In the final, fading moment of the former Lu Shañg's memory scroll, a clear and profound darkness descended upon both eyelids, a silent void where thoughts and imagination were utterly extinguished.
That singular, tranquil recollection stood as the most pivotal and haunting fragment within the mortal vessel I now inhabited.
Although the former Lu Shañg had previously sustained wounds of a most grievous nature, his physical form had verged upon a state of complete and miraculous restoration.
Could it be, then, that his spirit had chosen to depart this mortal coil amidst the profound tranquility of slumber? Was his ultimate demise a consequence of soul-deep exhaustion, or had a clandestine, shadowy hand struck him down in the utter vulnerability of his rest?
Yet, the chamber's portal remained securely barred from within its sacred confines, the surrounding earth bore no telltale imprints of an unseen intruder, and his cranium showed no mark of a violent, final impact.
Admittedly, upon the initial parting of my eyelids in this strange new world, a profound and chilling disquiet permeated the very core of my being, accompanied by a throbbing, relentless agony within my skull.
However, I now surmise this torment was likely the unavoidable consequence of this vessel's entire life chronicle being forcefully and violently imprinted upon my nascent consciousness.
This torrent of memories was no mere sudden impartation, as one might expect from the legends of transmigration; it was an overwhelming, soul-crushing deluge, akin to having personally endured two decades of arduous existence within this very realm.
Within the intricate tapestry of these inherited recollections, I can gaze upon the vibrant, sun-drenched days of the previous Lu Shang with a crystalline, almost painful clarity.
Furthermore, I can recall, with a startling and visceral intensity that borders on reliving the moment itself, the very instant he first perceived the sacred, invisible flow of Spiritual Energy.
Subsequently, by virtue of the former Lu Shañg's innate Spiritual Roots—a congenital gift from the heavens—he learned to draw the ambient, life-giving spiritual energy of the world through his Heavenly Gateway, channeling its potent essence into the abyssal depths of his dantian.
During the bygone year when this youth's parents still drew breath, on several hallowed occasions he was even permitted to consume the refine flesh of low-tier spirit beasts to bolster the burgeoning reserves of his spiritual energy.
By their fundamental, celestial nature, Spiritual Roots are an inborn capacity, manifesting as ethereal, luminous pathways within the mortal frame that simultaneously unseal and connect to the 12 Heavenly Gates.
This constellation of Heavenly Gates, in turn, serves as a divine conduit to the Mysterious Palace, the sacred inner domain wherein a cultivator's Dantian, their very core of power, resides in silent majesty.
Cultivators, as a foundational and meditation practice, employ sacred Circulation Methods to absorb the omnipresent spiritual energy that suffuses their surroundings like an invisible ocean.
This gathered, raw essence then flows into the Heavenly Gates via the celestial channels of the Spiritual Roots, whereupon the energy, now refined into a purer state, is transmitted from the Heavenly Gates to be received and reverently stored by the Dantian within the Mysterious Inner Palace of the Dark Empty Space that maybe resided or connected to the Cultivator whole existence....
After gazing upon the scrolls of memory detailing the profound path of cultivation and the handful of sacred techniques the former Lu Shañg had arduously mastered, a deep and resonant understanding dawned within Lu Shang.
Lu Shang finally comprehended that the vigorous, life-giving torrent surging through the rivers of his meridians was the fabled Spiritual Qi, and his soul's reaction to this potent, intoxicating essence was one of deep, overwhelming, and spiritual bliss.
Guided by the unerring echoes of memory, Lu Shang assumed the ancient, sacred posture of meditation, his spirit sinking into a profound stillness until his consciousness could at last perceive the legendary Mysterious Palace.
Abruptly, his awareness was torn from his physical shell and transported to an enigmatic, boundless expanse, a silent domain bearing a striking, almost terrifying resemblance to the Universal Space he had once contemplated on his former world of Earth.
Gazing toward its absolute, silent core, his inner eye perceived a spherical object, like a nascent, crystalline planet, rotating upon an invisible axis, while a sparse scattering of star-like motes of divine light hung in a precise, celestial formation just above its shimmering surface.
