Chương 412: Chapter 411: Spiritual Manifestation

As the thirty-two competitors stood facing their respective portals, Elder Wan raised his hand for attention. The murmur of conversation died down as his spiritual pressure radiated outward, not threatening but commanding enough to ensure complete silence.

"Before you begin," Elder Wan began, "there are important details you must understand about this phase of the tournament." I felt a slight frown tugging at my expression. Important details that weren't mentioned earlier? That was never a good sign in cultivation competitions.

"You will not be physically entering these inner worlds," Elder Wan continued.

"While these realms are under our sect's control and have been stabilized for safe exploration, they naturally reject the presence of outsiders. The spiritual laws governing each world create an automatic defense against foreign entities." Several competitors exchanged glances, and I caught more than a few uncomfortable expressions. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who found this development concerning.

"To circumvent this natural rejection," Elder Wan explained, "you will project your spiritual consciousness into the realm and take control of one of the native inhabitants. Through this vessel, you will engage in combat with your opponent." A ripple of surprise ran through the gathered disciples. Some looked genuinely shocked, others merely thoughtful, but I noticed that a few of the more experienced competitors didn't seem fazed at all.

Either they'd known this was coming, or they'd participated in similar trials before. As for myself, I couldn't help but feel a twist of ironic amusement. Possession, huh? That was familiar territory.

"Master," Azure said quietly in my mind, "this is quite different from your normal world-walking experiences." He was right. When I world-walked using the Genesis Seed's connection, my entire soul crossed between realms, carrying my inner world and all my abilities with it. I could use my full power because I was genuinely present in that reality, mind and soul. But what Elder Wan was describing was spiritual projection. A silver of my consciousness would enter the realm while my soul remained in my physical body.

The connection between my projected will and my real self would be the only way to channel my qi, red sun energy, blue sun energy, or any of my other abilities into the vessel. It was like the difference between personally fighting a battle versus controlling a puppet from a distance. The puppet might be able to access some of your power, but it would always be limited by the strength of the connection and the vessel's capacity to handle foreign energy.

"I must emphasize," Elder Wan continued, "that any damage you suffer within the inner world will not affect your physical body here in the arena. Your spiritual projection may be injured, weakened, or even temporarily dispersed, but you will return safely to your own form." I noticed what he didn't mention. What about damage to the vessel?

If we were taking control of actual inhabitants, people with their own lives and personalities, what happened to them when higher beings started channeling spiritual energy through their bodies?

"Master," Azure observed, following my train of thought, "I suspect the sect views the inhabitants of these inner worlds as... expendable resources." That made sense, unfortunately. The cultivation world had a harsh hierarchy, and most high-level cultivators viewed mortals as ants beneath their notice. The inhabitants of a Civilization Realm inner world might be technically alive and sentient, but to the sect elders, they were probably just sophisticated spiritual constructs rather than real people.

It was callous, but not surprising. I'd learned early on that this world operated on very different moral principles than my previous life.

"Before you begin," Elder Wan added, his tone becoming more instructional, "remember that each inner world operates according to its own spiritual laws and cultivation systems. Do not attempt to force your own techniques against the grain of reality. Instead, embrace the world's nature and work with its laws rather than against them." With those cryptic words of wisdom, he gestured toward the portals.

"You may begin." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I frowned, parsing the meaning behind Elder Wan's advice. He was basically telling us that our own techniques might be severely restricted in these foreign realms. The key to victory wouldn't be overwhelming power, but adaptability and choosing the right vessel to fight through.

In other words, I needed to find an inhabitant of the Realm of Living Lyrics who was already powerful within that world's cultivation system, rather than trying to force my plant-based abilities to work in an environment designed around musical arts. Around me, the other competitors began the process of spiritual projection. I watched as translucent, ghostly versions of themselves materialized beside their physical bodies.

These spiritual forms looked exactly like their creators but with a faint, ethereal quality, like reflections seen through shallow water.

