Translator: CinderTL
"Based on your outstanding performance, I have three Mind Arts available for you to choose from."
Liu Yu waved her hand.
Three streams of light—blue, purple, and gold—manifested in her palm.
"The first is the Red Dust Heart Refinement Art, a four-layered technique. Its advantage lies in its relatively low difficulty. With sufficient effort, even someone with your talent can master it. Its capacity to bear the Great Dao Laws is moderate."
The Artifact Spirit patiently explained, "The second is the Bitter Hell Rebirth Art, a seven-layered technique. Its difficulty is moderate, but it demands higher talent. Its capacity to bear the Great Dao Laws is also significantly higher."
She paused, then added, "To put it simply: if you can master the first two layers of this technique and comprehend all 1,024 Spatial Mysteries, your chance of achieving Void Refining will be as high as 10%."
Li Chunjun was slightly stunned. "How much?"
"Ten percent."
Liu Yu continued, "Of course, reaching the third layer would increase your chances by another thirty percent."
"And the fourth layer?" Li Chunjun asked.
"The Bitter Hell Rebirth Art has seven layers, corresponding to the seven levels of Mind Power. However, in reality, even at the first level of Mind Power, you can already withstand the impact of Spatial Laws to achieve Void Refining. By the third level..."
Liu Yu smiled faintly. "As long as you don't have any major flaws in your own nature, using your mind to bear the weight of the Dao is already a near certainty."
"Seventh layer..."
Li Chunjun asked, "What if one could cultivate their Mind Power to the seventh layer?"
"Cultivation requires gradual progress," Liu Yu replied. "No matter how talented a cultivator may be, without sufficient experience, it's difficult to truly elevate their mental realm."
The Artifact Spirit seemed very patient. "The cultivation of the mind is a practice of life itself. True Heart's Perfection requires unity of knowledge and action. Having vast knowledge without sufficient action will never lead to true mental fulfillment."
Li Chunjun's expression grew slightly more serious. This was already considered guidance on cultivation.
"What constitutes Heart's Perfection?"
"After the ninth layer, breaking through the shackles leads to Heart's Perfection, also known as the Tenth-Layer Heart's Immortality Realm."
Liu Yu answered his question and explained why she was providing such detailed information: "If you can cultivate your Mind Power to the third layer and successfully bear the Great Dao Laws before reaching the Void Refinement Realm, you can become a Nominal Disciple of a Supreme Sovereign. Reaching the fourth layer qualifies you as an Official Disciple."
Li Chunjun nodded slightly.
The Profound Yellow List was left behind by the Profound Yellow Supreme.
Its purpose was twofold: to nurture the Heavenly Prodigies of the Profound Yellow Great World and... to recruit disciples.
Unfortunately, despite the Profound Yellow List having stood for over ten million years, not a single person had ever truly become a disciple of the Profound Yellow Supreme. At best, they might become a Nominal Disciple, never even having the chance to meet the Supreme in person.
Li Chunjun turned his gaze to the third golden light.
"This is the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method," Liu Yu whispered softly. "It only appears as an option for those under thirty who have reached the top of the Star Glory List. It has nine layers, is extremely difficult to cultivate, demands exceptional talent, and offers excellent support for the Dao. Furthermore, this Mind Art has a distinct characteristic."
She glanced at Li Chunjun. "The first three layers cultivate mental resilience. The middle three layers ignite the heart like a raging fire. And the final three layers... ensure the mind never retreats."
Never retreats!?
Even though Li Chunjun didn't know the exact difficulty of Mind Cultivation, he understood the significance of those four words: "never retreats."
Once a cultivator reaches the Divine Refinement Realm, they won't decline as rapidly as mortal martial artists, whose skills diminish significantly if they don't practice daily. However, prolonged periods without cultivation or combat will still lead to a noticeable decline in their reaction speed, combat awareness, and overall strength.
Yet Liu Yu claimed the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method could prevent the mind's realm from ever regressing?
This revealed the immense value of this Mind Art.
At this moment, Li Chunjun realized something else: "Nine layers? No tenth layer?"
"Heart's Perfection is beyond description. No being, no matter how powerful, can help someone reach this realm. In fact, the more they teach, the greater the obstacles become."
Liu Yu explained, "This step can only be broken through by the cultivator themselves."
"Then there's no need to consider it."
Li Chunjun immediately focused his gaze on the golden light sphere. "This is the one."
"I must reiterate: this method is extremely difficult to cultivate."
Liu Yu added, "This assessment isn't mine; it's the Supreme Sovereign's!"
She then turned to the Red Dust Heart Refinement Art. "Take the Red Dust Heart Refinement Art, for example. It was designed to be accessible, something anyone could learn. Yet throughout history, many who practiced this technique died of old age without ever reaching the second layer."
She turned to Li Chunjun again. "And without exception, those who have been granted the Red Dust Heart Refinement Art have all ranked at the top of the Star Glory List."
"So?"
"Over countless years, more than a hundred people, confident in their extraordinary talent, have chosen this heart refinement art. Yet more than half of them failed to even master the first layer before their deaths."
"Then that means nearly half succeeded."
"No! Most of them switched to other heart refinement arts."
Liu Yu said, "Those who have truly mastered this art can be counted on one hand."
"That's enough."
Li Chunjun spoke calmly. "If I can't reach the peak in this life, then let me decay into the earth, turn to dust, and vanish into nothingness."
Liu Yu had lived for more than ten million years.
