Light Source Planet, Year 51 of the New Calendar, Civilization Temple.
As the highest sacred land of civilization, the entire temple was built from a crystal material that shimmered with a faint golden light. It was grand and solemn.
The spacious main hall held only two figures sitting opposite each other, one old and one young. Both were about two meters tall.
"Yu Duan, this is the Secret Transmission of Entering Sainthood. Only those at the peak of the ninth level may attempt to cultivate it."
The old man's voice was low and his expression stern. The vertical eye between his brows, which had four-color vision, opened slightly as he studied the handsome young man before him.
"Should you fail, even if you're lucky enough to survive, you'll be left with hidden injuries that are difficult to heal."
Yu Duan was the youngest grandmaster in the history of Light Source Planet to reach the peak of the ninth level on the Body Refining Path.
By the standards of the Light Source People's biological age, he had only just left childhood.
The Light Source People looked much like the Earth Humans from Yu Duan's previous life, with black hair and black eyes.
Aside from their generally taller stature, the greatest difference was the vertical eye between their brows. It had vision like an eagle's, with high dynamic range and sensitivity to light, but poor static vision, so it usually stayed closed.
"Master Zhen Li, I'm ready."
Wearing pale golden battle armor, Yu Duan accepted the silver square case containing the method of entering sainthood from the old man, his expression solemn.
The old man known as Master Zhen Li looked at Yu Duan's resolute gaze and nodded approvingly. "There are a few things you need to know."
"Across the Light Source World, there are more than a thousand grandmasters at the ninth level, and over a hundred at its peak. Every one of them has received the method of entering sainthood, but only three have succeeded. Failure leaves hidden injuries, making another breakthrough as difficult as climbing to the heavens."
"Therefore, once you begin your ascent to sainthood, you must not hesitate in the slightest. Otherwise, you're certain to fail."
As the first Heavenly Saint in the Light Source World to ascend to sainthood, Master Zhen Li spoke from experience.
Yu Duan bowed slightly to Master Zhen Li, his expression solemn. "I'll remember your teachings, Master."
Master Zhen Li nodded and said no more. He personally escorted Yu Duan into the meditation chamber.
Then Master Zhen Li stood guard outside the chamber, hope appearing in his eyes.
"Yu Duan, I hope you can successfully advance to the Planetary Level. Don't let the people down," Master Zhen Li murmured.
What the Light Source civilization called a Heavenly Saint, Master Zhen Li called someone at the Planetary Level.
In the first year of the New Calendar, Master Zhen Li ascended to sainthood, swept aside the Alien Races, unified the Light Source World, and ushered in a new era.
It was then that the master learned the truth about the starry sky. From that moment on, he dared not slacken for even an instant, enlightening civilization and passing on science and technology.
Now, fifty-one years later, Master Zhen Li had cultivated two Heavenly Saints—two people at the Planetary Level.
Yu Duan was the third genius he believed had the talent to break through to the Planetary Level, and the most talented of them all.
Measured by the cosmic unit of time, the "cosmic year," Yu Duan had just turned sixteen.
Inside the meditation chamber, Yu Duan sat on a cushion resembling a meditation mat, studying the book on the method of entering sainthood with a serious expression.
"Whether one follows the Spirit Refining Path or the Body Refining Path, the peak of the ninth level is the limit of life. To break through that limit, one must be willing to face death..."
The method of entering sainthood explained everything in great detail, and its principles weren't difficult to understand.
It involved stimulating the body and bloodline to create false signals of impending death, then forcing one's potential to the limit and breaking through.
Only when faced with the threat of death could life unleash its greatest potential.
Even now, Yu Duan remembered a rumor from his previous life, though he wasn't sure if it was true. A man who rarely exercised had been lured abroad, only to find himself in mortal danger. He ran for half a day and ultimately escaped with his life.
"No wonder failing the breakthrough leaves physical damage. This method of entering sainthood is extreme to begin with."
Yu Duan took a deep breath and sealed the secret manual back inside the silver case. Then he tried to break through, assuming a strange posture, holding his breath, and rousing the dormant energy within his body.
At once, Yu Duan felt a stream of heat arise from his lower abdomen.
Signals of death and terror began to form, spreading through his meridians and limbs. The dormant energy in every cell began to boil.
Under the fear of death, Yu Duan's entire body trembled violently.
This wasn't his conscious mind giving in to fear and retreating. It was the deepest instinct of life itself, roaring and struggling madly, ordering him to stop this "suicidal" act at once!
"Overcome your fear. It's all an illusion. Your will must remain firm; you must charge forward without hesitation!"
Yu Duan could still remember Master Zhen Li's stern warning.
There was only one key to successfully ascending to sainthood: overcoming the fear that was instinctive to one's bloodline, and using one's will to suppress the shuddering of the soul.
"Not enough. Make it more intense!"
"Whatever doesn't kill me will only make me stronger!"
The genes within Yu Duan seemed to roar. His whole body shuddered violently, and cold sweat poured from him until he was soaked.
At that moment, his sense of time vanished completely. His will was wholly immersed in the struggle against his instincts for survival.
He had no idea how long passed. When he crossed a certain threshold, the energy dormant throughout his body reached its peak, then abruptly surged toward the dantian in his lower abdomen.
Rumble!
A sea of energy formed. Boundless energy became a boiling ocean, rapidly contracting until it gradually took the shape of a huge, viscous sphere of liquid.
According to the method of entering sainthood, his ascent had begun.
But this was only the beginning. Next, Yu Duan's will would be tested. Amid the terror of his survival instincts, he had to endure all of this while precisely controlling the sphere of liquid formed by the condensed energy and compressing it.
Bang—boom!
The immense sphere of liquid pulsed, expanding and contracting at a fixed frequency.
Each cycle sent out an invisible rhythm that swept through Yu Duan's entire body, transforming into tangible pain, as though thousands upon thousands of ants were gnawing at his flesh.
At the same time, each contraction after an expansion made the sphere denser than it had been the previous time.
From liquid to gel... the Cycle went on, again and again, without end.
After eighty-one consecutive expansions and contractions, the sphere suddenly collapsed one final time, as if breaking through the boundary between liquid and solid!
Whum!
The vast sphere of liquid disappeared completely, replaced by a dazzling crystal sphere!
It was made up of countless tiny, pale-white hexagonal crystals, like a miniature star shrunk countless times over. A dreamy, splendid white mist shimmered across its surface.
Rumble!
The instant the dazzling crystal sphere was born, a vast, pure white energy beyond the mortal realm surged out of it like a raging torrent. In the space of a breath, it spread from Yu Duan's dantian to every part of his body.
At that moment, Yu Duan's bones, marrow, meridians, skin, and organs... every cell greedily absorbed this newborn power, undergoing a complete transformation.
Outside the meditation chamber.
Master Zhen Li, who had been keeping watch, abruptly opened his eyes. A brilliant bolt of lightning flashed from the vertical eye between his brows.
He clearly sensed Yu Duan's long-dormant aura suddenly rising. Like a sleeping volcano erupting, its strength had doubled in an instant!
"He did it!"
"Excellent, excellent! As expected of the most talented person in the history of our civilization."
The wrinkles on Master Zhen Li's face relaxed, and he could barely contain his joy. He repeatedly tapped the crystal armguard on his right arm, sending two invisible streams of information into the void to notify the other two Heavenly Saints.
A fourth Planetary-Level powerhouse had emerged on Light Source Planet—and he was only sixteen years old!
A tender new shoot of a book—please give it your care.
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