Nine Radiance Sword Sect, West Radiance Peak.

Huo Molei and the others were extremely happy when Chen Xi’s group returned.

But when they found out that Meng Wei, Mo Ya, and all those youths from the Ninth Hell Tribe had chosen to stay in the Bai Clan, they were sorrowful and felt a sense of loss.

On the other hand, Xueyan didn’t reveal an expression of joy when she found out A’xiu had left, and her heart was empty and uncomfortable instead. She actually felt slightly frustrated and at a loss for what to do.

Chen Xi didn’t have any way to console her. Perhaps only time was capable of calming the sense of loss everyone felt.

Subsequently, Chen Xi instructed and briefed Ling Bai and the others about some things before entering into closed door cultivation.

The world of stars.

Chen Xi sat cross-legged beneath the starry sky and looked at the vast river of stars in space from afar. He thought about everything he’d experienced in the recent years, and he had a dazed expression while he frowned sometimes and grinned sometimes...

In the end, his expression became calm.

All memories were a type of experience.

All journeys were a type of toughening.

All of this was a type of cultivation.

Since an unknown period of time, he’d become like a tightly drawn bowstring that dashed about while working hard to move forward. From Pine Mist City to Dragon Lake City, Silken City, and then the Primeval Battlefield.

From the Nine Radiance Sword Sect to the Dark Parasol’s Abyss, the Ninth Hell, Blaze City, Sky Dao Palace, and the Talisman Dimension.

During this period of time, he was perfecting himself at all times and concentrated in his cultivation. He’d experienced the tempering of life and death, experienced the toughening of blood and fire, and he’d traversed through ups and downs that were far from something others could understand.

After going through such a long journey and experiencing so many things, the only thing he had to do now was to accumulate.

Accumulate meant to transform all his experiences into something he could use and allow his path towards the Dao to become even smoother!

After a short moment, Chen Xi stood up and stood beneath the starry sky as he stretched his body, and then he started practicing everything he’d learned.

Slap!

Space shook as force collapsed like a thunderclap. It was the Grand Collapsing Fist, the first martial technique that Chen Xi had cultivated.

But at this moment, every single move of it contained the profundities of the Grand Dao. It moved like a bolt of lightning, struck like thunder, and it couldn’t be compared to its might from before.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

After a short moment, he held the Talisman Armament and executed the Myriad Convergence Sword Scripture. The eight great sword moves contained boundless variations, it was swift raging flames, slow like the growth of trees, quick like lightning, immovable like a mountain...

Just like this, martial technique after martial technique, Dao Art after Dao Art, all of them were executed smoothly like flowing water with a raise of Chen Xi’s hand.

The Grand Obliteration Fist, Stellar Lightningform, Myriad Netherwave Palm, Skycontrol Burial Sword, Grand Astral Palm, Allheaven Truth... Every single cultivation technique, Divine Ability, or Dao Art was a top technique in the world.

So long as any cultivator was able to learn even a single one of them, it would be sufficient for that cultivator to move freely through the world and be renowned through the ages, whereas Chen Xi had completely grasped all these various Dao Arts and Divine Abilities.

The might exerted by these techniques was naturally extremely formidable. But after he experienced the three punches from Bai Jingchen, Chen Xi finally understood that merely possessing all these types of techniques wasn’t enough to allow him to be considered as formidable.

Because they were too complicated and had lost their simplest, most direct, and most lethal attacks.

Actually, it was obvious when he thought about it carefully. The Eye of Divine Truth, the Grand Astral Palm, the Creation Sword Qi, the five moves of the Eternal, the Allheaven Truth, and so on and so forth. All of these Divine Abilities and Dao Arts possessed unprecedented might. But he was only able to completely bring forth the might of a few of these techniques during battle.

All of this caused Chen Xi to recall the first time he met Dao Lotus.

