Chapter 1: The Vast Starry Sky, the Method of Refining the Soul?

  Lofty mountains, faint red glow, the power of fire surging, people in it only feel warm and comfortable all over.

  At the foot of one of the mountain peaks, many wooden or stone houses are densely arranged, showing a strong sense of rhythm.

  Not far from these houses, in a slightly recessed small mountain valley, there is a dilapidated wooden house that may collapse at any time. In the wooden house, there is only one bed, which can hardly be called a bed, but rather a few broken wooden boards placed on two stones.

  On the wooden bed lay a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, with tattered clothes, but on the boy's ragged clothes were many bloodstains that had already dried and turned black.

  What's even more astonishing is that nearly half a day has passed, yet the boy's chest hasn't risen or fallen in the slightest. There are only two possibilities for this situation: one possibility is that the boy is a strong cultivator who no longer needs to breathe; the other possibility is that the boy has already become a dead person.

  Living in such a desolate place, it's naturally impossible for it to be the first case, so it can only mean that this young man has been dead for a long time.

  Just then, a sudden change occurred, and the boy's chest suddenly heaved violently several times, his mouth also let out a painful moan, after which the boy weakly opened his eyes.

  When he saw the dilapidated wooden house, the young man's expression was clearly stunned, and he didn't dare to believe what he saw in front of him.

  "Where is this?" The young man was somewhat panicked, just about to get up but unexpectedly pulled the wound on his body, and let out a mournful cry. His body went limp again, and he lay back down on the wooden bed board.

  "I remember... I was on the mountain top using my homemade telescope to observe the stars, how did I suddenly appear here? Ah..." The young man seemed to have suddenly thought of something, his face changed in an instant. "I remembered, I think I saw a strange star at that time, that star suddenly appeared in my line of sight, it only flickered for a few times and then disappeared again, after that... I think I fainted."

  Just as the young man wanted to think about something more, he let out a miserable cry again, and his hands tightly wrapped around his head.

  A wave of memories flooded into the young man's mind, making him feel like his head was going to explode.

  The painful wails echoed in the broken wooden house for over ten minutes before subsiding, but the boy's eyes were somewhat dull, staring quietly at the roof full of holes.

  "I... actually crossed over." After a long while, the young man's mouth finally uttered a few words that sounded like a murmur in his sleep.

  Suddenly, a bright light flashed in the young man's eyes. "This is actually a world with great divine power, moving mountains and filling seas, plucking stars and taking moons. It's so similar to the myths of ancient times. I didn't expect that I, Kong Fang, would be able to come to such a world." The next moment, the young man suddenly swept away his previous panic and despair, and instead revealed a hint of curiosity and delight on his face.

  Kong Fang didn't panic at all when he suddenly came to a strange world, but instead became extremely interested in this world by integrating the memories of the original owner of this body. It was just like how he would observe the starry sky every night on Earth, that vastness and breadth had him deeply enthralled. And this magical world's attraction to him was many times greater than that of the starry sky.

  Suddenly, Kong Fang furrowed his brow, "What's that?"

  Kong Fang was almost instinctively, and his consciousness easily sank into the sea of thoughts. At this glance, Kong Fang's whole person was stunned.

  In his mind, there was a vast and boundless starry sky. Against the dark background, countless stars gathered together to form various shapes of galaxies.

  If it were on Earth, this vast starry sky would at most give Kong Fang some visual shock, but at this moment, Kong Fang felt a mighty power from the vast starry sky, under which he felt that he didn't even have the qualifications to be an ant.

  And those slowly rotating galaxies made Kong Fang feel that there was endless charm in them, as if they hid a great secret.

  Under the illumination of these endless starlights, Kong Fang felt extremely comfortable, his soul and body were like soaking in warm water, warm and cozy. Although he still had injuries on his body, Kong Fang was spirited and full of energy.

  The endless starlight illuminated the memories of the original owner of this body, making them increasingly clear. Kong Fang enjoyed the starlight while carefully examining the memories of this body that also bore the name Kong Fang.

  By sorting through his memories, Kong Fang suddenly realized that the place he was in now was a sect called "Qizong". In the sect, disciples like him who had just entered the sect were at the very bottom. No, their status was slightly better than that of miscellaneous servants, and they could at least learn to refine instruments.

  And above the entry-level disciples are the inner hall disciples, and even higher than that are the noble personally transmitted disciples.

  After sorting out all the memories, Kong Fang's face showed a look of anger.

  "Damn it, I just crossed over and encountered this kind of thing, isn't this going to be the death of me?" Kong Fang angrily shouted, but unexpectedly pulled on the wound at the corner of his mouth, and suddenly sucked in a cold breath with a 'hiss'.

  "What kind of sect is this, where disciples who have just entered the sect are required to forge a weapon or armor every two years as an assessment. Those who fail to forge one and the worst 200 will be expelled from the sect. Being expelled is one thing, but according to this unlucky guy's memory, less than 4% of those expelled each year can leave alive."

  "I may have inherited this unlucky guy's memories, but I don't have any experience in crafting weapons and armor, yet the assessment period is only a short week away, what am I supposed to do?"

  Kong Fang's face was filled with a bitter expression, having just discovered that he had crossed over into such a mystical world. At first, he was quite excited, but now he couldn't muster up any excitement no matter what, after all, if things didn't go well, it could cost him his life.

  "What's even more infuriating is that this unlucky guy had unexpectedly picked up a precious 'Qingming Stone', and with that Qingming Stone as a supplementary material, I might have been able to forge a not-too-bad weapon using the memories of fusion, so as not to drop to the last two hundred places and be expelled from the sect. But that Qingming Stone was secretly snatched away by someone named Zhao Yong."

