In the Light Source Star System, an orange-red star released endless light and heat.
Countless planets of all sizes revolved around the massive celestial body. The most eye-catching among them was a blue-green planet teeming with life.
Suddenly, a cloud of strange atoms spread out from that life-bearing planet.
The atomic cloud was hazy, its flowing colors brilliant in the sunlight. With the Light Source Planet at its center, it quickly spread in every direction, forming a spherical region 100,000 kilometers in diameter.
A moment later, the mist-like atomic cloud gradually turned transparent and entered stealth standby mode.
The Light Source Planet, the Civilization Temple.
The core of the energy shield, which looked like a sapphire, floated in midair inside the temple. It revolved along with the planet, giving off a faint blue glow.
"Cosmic technology really is amazing."
Master Zhen Li's aged face also took on an awed expression.
When inactive, the energy shield was simply a cloud of atoms dispersed throughout space. It had absolutely no effect on the Light Source Planet, and ordinary spacecraft could enter and leave without any problems.
"Still, it wasn't cheap. Even an A9-class spaceship costs less than 10,000 Chilian Coins."
Yu Duan stood beside Master Zhen Li, with Kun Zhu and Shen Jian behind him. He seemed to want to say something, but hesitated.
Master Zhen Li smiled and looked at Yu Duan. "It seems you gained quite a lot from your trip through the universe. Otherwise, Kun Zhu and Shen Jian wouldn't be acting like this."
"I won't hide it from you, Master. I joined a faction in the universe..."
Yu Duan briefly explained to Master Zhen Li how he had joined the Beiming Sacred Land.
"According to our agreement, staff from the Sacred Land will come to the Light Source Planet to pick me up in about 90 cosmic days."
The Light Source Planet wasn't Earth, but an ordinary life-bearing planet, so there was no need to keep things under wraps. Yu Duan would be heading to the Beiming Sacred Land directly from the Light Source Planet.
"A talent sanctuary of a high-level Universe Country? That's wonderful, wonderful!" Master Zhen Li nodded repeatedly, visibly excited.
As long as nothing happened to Yu Duan, the Light Source Planet and all its people would benefit greatly in the future. A civilization that could once have been destroyed by a single supernova was now able to truly join the cosmic community.
"Competition in the Sacred Land is fierce. I won't be able to manage affairs within our civilization, so I'll have to leave everything to you and my two brothers."
Yu Duan certainly wasn't going to abandon the Light Source Planet.
After all, he'd transmigrated into a classic "parents died at the start" situation, and he'd been able to grow and rise to prominence thanks to the civilization's social welfare system.
People weren't grass or trees; how could they be without feelings?
After weighing things over, Yu Duan decided to provide one million Universe Coins as development funds for the civilization, entrusting the money to Master Zhen Li and the other two to manage.
For everything that followed, including buying a planet, Yu Duan wouldn't need to make another trip himself. Master Zhen Li and the other two could use this opportunity to gain more exposure to the universe.
The Beiming Sacred Land's spaceship would take three months to reach the Light Source Planet. It would take the same amount of time to bring Yu Duan to the Sacred Land.
The round trip would take about half a year, which would give him time to cultivate.
Previously, when grinding out progress in the Book of Causality, Yu Duan had been confined to the cramped interior of a single-person spacecraft.
Aside from painstakingly grinding out progress, he could only try to gain insights and ponder the mysteries and techniques of domains and combat skills. He hadn't even been able to practice actual combat.
But now, he had a major upgrade. While grinding out progress, he could log into the Virtual Universe with his consciousness to study and train in combat.
During the Beiming Sacred Land's Planetary Level assessment, Yu Duan had already realized that his actual combat skills were far too poor.
Without his Domain Level strength to fall back on, he would have been at the very bottom among Planetary Level Fighters from major factions.
After all, combat experience at the Apprentice Level and the combat skills required at the Planetary Level, where one could fly, were on completely different levels.
Yu Duan's own combat skills were also lacking. The Dawn Blade was simply too poor.
Fortunately, it was easy to buy combat skills, secret techniques, and the like in the Virtual Universe.
The Virtual Universe, the Killing Field.
The vast hall stretched beyond sight. Its ceiling looked like an endless Blood Sea, within which a brilliant "drop of blood" shone brightly.
The hall was sparsely populated, with only a little over ten thousand people. Yu Duan's figure in the corner didn't stand out at all.
"For my level, I'll just use my own parameters. But I'll set the Force Application Technique to ten times, and max out combat experience."
"For combat skills, I'll use the Morning Dawn Nine Blades and the Floating Light Glancing Shadow movement technique I just bought."
A light screen floated in front of Yu Duan, visible only to him. It displayed the interface for customizing an opponent.
The Morning Dawn Nine Blades and the Floating Light Glancing Shadow movement technique were third-tier Fighter combat skills that Yu Duan had just bought.
Both were among the most common third-tier Fighter combat skills. Together, they cost a little over 70 billion Chilian Coins, about the same as a Force Weapon of the same level.
"Rumble!"
As soon as Yu Duan finished setting things up, the Killing Field transformed in an instant, becoming a vast, boundless desert. Yu Duan, clad in red armor with golden patterns, hovered in midair with a golden curved blade in hand.
At the same time, a figure resembling Yu Duan appeared, holding the same blade and wearing the same armor.
"Whoosh!"
Brilliant gold-and-white light spread out from the figure as a domain, then vanished abruptly the next instant.
To be precise, it hadn't vanished. It had simply stopped maintaining a spherical shape, instead becoming a dazzling white-gold "aura of flame" that coiled around the figure.
Whoosh!
Brilliant golden light streaked across the sky, leaving behind a series of blurred golden afterimages.
It was too fast. Yu Duan had barely reacted before he was killed instantly.
"A domain... could be used like that?"
Yu Duan's figure re-formed, shock appearing in his eyes.
Was this how a domain was used when the "combat experience" setting was maxed out?
The essence of a domain was the perfect resonance of the soul, body, will, and Origin Energy, bringing them into an extraordinarily harmonious state.
In this harmonious state, different energies fused together to form a new power.
When this power spread out, it could affect space and time, then press down on an enemy. That was a domain!
And this was only the most basic, most ordinary way to use a domain. It worked well against weaker opponents, but wasn't necessarily effective against someone of the same level.
The opponent simulated by the Virtual Universe had taken domain application to the limit.
It had perfectly channeled this fused power into its attacks and movement, without letting a single bit of its power go to waste. Its skill was truly masterful.
"Good. This is my goal."
The Book of Causality was for grinding out insights into domains, laws, and other aspects of cultivation.
Yu Duan himself would focus on mastering the techniques, secret arts, and their application.
Both were key factors in increasing combat strength.
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