The stars continued to multiply until they reached three hundred and sixty-five, at which point the growth finally halted. Qiu Xia felt his mental power pushed to its absolute limit. He knew that if he tried to visualize even one more, the entire structure of the three hundred and sixty-five stars would likely collapse. Fortunately, his plan was already complete.
As mentioned before, Qiu Xia had been a writer before his transmigration. He had penned many novels centered around the Primordial era and had specifically researched star charts. Because of this, he was intimately familiar with the three hundred and sixty-five primary stars required to arrange the Great Array of the 365 Heavens and Stars.
The reason he had chosen the Stellar Visualization Method was to see if he could visualize these primary stars and link them within his Sea of Consciousness to form a soul formation.
Once the final star was visualized, Qiu Xia used the Ziwei Star as the core and the Solar and Lunar Stars as auxiliary anchors. He began the process of connecting all three hundred and sixty-five stars. The linking process was surprisingly smooth, met with no resistance or immediate feedback, making it feel almost as if his theory had been wrong.
However, the moment the final connection was made, the three hundred and sixty-five stars within his Sea of Consciousness ignited with brilliant light. They began to rotate slowly, creating a swirling galaxy within his mind.
Outside, Uncle Jiu was acting as a protector for his disciple. He noticed that not long after Qiu Xia began his meditation, the surrounding astral power began to stir. As the boy continued to practice, the gathered energy grew denser and more vibrant. Qiu Xia absorbed so much astral power that his entire body began to glow with the intensity of a bright lightbulb.
"Such an incredible amount of astral power... Is it his unique constitution, or is he simply a natural fit for the Stellar Visualization Method?" Uncle Jiu was genuinely startled. Back when he was an apprentice at Mao Shan, he remembered a senior uncle who specialized in this method, and even that expert had never drawn this much power during a routine cultivation session.
Qiu Xia was unaware of his master's shock. As the stars locked into place, ten silhouettes appeared within his Sea of Consciousness. Seven were ethereal phantoms, while three were solid forms.
These three solid and seven ethereal shadows were Li Qiuxia's Three Souls and Seven Po. Under the influence of the visualization method, they became visible. Once they appeared, the astral power began to temper and refine them automatically without needing his conscious control. As his souls were forged in starlight, his already formidable mental power reached even greater heights.
As his mental strength grew, he drew in even more astral power, which in turn accelerated his cultivation speed. Under this double buff effect, the entire mortuary was eventually shrouded in a thick veil of starlight.
It was fortunate that Uncle Jiu had already cleared out the malevolent spirits within several miles of the mortuary. Otherwise, such a massive commotion would have attracted every ghost in the region. Astral power was beneficial to Daoists, but it was even more precious to spirits; its importance to them was far greater than to any mortal.
Bathed in the starlight, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai felt nothing out of the ordinary other than a deep sense of comfort, causing them to drift into a peaceful sleep. Uncle Jiu, however, felt his own divine soul being further tempered. The bottleneck of the Earth Master Seventh Heaven, which had trapped him for years, finally began to crack under the pressure of the starlight. The fissures grew wider and wider.
An Earth Master cultivates the Three Souls and Seven Po, a journey divided into two realms and ten heavens. The two realms are the Three Souls Realm and the Seven Po Realm. The ten heavens represent the levels of refinement;
tempering one Po corresponds to one heaven. (In the Warlock and Daoist ranks, one is the highest and nine is the lowest, but for the Earth Master and Celestial Master ranks, one is the lowest and nine is the highest.)
Well before the morning sun could chase away the stars, Uncle Jiu finished tempering his Human Soul. He had successfully advanced to the Earth Master Eighth Heaven.
The transition between the Seventh and Eighth Heavens was a significant hurdle. As long as a practitioner wasn't too old when they made this breakthrough, they had a real chance of becoming a Celestial Master. If they failed to break through, their journey ended there. Many Daoists at Mao Shan remained stuck at the Seventh Heaven until the day they died.
After his breakthrough, Uncle Jiu originally wanted to consolidate his cultivation, but a glance at the sky nearly made him jump out of his skin. Damn it! It was almost daybreak. If Qiu Xia continued to practice, he would accidentally draw in the fire of the sun. If his disciple were hit by that, he'd be toasted. He had to wake him up immediately.
Uncle Jiu quickly formed a Daoist Seal and tapped Qiu Xia on the forehead. With that touch, Qiu Xia was pulled out of his deep trance. As his eyes snapped open, two beams of divine light shot forth from his pupils.
"Disciple, it's almost dawn. Remember, you must stop visualizing during this time period. If you accidentally draw in the True Sun Fire, you'll be in serious trouble."
"Yes, Master!"
"By the way, Qiu Xia, how many of your Three Souls and Seven Po have you tempered so far?"
Qiu Xia checked his Sea of Consciousness. He looked at the rotating stars and the silhouettes hovering above them. He turned back to Uncle Jiu and replied, "Master, I have finished refining the seven Po. If there had been more time, I think I could have started on the three souls."
Uncle Jiu stood there in stunned silence. His good mood from refining his Human Soul vanished instantly. To jump straight to the perfection of the Seven Po Realm upon reaching the Earth Master rank his disciple was simply too monstrous.
Uncle Jiu had practiced for years to reach that same level, and he had only managed to break into the Three Souls Realm tonight by leaching off the starlight his disciple had drawn in. Meanwhile, his disciple had hit the cap immediately and was already knocking on the door of the Three Souls Realm.
Though he felt a twinge of "envy, jealousy, and hate," Uncle Jiu didn't harbor any ill will. He was a righteous man. It was precisely because of this character trait that Qiu Xia had revealed his origins to him before officially becoming his disciple.
He knew that if someone was truly backed into a corner and hadn't done anything evil, Uncle Jiu wouldn't turn his back on them. If Uncle Jiu were truly a ruthless man, the mortuary wouldn't be such a humble place.
Perhaps because the three hundred and sixty-five stars were now permanently linked, the solar energy was automatically drawn into the formation in Qiu Xia's Sea of Consciousness even after the sun rose.
Specifically, the external solar power fell directly into the visualized Solar Star. That energy was then transmitted to the other stars, eventually spreading through the entire array to continue tempering his Three Souls and Seven Po automatically.
Now, in addition to the Sage's Theft as an auxiliary cultivation tool, Qiu Xia had the Stellar Visualization Method working for him as well.
After breakfast, Qiu Xia created several Shadow Clones to stay in the mortuary and copy down various Ninjutsu. His main body headed out to continue experimenting with his techniques, as he hadn't finished testing them all yet.
Because he had broken through to the Earth Master rank, the power of his Ninjutsu had increased by several tiers. If he hadn't known to set up arrays in advance to block the sound and sight of his training, the nearby villagers would have likely come running to see what was happening.
For the next three days, Qiu Xia spent his daylight hours testing and transcribing Ninjutsu and his nights cultivating. Eventually, he grew bored of the techniques and began to research Talismans. At the same time, he handed over the scrolls copied by his Shadow Clones to Uncle Jiu.
Once Uncle Jiu received the Ninjutsu, he began his own training. He found that there were some he could learn and others he simply couldn't.
The logic was simple: Uncle Jiu could practice Fire Release and Earth Release Ninjutsu with ease. However, attempting Wind, Water, or Lightning Release was largely a waste of effort. It wasn't that he was completely incapable of performing them, but the cost outweighed the benefits.
For instance, using a C-rank Fire style technique only consumed one percent of his mana. However, using a C-rank technique of the Wind, Water, or Lightning attributes would instantly drain ten percent of his reserves.
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