Chapter 107: Observing Heaven And Earth, Witnessing The Final Examination
The perspective shifts to the North. Xuan Chong leaves Donghua Commandery and heads north all the way. The types of plants outside the window slowly change, and the sensations of cold and heat also change continuously as he moves further north.
In the past, Xuan Chong had little feeling for such scenery. In his previous life, he got tired of seeing the plants retreating outside the train window. So much so that he fell asleep while watching.
After coming to this world, he was busy every day dealing with increasingly complex interpersonal relationships and had no time to look up at the sky.
Now finally free, his brain empties. Through the System, he one-clicks to stop all those past cluttered thought processes, then lifts his head to look at the natural heaven and earth around him.
One day, two days, three days…
Every day at a fixed time, Xuan Chong raises his head to gaze at the firmament and can precisely remember the position of the stars at this moment yesterday, hanging high on the dome like nails. Every day provides him with a sense of his current position on the land.
And Xuan Chong savors yesterday’s starry sky every day, just like recalling yesterday’s lunch, the day before yesterday’s lunch, the day before that, comparing the flavors.
Of course, while gazing at the starry sky, he also thinks about something. Just staring at stars would be like counting sheep, but Wu Fei sleeps enough every day, his brain is very clear, full of energy with plenty to spare, so he starts calculating the distance he has moved on the land.
In this leisure, Wu Fei begins to think divergently about how this speck of dust that is himself is slowly drifting north on the massive planet. In his mind, following his inherent planetary cognition model, a curved grid map from the Southern Border to Yao Capital emerges.
This is the effect of the Body Fixing Technique. During daily training, the System dataizes and marks every muscle, bone, every nerve reaction, even visual resolution and hearing resolution. — In the eyes of cultivators in this realm who see cultivation of the “Heterodox Path” as Wu Fei does, in reality, a series of precisions in his body are continuously improving.
…Spirit sparrow heads north…
Meanwhile, on the other side, Gong Qian gazes at Wu Fei with surprise and uncertainty. In the Southern Border, there was a cloud of red and black intertwined above Wu Fei’s head, but after entering Da Yao, this cloud dissipated. Now it is almost gone. He has become a commoner.
Between Wu Fei’s brows, the original general’s bearing also disappears; after shedding nobility, a pure qi emerges.
Gong Qian has never seen anyone like Wu Fei, who, after descending from a high position, hides his aura formlessly, as if gains and losses are like clouds and mud.
Regarding the auspicious cloud above the head, cultivators see it as a manifestation of “auspicious qi,” but it is actually the heterophase produced by Yao Calculation of the interaction between the Human Realm and mountains and rivers, with a certain person as the “human dao core” and the beliefs of the common people as fuel.
Finally, Gong Qian can’t help but probe: “General, are you accustomed to the water and soil here in the north?”
Wu Fei pauses slightly: “Imperial Envoy, here I am not a general, but Your Majesty’s ordinary minister; as for the water and soil”
Wu Fei calculates the intensity of data fluctuations in his body’s balance after dietary changes and gives a rigorous answer: “Currently still accustomed.”
Wu Fei currently admits there are abnormal fluctuations in his body, but he can still control them.
…Nanny’s dividing line…
That night, Xuan Chong is looking at the stars again. In Xuan Chong’s brain, the positions of starlight and the regional climate information he has studied countless times are now connected. All “information blocks” connect together into an “information repository.” Across the entire Da Yao territory, three hundred ninety-six days a year, on Da Yao land, cloud qi flows from west to east every day. When encountering mountain ranges, it splits, either south or north.
Thus, under Xuan Chong’s conception, a heaven and earth model under the firmament appears.
And he himself in this model is an ant. But not an ordinary ant, an ant with broad vision. The grand “breathing” of heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers between dawn and dusk, morning glow rising with dew mist, evening rolling scorched sand.
However, Xuan Chong gradually discovers that the magnitude brightness of starlight in this realm is affected by earthly elements. — That is, the consciousness of the Human Realm on the ground, as a significant physical quantity, can interfere with all physical phenomena within starlight.