A tremor of pure, unadulterated exhilaration coursed through the very fabric of his soul as he surveyed his surroundings, feeling akin to an omnipotent, formless entity gazing down upon this entire mysterious cosmos from a transcendent, unreachable vantage point.
'Hah, can it be that this entire, boundless domain is naught but my own inner world, my personal universe?'
Witnessing this impossible reality with the lens of Lu Shang own consciousness, a tidal wave of shock and profound amazement so overwhelmed him that he could not suppress his own internal query, despite the pre-existing knowledge from the memories and the undeniable, soul-deep connection he felt, a certainty that this entire space was an extension of his very being.
While the prior Lu Shañg had been just as astonished by this initial revelation, he had ultimately paid it no further heed in the days that followed, for his world had taught him this truth.
This was because the original Lu Shañg understood that such an inner world was a universal possession among all who walked the arduous path of cultivation.
However, Lu Shang the Transmigrator was forged from a different mold, his entire perspective shaped and constrained by the mundane world from which he hailed.
To him, this mysterious space was a realm so sacred and immeasurably vast that it was impossible to know much about it, or even conceive that to explore its totality was an impossibility, let alone to possess even a fragment of it as one's own.
His soul trembling with a symphony of shock and wonder, he cast his divine gaze further into the infinite expanse, and...…......
Though within this inner space Lu Shang was suffused with a deceptive sense of omnipotence, his perspective remained that of a distant, dispassionate observer looking down from on high.
His perception failed to discern any discernible boundary or celestial firmament to this mysterious place; save for a seemingly insignificant locus of light at its very heart, all that surrounded him was an endless, starless, dark void which remained unperceived and unknowable.
Within this world of Cultivation, it is a known and accepted truth that every practitioner possesses such a mysterious inner domain, a reality that stands as one of the most profound and sacred mysteries of Heaven and Earth.
Lu Shang concentrated the entirety of his will upon the absolute center of this inner void. There, suspended in the dark, empty void like a single divine tear, resided a thumb-sized, spherical Dantian, seemingly crafted from flawless, transparent crystal, which perpetually rotated in silent, majestic solitude.
Contained within this crystalline, marble-like sphere, a unique and potent spiritual essence dwelled, suffusing its interior like a dense, luminous, and swirling white cloud.
And hovering above this nascent Dantian, Lu Shang perceived twelve minute points of brilliant white light, like a sacred constellation of stars in a midnight sky, which emulated the divine shimmer of starlight and were veiled by ephemeral, drifting wisps of white, gaseous Qi.
Lu Shang understood from his inherited memories that these were the legendary 12 Heavenly Gates, also known as the 12 Heavenly Meridians, which existed simultaneously within the physical vessel of the human body and this ethereal Mysterious Palace.
From Lu Shang's celestial vantage point, the entirety of his Inner Space appeared as a nascent Heaven and Earth, a universe captured in the throes of its primordial genesis.
A sudden, momentous question, heavy with awe and a touch of fear, could not help but unfurl itself within the chambers of his mind.
'If I "Lu Shang," in the distant, unknown future, reach the Celestial state of true immortality, would this Dantian become a new world, and would the whole enigmatic inner space of mine become a real, living Heaven and Earth?
After a long, immeasurable period spent gazing upon this miraculous domain, once the initial tempest of his excitement and soul-shaking awe had somewhat abated, Lu Shang carefully withdrew his consciousness from that inner, sacred realm.
Still seated in the hallowed posture of meditation, Lu Shang's eyes now fluttered open with a newfound weight; in that same instant, he elevated his right hand with a deliberate, almost reverent grace and unfurled his fist.
Then, with but a flicker of focused concentration, a globule of pure water the size of a thumb, perfectly visible to the mortal eye, coalesced from the very fabric of the air and hovered serenely, impossibly, above his open palm.
In truth, this was not the result of a formal, structured technique or some profound, sacred methodology. It was merely a natural consequence of Lu Shang's inferior water affinity, which granted him a rudimentary yet miraculous ability to manipulate the latent water element sleeping within the spiritual energy in his immediate vicinity.
