"This... is a domain!"
Shen Mu floated in midair, sensing this miraculous power.
Within the range covered by the Tidal Domain around him, Shen Mu could sense that he possessed a certain degree of control over this space.
"No wonder those with domains are considered invincible among their peers. Under the oppression of a domain, even opponents of the same level have no ability to resist."
Shen Mu slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, and the domain around him gradually withdrew.
After stepping into the realm of domains, Shen Mu had gained a clear understanding of them.
A domain was a special ability born from an exceptionally profound comprehension of the mysteries of heaven and earth. It was not the sole standard for measuring one's natural comprehension.
Of course, there were exceptions. Some powerful lifeforms, such as the Golden Horned Beast, could directly wield a domain after advancing to Cosmic-Level, even without the slightest comprehension of the Intent of Metal.
There were also people whose domains were only at the fourth or fifth level, yet they had comprehended a trace of the mysteries of laws. Their understanding of the mysteries of the universe far surpassed those experts with Ninth Level Domains.
By the shore, numerous Planet-Level experts led by Hong had already approached.
Seeing this, Shen Mu transformed into a streak of light and joined them.
"Master, I have not failed your expectations."
"Good, good... hahaha."
Hong did not feel any sense of crisis because of the appearance of a challenger. Instead, he threw back his head and laughed. Even the three personal guards who had followed Hong the longest rarely saw him act this way.
Thunder God looked at Shen Mu. "Shen Mu, let's spar sometime. Let me see your domain."
"Sure."
Shen Mu did not refuse. He also wanted to test just how powerful a domain truly was.
However, if he relied on his true body, which had only just entered the second level of Planet-Level, his chances of defeating Thunder God were not great.
After obtaining the Mu Ya Crystal, Thunder God had also broken through to the eighth level of Planet-Level. His basic strength was sixty-four times Shen Mu's.
If his force-exertion techniques were included, Thunder God's explosive power was equivalent to 448 times the brute force of a second-level Planet-Level fighter. Shen Mu's consciousness amplitude, meanwhile, had only barely reached fourteen times.
With such a vast gap, defeating him with the enhancement of merely a first-level domain was basically impossible, unless Shen Mu sent out his sixth-level Planet-Level Azure Dragon Avatar.
"Shen Mu, come to Hongning Base City tomorrow. With your current strength, you are qualified to learn certain things."
"Yes, Master." Shen Mu nodded slightly.
Hong suddenly smiled. "Don't call me Master anymore. If you don't mind, call me Brother Hong, just like Thunder God does."
"Brother Hong."
Not far away, Chinese experts such as Jia Yi and Zhu Xi, along with the inspectors of the two great martial arts schools, watched the scene with some emotion.
They had personally witnessed the birth of Earth's third invincible expert.
Among the crowd, Luo Feng watched the scene while speaking with Babata.
"Absurd, absurd, absurd! Shen Mu actually succeeded! This is too outrageous. I thought he would at least have to wait until he advanced to Star-Level, just like Thunder God, before he had any hope."
Babata's shrill voice rang out in Luo Feng's sea of consciousness.
Luo Feng was somewhat puzzled. "Is there really any need to make such a fuss? Brother Shen had already begun comprehending the mysteries of domains. Isn't it normal for him to break through?"
"You don't understand at all. In the universe, among hundreds of millions of Planet-Level martial artists, it would already be fortunate to produce one existence like Thunder God. Even if they are only one step away from the realm of domains, that step is still an insurmountable chasm."
"Therefore, although someone like Thunder God is considered a genius in the universe, he is not exceptionally rare. Planet-Level fighters are merely ordinary people in the universe, and their numbers are enormous. It is perfectly normal for a few geniuses to achieve complete mastery of an intent."
"But Planet-Level fighters like Hong and Shen Mu, who successfully possess domains, are top-tier elite geniuses even in advanced civilizations of the universe. Across the territory of tens of thousands of star systems under a mid-tier nation, it would still be difficult to produce even one."
"The difficulty of mastering an intent and mastering a domain is not even on the same level. That was why I had basically held no hope for Shen Mu comprehending a domain from the beginning, because it was nearly impossible. The fact that your Earth produced even one Hong was already unbelievable."
Babata said excitedly, "Forget it, you don't understand anyway. We absolutely cannot let a genius like Shen Mu slip away. Find an opportunity to recruit him into Yunmo Star as well."
Now it was Luo Feng's turn to have a headache. Babata made it sound easy, but how was he supposed to bring it up to Shen Mu without seeming abrupt? It would be troublesome if Shen Mu misunderstood him.
