“I admit my starting point was very low,” Luo Feng said. The sense of disappointment in his heart was obvious. On Earth, especially in martial arts, he had always been a genius. Since childhood, he had been one of the best among his peers at the martial arts academy. In secondary school, he had been the top student in his school. After becoming a martial artist, he entered the Global Elite Training Camp and was still among the very best.
At just twenty one years old, he had become a Planetary level powerhouse, one of the six Inspectors. He could even stand toe to toe with the Third Speaker and the others.
Yet in Babata’s eyes…
His talent was pitifully poor.
Still, Luo Feng understood that Babata was right. The only difference was that Babata was judging him by the standards of the vast universe.
“Babata, if I don’t possess another body, how long would it take me to reach Stellar level? And how long until Universe level?” Luo Feng asked.
“Fifty years to reach Stellar level, I’m confident of that.”
Babata replied confidently, “Five hundred years to reach Universe level is no problem either. As for becoming a Domain Lord, with all the preparations my master left behind for his disciple before he died, it should take around five thousand to ten thousand years. I have absolute confidence about those four stages. As for World Lord, even if it takes a hundred thousand years, that’s only barely possible. It might even take longer.”
“Fifty years for Stellar level? Five hundred years for Universe level?” Luo Feng blinked twice.
The time sounded incredibly long.
From his birth until now, he had only lived a little over twenty years.
Five hundred years.
That was an eternity.
Even Sun Wukong had only been trapped beneath Five Finger Mountain for five hundred years in Journey to the West. Chinese civilisation itself had only existed for around five thousand years.
It was simply too long.
“What? You think that’s too long?”
The black robed child Babata immediately exploded with anger. Baring his fangs, he roared, “Luo Feng, you need to understand something. Across the entire Milky Way Galaxy where Earth is located, normal evolution only produces a single Universe level expert. Do you think reaching Universe level is that easy? And your talent is this poor. If I hadn’t been trapped on Earth… across the universe, countless human geniuses from every race would kneel and beg me, Babata, to let them become my master’s disciple.”
“Do you even know who my master was?”
“The Master of Yun Mo Planet!”
“He wasn’t merely an Undying being. He was one of the strongest among the Undying. He had no fewer than nine Undying servants under his command. Across the universe, even mighty medium level universal civilisation nations treated my master with the utmost respect and wouldn’t dare utter a single word of defiance.”
“Even advanced universal civilisation nations treated my master with great courtesy.”
“My master could walk sideways across the universe. Do you understand?”
“With all the careful arrangements my master made for you, someone with talent as poor as yours could reach Stellar level in fifty years, Universe level in five hundred years, Domain Lord in five thousand to ten thousand years, and World Lord after a hundred thousand years. And you’re still complaining that it’s too long?” Babata roared furiously. “You truly don’t appreciate your good fortune!”
Luo Feng actually understood.
Back at Ancient Civilisation Ruin Number Nine, it had already been determined that he had almost no hope of ever reaching Universe level.
As for Domain Lord or World Lord, that was even more impossible.
After all, only one World Lord would normally emerge from every thousand star systems.
Among those thousand star systems, there were surely countless billions of human geniuses from every race who surpassed Luo Feng in talent. Even they failed to become World Lords.
That alone showed just how difficult it was.
“Babata, what did you just say? Nine Undying servants?” Luo Feng’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me the corpses outside all belonged to servants?”
After fifty thousand years without the slightest decay, even their hair and skin still looked lifelike. Luo Feng had already guessed that, apart from the one reduced to a golden skeleton, the others were all Undying beings.
What he hadn’t expected…
Was that they had merely been servants.
“Hmph!”
Babata lifted his chin proudly.
“Now do you understand my master’s greatness?”
“Among the seven corpses aboard the Yun Mo Planet spacecraft, one has decayed until only its skeleton remains. The other six are all Undying beings.” Babata looked at Luo Feng. “You should have noticed that one of them had a huge hole through its chest, yet there were no internal organs left, right?”
