Chapter 73: The Veil of the World

Days slowly slipped by amidst the anticipation of harvesting the spring millet and exploring the path of cultivation.

On this day, Chen Yu sat crouched in front of a blue stone platform, his gaze fixed intently on the space right before him.

Looking closely, thick, silvery-gray mist lingered all around him. As his sight fell upon the bluestone, it enveloped the rock and slowly permeated its interior.

What is the essence of the world?

In his past life, Chen Yu would have thought it was perhaps composed of fundamental particles. That was what he generally believed. But coming to this present world beneath his feet, the surrounding environment seemed to have undergone a change.

Yet upon closer inspection, the mountains, rivers, earth, and vegetation were entirely identical to those of his past life. Aside from a slight sense of novelty brought by things he could not name, deep down, he felt the two worlds should be remarkably similar.

Even if there were differences, they would not be too vast.

However, under the shroud of his spiritual perception now, every microscopic detail could be thoroughly discerned. Relying solely on his "naked eyes," he beheld scene after scene of more wondrous and inexpressible sights.

Indescribable symmetrical textures and countless spiral patterns—their meanings could not be explicitly understood, leaving him in awe only after they manifested, marveling at those dazzling yet intricate lines.

While bearing an uncanny resonance with the knowledge he had heard in his previous life, it also possessed a unique quality.

Vaguely, something seemed to be hiding behind those patterns, much like a covered stream where one could only hear the gurgling sound of flowing water yet could never actually see it.

The entire world seemed draped in a thin veil.

This feeling was not unfamiliar to Chen Yu. When his spiritual power had first gestated, it was nurtured deep within his conscious mind. Back then, he had managed to stumble into the realm of primordial light, where he beheld a glowing sphere.

Soft and pure white.

Within a split, he had seen a realm of chaos and countless nascent spiritual powers just about to break out of their shells.

At that time, wanting to draw forth his spiritual power, he had experienced this exact sensation—like a membrane draped over everything, exceedingly difficult to puncture.

Of course, Chen Yu had eventually torn it apart, guided all his spiritual power out, and subsequently opened the Niwan Palace to store it within.

As for that glowing sphere of unclear origin, it had long since shattered into dust and fallen into the depths of the misty chaos, its whereabouts unknown.

Yet now, after careful perception, he still noticed the differences of the present day.

This membrane was larger... so large that it encompassed everything before his eyes, including this bluestone, this mountain, this sky, and the earth beneath his feet.

Passing beyond the tiniest cellular unit of the bluestone, this was the scene that imprinted itself upon his spirit.

It was very blurry, yet the impression it left upon him was exceptionally profound. It seemed that his spiritual power was still not strong enough to continue probing further down, to wipe away the mist upon that sheer window of gauze.

Looking at flowers through the fog, ignorant and obscure.

What was behind that?

Chen Yu did not know. Perhaps this world concealed an even deeper inner facet, or perhaps his past life was actually the same, except that either no one could witness it, or the scenery presented under different observational methods varied.

What was seen through the aid of external instruments might differ greatly, or even be entirely different, from what he now perceived through spiritual insight.

"There are quite a few things hidden here."

He chuckled softly, finding it rather interesting. Counting the space behind the Niwan Palace and the one at the base of the lower Dantian, there were now three isolated spaces that seemed cut off from the rest.

If Chen Yu's previous conjecture was correct, the Niwan Palace connected to the sea of consciousness—the very boundless ocean he could occasionally visit as a transient guest.

The fact that he could enter it at any time was most likely due to the convenience of spiritual essence; he deduced that it was precisely because of the traction and resonance with spiritual essence that he had been able to step into this realm before his spiritual domain had even truly begun.

As for what lay beneath the ocean, it remained completely unknown.

The lower Dantian was much the same. If the Niwan Palace was a realm he had controlled for longer and explored more thoroughly, then where the bottom of the Dantian actually led to remained a matter of pure conjecture.

Perhaps the physical body, perhaps something else.

As for this massive thin veil before him that enveloped the entire heaven and earth, it set his imagination running wild.

"The spiritual domain is truly profound and wondrous; there are simply too many areas left to explore."

He needed to strengthen it further.

Chen Yu thought to himself. Even if he ultimately failed to puncture this barrier, he would at least be able to see more and observe greater details. The more feedback he received, the faster he would be able to cross this threshold.