Realizing this, Xuan Chong feels a sense of “noise” interference with this world.
Unknowingly, distortions appear in the environment around Xuan Chong. The Evil Moons hanging high in the sky notice this reckless man who dares to “open his heart and look up to observe.”
System: “Spend 0.3 academic credits to remove noise interference?”
Xuan Chong is slightly stunned and asks: “What effect does this exchange have?”
System: “It will form a satellite benchmark point outside the planet to help you more precisely determine the cosmic scale.”
Xuan Chong: “Oh, the Body Fixing Technique requires satellites.”
System: “After the 30th century, when operating in Earth’s outer orbit, satellites are needed to dataize and mark the outer orbital space.”
Xuan Chong looks at the diagram and roughly understands. In Earth’s outer orbit, space is vast. Due to the extreme emptiness, after humans walk one or two meters, the surrounding celestial bodies show no change, giving a sense of stasis.
But after the 30th century, with artificial celestial body clusters digitizing the vast near-Earth orbital space, humans, even on such vast empty spatial scales, know their advance and retreat scales and walking direction.
Xuan Chong: “Why didn’t you let me exchange for it earlier?”
System: “Earlier you didn’t look up at the sky; your perception referenced the ground’s mountains and rivers. Now, your sky observation time exceeds eight hours daily, and some noise interference from the sky distorts your perception accuracy.”
Xuan Chong: “Then if I don’t look at the sky, isn’t that fine? (The starlight in the sky is too abstract, hallucinatory.)”
System: “Yes.”
Xuan Chong pauses, then says: “Exchange.” — Such long boring time on the journey, impossible not to look at the sky. Xuan Chong checks; his current academic credits are 5.86, not short this bit.
As the exchange begins, the System prompts Xuan Chong to focus attention on his body.
With a booming roar, massive thunder pours into the various acupoints of his originally “dull” perception.
These acupoints include vision, hearing, and every sensation on the skin like cold, heat, touch, etc.
Taking hearing as an example, when the System calibrates hearing perception, Xuan Chong’s ears buzz immediately—a refreshing sensation. It’s like scratching an itch in the originally dull ear canal, then digging out a large clump of earwax from the most sensitive part of his “hearing,” instantly clearing that “rustling in the ears when moving” feeling.
The thunder that would originally shock a normal person’s spirit acts like this “ear pick,” instantly “flushing out” the things producing “noise” in his perception.
Next is vision; as if restored to factory settings, color sense, distance, size, brightness resolution all improve a level.
As for other bodily sensations, this thunder also adjusts, flipping out various “uncomfortable” feelings from the perception acupoints.
…System: Child too naughty, perception dirty, needs a wash…
In space, millions of standard benchmark points flash into existence, then begin exponentially splitting and diffusing throughout the entire space.
These benchmark points, when expanding in Xi Ren Star’s outer orbit, show no avoidance of the Evil Moons, even densely marking the Evil Moons’ spatial field distortions.
Two Evil Moons sense this existence and try to corrupt it, but these benchmark points are completely unaffected, instead unilaterally acquiring all spatial material information within the Evil Moons like black holes.
On the ground, the Evil Moons originally appreciated Xuan Chong’s “daring to gaze directly” and cast down beams of power that distort the environment, but now these tentacles all withdraw.
…System: When Cthulhu gazes at you, how to gaze back…
Outside the post station, a spiral cloud gradually forms. At the spiral center is Wu Fei.
Gongshu Wang, who came along as attendant, sees this and mutters: “Entering the Dao through sudden enlightenment?”
Cultivating the Dao in this heaven and earth uses the heaven-earth yin yang differential to convert nature for Yao Calculation. According to “take from the surplus and add to the deficit,” docking one’s internal differential conversion to the heaven-earth differential. This is “entering the Dao.”
Once the Yao Calculation link completes, the cultivator’s internal differential conversion is like switches and knobs in the “control room” connected to external natural phenomena equivalent to “large machinery.”
As for how that small knob starts the massive machine? Of course, through complex circuitry conduction from knob to machine, i.e., so-called “commonly called” control level, and the “dao intent conduction system” between cultivator and external massive natural phenomena is commonly called cultivation.
