The Star's First Transformation, Nine Changes on the Road Ahead
Several months have passed, Qingfeng Mountain remains peaceful and undisturbed.
Chen Du lived in a bamboo courtyard, ignoring the turmoil outside the mountains, and devoted himself to cultivating his own path.
Through daily refinement and practice, his understanding of the principles deepened and became increasingly thorough.
His Tribulation-Transcending Law and Tribulation Armor Law were both completely and firmly established at the ninth level of perfection. His Dao patterns were condensed and flawless, and his foundation was as solid as a mountain, with no trace of weakness or flaw.
In terms of offensive and killing techniques, the Heavenly Tribulation Nine Swords allows for the control and release of sword energy at will, and the annihilation of enemies is also at the heart of the matter.
The eleventh level of the supernatural technique Soul Devouring's Wrath, Calamity Fall, has reached a new level, using countless calamities as its edge and annihilation as its bone, its killing power has surged once again.
Deep within his unseen sea of consciousness, his unique dark golden Self Star, under the long period of quiet recuperation and nourishment by the laws, quietly grew stronger and more robust.
He glimpsed the true essence of the Dao in "The Path to Ascension":
The Self Star that a cultivator condenses is not the end, but the beginning of stepping into the Peak Stage of the Twelfth Realm.
Self Star needs to undergo nine ultimate transformations. With each transformation, the star's volume, primordial energy, and Dao Resonance essence will increase exponentially, resulting in a complete metamorphosis.
After nine transformations are completed, the star expands to its extreme, evolves its orbit, and generates star fields, ultimately transforming into a complete and flawless self-sufficient star system.
The formation of a star system is the ultimate Peak Stage of the Star Domain Master Realm, and it is also the final stepping stone for cultivators to unlock the Thirteenth Realm - Cosmic Life Realm.
Nine transformations, nine rebirths.
The road ahead is long and the path is boundless.
That night, the moonlight bathed the ground, and the bamboo courtyard was quiet and spotless.
Chen Du sat upright on the futon, his mind focused and completely calm.
The time is ripe.
He simultaneously activated the Ninefold Tribulation-Transcending Law and the Ninefold Tribulation Armor Law, pouring both perfected Dao powers into the star in his sea of consciousness, activating the long- Lie Dormant stellar origin and initiating the first stellar metamorphosis.
Buzz!
The sea of consciousness and the heavens roared and trembled!
The long-dormant dark golden star suddenly trembled, as if an ancient thunderclap was hidden deep within its core, and it exploded with a deafening roar!
An endless stream of dazzling golden light surged forth from the very core of the being, instantly illuminating the entire sea of consciousness, dispelling all darkness, and shining as brightly as the beginning of creation.
On the surface of the star, the densely interwoven and spreading patterns of calamity and Eternal Night lit up one after another, shining brightly layer by layer, exuding a boundless Dao Resonance.
The old patterns crumbled, dissolved, and vanished.
New Dao patterns are reborn, intertwined, and recombined.
The celestial body's volume is slowly expanding at a rate visible to the naked eye, with its primordial energy rising wave after wave, surging and climbing layer by layer.
The entire sea of consciousness trembled violently, and the void twisted, as if this realm of the soul was about to be unable to bear the terrifying power of the star's explosive growth.
The upheaval was fierce and overwhelming, the Dao pressing down like a tidal wave.
An ordinary cultivator would have already suffered a shattered sea of consciousness, a destroyed foundation of cultivation, and the destruction of their soul.
Chen Du gritted his teeth, steadied his Dao heart, and used the perfected Tribulation Armor Law as a hard shell to tightly bind the restless and violent stellar origin, preventing even a trace of the origin from collapsing or being lost.
Suddenly, a loud bang!
A silent, resounding echo reverberated deep within the soul!
My Self Star, my first metamorphosis, is complete!
After the transformation, the star's original energy increased several times over, its volume became a whole size larger than before, its dark golden luster became deeper and heavier, its star core became condensed and flawless, and its Dao Resonance became vast and boundless, already showing the initial appearance of an unparalleled star lord.
Outside the bamboo courtyard, a vast and powerful aura of the Star Dao leaked out uncontrollably for a brief moment.
In that instant, Chen Du seemed to transform into a star on earth.
