Deep in the night, in a remote corner of the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
Nie Tian was sitting cross-legged, using the secret magic he had learned from the first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation to channel star power from the heavens into the vortex of star power in his spiritual sea, and condense that power into stardew.
Meanwhile, a Heaven Eye hung high in the sky, scanning the vicinity for signs of movement, in case spirit beasts or Qi warriors entered the area.
As numerous streams of star power began to continuously penetrate the green light shield and converge on him, he had a feeling that it seemed that he didn’t need to focus solely on the spell to continue the process. Therefore, he spared some attention to study the first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.
As soon as he sent a wisp of his psychic awareness into one of the hexagrams on his chest, he saw a large number of ancient symbols lined up in perfect order.
“Huh?!” With a single glance, he noticed that the record about the method to channel star power from the heavens was no longer there.
At that moment, he suddenly received a flash of enlightenment; whenever he fully grasped a magic or spell from the Fragmentary Star Incantation, the part that recorded the magic or spell would disappear.
Then, it occurred to him that Hua Mu used to tell him that by the time he had refined those two fragmentary star marks, he wouldn’t have anything to fear, and would be able to openly return to his home.
He hadn’t truly understood what he had meant, but now he did.
By the time he had mastered every spell and magic in the first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation, evey magical symbol in the hexagram that carried the mysteries of the incantation would disappear.
That would be when he had truly merged the incantation with himself.
With these thoughts in mind, he commanded his psychic awareness to move on to the following spell.
He soon realized that aside from the starlight channeling spell, there were three other spells recorded in the first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.
They were Starstrike, Starshift, and Starfall.
Starstrike was a powerful attacking spell. Starshift was a spell that would allow him to teleport from one position to another, while Starfall was a spell he could use to change the course of shooting stars from outer space and redirect them to bombard his enemies.
The power source of all three of them resided in the stardew in the vortex of star power.
He only used his psychic awareness to briefly scan the three spells and learn their unique traits, but didn’t actually learn how to cast them.
“What’s in the middle part?” With that thought in Nie Tian’s mind, a wisp of his psychic awareness flew into the other fragmentary star mark on his chest to learn what mysterious magics were recorded in it.
As he did, he already had a feeling that his psychic power was quickly running low.
That was when he realized that by only using his psychic power to briefly examine the ancient symbols and learn what spells were recorded in the Fragmentary Star Incantation, he had consumed a large proportion of his psychic power.
However, he was determined to check what magical spells were written in the middle part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
It was at that very moment that the seven stars in his soul suddenly began to shine brightly.
Numerous wisps of soul power floated out from within the stars and joined his psychic power before they entered the hexagram together.
Nie Tian immediately came to a realization, “It’s forcing me to use my soul power! I’m forced to summon power from the fragmentary stars to read the middle part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation!”
Then, he only briefly scanned the spells that were recorded in the hexagram before retracting the mixture of his psychic power and soul power.
The significant consumption of psychic power made him feel depleted and muddle-headed.
Because of that, the efficiency of his channeling of the starlight from the heavens was also undermined. The speed at which he refined star power into stardew declined substantially.
However, thanks to the brief scan, he had already learned what spells were recorded in the middle part of the incantation.
They were all spells regarding cultivating soul power and using soul power to attack, defend, or communicate with spirits in spiritual souls.
As a matter of fact, his eyes had been caught by one of the spells: Starchain. However, just as he was about to learn what it was about, he was struck by a sudden rush of exhaustion, and felt that even his pure soul power wasn’t capable of giving him more time.
“The first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation is about channeling star power into the spiritual sea, forming a vortex of star power, condensing stardew, and using star power to cast spells.
“The middle part of the incantation is about cultivating soul power and using it to cast mysterious spells.”
His brief examination allowed him to have an overall idea of the first and middle parts of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.
He also realized that his priority was to learn every spell and technique recorded within them.
Every time he fully mastered one spell, the symbols that carried the spell would disappear from within the fragmentary star marks.
