Breaking Through to the Heaven and Man Realm, Trade Between the Two Worlds Begins

Reading classical Chinese? Go to Literary Degree. Chapter 174: Breaking Through to the Heaven and Man Realm, Trade Between the Two Worlds Begins (Literary Degree wenxuedu)

The purpose of creating the Ephemera Divine Skill was to achieve a faster rate of cultivation.

After all, the myriad heavens and worlds were far too vast. His current cultivation was nothing, and even Ji Yu at his strongest—the most powerful person Lin Ze had ever encountered—was nothing in the boundless multiverse.

Under such circumstances, the faster one grew stronger, the better.

Even if my Combat Power is the weakest among those at the same level, as long as I cultivate quickly and stay seven, eight, nine, or even ten levels ahead of my enemies, none of that will matter.

So the problem of being unable to use the Ephemera Divine Skill at full power had to be solved.

"I need to find a world with abundant free-floating energy, or some substance that can efficiently provide the energy the body needs."

Floating in the nutrient pod, before entering a focused cultivation state, this thought flashed through Lin Ze's mind.

In the environment of World No. 2, there was no free-floating energy that the human body could directly use. The entire process of cultivating its martial arts system involved deeply developing the body's potential and efficiently absorbing and using food.

Those two things alone had created martial artists with extraordinary Combat Power.

Once martial artists in World No. 2 reached the True Essence Condensation Realm, ordinary food could no longer provide enough energy for cultivation. They had to take medicinal supplements.

As their cultivation deepened, the medicines they needed to improve their strength became increasingly precious and numerous, but the amounts were still within a reasonable range.

Even experts at the Land Immortal level could meet their cultivation needs by eating some precious Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures.

If Lin Ze cultivated normally, he wouldn't run into the problem of insufficient energy for his body. But who could blame him for trying to cut corners and skip class?

The Ephemera Divine Skill had accelerated his cultivation, but it had also raised his energy needs per unit of time far beyond what ordinary Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures could provide.

That was why Lin Ze had no choice but to soak in a nutrient pod, supplying his body with energy more efficiently.

As time passed, Lin Ze could clearly feel his realm undergoing a transformation.

As the Ephemera Divine Skill circulated, his body digested the nutrients supplied by the pod with terrifying efficiency. The Essence and blood it produced without pause were converted into Inner Breath and accumulated.

Then Lin Ze used that Inner Breath to nourish his spirit and the flesh, sinews, and bones throughout his body.

His spirit continued to grow and transform, gradually entering a state of Heaven and Man United as One. At that point, Lin Ze could sense the flow of all the phenomena of heaven and earth around him.

His spirit began to merge with them, gaining the ability to control the forces of heaven and earth and use them for himself.

His body was transforming too. A jade glow shimmered across his bones, golden light cloaked his skin, and his flesh became so pure it seemed transparent. His whole being radiated a powerful, deathless quality.

Then Lin Ze's skin began to split inch by inch. It was a sign of Rebirth and Transformation, normally a relatively lengthy process.

But with the powerful vitality activated by the Ephemera Divine Skill, the skin rapidly grew back.

In an incredibly short time, Lin Ze's body completed Rebirth and Transformation nine times, growing anew nine times over.

When the ninth transformation ended, Lin Ze's blood was a clear, crystalline scarlet, like red gemstones, and it emanated an aura of extreme purity and power.

At that moment, a fragrance like that of a Heavenly Material Earthly Treasure even lingered around Lin Ze.

"My breakthrough is complete. My lifespan limit has reached two hundred and twenty years, more than a hundred years longer than an ordinary person's."

"However, if I keep the Ephemera Divine Skill running as it is now, I'll die of old age in at most half a year."

Sensing his current state, Lin Ze found that his overall physical strength had increased enormously, and his Inner Breath had grown substantially compared with before his breakthrough.

In terms of pure martial prowess, Lin Ze's Combat Power had reached the level of a one-man army. He could take on an armored force like the Red Scarf Bandit Gang all by himself.

