Time flies; two hundred years have passed.

The two hundred years have allowed most of the stars to find their rightful places.

The Seven Luminaries are the Sun, Wu Chen, and the Taiyin Qingyu.

The Star Lords are as follows: Yinghuo Star Lord, Zhengxin; Mei Hua Jupiter Star Lord; Lingying Town Star Lord; Wu Yi Taibai Star Lord; and Da Chuan (Wushan Heavenly Water God) Chenxing Star Lord.

Furthermore, the Beidou Star Lord is Yangg Jian, while the Southern Dipper Star Lord is Xiangling.

These are the primary stars.

The Twenty-Eight Constellations are currently under construction. Song Lin plans to allocate one-third to the Innate Divine Beings, while the rest will be divided among the various clans.

The main challenge lies in capturing too few stars.

Even with King Wen's Eight Diagrams for calculation, the boundlessness of the starry skies leaves only a vague estimate in hand.

This range, however, comes with errors spanning hundreds of thousands of light-years.

Song Lin stepped out of the hall, gazing at the starry sky, dotted with countless stars.

Carefully counting, there are several billion luminous celestial bodies, no longer just a pitch-black night sky as before.

In truth, the stars are not this numerous; it is a clever visual deception.

Currently, only the primary stars, centered around the Sun, have been completed, with the overall progress being less than one ten-thousandth.

The Middle Thousand World adopts the "Heavenly Circle and Earthly Square" model, which has its clear benefits: life thrives on the central landmass without needing to consider the issues of inhabiting outer heaven stars.

For the celestial bodies in the Middle Thousand Sky, if conditions fall short, even luminous boulders can be used as substitutes.

However, Song Lin's ambitions are far greater, as he finds ordinary stars unsatisfactory.

Any star with a name and significance must be embodied by a divinity.

Of course, this requires an immense amount of time, so for now, most celestial bodies are replaced by glowing stones.

To reduce costs further, these luminous stones are placed close to the mainland to save on creating larger boulders.

This explains the origin of the starry night sky.

Song Lin took a step forward and, in the next instant, appeared on one of the stars.

This star had a diameter of about a thousand zhang, radiating a dazzling white light—a product of white jade mixed with the True Taiyang Fire.

During the day, it absorbs sunlight; at night, it emits its own glow, making it quite energy-efficient.

Not far away, other such stars could be seen, with numerous Taoists directing Taoist Soldiers to carve runes onto these stones and elevate them to the sky.

Looking further, one could see cultivators establishing their Taoist halls on the major stars, beginning to pass down the Taoist lineage and teach their disciples.

Witnessing this, Song Lin couldn't help but sink into thought.

"Why does it feel as though my role is becoming increasingly irrelevant?"

Ever since the Heavenly Court was put on track, the days of bearing everything on his shoulders were long gone.

Most matters could now be handled perfectly by his subordinates, with the Magic Vein constantly innovating—there was no longer any need for him to lead personally.

Of course, this was a good thing.

The Heavenly Emperor doesn't need to bear too much responsibility or constantly make his presence known.

It is normal for them to remain unseen for millennia.

Achieving complete detachment would signify the apex of a fully-formed Heavenly Court.

"Seclusion breeds stagnation. Over the years, I've stayed in power alone. Now that the Heavenly Court is stable, perhaps I can step away and travel for a time."

The Innate Eight Trigrams Golden Core had remained elusive. Song Lin thought of venturing out to lighten his mood.

Both Upper Immortal and Lao Mountain in the Small Thousand had already been conquered, with Small Thousand Heavenly Courts and arrays being constructed. Their integration into the Middle Thousand was only a matter of time, requiring no further input from him. The same applied to the stars.

Might as well use this time to explore the Great Thousand World and even carve out new story worlds.

However, Song Lin wanted to complete his Core Formation before proceeding. After all, story worlds were deeply tied to one's cultivation, and greater strength would yield greater benefits upon opening one.

Soon, Song Lin, holding a lantern, vanished into the void.

This journey would be one of indeterminate duration.

Nonetheless, he could return at any time.

Song Lin drifted into the void, wandering its expanse.

This time, he vowed not to return until he had achieved Core Formation.

It could take hundreds or even thousands of years.

His main objective was Core Formation, secondary to which was the search for the Sanmao Heavenly Court or other Heavenly Courts.

With the lantern in hand, there was no concern of losing his way back to the Heavenly Court.

In the thirteenth year after leaving the Middle Thousand World,

Song Lin stuck to the Small Thousand World's calendar system.

This unified the timestreams across realms.

Song Lin wandered across the Chaos Sea, coming across a galaxy.

This wasn't a metaphorical galaxy; it was a literal river.

Its length was unknown, without beginning or end, seemingly stretching to the very edge of existence.

The river flowed like mercury, emitting a gentle silver glow suffused with the aura of life.

Song Lin approached to investigate but found no life within the galaxy.

"This river's waters could be used for alchemy."

However, reclaiming such a large river was impossible. He could only mark its coordinates for later use, opening a gateway to the Heavenly Court, or wait for a disciple to comprehend its associated Dao and refine the river.

At this thought, Song Lin had a sudden inspiration and decided to refine it himself, given his idle state.

Seating himself above the galaxy, he closed his eyes and focused, sensing the Spirit Platform three inches from his brow.

Within the Spirit Platform, beside his Primordial Spirit, were three Golden Pills.

The three pills surrounded the Primordial Spirit, deepening his Taoist Realm and augmenting his mana.

A glimmer of golden light emerged from his brow.

Swoosh!

The golden light transformed into his Primordial Spirit's true form, which began forming hand gestures to refine the galaxy.

