Domain 2nd Layer

For the next stretch of time, Lin Qingyu's life followed a strict routine.

Every morning, he spent two hours studying various subjects, then went to the research institute to check on its progress and read through all kinds of documents.

After that, he headed to the Wilderness Zone to practice his Spear Technique, killing some monsters along the way to build up the institute's material reserves. At night, he returned home and entered the Will Space, doing his utmost to analyze the process by which he had mastered his Domain. Once his will reached its limit, he collapsed into bed.

Especially the last part—Lin Qingyu discovered that after pushing his will to its limits to calculate the mysteries of the body, his will had actually grown slightly.

Though the increase was minuscule, his will was already at an Undying god's level. Even the slightest improvement was good news to him.

Running his consciousness and will at full capacity to process vast amounts of information was itself a form of pressure and tempering. It was similar to how Luo Feng had fully comprehended Law Profoundness while fusing with the Star Tower in the Original work.

Lin Qingyu simply had not pushed himself to the absolute limit.

Moreover, during this period, his mastery of "World Ending" had also reached a very high level.

Hong's "World Ending" contained more than just Spear Technique. It also taught people how to precisely control Genetic Force in order to manipulate the surrounding environment.

Although Lin Qingyu already possessed a Domain, he and Hong followed different paths, so Hong's methods still offered him some useful reference.

"I think I've roughly understood Hong's path." Lin Qingyu swung his spear as he pondered how to further comprehend the Domain.

Hong was a martial artist. Although he also possessed Mental Force, its quantity could not compare to that of a Mental Master.

Therefore, Hong's comprehension of the Domain followed the martial artist's path completely.

Humans were flesh-and-blood lifeforms with souls. Thus, the core and essence of human consciousness lay in the soul.

Although human martial artists primarily used Genetic Force, it was still the soul that mobilized and controlled it.

Constantly increasing one's control over Genetic Force was, in essence, constantly increasing the soul's control over Origin Force.

The human soul consisted of a Life Imprint and Mental Power. Therefore, using consciousness and the soul to control Genetic Force essentially meant causing Mental Power and Genetic Force to resonate.

When a martial artist's control over Genetic Force reached its extreme, the resonance between Mental Force and Origin Force would likewise reach its extreme, naturally forming a Domain.

Although Lin Qingyu already had a Domain, analyzing its formation from another angle deepened his understanding of it even further.

"It shouldn't be long before I break through to Domain 2nd layer. My power amplitude should also exceed tenfold by then. Once that happens, I can head to Australia to look for Mist Island and Bata," Lin Qingyu said.

He truly wanted to obtain Meteorite Star's inheritance immediately, but some things could not be rushed.

After all, Mist Island was guarded by the Moyun Vine. Hong had been able to suppress it in the Original work, but at that time, Hong had already been a Planetary level 6th stage expert with Domain 2nd layer. Moreover, based on Lin Qingyu's deductions from World Ending, Hong's exertion of force had definitely been no less than fivefold.

As for the current Lin Qingyu, his raw strength was equivalent to Planetary level 4. Although his force exertion was nearly tenfold, that only made him comparable to a Planetary level fifth stage fighter with roughly fourfold exertion. He was still somewhat behind Hong.

To be safe, he planned to wait until his force exertion exceeded tenfold, his Domain broke through to the second layer, or he formally stepped into the Planetary level before going to Australia in search of Mist Island.

In any case, with his rate of progress, it would not take long.

Lin Qingyu continued this "regular life" for more than two months.

Finally, during that time, his control over Genetic Force surpassed the extreme described in the "World Ending" Spear Technique!

World Ending could guide a person to the realm of Man and Spear as One. Once one surpassed that realm, one could obtain a Domain.

Lin Qingyu had already possessed a Domain, but this time, starting from Origin Force and using Origin Force as the main force to resonate with Mental Force gave him an even deeper understanding of Domains.

"Domain 2nd layer. I've finally reached it." Lin Qingyu sighed.