Even the Seventh Carrier Fleet, with its nuclear weapons, was something Lin Ze could handle alone, so long as he used guerrilla tactics to avoid the brunt of their nuclear arsenal.

Still, compared with a Mythic expert, who could stand against an entire nation and trade blows head-on with an industrialized country, Heaven and Man experts were far weaker.

Of course, the greatest improvement Lin Ze gained from breaking through to the Heaven and Man Realm was to his spirit.

Achieving Heaven and Man United as One let him perceive all the phenomena of heaven and earth and control their power. But the increase to his Mental Power's strength, range, and duration wasn't all that great.

His perception range had only expanded to a diameter of 152 kilometers, his Mental Power strength had risen to 1,358 tons, and its maximum output duration remained two hours.

After all, he had first used the Gates to Heavens to strengthen his spirit and meet the prerequisites for breaking through to the Heaven and Man Realm. That was why he had been able to break through so quickly by cultivating the Ephemera Divine Skill this time.

However, Lin Ze's mental precision had leaped forward, reaching the nanometer scale.

Lin Ze could now use Mental Power to eliminate specific cells, such as cancer cells, and treat diseases that way.

Electronic Instruments could achieve a similar effect, but this was power that belonged to Lin Ze himself. If he trained his Mental Power, its precision could continue to improve.

In the future, he might even be able to alter the material world by himself, producing any natural phenomenon he desired, distorting the shape of matter with a thought, and creating objects from thin air.

After taking stock of the changes in his strength, Lin Ze turned his attention back to the Ephemera Divine Skill.

He continued adjusting the skill's output, aiming to repair his body once every three months while eating a normal meal every few hours to meet his needs.

After accounting for all these factors, Lin Ze finished revising the Ephemera Divine Skill. Its actual cultivation effect was now three hundred times that of the Mythic-level martial art, the Yuanyang Divine Skill, and he needed to eat once every four hours.

He could eat a highly refined, compressed pill made from various Heavenly Material Earthly Treasures, along with a certain amount of food to make up for his body's energy consumption.

Of course, if he had time to keep eating, he could still use the Ephemera Divine Skill at full power.

Once he had finished revising the skill, Lin Ze entered a focused cultivation state and continued refining it based on feedback from using it.

Ordinary Heaven and Man experts needed a long time to build up their cultivation further, but Lin Ze was different.

With every passing day, his cultivation rose by a large margin. His Inner Breath grew more and more surging, his Mental Power stronger and more vigorous, and his body increasingly powerful. His only real drawback was that he aged a little too fast.

In just one month, Lin Ze, who had looked like a young man, became middle-aged.

That meant that, of his more than two hundred years of life, over sixty had already slipped away. His body had reached the age of over eighty.

By then, Lin Ze had discovered some flaws in the Ephemera Divine Skill. Once his body reached middle age, its functions inevitably began to decline.

In terms of cultivation speed, that meant a drop of nearly five percent.

As time went on and the second month began, Lin Ze's lifespan had burned down to one hundred and fifty years. He could feel his body's functions declining further.

By then, his body had entered old age, and his cultivation speed had fallen to around seventy percent of its peak.

On top of that, Lin Ze could clearly feel his brain's processing speed, physical strength, recuperative ability, and ability to digest food all growing weaker.

According to his original plan, Lin Ze would keep cultivating until his lifespan ran out, then stop the Ephemera Divine Skill, let his body return to a normal rate of wear and tear, and repair the damage caused by aging.

But the drop in his cultivation speed made Lin Ze abandon that plan. He decided to stop running the Ephemera Divine Skill and begin repairing his body early.

Lin Ze climbed into a specially made Longevity Extension Pod.

Precious medicinal liquid began to flow in, submerging his body.

At the same time, various specialized instruments activated, generating unique force fields that worked in tandem with the medicinal liquid.

Lying in the Longevity Extension Pod, Lin Ze gradually slipped into a deep sleep.

