Once everything had settled, the portion of Ding Songyan’s consciousness that had been pulled away to look down upon his own body returned to his physical form, enveloped by the dark, blurred chaos upon his face.
His spirit naturally expanded outward, yet it was reined in by the pull of his own chaos, stopping at a distance of five zhang—a range that was clearly quite small.
Beyond this, he could only rely on his eyes to see, his ears to hear, and his nose to smell.
This was a weakness brought about by the nature of chaos, but within those five zhang, in coordination with his external apertures, Ding Songyan’s ability to grasp, influence, and alter his environment—and even manifest the illusory into reality—approached the state he had once achieved when leveraging the world’s energy through the "Heavenly Heart." It should, in fact, surpass that of the vast majority of Dharma Realm masters.
With no time to explore further, Ding Songyan first examined his current state.
He withdrew his spirit from his profound gate, focused his intent in his dantian, and circulated his energy throughout his body, gradually gaining a clearer, though still imperfect, understanding:
"I should be considered at the peak of the Dharma Realm. But as I thought before, this remnant of chaos is clearly insufficient. In as little as three years, or as many as five, my power will fade, and my realm along with it. I must complete the corresponding path of martial arts before then to stabilize my realm and power, making them truly my own...
"The Demoness Ji’s portion will certainly be enough, perhaps even a bit more. Although a little extra won't have much impact, I still hope she encounters some trouble with it so she won't come looking for me within the next three to five years...
"My body has been strengthened and remodeled by the chaos, and those apertures belonging to a human have been successfully condensed. These are tangible, real changes. Even if my strength were to regress right now, these would still exist; I would still possess the realm of the peak of the Human Realm...
"What is illusory are those alien apertures, strange energy vessels, non-human organs, and external apertures forcibly condensed by the power of chaos. If I don't find a way to cultivate and fix them in place, they will gradually dissipate in three to five years...
"Judging by this, even if there are acupoint-striking techniques in this world, they wouldn't be too powerful. After all, for martial artists of different schools, the acupoints and energy vessels they possess differ from the Great Evolution Realm onward. The effect of striking the same human acupoint would certainly be different...
"Sure enough, just as I wondered before... what happens if the corresponding apertures are outside the human body? Naturally, it is 'condensing apertures in the void.' Being able to roam the surroundings with one's spirit, sense the heavens and earth, find a point in the void closely linked to oneself, and complete an 'aperture creation'—that is the divide between the Dharma Realm and the Great Evolution Realm. It is indeed a fundamental transformation...
"Those apertures of mine in the void have formed four legs, four wings, and a patch of darkness...
"The four legs, combined with my original two, correspond to the six directions of above, below, and the four cardinal points. This is the embodiment of 'establishing the six directions,' involving the power of space—the 'Universe'...
"The four wings correspond to the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, involving the power of time—the 'Eternity.' This is the embodiment of 'dividing the four seasons'...
"That patch of darkness and the chaos on my face correspond to 'unifying all things.' The former limits the range of my external void and spiritual perception; I cannot be like my master, who could evolve a starry sky to shroud twenty or thirty zhang...
"As for 'deriving morality' and 'suppressing demons and dispelling evil,' it is not yet clear how they manifest...
"I have an extra yellow visceral organ, along with two other sets of non-human organs—one set of two, and another of three... Does this represent 'the Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three'?
"The energy circulating within my meridians is dark and blurred, possessing the characteristics of chaos... It seems the martial arts of this world also have the concept of true qi. Uh, I’ll name my true qi once I figure out its specific effects...
"True qi resides in the middle dantian, the Crimson Palace. Spirit and intent are in the upper dantian, the Ancestral Aperture—also known as the profound gate or the Mud Pill Palace. The lower dantian is the source, storing essence and gathering energy. Daily food, breathing, and energy circulation are all stored in the lower dantian through cultivation; the source naturally generates true qi, which then flows to the Crimson Palace...
"For a normal martial artist, if their true qi is exhausted, they can consume their source to temporarily replenish it. Consuming too much of the source should damage one's lifespan, which is difficult to reverse on one's own and can only be remedied by external objects or a breakthrough in realm...
"I am temporarily different from a normal martial artist. If my true qi is exhausted and I want to replenish it quickly rather than through meditation or rest, I will have to consume the power of chaos. For every bit of chaos power consumed, the number of years I can maintain this peak Dharma Realm strength will decrease..."
With a thought, Ding Songyan made the extra legs and exquisite wings vanish instantly.
They had been hidden into the void.
Ding Songyan walked out of the west wing, took the bronze mirror from the main room, and carefully examined his current appearance:
His face was dark and blurred, as if shrouded in a layer of black gauze; the skin on his neck was noticeably yellow, as if coated in wax to prevent frostbite.
Aside from these two points, everything else seemed normal.
"I was a bit optimistic before, thinking the external anomalies brought by consuming the chaos remnant were no big deal and could be concealed like Brother Youyang... It seems this isn't something I can hide from others... Concealment..." Ding Songyan suddenly envied the Demoness Ji’s "Heaven-Altering Earth-Shifting Divine Art."
It could bring about changes, masking external anomalies, making them difficult to see through unless one was a master face-to-face or possessed special techniques.
Thinking of this, Ding Songyan remembered that he still had a strand of "qi" belonging to Yan Changqing within his Sea of Consciousness.
Following Yan Changqing’s miserable death by the Yin Thunder, which extinguished his soul, this "qi" had become an ownerless object, and it was derived from the "Heavenly Heart Mark."