At that time, he’d grasped over 10 types of Grand Dao profundities, yet Dao Lotus pointed out that no matter how many Grand Daos he possessed, it was a waste of god’s given gifts if Chen Xi was unable to bring forth their might.

Since that moment on, he’d started to use the Dao of Talismans as the primary Dao that commanded the various other Grand Dao profundities, and up until this point in his cultivation, he’d already achieved initial success.

Now, what Chen Xi wanted to do was similarly like this. He wanted to fuse all his Dao Arts and Divine Abilities, remove the unnecessary parts from them and keep the essence for himself to use.

Originally, all of them was like a boundlessly vast and extremely difficult path. After all, every single Dao Art and Divine Ability had already arrived at a limit, and if he wanted to fuse them, the difficulty was obvious.

But Bai Jingchen’s three punches pushed open a great door for Chen Xi, and it allowed him to touch a path, a path that fused the things that were most suitable to himself and abandoned the rest!

The method to fuse all of this was Divine Talismans.

While he was in the Talisman Dimension, Chen Xi had once witnessed his Senior Sister Li Yang utilize various Divine Talismans to completely crush a group of Mysterious Immortal Realm experts and killed them on the spot. The might of the Divine Talismans was terrifying to the extreme, and it shocked him greatly.

In his opinion, since the might of the Divine Talismans was so formidable, why couldn’t he transform all he’d learned into Divine Talismans before executing them with the energy of the Dao of Talismans?

This thought was like the bolt of lightning that shone light onto the chaos before the world was split open, and it caused inspirations to flow like a fountain in Chen Xi’s mind. Coupled with the experiences he’d gained throughout his cultivation in these recent years, he was able to clearly sense that so long as he was able to achieve this, his strength would absolutely undergo an enormous qualitative change!

The Divine Talismans of the five elements, the Darklightning Divine Talisman, the Demonspirit Divine Talisman, the Phoenixwind Divine Talisman... All of them were created by man, and since it was like this, why couldn’t he transform the Grand Obliteration Fist into the Obliteration Divine Talisman? Or transform the Stellar Lightningform into the Devour Divine Talisman?

This was what people called eruption after deep accumulation.

If he didn’t experience the guidance of Dao Lotus, he wouldn’t understand how to control the strength he possessed.

Without witnessing the way Li Yang fought, he wouldn’t have understood the profundities of Divine Talismans could actually be utilized in this way.

Without personally experiencing the three world shaking punches from Bai Jingchen, he wouldn’t have understood that only by bringing forth his strength to the limit would he be able to display the most terrifying lethality he could possess.

All of this accumulation allowed Chen Xi to obtain the comprehension he obtained today, and it wasn’t a wild fantasy.

...

To know is easy, but to do is difficult.

But Chen Xi had already found his direction, so he wasn’t anxious. He entered into meditation and deduced everything he’d learned, and he repeatedly comprehended the might and profundities of various Dao Arts and Divine Abilities.

He forgot the passage of time, forgot where he was, and he entered into a deep level of comprehension.

On the other hand, his clone that wore an apricot yellow Daoist robe was similarly not remaining idle. His clone sat cross-legged and started deducing the form of the various Divine Talismans according to what he’d learned over the years.

One year later.

Only around a month had passed in the world outside the world of stars.

Chen Xi that wore an apricot yellow Daoist robe woke up abruptly, and he frowned and thought for a moment before leaving the world of stars.

Mu Kui had a gloomy expression as he stood before the courtyard at the bank of the Sword Purification Pool. He stared blankly at the red invitation card in his hand that was inlaid with gold and jade, and his expression changed indeterminately.

After a long time, he gritted his teeth and decided to leave.

However, right at this moment, a voice sounded out. “Mu Kui, has something happened?”

Accompanying this voice was Chen Xi swiftly appearing before Mu Kui, and his gaze instantly noticed the invitation in Mu Kui’s hand.

At this moment, Mu Kui was unable to conceal it even if he wanted to, and he said with slight fury, “Master, this is an invitation sent over by the Heavenflow Dao Sect. It says...it says...”