The galaxy gradually adopted a golden hue.

With the augmentation of the Heavenly Water Dao, the refinement progressed swiftly.

Eighty years passed in the Middle Thousand World.

Most of the galaxy had been refined. In Song Lin's hands, a silver whip had taken form. The lower part of the whip was still phantom-like, likely due to incomplete refinement.

Seeing it near completion, Song Lin quickened the refinement process.

The embryonic silver whip was already an Acquired Spiritual Treasure.

With additional refinement techniques, it might even reach the power level of an Immortal Artifact.

This star domain was concealed by Song Lin's spells, rendering it imperceptible to divine thought—only the naked eye could detect it when nearby.

Another few decades passed.

In Song Lin's hands, the silver whip gradually solidified.

Its appearance resembled silver, yet it was soft rather than metallic, taking the form of a flexible whip. Its surface was covered in white, silver-like scales, resembling a white dragon.

"White Dragon Whip?"

Song Lin pondered.

From its appearance, calling it the White Dragon Whip was fitting, though the name felt too mundane—he was slightly dissatisfied.

The whip's nature was peculiar; the galaxy's original vitality, enhanced through the Heavenly Water Dao, imbued it with an even stronger aura of life.

Striking a person with this whip might not harm them but could instead heal their vitality.

"A peculiar artifact indeed. White Dragon Whip it is, then."

This weapon might prove especially effective against ghostly beings, though its abilities would require further exploration.

After claiming the galaxy, Song Lin continued to wander the void.

He traveled aimlessly, witnessing numerous wonders along the way.

There were stars formed from the fossilized bodies of giants, and domains entirely engulfed in flames.

Song Lin also encountered many anomalous types of flame. The area was too perilous, prone to massive explosions—unworthy of the risk compared to its potential rewards, so he did not record its location.

Eventually, Song Lin stumbled upon an area of chaotic void currents and entered.

"Hmm?"

Tall pine trees stood steadfast, streams babbled, and luminous pearls hung in the sky. Upon entering, he was greeted by rich Heaven and Earth Essence Qi.

What an exquisite Green Pine Immortal Mansion.

Song Lin promptly decided to establish his seclusion here to break through.

He then laid down a series of concealment and warning arrays within this fragment of space.

Seated beneath the largest pine tree, Song Lin, after confirming the absence of danger, immersed his divine focus into the Great Dao, merging himself with Heaven and Earth.

The Innate Eight Trigrams had been perfected for years, with only a few steps remaining before forming the Tao Golden Pill.

This bottleneck had stymied him for decades, yielding no progress until now.

Perhaps his thoughts were too scattered; the time seemed ripe for him to refocus and consolidate.

Ten years, one Jiazi, eighty years...

Close to a century passed as Song Lin's aura steadily climbed, yet he was still one crucial step away from his final breakthrough.

After a long while, Song Lin ended his cultivation, the Divine Light in his eyes dissipating.

"Bottleneck..."

Song Lin murmured softly.

Indeed, Core Formation was no simple feat, especially for multiple Golden Cores.

Every step forward multiplied the difficulty exponentially—this he had now experienced firsthand.

The fourth pill alone was this arduous; attempting subsequent ones would be unimaginably harder.

Should he choose to stop, with three Golden Pills, he could cultivate his internal world to its peak. Three innate Daos were sufficient to achieve the status of a True Immortal, making him a first-class powerhouse.

If he persisted, however, he'd remain stuck at this juncture, with an even steeper path ahead. Even if he miraculously achieved Nine Pills, the difficulty of breaking through to True Immortal would be beyond reason.

"Let's try again."

Song Lin was unwilling to retreat in defeat, though time was running short.

After much thought... "I'll open another story world."

Having delayed for several centuries, Song Lin finally resolved to open a realm.

The affairs of the Heavenly Court and his own cultivation had consumed most of his time, leaving him reluctant to further divide his focus earlier.

Now, however, he could momentarily set those aside to create a new world.

With that in mind, Song Lin extracted a single drop of essence blood.

The blood was increasingly refined, devoid of any mortal scent, resembling a golden liquid of jade, exuding a light, subtle fragrance.

This drop of blood was even more precious than so-called dragon blood.

In the void, the blood formed new runes.

Lines of script emerged in the void:

[Before existence, arising without cause.]

[World]: South Travel Records, North Travel Records.

[Thirty-Six Heavens]: Upper Pure Taiwu Heaven.

[Time Flow Speed]: One to ten ratio.

[Descent]: True Body.

[Category]: Central Plains Myth, Taoist Myth.

[System]: Three Pure Ones Divine System.

[Karma Effect Cycle]: None.

"South Travel Records? North Travel Records?"

Good heavens, it seemed he'd be experiencing all directions' travel records himself.

South Travel Records was a tale of Emperor Huaguang, while North Travel Records recounted the deeds of Emperor Zhenwu.

Chronologically, South Travel Records followed East Travel Records,

And both works followed Journey to the West.

After all, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven appeared in both.

In these worlds were the Jade Emperor and the Three Pure Ones.

"Three Pure Ones Divine System?"

It was Song Lin's first time opening a world tied to the Three Pure Ones Divine System.

When it came to the Great Thousand World, he had many unanswered questions in his heart.

Did the Ancient Heavenly Court still exist? Where had the Three Pure Ones, Pangu, Taiyi, and Fuxi—the Creator Gods—gone?

What exactly did the Thirty-Six Heavens recorded in the Monster Chronicles signify?

Perhaps this world held the answers.

(There will be another 3,000 characters tonight. It's the 15th today, and I've got some matters to address, so only one extra chapter for now.)

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.