By the time there wasn’t a single symbol left in the two hexagram marks, it would mean that every spell and technique they carried had been engraved in his mind and had become a part of him.
Therefore, even if the Heaven Palace Sect somehow found him, they wouldn’t be able to strip the incantation from him.
At the same time, in the Realm of Flame Heaven…
On top of a high mountain peak outside the Hell Sect, Ning Yang from the Heaven Palace Sect had a grim expression on his face after being awoken from his cultivation. Frustration could be seen in his eyes as he stared at the pervading demon Qi in front of him. Low in spirit, he asked, “You’re here. Any word?”
Standing beside him, Su Lin’s long, white garments fluttered in the wind. Adding in the chilly moonlight, she looked like a female immortal that had just descended from the moon.
Su Lin stepped closer to Ning Yang and shook her head. “No. We have every sect in the Realm of Flame Heaven searching for Nie Tian for us, but there’s still no news regarding his whereabouts. I even sent out a number of our sect members to ask for his information. They all came back empty-handed.
“It’s almost as if this Nie Tian person has vanished into thin air.”
Ning Yang let out a sigh and said, “We can’t find him, which means that we can’t return to our sect. My martial uncle sent people to inform me that the spatial rift near our sect is also leaking demon Qi day and night.
“If this goes on, it won’t be even ten years before we will be forced to move our sect.”
Su Lin pondered in silence for a moment before asking, “Have you learned the profound knowledge in your fragmentary star mark?”
Upon hearing these words, a sinister expression appeared on Ning Yang’s handsome face.
He grunted like a trapped beast, and vigorously smashed his fist onto the stone ground next to him.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
Sizable cracks extended in the solid stone ground up to a hundred meters away.
Numerous huge rocks rolled down the mountaintop and fell to the bottom of the valley. It took a long time for the rumbling sounds to stop.
“In order to study the knowledge in the fragmentary star mark, I’ve already used up the star power that I obtained in the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace. But all that I’ve seen…” Ning Yang paused to take a deep breath. Then, he shook his head and said, “I can’t see very clearly, but I’m certain that the final part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation is about entering and cultivating in the three domains!”
Su Lin’s expression flickered. “What?! That means only the ultimate experts who are in the Void Domain, the Saint Domain, and the God Domain will be able to learn and use it?”
Ning Yang nodded in frustration and said with a hateful tone, “This damn incantation must be practiced step by step. Only by mastering the first and middle parts of it will I be able to learn the method to channel star power and cultivate my soul. And only when these are accomplished, and I reach the peak of the Soul realm, will I be able to use the method in my part of the incantation to cultivate!”
“Without knowing how to channel star power and develop soul power, I can’t even get a good understanding of the method, much less use it!
After realizing what had happened, Su Lin looked him in the eye and consoled, “Don’t worry, martial uncle. We’ll find that Nie Tian person soon, and you’ll have his two fragmentary star marks. Then, you’ll be able to start with the first part of the incantation and learn the whole thing.”
With these words, Su Lin said with an envious expression on her face, “Only the mysterious Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, which has vanished for centuries, has divine methods of cultivating in the Void Domain, the Saint Domain, and the God Domain. Even our sect doesn’t have them, and so we are merely groping in the dark.”
“What I fear the most is that Nie Tian might master the knowledge in his two fragmentary star marks before we can find him.” Ning Yang’s face was very grim. “By that time, even our sectmaster won’t have the ability to strip those two fragmentary star marks from him.
“If his fragmentary star marks have become a part of him while I can’t even study mine, I’ll be forced to give mine up to him!”
Those thoughts made Ning Yang fume with anger.
Upon hearing his words, Su Lin’s face also grew long. She said, “I’ll send some of our people to search in the other realms of the Domain of the Falling Stars.”
As soon as she uttered these words, Su Lin turned around and left.
After she disappeared from his sight, Ning Yang finally broke. He threw his head back and roared Nie Tian’s name before smashing the mountaintop into stone pieces.