Chapter 51: Fortune Favors the Bold

Although that flash of mirror-light vanished in the blink of an eye, it still allowed Chen Xian to perceive the supreme majesty and boundlessness of the light.

As his divine consciousness touched upon that beam of mirror-light, Chen Xian felt himself as minuscule as a speck of dust—not even worthy of being counted as dust.

"Terrifying!"

Shock rippled through Chen Xian's heart.

Never before had he encountered such a terrifying entity. Even the boundless cosmic sea of stars had never struck him with such profound awe.

"What on earth is this mirror-light? Why has it manifested within my body?"

His mind was filled with a torrent of doubts.

"Could it be related to that dream?"

"Did that dream arise because of this mirror-light? Or did this mirror-light come into being because of that dream? Or perhaps, do the two bear no connection at all?"

Associating the dream that had lingered about him for the past three years with the profound changes happening to his own body, he could not help but link them together.

His mind was flooded with countless questions, and Chen Xian could not sort them out for a moment.

"Just now, it was because of this mirror-light that the corrupting force went berserk and lost control."

"And it was also because of that corrupting force that my divine consciousness was able to catch a glimpse of this vast and majestic mirror-light."

"If that is the case, perhaps if I absorb another wisp of the corrupting force, I might be able to behold this mirror-light once more and perhaps discover some clues from within it."

Such an adventurous thought took root in Chen Xian's mind, making him eager to try.

The appearance of the mirror-light earlier had been far too transient—lasting perhaps less than a fraction of an instant—leaving him with insufficient time to observe it properly or fathom its true nature.

Now that this mirror-light had manifested inside his body, how could he ever find peace of mind without uncovering its secrets?

After all, that mysterious mirror-light was simply too awe-inspiring to him.

Furthermore, judging by the recent transformation, even if the suction force within his sea of consciousness had not appeared, his divine consciousness alone would have been sufficient to withstand the corrupting force of the Deity-Worshipping Cult.

Viewed in this light, what he was about to do could hardly be considered a reckless gamble; at least everything remained well within his controllable range.

"If that suction force appears once again, wouldn't that mean..."

At this thought, even the mental state that Chen Xian had polished through three years of dreams could not entirely suppress his growing excitement.

If the suction force were to appear once more and devour the corrupting force,

it would mean the reappearance of that mysterious power capable of nourishing his nascent Mountain-Embracing Divine Consciousness.

How incredible was this?

At least prior to this, Chen Xian had never heard of anything capable of directly strengthening one's divine consciousness.

Judging from the visualization and spirit-preserving techniques recorded in the *Dragon-Tiger Dan Classic*,

even Mount Longhu—which had maintained its illustrious reputation through a millennium of history—possessed no such method to directly enhance divine consciousness; its practitioners could only rely on conventional visualization techniques.

If even Mount Longhu lacked such a treasure, let alone anywhere else.

One could easily imagine just how miraculous this power truly was.

Ever since he embarked on the path of cultivation, Chen Xian could be said to have enjoyed numerous fortuitous encounters: resources, cultivation techniques, mental state, and brilliant guidance.

The extraordinary power granted him an increase in vital blood, ensuring he no longer lacked the resources required for martial arts practice.

The appearance of the *Dragon-Tiger Dan Classic* provided him with a systematic and orderly path of progression, meaning he lacked no cultivation methods either.

Three years of dreams had honed his mental state far beyond that of ordinary men, and walking through the mortal world within those dreams laid a solid foundation for comprehending divine consciousness.

A chance encounter with the Old Celestial Master of Mount Longhu had guided him directly onto the most correct path of Transforming Force.

Reflecting upon his three-year journey of cultivation, Chen Xian could not help clicking his tongue in wonder.

Who else in the Great Xuan Dynasty could boast experiences like his, or a path of cultivation so remarkably smooth?

And now, a power capable of nourishing divine consciousness had even manifested.

If further experimentation proved that this power would consistently appear, it meant that as long as he could find more of the corrupting force, his divine consciousness would grow at an astonishing, unprecedented rate.

In his current martial arts cultivation, Transforming Force had already been mastered, Pill Force was actively refining his internal organs, and Steel Force changing his blood encountered no bottlenecks. As long as he continued to practice, success would follow naturally as water flows to form a canal.

His sole remaining bottleneck was the realm of shattering the void to behold the gods.

To break through this specific realm, divine consciousness was the absolute key.

Only a powerful divine consciousness could pierce through the internal and external barriers.

Ordinarily, there were no shortcuts to cultivating divine consciousness. Even with all his fortuitous encounters, Chen Xian would have had to rely on cumulative, day-after-day visualization to gradually strengthen his Mountain-Embracing Divine Consciousness.

