Within Jing Qian's sea of consciousness, that strange fluctuation condensed into a complex Dao-pattern, the mark of the Child of Sumeru.
As soon as the Dao-pattern formed, his Sumeru Life Pattern surged forth to receive it.
Boundless Daoic intent coursed between the Sumeru Life Pattern and the title's Dao-pattern, transforming into profound insights into the Dao of Space, which Jing Qian absorbed completely.
The Dao-pattern then flashed once and vanished, diving into the stele space, embedding itself upon the Sumeru Dao Stele.
Jing Qian was astonished. It had been so long since anything had stirred the Sumeru Dao Stele to change.
He moved his will to dive into the stele space only to find it sealed once more, beginning another round of evolution.
He still remembered clearly: the last time his stele space evolved was when he completed the body-burning rite, set his fate, and ascended into the ninth rank.
After that evolution, the stele space not only expanded severalfold, but also birthed two terrifying divine abilities: the Life-Casting Opportunity and Knowledge of Heaven's Mandate.
Those two abilities were the very foundations of his supreme cultivation.
Now, triggered by the Heaven-Bestowed Title Child of Sumeru, the Dao Stele was breaking through once again.
Through his heart-sense, he knew: in just one month, he would greet an entirely new stele space.
His chest swelled with boundless anticipation.
Only then did he emerge from meditation, only to find that the Void Realm around him had already undergone tremendous changes!
His personal cave-heaven had completely devoured a fifth-rank Thunderbird from another realm, one that even bore a Heaven-Bestowed Title, Child of Thunder.
That single Thunderbird had advanced his Void Realm more than years of absorbing treasures ever had, pushing it to a brand-new peak.
Now, when he stood within it, it felt as though he were inside a vast stadium.
The ground beneath him at last had hills and contours.
The Void Furnace had shifted to the north, perched atop a newly risen hill, constantly devouring the dense earth-qi siphoned from Hunzhou via shadow-hearths. It refined that qi into Fate-Fire, releasing surplus essence that spilled into the realm.
To the south, atop another small hill, was Good Corn's domain.
The Yin-Origin Qi Core nestled within the hill, radiating vigorous energy.
But eight-tenths of it was immediately hijacked by Good Corn, fueling its growth as the Mother Tree of the Void.
After the success of their very first void-fishing, Good Corn's status in Jing Qian's heart had soared.
Let it eat as much as it wanted as long as it could produce more bait kernels; it was worth every morsel.
As Jing Qian opened his eyes, the two little companions of his cave-heaven eagerly scampered over.
Good Corn, as always, demanded recognition:
"Am I awesome? Am I awesome? Am I awesome?"
"You're beyond awesome," Jing Qian laughed, crouching down to flick its corn head in affection.
The little sprout continued, puffed with pride:
"Though I'm not as strong as my dad, he could reel up a third-rank True Dragon; my fortune is unmatched! On my very first try, I hooked a titled great demon-bird. This is destiny itself! My future is limitless!"
It's bragging spilled over, unable to hide its joy at success.
Jing Qian let it boast freely, not spoiling the mood. When the little one finally calmed down, he asked with a smile:
"Have you produced new bait yet? When can we go fishing again?"
Good Corn answered at once:
"Soon, soon! Once I finish digesting the Thunderbird's heart-core. This time, I'll grow at least two bait kernels enough for two more casts!"
Jing Qian nodded, unable to hide his own anticipation.
The first attempt at void-fishing had been both thrilling and rewarding. Far from feeling any resistance, he was now slightly addicted to the practice.
Just then, Xi Li dragged over a giant wing, charred crispy on the outside and tender within. Holding it up, he said:
"Master, this bird wing is crackling and fragrant, absolutely delicious. Would you like a bite?"
"You eat it. Have all the spoils been properly handled?" Jing Qian asked his little steward.
"All arranged!" Xi Li replied.
"The Thunderbird's bones, flesh, and feathers all contain traces of void attributes. They're no common materials. Sold in the Kitchen Hall, they could fetch at least the price of a fourth-rank Star-Seizer Fate-Fire!"