As for what would happen or how he should act after crossing it, he rarely imagined it. Once he broke through to take a look and experienced it firsthand, everything would naturally become crystal clear. Trying to guess too much at this moment was merely groundless fantasy.

*Pop!*

A sphere of water condensed and was plucked out from the pool. Chen Yu's expression was calm, his movements completely effortless.

He tossed it up, kneaded it, and morphed it into other shapes.

The body of water rippled in the air half a foot away, perpetually confined within a space of several inches.

Easy and casual, without a trace of the raw awkwardness from the very first time.

*Swish, splash.*

Discarding the water sphere, he waved his arm, and his spiritual power sank into his body, lingering inside and outside the acupuncture points, flowing through his primordial blood to observe those minute details that were easily overlooked.

Seven point seven four units.

He made his calculations and finally settled upon the optimal consumption and release method for this Water Ball Technique.

To facilitate his exploration of the applications of *Qi* and spirit, Chen Yu had made a simple classification of these wondrous forces. Mixing a certain amount of *Qi* and spirit together was designated as one unit. The reason for mixing them was that he had discovered relying solely on spiritual power for containment resulted in a short range and rapid dissipation, whereas excluding spiritual power and manipulating *Qi* alone led to insufficient precision and a lack of flexibility.

For instance, assuming various shapes as he had just done would be extremely difficult to achieve using *Qi* alone.

At least, he could not do so currently. However, if he could become more proficient and refined in the future, he might perhaps achieve it.

The independent manipulation of *Qi* was not entirely useless; when used within a range of half a foot or for some "coarse labor" that did not require fine precision, spiritual power was not needed to participate.

As for matters like spellcasting, naturally, the further the range, the better.

Returning to the present matter, kneading a water sphere required nearly eight units of *Qi* and spirit, which consumed almost one-third of the reserves in the acupuncture points of his arm.

Compared to the past, after multiple improvements, the consumption had been greatly reduced, but it still could not satisfy him.

Fortunately, on Blue Terrace Mountain, this extremely crude spell was already quite enough—he saw his right hand point distantly, and a gushing spring bubbled up within the pool. Immediately, the pool water floated up out of thin air and flew over, wrapping around his palm and fingers.

After circling a few times, it instantly flew back and scattered precisely upon the patch of earth and rock in the very middle of the pool.

Drop by drop, the medicinal herbs boasting seven or eight leaves unfurled, the water droplets reflecting the sunlight, full of vitality.

Chen Yu nodded. Indeed, compared to a generic-sounding name like the Water Ball Technique, he was much more willing to call it the Watering Technique.

He decided that in a couple of days, he would write down the key points of executing this spell into a book and record it in the Great Compendium of Cultivation Techniques of Cloud Crane Monastery, for the sake of future junior disciples—whether they existed or not—to farm and cultivate herbs.

In fact, over this period, with the advancement of array patterns, his application of *Qi* had grown considerably stronger than before.

The peculiarity of the array patterns had inspired him to try constructing a similar network within his body, where the meridians for nurturing *Qi* were already gone. That way, he could cast spells merely by lifting a hand or moving a foot, much like the innate divine abilities he had read about in his past life.

However, as expected, it ultimately failed.

The array patterns were derived from the *Qi* permeating various objects, and Chen Yu was different from those inanimate objects; he simply could not nurture similar meridians.

Forceful persistence would instead injure his body and interfere with the circulation of *Qi* within.

Yet this operation was not entirely without gain. After multiple failures confirmed that this path was unfeasible, he had no choice but to abandon it. Starting afresh from *Qi* and groping about for a long time, he managed to conjure up some interesting gadgets.

For instance, the defensive spell derived from that initial "iron fist" which could transform into white armor to protect his whole body; the Lightness Technique deduced from the [Lightness] array pattern to accelerate leaping and bounding; as well as the Feather-Condensation Crane-Transformation Technique, Wind-Riding Mist-Spitting Technique, Round-Tone Technique, and so on, cobbled together haphazardly.

Most of them were just for amusement, with only two or three truly proving useful. As for the rest, they were all very shallow; compared to the spells in legends and stories, they resembled mere tricks used by rural shamans to swindle and bluff people.

Yet Chen Yu amused himself quite happily. It had been over a month since he nurtured *Qi*, and only now did he finally possess a fraction of the methods belonging to those "cultivators" of his imagination.