Chapter 14: First Attempt with The Star God Celestial Diagram
The time was approaching midnight. Tang Mu, who had already settled into a cross-legged position on his bed, slowly emptied his mind. He gradually sank into a state of 'thoughtlessness' while regulating his breathing to achieve a profound and mysterious resonance with nature.
Of course, he wasn't playing around or resting but practicing the Star God breathing technique associated with the Star God Celestial Diagram.
With regard to breathing, ordinary humans would inhale once before exhaling purely on instinct. The focus of their respiratory organs was only to take in the oxygen needed for body metabolism before expelling the bi-product that was carbon dioxide.
However, the Star God Breathing Technique was for a different function and thus required a different breathing pattern.
According to the manual he had received from Little Green, the technique included principles like pursed lip breathing, shallow breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, mindful breathing, deep breathing, box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, and lion's breath, among others.
By executing the breathing routines for specific periods in the required sequence, a psionic practitioner would achieve a profound resonance with nature and eventually obtain metaphysical results.
Most importantly, these breathing patterns were supposed to be executed while visualizing the Star God Celestial Diagram.
For Tang Mu, this wasn't a big deal. He had practiced the war-at-arms military technique for the past three years and gained ample experience in meditation. He immediately started constructing the Star God Celestial Diagram in his mind while maintaining the breathing patterns of the Star God Celestial Manual.
Sometimes, he would inhale and hold his breath for a few seconds, and at other times, he would exhale like a mythical dragon, expelling all the air from his lungs within a moment. Occasionally, he would purse his lips or contract his belly while taking in oxygen. His respiratory patterns remained weird and mysterious as he tried to construct a mental image of the Star God Celestial Diagram.
Time passed, and just when Tang Mu was about to exhaust his mental strength, the celestial diagram finally manifested in his mindscape.
The Star God visualization rune was obviously not identical to the one in the Star God manual. It lacked the simplicity, profoundness, and many other details 'originally' contained and expressed in the original. But even with those missing details, it remained an apex-grade visualization technique that soon blew away Tang Mu's original perception of meditation.
At the exact moment when the far-from-perfect mental image of the Star God Celestial Diagram took shape, Tang Mu felt like he had achieved an epiphany.
The celestial diagram in his mind immediately exploded into many starry particles that drifted about in his mind for a few seconds. Then, just as quickly, they assembled to form a spinning pinkish-orange whirlpool that floated out of his body and positioned itself about three feet above his head.
"This..." Tang Mu was shocked beyond measure when the pinkish-orange vortex manifested within his mind's eye. He couldn't remain calm and immediately broke out of the meditative state.
Of course, what astonished him wasn't the speed of sensing the chakra. He had already expected such a result after repeatedly obtaining assurances about the Star God Celestial Diagram from Little Green. Instead, what caused him to lose his tranquility was because of perceiving the strange chakra above his head as his first psionic energy vortex.
In the age of psionic powers, it was common knowledge that a prospective practitioner would first sense and unlock the base or root chakra at the base of the spine.
Only by opening that crucial chakra and connecting one's physical body to the esoteric body would one step on the mighty path of becoming a psionic wielding unmatched superpowers. There was no shortcut since it was the first step of every psionic transitioning into a rank one.
But what had Tang Mu just experienced? He had not sensed the base chakra located at the base of his spine when he mediated with the Star God Celestial Diagram. Instead, his mind had caught a trace of this strange pinkish-orange chakra located three feet above his head.
The incident overturned his understanding of how to train following the order of the system of his seven chakras. It shook all his knowledge, and he doubted whether he was still on the right path.
"Little Green... Are you there?" Tang Mu called out in his mind.
"Yes... I can hear you," Little Green replied with a hint of irritation. "What's the problem?"
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"I meditated using the Star God Celestial Diagram," Tang Mu said after organizing his words. "The whole experience went smoothly, and I successfully constructed a mental image of the visualization rune."
"However, after that, everything became confusing. Instead of sensing the base chakra at the base of my spine, I caught a glimpse of another pinkish-orange chakra located about three feet above my head. What's up with this? Did I do anything wrong?"
"There's no problem with sensing the energy whirlpool above your head as your first chakra," Little Green replied. "As I already said, the Star God Celestial Diagram is an apex-grade meditation technique even in top civilizations. It doesn't follow conventions like the ones you are used to."
"A practitioner practicing the Star God Celestial manual will always first perceive any of the six chakras associated with the sensory domain of the mind rather than those tied to strengthening the physical body."