Yet now, a power capable of directly augmenting divine consciousness had inexplicably appeared, bringing the realm of beholding the gods within arm's reach.

How utterly incredible was this?

He asked himself: who else on the path of cultivation could possibly encounter such boundless fortune?

"Since the corrupting force is controllable, then..."

Having figured this out, Chen Xian took a deep breath and prepared to re-enter the cave.

Raising his eyes to survey his surroundings, Chen Xian could not help offering a wry smile. Originally, he had hoped to leave no trace behind,

yet he never expected to stir up such a massive commotion.

Beneath his feet, the accumulated snow had completely vanished, leaving the dark brown earth glaringly exposed.

Centered upon him, the surrounding area spanning several meters was entirely barren. Viewed from a distance,

it looked like a stark, pitch-black blemish suddenly smeared across a pristine scroll of silver brocade.

---

This patch of exposed earth, even with snowflakes driven by the bitter wind, could not be smoothed over anytime soon.

Gathering his internal energy, Chen Xian shifted his footing and stepped once more into the cave.

Upon entering, he saw that the scattered corpses remained largely unchanged, save for the two-or-three-meter-wide crater that stood out conspicuously within the cavern.

Chen Xian's gaze immediately fell upon it the moment he stepped inside.

As he slowly approached the corpses, a faint, murmuring sound gradually arose, growing steadily louder.

Hearing that familiar voice ring out once more, Chen Xian's pupils constricted sharply.

"It's here!"

Chen Xian murmured inwardly, heightening his vigilance to the utmost.

In an instant, his Mountain-Embracing Divine Consciousness surged upward, descending into his sea of consciousness like an immemorial divine mountain to suppress the corrupting force.

At the same time, a flicker of anticipation stirred within him,

awaiting the reappearance of the suction force inside his sea of consciousness.

If that mysterious power truly manifested once more,

it would mean he now possessed a method of enhancing divine consciousness utterly unique across the entire Profound Star.

Of course, all of this was mere speculation; whether it was genuinely effective still required validation.

Chen Xian could not entirely suppress the fluttering tension in his chest.

Nevertheless, he waited patiently.

"Hum~~~"

Suddenly, a suction force erupted violently from within his sea of consciousness. At that moment, Chen Xian could clearly feel how tyrannical this force was, carrying a supreme, unyielding dominance that brook no resistance.

In a single instant, it swallowed up the corrupting force residing at the center of his sea of consciousness, and the murmuring sound echoing in his ears vanished without a trace.

Immediately following this, Chen Xian felt a roaring thunder erupting from within his sea of consciousness.

An indescribable Great Dao sound propagated from the depths of his soul.

An unspeakable tremor spread through his heart, making it feel as though his entire sea of consciousness was quaking.

His entire soul trembled as a brilliant, magnificent beam of mirror-light swept once more across his sea of consciousness, as dazzling and vast as the midday sun, as boundlessly majestic as a river of stars.

This time, Chen Xian saw it with absolute clarity:

Within the mirror-light, the sun and moon hung high together in the skies, mountains and rivers floated and sank, boundless galaxies rotated, and countless worlds were born and destroyed...

The scenes within the mirror constantly shifted; every single instant flashed with different vistas.

Concurrently, mysterious and unfathomable trajectories intertwined and crisscrossed within the mirror, continuously manifesting before Chen Xian's eyes as if expounding upon supremely abstruse truths.

Stunned to his very core,

Chen Xian watched the spectacle, half-comprehending yet falling into a state of utter trance.

It seemed as though an eternity had passed, yet it might only have been a fraction of a second before that streak of mirror-light vanished once more into the depths of his sea of consciousness, jolting Chen Xian abruptly back to his senses.

"Hah..."

"Whew..."

Chen Xian drew in a sharp breath.

The spectacle had been far too overwhelming, leaving him struggling to regain his composure.

Simultaneously, a profound wave of sudden enlightenment welled up in his mind.

That mirror-light seemed to contain every single principle governing heaven and earth.

If he could merely comprehend even a fraction of it, the changes brought to him would be unimaginably miraculous.

Yet, when he tried to recall it once more, Chen Xian could not help wearing a look of sheer astonishment.

He discovered that he retained not a single trace of memory concerning those trajectories; his mind remained entirely blank regarding their specifics.

"What is going on?"

Chen Xian frowned slightly. He could swear with absolute certainty that he had not forgotten anything.

At this very moment, he still retained his memories of the mirror-light itself, and memories of the mysterious tracks existing, but the exact paths vanished the moment he truly tried to recall them.

This bizarre phenomenon left Chen Xian somewhat perplexed.

"Could it be that my mental state is still too weak? Or is my realm too low?"

"That must be it! Those things are indeed far too vast and majestic for me; failing to remember them is only natural."

