Upon closer inspection, Zhu Yi started to realize that the various spells and techniques that were surging around were not all targeted towards himself.
Every star seemed to be fighting against another one as they unleashed spell after spell and it felt like all they wanted to do was destroy the other stars around them.
These stars were chaotic and disorganized as if they had no mind at all.
Even though the stars perfectly replicated the strengths of the powerful cultivators that lost their lives inside the Ying Sea and their spells were on full display, they seemed to have lost their autonomy and every star seemed like a puppet.
"The remnant memories of the stars are incomplete, therefore the abhijnas and spells are also incomplete. This is the reason why they are unable to execute the spells smoothly and can only draw upon the power of the stars to unleash their personal spells and martial ways."
"However, the remnant memories and souls are one with the stars but separated from my own - therefore I am unable to use my own spells and abhijnas. Forced execution is virtually impossible as we will be doing everything wrong."
"The consequence of the ruination of y new starlight body that formed around my soul after my entry is unclear and hard to predict. I may possibly reform a new sphere and a new identity, yet I may also be rejected by the spatial illusion, and my soul can even be destroyed in the process."
Thoughts raced through his mind as unleashed a spell from the soul memories of the Great Sun Holy Man's esoteric Martial Ways of the Emperor Chen. The Celestial Fist of the Twenty-Eight Mansions opened with the form of the Jiao Wood Serpent and launched towards the Shaoyang Sword Technique directly in front of him.
The first one of the seven mansions of the Green Dragon was called the Jiao Wood Serpent - its determinative star was Alpha Virgo, wood-typed, and formed a serpent-like figure in the sky. It was the first of the seven Mansions of the Eastern Sky and had two stars that were shaped like the horns of a dragon.
The horns of the dragon represented the ferocious charge into battle. The Jiao Wood Serpent Form was one of the killer moves of the Celestial Fist of the Twenty-Eight Mansions.
Both fists punched out and the force of the attack were like two giant hammers that could pulverize his adversary in an instant.
The Shaoyang Sword was the fiercest branch out of the Six Swords of the Mount Shu Sword Sect, yet Zhu Yi had no intention to dodge or retreat. He retaliated with the form of the Jiao Wood Serpent and met brute force with brute force.
The force of the clash exploded with bright light as the Shaoyang Sword star flew backwards from the aftershocks and Zhu Yi's star was forced backwards well.
His opponent sustained a greater loss than Zhu Yi as the Shaoyang Sword strike had no focal point - it blindingly treated all surrounding stars as a target but Zhu Yi concentrated all his energy towards him, and Zhu Yi almost turned that star into a supernova.
However, other stars started to launch other spells and attacks towards Zhu Yi.
Zhu Yi's soul was trembling violently as he tried his best to connect with the remnant memories of the Great Sun Holy Man and struggled to understand the profundity of the Martial Ways of the Emperor Chen.
Of all the human emperors in the history of the Divine Lands, the Emperor Chen was the most adamant about taking control of the Ancient Desolate Galaxy away from the demons. He harnessed the powers of a million stars and, coupled with his deep understanding of the transformations of the stars, he managed to form a physical body so strong that that hardly anybody in the Middle Ages that could match him.
The Celestial Fist of the Twenty-Eight Mansions was the most popular Martial Way amongst all the techniques and spells passed down from the Emperor Chen.
The Twenty-Eight Mansions comprised four groups of mansions. The Seven Mansions of the Green Dragon of the East - the Horn Wood Serpent, the Neck Gold Dragon, the Root Earth Raccoon, the Room Sun Rabbit, the Heart Moon Fox, the Tail Fire Tiger and the Winnowing Basket Water Cheetah.
The Seven Mansions of the Vermilion Bird of the South - the Well Wood Tiger, the Ghost Gold Goat, the Willow Earth Roe, the Star Sun Horse, the Extended Net Moon Deer, the Wings Fire Snake and the Chariot Water Worm.
The Seven Mansions of White Tiger of the West - the Legs Wood Wolf, the Bond Gold Canine, the Stomach Earth Pheasant, the Hairy Heard Sun Chicken, the Net Moon Crow, the Turtle Beak Fire Monkey and the Three Stars Water Ape.
