Chapter 118: Starlight Between the Fingers (Part 2)
With a slight exertion of force, fingers clenched together could grasp things, but some things were very hard to hold onto—like sand, like sea breeze, like sunlight, like starlight, like time.
Chen Changsheng spread his fingers apart, and the starlight slipped through.
From spring to deep autumn, through countless nights, had the starlight that fell upon him also slipped through like this?
The beginning of cultivation was to light one’s Destiny Star, then to draw starlight for marrow cleansing. For countless years, countless cultivators had repeated this process. The star radiance falling from the Destiny Star silently transformed the cultivators’ bodies—from hair, nails, and skin, all the way to bones, muscles, and even internal organs. Never had it been heard of starlight slipping through the surface of a cultivator’s body.
A cultivator’s body was not made of glass, nor was it made of water.
Chen Changsheng had thoroughly read the Daoist Canon but had never encountered a similar example. However, in the appendix of the Four Classics of Meditation and Observation, he had seen a passage that described a medical case—over a hundred years ago, a man from the south had inexplicably burst into flames and died. The authorities and nearby sects investigated his cause of death but found no clues. They only knew that the man had been cleansing his marrow for a full thirteen years, yet had never succeeded.
Since childhood, he had studied medicine under the Daoist Priest of Calculations, so he paid extra attention to the details in that medical case. He noticed that the author had mentioned that the southerner who died by spontaneous combustion had suffered from a condition called “collapse and leakage syndrome.”
So-called collapse and leakage syndrome referred to a congenital deficiency of qi and blood, causing fear of wind and light. What did that have to do with spontaneous combustion?
Through this passage, this bizarre medical case, and the strange situation he himself faced, Chen Changsheng arrived at a bold, even absurd hypothesis.
The collapse and leakage syndrome suffered by that southerner who died by spontaneous combustion was actually just a peculiarity of his innate constitution. When he drew starlight for marrow cleansing, the starlight falling from the night sky did not transform his hair and skin. Instead, it directly penetrated his skin and entered the deepest parts of his body.
That man had cleansed his marrow for thirteen years. One could imagine how much star radiance had accumulated inside his body. Later, for some reason—a reason Chen Changsheng now vaguely guessed—that accumulated star radiance, without the man’s preparation, burst forth in an instant.
At first glance, this speculation seemed hard to understand—why could starlight pass through skin?
But think carefully: when a cultivator meditated, neither the roof nor clothing could sever the connection between the Destiny Star and the cultivator, nor could they block that starlight. So why couldn’t starlight penetrate the skin and enter the body directly?
Moreover, if there were absolutely no such possibility, why would that sage of the National Church from centuries ago have so solemnly recorded that medical case in the appendix of the Four Classics of Meditation and Observation?
The most important reason Chen Changsheng made such a bold hypothesis was still the many inexplicable problems he encountered during his cultivation. Being able to light his own Destiny Star proved his spiritual sense was strong enough. Logically, the subsequent cultivation should have been a natural progression. Who would have thought he would be forced to stop at the threshold of the Marrow Cleansing realm, stuck there for half a year?
Even if it was because his meridians were different from ordinary people’s, preventing him from cleansing his marrow like them, where had all that starlight gone?
Had it truly scattered and vanished without a trace?
No, he didn’t believe it.
After so many nights, he had long grown suspicious. He felt it made no sense. If Heaven rewards diligence, who in the world was more diligent than him?
Of course, if Heaven was truly unjust, he had nothing to say. But at least at this moment, he firmly believed that when it came to drawing starlight for marrow cleansing, he had at least accomplished the first three words.
Yet even a powerhouse of Jin Yulu’s level could sense no fluctuations of true essence in his body. If the starlight he had drawn on these nights was inside his body, where was it now?
How could he find it and begin to use it?
Just like finding his Destiny Star, if he wanted to know his body’s condition, only he himself was the best observer.
Chen Changsheng knew what that method was.
It was Meditation and Observation.
To cultivate, one must first light the Destiny Star, then cleanse the marrow, and only then perform Meditation and Self-Observation.
This order absolutely could not be reversed, because if it were, the cultivator would either die or be severely injured—no exceptions.
Countless years ago, some cultivators had tried to blaze new trails, but now, no one dared to do such a crazy thing anymore.
The physical strength of human cultivators was the weakest among the three races of demons, monsters, and humans. If one had not successfully cleansed their marrow and crossed a certain critical threshold to ensure the width and strength of their meridians could accommodate the flow of true essence converted from starlight, attempting Meditation and Self-Observation to mobilize true essence with spiritual sense was simply seeking death.
If the riverbank hadn’t been reinforced, one would try to channel seawater backward?
Without thoroughly strengthening every hair and every bone through marrow cleansing, one would dare let the power of true essence carve out new territory and wildly transform the body?
To perform Meditation and Self-Observation, achieving great success in marrow cleansing was the most basic requirement. Chen Changsheng was not a demon, so he had to obey this iron law. If he tried to skip the Marrow Cleansing stage and directly perform Meditation and Self-Observation based on the knowledge in the Daoist Canon, even if he found the star radiance hidden somewhere in his body, the moment he triggered it, what awaited him would most likely be instant death. If his deduction was correct, the southerner who died by spontaneous combustion in the appendix of the Four Classics of Meditation and Observation had clearly lost his life in such a muddled way.
But if he did not perform Meditation and Self-Observation, he could never find the star radiance he suspected was hidden in his body, and he would remain stuck at the threshold of the Marrow Cleansing realm forever, unable to take a single step forward. Wasn’t that equally despairing?
This was a dilemma.
Even he, who valued time the most, would inevitably need a long time to think, to weigh the pros and cons, and to hesitate.
But the Grand Examination was not far off, and the time left for him was truly running out.
Heaven, or fate, was truly unfair.
His fate was really bad. Not only did he have a difficult-to-treat illness, but now it seemed that a situation rarely encountered by cultivators had also befallen him.
He was very frustrated. At this moment, he happened to hear Xuan Yuan Po shouting from afar about eating a late-night snack.
Due to health reasons, he rarely ate late-night snacks, which only made him more frustrated.
He didn’t want to see them. He walked down the small building, pushed open the new door on the courtyard wall, and stepped into the Hundred Herbs Garden.
The autumn forest swayed gently in the night breeze, and faint lights flickered in the distance.
What should he do?
He was still indecisive. Naturally, he thought of the black dragon beneath the imperial palace, and of the words he had spoken before it.
To survive, it seemed he truly had to risk his life.
Then he remembered that he had promised the black dragon he would visit it but had never had the chance.
Just then, he saw a being entirely pitch-black, like a divine creature.
It wasn’t the black dragon.
It was the black sheep.
Chen Changsheng was surprised. He walked over, crouched in front of the black sheep, and asked, “How did you end up here?”
(After finishing the last chapter and uploading it, I actually forgot to publish this chapter. I wrote it faster than I imagined, and I was feeling proud, but then I looked… Everyone, please note, today there are two chapters. There’s one before this, so don’t miss it. Also, regarding Chen Changsheng’s cultivation, I’ve been struggling for two days. Today, after discussing and arguing with a friend, I think I’ve figured it out. But please understand, I write life with great authenticity, I write fights decently most of the time, but when I write about cultivation, I overthink too much—things like self-consistency and all that nonsense. Fortunately, starting from this chapter, the problems will all be resolved.
By the way, this isn’t considered tormenting the protagonist, right? His luck has been this good…)