Chapter 30: Seven Stars Enlightenment

[Work-Rest Balance] activated! The accumulated rest time of 41 days and 9 hours was converted into 4 days and 2 hours of cultivation time for entries! Su Yuan didn't want to waste this opportunity and chose to manually activate Entry 1 a second time! To his delight, his attempt succeeded! The 4 days and 2 hours of cultivation time was reduced again, leaving only 5 hours remaining! But the cultivation state received a second amplification! Seven pillars of starlight descended from the heavens! A Big Dipper constellation diagram was the first to imprint itself in Su Yuan's vision! Then came the magnificent sight of seven stars falling, their radiant light entering his body to construct seven stellar acupoints that connected heaven and earth! All distracting thoughts vanished from Su Yuan's mind as his thinking accelerated and comprehension soared! [Daoist Naturalness] passively activated. Since the Big Dipper constellation naturally met the requirements of a heavenly wonder, Su Yuan's comprehension of the star chart increased further. The three inheritances obtained from the Trial Secret Realm - "Thousand Formations Art", "Talisman Guides Heaven and Earth", and "Sword Resonance" - along with "Mystic Truth Derivation Art", "Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique", and all the star-related cultivation texts he'd recently studied flowed through his mind. Wave after wave of enlightenment washed over him! Within his body, seven acupoints circulated energy. In his sea of consciousness, seven stars shone brightly! He stepped in the pattern of the seven stars, bathed in their light, with the star chart hovering above his head! Su Yuan had attained enlightenment! As insights continuously arose in his heart, he began creating his own techniques! Using the Big Dipper as foundation, "Sword Resonance" as framework, "Thousand Formations Art" as skeleton, Mystic Truth Qi as flesh, and "Talisman Guides Heaven and Earth" to commune with the starry sky, he created a sword formation technique - "Seven Stars Mystic Truth Sword Canon"! Then using the seven stellar acupoints in his body, he arranged a Seven Stars Body Tempering Array within himself, creating "Seven Stars Mystic Truth Body Tempering Art"! With the star chart manifesting in his sea of consciousness, he drew down celestial starlight to temper his spiritual sense, creating "Seven Stars Mystic Truth Spirit Forging Art"! A flowing robe of starlight materialized on his body as he created the defensive technique "Seven Stars Protective Radiance". Using starlight as guide, he created a movement technique "Seven Stars Flowing Light Steps"! Gazing at the starry sky, the derivation methods from "Mystic Truth Derivation Art" merged with the sky-guiding techniques from "Talisman Guides Heaven and Earth", allowing him to comprehend a new divination technique - "Seven Stars Derivation Art"! He also improved the "Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique" by adding the ability to channel starlight to enhance Mystic Truth Qi, thereby accelerating cultivation progress! With time remaining, Su Yuan continued absorbing starlight into his body - simultaneously tempering his physique, forging his spiritual sense, and advancing his cultivation! Massive amounts of starlight entered his body and was instantly divided three ways - absorbed by his body, sea of consciousness, and dantian. The dantian, already containing vast amounts of Mystic Truth Qi, began breaking through barriers! In early Qi Refining stage, three acupoints formed one layer; mid-stage required nine acupoints per layer; late stage required twenty-seven acupoints per layer - totaling nine layers! (Note: Ancient methods used nine acupoints per layer across thirteen layers, but typically nine complete layers sufficed for Foundation Establishment) The difficulty of opening each subsequent acupoint nearly doubled! Su Yuan had previously consumed over ten thousand strands of Mystic Truth Qi to open his first eighteen acupoints. Now his body contained over thirty thousand additional strands - ten thousand converted from Little Cai's tri-colored spiritual energy feedback, ten thousand granted instantly when the seven stars entered his body, and the remaining ten thousand plus from natural cultivation. This was more than enough to open several more acupoints! Notably, the seven stellar acupoints had opened instantly upon entering his body - an unexpected benefit from the entry. These seven acupoints were scattered irregularly rather than following the standard Qi Refining sequence, but this actually made it easier to use them as anchor points for opening others. Without further thought, Su Yuan began opening his nineteenth acupoint! As expected, after improving the "Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique", the consumption decreased dramatically! He spent only three thousand strands to consecutively open eight acupoints, plus one that opened naturally, directly reaching peak fifth layer of Qi Refining! The stellar acupoints provided tremendous assistance! Continuing