Chapter 69: Universe

"The essence of the Great Sun Astral God Meditation Art lies in venerating the Astral God as a radiant great sun, meditating upon its brilliance until the light of the Great Sun and the Astral God merge into one. By immersing oneself in the radiance of the great sun, one numbs the senses and aligns the mind's frequency to resonate with the astral energy. But... this is not the path I want to follow."

Li Pin had attempted it before. Like many ordinary people, he seemed to lack that crucial element known as "aptitude." Even when relying on his innate abilities, he was unable to embark on the path of an Astral Cultivator.

Hence, he didn't aspire to resonate with the Astral God or bath beneath its starlight. What he needed to do was leverage his unique advantages, follow this path, meditate on the planet, and use its magnetic field to hone his spirit.

Meditate on the great sun, using its fierce and fiery light to forge my will. Or... meditate on the black hole that destroys everything, the galaxy that illuminates the starry sky, or confront the universe's vastness, depth, and infinity....

Li Pin paused.

"No."

At his level right now, he was still far from being capable of meditating on the universe. Just glimpsing a trace of the universe's true essence nearly led him to be swallowed by its vastness and fall into an endless void.

One step at a time. I've experimented with this before. I can observe my cells, but I cannot see substances at the molecular or atomic levels, let alone the internal structure of an atom itself.... It's akin to how I can barely 'see' the universe now. If I aim to clearly discern the distribution of galaxies within the universe... Clearly, I still have a long way to go.

Numerous inspirations flooded Li Pin's mind as he began to shape the initial form of a completely new method for meditating and refining spirits.

Meditating on the Astral Gods or the meditation arts could only serve as a reference; they didn't entirely apply to him. He needed to leverage his "gift" advantage to construct a universe, an internal universe rooted in his mind yet perfectly mirroring the external cosmos.

With the experience of nearly plunging into eternal nothingness earlier, Li Pin understood that the universe he constructed had to remain in a primordial state, devoid even of galaxies.

He couldn't contemplate such a vast starry sky. Even if his "gift" enabled him to do so, his brain wouldn't withstand the enormous amount of data equivalent to hundreds of billions of galaxies.

"Chaos, universe, galaxies, black holes, stars, planets.... Until... step by step... the living being on the planet... which is..." Li Pin paused briefly, "me."

***

Ring-ring-ring!

His phone rang once again.

Li Pin glanced at it. Li Yunyao was calling.

The missed call from earlier was also from her.

Li Pin answered the call, and Li Yunyao's congratulatory voice came through quickly.

He listened quietly.

Li Pin was the one who won the first match, yet she seemed even happier than he was, chatting animatedly on the phone.

Li Pin listened and occasionally responded. However, his mind was still fixated on his earlier experience of touching upon the forbidden realm.

The terrifying sensation of plummeting endlessly, as if plunging into eternal nothingness and unable to move an inch....

Juxtaposing this with the meditation and spirit-tempering route he recently devised, Li Pin couldn't help but smile.

How interesting. Since you failed to conquer me this time, wait to be conquered by me next time.

Li Yunyao's phone call lasted for over ten minutes before coming to an end. When Li Pin heard the hang-up sound, he calmly put down his phone.

He didn't immediately delve into inspecting his brain with his "Clairvoyance" gift or act on his idea of meditating on the primordial form of the universe to enhance his mental spirit. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused on achieving complete tranquility.

He remained in this serene state until he eventually drifted into sleep.

***

The next day, Li Pin opened his eyes.

Although he hadn't meditated the previous night, his mental spirit attribute had still increased by 0.1 points. Even his mind had become much clearer, making it significantly easier for him to control the Five Qi's to Primordiality Art and the Samadhi Heart-Training Art.

Li Pin quickly pieced it all together. "It's the increase in my mental spirit attribute that caused these changes."

Martial Saint!

This phase was also known as spirit refining; refining qi into Spirit.

The realms of Core Formation and Aura Cultivation passively increased qi and blood attributes, whereas Spirit Refining Martial Saint enhanced the mental spirit attributes.

To some extent, Li Pin had already begun refining spirit.

Of course, after Core Formation, cultivators were essentially considered to have entered the realm of refining spirit. Vitality, Qi, and Spirit were originally an integrated whole, inseparable from each other. Once martial artists formed their core, even if they didn't intentionally meditate or refine their spirits, their mental spirit attribute would still increase as their bodies strengthened.

This was also why healthy people appeared lively and energetic.

In the Core Formation and Aura Cultivation stages, the growth of the mental spirit attribute was exceedingly slow, so much so that it could increase by one or two points only over a period of eight to ten years. It was only at the pinnacle of Aura Cultivation, after completing blood renewal practices and pushing the body to its limits, when qi and blood could no longer be increased, could extreme emotions be used to accelerate spirit refinement and significantly boost the mental spirit attribute.

While Li Pin had indeed completed the practice of the Imperishable True Body in the Core Formation stage, he had only just begun the process of tempering his organs and renewing his blood. Despite this early stage, he had already advanced to refining his spirit, surpassing many grandmasters by a significant margin.

After showering, Li Pin glanced at his phone.

Fang Lingjue was already almost downstairs.

He quickly stepped out and found Fang Lingjue's car parked in front of the mansion.

"Li Pin, did you receive the message? You have a match this morning and another this afternoon," Fang Lingjue said, his brow furrowed. "I should have known better than to take you to the gambling center. If we hadn't gone there, you wouldn't have bet on yourself to become Jiang Province number one."

Li Pin nodded. "Two matches?"

It was perfect timing. His mental spirit attribute had surged by 3.24 points overnight. He needed to experience firsthand the effects of this significant increase in his mental spirit attribute. And what better way to test it than through two actual matches?

"I hope my opponents won't be too weak," Li Pin remarked.

"They won't be. They've scheduled two matches for you in a single day. At the very least, they'll be Core Force level, or possibly even Core Formation martial artists from other cities," Fang Lingjue replied.

Li Pin smiled. "Is that so?"

Now that Chang Yueming's double-layered Force had given him insight into the initial form of the wave-stacking technique, he wondered what surprises the two Core Formation experts would bring him this time.

Li Pin got into the car, and after a short drive, they arrived at the Jiang Province Martial Society. By the time Fang Lingjue parked, there was only thirty minutes remaining until Li Pin's first match.

Nevertheless, Li Pin wasn't in any rush. He proceeded calmly toward the first training area where his match was scheduled to be.

There were many reporters around interviewing the competition's participants at the entrance to the first training area, and one of them seemed to recognize Li Pin, immediately approaching him.

"Nice to meet you, Master Li. We're reporters from the Jiang Province City Channel. We've heard about your wager at the gambling center, betting on yourself to become Jiang Province's number one. Do you truly believe you can overcome all your opponents and emerge victorious in the end?"

"Every martial artist naturally needs to have confidence in themselves, but for me, facing a lot of strong opponents adds more meaning to this competition than simply winning first place," Li Pin explained.

"Confidence? Are you suggesting that you've already secured first place?" the reporter hastily followed up.

Fang Lingjue discerned the reporter's obvious attempt to stir controversy for attention and promptly intervened, "Alright, it's almost time for Master Li to enter the arena. Please refrain from disrupting his upcoming performance."

As Fang Lingjue spoke, he pulled Li Pin along and headed straight toward the training arena.

Despite there being two martial artists already sparring, the arrival of Li Pin and Fang Lingjue still attracted many eyes.

Among them, Li Pin spotted a person he was "familiar" with.

Dragonfist, Jiang Zhenhai.