After reading the complete passage, Ling instantly felt a sharp pain to his head. He can feel his consciousness sea surged violently.
"Guh!"
Just then, the phrases turned into golden threads and entered Ling's consciousness sea. That resulted to intensification of his headache.
"GRAAAAAHHH!"
Ling winced in pain and collapsed to the ground. His body curled tighter in an attempt to suppress the overwhelming sensation he felt.
(Ugh! What the heck is this information...?! It was too complex for me to comprehend at once!)
Ling began to digest the new information he just received, comprehending each of it with extreme caution. It took him a while to fully understand it.
"Hahh... Hahh..."
After an incense stick of time, Ling's consciousness sea finally stabilized. He slowly stood up and leaned against the cauldron weakly.
"Fuck...That was simply overwhelming..."
Ling recalled the information he just comprehended earlier. To him, remembering them was natural as breathing.
"Those information that entered my consciousness sea turned out to be a cultivation technique called 'Stellar Mystic Arts'..."
Ling had a grasp of that cultivation technique. It was peculiar; the technique utilizes the power of stellar bodies to enhance one's physique. Alternatively, it can be used as offense by using the stellar energy to create explosion.
"A mystical art that completely covers both offense and defense. This is a high-end cultivation technique!" Ling exclaimed, satisfaction evident on his face. "However..."
Ling looked at the cauldron that he was leaning to. His face slowly turned to serious.
"The technique says that one must establish a connection to a stellar body and channel its power back to the practitioner... How can I even do that in the first place?"
Ling focused at the carvings embedded at the massive cauldron. Their intricate patterns were truly profound and mysterious to him, a Qi Saturation Stage cultivator.
(Maybe there are clues on how to establish an astral connection from the carvings embedded on this cauldron. I need to look deeper...)
Ling began to move his body. Albeit weak, he slowly walked around the cauldron and observed it intently. In that way, he could see the whole picture, without missing a detail.
(Let's see... tall mountains and a connected, singular river... plus countless stars at the heavens...)
Just then, Ling noticed a certain engraving and paused. It pictured a tall mountain with a human sat on a lotus position. What piqued his interest the most was that a thin string was tethered from that human's chest and extended further upwards. Its other end was then connected to a figure, hovering gracefully as the countless stars from the heavens surrounded it.
"...!"
(That... Is that the method of establishing a connection to a stellar body?)
"There are no information regarding that from the Stellar Mystic Arts. Do I have to figure it out myself?"
Ling continued his search from the cauldron. Even after he came back from where he at earlier, there are no further clues that could explain to it.
"That's all there is to it." Ling muttered, a tinge of disappointment on his tone.
Ling stepped back a little and thought for a moment, arms crossed. Based on what he saw earlier, he tried to deduce possible tendencies that might achieve such establishment.
"Establishing a stellar connection would most likely require your own divine sense—similar to forming a contract on a demonic beast or refining an artifact...," Ling muttered under his breath. "However, you must be at close proximity of that said target in order to do it. In case of a stellar body, not to mention the process, it is impossible to traverse that vast distances just to approach one!"
The muscle between Ling's eyebrows twitched once. His eyes narrowed as he glanced
(Who would make this stupid game of life and death and then leave an incomplete reward with vague clues? Was that peerless master either drunk or high while he made all of this...?)
Ling let out a sigh. His hand reached out his nape and caressed it lightly.
"I guess there's a technique out there that can perform such wonder. I need to look for it myself."
Reaching that decision, Ling then set his eyes upon the cauldron. Its massive body was truly eye-catching; even him could feel a sense of pressure just by standing in front of it.
"To think that I obtained this divine artifact, with a cultivation technique as a bonus. This fortuitous encounter was worth the risk!"
Ling sat in a lotus position and closed his eyes. He extended both of his palms towards the cauldron.
(I've read from books that the Divine Artifacts needs to be refined in order to use it efficiently... I'll make an attempt to acquire it.)
Ling opened his consciousness sea and probed his senses to the artifact. It took him an hour before he fully refined the cauldron.
"Hm!"
With a swift opening of Ling's eyes, the cauldron began to quiver. Then, the artifact began to shrink on its own, to the point that its size was about of a palm's.
"Now, now. This is convenient, I must say..." Ling muttered under his breath.
The artifact flew closer to Ling and landed to his palm. Ling opened his spatial ring and and stored the cauldron inside.
"Now that everything is settled, it's time for me to head out."
Ling looked around and noticed a small opening from the cave walls. There, he entered and ran through a narrow passage. After two incense stick of time, he spotted a faint crimson light at the distance.
(There.)
After he reached the end, Ling found himself right at the entrance. It was the same one they entered before. The moment he took a step to the other side, the door behind him vanished—as if it wasn't there in the first place.
"How neat..."
Ling took a pause when he saw the pile of bodies near him. He recognized them right away.
"And here I wondered where those bags of flesh and bones had gone to. It seems like that place expelled them and placed outside the entrance."
Ling stared at their bodies for a while, then came up with an idea. He picked up a sword nearby and began to hack every single head present at the scene. All of those corpse's heads fell off one after another.
Right at the corner of Ling's vision, a familiar corpse caught his attention. It belonged to Wen Jian.
"Heh. You don't have a head that I can chop, old man~"
After he was finished, Ling ripped a massive cloth from one of the corpses and placed all the severed heads inside. After tying up the ends of the cloth, he placed them inside the spatial ring.
"This will be a good gift for the Wen Clan."