Chapter Nineteen: The Celestial Art Hidden in the Starry Sky

  At the moment of stepping into the whirlpool, Ding Yan clearly felt a burning sensation in his soul, as if an unknown flame had been ignited from within.

  "I'm now just a consciousness, why would I have a soul burning feeling?" Ding Yan's eyes flashed and he continued walking forward.

  As they continued to advance, the burning sensation in their souls became increasingly evident, and even Ding Yan couldn't help but furrow his brow. Fortunately, the vortex didn't last very long, and after walking for about a dozen breaths, Ding Yan left the vortex. The moment he left the vortex, the burning sensation in his soul also disappeared, replaced by a clear and refreshing feeling, as if the impurities in his soul had been burned away.

  He closed his eyes, adjusted his breath for a long time, and then opened them again.

  The previous void has long since disappeared, and what is etched in my eyes is a vast starry sky!

  Vast starry river, boundless and wide, rotating nebulae, shocking the heart.

  This is the lowest level of the Illusory Nine Heavens, which is also known as the Ninth Heaven of Void!

  Standing above the darkness, Ding Yan looked at the distant starry clouds, his eyes flickering.

  "Is this really the Ninth Heaven? An illusory starry sky, a world unto itself, unfortunately only consciousness can enter..."

  After observing for a while, Ding Yan tried to fly forward for a long time, but soon discovered that no matter how he flew, he couldn't touch the star river in front of him. It was as if this piece of starry sky was also moving with him.

  "It seems it's impossible to go back." Ding Yan stopped in mid-air, starting to carefully examine this world.

  Starry sky, infinite darkness.

  Ding Yan soon discovered that in this world, there was no existence of yuan force. No matter what technique he used, he could not sense the yuan force. However, relatively speaking, there existed a nameless power in this world, extremely powerful, but only scattered immortals could sense it.

  "It's a pity that I'm just a consciousness now, otherwise I would have tried to see if my Qiankun Dao Jing can absorb the power here." Ding said regretfully.

  Qian Kun Dao Jing is the ultimate technique that Ding Yan cultivated in his past life until he reached the Tribulation Period. It is also the first technique of the Qian Kun Sect, and when cultivated to perfection, it can break through the Mahayana period and ascend to immortality. After rebirth, Ding Yan tried to cultivate the Qian Kun Dao Jing again, but unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sense the existence of yuan force with the technique, let alone guide it into his body. Until now, the techniques that Ding Yan has cultivated are still based on the Lotus Valley Technique from the memories of his original body's master.

  Later on the nameless island, he got the village elder's boxing technique and after Ding Yan's comprehension for a long time, he improved it into a cultivable method. However, at most, he could only cultivate to the Scattered Immortal Realm, and the part behind that, Ding Yan couldn't calculate anymore.

  Time is passing minute by minute and second by second.

  Ding Yan didn't know how long he had been in this desolate world, it seemed like a month, yet also as if half a year had passed.

  During this period, Ding Yan thought of many ways to fly into the star cloud, but none succeeded. It was close at hand, yet inaccessible, and this strange situation finally reminded Ding Yan of a divine ability that had almost been forgotten in his past life memories.

  To be precise, it is a kind of immortal art.

  A thousand miles apart!

  As for this immortal art, Ding Yan understood very little, the only point of cognition was found in the notes of the ancestors of the Qiankun Sect.

  "In this starry sky... could there actually be a magical art?!" Ding Yan was shocked by his own idea.

  Xian Shu, a divine technique that surpasses Dao Shu. Each Xian Shu possesses earth-shattering power, and since ancient times, every cultivator who masters Xian Shu is an unparalleled powerhouse that shakes the ages.

  Ding Yan, who had once reached the Tribulation Period in his cultivation, was even more aware of how much help mastering a certain immortal art would be for him to cross the Tribulation.

  Suppressing the shock in his heart, Ding Yan began to observe the trajectory of this immortal art. However, he soon discovered that this immortal art was not something he could learn, at least not with his current self unable to comprehend its subtleties. Realizing this point made Ding Yan feel extremely regretful. The existence of immortal arts was such that many cultivators might not even encounter one in their entire lifetime; in his past life, Ding Yan had cultivated for over a thousand years without ever seeing an immortal art.

