousands of li of wasteland, passing over nine mountain ranges crossed over with giant gashes, and came to a plain covered in snow.

He didn’t what this place was, only that this vast plain of snow was extremely cold. Moreover, the mantle of snow was extremely thick and so clean that it was somewhat dazzling.

He did not know what this snowy plain was, nor did he know what such a thick mantle of snow, such a clean plain of snow, signified to a cultivator. And he also did not know that if the legendary Junior Martial Uncle of the Mount Li Sword Sect or a similar supreme expert were to find that he possessed such a perfect plain of snow, they would undoubtedly want to make him their successor.

Finally, he saw a lake.

This was a lake suspended between the heavens and the earth, a vast expanse of dark blue. His spiritual sense told him that it had a radius of several hundred li. To be more precise, this lake was a sphere of water suspended in between heaven and earth. There were no impurities, grass, mud, or sediment within this lake, only clean and transparent water, so light naturally could pass through it.

At this time, his spiritual sense had already made one complete circuit of this small world. From a cultivating perspective, he had already entered the Meditation Realm. If this fact were to be made public, it would certainly shock the world, because this indicated he possessed the world’s purest and most serene spiritual sense that could even cross that threshold between cultivation realms!

The problem was that such a fact was meaningless.

No matter how strong the spiritual sense was, without true essence, one was still just an ordinary person. All the spiritual sense could do on its own was at most to widen his scope of perception.

True essence originated from the radiance of the stars.

From spring to the late winter, he had spent every night drawing in starlight for Purification, but the Purification had still not succeeded, so where was all that radiance accumulating?

Chen Changsheng began to get nervous.

The moment his spiritual sense found the star radiance and touched it, all of it would be converted into true essence. His body had not undergone Purification, but it had been tempered by the medicinal broths of his teacher and senior brother…would it be able to hold against that monstrous explosion?

His spiritual sense made another journey around the small world, crossing tens of thousands of li in a single breath.

Ultimately, he turned to the snowy plain…a boundless sheet of white, truly clean, truly beautiful.

His spiritual sense floated even higher to get a clearer picture. He saw that this snowy plain was gradually thawing, but because snow was constantly falling, the area the snow covered was not shrinking. Instead, it was expanding and thickening. Only where the light was fiercest did a few cracks appear.

There were very few of these cracks, but they ran through the entire plain, dividing the snow into several dozen sections.

Was this the place?

It was.

He quietly and happily gazed at the snowy plain.

This snow was not actually snow, but crystals condensed from star radiance.

He could cultivate.

The star radiance was all here.

What should he do next?

He didn’t take too long to think. This matter didn’t need thinking about, nor was it up to him whether he could think about it or not.

In the instant he confirmed that this snow was star radiance, the small world also sensed it.

To observe and then draw a conclusion was to touch upon something.

To travel from the sky from the ground, to cross a distance of tens of thousands of li or that of a single finger, his spiritual sense needed only a moment’s thought.

His spiritual sense fell in the southeast corner of the snowy plain on a section of the snow that was slowly beginning to drift away.

His strand of spiritual sense was just like a torch landing in a mountain of dry leaves.

The crystals formed of star radiance instantly began to release limitless light and then fiercely burn.

There was no sound or smoke, only an explosive flame.

This small section of the snowy plain was still several thousand qing in area, yet it only took an instant after the spiritual sense descended for this part of the snowy plain to be set completely ablaze.

(TN: A ‘qing’ is a Chinese measurement of area equivalent to about 16 acres or 6 hectares.)

Clean and transparent flames carrying a boundless heat seared the sky.

On one side the crystals blazed while on the other they melted into something akin to lava which slowly flowed in all directions. It didn’t take long before this stream of lava spread to the edge of the snowy plain and touched the wasteland. This lava was the essence of star radiance and contained an unimaginable power. It exuded a bright red light that seemed particularly horrifying. Everything it passed, whether grass or rock, began to burn.

The lava flowed into the ruptured cliffs, and the cliffs began to burn.

It poured into the shattered earth veins and the underground began to burn.

The entirety of this small world began to burn.

……

……

A sudden warmth appeared in the cold and lonely cavern.

The Black Dragon gazed at Chen Changsheng as he meditated, saw the snow on his body instantly melt, and the indifference in its eyes was replaced by a tinge of astonishment.

Immediately after, its eyes became extremely grave.

Chen Changsheng’s face became completely red, the breath coming from his mouth and nose instantly turning into white steam upon colliding with the cold air.

The snow fell on his body and then swiftly vaporized, enveloping his entire body in steam.

Just how high was his body temperature?

The Black Dragon showed concern in its eyes and gently blew at him.

Dragon breath speckled with shards of ice fell on Chen Changsheng’s body.

For just an instant, Chen Changsheng’s body was covered in a transparent armor of ice.

Yet soon after, this armor of ice cracked, melted, vaporized!

Chen Changsheng’s face was becoming redder and redder, his body becoming hotter and hotter. The veins on his neck thickened and then bulged. Soon after, more and more veins began to thicken and bulge from his skin. This dense network of blue veins was a horrifying sight, and blood could faintly be seen swiftly flowing through them.

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump. The silence of the underground cavern was broken by this drumbeat of a sound. It was…his heartbeat.

His heart was quickly beating, his blood swiftly flowing. His clothes were instantly soaked and then steamed dry.

His body had already made many automatic responses to resolve his current difficulties.

But at this moment, the true essence converted from star radiance was currently running free through his body. Without having undergone Purification, how could his body last?

And this wasn’t even considering that his meridians were innately broken and thus able to hold much less true essence than normal, making his situation even more dangerous.

Chen Changsheng’s eyes were tightly closed, the veins at the corners of his eyes pulsing. His forehead was furrowed extremely tight, making it seem like he was in great pain.

He had jumped past Purification to directly enter Meditation because he wanted to see if the star radiance was there or not. Only this way could he calm his heart, as otherwise he would be completely unwilling to just give up on the Grand Examination.

Now he saw the snowy plain, the star radiance began to burn and convert into true essence, and he was about to die, so was his heart satisfied now?

As it looked at the suffering youth, the Black Dragon revealed pity in its eyes, but it did nothing.