The Seven Mansions of the Black Tortoise of the North - the Dipper Wood Xie, the Ox Gold Bull, the Girl Earth Bat, the Emptiness Sun Mouse, the Rooftop Moon Swallow, the Encampment Fire Pig and the Wall Water Yu. (Translator's Note: The Twenty-Eight Mansions are part of the Chinese constellations systems. The names of the mansions are directly translated and the naming consists of three parts and they make not make too much sense without reference to the Chinese charts.)
Zhu Yi continued to mull over the deeper meanings of the stars embodied within the twenty-eight forms and cross-referenced with his own knowledge for maximum speed and effect.
"This Martial Way is a little similar to the ones practiced by Eldest Senior. His Four Appearances Heaven-Cleaving Script also consists of the Dragon, the Sparrow, the Tiger and the Tortoise. Will continual derivation of the Martial Way and incorporating the transformations of the stars lead to other types of martial ways?"
Zhu Yi's soul was as lively and vivacious as it could be at this point - he even had the time and energy to contemplate about things that were completely unrelated to the dire circumstance at hand.
The starlight around his body started to flicker and materialize into a physical body of a man. The pores and holes around his body trembled and sparkled like the stars in the universe as vast energies connected them all together.
However, Zhu Yi took a different approach this time. The body that the starlight transformed into extended its arms to the side as if it was giving up on all forms of protection before it dashed backwards like the flight of a giant bird - it was the form of the Wings Fire Snake.
The determinative star was Alpha Crateris, and it was fire-typed and took the form of a snake. It was the sixth mansion of the Southern Mansions and took its position at the wings of the Vermilion Bird. Birds could only take flight with wings, and it was one of the agility-based techniques of the Celestial Fist of the Twenty-Eight Mansions.
The Emperor Chen of the Antiquity Age 'flapped' his wings and travelled to a place ten thousand miles away with this exact technique. It was faster than most other techniques that had similar effects, and rivaled even the speed of the Golden Roc.
Zhu Yi almost had full autonomy with offence and defense. He managed to evade the onslaught of miscellaneous spells in an instant as the spells found themselves without a target.
"I shall not waste my time with them - the important task right now is to break the spatial illusion," he thought to himself as he continued to shake off several other attacks with the Wings Fire Snake form and soared towards the far end of the starry galaxy.
He clashed with multiple spheres of starlight along the way, with varying levels of mastery. However, the lowest was already the nascent soul stage - it seemed like only the remnant soul memories of cultivators that were at least at the nascent soul stage that had perished in the Ying Sea at some point were preserved and guided into this spatial illusion.
Zhu Yi pondered over everything as he travelled. "Even though we entered the illusion at the same time, Baiguang is nowhere to be seen. None of the chaotic starlight beings that I ran into previously belonged to her soul - I do hope she's safe."
Even though he was unsure, Zhu Yi's guess was that whichever starlight soul that enveloped the people that entered the spatial illusion was purely by chance.
Zhu Yi was a little more fortunate than others to have been implanted into the remnant starlight soul of the Great Sun Holy Man. Of all the records of cultivators that had lost their lives inside the Ying Sea at some point, besides the small number of third-level immortal soul stage cultivators, the Great Sun Holy Man was one of the more outstanding individuals.
This was the reason why Zhu Yi could repel the onslaught of starlight and still had the energy to move forward.
If he had been implanted into the remnant soul of a nascent soul beginner stage cultivator, then he would be in deep trouble. Even the aftershocks of the battle between powerful cultivators could eradicate his entire sphere of starlight.
Besides the good fortune that he was enjoying currently, this outcome was beneficial for Zhu Yi in the long run as well. He was able to connect with and understand the Great Sun Holy Man's remnant soul memories, and this would be helpful when he was in the immortal soul stage himself and breaking through to the second-level immortal soul stage.