Da Yao cultivation world divides cultivation processes into “orthodox method” and “Heterodox Path” routes.
The “orthodox method” uses one’s body essence, qi, and spirit as the measuring ruler of heaven, step by step borrowing heaven-earth changes, resting with sun and moon.
Heterodox Path also establishes a “measuring ruler of heaven.” But this cognition of the world uses external objects to build the ruler measuring the world. Such as the various weights in Wu Fei’s laboratory, part of this massive ruler.
Orthodox method is like digging canals while channeling water (gradually accumulating cultivation), Heterodox Path digs all canals then channels water (guiding heaven-earth spiritual energy to infuse the body).
In Gongshu Wang’s eyes, Wu Fei has long indulged in the Heterodox Path, obsessed with “clever tricks.” No dao opportunity at all.
This is the great opportunity all who cultivate the Heterodox Path hope for, but throughout history, few have obtained such “opportunity.”
Heterodox Path Cultivators’ originally inferior aptitude can’t independently connect perception to heaven and earth. Through “external system,” forge a mirror to measure oneself, adjust internal “dao intent guidance system” via the mirror.
And once this system completes the final step, internal dao intent successfully links to control external natural phenomena (equivalent to ribbon-cutting ceremony pressing button to start machine), that is commonly called “sudden enlightenment.”
Da Yao has extremely few Heterodox Path entries into the Dao since ancient times because the Heterodox Path is too easy to indulge in the power of “magic,” e.g., researching Thunder Fire Bombs, wind-riding carts and other equipment, gradually straying further on the left path, neglecting one’s dao foundation calibration.
……
The spiritual power vortex lasts three shichen, but as Xuan Chong opens his eyes, it all suddenly disappears, as if space sucks up the spiritual power instantly like toilet paper.
Looking up at the sky, it’s immediately different. Dense “marker points” appear in the sky. These marker points, like “wind field” symbols on a weather map, manifest the uneven nature throughout heaven-earth space.
The two Evil Moons originally hang high in the sky, invisible to the naked eye; but now Xuan Chong sees through sky markers: two depression areas in the full celestial dome, and from these depression areas hang multiple invisible vortex bands.
Then Xuan Chong looks northeast; to the naked eye it’s an ordinary mountain range, but now in the sky above it, Xuan Chong sees a massive protruding field energy. Based on local customs, it’s the garrison of Shang Ling Sect. Thus, ordinary people can’t see it, but now through the heaven-earth observation system marked by the System, he can see the thing protruding in space via marker bodies.
Of course, this sect is very bad. Xuan Chong sees clearly that this sect’s protrusion is gripped by vortex cones extended from the sky Evil Moons, and the land below that sect seems to be constantly tearing apart. The trend is detachment from the earth vein.
At this moment, Xuan Chong sees all spatial distortions clearly. If still in Donghua Commandery, he could even see the connection of the five great lakes.
Like “conical depression diagram” in a black hole, the bottom depression channels of each lake connect together.
When Wu Hengyu leads the army through, Xuan Chong can even sense it.
For such spatial flow, Xuan Chong asks the System, of course getting no answer—history teachers don’t teach physics!
But it doesn’t hinder Xuan Chong’s speculation: this world’s space is twisted; seen space without reference is inaccurate; evident from the coordinate system the System now provides.
It’s like before Copernicus’s heliocentrism, everyone mistakenly thought the sun orbits the Earth.
That is, now the Evil Moons and Xi Ren Realm seem far, but actually some places are close, e.g., positions where Evil Moons hang down to the planet can be half-step shuttled.
At this, Wu Fei looks at those massive spatial collapse vortexes hanging to the ground and asks the System: “This won’t be an academic credit task too, right?”
System: “Congratulations, you’ve learned to buzz in. Your final campaign will be here!”
Xuan Chong pauses, points at himself: “Me?!”
Then points at the “Evil Moon” in the sky and asks the System: “Fight up to the sky?!”
System: Currently still preparing, needs to wait for two celestial body references to finally merge before opening.
