Yu Ci broke into a grin. In the "Primordial Root Qi Method," the so-called Physical Image refers to the elements of the Physical Spirit, such as bones, blood, essence, and soul. The Mental Image, on the other hand, is an abstract derived from the Physical Spirit, further simplified and visualized based on self-understanding. It is a symbol of the Physical Image and naturally governs it.

In the cultivation of the "Primordial Root Qi Method," creating the Mental Image is roughly equivalent to the Nature-Connecting Middle Stage, the mastery of Refining Yin Spirit. Previously, Yu Ci had relied on structural deductions to cleverly ascertain the whereabouts of the Mental Image, thus achieving Yin Spirit. However, his Mental Image was not truly formed, and there were flaws in his Cultivation Level.

But now, this flaw has been erased.

Yu Ci indeed had not genuinely depicted the Mental Image, and it remains the same till now. As this is a long-term process of refinement, it's not unusual to take three to five years without sudden enlightenment, but Yu Ci had another opportunity.

His opportunity was the Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form in the Inner Void of the Heart.

From the moment the Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form rushed into the Inner Void of the Heart, it used the dominance of its True Essence of the Heavenly Dragon to usurp the position of the yet-to-form Mental Image, becoming the center of the "Inner Void of the Heart," essentially devouring the Mental Image. This consequence should have been destructive, but because the Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form lacked clear consciousness and only had primal instincts, it eventually succumbed to Yu Ci's resilient will and was controlled by him.

Thus, whether it's a case of changing birds in a cage or reviving the dead using another's body, after a few rounds, this Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form had instead taken the position of the "Mental Image," transforming the Mental Image from intangible to tangible almost instantaneously.

Of course, it is an outsider and needs to adjust. Hence, there was the "fine rain" that lasted for several months in the Inner Void of the Heart. This was the process of the Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form merging its essence with Yu Ci's Physical Spirit, mutually influencing each other until they became one. During this process, the Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form was changing Yu Ci, and Yu Ci was also adjusting it according to his habits and will.

This was a very profound experience. Yu Ci's difficulty in forming the Mental Image was because he couldn't find a starting point. But now, with the Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form as a foundation, no matter what, he had a "handrail" to exert his strength on, making everything fall into place.

Upon the cessation of rain and dispersal of clouds, the process reaches its consummation, and the Mental Image finally takes form.

With the formation of the Mental Image, he naturally transcends the Nature-Connecting Middle Stage. The Yin Spirit has been refined and awaits a period of nurturing before attempting to leave the body, but this is far from all there is to it.

The Primordial Root Qi Method, which was welcomed into the Ancestral Master's Hall upon its inception, naturally has its unique aspects. It constructs the Mental Image from the Physical Image, and uses the Mental Image to control the Physical Image, a concept starkly different from the ordinary Primordial Qi Method. In this Qi method, the complex and profound changes of the Physical Image are guided by the simple and direct Mental Image, simplifying the complex and naturally connecting everything, achieving the exquisite understanding of focusing on the essence alone. Hence, in cultivation, besides Refining the Yin Spirit, there are other wonderful uses.

Yu Ci, holding the Pure Yang Talisman Sword, focuses his gaze on the tip of the sword, and thus the Sha energy breathes in and out, frosty and formidable. The birth of Sha on the sword is the maximum damage Yu Ci has been pursuing recently. Moreover, he can pour his Vital Essence into the sword in a thought, thus stopping the official and moving the spirit, and has initially glimpsed the profound principles of the Art of the Flying Sword.

In fact, this is the same as the previous extension of the unnamed finger, concentrating the Vital Essence within a hair's breadth. It is both a test method and a state.

In Cultivator cultivation, apart from a few people with unique cultivation methods, the Divine Soul Vitality is always moving towards the trend of mutual integration and consolidation, ultimately aiming to gather life and form the Golden Elixir. This process involves the three stages of "response", "confluence", and "connection", corresponding to the progress of Divine Soul Vitality integration.

Yu Ci completed the first step as early as the Acupoint Developing Stage, then accomplished the second step through the enlightenment of Divine Soul Sword Control, and has since been gradually refining his skills, striving for "connection", and finally succeeded at this moment.

With the Divine Soul Vitality connected in every way, concentrated within a hair's breadth, and reaching everywhere, the next step is the "embracing of the spirit and air, Mechanism of the Cauldron" skill, which is already the realm of the Golden Elixir Stage. This means that, in terms of Qi method alone, Yu Ci has achieved the utmost that can be achieved in the Nature-Connecting Realm!

The only thing that needs to be confirmed now is the heat of his nurturing Yin Spirit. Yu Ci is indeed somewhat eager to try, wanting to test the feeling of Yin Spirit leaving the body.

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However, after some thought, he gave up. The Yin Spirit leaving the body is a great danger. If the heat is insufficient and the protection is not complete, it will react violently with the external Primordial Qi, leading to a burning of the heart and the scattering of the soul. When Yu Zhou, Elder Jie Liang, and others were guiding his cultivation, they all solemnly warned him not to try to leave the body lightly, even if he entered the Nature-Connecting Upper Stage, without a master to protect the law, otherwise, it would be too late for regrets.

Truthfully, there was no need for them to say anything. Yu Ci had experienced a similar situation in Sheer Cliff City last time, and he was still somewhat apprehensive about it. He would certainly not repeat such a foolish act.