Still, Zhu Yi felt a little disoriented as he was wielding the shell of a second-level immortal soul stage cultivator when he himself was only in the nascent soul advanced stage. Even though his original body's battle prowess was greater than most other first-level immortal soul stage cultivators, there was still a rift in understanding of the world between the levels of masteries and was not something that could be bridged in the short term.
However, with his current experiences, if he could consolidate the knowledge he had obtained in the process, then it would be a kind of formless improvement for Zhu Yi.
"Eh?" Zhu Yi's eyes squinted a little as he gazed towards the far horizon.
There was another Void Battleground in the far end of the galaxy as spheres of starlight collided violently.
However, Zhu Yi's extraordinary levels of perception told him that there was something different about a group of starlight beings amongst the chaos.
They were humans!
Another group of souls had entered the spatial illusion and were implanted into various remnant soul memories as well. They were relatively organized and displayed a certain level of intelligence and rationality as they overcame the other stars with collective effort and proceeded forward with a clear direction and destination in mind.
"This level of mastery - a third-level immortal soul stage cultivator?!" Zhu Yi was a little surprised. "From the looks of his spells and abhijnas, it seems to be rooted within the Amoghasiddhi Mantra."
"But I have never heard of a third-level Golden Form cultivator who died in the Ying Sea."
Third-level immortal soul stage cultivators were revered and considered extremely important in their respective eras. Besides a few special exceptions, the death of a third-level immortal soul stage cultivator would send ripples throughout the world and the entire Grand Celestial World would feel the aftershocks.
Therefore, the deaths of most third-level immortal soul stage cultivators were clearly recorded in the archives with meticulous detail.
"The most prominent connection between the Great Thunderclap Temple and the Ying Sea is the Zhi Guang Zen Master of the Middle Ages. Legend has it that the Zhi Guang Zen Master has been into the Ying Sea multiple times over, and even tried to take control of a Celestial Mountain by himself when they showed themselves to the world. However, the death of the Zhi Guang Zen Master had nothing to do with the Ying Sea."
Zhu Yi continued to deliberate. "However, the Zhi Guang Zen Master's mantras are based on the Amoghasiddhi Mantra…"
There was something abnormal about this group of stars.
Zhu Yi was just about to continue to monitor and observe this group of stars. However, before he could do anything, this group of stars came up to him in the blink of an eye.
Starlight sparkled and flashed as rays of Buddhist light surged into vision in front of Zhu Yi.
The form of the Amoghasiddhi Buddha. All activities could be accomplished, and no matter where it was, there was no unfinishable task.
The soul embedded within this sphere of starlight was the leader of the party from the Great Zhou Empire - the Da Kong Zen Master. He had activated the Zhi Guang Zen Master's ancient relic and subsequently used the Zhi Guang Zen Master's remnant soul memories as his temporary body inside the spatial illusion by turning it into starlight. This ensured that he possessed the third-level immortal stage powers of the Zhi Guang Zen Master.
He also practiced the Amoghasiddhi Mantra as well, and his control of the Zhi Guang Zen Master's remnant soul was very similar to him breaking the bottleneck into the third-level immortal soul stage in real life.
He had an understanding of the spatial illusion before he was even inside. Therefore, he had instructed the other cultivators from the Great Zhou Empire to use his Buddhist light as a beacon and rally towards him once everyone had entered the spatial illusion. They used three different protective spells to distinguish their identities.
There was clear difference from the other group of disorganized and chaotic starlight beings as it was obvious this group had souls implanted into the starlight forms. Therefore, any sphere of starlight that was not following orders and had an intelligence of its own was a competitor from the Celestial Sect of Wonders or the Great Qin Empire!
Chants of Buddhist scripture could be heard as streaks of golden light surged across the galaxy and circled around Zhu Yi's starlight body.
The battle raged on inside the independent galaxy of the spatial illusion. Outside the spatial illusion across the mysterious crystal wall, another group of people appeared, and out stepped a youth clad in tight purple clothes and a long black robe. It was Xiao Yan and his company.
"Tsk, that ancient formation was truly annoying. From the looks of it, something more irritating is coming up - an illusion that actually rejects people from entering it. The world never ceases to surprise me."