Breaking through from the first layer to the second involved a bit of a shortcut, but it was not entirely a shortcut.

Because in the later stages of cultivation, Genetic Force and Mental Power would ultimately have to merge. Whether one formed a Domain with Mental Power as the main force or Genetic Force as the main force, both were things one would have to learn sooner or later.

"Domain 2nd layer improves my strength less than gaining a Domain from nothing, but my Body Amplitude has improved again. I can finally go to Australia and search for Meteorite Star's inheritance." Lin Qingyu was in high spirits. "To celebrate, I'll kill two King level monsters and bring them back."

Having made his decision, Lin Qingyu began slaughtering the nearby high-level Lord level monsters.

Before long, several advanced Lord level monsters were killed and dismembered by Lin Qingyu.

Naturally, Lin Qingyu's slaughter drew the fury of the nearby King level monsters.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak—"

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—"

Noisy sounds rang in his ears.

Rats dozens of centimeters long, covered in messy fur, began burrowing out of the ground one after another.

Very quickly, Lin Qingyu was surrounded by a massive rat swarm dense enough to make anyone with trypophobia faint.

"So the King level monster around here is actually a rat?" Lin Qingyu could easily reach several times the speed of sound, so the place he chose for training was nowhere near Kyoto Base City.

After all, given his hunting speed, there might not even be enough advanced Lord level monsters around Kyoto Base City for him to kill.

"It'll be somewhat troublesome if it gathers a Beast Tide. Looks like I'll be returning a little later this time."

What Lin Qingyu feared least was a King level monster directly launching a sneak attack. After all, he could take out an ordinary King level monster with a single spear strike.

But if a King level monster gathered a Beast Tide, it would be more troublesome. To avoid affecting the nearby Base Cities and martial artists, he would have to wipe out the Beast Tide first.

Normally, before being killed by him, a King level monster could not gather even a few thousand monsters. This time, however, perhaps the lair of this King level rat lay directly beneath the ground where he stood. Before long, the rats gathered here numbered several million, and they were still increasing.

"Fine. I'll treat this as some pest control!"

As he spoke, Lin Qingyu gripped his spear and swept it sideways. The spear, tearing through the sound barrier, turned the air into a shockwave that swept outward like an iron wall, crushing countless rats into mangled flesh.

The entire land was stained red with blood and chunks of meat, while a foul stench spread for over a thousand meters.

Yet Lin Qingyu's attacks did not make the rats retreat. Instead, the deaths of their companions stirred their ferocity.

Large numbers of Beast Soldier- and Beast General-level rats lunged at him as if they did not care about dying.

"Heh. If having lots of cannon fodder was enough, why would I cultivate Mental Power or train Gene Energy?" Lin Qingyu sneered. Raising his spear, he continued sweeping through them. With every swing, thousands of rats were shredded into paste.

The King level rat commanding the entire Rat Tide also witnessed Lin Qingyu's performance. With its considerable intelligence, it quickly determined that this human was a Councillor level expert.

Although it did not know why this Councillor level expert was not flying away, it believed this was a good opportunity.

Even a Councillor level expert had limited strength. As long as it exhausted this Councillor level expert's power with enough cannon fodder first, then personally launched a sneak attack, there was a high chance it could kill him!

If it killed this expert, it would be able to feast on his flesh and blood. After eating a Councillor level expert on the same level as a King level monster, it might even evolve another stage!

The way monsters evolved was by killing and devouring one another.

But what the Rat King did not know was that Lin Qingyu had long since discovered its presence.

"Should I kill that rat?" Lin Qingyu pondered as his Mental Power detected the Rat King.

Killing the Rat King would be easy, but after killing it, the rat swarm that had already gathered might riot.

He himself was not afraid of a Beast Tide, but if there happened to be a martial artist squad nearby, it would be a disaster.

Let me think... Right. This move might not work on Hong and the others, but dealing with these rats shouldn't be a problem. Lin Qingyu thought of a way to resolve the Rat Tide.