His body was old, covered in wrinkles, and crowned with white hair. Now, it seemed to be filled with fresh vitality, and began to grow younger in reverse.

His old skin peeled away, his white hair fell out, and a new crop of black hair grew in its place.

The aging cells in his body also rejuvenated, and muscles that had begun to weaken became strong and vigorous again.

Because he had begun the repair early, it took less time than expected. After five days of rejuvenation, Lin Ze stepped out of the Longevity Extension Pod, no longer showing any signs of age. He had grown young again.

His mind, which had felt sluggish, had also returned to its peak.

"I'll keep doing it this way. Every two months, I'll spend five days repairing my body and lifespan. That way, I can keep my cultivation speed at its fastest without neglecting my normal work and life."

After taking stock of his condition, Lin Ze made up his mind.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he caught up with Ji Yu.

Then he turned his attention to developing the Gates to Heavens Mall.

Over the past few months, while Lin Ze had been busy cultivating, the Gates to Heavens Mall had also made smooth progress.

It had established its leadership position in World No. 1, completed its recruitment, and raised plenty of funds and equipment. It was ready to begin developing the vast resources and markets of World No. 2.

In the foreseeable future, Lin Ze would need to open the gates between the two worlds and establish real communication.

"Can you leave a space passage open for an extended period? And can you connect access permissions for the passage to the Gates to Heavens Mall's employee records, so it can intelligently identify who's allowed through?"

At that point, Lin Ze contacted the Gates to Heavens and explained what he wanted.

He wanted to take it easy. He didn't want to be tied down all the time, serving as a human door opener.

"Would you like to spend one million units of fortune to update with this new function? Once the update is complete, a long-term stable space passage function will be added. The fortune cost will depend on the passage's duration and size."

The Gates to Heavens immediately replied.

Lin Ze checked his fortune balance. Five months had passed since he founded the Human Federation.

Over the past while, he had turned both worlds upside down, steadily collecting more than a million units of fortune each month.

By now, even after subtracting the portion of fortune Lin Ze invested each day in exploring other worlds, he still had over five million units left.

Without hesitation, Lin Ze had the Gates to Heavens update its functions.

Then he began designing the space passages.

"First, a passage for transporting people. It should allow people through with a small amount of cargo, so let's make it three meters wide and five meters high."

"Next, a passage for transporting goods, based on the cargo ships humans commonly use. Let's make it three hundred meters high and five hundred meters wide, enough to accommodate multiple ships and trains."

"Finally, a military passage. It needs to move large numbers of troops and combat equipment in a short time, so let's define it as a circular gateway ten kilometers in diameter."

Based on practical needs, Lin Ze set three standard sizes for the space passages. He could adjust them later to suit actual requirements.

Once he had finalized the specifications, the Gates to Heavens gave him the prices.

A passage for people cost ten thousand units of fortune per year.

A passage for goods cost two hundred thousand units of fortune per year, while a military passage cost four and a half million.

"Why does the large-scale military passage seem cheaper? Is it one of those 'the more you buy, the more you save' deals?"

Lin Ze wondered as he asked the Gates to Heavens.

The reply was that the basic cost of opening a passage was about the same. Increasing the size of a passage cost far less than opening several separate, permanently stable passages.

Then Lin Ze began setting up the long-term space passages.

At first, trade between the two worlds would mainly involve small numbers of people and limited quantities of goods, so there was no need to establish a military passage yet. Sending out drones to patrol would be enough.

Of course, the main reason was that Lin Ze didn't have that much fortune.

"Let's start with ten passages for people and ten for transporting goods. We'll open them for a year."

"On the World No. 1 side, put them in Yulin City, Golden Continent. On the World No. 2 side, put them in Fengping County. These places are already under my control, which should help get trade between the two worlds off the ground."

With that in mind, Lin Ze got to work.

The space passages were successfully set up in an empty lot by the docks outside Fengping County. On the other side, they connected to the dock area outside Yulin City in the Golden Continent.

On the flat ground stood twenty faintly glowing, illusory portals. It was impossible to see what lay beyond them.