  Kong Fang was grinding his teeth, and in terms of alchemy, he had no experience except for some memories. The situation was already precarious. Now it's even better, the good alchemy materials were all snatched away by others, making his situation even more dangerous. A clever woman can't cook without rice, let alone this clueless transmigrator.

  "Damn Zhao Yong, don't let me run into you, otherwise I'll chop you up." Kong Fang cursed a few times in hatred, but then lost his energy.

  If it wasn't for Zhao Yong secretly snatching the 'Qing Ming Stone' and accidentally killing that unlucky devil, he might not have been able to cross over either. However, this is not the main reason, the main reason is that since Zhao Yong was able to snatch the 'Qing Ming Stone' from that unlucky devil, it means his opponent's strength must be stronger than his. Once they meet, who knows who will kill whom.

  "No, I have to hurry up and go to 'Tian Cang Tang' to pick up some basic alchemy materials, then come back and study them carefully to see if I can rely on my memory to refine a weapon, so as to pass this assessment." Kong Fang struggled to get down from the wooden bed, this process once again pulled at his injuries, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.

  This made Kong Fang even more resentful of Zhao Yong, who was secretly manipulating things. If it weren't for Zhao Yong, he wouldn't have had to endure such suffering.

  Gasping in cold air, Kong Fang slowly crawled out of the wooden house that could collapse at any time.

  Recalling his memories and confirming the direction of 'Tian Cang Tang', Kong Fang dragged his heavy footsteps forward.

  From Kong Fang's small cottage to 'Tianchudang', you have to go through the dense cluster of houses at the foot of the mountain.

  The people living here are all like Kong Fangzi, just entering the door as disciples, like inner hall disciples, generally living on other mountain peaks.

  Kong Fang dragged his heavy footsteps, planning to pass through the house cluster and hurry to the Tiancun Hall on the halfway up the mountain to receive a set of materials for participating in the refining equipment assessment. But Kong Fang suddenly found that there were many people surrounding him in front.

  Kong Fang originally wanted to pass by directly, after all, his current physical condition could be bullied by anyone. But just as he was about to do so, Kong Fang suddenly heard a voice coming from the crowd, which made his already slow speed even slower.

  "You don't believe what I'm saying, but this is something I heard from a fellow disciple of Huoyun Hall." A smug voice echoed through the crowd, "Sun Hao, a senior brother of Huoyun Hall, has successfully refined a low-grade spiritual treasure. Although it's only a low-grade one, that's still a spiritual treasure, and it can't be compared to those inferior weapons we've been refining."

  The people around were all shocked and amazed by this news.

  These people live in the Qizong, and they are naturally very familiar with Lingbao. The difficulty of practicing Lingbao has become a consensus, and generally only those who have personally transmitted disciples who have seen the head but not the tail can succeed in cultivating it. As for the inner disciples, the success rate is really pitifully small.

  "If you could recognize the inner disciple, why would you still be here? You'd have followed that inner disciple long ago." Someone in the crowd snorted in derision, clearly not believing him.

  "I originally heard even more astonishing news, but since you don't believe it, forget it." The person who first spoke up in the crowd felt embarrassed and turned to leave.

  "Never mind him, you say yours."

  "Come on, quickly tell me what you've heard."

  Others immediately began to persuade him.

  There was a fusion of memories, Kong Fang also knew Lingbao, his heart moved, and he directly stopped outside the crowd to listen carefully.

  Kong Fang is now extremely sensitive about alchemy, who made it related to his life?

  "Hmph." The disciple in the middle of the crowd smiled complacently and then said, "Brother Sun Hao can refine a spiritual treasure as an inner sect disciple, which is among the best in our generation. How could Huoyun Hall not reward Brother Sun Hao?"

  "What reward? What kind of reward is it? Tell us quickly." The others couldn't help but urge repeatedly.

  "The reward given by Elder Qingfan of Huoyun Hall to Brother Sun Hao is the Soul Refining Technique, and it's even a three-star Soul Refining Technique." Only a few disciples in the crowd let out a suppressed gasp, while others had a confused expression, having no idea what a three-star Soul Refining Technique represented.

  The disciple who spoke in the middle of the crowd voluntarily helped everyone understand.

  "Many of you have been in the sect for too short a time and don't know, but I'll tell you. If we want to embark on the path of cultivation, we must have a method of soul refinement. Only when our souls are strong can we cultivate magical powers and Daoist techniques. The most orthodox method of soul refinement is to imprint the images of stars from outside the sky onto our minds, and through observing the various mysteries contained within these stars, condense our spirits. However, we can't see the stars outside the sky, and even if we could, we wouldn't be able to imprint them on our minds, so we can only rely on stronger cultivators to pass it down to us."

  "While Samsung's soul-refining method is to say that there are three starry images imprinted in the brain, which can be compared to one-star and two-star soul-refining methods in terms of condensing the soul. It is extremely precious, if not for Sun Hao's great contribution this time, it would not have been possible to obtain such a reward." The disciple's voice was filled with envy.

  Upon hearing this explanation, a burst of exclamations erupted from the surroundings. The novice disciples' eyes shone with fervent light, filled with envy.

  Cultivation is probably everyone's wish in this world, otherwise these new disciples wouldn't have gone through countless hardships to join the sect.

  The outermost crowd, Kong Fang was stunned. The soul-refining method of the three stars is so precious, what about him? In his mind, there is a starry sky with endless stars. Which one should he be counted as for the soul-refining method? Kong Fang suddenly found that this 'several'... seemed to be a bit small.

  P.S: I've set up a reader group, hoping that friends who like this book will join in and chat together. Everyone is welcome to join, don't be shy! Group number: 378216858.