A dazzling golden light emanated from beneath the skin and flesh, illuminating the entire Qingyou Bamboo Courtyard. The night receded, and the surroundings were as bright as day.
The surrounding green bamboo was swept by the terrifying shockwave, and many branches broke off and soared into the air, swirling and turning in mid-air. After a moment, they gently drifted down with the wind, returning to their original tranquility.
After a long while, Chen Du let out a long breath.
The restless aura completely subsided, and the leaking star-path pressure was completely contained, returning to calm.
His mind was clear and he understood everything perfectly.
That was the real stellar explosion.
As the celestial body transforms, its core first collapses inward to its extreme, condensing the primordial essence of eternity; upon reaching its ultimate collapse, it then erupts against the tide, unleashing a terrifying power far exceeding anything it had ever possessed before.
This extreme collapse and eruption is extremely dangerous.
If he had not already solidified his Twelfth Realms of Dao, perfected the two ninefold laws, and kept his Dao heart as firm as a rock, this sudden transformation would have been enough to shatter his sea of consciousness and destroy his Dao foundation.
His solid foundation in the Twelfth Realms became his sole source of confidence in bearing the transformation of a star.
Concealing all starlight, Chen Du quietly sensed the changes within himself.
There was no need to confront an enemy or test any moves; he already understood the situation perfectly.
The person I am at this moment is worlds apart from the person I was before my transformation.
At the same Early Stage of the Twelfth Realm, ordinary cultivators rely on the Dao Resonance of Heaven and Earth, the foundation of their cultivation techniques, and external support to barely stand at the same level.
He takes the transformation of stars as his origin, the perfect law of the double ninefold as his foundation, and the Twelfth-Tier Divine Sword as his core of killing power.
His spiritual power, Dao Resonance purity, domain level, and the power to suppress tribulations have completely transcended the limitations of the ordinary Early Stage of the Twelfth Realm.
If he were to face that Twelfth Realm hidden cultivator from the Withered Bones Gorge at this moment, there would be no need to activate the Tribulation Domain or unleash a killing move.
With just the pressure of physical body and the crushing Dao Resonance, one can shatter the opponent's laws, collapse their spiritual power, and destroy their Dao heart.
Within the same realm, all cultivators who rely on conventional paths to cultivation appear before him like fireflies gazing at the bright moon, or streams looking at the vast ocean.
Without even lifting a finger, the difference in skill, the outcome, and the life or death are already decided.
This is the terrifying amplification of stellar metamorphosis; it doesn't skip realms, yet it surpasses ranks and becomes invincible within the same realm.
No one in the world could witness this gap firsthand, but he knew perfectly well that he had already quietly stood at the pinnacle of the Early Stage of the Twelfth Realm, touching the threshold of the Middle Stage.
Chen Du lowered his eyes, looking at his clean and peaceful hands, his gaze distant as he looked at the world that trapped countless cultivators.
He was perfectly clear-headed.
At the Twelfth Realm, even in the lower tiers of the Ancestral God Realm, one could still be considered a powerful figure.
But placed in the vastness of the real world, it is still insignificant.
The Ancestral God Realm is vast and boundless, its territory so expansive that it defies the imagination of ordinary people.
Its size is more than tens of millions of times that of Earth. Even the scorching sun of the Solar System, with a diameter a hundred times that of Earth, is still insignificant compared to the vast and boundless Ancestral God Realm.
In this top-tier world that spans the stars and encompasses all paths, the Twelfth Realm is merely a step into the higher stages of cultivation, far from being the Peak Stage.
The one who truly rules the heavens and earth, overlooks all living beings, has an endless lifespan, and dominates all realms is the Thirteenth Realm: the Cosmic Life Realm.
That is the true master of the Great Dao, transcending the mortal realm, embracing the galaxy, and coexisting with heaven and earth.
Slowly rising to his feet, Chen Du gently moved his shoulders and neck, his eyes calm and resolute.
Self Star nine transformations, it has now only completed its first one.
There are still eight more transformations ahead.
The Great Way has no boundaries, and the practice of cultivation is tireless.
His journey is still long.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
Qingfeng Mountain remained calm and serene, but the Calamity Warning in Chen Du's mind suddenly awakened one day.
[Calamity Warning triggered.]
[Causal simulation completed.]