Chapter 376: Sword Enters the Dancing Robe, Blood Beads Dangle from Earlobe
To Mao Lu, the battle between Chen Changsheng and Liang Hongzhuang was far less interesting than the grass. If there had been other onlookers, they would likely have thought the same, because the disparity in strength between the two combatants was vast, and because Su Li’s remaining power had already been used to block Xue He’s blade strike. But for some reason, the only spectator present, Su Li, watched with rapt attention, not blinking once.
Liang Hongzhuang wore a red dancing robe, silk ribbons swirling around him. The aura of a Star Gathering realm expert danced along with them, circulating everywhere, omnipresent.
This was a complete, even perfect domain, with no visible flaws.
Chen Changsheng could not see any, but just as Su Li had said to him at the end, even if it was a guess, even if it was a gamble, he had to act, had to take the risk. Of course, since it was a guess, since it was a gamble, there seemed little hope of winning the bet. The only thing in his favor was that, unlike other Penetrating Obscurity realm cultivators, he had no understanding of the Star Gathering realm at all.
Back in the National Academy, when he thought he had failed to cleanse his marrow, he had actually succeeded. When he thought he dared not meditate, he had already drawn starlight to penetrate the obscure. When viewing the stele at the front tomb, he had layered the lines from the Heavenly Book Stele into a star chart—this method was itself a form of gathering stars. He was an anomaly in the cultivation world, always practicing with methods that surpassed his current realm. In other words, on the path of cultivation, he did not walk faster than others, but he saw farther—he knew what gathering stars truly meant.
Cultivators draw starlight to cleanse marrow, meditate to transform starlight into true essence, then use the power of starlight to push open the gate of the obscure mansion. The next step is to continue drawing starlight into the body, dotting stars within the Spiritual Terrace Mountain, aligning those stars with their own acupoints, stimulating true essence, drawing their own star chart, and rebuilding their inner microcosm. Manifested externally, this becomes the star domain.
The star domain is the world of a Star Gathering realm cultivator, the projection of the starry sky within the cultivator’s body and sea of consciousness.
The true starry sky is tranquil and eternal, solemn and majestic. In common cultivation knowledge, the star domain of a Star Gathering realm cultivator should also be perfect, without any flaws. Even the voids seen through by higher-realm cultivators are not true emptiness, but rather the cultivator’s limited realm, an inability to perfectly control their divine sense and true essence.
Chen Changsheng did not think so. He believed there was no such thing as a perfect star domain, because… the true starry sky is not a static, solemn, eternal existence, but is always in a state of dynamic balance. Since it is a dynamic balance, once an external force is introduced, this balanced state will always be broken at some specific moment—this sounded like the principle Su Li had taught him to break Xue He’s blade domain. In fact, his understanding had even surpassed Su Li’s concept of the Wisdom Sword. But for now, neither Su Li nor he himself fully understood what he had realized or discovered, and naturally, they could not imagine how this understanding would change his future cultivation and battles, or even the history of the entire cultivation world.
Watching Liang Hongzhuang’s dancing robe flutter, countless fragments of information raced through Chen Changsheng’s sea of consciousness, calculating endlessly, sensing the aura attached to those silk ribbons and the unusually distinct fluctuations of true essence in the desolate mountains. It was as if he saw countless stars appearing before him. No one could clearly discern the relative positions of these stars in such a short time, nor could anyone deduce the operating laws of this star domain through the brightness and positions of these stars, thereby finding its weakest point. Human calculation had its limits; at such moments, one had to defer to abilities without limits. For example, intuition—though it could still be called guesswork.
Hundreds of stars, bright or dim, shifted colors in his sea of consciousness. Though they seemed still, he felt as if he saw them moving.
A person is the sum of all relationships; fate is the general trajectory of interactions between people; the starry sky is the canvas that describes and explains all this. Liang Hongzhuang’s person was constantly changing—aging by one year with each passing year, slowing by one degree with each jar of strong wine drunk, suffering more with each moment of hatred. Naturally, his star domain was also in constant motion.
Stars shifted, brightness changed, and new paintings emerged.
Vaguely, in the densely star-filled part of that star domain, he suddenly saw a patch of darkness. The surrounding stars seemed to form a corridor, and that darkness was the corridor’s end, leading to an unknown place, perhaps nothingness. Chen Changsheng did not know what it was, could not be sure if what he saw was real, because there were many similar places in this star domain. But at this moment, he could only trust himself. Even if it was a guess, he had to believe it true—he thrust his sword toward that spot!
With a soft hiss, the slightly cold air of the desolate mountains was pierced.
The red dancing ribbons fluttered endlessly.
Chen Changsheng’s sword, clearly about to strike the ribbons, mysteriously vanished, then reappeared elsewhere.
Su Li’s expression tightened slightly, his sword-like brows lifting.
What a fast sword—it had actually broken through Liang Hongzhuang’s star domain. What a fast sword—Liang Hongzhuang had no reaction at all.
A clear cry arose from the wilderness. Liang Hongzhuang retreated in a blur, stopping only after more than ten zhang.
The red silk ribbons slowly drifted down, landing at his feet.
A bright pearl had once adorned his left ear, but now it was gone, leaving only a single crimson blood bead.
Chen Changsheng’s sword had struck precisely at his left ear, at that very pearl.
Liang Hongzhuang raised a hand and touched his left ear. His fingers came away slightly damp. Frowning, he stared at Chen Changsheng, shocked and deeply puzzled. He had actually broken through my star domain? Who is this youth?
Cross-realm battles were not impossible, but most occurred within a major realm—for example, a lower Penetrating Obscurity cultivator might challenge an upper one. But challenging across an entire major realm, like Meditation to Penetrating Obscurity, or Penetrating Obscurity to Star Gathering, was extremely rare. Even in tens of thousands of years of recorded history, there were not many successful cases.
Of course, there were exceptions—geniuses with extraordinary bloodlines. Back when Qiu Shan Jun was still in the Penetrating Obscurity realm, which early Star Gathering cultivator dared claim they could definitely defeat him? Similarly, when Chen Changsheng left the capital, Luo Luo had not yet reached Penetrating Obscurity, but which Penetrating Obscurity cultivator, including himself, would dare say she was inferior to them?
But Chen Changsheng clearly had no special bloodline. His true essence was ordinary, his aura unremarkable… Liang Hongzhuang suddenly thought of a possibility and asked, “Could it be that you are…”
Chen Changsheng saluted with his sword and said, “National Academy, Chen Changsheng.”
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(The next chapter will be a bit later. I need to pack my luggage, send the cat back to its mother’s house, and celebrate the Little New Year. Mm-hmm, I almost forgot—wishing everyone a happy Little New Year!)