Chapter 189: The River of Stars Falls to Earth

The House of Waveswept Rocks.

When the carriage stopped outside, Zheng Muyao was just about to follow Su Yi in when she heard him say, “You should go home.”

“Uh….” Zheng Muyao batted her eyes, then pleaded, “Uncle Su, I want to go to your house and have a look around.”

But it was as if Su Yi didn’t even hear her. “Go back and ask around for me. I want to know whether or not Zhu Guqing has made it back to Heaven’s Origin Academy.”

On his way back, he wondered,

Why was it that despite the commotion, Zhu Guqing didn’t make an appearance? She's Wen Lingzhao's master!

Even?Wen?Lingxue was nowhere to be found.?Something wasn’t quite right here.

Remember, when he first left the Cloudriver Prefectural Capital, Zhu Guqing and Wen Lingxue had already boarded their passenger ship and left. Based on the distance, they ought to have arrived in the Imperatorial Provincial Capital three days later.

Which was to say that they should have arrived the day before yesterday.

But today, during his trip to Heaven’s Origin Academy, he saw no sign of either one of them.

“Zhu Guqing? Uncle Su, don’t tell me you’ve taken a shine to that mature, icy beauty?” Zheng Muyao couldn’t help but ask.

Su Yi stretched out his finger and poked her forehead. “What do you spend all your time thinking about? Investigate, then come back tonight and tell me what you’ve learned.”

With that, he turned and walked into the House of Waveswept Rocks.

What’s the point of being young if you don’t live it up a little? Uncle Su, you’re so young, and you already have a peerless beauty like Cha Jin by your side. Now you want me to investigate Zhu Guqing too? How could you possibly be up to any good…??Zheng Muyao thought to herself.

She turned and went back to the carriage. “Uncle Liao, we’re going home.”

This sultry, fiery beauty in black now occupied Su Yi’s former seat. She sprawled out lazily, just as he had. However, she felt rather stifled.

On their way back from Heaven’s Origin Academy, she relentlessly peppered Su Yi with questions in an attempt to find out what happened after Ning Sihua arrived, as well as how exactly Su Yi made it out.

Alas, Su Yi refused to utter a word.

It doesn’t matter. What happened today was scary enough already. I’ll go back and tell my father what I do know, then see what he says….?Zheng Muyao said to herself.

……

The House of Waveswept Rocks.

Cha Jin’s dark hair was tied up in a bun and held in place with a wooden hairpin, revealing her long, snowy neck. Her sleeves were rolled up, so her ivory forearms were on full display as she tended to the lush vegetation growing on both sides of the pavilion.

Today, she wore a white skirt that went just past her knees. When she bent at the waist, her slender back and straight, smooth thighs created an enticing, graceful outline.

Below the waist but above the legs, her skirts created a particularly ample and abundant curve.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice rang out behind her. “Is there any food left?”

Cha Jin shook, then whipped around, scissors in hand. When she saw it was Su Yi, she sheepishly stuck out her tongue. “So, you’re back, Young Lord.”

Su Yi was already walking toward the pavilion. Cha Jin hurried after him. “Young Lord, I’ve already prepared a meal from the Five Flavor House, as well as a fine ten-year brew. Would you like me to warm it up for you?”

“No need,” said Su Yi offhandedly. “I’m going to go cultivate. If anyone comes calling, turn them away at the door, no matter who they are.”

Cha Jin nodded. “Alright.”

Suddenly, Su Yi turned and asked, “Where did you buy those clothes?”

“Ah?” This question caught Cha Jin off guard. For Su Yi to?ask something?so strange left her dumbstruck, and it took her a moment to recover enough to say, “I bought this in the city, at Ruifu House...”

Inwardly, she muttered to herself,?Why would the young lord suddenly concern himself with that?

Don’t tell me….

She suddenly recalled that Su Yi arrived without her knowing it while she was pruning the trees and flowers. He’d been standing there behind her as she bent forward…..

Cha Jin’s pretty face flushed red, and her heart filled with indescribable embarrassment.

No way…. Don’t tell my skirt is so form-fitting that he saw…

Su Yi turned around. “Find some spare time to go buy some more. Mm, you’ve seen Lingxue before. Buy something that’ll suit her figure.”

Before he even finished speaking, Su Yi turned and walked toward the pavilion’s second floor.

Just moments ago, Cha Jin had been bashful, and her thoughts ran wild. But now, she felt as if she’d taken a knife to the heart, and she stood there in a daze.?He’s making me buy clothes for another woman?

And the woman in question is his little sister-in-law! You! How can you act like that?

Don’t you think that’s too much?

Cha Jin’s expression changed erratically. She still didn’t know that today, Su Yi had officially ended things with Wen Lingzhao….

If she knew, perhaps she might understand a little?

……

After eating, Su Yi sat cross-legged, calmed his heart, and began his cultivation.

During his clash with Ning Sihua, he suddenly realized a certain something—

The Great Zhou was part of the mundane world, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any exceptional or powerful figures living there.

Take Ning Sihua, the palace head of Heaven’s Origin Academy. It was obvious at a glance that she wasn’t a martial artist in the common sense of the word.

Even those experts the people called “Earthly Immortals” couldn’t possibly rejuvenate their youth as she had.

Furthermore, Ning Sihua understood the secrets of “spiritual awakening of the acupoints”, and she called him “Fellow Daoist.” It was obvious that she’d picked up various hints from him too.

All of this was enough to prove that Ning Sihua wasn’t simple.

The Azure Continent contained over a hundred nations. The Great Zhou was just one of them, and it merely reigned over one tiny corner of the continent.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t possible that Ning Sihua was the only special or mysterious figure out there.