The next morning, Hongning Base City.
"Inspector Shen." A headquarters guard respectfully saluted Shen Mu.
Shen Mu nodded lightly, then followed a staff member into the Global Headquarters and entered a reception room.
At that moment, Hong, dressed in black, was speaking with Thunder God, who wore white monk's robes.
"Brother Hong, Brother Lei." Shen Mu smiled.
"Sit. We called you here today to tell you some secrets about the universe."
Hong and Thunder God both turned solemn.
Then Thunder God said, "Shen Mu, you should be able to guess that the origins of those ancient civilization ruins were not actually ancient civilizations from Earth, right?"
After Shen Mu nodded, Hong finally spoke. "In the vast universe, there are countless powerful civilizations. Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of the Silverblue Empire, a cosmic nation!"
"Moreover, once an ownerless life planet like ours is discovered, the consequences will be extremely serious!" Thunder God's expression was incomparably grave.
A complicated look surfaced in Hong's eyes. "If we are lucky, Earth will become the territory of some powerful expert. But more likely... all Earthlings will become a slave race, packaged and sold to certain powerful figures."
At that moment, Shen Mu sensed immense pressure in Hong's tone. For decades, Hong and Thunder God had cultivated desperately for the future of all humanity on Earth.
As a transmigrator who knew the rough timeline of future events, Shen Mu could not fully empathize. However, he could roughly understand why Hong and Thunder God possessed such high levels of mental cultivation.
Marching onward while carrying the hopes of an entire civilization on their shoulders—if their mental states had not been strong enough to bear such enormous psychological pressure, they might have collapsed long ago.
"Brother Hong, Brother Lei, I understand. From today onward, I will shoulder the future of human civilization together with my two brothers."
Upon hearing Shen Mu's words, gratified expressions appeared on Hong and Thunder God's faces.
"Good kid. I knew I hadn't misjudged you." Thunder God patted Shen Mu's shoulder.
"Come on, want to spar?"
"No problem."
Seeing that Shen Mu was going to spar with Thunder God, Hong was also quite interested. "I'll be the referee."
A moment later, the three boarded Hong's Primordial-Class Fighter and arrived deep within the uninhabited African Great Desert.
"Third Brother, get ready. I'm making my move!"
As Thunder God's words fell, he used his palm as a blade. His entire body transformed into a brilliant bolt of lightning and charged directly at Shen Mu.
It was only a spar, so neither Shen Mu nor Thunder God chose to use weapons.
"Be careful, Second Brother."
Shen Mu's voice suddenly turned ethereal, as though it echoed above an endless ocean.
The next instant, the vast and boundless Tidal Domain swept outward, and an endless watery realm flickered into view in midair.
Boom!
Shen Mu's whip kick swept out like a great spear. Having reached the realm of Harmony of Man and Nature, he could still execute spear and blade techniques even without a weapon.
Boom! Boom!
From afar, one could vaguely see only a watery-blue streak of light and lightning intertwining and colliding, while terrifying waves of genetic energy erupted.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Suddenly, the watery-blue streak changed sharply. Throwing knives burst forth as sharp streams of light, blooming and converging along mysterious trajectories like rivers flowing together, until a hundred streams entered the sea and unleashed incomparably terrifying power.
Without Thunder God using his sevenfold power burst, Shen Mu relied on his second-level Planet-Level cultivation and the might of his domain to forcibly suppress Thunder God.
Rip!
The lightning around Thunder God suddenly grew dazzling. Ear-piercing thunder erupted like the cries of a thousand birds as he stopped holding back and went all out. The force he unleashed in an instant was equivalent to more than four hundred times Shen Mu's own strength.
Rumble!
Shen Mu's Tidal Domain shook violently, sending wave after wave rippling outward.
Thirteen seconds later, a dazzling bolt of lightning tore through the endless watery realm before stopping in front of Shen Mu's glabella.
Regarding the response to the protagonist having a domain yet failing to defeat Thunder God: In the original work, Thunder God possessed a domain and was at the ninth level of Planet-Level, yet he lost to Luo Feng. At the time, Luo Feng was at the eighth level of Planet-Level and defeated Thunder God with the second form of the Sky Shuttle, whose final power amplification was 128 times. That is the strength of a first-level domain. In this book, Thunder God's final burst, including his force-exertion techniques, is more than 400 times that of a second-level Planet-Level fighter. If Shen Mu could win, it would break the setting.
Before you continue