If You Lie Flat, You'll Get Shot to Pieces

At the planetary docking port, Vinina sat cross-legged in the control room of the C4-class spaceship. Battle intent gathered around her like an ocean. Though colorless, as it churned, it seemed to contain countless roars and furious howls filled with the thirst for battle.

This was the result of more than seven thousand powerful fighters engaging in bloody combat!

Among those seven thousand-plus powerhouses, the weakest were all Planetary level ninth-rank. On Earth, they would absolutely have counted as superpowerhouses, "Speaker-level" beings with no rivals apart from Hong, who had already obtained a Domain. Yet here with Vinina, they could only be considered tools for providing battle intent.

Or rather—

Consumables?

There was no helping it. The best way to stimulate battle intent was naturally to stand between life and death. Otherwise, Vinina would not have made such a promise. And throughout this process, deaths naturally occurred one after another.

Cruel?

Perhaps. But in this Vast Universe, which powerhouse's path was not littered with corpses?

Under Vinina's refinement, that ocean-like, surging, colorless, formless battle intent turned pale gold, then gold, until it became incomparably pure Battle Intent Power—almost tangible and brilliantly radiant!

Yet every thread of refined Battle Intent Power surged out at once, joining the dazzling golden Domain enveloping Vinina and helping her analyze the mysterious fluctuations hidden deep within, as though covered layer upon layer in gauze.

Until—

Lightning flashed!

Within the dazzling golden Domain, faint traces of blue light emerged.

As time passed, those strands of lightning rapidly spread until they occupied more than half of the dazzling golden Domain!

Lightning Domain!

"Was what she said before actually true?"

On the C4-class spaceship's console, Babata, who had watched the entire process, wore an expression of utter disbelief on its little face.

That golden "Domain" surrounding Vinina before—

Had it really not been a Domain?!

And battle intent actually existed?

For a moment, Babata found it hard to believe.

It had not doubted Vinina before. It was simply that, in its eyes, what Vinina described had been far too outrageous. So it had extracted the key points and analyzed them according to its own way of thinking. Under that analysis, the Battle Formation Master lineage Vinina described had become an inheritance of combined attack techniques under the Mental Master lineage.

Similar to Illusion Technique practitioners, pharmacists, beast tamers, and the like.

Within the mainstream Cultivation System of Swallowed Star, such paths relied on external forces and were merely minor paths. They could not produce peak powerhouses. Only by gathering great power within oneself could one walk the proper path.

The reason it had not stopped Vinina from spending more than seven billion to purchase slaves was that it wanted her to see the gap for herself, then obediently follow Babata's plans and walk the Controller path under the Mental Master lineage.

But now—

Minor path, my ass!

Not only could the thing refined from this rival a Domain, it could also temper one's body, hone one's soul, cleanse one's will, and aid in comprehending laws—

And all it required was the battle intent emitted by powerful fighters during combat!

What kind of all-purpose inheritance was this?

And with the support of such an inheritance, just what level could the already extraordinarily talented Vinina reach in the future?

Could she—

Avenge its old Master?

For a moment, Babata's expression grew dazed as it recalled the great battle fifty thousand years ago, as well as its glorious sixty-million-plus years with Huyan Bo.

Only when Vinina slowly opened her eyes, the golden light fading away and leaving only lightning snakes flowing around her, did it come back to itself.

The first thing it did after coming to its senses was anxiously ask Vinina, "How was it?"

"Are these slaves enough? If not, I still have quite a few treasures that can be sold for money!"

"If we scrape together a bit more, buying a Universe level slave shouldn't be a problem."

Its tone was full of excitement, though the content made Vinina chuckle. She shook her head slightly and refused. "No need."

"You can afford a Universe level slave, but I can't use one!"

"The gap is too great."

"Even the battle intent provided by those below is already more than I can fully mobilize. Otherwise, my consciousness could very well be eroded or even collapse under the scouring of that battle intent."

"True."

Having limitations was normal.

Babata nodded slightly, then could not help asking, "Then what are you planning to do next?"

"Follow the plan you laid out before."

Vinina smiled. "Use treasures to raise my genetic energy, use the Slaughter Arena in the Virtual Universe to temper myself, and reach the Star level as soon as possible. That way, I can claim the first account my teacher left for me at Cosmic River Bank."

"Then I'll undergo life-and-death tempering."

It was a very reasonable training plan.

The key was the life-and-death tempering after reaching the Star level.

Under normal circumstances, this was an unavoidable path for Vinina if she wanted to become Universe level. The Earthling bloodline level was what it was; her body's genes would bind her tightly. In such a situation, even if she comprehended a Domain, she would still be unable to break through smoothly due to the deficiencies in her genetic makeup.

There were two ways to deal with this. The simplest was a treasure such as a Bloodline Evolution Agent.

This could improve one's bloodline. Once the bloodline rose, breakthroughs would naturally become as easy as pushing a boat with the current. But these were controlled commodities. Without sufficient status, one would not even have a channel to purchase them. Unless one was willing to spend a thousand or ten thousand times the price, it was only then that one might be able to buy a dose.

Huyan Bo had been in precisely that situation back then.

However, Huyan Bo had been a Lone Walker, the solitary-wolf type. If Vinina joined the Virtual Universe Company, then with her current talent, she could absolutely obtain a Bloodline Evolution Agent.

The second method was to place oneself between life and death.

Between life and death lay limitless motivation. It was like a needle thrust toward one's eye: the eye would reflexively close at once. When facing a life-or-death crisis, every cell in the body would reflexively struggle, boil, and go mad, unleashing its deepest and fiercest resistance to achieve evolution.

That had been the case when she faced the Primary Beast General level Blood Pattern Black Wolf on Earth.

The most suitable and cost-effective treasure for raising genetic energy at the Planetary level was Azure Wave Marrow. It was not cheap—one gram cost a full 9,000 Black Dragon Coins. Roughly a dozen kilograms could raise a Planetary level first-rank Martial Artist to the Star level. However, considering efficiency, Vinina followed Luo Feng's example from the original story and directly purchased thirty kilograms of Azure Wave Marrow.

Even after the discount, it cost 264.6 million Black Dragon Coins.

With Wood Crystals, Azure Wave Marrow, and battle intent, Vinina's physical fitness could reach Planetary level seventh-rank and her spiritual force could reach Star level first-rank in around two months, allowing her to claim the first account her teacher had left for her at Cosmic River Bank.

If she wanted her physical fitness to reach the Star level, she would need twice as much time on top of those two months—half a year in total. By then, she could venture into the universe and undergo life-and-death tempering.

Of course, she could not spend all that time raising her genetic energy. That would be far too leisurely. She still had to visit the Slaughter Arena. Though it was not as effective as true life-and-death tempering, countless battles and slaughters were still better than lying flat and idling around.

Lying flat—

Meant getting shot to pieces!