Ding Songyan hurriedly focused his intent on his Ancestral Aperture, guarding his Mud Pill Palace, and for the first time, examined his Sea of Consciousness with his own power.
This vast, undulating, illusory ocean should have been shimmering with golden light, but at this moment, it was completely covered in darkness; not a single "wave" could be seen.
"My thoughts in the Sea of Consciousness are hidden within the chaos? Does this mean that unless I encounter a technique that can restrain this, or am crushed by a superior realm, no one will be able to read my mind or search my soul?" Ding Songyan was pleasantly surprised.
He could currently operate his thoughts in a real, tangible way, unaffected by the chaos; it was just that those thoughts were not revealed in the slightest outside the darkness unless he permitted it.
At this moment, above the dark, gloomy "ocean," beneath the high-altitude mist that shrouded this place, that clear, misty "seed" still existed.
Ding Songyan already knew that if he drove the dark power covering his Sea of Consciousness, he could easily dissolve the remaining "qi" of Yan Changqing, causing this external object to return to chaos, no longer manifesting the characteristics of the Heavenly Heart.
However, he quickly recalled Yan Changqing telling Ji Hanyi that the uniqueness of chaos could encompass the *Heavenly Heart Wisdom Sutra*.
"Encompass? A manifestation of 'deriving morality'?" Ding Songyan excitedly drew out a strand of dark true qi, letting it rise like green smoke, approaching the illusory "seed."
That wisp of true qi silently drilled into the clear, misty "seed," and a strange scene, resembling a beehive but significantly simpler, suddenly appeared before Ding Songyan’s eyes.
The "beehive" was composed of clear, misty energy, which intertwined into various strange marks—cloud patterns, thunder patterns, all sorts of things, like different "rooms."
"Huh..." Ding Songyan tried to integrate his own intent, the will of "breaking delusions."
That wisp of dark true qi immediately began to wander through several "rooms," quickly drilled out of the clear, misty "seed," and arrived at Ding Songyan’s eyes.
Ding Songyan’s vision suddenly became exceptionally clear.
He had once again obtained the ability to "break delusions."
He finally understood what "deriving morality" meant:
"The Dao is the primordial Dao; morality is the acquired virtue. When the two are combined, it is the derivation of heaven, earth, all things, and all laws!"
As expected of the remains of the most ancient Heavenly Emperor! Ding Songyan couldn't help but marvel in his heart.
Although he hadn't read the *Heavenly Heart Wisdom Sutra* and couldn't fundamentally derive the corresponding abilities and techniques, as long as that "qi" of Yan Changqing remained, he could use the clear, misty "seed" to let his own energy derive corresponding changes, achieving the same results—only two or three parts weaker.
And this wouldn't consume Yan Changqing's "qi"; it was merely an object for imitation.
Ding Songyan, who had always had a spirit of research, tried it again and again with bright eyes. He discovered that after the dark true qi completed its derivation with the help of the clear, misty "seed," it could indeed achieve breaking delusions, self-protection, leaping, sensing the heavens and earth, and triggering the Yin Eye.
What it couldn't do was "infuse the human heart with the Heavenly Heart" or give others energy through the "Heavenly Heart Mark."
"The 'Heavenly Heart Mark' is indeed about borrowing the Heavenly Heart to instill one's own thoughts and thinking into a target, thereby influencing them; it doesn't involve reading minds or memories... No wonder I was normal every time I thought about it, and only influenced when I intended to act. Hmm, there’s also the thought of 'don't think about certain things'... Looking at it this way, if the 'Heavenly Heart Mark' is to be used to its best effect, the user must either be by the target's side, observing the situation at all times, or have a very deep understanding of the target..." As Ding Songyan thought, he realized there was one more thing he hadn't tried.
He once again let a wisp of dark true qi seep into that clear, misty "seed," attaching the thought of "concealing changes."
When it drilled out from the clear, misty "seed," that wisp of true qi had already derived the same color.
As it traveled throughout his body, Ding Songyan saw his skin color in the bronze mirror quickly "recover" to normal, and his face became clear once again.
"It really works...
"Master Yan is truly a great person; this strand of 'qi' is so useful!
"My 'deriving morality' is even more useful!"
Ding Songyan felt immensely satisfied, his body and mind relaxing significantly.
Since crossing over to this day, he finally had a feeling that "my body belongs to me."
Changing out of his soiled clothes, Ding Songyan put on his original moon-colored Lanshan robe.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Someone was knocking on the door outside the courtyard.
Because the distance between them was less than five zhang, the figure of Xu Chang'an naturally appeared in Ding Songyan’s mind.
Why is he here again? Ding Songyan walked over in a few steps, lifted the door bolt, and opened the courtyard gate:
"Something up?"
"It's, it's that young lady who listens to your storytelling every day, the one beautiful as a celestial being; she entrusted me to give you a letter." Xu Chang'an looked at Ding Songyan’s expression as if he were looking at a deity.
Zheng Zhuxi of the Xiaoming Sect came to find him, and now that girl beautiful as a celestial being outside the Dangkang Temple had written him a letter!
And his sister was also a peerless beauty!
Miss Xiaoqing? Ding Songyan hurriedly took the letter paper, unfolded it, and read:
"Second Young Master Ding, my second uncle says we must depart immediately. I couldn't say goodbye in person, so I had to leave this note. Please have it passed on by the one who often goes to the Dangkang Temple with you. I hope we can meet again in the world of martial arts!
"Su Qingli."
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