In her long life, she had encountered geniuses like Li Chunjun before.
Having fulfilled her duty to advise him, she didn't press further.
"Then..."
Liu Yu pushed the golden orb toward Li Chunjun.
Instantly, Li Chunjun felt a mysterious power within him, long dormant, surge to life. His perception soared at an astonishing rate.
Climbing! Climbing! Still climbing!
In a daze, he had already broken free from the space opened by the Profound Yellow List and returned to his physical body. But even after returning, his mind continued to ascend, becoming vast and boundless, as if merging with the surrounding world and the Cosmos itself.
However, the Cosmos is vast beyond comprehension.
Even a single corner of the Profound Yellow Great World spans tens of millions of miles in length and breadth. A cultivator's mind, in the face of such immensity, is too fragile, easily crushed.
Forced to break free from that special state of spiritual sublimation, Li Chunjun's consciousness returned to his physical form.
Only then did he realize...
The first step of the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method involves self-awareness: using one's mind to observe, perceive, and substitute every subtle aspect of oneself.
The goal is to achieve complete self-mastery and form one's own inner spiritual world.
This process bears some resemblance to Core Formation Realm cultivation.
However, Core Formation cultivation never delves into the cellular level or even smaller scales.
Cultivators in this realm can only truly grasp the manifest world.
Even the so-called gene optimization of the Golden Core stage is no exception.
They can only refine themselves to perfection, but they cannot penetrate or alter the profound mysteries of genes to transform from carbon-based to silicon-based life, or even ionic life.
The first layer of the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method aims for this very goal.
Ultimately, however, Li Chunjun only internalized these concepts within his mind, without attempting to put them into practice.
Truly changing one's life form through practical action was clearly beyond the capabilities of the first layer of the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method.
"While the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method only alters the self on a spiritual level, the mind influences Divine Sense, and Divine Sense can also affect the growth and evolution of the physical body. Moreover, as I'm only at the Golden Core Realm, I haven't yet infused Essence, Qi, and Spirit into my Mystical Powers to cultivate a Nascent Soul. I still retain my Essence Qi in its complete state, so it's not entirely impossible that I could unlock deeper layers of power before reaching the Nascent Soul stage."
For example...
Flaming Phoenix Power.
At that moment, Li Chunjun immersed his Heart-Mind in comprehending the Heavenly Heart Eternal Method.
Simultaneously, he glanced at the Human Emperor Banner, where his experience points were just a hair's breadth away from reaching the 30th level—"Perfection." He silently retrieved a Pill he had prepared long ago.
As he consumed the Pill...
His Life Level soon reached the critical threshold precisely.
[Life Level: 30 (100000/100000)]
The moment his experience reached Perfection, an indescribable, profound sensation surged through him.
He felt as though he had transformed into the most mysterious Innate Dao Body in the world, as if he had become the Cosmos's beloved child.
All the wonders of the universe unfolded before him, not a single one wasted.
Li Chunjun sank into deep cultivation.
As Li Chunjun entered a state of sudden enlightenment to comprehend the Heavenly Heart Refining Spirit Method, Yuan Xiao, who had been constantly monitoring the Profound Yellow Star Brilliance List through the False God Realm, immediately sensed the change.
Yu Die, previously ranked first, had been pushed down to second place.
The new number one on the Star Glory List...
"Li Chunjun!"
Seeing the name and the familiar Divine Sense signature above it, Yuan Xiao felt an indescribable joy surge through him, even though he had already prepared himself for this moment.
"Number one! Number one! Li Chunjun! He's reached the top!"
He turned abruptly toward the courtyard nearby, enveloped by an Array Formation, and felt an overwhelming urge to leap up and dance with joy.
"I knew it! I knew it! I knew he could do it!"
Yuan Xiao clenched his fist tightly.
Who could have imagined that the number one cultivator on the Profound Yellow Star Brilliance List, the most authoritative ranking in the Profound Yellow Great World, was actually residing in such an unremarkable little courtyard?
And he had achieved this feat—climbing to the top of the Profound Yellow Star Brilliance List and becoming the number one Core Formation cultivator in the Profound Yellow Great World—with only the protection of his Nascent Soul True Lord guardian!
He had no doubt that if he were to report this news to the manager of this Immortal Abode rental district right now, they would immediately offer Li Chunjun a higher-grade Immortal Abode for permanent residence.
Moreover, the rental price of the Immortal Abode where he had achieved his Star Glory List breakthrough would skyrocket from the current ten Spirit Crystals per year to twenty, fifty, or even over a hundred Spirit Crystals!
No!
They might even separate this Immortal Abode entirely, turning it into a public viewing site and charging one Spirit Crystal per visitor for admission.
Even at such a high price, visitors would undoubtedly flock to see it.
Within minutes of Yuan Xiao noticing the news, the announcement that the top spot on the Profound Yellow Star Brilliance List had changed swept through the Profound Yellow Great World like a storm via the False God Realm, rapidly spreading to the surrounding Realm Regions.
Countless people began inquiring about the origins of this "Li Chunjun."
Even more rushed to spread the news. After all, until today, Li Chunjun's name had never appeared on the Star Glory List, making him completely unfamiliar to everyone.
Through these inquiries and the rapid dissemination of information, the news reached the Taixu Sword Sect, the Frigid Jade Fortress—both of which were closely monitoring the list—and the ears of the Nascent Soul True Lords who had fought alongside Li Chunjun on the Two Worlds Mountain Battlefield.
(End of the Chapter)
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