his breakthrough, Su Yuan found sixth layer Qi Refining required more energy - his remaining thirty thousand strands were exhausted after opening seven more acupoints. With one natural opening, he still needed one more to reach peak sixth layer. Being somewhat perfectionist, Su Yuan immediately took out his remaining 2,400 low-grade spirit stones to absorb! Meanwhile, starlight continuously converted into Mystic Truth Qi to prepare for more openings. Before dawn arrived... He had cultivated through the night, refining a full 1,000 low-grade spirit stones to forcibly extract ten thousand strands of Mystic Truth Qi! This absorption speed was absolutely unmatched by other cultivators - where ordinary sixth layer disciples might refine ten stones overnight at most, Su Yuan's efficiency was a hundred times greater! With these ten thousand strands, he opened his final sixth layer acupoint, connecting all nine to form a complete cycle. Now with four complete nine-acupoint cycles in his body, both the recovery rate and quality of his Mystic Truth Qi had improved. Su Yuan restrained his aura, returning to his ordinary appearance. Stretching, he stepped out of his room. His gaze immediately fell on the courtyard pond, where dozens of spirit fish now sparkled with starlight. "Oh? You actually managed to absorb my starlight and become true spirit fish!" Su Yuan exclaimed in surprise. These fish had already shown potential to become spirit fish, but today they'd used his seven stars' radiance to successfully break through their limits - what luck! Little Cai leaped from the water, leaving a trail of tri-colored light (though no starlight adorned her, only gorgeous tri-colored radiance above the pond). After several jumps, she'd painted seven tri-colored streaks across the water's surface - quite beautiful. "Hmm? Did you comprehend something too?" Su Yuan wondered. Little Cai surfaced, blinking innocently with large eyes before blowing bubbles to beg for spirit stones. Su Yuan's mouth twitched. "Alright, I thought too much." He fed her twenty stones, sighing, "I'm starting to have trouble affording you!" Of course, his own cultivation consumed spirit stones at an alarming rate too - a thousand stones vanished overnight. He finally decided to proceed with that gambling scheme. At the tavern... Su Yuan met Senior Brother Gu again - young and handsome yet mature and steady. Su Yuan suspected he was already over thirty. Sect Leader Gu slid a stack of papers across the table. "Take a look - inner disciple profiles," he said calmly. He gave Su Yuan a strange look, sensing his sixth layer Qi Refining aura. What surprised him wasn't the cultivation level (still slightly below what an supreme spirit root should achieve), but the breakthrough speed - eighteen acupoints overnight demonstrated incredible spiritual control and technique mastery. Impressive! Su Yuan examined the profiles: [#1 Wei Wen - Mysterious Extremes Peak inner disciple, nine years in sect, supreme single spirit root, ninth layer Qi Refining, cultivates earth-grade supreme technique "Earth Pulse", masters three mid-grade mystic-tier techniques at minor achievement and basic levels... Killed 67 same-realm cultivators, 889 same-realm demon beasts, including seventeen higher-realm cultivators and 378 beasts (one half-step second realm beast)...] [#2 Yang Mengting - Divine Extremes Peak inner disciple, eight years in sect, supreme triple spirit root, ninth layer Qi Refining... Killed 53 same-realm cultivators...] [#3 Sun Hong - Pill Extremes Peak inner disciple, seven years in sect, supreme dual spirit root, ninth layer Qi Refining...] Su Yuan inhaled sharply at the detailed records. This Wei Wen was practically a killing machine - over a thousand demon beasts slain in nine years! Deducting cultivation time, he must have spent every outing hunting! The other profiles revealed similarly fearsome talents - five had reached ninth layer Qi Refining! Further back, Su Yuan found Ye Bufan's entry: [#33 Ye Bufan - Technique Extremes Peak inner disciple, one year four months in sect, supreme dual spirit root, seventh layer Qi Refining, cultivates earth-grade supreme technique "Blazing Prairie", knows two basic mystic-tier lower-grade techniques and three supreme yellow-tier techniques... Killed 7 same-realm cultivators, 32 demon beasts, and 1 higher-realm cultivator plus 2 beasts.] "Just this?" Su Yuan scoffed. Ye Bufan had boasted about ranking top three, yet couldn't even crack the top ten. Still too green! Glancing at Senior Brother Gu's calm expression, Su Yuan realized this man's connections must be extensive to obtain such detailed intel from all seven peaks. "Interested in collaborating?" Sect Leader Gu asked evenly. "I'll try, but I'll need your people to assist," Su Yuan replied. "No problem," came the calm response. "Good. Let's use these profiles to draft betting odds and promotional materials." Su Yuan quickly got to work, while Sect Leader Gu watched with growing astonishment. "We'll need new sect rules immediately after this," the sect leader mused privately. "This can't happen again."