novelapdf Chapter 7 Star Map
Chapter 7 Star Map
Meanwhile, the progress of "The Heavenly Ghost and Underworld God's Demon Codex" is much slower.
Thirty thousand people tried for a month, and more than two hundred died. Finally, one person successfully introduced the death energy into his meridians and condensed the first wisp of death energy in his dantian.
This man was named Li Si. He was originally a butcher in Lin'an City. He had slaughtered pigs all his life and had an inexplicable skill in sensing death energy.
Su Qinghe sensed this wisp of Netherworld energy through Li Si's body. It was cold and viscous, like a black snake swimming in the meridians, completely different from Star Power.
Star power is cool and upward, while necromantic energy is cold and downward; one belongs to the heavens, and the other to the earth.
The two forces collided in Su Qinghe's consciousness, producing a silent roar.
Su Qinghe didn't care whether they would conflict; he only wanted to know the correct order of cultivation for the "Heavenly Ghost Underworld God Demon Scripture." If Li Si succeeded, then the rest of the people would follow Li Si's path.
But this path is much more difficult than the "Thousand Star Chart". The direction of the meridians after the death energy enters the body, the timing of opening and closing of the acupoints, every detail will affect the result. Su Qinghe had Li Si lead a team to repeatedly verify and adjust, breaking down each step into the simplest action, and then let others do it.
Another month passed, and the success rate increased from one percent to five percent. Another month passed, and it increased to ten percent.
Su Qinghe wasn't in a hurry; he had the time and the people.
In Jiangdu City, assimilation continued.
The officials, generals, soldiers, and yamen runners of Jiangdu City were infiltrated layer by layer, like a big tree that rots from the roots while its branches and leaves remain green.
Five months later, the entire population of Jiangdu City, along with the surrounding villages, totaling over 300,000 people, had been transformed into Su Qinghe's incarnation.
Su Qinghe sat in the main hall of the abandoned mansion in Jiangdu City, his eyes closed, feeling the 400,000 points of light flickering in the Wheel of Rebirth.
Four hundred thousand versions of myself.
Four hundred thousand pairs of eyes.
Four hundred thousand lives.
Su Qinghe could use these 400,000 lives to try and fail, to explore, to get hurt and bleed, and then get up from the ruins, dust himself off, and keep moving forward. It doesn't matter if he dies; out of 400,000 people, even if tens of thousands die, there are still hundreds of thousands left.
The spiritual practice continues.
Every day, 30,000 people meditate on the desolate mountain, absorbing the death energy. Occasionally, someone dies suddenly, and the body is buried on the spot. At night, 400,000 people look up at the sky at the same time, drawing on the power of the stars. 400,000 beams of light as thin as hair fall from the night sky, enveloping the entire city of Lin'an in a hazy silver-white halo.
If someone were to look at it from a distance, they would see that the city resembles a giant luminous body, shimmering silently on the dark earth.
Su Qinghe sat in the main hall, not personally practicing any martial arts techniques.
He is waiting.
Once the avatars have paved the way and the verified path is presented to him, he will only need to follow the paved path once.
No need to take risks, no need to experiment, no need to assume any risks.
Having 400,000 people clearing landmines for him is Su Qinghe's greatest advantage.
Su Qinghe opened her eyes and looked at the night sky outside the window.
The stars are very bright.
"Zhang Guangze," Su Qinghe suddenly spoke, as if talking to thin air, "You spent three years in the Nine Nether Sect and nearly forty years cultivating to the Dao Embryo Realm."
As he said this, Su Qinghe's lips slowly curved into a smile.
"It's a pity your memories are shattered, otherwise I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble."
As he felt the memories of Zhang Guangze flowing through his consciousness, Su Qinghe's smile deepened.
"But that's fine too. Things that are too easy to get aren't very interesting to eat."
"I have 400,000 versions of myself. How long do you think it will take me?"
No one answered. Zhang Guangze was dead. His soul had been completely devoured by Su Qinghe, leaving not a single trace.
Su Qinghe stood up, his bare feet touching the cold ground, and walked step by step to the door, pushing it open.
The May wind blows in, carrying the scent of a summer night. In the distance, the streets of Jiangdu City are brightly lit, bustling with people. They chat and laugh, argue and make noise, doing their own things and living their own lives.
Each and every one of them is Su Qinghe.
The real Su Qinghe stood inside the door, in the darkness, and silently grinned.
The experiment lasted for three months.
Su Qinghe sat in the main hall of an abandoned mansion in Jiangdu City. The oil lamps in front of him had been replaced more than a dozen times, and the wicks had been trimmed again and again. His consciousness traveled through the Wheel of Rebirth, with 400,000 points of light revolving around him. Each point of light revealed a scene of cultivation of an incarnation.
Of the 30,000 people who cultivated the "Heavenly Ghost and Netherworld God Demon Scripture," more than 2,700 died in various ways. After the death energy entered their bodies, their meridians were severed, their internal organs decayed, their blood and qi surged back into their brains, and their souls were eroded and dissipated by the death energy.
Su Qinghe instructed the survivors to record every dead end, clearly marking which meridians to avoid, which acupoints to avoid, and what time of day to avoid cultivation.
More than 2,700 lives were sacrificed to create 17 paths that were proven safe. Of these 17 paths, 16 were found to be too inefficient. After a month of cultivation, the accumulation of death energy was less than one-tenth of the normal progress. In the end, only one path remained, the one that Li Si had taken, with a success rate of 90% and a mortality rate of less than 3%.
Ninety percent means that out of one hundred people, ninety will succeed in entering the gate, three will die, and the remaining seven will fail to enter.
Su Qinghe felt that the number was acceptable.
The "Thousand Star Chart" went much more smoothly. Of the 10,000 people who tried it, less than 10 died. Most of them died because their souls couldn't withstand the star power entering their bodies and collapsed directly. The success rate reached 99%. Moreover, those who failed had no side effects. At most, they had a headache for a few days, and the star power dissipated on its own, as if nothing had happened.
What's even better is that the "Thousand Star Chart" can be discarded on its own. If you take the wrong path or want to change your path, you can simply disperse the condensed star power and start over.
In this respect, the "Thousand Star Chart" is unlike the "Heavenly Ghost and Underworld God Demon Codex." Once death energy enters the body, it's like ink dripping into clear water—it can never be retrieved.
Su Qinghe compared the two techniques and quickly made his choice.
I chose "The Thousand Stars".
Judging from Zhang Guangze's fragmented memories, the death energy cultivated from the "Heavenly Ghost Underworld God Demon Codex" is more lethal, and the physical body will also be strengthened after the death energy enters the body, making it both powerful and resilient.
The "Thousand Star Chart" cultivates star power, and the physical body hardly changes. A star cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm might not even be able to defeat a mortal who trains regularly.
But Su Qinghe doesn't care about the strength of his physical body. He has 400,000 avatars, and when he needs to fight, he can just send out a few. His main body only needs to do one thing: become stronger, and become stronger safely.
The Thousand Star Chart is peaceful, safe, reversible, and related to the soul.
Su Qinghe's soul is precisely his strongest point.