"Eighth-Order Initial Realm? This is..."
Lu Yuan was stunned, his eyes filled with disbelief.
In his previous life, how much time and what price had he paid, how much suffering had he endured, before he became an Awakened?
Even just before he died, he had only reached the Ninth Order. No matter what he did, he couldn't reach the next step.
He had suffered for a full ten years to get there.
And even so,
he was still just a nobody.
But now? Just fusing with the Bodhi Ancient Tree had put him on par with nearly ten years of effort back then.
And in his previous life, reaching this point had exhausted all his potential.
Now, he had only just begun.
After fusing with the ancient tree,
his body had broken through its limits, and the treasures hidden within his body had been fully unlocked. It was as though, before building a skyscraper, he had laid a foundation of unprecedented solidity—one that was probably stronger than anyone else's in the world.
"With my current condition, I should be able to enter the next realm before long: the Awakening Realm!"
Lu Yuan murmured to himself, his eyes shining with confidence and power.
As for the so-called Awakening Realm,
as the name implied, it was the point at which one truly became an Awakened.
At this realm, people fully adapted to the environment after the global upheaval and embarked on the path of evolution.
They also awakened deeper Mythical Genes within their bodies, gaining all kinds of incredible powers.
If the Initial Realm only enhanced one's strength and physique, then the Awakening Realm was an entirely different matter. Some gained Flame Power, some gained Ice Power, some gained Thunder Power, and so on. Each was different.
The powers could be called bizarre in every way; they varied according to each Awakened's constitution.
This was the second realm in an Awakened's evolution.
Unlike the Initial Realm, which was divided into nine stages,
the Awakening Realm had only one stage.
If one reached the utmost limit of this realm, they might break through to the third realm: the Shackled Realm.
The heavens and earth shackled living beings' physical bodies, so their bodies contained many shackles that prevented them from making a Life Leap to a higher level.
Thus, this realm was about breaking through layer upon layer of shackles and continually unlocking the body's potential, elevating one's life and leaving the bounds of humanity behind.
According to legend,
the Shackled Realm was extraordinarily powerful, and very few people could reach it.
It could unleash even deeper potential; with a single strike, one could destroy a mountain.
"It's said that the human body has 108 Shackles. Ordinary Awakened only need to break twelve, but the greater one's potential, the more shackles one can break. I wonder how far I can go with the foundation I have now."
Lu Yuan murmured to himself, but soon shook his head. He was still some distance from that realm.
There was little point in thinking so far ahead now.
Then he put those thoughts aside.
Just as he was about to examine the next divine object, he suddenly realized it was dawn.
Had fusing with the Bodhi Ancient Tree taken all night?
He immediately picked up his phone.
The date displayed was September 10.
It hadn't been one night, but ten whole days?
Lu Yuan froze, but quickly came to terms with it. After all, the Bodhi Ancient Tree was an unrivaled divine object of this age; fusing with it could hardly be done in a day or two.
After thinking it over, he used his phone to check what had happened over the past ten days. He didn't know until he looked, and once he did, he saw that the whole world seemed to have descended into chaos. Strange phenomena were appearing everywhere: a vast river had appeared outside someone's home, and seawater had surged backward into rivers.
But even more news concerned people.
Some had suddenly gained immense strength overnight, their bodies as hard as iron.
Others ate a strange fruit and grew horns on their heads, their bodies reaching three meters tall.
They looked like the Bull Devil King from the legends.
After coming into contact with an extraordinarily vivid flower, another person had grown thin wings on their back and could fly high in the sky, coming and going like the wind.
In this situation, certain wealthy people began offering huge sums online for strange fruits and foods, hoping to gain extraordinary powers. They offered astronomical prices, but were mocked and ridiculed.
That was because not long after the upheaval began, money had rapidly depreciated. In some remote places, a hundred thousand yuan couldn't even buy a single steamed bun.
[The world has changed. Humanity is about to embark on the path of Life Evolution. Those who act first may become gods in the future!]
A post appeared on a certain forum, though no one knew who had written it.
It sparked all sorts of speculation.
Some believed it was true.
So those who hadn't gained extraordinary powers began posting too, hoping to find companions.
They wanted to venture together into the deep mountains and forests to search for strange fruits.
They hoped to change their fate.
And eventually become the gods the post spoke of.
Netizens also began referring to the days after September 1 as the New Era.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuan saw that his classmates were discussing the same thing in their group chat, with Li Hansheng leading the conversation. The bolder Wang Zibo even spoke up, hoping someone would go with him to search for those strange fruits.
But everyone was hesitant and undecided, because some places outside had become extremely dangerous, and ordinary people could hardly survive there.
"Just like in my previous life, the world has changed and the New Era has arrived. After a brief period of panic, everyone has started chasing extraordinary powers."
Lu Yuan shook his head. Back then, he had been one of them, but he'd reacted too slowly and fallen behind at every turn.
But now, he was already one step ahead of everyone, because he had planned for this long ago.
As for what came after the upheaval,
the strange flowers and fruits that could help people evolve were actually just catalysts.
But nearly all of them were the lowest grade. Even if someone fused with one, the benefits would be meager, and they wouldn't even reach the Initial Realm.
The truly top-tier catalysts had either not yet been discovered or were largely controlled by certain mysterious forces, such as the Wuzhou Group. Of course, one had appeared, too, but no one had thought anything of it.
Catalysts were peculiar things. They weren't necessarily useful just because they were ancient or rare; they had to be tested.
But Lu Yuan was different. His mind held far too many memories of such things.
That was also his greatest advantage in getting ahead in this life.
He didn't dwell on it and stopped paying attention.
Lu Yuan cleared his mind and turned around.
The Bodhi Ancient Tree had vanished from the courtyard after being fully fused.
But ten divine objects remained before him, each radiating a different light. Every one of them looked extraordinary.
"After the New Era arrives, there'll be a period of chaos that'll take several months to settle. No peerless divine objects will appear during that time, so I can use it to get familiar with these things and study them properly."
Lu Yuan knew that the things he had collected over the past three months were already the best available.
Any one of them would cause an enormous stir if revealed, and those mysterious forces would fight over it.
But now, they all belonged to him.
He could explore them in peace.
So he didn't need to worry about what was happening outside. He just had to follow his plan and quietly grow stronger.
At that moment, Lu Yuan looked at the ten divine objects before him. After a little thought,
he focused his attention on the ancient book at the far right.
It was the complete Classic of the Way and its Virtue!
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