Master of the Stars

Chapter 368: Disposing Milk (Part 1/3)

Translator: Strivon

Luo Nan discovered once more that his train of thought had ran way too far. There was only one thing he must do in the very initial stages: observe the dark chains and nothing more.

But then, something totally unexpected happened. A phaseless transformation occurred with this thing the moment Luo Nan made contact. It transformed into an incorporeal power and covered the living starry sky. It naturally extradited to the level of 'My heart’s a prison,’ where its range expanded largely in an instant. The connections were very complicated. A typical person would find it hard to partition and discover their applications.

Look at the influence of the Self-Format on the living starry sky. How was it possible to distinguish them clearly from inside and out?

At present, the core of the dense cluster of stars continued to maintain an outline of the Self-Format. It could match with the typical visualization diagram.

As for the Societal Format, its tetrahedron form had become ancient history. This thing could be said to consist of the entire living starry sky. In any case, from the perspective of Formatting Theory, the Societal Format used the self as the core to form a societal structure that one could utilize for himself.... There were no faults with this judgment with the current state of the living, striving starry sky, having suffered from a distorting strength.

These two items consisted of everything Luo Nan had observed thus far. As such, there was no place for the Heaven and Earth Format in his observations!

It would be unavoidable for Luo Nan to harbor suspicions where he stubbornly insisted with his own ideas, with these circumstances before him, and with observing the dark chains. Luo Nan simply pondered things over. He could widen the focus of his observation target a bit.

Luo Nan still remembered the teachings Gym Master Xiu had imparted upon him half a month ago at the daoguan. In a deep meditative state, he had seen the internal structure of the Self-Format. He just remembered the weaved chains, dense like a spider's web, mysterious and enigmatic. Wouldn't such an environment change with the dematerialization of the dark chains?

With this thought just formed, Luo Nan feared further complications from arising. He hesitated no longer, the radiance of the heart lantern changing focus. This time, his telepathic intent smoothly penetrated within the dense cluster of stars, meeting thousands upon thousands of stars head on. They radiated with an intensive brilliance.

Luckily, such glaring light only radiated on the mental plane.

The heart lantern of the eyes orifice flickered slightly, spontaneously adjusting the strength of its interference and changing the mode of coupling. The heart lantern took the impact of this wave of glaring light and reduced it to nothingness.

Luo Nan once heard Gym Master Xiu say, during inner observation, that the heart lantern of the eyes orifice acts as the head of the nine orifices and six roots. After all, everyone was used to using the eyes for observation. People use the eyes to see images. This was what the mind was most accustomed to.

This was especially true for Luo Nan, who grasped the marvels of the effects of coupling. Coupling produced an interference between the mental and material planes, akin to a glimmering wind. No matter how dark, remote and indistinct the land was, all could be seen. Its information was also much richer than before when Luo Nan made contact. He felt the immersion when the information passed through and integrated with his consciousness.

In this moment, Luo Nan felt as if he had collided with the center of a galaxy. It was as if he were enveloped by the dense cluster of radiating stars. They surrounded him in all directions, near and far. At the forefront of his telepathic intent, Luo Nan felt as if he had encountered an enormous black hole. It was desolate and dark, simply seeking to engulf his mind completely.

This experience was different from that of his last deep meditative state.

Luo Nan's mind sped straight into the depths of the black hole. The heart lantern of the eyes orifice pierced through the deep darkness, illuminating the deep space below.

"Oh man, this can't be a coincidence." Luo Nan was a bit surprised. The scene illuminated below largely matched up with the scene from his memories.

The star atlas transformation of Formatting Theory had been a violent transformation, but the core area of the Self-Format actually had its basic structure maintained and unchanged. The core area manifested itself as a bottomless pit of deep space. The dark chains stretched endless here. They crossed and weaved, spiraled and entwined, forming a complicated and dense structure.

Of course, the changes in detail were still very large.

