Sunlight filtered through the dense foliage of the courtyard's grove, casting countless pillars of light. Within those beams, tiny dust motes drifted, bathing the entire courtyard in a brilliant glow.
Mu Chen sat cross-legged on the stone platform, resting his chin on one hand while caressing the black jade slip with the other. In the end, he still chose to cultivate the Great Pagoda Art, just as his father had advised.
However, even Mu Feng did not know the exact rank of this Great Pagoda Art; he only knew it was incredibly powerful. As for why it was so powerful, he had simply said it was because Mu Chen's mother was extremely strong.
*Is my mother really that powerful?*
Mu Chen's eyes fluttered open. Mu Feng had built the vast Mu Territory in the Northern Spiritual Realm from scratch, establishing himself as one of the region's renowned experts. He was certainly no weakling. If even he considered his mother to be incredibly strong, just how powerful must she be?
“If Mother was that powerful, how did she ever fall for Father?” Mu Chen smirked. It seemed that when they were young, the two of them must have crossed paths by chance and fallen in love. That had to be quite an interesting story.
Mu Chen reined in his wandering thoughts and focused on the black jade slip in his hand. In ten days, he would have to face Liu Yang, who was already at the initial stage of the Spiritual Movement Stage and possessed a Human-Class Spiritual Meridian. Although he had encountered freaks with far superior spiritual meridians in the Spiritual Road, that place was, after all, highly unusual.
In truth, the Spiritual Road was merely a massive trial ground created by the Five Great Academies. It opened once every three years, and its selection process was incredibly peculiar. Participants were not chosen by hand, but were instead detected by a divine artifact known as the Judgment Mirror. Though this method of detection was bizarre, every single person selected possessed extraordinary talent. Generally, anyone who could survive the trials of the Spiritual Road would easily gain entry into the Five Great Academies to pursue their cultivation.
The Spiritual Road was constructed within a unique dimension where no one could utilize any form of energy. In other words, spiritual energy, Dou Qi, or Yuan Power from other dimensions were completely rendered useless there.
Those chosen to enter the Spiritual Road would face all manner of life-and-death perils and undergo brutal trials. Stripped of their spiritual energy, they had to rely solely on their physical bodies, sharp instincts, and wits to survive. Thrusting individuals into such desperate situations was the ultimate way to temper their willpower.
Upon entering the Spiritual Road, every candidate was told that to pursue supreme power, one's resolve must never waver. Only by achieving this could they become true powerhouses.
Over the millennia, seventy to eighty percent of the peak experts who emerged from the Five Great Academies had participated in the Spiritual Road. This alone illustrated the immense significance of being selected for the Spiritual Road, which was also the primary reason why countless geniuses fought so fiercely for a chance to enter.
“The Five Great Academies...”
Mu Chen clenched his fists. He had to return to the Spiritual Road. Not only because of his promise to her, but also for himself. Only by emerging from the Five Great Academies would he be able to live in peace in the vast world outside.
Mu Chen did not know much about the outside world, but occasionally, he would learn a bit from Mu Feng. The place they lived was called the Great Thousand World. It was boundlessly vast, a place where tens of thousands of clans coexisted. The Northern Spiritual Realm was merely like a grain of sand in the deep sea, utterly minuscule. The Great Thousand World also connected to countless other planes, but those could only be considered lower planes, simply because this realm was far superior to them. The Great Thousand World was the center of those countless planes.
Although they were only lower planes, those who could ascend to the Great Thousand World from there were undoubtedly geniuses of peerless talent, the supreme experts of their respective planes. Otherwise, how could they have crossed the planar barriers?
Mu Chen had once overheard some news regarding those experts from the lower planes during a high-level meeting at the Northern Spiritual Academy. The most famous among them were two individuals whose real names he did not know, having only heard of their titles.
Flame Emperor.
Martial Ancestor.
Such domineering titles. Even though they only came from lower planes, Mu Chen could guess that if they were in this Great Thousand World, they would surely be supreme beings. He had heard that the Martial Ancestor had once fought alone against one of the "behemoths" of the Great Thousand World, the Ice Spirit Clan. It was said that the Ice Spirit Clan mobilized their entire strength but still could not stop his lightning staff. That battle was truly earth-shattering. When news of this spread, the entire Great Thousand World was shaken. Furthermore, there were rumors that he had taken such world-shaking action just to save his beloved.
As for the handsome Flame Emperor, he kept a lower profile, but it was said that he had gone to the Fire Spirit Clan. Although the Fire Spirit Clan had invited out their ancestor who had lived for tens of thousands of years, they still could not gain any advantage against the Flame Emperor, and in the end, they could only let him leave. This matter had utterly shocked the entire Fire Spirit Clan.
Those experts from the lower planes still displayed their heroic mettle just as before upon arriving in the Great Thousand World.
The geniuses of that outside world truly stirred one's soul.
Mu Chen also understood that he was currently far from reaching that level, but he believed that as long as he was given time, he would definitely be able to do the same.
Mu Chen looked at the black jade slip in his hand, a smile appearing on his youthful face. *Then, let everything begin with this...*
Mu Chen gently closed his hands, and his eyes shut as well. The black jade slip in his palms gradually emitted a soft light.
When only darkness remained before his eyes, Mu Chen shifted his mind, urging the spiritual energy in his body to flow along the meridians of his arms and enter the jade slip.
"Hum... hum..."
Infused with spiritual energy, the jade slip immediately emitted soft humming sounds. Right after, the darkness began to tear apart, and something seemed to travel along his hand and enter Mu Chen's body.