Chen Xi frowned and directly stretched out his hand to take the invitation before he opened it, and then he couldn’t help but be slightly stunned.

This invitation that was inlaid with gold and jade was naturally sent out by Bing Shitian, and it invited the fellow Daoists from far and wide to gather at the Heavenflow Dao Sect 67 years from now to attend the ceremony and celebrate Qing Xiuyi and Bing Shitian becoming Dao Companions.

The words on the invitation was written in forceful and vigorous strokes that were graceful and beautiful, and the sender was Bing Shitian.

Especially when Chen Xi saw the words ‘Bing Shitian,’ he seemed as if he was actually able to instantly sense Bing Shitian’s delighted and soaring mood when writing this.

“The icy heart of a beautiful maiden has found its home,

Let the world watch it be joined forever more.”

At the back of the signature was an obscure poem, and it held the names of Qing Xiuyi and Bing Shitian within it. The poem implied happiness, and it seemed to be extremely joyous.[1]

Chen Xi read through it silently before returning the invitation to Mu Kui, and then he said, “This is an invitation to me?”

Mu Kui couldn’t help but raise his head to look at Chen Xi’s expression, and he heaved a sigh of relief in his heart when he saw Chen Xi’s expression was calm and composed. Mu Kui shook his head and said, “No, Bing Shitian made someone send it over to invite the Sect Master.”

When he spoke up to here, Mu Kui explained. “The Sect Master said that you must be told of this matter, so that you can make mental preparations, and the longer we wait, the more it will affect your state of mind. So he entrusted me with sending it to you.”

Chen Xi nodded and said, “Did the Sect Master have any further instructions?”

Mu Kui nodded. “Yes, the Sect Master said that an instant of comprehension can rectify everything, losing sight will lead to calamity and destruction. If one’s heart is all in cultivation, would there be filth and sin?”

Chen Xi took a deep breath. He’d heard this Daoist chant in the past, so he naturally understood the meaning behind it and the Sect Master’s concern towards him.

“Master, forgive me for being stupid, but what does this mean?” Mu Kui had an expression of wonder as he asked.

“It says that man is not a plant or tree, so it’s impossible to be heartless. Yet if one’s emotions are too great, it would be arrogance. It one’s desire was too great, it would be infatuation. All of this will disturb the Dao Heart, so one should smooth out the state of one’s heart because only then could one become composed. In this way, external factors would be unable to affect the person.” Chen Xi spoke indifferently, and he was speaking for Mu Kui to hear while speaking for himself to hear as well.

“So that’s how it is.” Mu Kui came to an understanding, and then he said carefully, “Master, I think Bing Shitian has absolutely no good intentions by sending out the invitations so many years in advance. You must not keep it in your heart or it’ll affect you instead.”

Chen Xi was stunned, and then he patted Mu Kui on the shoulder while smiling before he returned to the courtyard. He said while he walked, “Bing Shitian has surely felt threatened, so he acted with undue haste. Since it’s like this, why would I be affected?”

Mu Kui was stunned, and he thought with delight in his heart as he looked at Chen Xi’s disappearing figure. So it turns out that Master already had a view of his own since the beginning. Good, very good...

From this day onward, Chen Xi stayed behind closed doors, and news about him was very rarely heard in the Dark Reverie, whereas the news of Bing Shitian sending invitations far and wide gave rise to animated discussion in the entire Dark Reverie.

In this situation where the Xeno-race appeared repeatedly, and the flames of war blazed, Bing Shitian’s actions of sending out such an invitation naturally caused the entire Dark Reverie to be stirred.

It was also from that day onward that the female genius whose name had shaken the world a few thousands of years ago and had experienced 100 cycles of rebirth, Qing Xiuyi, appeared once more in the fields of vision of everyone in the world.

1. This was a tough one. It used the characters of their names and formed a poem.