10 Prefer white. (1/2)
Reading through the information about the Heavenly Queen's 1st Star, there was only one word Li Yang could think of to describe this body cultivation technique, perplexing. It wasn't straightforward like other cultivation techniques, it didn't even completely describe just how you were meant to cultivate it.
After going over all the information stored within the bone, Li Yang understood the essence as 'feel the overwhelming force, conquer the force, merge with the force and crush all dissidence.' This was the best he could come up with in the end, but he had no clue exactly what sort of overpowering force was the proper one to use, nor did he even know how to conquer or merge with it.
He could guess that the force should be something overwhelmingly destructive, it might actually just be the law of crushing based on the final clue he extrapolated. But these were just guesses that he had no way of discovering if they were correct, he would have to ask the Heavenly Queen herself if he wanted to get a proper answer. But that was clearly impossible, even if she hadn't vanished long ago, there was no way she would bother even noticing an existence such as his.
Since Li Yang had no way to get the true answers, he could only move forward with the answer he had come up with one his own. Force, pure and untainted, overwhelming and merciless, that was what Li Yang decided on. And with his choice of force made, the first step was sensing the force and properly understanding it.
”Guess we'll start with the most obvious...”
Li Yang stretched out his left arm while muttering, closing his eyes and focusing his senses on his left pinky. His Qi seeped out from his body and gathered around his finger, slowly interfering with the natural gravity in the area. A field of reverse gravity appeared beneath his finger, a field of heightened gravity appearing above it. The two opposite fields started to act upon his finger, squashing it between them while they were trying to force it to move away.
The fields were weak at first, only producing a slight discomfort in Li Yang's finger. But he slowly increased the strength of both fields, the discomfort quickly turning into pain as his flesh and bones were squeezed tighter and tighter. His brows furrowed somewhat due to the pain, but he kept his senses locked on his finger, focusing on the force that was currently causing the bones within said finger to creak and moan.
He could definitely sense the force that was moving through his bones and flesh, he sensed it so easily that it was almost astounding to him. The force practically pulsed through his finger, rushing up and down like a trapped rat that tried to flee. The force was different from the gravity that acted upon his finger, it would be more fitting to call it the energy that came about as a result of gravity acting upon his finger.
Li Yang continued to sense the force, but the amount produced by his gravity wasn't quite enough, it was too faint for him to get a truly good feel of it. He tried to increase the gravity further, but he encountered a problem after the gravity reached a point where his bones started to bend and a slight tear appeared in his skin.
His own Qi that was being used to sustain the gravity started to seep into his body, sinking into his bones and forming very faint and tiny runes. The reason this was a problem was that while it was indeed the most orthodox body cultivation method, it was also the weakest. And with his own Qi seeping into his body again, it polluted the pure force that he was aiming for, making it useless to him.
He quickly lowered the force of the gravity and forcefully extracted the Qi that had started to seep into his bones. This orthodox and normal body cultivation path wasn't what he was looking for, it was too weak and didn't feel worthy. In fact, while his father and the others thought he simply had no interest in body cultivation, just like they previously thought he had no interest in cultivation, he had actually looked over all the body cultivation manuals that the sect had to offer.
He fought using his own body as his weapon, a strong body meant a stronger weapon so it was only logical for him to train his body. But none of the body cultivation manuals owned by the sect felt worthy, his instincts subconsciously rejected each and every one of them. As for the voices that he heard whenever he closed his eyes, they never spoke about body cultivation so they weren't of any help to him.
But this body cultivation technique left behind by the Heavenly Queen, it was something left behind by a peak existence. When it came to this cultivation manual, both his mind and instincts were in agreement, it was worthy. His own Qi stopped polluting the force he had set his sight on, Li Yang's thoughts quietly moving as he worked to come up with a different way to increase the force so that he could get a better feel of it.
One of his brows twitched slightly as an idea popped up in his mind. He stood up from his seated position and made his way over to the stone wall right in front of him. He clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it into the wall, maintaining the two gravitational fields around his finger all the while.
The punch sent an aching jolt straight up his arm, his flesh quivering slightly before the resulting force of the punch dissipated. It was a bit painful, but it provided Li Yang with what he was looking for, a force that was pure and untainted. But he couldn't stand here and keep punching the wall, and he certainly wouldn't be able to do it with his back or thighs if he wanted to sense the force through them.
”Guess I gotta go take a trip.”
Li Yang opened his eyes and pulled back his Qi, shaking his left hand to subdue any residual aching as he turned around and left the training room. He packed a few things into his interspatial ring and then left his house, making use of several spatial arrays to make his way to the very edge of the island.
He arrived inside the hollowed-out trunk of a massive tree, reaching one of the few spatial arrays that actually had two armoured guards standing watch by it. He kept his hands behind his head while walking in a nonchalant manner, casually stating his destination as he approached the spatial array.
”Third island of Emerald Lake Archipelago, the spatial array closest to the 15th training area.”
This island was the main base of the Deepsea King sect, but it wasn't the only one they operated on, there were several smaller island and archipelagos in the area that they also controlled. But those places were mostly used to rear certain beasts, herbs, or to house some of their specialized training areas, very few people actually lived on them. One of the two armoured guards stretched out his arm and opened his mouth, but the other guard quickly silenced him by hitting him over the head.
”Please produce a writ of ac...Ghh!”
The other guard sent a glare at the one that had just spoken up, signalling him that he should just stay quiet. He then gave Li Yang a polite bow and gestured towards the spatial array standing right behind them.
”Certainly, please just step onto the array.”
Li Yang lazily nodded his head at the guard and stepped onto the array, the guard quickly inserting a few Spirit Stones into specific spots of the array. This array was slightly different from the others in the sect, it would send you to a different place based on where the Spirit Stones were placed. As a result, these people weren't here just to guard it, they were also in charge of configuring the array for those that wanted to use it.
The array was activated and Li Yang was sent away, a bright light blinding him for a short while before it vanished and revealed his surroundings. The place he arrived was the branch of a massive winding and coiling tree that rose up from the ocean, thousands of smaller roots covered in moss and algae stretching out beneath the water and dyeing it a deep emerald. Several tens more such trees rose up from the water around him, forming what was known as Emerald Lake Archipelago, a collection of demonic trees planted by the founder of the Deepsea King sect.
The trees were actually just floating on the water, the roots not long enough to reach the bottom of the ocean. The roots absorbed the needed nutrients from the surrounding water as well as the underwater Demonic beasts that got too close and ended up getting snatched up by the roots. The underwater roots were somewhat vicious, but the roots and parts of the tree that reached above the water were harmless, only existing to draw in sunlight to further feed the hungry roots.