Jing Qian nodded.
"The vital energy goes to the cave-heaven's growth. As for the remaining materials, take them to the Kitchen Hall when you have time, sell them, and exchange them for Fate-Fire to keep in reserve."
"Yes, Master. But there is one item I don't know how to handle. I await your instructions."
With that, Xi Li led Jing Qian to the Void Furnace, where a unique Spiritual Construct was being roasted in Fate-Fire:
Spiritual Construct: Feather of the Thunder God
Type: Outer Dao Moon
Grade: Fifth Rank
Suppression Requirements: Manifestation of Birds; Attribute of Thunder
Lifespan Burden: Ten days per day
This was the personal Spiritual Construct that the Child of Thunder had cultivated over many years.
While it had perfectly suited its former host, once stripped away, it had reverted to an Outer Dao Moon.
Jing Qian had slain many foes bearing Spiritual Construct before, but this was the first time he had ever truly harvested one whole.
In the mortal world, without the suppressive force of a cave-heaven, Spiritual Construct easily dispersed into ambient essence and were nearly impossible to capture.
Only by fishing across the void, dragging an enemy half-dead into his cave-heaven and crushing them there, could he hope to seize such a treasure.
A fifth-rank Spiritual Construct for most cultivators, this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Even Ling Mingji, as a Child of the Plume-Transforming Sect, had only managed to suppress a sixth-rank Flood Dragon after exhausting endless effort.
But to Jing Qian, this was hardly worth his notice.
The Thunder God's Feather could not even withstand a single strike of his core sword-light. He had no intention of suppressing it as his own.
For the Spiritual Construct of this level, he had only one method of use.
Within the Dao Book of the Nether Cycle of Yanfu lay a section known as the Spiritual Construct Chapter, which recorded a secret art for tempering one's natal Spiritual Construct, the Art of Grinding Jade with Stone.
As its name implied, using other stones to sharpen jade was a method of refining one's own Spiritual Construct by grinding it against alien Spiritual Construct until its brilliance was honed to new heights.
Jing Qian had long since mastered the theory of this art, but had lacked a suitable Spiritual Construct to sacrifice.
Now, the Thunder God's Feather was the perfect test.
Seating himself before the Void Furnace, he drew out the Spiritual Construct within and activated the Grinding Jade method.
The feather suddenly came alive, leaping out of the furnace in a crackling arc of lightning.
Jing Qian pointed, and the plume transformed into a streak of thunder that plunged into the Qingping Sword Casket.
Like the Fate-Locking Needle, it was received into the casket.
Yet unlike the needle, the feather's essence had already been unraveled by his art.
Within the sword-casket, it would slowly collapse and disintegrate.
And from its dissolution, the raw primordial essence of a Spiritual Construct would be infused into both the Sword Casket and the Fate-Locking Needle.
This process would be no gentle boon.
The two Spiritual Constructs would have to endure the destructive backlash of the Thunder God's Feather's collapse, withstanding its ruinous force while preserving their own spirituality.
For a weaker Spiritual Construct, such grinding would mean certain death.
But Jing Qian had absolute confidence in his Qingping Sword Casket.
With it sharing the burden, the Fate-Locking Needle only needed to absorb what it could.
To sacrifice a fifth-rank Spiritual Construct to empower two seventh-rank Spiritual Constructs, such wastefulness would horrify any other cultivator.
But for Jing Qian, it promised extraordinary gains.
Both the Sword Casket and the Needle had already been tempered by Zhuo Ling Qi, their limits unlocked. With this act of devouring the lesser to strengthen the greater, the odds of another breakthrough were extremely high.
And Jing Qian could not help but look forward to the results.
Jing Qian ended the secret art and returned the Qingping Sword Casket to his sea of consciousness.
Inside the casket, storms were raging, but he paid it little mind. With a flash, he stepped back into the ancestral estate of the Fan clan.
It had already been a full month since he arrived in Yingdu.
Without once stepping outside, his strength had soared again.