  It can be said that seeing a magical technique is a kind of fate, and has nothing to do with one's cultivation.

  Ding Yan sat down directly, his consciousness infinitely expanding, beginning to comprehend the mysteries of this starry sky.

  One day.

  Two days.

  Three days...

  It wasn't until the fifth day that Ding Yan finally opened his eyes. In the depths of his pupils, a mysterious aura flashed by.

  "What a pity."

  Five days of contemplation, and Ding Yan still couldn't grasp the secrets of Xian Shu. He only caught a glimpse of a vague handprint in his daze. This handprint wasn't even worth mentioning as a scratch on the surface of Xian Shu. Sighing, Ding Yan stood up, sorted out his thoughts, confirmed that he had memorized the handprint, and decided not to waste any more time contemplating Xian Shu.

  It's not that I don't want to learn, it's just that I have no idea where to start, it's like a kindergarten kid looking at advanced math, completely unable to understand, let alone learn.

  Actually, from ancient times to the present, there have been many people who discovered that immortal arts exist. After all, from ancient times to now, it's already unknown how many years have passed, and during this time, it's inevitable that some stunning and extraordinary people will appear. These people are all like demonic geniuses, but even they were unable to comprehend the subtleties of immortal arts. Not even the name of this immortal art is known by anyone.

  Ding Yan was able to recognize the immortal technique and, based on its name, vaguely infer a handprint. This was something that even those with extraordinary innate talents couldn't match. Moreover, Ding Yan didn't come away empty-handed; after such a long period of observation and contemplation, he had gained some insight. For example, there was the vague handprint he had sensed. This would be of great help to him in the future when casting his own spells, allowing him to borrow from the aura of that handprint and bring his magic infinitely closer to the immortal technique. Of course, this speculation needed to return to reality before it could be tested.

  After giving up on speculating about Xian Shu, Ding Yan started searching for the entrance to the next layer of heaven.

  In the ninth layer of the void and fantasy heaven, there is already the existence of immortal techniques, what about the following layers?

  Inside the illusory Nine Heavens, it was impossible to feel the passage of time. Ding Yan also didn't know how long had passed, only vaguely feeling that several days' worth of effort had gone by. Calculating the time, from entering the Ninth Heaven onwards, it seemed like nearly half a year had already passed. Of course, this was just Ding Yan's own feeling, and whether or not it was true couldn't be confirmed.

  On this day, Ding Yan wandered aimlessly in the void without a goal.

  Suddenly, a huge whirlpool appeared in front of him once again.

  The passage! The passage leading to the eighth layer of the Illusory Sky has reappeared.

  "It turned out that this passage actually appeared by itself." Ding Yan thoughtfully looked at the starry sky behind him.

  Jiǔchóng Tiān gave nearly half a year's time, presumably to let the scattered immortals who entered it comprehend the mysteries of this starry sky.

  Without stopping, Ding Yan took another step forward and plunged into the whirlpool.

  This time, the burning in his soul was even more intense. Even Dinyan felt a piercing pain. His consciousness body even trembled irregularly for a moment. However, Dinyan soon discovered this anomaly and suppressed the collapse of his consciousness body.

  "This passage is a test!" Ding Yan soon discovered the significance of the passage.

  However, this time the passage was unexpectedly long, and he didn't know how much longer it would take. Ding Yan raised his head, still unable to see the end. And his consciousness, under the scorching of this terrifying power, became more and more transparent.

  "How did this happen?"

  Consciousness was becoming increasingly blurred, and Ding Yan's thoughts were also starting to become vague.

  Just as the consciousness was about to disperse, an unnamed ancient map suddenly burst into his mind. The terrifying information almost shattered Ding Yan's last bit of consciousness, a feeling akin to being enlightened by a supreme master...

  When Ding Yan came back to his senses, he found that the burning sensation in his soul had disappeared, replaced by a clarity from his soul.