The birth of the mysterious beast triggered a bloody hunt across the Pacific Ocean, yet humanity remained completely unaware of it. Meanwhile, Luo Feng continued to devote himself wholeheartedly to the Ninety Nine Tempering Spirit technique inside the king level intelligent fighter.
Time passed.
1 January 2059.
Mingyue Residential District, Luo Feng’s home.
“I’m very sorry, Mr Wang. My brother isn’t at home.”
Luo Hua smiled as he spoke to a refined middle aged man wearing glasses in the sitting room.
“Even on New Year’s Day, Councillor Luo isn’t home?”
The refined man looked rather surprised.
“Yes. My apologies.”
Luo Hua nodded.
“My family still has matters to attend to, so I won’t keep you any longer, Mr Wang. Next time, I’ll personally receive you.”
“Very well, then I’ll take my leave.”
Mr Wang politely departed.
Watching him leave, Luo Hua shook his head.
This was already the twelfth group to visit over the past few days in hopes of inviting his brother.
Anyone bold enough to invite a councillor level expert naturally possessed extraordinary status.
A force like the Xu family would never have been qualified to visit a councillor’s home directly if not for Xu Xin’s relationship with Luo Feng.
Mr Wang, for example, represented one of the most influential political factions within China’s highest levels of government.
“Where exactly has my brother gone?”
Standing at the entrance to his family’s courtyard, Luo Hua muttered to himself.
“The Extreme Dojo has invited him. The military wants him. The political world wants him. Even the HR Alliance has sent invitations.”
“Europe has invited him.”
“America has invited him.”
“It seems… nobody knows that my brother has gone away to deal with something.”
“What exactly is he doing?”
Luo Hua pondered.
Probably very few people knew Luo Feng’s current situation.
As the entire nation celebrated New Year’s Day, countless people spent the evening watching holiday performances.
Meanwhile, inside the intelligent fighter parked within Mingyue Residential District, the dimly lit cabin remained completely silent.
Luo Feng sat cross legged without moving.
Within his sea of consciousness…
Splash. Splash.
A brilliant river of spiritual force had formed a gigantic whirlpool.
The current rotated wildly, producing countless spiralling vortices.
The whirlpool suddenly expanded.
The flowing spiritual force immediately became much thinner, resembling a nearly transparent curtain of water.
Then…
It contracted.
The expanded rotating water curtain instantly shrank, becoming a massive rotating sphere of water.
The sphere was semi transparent, with countless mysterious strands of light flickering within it.
Scattered among them were a handful of dark golden fragments that had yet to fully dissolve.
Expand.
Contract.
Expand again.
Contract again.
The spiritual force flowed like a beating heart, repeatedly expanding and contracting, as though it had gained a life of its own.
Within that unique rhythm, the remaining dark golden fragments gradually melted away, making the entire current even more powerful.
“Expand until it’s thinner than a cicada’s wing.”
“Contract until the water sphere becomes perfectly transparent.”
“The eightieth step is complete.”
“I can begin the eighty first step now.”
“The final step.”
Even Luo Feng felt somewhat excited.
This final step was the most important part of the Ninety Nine Tempering Spirit technique.
It was also the most difficult.
Within Luo Feng’s sea of consciousness…
A completely transparent sphere continuously rotated like a planet spinning upon its axis.
Not the slightest mist escaped.
Its shape remained perfectly stable.
“Begin.”
Following Luo Feng’s command…
Rumble.
Within the endless sea of consciousness, vibrations began spreading from the core of the transparent sphere.
Streams of spiritual force mist gradually emerged.
The mist spread throughout the entire sphere.
Ten streams.
Twenty.
Thirty.
More and more appeared.
Soon, the transparent sphere became completely enveloped by spiritual mist.
Time passed minute by minute.
Under Luo Feng’s extraordinarily precise control, the transparent sphere continued changing ever so slightly.
Meanwhile, the mist surrounding its surface grew denser and denser.
Eventually, it expanded into an enormous sphere of mist.
The original water sphere hidden inside could no longer be seen.
No one knew how much time had passed.
The enormous mist sphere had grown to one hundred times the size of the original sphere.
“Neither fully dispersed nor fully condensed.”
“This is the moment.”
“Explode.”
Luo Feng roared inwardly.
Boom.
Within the boundless sea of consciousness, the gigantic mist sphere suddenly expanded violently in an instant.
It resembled a dying star undergoing its final supernova explosion.
The enormous mist sphere erupted to its absolute limit.
It filled every corner of the sea of consciousness.
Then…
At the precise moment it reached its greatest expansion…
An overwhelming force of attraction suddenly appeared at the very centre of the sea of consciousness.
Collapse.
Whoosh.
The endless mist and flowing spiritual force seemed to fall into a black hole.
Everything spiralled frantically towards a single point at the centre.
Buzz.
The entire sea of consciousness trembled.
Then…
Complete emptiness.
Every trace of mist and flowing spiritual force vanished.
Within the endless sea of consciousness…
Only a single point of light remained at its centre.
Like an infinite universe containing only one lone planet.
Around that planet floated a soft halo of light, making it resemble a glowing sphere.
At the centre of the sea of consciousness.
Only one sphere remained.
…
It was an incomparably beautiful sphere of light.
Beneath its surrounding halo, the sphere itself consisted of countless transparent pyramid shaped crystals.
These innumerable crystals were packed together to form an entire miniature planet.
