Chapter 670: Star River in the Nebula

**Episode 1: The 'Three Autumn Leaves' Secret Technique**

Author: I Eat Tomatoes

Two hundred and eighty years had passed since he began his true cultivation at Painting Saint Mountain.

Meng Chuan gazed at the painting on the large canvas, shook his head slightly, and with a wave of his hand, erased it, letting out a sigh.

He stood up, waved his hand to put away the canvas, brushes, and other items. Meng Chuan then exited the quiet room, took a step, and flew towards Painting Saint Mountain, approaching its cliff face.

As he flew, Meng Chuan observed the colossal paintings up close.

“I feel my accumulation is deep enough, yet I still can't comprehend the spatial rules,” Meng Chuan mused, troubled. He had long mastered the three fundamental principles of spatial rules, and he had studied the six paintings on Painting Saint Mountain containing the 'Chaos Cavern Rule' countless times. He had even attempted to paint other diagrams, often gaining new insights. However, these numerous insights, despite clashing, never transformed into a qualitative leap, preventing him from fully grasping the complete spatial rules.

He felt incredibly close, yet simultaneously incredibly far.

This feeling of being stuck in a bottleneck was truly uncomfortable.

“It's like trying to grasp the moon's reflection in water—you can see it, but you can't touch it,” Meng Chuan murmured softly. “It's time to move on to the next cultivation spot.”

Of the nine planned cultivation spots, Painting Saint Mountain was the second. Perhaps a new location would help him.

He descended, waved his hand to put away his cave-dwelling, and then flew towards the exit of the Mount Wu Secret Realm.

“Lord of Dongning City, are you leaving already?” Grandmaster Poison Eye, who was responsible for guarding and refining the Mount Wu Secret Realm, appeared beside him, traversing the void.

“My cultivation has hit a bottleneck, so it's time for me to go,” Meng Chuan replied.

“As a Soul Tribulation expert with many soul avatars, it might be better to leave one behind here for long-term observation and comprehension,” Grandmaster Poison Eye said with a smile.

“No,” Meng Chuan shook his head. “Perhaps next time.”

He wouldn't observe it for now, choosing to return and comprehend it when his accumulation was deeper. After all, according to his plan, he intended to focus on cultivation intently at each of the nine major cultivation spots.

“Grandmaster Poison Eye, I bid you farewell.” Meng Chuan looked at the grandmaster. Grandmaster Poison Eye was arguably one of the most fervent opponents of the Black Demon Palace among contemporary Six-Tribulation Realm experts. With his peak Six-Tribulation Realm strength and the use of soul avatars, he had inflicted significant losses on the Black Demon Palace. In turn, the Black Demon Palace retaliated fiercely, leaving Grandmaster Poison Eye with numerous injuries that were difficult to eradicate. Meng Chuan had heard that his lifespan had been greatly reduced as a result. After mastering the sub-atomic particle rule, Meng Chuan's subtle senses became sharper, and he vaguely felt that Grandmaster Poison Eye was not too far from his 'lifespan limit'.

Although Six-Tribulation Realm mighty figures, protected by their home worlds, were difficult to kill, in the Outer Realm Void, very few dared to openly oppose the Black Demon Palace like this. Meng Chuan genuinely admired Grandmaster Poison Eye's deeds from the bottom of his heart.

Grandmaster Poison Eye smiled and nodded, watching Meng Chuan depart.

“Painting Saint Mountain.”

Grandmaster Poison Eye turned his head, gazing at the mountain in the distance. While mastering two Six-Tribulation Realm rules was generally considered sufficient for a peak Six-Tribulation Realm expert, Grandmaster Poison Eye had long since mastered three such rules.

“Time is running out for me,” Grandmaster Poison Eye sighed softly. “I must grasp the fundamental rules and transform my soul world to expel the foreign energies. But fundamental rules are incredibly difficult.” He took a step and flew back to his small cave-dwelling to continue his cultivation. He had already visited every cultivation spot he could, tried every opportunity available. After cultivating for so long, further improvement was becoming increasingly challenging.

The Ice River Nebula was the third of the nine major cultivation spots Meng Chuan had designated. Meng Chuan traversed various star systems, traveling faster than he would in the River of Spacetime.

Meng Chuan appeared in a dark void, gazing at the shimmering nebula in the distance.

“Ice River Nebula,” Meng Chuan murmured as he looked upon it.

It was a vast and magnificent nebula, beautiful and brilliant. With Meng Chuan's abilities, he could vaguely discern a river deep within the nebula, but its details remained indistinct.

