“Second Brother, do you understand the gap now?” Hong teased. “Then hurry up and cultivate harder. Either raise your domain by another level, or break through from Planetary Level Ninth Stage to Stellar Level First Stage. Either one will do. As long as you achieve a breakthrough, you’ll surpass Luo Feng and me.”
The cultivation path was broadly divided into four major levels.
Foundation, Artistic Conception, Domain, World.
Beyond those stood the Immortals.
Each level was further divided into many stages.
Domains alone were divided into nine levels.
Many Universe Level and Domain Lord experts struggled within these nine domain levels. Advancing by even a single level was extremely difficult.
“Breaking from Planetary Level Ninth Stage into Stellar Level is no easier than advancing from Planetary Level First Stage to Ninth Stage. Not to mention domains, which are even harder.” Thunder God rubbed his chin. “Brother Hong, you’ve always been ahead of me, and Third Brother is even more ridiculous. He’s so young, yet he’s already overtaken me. My old face is almost gone.”
Luo Feng and Hong both laughed.
“Hm?” Hong’s communication watch suddenly vibrated. He glanced at it briefly. “Something’s come up at the Dojo. Let’s call it a day.”
“The Thunder Dragon Emperor is dead too, time to head home.” Thunder God waved his hand and flew away.
Luo Feng and Hong also parted ways and returned to their respective homes.
Flying above the land of China, Luo Feng looked down. He could see the decaying ruined cities below, the monsters searching for food and struggling to survive among them, and the warriors cautiously training themselves in those ruined cities.
Looking at those warriors, Luo Feng seemed to see his former self.
“Luo Feng, Luo Feng!” Babata suddenly shouted excitedly.
“What is it? Why are you so happy?” Luo Feng asked mentally.
“The auxiliary propulsion system is finally complete. From now on, the Black Dragon Mountain X81 spacecraft is fully restored. Give me one more day to finish installing it, and then… you’ll be able to travel through the universe aboard the Black Dragon spacecraft, roam the vast cosmos, and see the countless races living within it!” Babata was beside himself with excitement.
It had been too long.
He had been trapped underground for far too many years and had long wanted to venture through the universe again.
“We can travel through space now? Roam the universe?” Luo Feng was stunned. He stopped flying and hovered in mid air.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Babata was thrilled.
Luo Feng felt his blood begin to boil.
An ordinary Earth person would probably be unable to sleep from excitement if they knew they could visit the Moon one day.
Yet Luo Feng now had the opportunity to travel through the universe, explore distant worlds, and meet countless human races scattered throughout the cosmos.
Such excitement was impossible to suppress.
Of course he loved Earth, his home.
But occasionally visiting other planets in the universe sounded wonderful as well.
“Luo Feng! Once Earth is discovered by adventurers or nations from the universe, things could become disastrous. That’s why you must integrate into the universe as soon as possible. Only then will Earth’s future survival be more secure.” Babata was trying every possible way to persuade Luo Feng to venture into the cosmos.
“The most important step in integrating into the universe is opening an account on the Virtual Universe Network. Once you have one, you’ll be able to enter the Virtual Universe and communicate with countless races.”
For an intelligent lifeform like Babata, the attraction of exploring the Virtual Universe was no less than travelling through the real universe.
“You only need to visit another planet once and open an account. Afterwards, you can return to Earth.” Babata continued anxiously.
“Relax!”
Luo Feng grinned.
“Of course I’m going. I even want to leave immediately. But after thinking it over, my internal world should undergo another transformation in about a month. By then, the Golden Horned Beast will be even stronger. I’ll wait until after the transformation before travelling.”
“One month? Fine then.” Babata sighed helplessly but agreed.
“The universe…”
Standing high above the wilderness, Luo Feng gazed across the vast rivers and mountains of China. Yet his heart had already drifted into the mysterious, boundless starry sky.
Within the famous Void Region of the Milky Way.
Whoosh!
A silver saucer shaped spacecraft maintained a tremendous speed as it steadily approached Earth.
Inside the spacecraft.
A handsome middle aged man wearing a silver grey combat uniform stood before the control console.
Beside him stood a burly crew member over 2.2 metres tall, covered with black hair and resembling a giant gorilla.
“Captain, your family’s fleet has already entered the Void Region. When they arrive, will they seize most of the profits and only leave you a small share?” the crewman asked worriedly.
“Hmph.”
The handsome man replied coldly, “Although my relationship with my grandfather isn’t great, he isn’t that sort of person.”
“But this is a life bearing planet.” The gorilla like crewman continued. “We still don’t know its exact value. More importantly, it was once occupied by an invincible expert. Its value must exceed that of an ordinary life bearing planet. When enormous profits are involved, even brothers kill each other. Captain, you should be careful.”
The handsome man glanced at him before looking around at the other crew members.
A smile appeared on his face.
“Everyone, regardless of what happens, our adventurer squad’s share won’t be reduced. After all, you are the companions who have faced life and death alongside me.”
The crew members all smiled.