But that’s what makes things interesting. Without people like her, the mundane world would be far too dull….?Su Yi muttered to himself.

Two hours later.

Crack!?The tier-three spirit stone Su Yi had clutched in his palm shattered into powder.

He thought for a moment, then took out another.

After slaying the Wheel of the Moon Sect’s Liu Hongqi, he now had ten additional tier-three spirit stones. How could he possibly refrain from using them?

Perhaps because he’d finally freed himself from the fetters of his marriage contract, or perhaps because his encounter with Ning Sihua had stimulated him Su Yi already felt it necessary to increase his cultivation.

For an existence on his level, so long as he had ample cultivation resources, raising his cultivation wasn’t hard.

The key issue was that he wanted to create foundations in the Grand Dao that far surpassed those of his previous life.

Take the mid-stage Qi Accumulation Realm, “Opening Meridians.” To others, opening and connecting all twelve spiritual meridians required who-knows-how-much time, energy, and resources.

But Su Yi excavated all twelve a long time ago, as he stepped into the middle stages of the Qi Accumulation Realm. His energy flowed through his entire body, circulating over and over through his one hundred and eight spiritual apertures and twelve fully-open spiritual meridians, creating an abstruse and uninterrupted cycle.

Opening all twelve spiritual meridians, one by one, was like creating a bridge linking a martial artist with heaven and earth.

In a sense, the martial artist’s body was like a bridge. It connected them to all of creation, and when they cultivated, they could obtain a greater degree of spiritual energy.

But to Su Yi, his current attainments in the Opening Meridians stage were still lacking something—his Hidden Meridian!

The Hidden Meridian connected a martial artist’s bodily shell and soul. It traveled above the twelve spiritual meridians, and only those who achieved “full spiritual awakening of the acupoints” could sense it.

Over the past few days, when Su Yi cultivated, he really could sense that invisible Hidden Meridian, like an intangible bridge between his body and soul.

However, whenever he tried to condense it, it seemed vague and indistinct. Try as he might, he just couldn’t step over the threshold. As such, to the current Su Yi, the only hard part about increasing his cultivation was resolving the problem of condensing the invisible Hidden Meridian.

Just like ‘spiritual awakening of the acupoints’, I’m afraid condensing my Hidden Meridian will require a lucky break….

The easiest place to find a lucky break was in the middle of a life-or-death battle.

However, that didn’t mean you could only find them in combat.

Su Yi thought back to his past life’s 108,000 years of cultivation experience. He could think of well over a hundred potential methods to break through this bottleneck.

But in the end, he rejected all of them.

Instead, he decided to search for his lucky break within himself

Or rather, within the Sword of the Nine Hells!

Su Yi naturally hadn’t forgotten what happened when he achieved spiritual awakening of the acupoints. He called upon the Sword of the Nine Hells, and its power nourished him, bringing his already firm foundations in the early stages of Qi Accumulation up yet another level.

And the Hidden Meridian connected the flesh and the soul, while the Sword of the Nine Hells had always occupied his soul. He could take advantage of that.

If I use the Pine and Crane Body Refining Technique to guide my breathing and circulate my cultivation base, plus the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra to support me from within my soul, the two can work together. That way, as I condense my Hidden Meridian, I can summon a trace of the Sword of the Nine Hells’ power….

He pondered for a long time, running numerous mental simulations to ensure that whatever danger he encountered wouldn’t be fatal. Once he finished his process, Su Yi didn’t hesitate to put his plan into action.

When you?walked?the path of cultivation, you?could?never be absolutely certain of anything.

If he wanted to obtain the highest Grand Dao, if he wanted greater strength than in his past life, he’d encounter risks he couldn’t predict based on his past experiences with each step he took.

Su Yi had long since prepared himself for this.

Time slipped by. Outside the windows, the skies gradually darkened as night set in…..

I wonder what the young lord wants to eat tonight??Cha Jin gathered up her skirts and sat on the stone stool before the flower racks. As her ample behind pressed against the edges of the stool, it created a bulge of soft flesh.

She held her chin in one hand and stared off into the sunset with eyes like autumn waters.

Her mind wandered for a while, until suddenly, she was stunned. An unbelievable scene was now reflected in her pupils—

Countless fine streaks of flowing radiance appeared against the deep darkness of the impending night, a colorful display.

It was subtle, and the night was dark. If you didn’t look closely, it was extremely hard to notice.

“What is that?” Cha Jin silently sat up, and her beautiful eyes widened.

.

...

Heaven’s Origin Academy.

Atop the highest peak of Mount Autumnleaf, a petite figure suddenly shot out of the Palace of Withering and Growth. She wore a long white skirt patterned with clouds, and her face was as immature as an adolescent’s.

The winds howled over the mountaintop, and her clothes danced madly in the gales. The mysterious palace master suddenly raised her head, her eyes glowed like golden twin moons.

She saw it too: she didn’t know when they’d appeared, but there were now countless, densely-packed stars glittering within the deep darkness of the night skies. They flashed, there one minute, gone the next, circulating and gathering together and forming a river of stars so vast, it was beyond imagining.

Then, the head and tail of the river of stars connected, forming a circle, which slowly revolved.

It was like an incomparably enormous celestial whirlpool beyond the heavens, vast beyond the limits of imagination!

Afterward, countless seemingly illusory, mysterious streaks of flowing light flew from the depths of the celestial whirlpool, raining down from beyond the heavens.

As if the light of the galaxy were falling from the night heavens!

This was an unbelievable, unprecedented phenomenon. Even Ning Sihua felt her heart shake, and she felt dazed, tiny, and insignificant.

What person could possibly have triggered such a peerless phenomenon during their cultivation?