“I've heard that the Ice River Nebula is the location of a mysterious Eight-Tribulation Realm expert's cave-dwelling,” Meng Chuan thought, knowing this place was very special.

Some unique locations within the River of Spacetime were occupied by various powers. Painting Saint Mountain was one such example; one had to pay 'ten thousand units of Outer Realm primal crystals' to gain access for comprehension.

However, some places remained unoccupied. For instance, Demon Mountain—no one dared to claim it exclusively, but its dangerous nature also limited the spread of information about it. The Ice River Nebula, for example, remained unclaimed because there was no need to.

“The Ice River Nebula is very unique,” Meng Chuan mused silently. “Once you enter, you get lost and can't find your way out or reach the 'Ice River' itself. Only by mastering spatial rules can one be unaffected by the nebula and step onto the Ice River. However, even then, one still cannot step onto the palace located on the Ice River. It's said that mastering both time and spatial rules is required to enter that palace.”

“I'll give it a try.”

With a thought, Meng Chuan immediately manifested a soul avatar. As he had no intention of returning alive, he naturally sent a soul avatar that carried no treasures.

Whoosh.

Meng Chuan's true body remained outside, observing from a distance, while his black-robed, white-haired soul avatar flew into the vast and boundless nebula.

Without any hindrance, Meng Chuan effortlessly flew into the nebula's expanse.

“It's truly beautiful,” Meng Chuan remarked as he flew within the nebula.

Then, *whoosh!*

Without any warning, Meng Chuan was transported trillions of miles from the nebula's very edge, landing deeper within it.

“This nebula... it moved me here?” Meng Chuan was somewhat taken aback. He tried to continue flying.

After flying for a short while, the shifting nebula void caused Meng Chuan to reappear hundreds of billions of miles away.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...*

Meng Chuan consistently attempted to fly towards the core, but he would appear here one moment and there the next, completely beyond his control. After flying for more than half an hour, he was still constantly shifting positions within the nebula.

“I'll try to see if I can get closer to the Ice River,” Meng Chuan thought to himself.

The closer one got to the Ice River, the greater the void's influence. Therefore, getting closer indicated a higher mastery of void principles. Especially within the ten thousand li area bordering the Ice River, the void's influence was particularly terrifying.

“I'll try something: disperse.”

Meng Chuan dispersed himself into a cluster of sub-atomic particles. As the cluster of sub-atomic particles spread, with his strength, he could easily maintain a complete consciousness even if the cluster diffused across trillions of miles.

However, this time, as the cluster only spread a small distance, *whoosh*, a portion of the sub-atomic particles was displaced, damaging the original cluster's structure.

Pffft.

The portion of sub-atomic particles displaced far away was too small and immediately disintegrated. The remaining sub-atomic particles instantly converged and reformed into the black-robed, white-haired Meng Chuan.

“A small piece of my soul avatar was cut off?” Meng Chuan blinked. With his soul's recovery ability, he naturally mended instantly.

“The sub-atomic particle rule is useless here; I still have to rely on my comprehension of spatial rules.” Meng Chuan unleashed his soul world, allowing it to spread and envelop his surroundings, clearly perceiving the various transformations of the void. Meng Chuan had long mastered the three fundamental principles of spatial rules, and after many years of painting, he had a subtle but clear understanding of them. At this moment, from the shifting void within the nebula, Meng Chuan vaguely discerned some patterns.

With one step, Meng Chuan advanced a significant distance, then another step...

Although he occasionally made mistakes, in just the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Meng Chuan reached a position three thousand li from the Ice River's edge.

“Being able to get within three thousand li means my comprehension of spatial rules is decent,” Meng Chuan said with a slight smile. He then carefully observed the Ice River. From three thousand li away, he could see it with great clarity.

It was a river whose length stretched beyond sight, and its width spanned hundreds of thousands of li. The river's water was a pale teal.

Floating on the water were numerous icebergs. The smaller ones were dozens of li tall, while the taller ones could reach over a thousand li. These icebergs drifted slowly and endlessly within the river. Meng Chuan could see that within some of the floating icebergs, where the ice was thinner, bodies were vaguely visible.

“According to the intelligence from the Eternal Tower, there's an Ice River deep within the nebula, with icebergs floating on it, and each iceberg contains a corpse,” Meng Chuan observed calmly. He then looked more closely at the distance along the Ice River, where, legend had it, a palace resided deep within.