"These chakras include the Divine Gateway, Galactic, Universal, Soul Star, Crown, and Third Eye chakras. Depending on one's talent, a practitioner can activate any of these six as their first chakra while practicing with the Star God Celestial Diagram."
"Young lad! I don't know whether you're just lucky or extremely talented. What you sensed while mediating is the Galactic Chakra."
"It's the 11th chakra in the twelve-chakra system. It encompasses total cosmic wisdom, and when activated, it is said that a person can travel beyond the limits of time and space. It's related to time travel and the space domain. As such, it carries supernatural powers like teleportation, spatial manipulation, instant manifestation, and bi-location."
"To be honest, I didn't expect you to open this energy center as your first chakra," Little Green continued. "It's one of the most mysterious and can only be sensed by those termed as demonic or divine geniuses, even in top civilizations, as a first chakra. As for you, you only belong to a very untalented race close to the bottom level of universal society. So, even at my level, I'm still confused by how you can sense such an energy center as your first chakra!"
"This..." Tang Mu felt like an explosion had gone off in his head after hearing Little Green's explanation.
In essence, he was a soul from the 21st century who traveled countless years through time before experiencing a rebirth in the future. All these incidents were aspects related to the 'transcendental element' of traveling beyond the limits of space and time.
So, could that be why he sensed the Galactic Chakra, the 11th energy center in the twelve-chakra system, as his first chakra? Could the uniqueness of being reborn have given him unparalleled talent, even when considering the scale of the whole universe? Or were there other factors at play?
A few speculations quickly flashed through Tang Mu's mind, causing his heart to race. He inhaled deeply to calm himself down before returning his attention to Little Green.
"Little Green!" He said. "You just mentioned that those practicing the Star God Celestial Diagram can unlock one of the sensory chakras related to the mind as their first chakra. Then, what about the second chakra? Will they continue opening the sensory energy centers like the Divine Gateway, Universal, Soul Star, Crown, and Third Eye chakras first?"
"Good question," Little Green said. "Aside from the first chakra, the next steps in the Star God Celestial manual follow the conventional training system."
"That means you will unlock the Base or Root chakra after fully activating your first Galactic Chakra. After that, you can open the Earth Star Chakra, the Sacral Chakra, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat, Third Eye, Crown, Soul Star, Universal, and Divine Gateway chakras in that order."
"By activating these chakras, you'll gradually strengthen your connection to your esoteric body and eventually attain transcendence. However, all these are still far from you. You better focus on sensing your first chakra and raising your level to rank one."
"Okay," Tang Mu simply agreed.
Without saying anything else, he settled into a cross-legged mediative position.
He regulated his breathing to achieve a pattern described in the Star God Celestial manual as he emptied his mind. Then, after reaching a state of thoughtlessness, he again started reconstructing the image of the Star God Celestial Diagram within his mindscape.
The second time around was much more effortless.
Within a few minutes, the far-from-perfect image of the visualization rune manifested in Tang Mu's mind. The rune that seemed to encompass the essence of the universe then exploded into glowing starry particles, which soon assembled into a pinkish-orange whirlpool.
The familiar vortex behaved as before and escaped the confines of Tang Mu's mind. It swiftly ascended and settled about three feet above his head as a cognitive manifestation of the Galactic Chakra.
Success!
Tang Mu was more prepared that time around. He suppressed the joy deep within his heart and focused on maintaining both the breathing rhythm and the mental image of the Galactic Chakra.
Minutes passed, and eventually, he seemed to reach a deeper resonance with nature. Following the instructions from the Star God Celestial manual, he extended a strand of his consciousness and touched the manifestation of the Galactic Chakra.
Thump!
A tremor seemed to go off within his mind at that exact moment.
A torrent of energy gushed out from the manifestation of the Galactic Chakra before flooding into his body.
It surged like a flood within his blood, reinvigorating all his muscles, bones, cells, and all other living aspects, including the genes. The energy then continued circling through some mysterious channels around his body before settling again into the manifested image of his Galactic Chakra.
Wonderful! This should be the psionic energy washing the body.
Tang Mu let the mental manifestation of the Galactic Chakra float away from his mind. He felt fatigued after holding the image in his mind for almost half an hour. His mental reserves were in the red, and he just couldn't continue meditating using the Star God Celestial Diagram.
But even then, even after only training for about thirty minutes, he had still reaped plenty of benefits.
He had exceeded the results from his past three years of meditation by touching that previously almost impossible threshold of sensing his first chakra and becoming a pseudo-rank-one psionic. His body was also more robust and fitter than ever, especially after soaking in that energy surge that flowed out of his Galactic Chakra.