"Good luck," a cheerful voice said nearby. I turned to see Guo Xinyi approaching her portal, the same singing cultivator whose battle I'd watched with such interest. She'd spoken to me with a genuine smile, her tone warm and friendly without any of the calculating undertones I'd grown accustomed to from other competitors.

"Good luck to you too," I replied, returning her smile. Internally, I felt a surge of relief. After facing Tang Shuo's complete detachment from reality and Ming Yue's split personality disorder, it was refreshing to encounter an opponent who seemed mentally stable and genuinely pleasant. Maybe this round wouldn't be quite as psychologically exhausting as the previous two.

"Master," Azure said with what sounded like amusement, "you do realize she's still going to try to defeat you, right? Pleasant personality doesn't necessarily mean she'll go easy on you in combat." True enough. But there was something to be said for facing an opponent who wasn't actively delusional or struggling with internal conflicts. At least when Guo Xinyi tried to eliminate me, it would be straightforward competition rather than... whatever Tang Shuo's situation had been.

I closed my eyes and began the process of separating my spiritual consciousness from my physical form. It was similar to meditation, but instead of turning inward, I was reaching outward, extending my awareness beyond the boundaries of my body. The sensation was strange. Unlike world-walking, where my entire existence shifted between realities, this felt more like stretching a rubber band.

Part of me remained firmly anchored to my physical body in the tournament arena, while another part prepared to venture into an unknown realm. My spiritual projection began to take shape, a translucent copy of myself that maintained all my features but possessed none of the weight or substance of my real body. It was like becoming a ghost, present but not truly there.

"Remember," Azure advised, "you'll be working with whatever abilities the vessel possesses, supplemented by whatever power you can channel through the spiritual connection. Don't rely on techniques that require on runes, you're spiritual will doesn't have runes inscribed on it." With a final deep breath, I guided my spiritual projection toward the portal marked "Realm of Living Lyrics." The moment I made contact with the swirling energy, everything dissolved around me.

The transition was jarring, like being pulled through a tunnel of sound and color. Unlike the smooth world-walking experiences I was accustomed to, this felt choppy and disorienting, as if I was being translated rather than transported. When the sensation ended, I found myself standing in a world that defied conventional description. The sky above was a canvas of shifting musical notes, actual musical notation flowing across clouds like living text.

The notes glowed with soft light, creating harmonies that I could somehow both see and hear simultaneously. Treble clefs drifted like birds between measures of cosmic music, while bass clefs anchored the harmonic structure like floating mountains. The landscape beneath my feet was equally extraordinary. Rolling hills were shaped like enormous instruments: violin curves, trumpet bells, and piano keys forming the very geography.

Forests of singing trees swayed to rhythms I couldn't quite identify, their leaves creating percussion as they rustled against each other. In the distance, I could see cities built from crystallized sound, their spires rising in perfect harmonic intervals. Bridges of solid melody connected floating islands, while rivers of liquid music flowed between banks of compressed rhythm.

The most remarkable aspect was how everything in this world seemed to pulse with the same underlying beat, as if the entire realm was one massive musical composition playing itself into existence. Even the air itself carried harmonics, making each breath feel like inhaling pure song.

"Master," Azure whispered in wonder, "this is incredible. The entire world operates on musical principles. Look at how the spiritual energy flows; it's following melodic patterns rather than traditional qi circulation." He was right. I could sense the energy networks throughout this realm, and instead of the usual ley lines or spiritual veins, power flowed in complex musical phrases that repeated and varied like an eternal symphony.

This was exactly what I'd feared when I saw my opponent and battleground assignments. Guo Xinyi would be perfectly at home in this environment, able to tap into the world's natural harmonics to amplify her singing techniques. Meanwhile, my plant-based abilities would be fighting against the fundamental nature of reality itself. But Elder Wan's advice echoed in my mind: don't fight the inner world, embrace it. The key wasn't to force my own cultivation style to work here.

The key was finding the right vessel, someone who already understood how to manipulate this world's musical cultivation system. I needed to find a suitable inhabitant of the Realm of Living Lyrics, someone whose abilities would give me a fighting chance against a specialist in a world basically designed for her.