Ten Directions Celestial Master

Ten Directions Celestial Master is an Eastern fantasy novel by the web author Ni Cangtian, serialized on Qidian from January 19, 2010 and completed at about 2.5 million characters. A "celestial master" in this world is a special cultivator who borrows the power of heaven and earth to break through personal limits: beginners borrow the power of the Four Symbols—Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Black Tortoise; the next level borrows the Five Elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth to temper bone and marrow; higher still, one can roam the Great Void and borrow the power of the seven stars of the Big Dipper to refine the soul; at the highest depths, one can roam the sun and moon and perceive the true meaning of the world's evolution and destruction. The strongest celestial master in legend is called the "Ten Directions Celestial Master," versed in the ten directions of above, below, east, south, west, north, the Gate of Life, the Position of Death, the past, and the future, able to transcend life and death and wield inexhaustible power. The protagonist, Ji Changkong, lost his parents young and cannot gather the vital energy of heaven and earth, and is looked down on by his clan. Only his aunt and grandfather treat him sincerely, along with a mysterious old brewer, Luo Tian. Through seventeen years of silence he strives quietly but never succeeds; on the way back from being rejected as a disciple at Mount Wu, his body undergoes a strange transformation, the barrier that bound him for years is broken, and a pair of silver pupils, purple blood, and the Secret Record of the Great Void in his mind come to light. Thereafter he grows at a speed far beyond his peers, moving from a corner of his clan to the sect, the continent, and then the sun star domain with its myriad stars, pursuing the ultimate question of the "ten directions' mysteries." The work takes the ten-tier realms from One-Element Heaven to Ten-Directions Heaven as its main line, blending the awakening of the Four Symbols, marrow refining through the Five Elements, and soul tempering by the stars—a representative Eastern fantasy novel of around 2010.