Shaking his head, he suppressed the lingering excitement and refocused his attention on the present.

He looked up towards the deep clouds above. He wondered whether the Ghost Beasts had completed their transformation and what their current movements were. If the beast held a grudge and pursued him relentlessly, he would have to rely on the surrounding terrain to deal with it. Even if it did not come after him, he would have to find a way to fly back through the vast clouds.

No matter what choice he made, familiarizing himself with the surrounding environment was paramount.

Therefore, he lowered his head to examine the sturdy rock surface beneath his feet.

From the moment he landed safely, Yu Ci had been extremely curious about this place. He discovered that the ground beneath his feet was not the slopes and stone beams resting on the sheer cliffs that he had seen during his previous two visits to Sky Rift Valley. Instead, it was a real, towering mountain peak. At least within his visible range, it did not appear to be connected to the sheer cliffs of Sky Rift Valley.

Yu Ci knew that Sky Rift Valley was vast and boundless, with tens of thousands of miles separating the east from the west. The valley was not entirely filled with clouds and mist. According to the information from the Lichen Sect, there were countless mountains of varying heights standing in the depths of the clouds in the valley. Some even extended from the valley floor to above the clouds, appearing like floating islands in the clouds from a distance.

Some of these "islands" were habitable, and many places had been developed into resting spots for cultivators. The mountain peak where Yu Ci was located was far from the top of the clouds—so far that the divine consciousness starlight shot by the Divine Bronze Mirror could not reach it.

That meant that it was at least ten miles deep.

Since Yu Ci had used his Yin Spirit to control the Treasure Mirror and had restarted the extraordinary powers of the Treasure Mirror, he had almost figured out the current situation of the Divine Bronze Mirror in a few months.

It was undeniable that the current Divine Bronze Mirror, although it had developed the very useful method of divine consciousness starlight, had not yet reached the level of the initial "Divine Map" which could illuminate a radius of fifty miles. If the divine consciousness starlight was naturally projected to track living creatures and reside in their Brain Palace, it could only reach up to ten miles, which was approximately twice the natural sensing limit of his Divine Soul. Of course, it was a different matter when Yu Ci drove it with his thoughts or first parasitized it on targets like the Fish-Dragon.

Yu Ci felt that this situation was probably due to him gaining some control over the Treasure Mirror after using his Yin Spirit to control it. He hadn't yet figured out the mysterious origin of the Divine Bronze Mirror, so it was only reasonable that the power of the Treasure Mirror was limited by his own strength.

In truth, a ten-mile radius was more than sufficient. The challenge lay in the fragmented perspectives which made it difficult to form a comprehensive impression of the surrounding environment. Yu Ci tried to piece together several viewpoints, but ultimately gave up. However, during this process, he did discover an anomaly.

It was at the edge of the Divine Bronze Mirror's range, probably also at the edge of this mountain peak. Unable to distinguish east from west, south from north, he could only say it was in his left-hand direction. Unlike other areas, there were noticeably fewer creatures there. The Divine consciousness starlight found only a few targets. Large swathes of emptiness filled the fragmented perspectives, and near the edge, there was pure nothingness.

After some thought, Yu Ci moved in that direction. A journey of about ten miles was quickly covered.

No wonder the sensor showed a void, it truly was a barren land!

As far as Yu Ci could see, there was no sign of any life. No birds, no beasts, no vegetation, and even moss seemed reluctant to appear. Standing here, other than the howling wind and his own breathing, there was no other sound.

Standing on the edge of the cliff, Yu Ci looked down at the rolling clouds below his feet, feeling very strange. This place seemed to be the edge of the mountain, but from here, about a mile away, there was a dark shadow which was another mountain peak.

Not just opposite, but also at a different angle, there was a similar mountain body. Yu Ci counted, there were at least five mountain peaks surrounding him, very evenly distributed. The center was a "valley" about a mile in diameter, which was too narrow compared to the surrounding peaks. Yu Ci threw a stone down and quickly heard a sound. A depth of twenty zhang?

With Yu Ci's current cultivation level, jumping down directly wouldn't be a problem.

Still, Yu Ci carefully climbed down. He didn't encounter any danger along the way, but he found the cliff wall unusually smooth, as if it had been deliberately axed by a craftsman.

When his feet touched the ground, Yu Ci was taken aback. Compared to the cliff wall, this "valley floor" was very rough.

Looking down, it was as if there had been an earthquake here. There were cracks everywhere on the ground, some nearly tearing the entire "valley" apart, while others were only a few feet long. Regardless of their length, all were bottomless. Yu Ci even suspected that the ground, including the mountain body below, had been shaken to the point of crumbling. With a little more force, it might completely collapse.

But what about the smooth cliff walls around him?

Yu Ci walked around inside the "valley," increasingly feeling that this place was not a valley at all, but more like a pit dug in the middle of the mountain. As for how the pit was dug, it was still unknown. The cracks at the bottom of the pit, however, radiated from the center of the pit in a regular pattern.

Yu Ci walked over and saw that the ground there bulged a bit. Upon closer inspection, it was a bluestone about half a man's height, slightly curved on the surface and quite smooth. As soon as Yu Ci touched it, he quickly withdrew his hand.

"It's so hot!"

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