Those rare individuals blessed with a superior elemental affinity could frequently command the raw, untamed elements within spiritual energy for devastating offense or impenetrable defense, manifesting such formidable arts as cranium-sized fireballs of searing plasma, shields of cascading unstoppable water, great boulders conjured from the very earth, blades of razor-sharp soul-freezing ice, scythes of slicing invisible wind, and lances of crackling heaven-sundering thunder.
....
Lu Shang's thoughts, now charged with this new reality, once again began to churn like a storm-tossed sea.
'I have now perceived my Mysterious Inner Palace, glimpsed the divine Heavenly Gates, located the core of my power in my dantian, and even confirmed my innate, if humble, water affinity.
Hmm…..?!
Thus, the time has now come to experience the most foundational and pivotal ability for every being who walks this sacred, perilous path.'
The very moment this unshakeable resolve to experience it firsthand surged through Lu Shang's mind, he ceased his meditation, rose to his feet with a newfound purpose, strode purposefully through the weathered doorway, and materialized in the sun-drenched center of the courtyard.
High in the celestial expanse, the morning sun cast its warm, benevolent, golden radiance upon the waiting land.
Casting aside all extraneous, mortal thoughts, Lu Shang stood erect and proud, his eyelids descending over eyes that now glinted with a sharp, fervent anticipation, and, drawing upon the well of his inherited knowledge, he unleashed his Spiritual Sense.
Hsss—
Yet again, Lu Shang was struck with a profound, soul-shaking awe at the sheer, unbelievable potency and divine efficacy of his Spiritual Sense.
'Haah!'
'Though my mortal eyes are sealed shut, I can perceive a complete, panoramic vista of my surroundings with a clarity that surpasses the brightest daylight, encompassing a sacred domain of roughly twenty-five meters, and my sense of hearing has been sharpened to a degree that is nothing short of inhuman.
This perception transcends all that I could ever hope to glimpse with the naked, limited eye or discern through the collective, flawed input of my mortal senses.'
'This…?!'
Again a fresh, powerful wave of shock assailed Lu Shang's soul, his mind reeling in utter disbelief, for this Spiritual Sense was of such perfection and wonder that he could now clearly perceive a hidden colony of ants some twenty meters distant, and could even, with a moment's focus, enumerate their individual, minuscule numbers.
This incredible, god-like feat was possible because when his Spiritual Sense focused upon an object at a given distance, that object manifested within his mind's eye, subtly yet distinctly magnified as if by the invisible lens of a formidable camera —a truly miraculous and reality-bending phenomenon.
Now, maintaining the active, flowing state of his Spiritual Sense, Lu Shang directed his perception toward his own humble dwelling.
The Lu Shang of the past had affixed a sense-blocking talisman to the building's entrance, yet as Lu Shang was the rightful owner and master of this domain, the intricate talismanic script was already attuned to his unique spiritual signature, thus permitting his senses to scan the entire structure without the slightest impediment.
In a single, breathless instant, a complete, ethereal view of the building materialized before Lu Shang's inner perception, allowing him to see the edifice's very structure, its bones of wood and stone, with a lucid and distinct clarity that was almost intrusive.
Lu Shang's senses had already detected a fist-sized life form, which glowed with a faint, reddish aura, moving to and fro through a small, unseen aperture in a forgotten corner of the house.
When a cultivator unfurls their spiritual sense to perceive that which lies beyond a solid wall or within a sealed, hidden chamber, should a living being or a spiritual object be present, they will perceive the unique, colored emanations of their life force or that object's lingering aura of residual spiritual energy.
This divine capacity of the spiritual sense to gaze upon all things without physical obstruction was so profoundly mystical that Lu Shang had never experienced its like in his former, mundane existence; it was a sensation that bordered on a fleeting, intoxicating taste of omniscience.
The trial of his spiritual sense was now concluded, and a new, potent impatience stirred within Lu Shang, a deep-seated, primal yearning in his hands and feet to personally unleash the various martial techniques that now slept within his blood.