Invisible yet mysterious waves continuously spread outward from it.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
The lone sphere rotated continuously within the sea of consciousness.
An invisible force radiated from it, spreading throughout Luo Feng’s entire body before extending beyond it.
“I’ve succeeded.”
“So this is the planetary level.”
“This sphere…”
“So this is the core of a planetary level expert?”
With a single thought from Luo Feng, streams of refined spiritual force immediately emerged from the sphere and spread throughout his body.
Inside the intelligent fighter…
The instant Luo Feng’s planetary level spiritual force flowed through his body, his previously motionless body underwent a violent transformation.
His bones.
Bone marrow.
Meridians.
Muscles.
Fascia.
Skin.
Every part of him experienced an unbelievable change.
Even his genetic structure rapidly broke apart before reorganising itself.
His very life was evolving.
This transformation was more significant than any previous breakthrough.
The bald crystal man inside Ancient Civilisation Ruin No. 9 had once explained that advancing from apprentice level to planetary level represented an evolution in the very level of life itself.
Upon reaching the planetary level…
There was no longer any need to breathe.
One could fly freely through the sky.
Only then could one truly be called a martial artist.
Only then could one truly be called a spiritual reader.
Only after reaching the planetary level could one wander throughout the universe and barely earn enough to survive.
Anyone below that level simply lacked the ability to survive in space.
“This feeling…”
“It’s incredible.”
As his transformed spiritual force triggered the evolution of his body, Luo Feng experienced an unprecedented sense of wonder.
It was as though…
His body had previously been that of an adult who had reached the absolute limit of growth.
Now…
It had suddenly become that of a newborn infant.
Every tendon.
Every bone.
Every muscle.
Every internal organ.
Everything had fundamentally changed.
This was an evolution of life itself.
“At the apprentice level, every increase in strength, from first stage apprentice, equivalent to a beginner fighter, to ninth stage apprentice, equivalent to a peak war god, merely strengthened the existing body.”
“Upon reaching peak war god, that body had already reached its absolute limit.”
“Without crossing that boundary, one could never advance.”
“But once I crossed it…”
“My life itself entered a completely higher level.”
“First stage planetary level.”
“Then continuing all the way to the ninth stage planetary level.”
Late that night.
Most households within Mingyue Residential District had already gone to sleep.
The hatch of the intelligent fighter parked upon the lawn slowly opened.
Whoosh.
A figure shot straight into the sky.
He stopped over three hundred metres above the ground.
His black robe fluttered loudly in the night wind.
Nothing supported him beneath his feet.
He simply floated there.
“So this is the planetary level.”
Looking down upon the city below, Luo Feng simultaneously sensed the glowing sphere within his sea of consciousness.
Only now did he finally understand the true secret behind the power of the planetary level.
That glowing sphere was far more than merely the core of his spiritual force.
It possessed extraordinary abilities.
It could truly be regarded as a miniature planet.
It rotated continuously.
It possessed its own magnetic field.
The miniature planet within his sea of consciousness meant that Luo Feng no longer needed to breathe.
It also allowed him to control the magnetic field surrounding his body according to his own will.
By cancelling Earth’s gravitational pull…
He could naturally float.
By generating magnetic force in any direction…
He could instantly propel himself through the air.
In other words…
Every planetary level expert possessed a miniature planet of their own.
They were the masters of that tiny world.
According to their own will, they could generate magnetic force of varying strength and direction.
That was why they could fly freely.
Of course, the magnetic field produced by a miniature planet was limited.
Therefore, the flying speed of planetary level experts also had its limits.
“No wonder they say advancing from apprentice level to planetary level is an evolution of life.”
“They’re absolutely right.”
“A planetary level expert actually possesses a miniature planet.”
“It rotates.”
“It generates its own magnetic field.”
“It may still be weak for now, but as it grows stronger, it will naturally provide even greater assistance to its owner.”
“Only someone who possesses their own miniature planet can truly be regarded as a genuine human of the universe.”
Luo Feng sighed with emotion.
…
Hovering above the city in the darkness, Luo Feng spread both arms wide.
“My spiritual force has condensed into a miniature crystalline planet.”
“It has become incomparably concentrated.”
“Even my consciousness has grown much stronger.”
Luo Feng felt immensely delighted.
It was much like the difference between a frail person and a healthy one.
Someone physically weak often possessed weak awareness and could easily lose consciousness.
A strong person naturally enjoyed greater mental clarity.
Originally, his spiritual force had existed like a flowing river.
Now it had condensed into a miniature planet.
As expected, his consciousness had become significantly stronger.
However, opportunities like this were incredibly rare.
Only true evolutions in life’s hierarchy could strengthen one’s consciousness.
From ninth stage apprentice to planetary level.
From ninth stage planetary level to stellar level.
From ninth stage stellar level to universe level.
Only such breakthroughs counted as genuine evolutions of life.
Ordinary increases in strength could never provide such an opportunity.
“The Soaring Heaven Shuttle.”
With a thought…
The three hundred and sixty five blades hidden within his black vest immediately flew out.
They rapidly assembled into the Soaring Heaven Shuttle beneath his feet.
“My body now possesses its own magnetic field.”
“Combined with the propulsion of my spiritual force…”
“And standing upon the Soaring Heaven Shuttle…”
“I wonder just how fast I’ll be able to fly.”
High above Yangzhou City, Luo Feng resembled a deity standing within the darkness.
Instantly, he became nothing more than a fading afterimage.
Like teleportation itself.
He vanished from where he had been.