Yan Lin Star was about two hundred thousand light-years from Earth. A round trip would take nearly half a month.
"Babata, how about we sell this Black Dragon Mountain Spaceship and get a D-class spaceship instead? This thing is way too slow."
An ordinary C-class spacecraft could only fly a little faster than light, while a D-class spaceship could reach at least three times the speed of light.
If they traveled through the Dark Universe, the journey from Earth to Qiulong Star would take only around three days.
Babata naturally had no objections. "Fine. Once we have the money, we'll buy a D-class spaceship."
Half a month later, Kyoto Base City, Shen Mu's home.
Click!
As the Nutrient Pod opened, Shen Mu leaped out. Extremely condensed spiritual force and genetic energy fluctuations spread outward.
Within Shen Mu's sea of consciousness and dantian, nine stars glowing with faint radiance revolved along an enigmatic trajectory.
A thread of Shen Mu's consciousness entered his Inner World. Ripples spread across the tranquil lake, and a dragon's shadow could vaguely be seen swimming beneath the surface.
Splash!
As the Azure Dragon Avatar swam, wisps of Source Law fluctuations spread out, stirring wave after wave across the lake's surface.
"Sure enough, both my Earthling body and Azure Dragon Avatar count as my true body. There are no restrictions on my cultivation."
Unlike Luo Feng, who had performed a Body Snatch on a Golden Horned Beast, Luo Feng could not improve just by soaking in a Nutrient Pod if the Golden Horned Beast did not advance.
However, improving his Earthling body could not drive his Inner World to advance as well. Shen Mu's Inner World was still just over four thousand meters in diameter, roughly at the level of a newly entered Planet-Level rank seven.
"With nourishment from my Earthling body, the Azure Dragon Avatar's evolution speed has increased greatly as well. At this rate, it should reach Planet-Level rank nine in about two months."
Just as Shen Mu was familiarizing himself with his greatly increased strength, Babata suddenly appeared.
"Ah Mu, Ah Mu, Luo Feng's Earthling body has been gestated!"
"So soon?"
Shen Mu was somewhat surprised. He remembered Luo Feng saying that it would still be some time before his Earthling body was born.
Babata explained, "It should be because the Golden Horned Beast advanced to Star-Level. Gestating an avatar mainly relies on the Golden Horned Beast's Inner World. The larger the Inner World, the faster it can gestate an avatar."
"So that was it."
After thinking it over briefly, Shen Mu understood the reason.
In the original story, Luo Feng had needed more than a year to gestate his Earthling body because he had already been a Planet-Level rank six Mentalist at the time.
Now, however, Luo Feng was barely Planet-Level rank three. The energy gap between the two was eightfold, so the gestation time would naturally be shorter as well.
"There's another piece of good news: Thunder God has successfully comprehended a domain too!"
That night, atop the rooftop of the Limit Building in Hongning Base City.
Shen Mu, Hong, Thunder God, and Luo Feng sat around a table of wine.
"Speaking of it, I'm not afraid of you laughing at us. As early as two years ago, what Lei and I feared most was the starry sky above our heads." Hong's voice carried a sense of relief and open-mindedness.
Thunder God sighed as well. "Yeah. Back when Brother Hong and I learned that the universe contained countless powerful civilizations, we did not relax for a single moment for decades."
Shen Mu and Luo Feng listened quietly as Hong and Thunder God chatted about their experiences and amusing stories from the past several decades.
Yet beneath their calm, casual tones, Shen Mu and Luo Feng could both sense an indescribable pressure.
After the two gradually finished recounting the storms and changes of those decades, Shen Mu said nothing more and simply raised a glass in silence.
"Brother Hong, Brother Lei, and Ah Feng, the future of Earth's civilization rests on the four of us. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
After setting down his glass, Shen Mu looked at Luo Feng. "Ah Feng, want to compete and see who reaches Star-Level first?"
Luo Feng burst out laughing. "Brother Shen, I'm afraid you won't win this time. My true body is a Golden Horned Beast. Breaking through to Star-Level has no bottleneck for me at all."
"That may not be certain." Shen Mu smiled.
The four drank through the entire night, only ending at dawn the next morning.
After relaxing, what followed was even more arduous cultivation.
In virtual space, a blood-red castle stood beside a picturesque lakeshore.
The entire castle held countless precious manuals collected by the Yunmo Star lineage over tens of millions of years.
"Ah Mu, your spiritual force has now completely transformed into the unique spiritual force of our Yunmo Star lineage. You can cultivate many secret techniques now."
On the second floor of the castle, Babata spoke as he pointed at the surrounding bookshelves, which were densely packed with more than ten thousand secret manuals.
"These are all the inheritances of our Yunmo Star lineage?" Shen Mu asked Babata.
Babata planted his hands on his hips and snorted proudly. "How could that be? These are only the most elite manuals. Ordinary manuals would never be placed on the castle's second floor."
As he spoke, Babata pointed to the golden manuals at the top of the shelves. "These golden secret techniques are the most important ones. Some of them are techniques you absolutely must cultivate."
As soon as he finished speaking, three golden manuals floated out and landed before Shen Mu: the three secret techniques, "Soul Imprint," "Void Tower," and "Body Snatch."
"The Body Snatch technique is not urgent for now. You can cultivate it later, after you find a suitable target. But you must cultivate 'Soul Imprint' and 'Void Tower.'"
"These two secret techniques are your teacher's signature arts. As the boss's personal disciple, you must master them. Besides those, I've also prepared two more secret techniques for you."
Babata waved again, and two silver manuals flew from the shelves and landed before Shen Mu.
"The Mentalist attack technique 'Horizon's End' and the movement technique 'Myriad Threads Stream' are both well suited to you."
With interest, Shen Mu opened the introductions to the two Law-based manuals.
The attack technique "Horizon's End" had four levels in total.
The first level, "Ripples," could only be cultivated after grasping the Water Domain.
The second level, "Surging Waves," could only be cultivated after gaining entry into the Water Source Law.
The third level, "Raging Billows," required an extremely deep comprehension of the Water Source Law.
As for the final level, "Horizon's End," it could only be cultivated after gaining the recognition of the Water Source Law. If a World Lord-Level expert could master this move, he would rank among the top hundred of all World Lord-Level experts in the Qianwu Universe Country.
"This secret technique really is well suited to me."
After reading the introduction, Shen Mu turned his gaze to the movement manual, "Myriad Threads Stream."
There was not much to say about this technique. In the original story, it was precisely the set of techniques Luo Feng had mainly cultivated.
"From now on, your main objective is to cultivate these four secret techniques. Ask me anytime if there's anything you don't understand."
"Alright."
From then on, Shen Mu spent most of every day in the virtual network, diligently cultivating the four great secret techniques.
In only a month, Shen Mu successfully mastered the second level of "Horizon's End." Although his Law Attainment had not improved much, his combat strength had increased by at least threefold.
Writer's block was brutal, and this cold had left my whole body aching. The second update will have to wait until daytime. Brothers, please bear with me.
Before you continue