“Yes.” Luo Feng nodded.
“That one was an enemy, an Undying expert from the Mechanical Race.” Babata sneered. “But entering here only meant death for him. Did he really think my gravely wounded master was easy to deal with?”
“The Mechanical Race?”
Luo Feng silently memorised the name.
It was a race completely different from humans, with bodies that were not made of flesh and blood.
“The other five Undying corpses all belonged to my master’s servants. In truth, my master had nine Undying servants altogether. But that battle back then involved far too many supreme experts from across the universe. Four of my master’s Undying servants perished, while my master’s soul was fatally wounded and all life was extinguished. Even this mighty Yun Mo Planet spacecraft suffered devastating damage.”
Babata shook his head.
Luo Feng was stunned.
Four Undying experts had died?
Even the Master of Yun Mo Planet had lost his life?
“In fact, my master had already reached the level where even if both body and soul were completely destroyed, as long as a single fragment of a cell remained, he could be reborn. Unfortunately, the enemy he faced back then was even stronger than my master, and his methods were simply too ruthless.”
Babata shook his head again.
“Was he even human?”
Luo Feng was completely dumbfounded.
Both body and soul destroyed.
Even the soul completely gone.
Yet a single cell fragment could bring someone back to life?
“Don’t be so surprised. At my master’s level, every tiny fragment of his cells contained his soul imprint, or spiritual imprint. Naturally, he could be reborn.” Babata looked extremely proud. “Besides, that wasn’t my master’s only life preserving method. He had many others. It’s just that, throughout the endless universe and endless ages, there really are people even stronger than my master.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly.
There was always someone stronger.
No matter how powerful one became, arrogance was never justified.
“Babata, you said Earth belongs to the low level universal civilisation known as the Silver Blue Empire.”
“And the Silver Blue Empire is itself subordinate to the medium level universal civilisation known as the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, which controls more than eight thousand star systems.”
“Then what about advanced universal civilisations?” Luo Feng asked.
Babata smiled faintly.
“Luo Feng, in the universe, the basic map unit is a Starfield. One Starfield usually contains around one thousand to twenty thousand star systems. Of course, there are a few exceptionally small Starfields and a few exceptionally large ones. The Black Dragon Mountain Starfield contains more than eight thousand star systems.”
“Above a Starfield is a Star Region, the largest territorial unit in the universe.”
“One Star Region contains, on average, around ten thousand Starfields, which is roughly equal to one hundred million star systems. Naturally, different Star Regions vary in size.”
“Your Earth belongs to the Milky Way Galaxy, Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, Qian Wu Great Star Region,” Babata explained. “The Qian Wu Great Star Region governs over more than thirteen thousand Starfields, with well over one hundred million star systems. It is ruled by the advanced universal civilisation nation known as the Qian Wu Universe Nation, which has nearly a thousand medium level universal civilisation nations under its rule. It is considered one of the highest level human civilisation nations in the vast universe.”
Luo Feng took a deep breath.
The highest level civilisation in the universe?
It controlled over thirteen thousand Starfields?
It had nearly a thousand empires like the Black Dragon Mountain Empire as its subordinate nations?
Then low level civilisations like the Silver Blue Empire must have been as numerous as grains of sand.
No wonder the Master of Yun Mo Planet regarded them as no more than ants.
“Advanced universal civilisation, medium universal civilisation, low universal civilisation.”
Luo Feng silently memorised these three levels.
“And Earth belongs to the Milky Way Galaxy, Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, Qian Wu Great Star Region.”
“Don’t aim too high.”
Babata interrupted.
“The Qian Wu Universe Nation has existed for an unimaginably long time. Its territory is so vast that even an Undying expert could spend endless ages travelling and still never see it all.”
Luo Feng nodded.
The Milky Way alone was over one hundred thousand light years across.
The Qian Wu Universe Nation contained over one hundred million star systems.
Its scale was beyond imagination.