"Using the body as a pagoda, to witness the Great Dao of Spiritual Energy..."
The abstruse and obscure chant echoed quietly in Mu Chen's mind like an ancient bell. He hurriedly focused his mind to commit this cultivation chant to memory.
The bell-like chanting finally faded away. This cultivation mnemonic touched upon many things, but Mu Chen could not yet comprehend most of them, so he only absorbed the parts he could understand. Even so, the sheer complexity of the mnemonic gave him a massive headache. He had truly never seen a formula so complex and incomprehensible.
Mu Chen's talent was obviously extraordinary; otherwise, how could he have qualified for the Spiritual Road? He gradually immersed himself in comprehending the profound mysteries within the mnemonic. Before long, he began to guide the spiritual energy to move through his meridians according to the pathway described in the formula. However, the pathway of the spiritual energy was rather bizarre. If one were to connect the points along the route, it could easily be seen to form the shape of a strange pagoda.
The spiritual energy silently flowed along this bizarre pathway. Because it was the first cycle, it consumed a vast amount of spiritual power. Nevertheless, Mu Chen suppressed his exhaustion and forced himself to complete a full revolution.
The bizarre pathway made circulating the spiritual energy extremely difficult. Even though Mu Chen strained himself to the limit to control it, he still failed repeatedly. Fortunately, he was not an arrogant person, so he calmed his mind and patiently tried again and again.
This process lasted until noon. After countless failures, Mu Chen's tireless efforts finally paid off, allowing him to successfully guide a strand of spiritual energy through a complete cycle of the meridian pathway.
Upon emerging from the meridians, this originally translucent strand of spiritual energy instantly transformed into a glossy black color.
Only at this stage could the spiritual energy be considered spiritual power. Moreover, while this strand of black spiritual power appeared elegant, Mu Chen could sense a tyrannical and sharp aura hidden within it.
Clearly, the quality of the spiritual power produced by the Great Pagoda Art was exceptionally high, absolutely incomparable to ordinary Spiritual Arts.
*The item left behind by Mother is indeed extraordinary!* Mu Chen thought excitedly, his entire body drenched in sweat.
Mu Chen drew this strand of black spiritual power into his Qi Sea, where it settled quietly in a corner. With his persistent cultivation, this strand of spiritual power would grow larger and larger.
"Buzz!"
The moment that strand of black spiritual power entered his Qi Sea, Mu Chen's body suddenly shuddered, and his mind went dazed. It felt as though something within his body had resonated. It was an incredibly wondrous sensation that arose naturally in his heart before quickly vanishing.
"What was that?"
Mu Chen quickly calmed himself, but his heart was filled with astonishment. He hurriedly inspected his body, but found nothing unusual. It was as if the sensation from earlier had merely been an illusion.
Yet, he was absolutely certain that it was no illusion.
"Could it be because of the Great Pagoda Art?"
Mu Chen fell into deep thought, but in the end, he could only observe the strand of black spiritual power in his Qi Sea. After a long time without finding any clues, he had no choice but to give up. The Great Pagoda Art was left to him by his mother. Although he had never met her, he was certain she would never leave him anything dangerous.
"Or is it because of that?"
With a thought, a black light suddenly emerged from the depths of Mu Chen's Qi Sea, eventually hovering above that strand of black spiritual power.
The black light flickered, finally revealing its true form: a thin sheet of black paper. There were no words on its surface, only a few strange patterns that faded in and out of view.
The black paper floated quietly in his Aura Sea, seemingly protecting that strand of black spiritual energy. Its ancient design exuded an indescribable sense of mystery.
Mu Chen stared at the mysterious black paper, lost in thought. This was something he had obtained by chance in the Spiritual Road, but he had yet to discover its purpose. He only knew it was certainly no ordinary object, and at his current level of strength, he was far from capable of uncovering its secrets.
Could that strange resonance from earlier have been caused by it?
Mu Chen pondered for a moment longer before shaking his head. Although this black paper was mysterious, what had just happened probably wasn't its doing...
After thinking for a long time without any answers, Mu Chen had no choice but to let it go. Forcing the matter from his mind, he resumed observing the strand of black spiritual energy within his Aura Sea. According to the mnemonic chant, the Great Pagoda Art was divided into three stages: Foundation, Condensation, and Pagoda.
However, he understood that he had not even reached the Foundation stage yet; he had merely taken his first steps. To reach the Foundation stage, he would need to cultivate with immense diligence.
In the courtyard, Mu Chen slowly opened his tightly closed eyes. Finding himself drenched in sweat, he couldn't help but shake his head. The Great Pagoda Art was indeed incredibly difficult to cultivate. If merely taking the first steps was already this grueling, he could not begin to imagine how difficult it would be to reach the Pagoda stage.
“I wonder what level of spiritual energy amplification this Great Pagoda Art can achieve?”
Mu Chen thought curiously. A crucial function of a Spiritual Art was to amplify one's spiritual energy. Generally, a High-rank Mortal Grade cultivation art could amplify spiritual energy fivefold, while a Low-rank Spiritual Grade art could amplify it tenfold. The higher the amplification, the greater the power unleashed.
This was also the primary method used to determine the grade of a Spiritual Art.
At this thought, the curiosity in Mu Chen's eyes deepened. With a flick of his wrist, a strand of black spiritual energy instantly materialized in his palm. He slowly closed his hand into a fist, his eyes shining with anticipation.
He wanted to see just how formidable this Great Pagoda Art truly was.