Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 374 – The Dagger Enters the Dancing Dress, Blood Droplet Falls from the Ear Lobe

Translated by: Pipipingu

Edited by: Nora

To the furry deer, the battle between Chen Changhseng and Liang Hongzhuang was far less interesting than the green grass. If there was another bystander, they would also probably think like this, because of the wide disparity of strength between the two, because Su Li had used the last bit of his energy to block Xue He’s blade. However, for some reason, as the only bystander there, Su Li was instead completely focused on the battle. He did not even blink.

Liang Hongzhuang’s red dancing dress floated around his body. The Qi of a Star Condensation expert exuded out in every direction.

It was a complete, or even perfect domain, without any holes to be seen anywhere.

Chen Changsheng could not see it, but just like the last thing Su Li had said to him. Even if he was guessing, guessing blindly, he still had to do it. He still had to gamble it. Of course, since it was guessing or guessing blindly, then no matter how it was looked at, there was no hope for him to win. His only advantage was that he was not like other Ethereal Opening cultivators who did not have any understanding of the Star Condensation realm.

Back then in the Orthodox Academy, when he thought that he did not successfully undergo Purification, he had actually already succeeded. When he thought he was scared of undergoing Meditative Introspection, he had actually already guided in the starlight and undergone Ethereal Opening. When he viewed the tablets in the front mausoleum, he formed star charts from the lines on the Heavenly Tome Monoliths. This method originally was from Star Condensation. However, he was an abnormality in the world of cultivation. He always used methods of cultivation beyond his current level, or in other words, he was not faster than anyone on the path of cultivation, but he needed to look further—he knew what Star Condensation was about.

Cultivators guided in the starlight to undergo Purification. They used Meditative Introspection to turn the star’s radiance into true essence, and then used the power of the starlight to open the door of the Ethereal Palace. What they needed to do afterwards was continue to guide starlight into their bodies, and illuminate stars in their Spirit Mountain. They needed to connect the stars to the openings and acupuncture points of their bodies and activate the true essence to draw their own star chart. They needed to rebuild the miniature world in their bodies and be able to draw it out of their body. That was the Star Domain.

The Star Domain was the world of Star Condensation cultivators. It was the projection of the starry sky in their bodies and the sea of consciousness of the cultivator.

The true starry sky was tranquil and eternal, serene but solemn. According to the general knowledge of cultivation, the Star Domain of a Star Condensation expert should also be perfect, without any flaws. Even if cultivators at a higher level could see the area of nothingness, it was not true nothingness, but the limit of the cultivator’s level, making them unable to perfectly control their spiritual sense and true essence.

Chen Changsheng did not believe that. He believed that there was no perfect Star Domain at all, because… the true starry sky was not a still and serene, eternal and unchanging existence. Instead, it was always a balance of dynamics. Since it was a balance of dynamics, once there was the intrusion of a foreign power, there would always be a special moment where the balance would be broken—this was the reason why Su Li was able to guide him to break through Xue He’s blade. Actually, this type of understanding actually already exceeded the idea of Su Li’s Intellectual Sword. It was just that, right now, no matter if it was Su Li or he himself, they were all unclear on what exactly he had understood and what he had discovered. Naturally, they would not think that this type of understanding would bring any changes to his battles and cultivations in the future, as well as the history of the entire world of cultivation.

Looking at Liang Hongzhuang whose dress was floating, countless pieces of information rapidly flashed across Chen Changsheng’s sea of consciousness. He constantly calculated, feeling the Qi nearby that was like ribbons, as well as the abnormally distinct signs of true essence in the mountains. It was as if countless stars had appeared before his eyes. No one could see the relative positions of the stars to each other in such a short amount of time, much less deduce the laws that the Star Domain operated off through the brightness and relative positions of the stars in such a short amount of time, and thus, very few people were able to find the weakest point of a Star Domain. The calculative abilities of humans had a limit, and at this moment, there was a need for an ability that did not have a limit. For example, intuition, which, of course, could also be called guessing.

Hundreds of stars were bright and dim, changing in color in his sea of consciousness. There clearly were no movements, but he seemed to see the stars moving.

People were the combination of all connections, and fate was the summary of the trajectory of interactions between people. The starry sky described and explained it all. Liang Hongzhuang constantly underwent changes, growing older at the rate of one year every year, becoming duller in speed with every jug of strong alcohol and suffering pain as the rate of his hatred increased with every moment. As a result, his Star Domain naturally also underwent constant changes.

With the movement of the stars and the changes in brightness, a new chart would form.

Vaguely, in the dense fabric of stars of the Star Domain, he could suddenly see a patch of darkness. The surrounding stars seemed to become a pathway, and the darkness was the end of the pathway, leading into the unknown, perhaps into the void. Chen Changsheng did not know what it was; he was unable to confirm whether what he saw was real or not because in the Star Domain, there were many similar areas. However, at this very moment, he could only believe in himself. Even if it was guessing, he needed to be as confident as if it was actually it—Chen Changsheng thrust his dagger towards that location.

With a swish, the slightly cold air of the mountains was pierced.

Red ribbons constantly danced.

Chen Changsheng’s dagger clearly was about to come in contact with a red ribbon, but it mysteriously disappeared, and then appeared somewhere else.

Su Li’s expression was solemn, and his sword-like eyebrows were slightly raised.

What a fast strike, that it was actually able to break through Liang Hongzhuang’s Star Domain. What a swift strike, that Liang Hongzhuang was actually unable to react.

A clear whoosh arose from the wilderness. Liang Hongshuang hurriedly retreated—he did not stop his steps until he was over a dozen zhang away.

The red ribbon fell slowly, falling under his feet.

There was a pearl on his left ear. At this moment, the pearl had already disappeared, only leaving behind a dark red pearl of blood.

Chen Changsheng’s sword was thrust at his left earring, thrust at that pearl.

Liang Hongzhuang lifted a hand and touched his left ear. The touch was slightly cool, and he looked at Chen Changsheng with his eyes furrowed. He was extremely shocked and very confused. This teenager was actually able to break through his Star Domain? Just who was this teenager?

A battle of surpassing cultivation levels was not an unbelievable thing, but most of them happened within a realm, such as an initial level Ethereal Opening cultivator attempting to fight an upper-level Ethereal Opening cultivator. However, for Meditation to fight Ethereal Opening, for Ethereal Opening to fight Star Condensation, these types of battles that exceeded an entire realm rarely occurred. Even in the historic records of tens of thousands of years, there were not too many cases of success.

Of course, there were always exceptions, such as the geniuses with great innate talent that exceeded the ordinary. Back then, when Qiushan Jun was in Ethereal Opening, which cultivator of the initial level of Star Condensation dared to say that they could definitely win against him? Another example, when Chen Changsheng had left the capital, Luoluo had not broken through to Ethereal Opening, but which Ethereal Opening cultivator, including Chen Changsheng himself, dared to say that she was not as great as them?

However, Chen Changsheng did not have any obvious special innate talents. His true essence was very ordinary, and his bearing was also very normal… Liang Hongzhuang suddenly thought of a possibility and said, “Perhaps you are…”

Chen Changsheng clasped his dagger with both hands and said, “Orthodox Academy, Chen Changsheng.”