“Luo Feng.”
Babata looked at him.
“In the vast universe, humanity is only one of the peak races. Do you know why humans stand among the strongest?”
“Hm?” Luo Feng looked puzzled.
“Strength in numbers!”
Babata said solemnly.
“Humans are divided into countless races. The Manka people and the Longke people I mentioned earlier both possess incredibly powerful bloodlines. But humanity has tens of thousands of different bloodlines, some strong and some weak. Earth’s bloodline belongs among the weaker ones. Still, don’t feel inferior. There are plenty of races across the universe even weaker than Earth humans.”
“Humanity has countless races, and even more people. That is why humanity is one of the universe’s peak races.”
“Besides the peak races, the universe is filled with all kinds of strange life forms and species. Never assume they’re easy to deal with. Their status is only low because their numbers are too small. If we’re talking about individual strength, many of them are astonishingly powerful.”
“There are countless bizarre forms of life, numbering in the thousands upon thousands, each incredibly unique.”
“Most are relatively weak in combat, but many are extremely powerful.”
“The Manka people are among the most extraordinary human bloodlines, reaching Domain Lord upon adulthood. Yet… across the vast universe, there are a handful of unique life forms even stronger than the Manka people. The most famous among them are the Star Beasts.”
“Once a Star Beast reaches maturity, it can drift through outer space using only its own body,” Babata said.
Luo Feng was secretly astonished.
“Star Beasts come in many varieties. The weakest are born at Planetary level, grow through Stellar level, and reach Universe level at full maturity. Those are the weakest Star Beasts.”
“Some are comparable to the Manka people. They’re born at Planetary level, reach Stellar level during growth, Universe level in youth, and Domain Lord at full maturity.”
“The most terrifying Star Beasts begin life at Planetary level. They reach Universe level in youth, Domain Lord in adulthood, and World Lord at full maturity. These possess the highest bloodlines in the universe.” Babata looked at Luo Feng. “Undying level cannot be reached through bloodline alone. Therefore, any bloodline capable of naturally reaching World Lord represents the absolute pinnacle.”
“The strongest human bloodlines can naturally reach Domain Lord. That’s already considered exceptional.”
“But in the universe, there are bloodlines capable of naturally reaching World Lord. Those are truly heaven defying. Of course, anything so extraordinary is hated by fate. Their numbers are unbelievably small.” Babata smiled. “Take the pinnacle bloodline among the Star Beasts, the Flame Star Beast. It is born inside a star. Flames and extreme heat cannot harm it. Normally, it must devour numerous stars over countless years before becoming a World Lord. Once it reaches World Lord, it no longer needs to consume stars. A Flame Star Beast lives an extraordinarily long life. Yet from birth until death, wandering the universe, it may never encounter another Flame Star Beast.”
“There are several other life forms similar to the Star Beasts.”
“Without exception, every one of them is incredibly rare.” Babata shook his head. “If you ever encounter one in the universe, be extremely careful.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly.
Good heavens.
A Star Beast that fed on stars.
That was truly unbelievable.
Yet one could go an entire lifetime without ever seeing another of its own kind.
Their numbers really were tiny.
“In short, the human races alone are beyond counting. Then there are countless other extraordinary life forms as well.”
“The universe is so vast that even Undying experts can never fully understand it.”
“Even someone as powerful as my master ultimately fell.” Babata looked at Luo Feng. “Before he died, my master once said, no matter how powerful you become, you must always maintain reverence for the universe.”
Luo Feng nodded.
The Master of Yun Mo Planet had commanded nine Undying servants.
Yet he had still perished.
“Luo Feng, make your decision.”
Babata looked at him.
“Will you accept my master as your teacher? Only by doing so will you receive all the gifts my master prepared for his disciple.”
“Of course, you may also choose not to become his disciple.” Babata smiled slightly, revealing his two fangs. “If you refuse, then to keep my master’s secrets safe, I’ll have no choice but to kill you.”
“The choice is yours.”