The last time Luo Nan's mind pressed into this area, the space seemed deep and dark. It was indistinctly silent, as if this place was a black prison built by a demonic god. All hope was bound and locked, for this place possessed a desolate and unwavering might. Back then, he had just barely gathered up the vital energy of his entire body for the purpose of feeding the flame of his soul located in this deep prison. But the energy had been consumed near completely by the giant net of chains. Only pitiful scraps remained, trickling down.

So Gym Master Xiu had assessed that “the art cannot be used upon his own body,” and Gym Master Xiu even said that he “took in external powers.” This was what Gym Master Xiu meant by his words.

However, the situation turned different after the passing of several days. Luo Nan had refined a foundation. He achieved success with the eyes orifice. He even comprehended the technique of coupling, the God Gear and Body Gear meshed and rotating. The application of interference between the mental and material planes had deepened in layers. Luo Nan made progress with one item after another. His progress was clear and true.

His progress was reflected here. He could see that the stability of this deep space seemed to be a little shaken. From time to time, subtle knockings were introduced within, leading the thousands upon thousands of chains to rattle. He examined carefully, noticing that there were some restructuring changes as well.

If Luo Nan had to describe these changes, he would say that the star atlas transformation had affected this place. The deep black prison's luminosity and temperature had increased. It was difficult to describe the changes using different words.

The heart lantern of the eyes orifice viewed internally, obtaining images. Luo Nan's mind didn't need to sink too deep. Separated by several layers of chains, Luo Nan could clearly see the aureola below. It carried a slight heat, which rose up like vapor. The heat closely entwined with the vital energy that would come passing in from time to time.

A step further down, Luo Nan could see the flame of his soul radiate brightly within the net of chains. It was extremely lively, especially when the heart lantern's beam of light that was cast upon it. Their two energies merged, and the flame of his soul seemed to get excited. It exploded in detonation, the flame flaring high. It simply broke through the bottommost layer of the chain net, nearly burning through to the middle section.

Luo Nan could vaguely see that half of the net of chains hung down from its rigorous and closely woven whole. Perhaps this was due to a chain being severed. It pressed low against the edge of the soul-flame, subjected to an intense heat. Its form was warping.

All right, this is great!

Luo Nan already confirmed something. The star atlas transformation of the Format Pyramid was a reflection of the influence and application that Formatting Theory had toward the external. This meant that the black prison was a reflection of Luo Nan's level of control and manipulation over Formatting Theory.

The previous him could only be described as a user of Formatting Theory. He was like a driver or a jailer. He had to strictly follow the set rules of Formatting Theory in order to use Formatting Theory.

But his current circumstances were reflected clearly. No matter what changes were brought from the star atlas transformation of the Format Pyramid, the external power that was Formatting Theory was swaying in terms of its repression toward Luo Nan's core power. Luo Nan was gaining more and more autonomy, fixing the rules and actions.

His progress was definite and unquestionable.

Luo Nan couldn't help his mind from going wild in imagination. If the soul-flame could cover the entire black prison and completely burn the thousands upon thousands of dark chains to ash, now what sort of situation would that be!

Luo Nan let out a long breath, feeling like he had obtained great gains today. He put a halt to the internal clairvoyance for now, giving a successful conclusion to today's daytime closed door cultivation.

The time of day was already late. His uncle and aunt should be coming back home. It would be bad for Luo Nan to continue hanging out inside his room.

He leaned back to lie on his bed. He stretched his body, warming up his muscles and bones, and relieving the strain from sitting still for a long time. But just as his arm unfolded, a certain sensation collided into his mind. It made his body freeze on the spot.

His soul strength seemed to have grown again... explosively!

Above the God Gear, the water level of the vast ocean iceberg had been raised by a large section at an unknown time. The water was abundant and overflowing, its pressure heading outside. The external neuron, which acted as the core to bear this pressure, was trembling slightly.