Now he had gained another Fate-Locking Needle Spiritual Construct, obtained the heaven-bestowed title of Child of Sumeru, and even his Sumeru Dao Stele had begun a new round of evolution.
With such growth, the Academy Festival six months from now was already as good as secured!
Standing in the secret chamber, Jing Qian began to feel out the blessings of the Child of Sumeru title.
He soon realized that his Sumeru Life Pattern was perfectly aligned with it, bringing his comprehension to an entirely new realm.
He stepped outside into the courtyard and raised his head toward the heavens.
In this Ying Futuo Realm, the sky was vastly different from the world of his past life.
By day, the sunlight was gentle, never glaring like a newborn dawn or the fading glow of sunset.
By night, the stars thickened into vast, misty nebulae.
The reason behind this he only glimpsed now, having become Child of Sumeru.
Before his eyes, a great cave-heaven membrane appeared.
Beyond the realm's sky stretched a veil of gauze, stitched together from patch after patch of cave-heavens.
He counted carefully, and at least twenty-four distinct ones were visible.
Each brimmed with foundations thousands, even tens of thousands of times greater than his own Void Realm, not to be underestimated.
Though the title granted him the sight to glimpse these mysteries, his strength was still far from qualifying to probe them.
It was no more than a deepening of his understanding of the world.
Jing Qian lowered his gaze, closing his eyes to sense inwardly.
Twelve cave-heaven beacons flared like blazing torches in his heart.
Two he carried with him; the other ten lay scattered across the Vast Sea.
With a wave, he set a beacon-spirit to watch this secret chamber, then vanished.
The next instant, he had crossed hundreds of thousands of miles, bypassing the endless voyage of the Heavenly River Waterway, and returned once more to Hunzhou Island.
He immediately discovered that the cost of traveling between beacons with his Sumeru Life Pattern had dropped dramatically again!
From Yingdu to here, he had consumed only five Azure-Wing Life Essences, nearly nothing at all.
Excitement surged. To roam the world freely without worrying about consumption had been his dream since obtaining Sumeru, and now it was within reach.
Rolling up his sleeves, he gathered his power.
The next second, his figure vanished.
Over the Vast Sea, three hundred thousand miles from Hunzhou, a beacon-spirit hid among coral reefs, watching over a seventh-rank lobster beast resting on the shore.
It had taken ages of searching for the spirit to uncover such prey waiting only for Jing Qian to arrive and reap it.
Now, descending under the might of his new title, Jing Qian unleashed a single Flaying Sword-Light and its shadows, cutting the beast apart in an instant.
Yet even as the sword fell, he had already vanished, leaving behind only a phantom.
His second flash carried him a hundred thousand miles, where another beacon awaited. He struck again, another sword-light felling a seventh-rank sea monster before vanishing once more.
Before the blood of the second kill had even spread, a third sea beast seventy thousand miles away was slain in the same instant.
The third fell not half a breath after the second.
The fourth died in even less time.
And by the time Jing Qian's killing aura carried him to the fifth, the first lobster's remains had yet to sink to the sea floor.
From Yingdu to here, a single thought spanned a million miles. In nearly the same moment, he had slain four seventh-rank sea monsters across vast distances.
Extreme speed, extreme violence, extreme exhilaration, his battle intent surged without limit.
And all that power and slaughter converged into his final stroke, one Bone-Shearing Sword-Light.
The fifth target was a sixth-rank Sub-Spirit Turtle, stronger even than the Sharkfolk sovereign Yang Jia he had once faced.
But before Jing Qian's sword, it could neither dodge nor withstand.
Its massive head was severed in a single blow, a geyser of blood surging skyward.
Its flesh, power, and lifespan were all harvested by Jing Qian as precious resources.
Only its Spiritual Construct, its spirit wounded, slipped away into the ambient essence.
Still, with one campaign across a million miles, slaying five great monsters, Jing Qian had gained nearly forty years of lifespan, an enormous profit.
Now, he needs only to wait for the Sumeru Dao Stele to complete its new evolution, and he could raise another Life Pattern, ushering in yet another surge of strength.
It would take only a month. He could wait.
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