“Once we reach the planet, we’ll immediately begin sampling and collecting data. Just gathering data alone will take several days.” The handsome man said. “At that point, I can enter the Virtual Universe Network immediately and search for buyers. My family won’t be faster than us.”
“Everything is in our hands.” The handsome man smiled. “The more benefits my family offers me, the more I will share with them. As for all of you brothers, your share definitely won’t be lacking.”
Laughter immediately filled the cabin.
“Atuka, how long until we reach the first life bearing planet?” the handsome man asked.
A child’s face appeared on the control screen.
“Captain, arrival is expected in ninety one days.”
“Excellent!”
The handsome man smiled broadly.
…
The silver grey adventure spacecraft continued advancing towards Earth.
Late September, Earth, above Jiangnan Base City in China, eight thousand metres in the sky.
A gigantic black spacecraft hovered silently.
Inside a spacious meditation chamber in the middle level of the ship.
Luo Feng stood calmly.
With a wave of his hand, a pile of dark red metal appeared on the floor.
It was ninety two tonnes of Black Iron Essence.
“Ninety two tonnes. Consuming ninety two tonnes of Black Iron Essence every day. The stockpile I obtained last winter is almost exhausted.”
Luo Feng felt increasing pressure.
His internal world was like a bottomless pit.
Although it consumed relatively little each day, the constant daily consumption was overwhelming. The Black Iron Essence left behind by millions of miners was nearly depleted.
In less than a year, it was almost gone.
“Today is the day of transformation.”
Luo Feng stretched out his right hand.
The surrounding space seemed to distort as it enveloped the ninety two tonnes of Black Iron Essence.
Whoosh!
The Black Iron Essence vanished.
Inside the Metal Continent, vast quantities of golden mist surrounded the land and filled the sky above.
A massive black scaled Golden Horned Beast suddenly halted in mid air.
Looking at the pile of Black Iron Essence that had appeared on the continent, a trace of joy appeared in its enormous dark golden eyes.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The pile of Black Iron Essence gradually vaporised into dense golden mist.
Its volume slowly shrank while the surrounding golden mist became increasingly concentrated.
About five minutes later, all ninety two tonnes had completely disappeared.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
The Metal Continent trembled.
Boundless golden mist enveloped the entire continent.
The mist rapidly solidified, becoming part of the continent itself and causing it to expand continuously.
After an unknown amount of time.
Everything stopped.
The golden mist surrounding the continent dispersed, floating beyond the continent and into the sky above.
Only one final mass of golden mist entered the Golden Horned Beast’s body.
Its enormous frame crackled continuously as it expanded, eventually stopping.
Its body length had now reached 420 metres.
The entire Metal Continent now spanned forty kilometres in diameter and forty kilometres in height.
Only beyond forty kilometres above the continent did golden mist remain.
…
Inside the Black Dragon spacecraft’s meditation chamber.
“The Golden Horned Beast has reached Stellar Level Fourth Stage.”
Luo Feng opened his eyes, a trace of delight on his face.
“Using Black Iron Essence is expensive, but the speed is incredible.”
Growth of the internal world was fastest during the first three levels.
The middle three levels were more difficult.
The final three levels were extraordinarily difficult.
The last breakthrough, advancing from Ninth Stage into an entirely new level, required more time than all previous breakthroughs combined.
From Stellar Level First Stage to Third Stage, normal evolution required only one and a half years.
From Third Stage to Sixth Stage, normal evolution required six years, roughly two years per level.
From Sixth Stage to Ninth Stage required thirty six years, around twelve years per level.
And advancing from Stellar Level Ninth Stage to Universe Level First Stage required over fifty years.
One could imagine how difficult that final breakthrough was.
And this was for a Golden Horned Beast.
For other races, the difficulty would be even greater.
That evening.
Luo Feng sat in the living room watching television with his wife and children.
“Luo Feng, why aren’t you cultivating today? What made you decide to spend time watching television with us?” Xu Xin asked with a smile while holding their younger son on her lap.
“I’m spending some time with you. Tomorrow I’m leaving to take care of something. I’ll probably be away for quite a while.”
“Leaving? How long?” Xu Xin asked.
“About a month.”
“A month?” Xu Xin was shocked.
Nowadays, what matter on Earth could possibly require Luo Feng to be away for so long?
Yet Luo Feng clearly remembered what Babata had told him.
Their destination was Qiu Long Star, a prosperous and powerful planet located 320,000 light years from Earth.
It was a super planet hundreds or even thousands of times more prosperous than the capital planet of the Silver Blue Empire.
Experts gathered there from all over the universe.
It was a place frequented by the upper classes and influential individuals.
Because of that, barbaric and bloody incidents were actually less common there, making it relatively safe.
Of course, that assumed you had wealth and status.
Otherwise, you wouldn’t even qualify to enter.
“Qiu Long Star…”
Luo Feng silently repeated the name.
“Luo Feng, where are you going for a whole month?” Xu Xin could not help asking.