Chapter 1416: Nine Stars Become One

A massive explosion erupted, causing the Saintly Forest Courtyard to shake. It was as though the world was falling apart. If it wasn't for the formation around the courtyard, the entire imperial city would probably shake as well.

Abruptly, the stele shone with a dazzling radiance, flooding the Saintly Forest Courtyard with light. Eventually, the radiance broke through the seal around the courtyard and connected to the sky, manifesting an astonishing phenomenon that hung above the imperial city. First, the people of the city were amazed by the phenomenon they saw. Then, the amazement was replaced with sheer shock.

"Th-this light is coming from the Saintly Forest Courtyard. What's happening?"

"I remember that when the imperial uncle challenged the Saintly Forest Ranking 1,000 years ago, something similar happened as well. However, the phenomenon back then wasn't this bright."

"Has someone succeeded in challenging the ranking? If that is true, then this would be the biggest event in the city in the last 1,000 years."

"Who is the genius capable enough to enter the ranking? We need to go get a look!"

...

Numerous cultivators rushed toward the Saintly Forest Courtyard. All of them wanted to know the identity of the person who had just entered the Saintly Forest Ranking. After all, the appearance of a new name on the ranking signified the emergence of a new genius cultivator.

In the imperial palace was a middle-aged man clad in a golden dragon robe with a golden crown on his head. His gaze pierced through numerous obstructions to reach the sky. With a bright radiance in his eyes, he muttered, "It has been 1,000 years. Has someone finally broken the shackles?"

In the Imperial Teacher Residence, the current imperial teacher, Meng Youfang, had also noticed the phenomenon. As he stroked his beard, he said, "Chaotic times will give rise to many heroes. Looks like this saying is right, after all. I wonder who it is. If I can recruit that person to the Imperial Teacher Residence, it would be greatly beneficial for the first prince. With this new helper, the first prince will have an even greater chance at inheriting the throne."

The imperial teacher then sent some people to figure out the identity of the person who had just entered the Saintly Forest Ranking. Many hidden experts in the imperial city also noticed the phenomenon. All of them sighed at how the ranking was finally changing again after 1,000 years.

Little did they know, those in the Saintly Forest Courtyard were even more shocked than those outside. The phenomenon they saw was even more spectacular than what the others saw outside. Clumps of dazzling radiance swirled around the stele before converging on Xiang Shaoyun as though they were giving him a baptism of light. The entire scene looked incredibly sacred and filled the surrounding onlookers with envy.

They were sure that the dazzling clumps of radiance were the purest of energies that could strengthen one's body and cleanse one's marrow. These clumps could even have some other unknown functions. This process was basically the stele's reward to a successful challenger.

Meanwhile, Xiang Shaoyun, who was bathing in the light, felt extremely comfortable. Every inch of his body had been cleansed while his body was brimming with life. His flesh, meridians, and organs had all been strengthened, as though he had once again regained his filthless body.

If he was to take off his clothes right now, one would be able to see that his entire body had turned sparkling and translucent and that his flesh was as tender as a newborn. His flesh was also extremely durable. Not even saint-grade weapons could harm him.

In the midst of his transformation, Xiang Shaoyun seemed to hear sounds of chanting in his head, as though these were the voices that had traveled through the passage of time to the present. The voices resounded in his head repeatedly like the ringing of the bell in the morning. Eventually, the voices triggered some sort of resonance with the Desolation mantra.

Slowly but surely, the missing parts of the Desolation mantra started appearing. Without knowing it, Xiang Shaoyun started chanting the Desolation mantra. The Desolation mantra, an ancient scripture with vast knowledge, contained the supreme truth.

As Xiang Shaoyun chanted the mantra, he seemed to see through the long passage of time. His gaze eventually reached the beginning of time. There, nine supreme experts could be seen working together to create the Desolation mantra. The nine supreme experts were all the supreme geniuses of an era. They possessed unrivaled wisdom and strength, each representing the peak of a different power. Together, they created the Desolation mantra to serve as the hope of humanity.

Xiang Shaoyun started chanting the Desolation mantra alongside the nine supreme experts. As he chanted, his comprehension of the numerous powers deepened incessantly. Slowly but surely, he gained an understanding of how to regain his astral cultivation.

The Desolation mantra created by the nine supreme experts also had a deeper meaning. The nine experts hoped that those after them would be able to cultivate nine different powers and create the strongest battle physique a human could ever have. They named the physique the Primal Inception Physique. Primal inception, the most original and strongest of energies, was something that existed during the beginning of time. No other energy could compare with it.

Xiang Shaoyun had been cultivating nine different energies all along. Eventually, he relied on his astral cosmos sea to fuse the nine energies into primal inception energy. However, that wasn't the best method of utilizing the primal inception energy. As such, he wasn't able to forge the proper Primal Inception Physique.

Now that his nine stars had been destroyed, he only had his astral cosmos sea remaining. He could no longer absorb the ambient energy of the world. How should he regain his astral cultivation? How was he supposed to replenish his primal inception energy?

Reversing the cosmos, nine stars become one!

After chanting the Desolation mantra again and again, those words suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"Reversing the cosmos, nine stars become one!" Suddenly, Xiang Shaoyun's mind became fully fixated on that single sentence. As he bathed in endless radiance, the broken pieces of the stars in his body started to shine brightly and slowly fuse with the dazzling radiance seeping into his body.

Xiang Shaoyun felt himself standing amidst the universe, witnessing numerous celestial bodies orbiting around him. He personally witnessed the birth and destruction of stars. No matter what happened to these celestial bodies, they would still remain in the boundless universe, forever unable to escape the prison of existence known as the cosmos.

Abruptly, the Light of Wisdom started shining. During that instant, he seemed to have seen through the truth of time and fully grasped the great dao. Countless strands of energy came pouring into his body. Even the ambient energy in the Saintly Forest Courtyard started converging on him, entering his shattered stars. Instead of coming together, the shattered stars headed toward the astral cosmos sea.

The first shattered piece to arrive adhered itself to the astral cosmos sea. In a perfectly natural manner, it became one with the astral cosmos sea, causing the astral cosmos sea to become even more corporeal than before. More and more shattered pieces adhered themselves to the astral cosmos sea, causing the astral cosmos sea to rapidly grow and become more and more corporeal. All lives in the astral cosmos sea also underwent a massive transformation. It was as though a brand new universe was rapidly taking form.