Pondering the supreme majesty of the mirror-light and his own insignificance, Chen Xian attained a measure of understanding.

In his current state, he lacked even the qualification to memorize those Grand Dao trajectories.

"Very well, let us set that aside for now. It seems my wish for overnight ascension is impossible."

With that, Chen Xian shook his head and offered a wry smile.

Yet he felt not the slightest trace of discouragement; on the contrary, he burned with an inspiring excitement.

Just because he could not do it now did not mean he would never be able to. One day, he would surely earn that qualification.

Just as Chen Xian was deep in thought, a strange power suddenly generated within his sea of consciousness, surging straight toward his Mountain-Embracing Divine Consciousness.

This sudden development instantly caught Chen Xian's attention.

Nourished by this wondrous power, the divine consciousness in his sea of consciousness expanded and grew continuously outward.

The Mountain-Embracing Divine Consciousness, which had previously resembled mere gravel, instantly transformed into a towering mountain—and it was still growing.

At that moment, Chen Xian experienced an unprecedented wave of sublime comfort,

as if his entire soul were undergoing sublimation.

He could clearly perceive the colossal transformations taking place within his Mountain-Embracing Divine Consciousness.

A moment later, the divine consciousness ceased its expansion. Only then did Chen Xian have the leisure to glance around his surroundings.

The murmuring sounds had completely disappeared; even as he stood within the cave, they no longer rang out.

"It seems the corrupting force here has been entirely devoured."

Chen Xian felt a great deal more relaxed.

Though this was merely his first attempt, he knew he had succeeded.

"That mirror-light truly devours the corrupting force and spits out a force that nourishes divine consciousness."

This discovery filled Chen Xian with immense excitement.

"That being the case, as long as I have a sufficient supply of the corrupting force, wouldn't I be able to bring my divine consciousness to completion in a very short time and attain the path of beholding the gods?"

Chen Xian muttered to himself.

Yet, upon second thought, a hint of gloom crossed his features.

Nowadays, the corrupting force was not something easily acquired within the Great Xuan Dynasty.

Originally, the easiest way to obtain the corrupting force was to locate a set of astronomical observation equipment; that was both the simplest and least strenuous method.

However, under the strict official bans of the Great Xuan—and indeed across the entire Profound Star—such a method had become virtually impossible.

With astronomical observation equipment completely purged from the market and manufacturers halted under government decree,

finding such a set of equipment anywhere in Great Xuan was excessively difficult.

Aside from this, the only remaining place to acquire the corrupting force was within the Deity-Worshipping Cult.

Naturally, this caused Chen Xian considerable distress.

As a street rat reviled by everyone, nobody willingly sought contact with the Deity-Worshipping Cult.

Nor was he inclined to do so, simply because the risks involved were far too astronomical.

The Deity-Worshipping Cult possessed the influence to move factions across the entire Profound Star; a network spanning the globe carried risks that a mere Transforming Force martial artist like himself had no business meddling with.

...

Deep within a military restricted zone of the Great Xuan Dynasty, a colossal astronomical telescope spanning hundreds of meters was currently in operation.

Surrounding the equipment was a expanse of pitch-black metallic sheen.

Even the sky directly above was covered by a layer of dark, tinted glass.

The telescope was operated not by humans, but by automated robotic machinery.

Dozens of humanoid robots were visible bustling about incessantly.

Underground, at a short distance from the surface installation, stood a bunker constructed of reinforced concrete and steel, where several individuals were intently watching the screens before them.

On the displays was a patch of utterly pitch-black, profound starry sky.

Starlight occasionally twinkling across the screen provided a hint of color.

At this moment, these individuals wore expressions of utmost solemnity, their gazes locked dead onto a specific sector of the screen.

Absolute silence filled the room; not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

Tension permeated every face.

Suddenly, within that pitch-black expanse of starry sky on the display, a streak of flowing light pierced the void, hurtling toward the screen and drawing closer at terrifying speed.

In an instant, the entire starry sky seemed illuminated.

"Not good!"

A startled cry shattered the silence.

The others kept their gazes glued to the screen, their breathing suddenly turning rapid and heavy, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads.

Their expressions grew grave to the extreme, with a few even displaying flickers of outright panic.

"Quickly, issue an emergency alert!"

A middle-aged man barked out, his complexion unsightly, his voice trembling with a faint tremor.

"Yes!"

Someone beside him immediately snatched up the telephone on the desk and dialed a number.

"Reporting, we have a situation!"

"..."

"Reporting..."

"..."

At this moment, within this single room, nearly everyone operated like well-oiled machinery.

Off to the side, several younger men had turned deathly pale, sweat pouring down their entire bodies.

"Damn it, why would such a drastic change happen all of a sudden?"

The young man muttered, his face filled with utter horror.