Xuan Chong: “I mean, such bizarre alien celestial bodies, me leading a group of cold weapon soldiers to fight up there. Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
System: “These foreign objects rely on the human thinking situation on your planet to fabricate things, so nothing above will exceed this planet’s era.”
Xuan Chong covers his head and probes back: “Alright, can I stall for a few centuries, e.g., develop tanks, cannons.”
System: “First, not that much time in class. Second, the upper battlefield environment will evolve according to this planet’s development situation.”
Xuan Chong hesitates: “What if I fail the exam?”
System: “No problem.”
Xuan Chong suppresses a smile at the eye corner: “Good then.”
System: “Can retake after failing, redo the course.”
Xuan Chong: “I%￥#!”
…Continue northbound…
The thunderstorm stops, everyone continues on the road, carriage wheels start turning.
Last night’s thunder left many sleepless; waking today, some are blowing noses, others have dark circles.
Among this group, Wu Fei’s exceptionally good complexion stands out, like on grassland, amid black-spotted withered plants, one upright jade-green bamboo.
As the horse cart advances, Xuan Chong sits backward on a donkey looking at the post-rain scenery.
Post-perception update, Xuan Chong is very optimistic: “I am still an ant, but not a boxed ant, an ant of this heaven and earth.”
Vaguely, Xuan Chong can feel in the soil every seed’s effort to sprout.
Jumping off the donkey, in others’ eyes, Wu Fei leaps into the fields. Some Secret Guards in the team move to seize the chance, but Gong Qian restrains them.
Soon, Wu Fei returns dangling a radish-like tuber, takes a water bag from the team, dips finger in plant sap, draws a rune at the water bag mouth. This rune with flowing qi forms and drills into the water bag. Wu Fei hands it to the front coachman, then half-smiles at those Secret Guards pretending to be coachmen.
The dozen or so coachmen in the team are skeptical, but eventually four or five, at Gong Qian’s signal, drink the “rune water.” These tasters are cautious at the first sip, then gulp fiercely like greedy drinkers.
Bystanders ask: “What taste is it?” Drinkers smack lips: “Don’t know the flavor, just feel a surge of strength suddenly rising.”
Wu Fei leaves a word: four or five mouthfuls per person is enough, more is useless, mainly for tuning qi.
Then Gong Qian tries a small sip. Pours out a small cup, looks at the clear liquid—this is still water. But drinking it is like long drought meeting sweet dew.
Compared to coachmen, Gong Qian has eaten and seen. His originally messy internal five qi balance, after this cup enters spleen, gets regulated. The cup water enters stomach, follows unique route moistening heart, liver, lungs, finally limbs and bones, successively flushing dryness intent and fire qi.
Gong Qian murmurs: “Similar to spirit tea effect, but far stronger.”
Tea brewed with mountain spring, steamed to optimal aroma, placed before, sipped following drifting fragrance. Also achieves body qi tuning effect.
But Gong Qian looks at the cup water—this is just a cup of water. Rune water made by Wu Fei drawing rune with plant sap.
Nearby Secret Guard fetches the juiced leaves Wu Fei discarded. Gong Qian smells: residual fresh scent, post-heavy-rain plant vitality smell. He instantly understands: this is yang hour, yang moment, thing of vitality just emerging from this rain-dew blessed land!
Unlike spirit grass, thing of vitality appears by opportunity coincidence; in a region’s burgeoning vitality state, suddenly excelling among ordinary grass.
Compared to spirit grass steadily accumulating heaven-earth essence, the massive vitality gathered on thing of vitality is timely convergence; miss the shichen, vitality dissipates into heaven-earth, even rarer than spirit grass.
Gong Qian gazes at Wu Fei: in short northbound half month, Wu Fei unrelated to that decisive soldier house young master in Southern Border, instead like a young master descended from immortal mountain.
Meanwhile, accompanying Gongshu Wang murmurs: “Penetrate stone, generate light, obscure vision, guide, ingest, open wall, leap rock.”
He lists all Daoist Sect magic types Wu Fei just involved.
