After mastering the Iron Bell Shield, his defense became unparalleled. Once activated, it was like a great bell protecting his body, its defensive power peerless.
Moreover, its inner force had two characteristics. First, it provided extremely strong protection for the internal organs, making it unafraid of attacks with penetrating properties like the Lingxu Sword Art.
Second, the Iron Bell Shield could rebound others' attacks, reflecting a large portion of the enemy's attack power back at them.
This was often highly effective against martial artists who excelled at attacking but had relatively weak defenses.
It was said that once all three layers of the Golden Bell Shield were cultivated to perfection, one could form an indestructible golden bell around the body and kill people by simply standing still.
Chu Kuang calmed himself and continued training diligently. His progress with the Golden Bell Shield was not slow; in just half an hour, he had cultivated the Iron Bell Shield to 65% mastery.
"At this rate, it'll only take another dozen or so days to reach perfection."
Chu Kuang murmured inwardly, then slowly rose to his feet.
The spaceship passed through an asteroid belt and gradually slowed before a celestial body over nine hundred kilometers in diameter.
"Gushen Star."
Looking at the planet before him, a faint ripple passed through Chu Kuang's eyes.
The name Gushen Star originated from the Earth Era. A hundred thousand years ago, it had been the smallest dwarf planet in the solar system.
Later, human civilization opened the Dark Domain and reclassified celestial bodies according to Dark Domain levels. Gushen Star was also reclassified as an asteroid, becoming the largest asteroid and a Level One Dark Domain.
With this precedent, after humanity left the solar system, every star system's largest asteroid was uniformly named Gushen Star to commemorate humanity's roots in the solar system.
The Gushen Star before him had a diameter of more than nine hundred and fifty kilometers and a mass 1.13 times that of the solar system's Gushen Star. The development of the Dark Domain within it had never made any major breakthrough.
Bzzzz—
As Chu Kuang's thoughts stirred, the spaceship successfully docked.
Chu Kuang calmly walked out and headed straight for Gushen Star's stargate.
There, he was inspected by a Federal officer. Upon seeing his information, a middle-aged officer frowned slightly. "A first-year high school student? What are you doing here?"
"I came to gain some experience."
Worried that the man would refuse to let him in, Chu Kuang did not tell the truth directly.
The middle-aged officer frowned faintly and shook his head. "Gushen Star's Dark Domain is a Pioneer Zone. Your Life Level must reach at least Level Seven before you can enter."
"I already meet the requirements."
Chu Kuang spoke and circulated his power, revealing the vigorous life force within him.
The middle-aged officer said nothing. He merely brought Chu Kuang to the testing passage. As a series of beeps sounded from the instrument, it measured his Life Level.
"Level 7.5. Your talent is quite good."
The middle-aged officer nodded, then added, "You're still a student, and this is your first time entering. I won't assign you a development mission this time."
"Remember, once you enter, safety must come first. Do not venture deep into the Dark Domain's core region."
"I understand."
Chu Kuang nodded and quickly crossed the stargate into the Dark Domain.
"..."
The moment he stepped into Gushen Star's Dark Domain, Chu Kuang felt an extreme chill rush over him.
He glanced at the mercury thermometer on his wristwatch and saw that its reading had instantly dropped to its lower limit of minus thirty degrees Celsius. The temperature in this Dark Domain was clearly at least seventy or eighty degrees below zero.
Strangely, there was no snow in this Dark Domain. Only the black soil was as hard as black stone.
The air was saturated with dense source energy. If Chu Kuang's cultivation had not reached a bottleneck, absorbing source energy freely here every day would have been as effective as consuming dozens of bottles of Nutrient Solution.
If I don't hit a bottleneck and keep absorbing freely every day, it's practically like getting ten thousand Federal Coins for free each day.
An ordinary Fourth Grade Bone without the support of traits cultivates ten times slower than I do, but that's still equivalent to getting five or six bottles of nutrient solution for free every day.
The thought surfaced in Chu Kuang's mind, and he decisively took out the Bloodline Instrument.
Fortunately, the Bloodline Instrument could still function. A faint blood-red glow lit up, vaguely pointing east.
"It's too far away to give a precise direction, but this should still be the direction of Phoenix Valley."
After determining Father Chu's direction, Chu Kuang took up his spear and swiftly headed deeper into the Dark Domain.
Gushen Star was extremely vast, with an area of over six hundred million square kilometers, slightly larger than Earth's surface area.
Chu Kuang was heading for Phoenix Valley, located more than two hundred kilometers from the stargate entrance. Though it was not the core region of Gushen Star's Dark Domain, it was the buffer zone between the human base and the alien races of Gushen Star's Dark Domain.
A distance of over two hundred kilometers was not far for the current Chu Kuang.
He activated Thousand Jun Formation Breaker and sprinted wildly along the way, covering a hundred meters in a single breath. In just half an hour, he arrived at the edge of Phoenix Valley.
At that moment, the Bloodline Instrument in Chu Kuang's hand began emitting a scorching glow. He was clearly getting closer and closer to Father Chu.
"I'm almost there. Dad must still be inside Phoenix Slope."
Excitement surged through Chu Kuang's heart as he followed the Bloodline Instrument deeper into the Dark Domain.
While Chu Kuang searched for Father Chu, inside a hidden cave, Father Chu and Li Gang leaned against the stone wall with their battle sabers propping them up. Both wore extremely grave expressions.
Li Gang was covered in blood. The battle armor on his chest had shattered, and a savage sword wound could be seen through the cracks.
Although the shattered armor had blocked most of the damage and the wound was not fatal, the flesh around it had turned black.
"That Qin Jiu is too despicable. He was clearly stronger than us, yet he still used poison."
As Father Chu applied medicine to Li Gang, anger filled his eyes.
The captain of the Azure Fang Squad was nicknamed Poisonous Snake and was also called Brother Snake. His strength was not among the best at his level, but he was extremely troublesome to deal with.
Though Father Chu had not been struck by Brother Snake, he was covered in injuries as well. He had clearly been besieged by the enemy.
Li Gang gritted his teeth and waited until Father Chu finished applying the medicine before speaking with a pale face. "He fears the desperate burst of strength we can unleash, so after cutting me, he didn't attack again. It looks like he intends to wait until the poison takes effect before making his move."
"You should escape alone. You won't get far if you take a burden like me with you."
Father Chu's teeth ground together, and his eyes were filled with unwillingness. "No. Old Xu and Little Qian are both dead. I can't abandon you."
After saying that, Father Chu asked with deep reluctance, "Even our antidote can't neutralize his poison?"
"This snake venom was specially formulated. Combined with the inner force of his Azure Snake Strength, it's extremely troublesome. Unless we can return to the main universe, there's no way to purge the venom under our current conditions."
Li Gang sighed, a helpless expression appearing on his face.
Father Chu pondered briefly, then took out a vermilion fruit and handed it to Li Gang. "Eat this Vermillion Fruit. It might be able to heal the injuries in your body."
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