"Time to grind!"
In the Cultivation Ground, a simulated blue giant star blazed with boundless light and heat.
Yu Duan felt the repeated stings against his skin and smiled with enjoyment.
Watching her master's pervy grin, the intelligent assistant Tianran wondered to herself, Could the master actually enjoy being tortured?
The days went by, and Yu Duan immersed himself in the feeling of making progress every day.
He wasn't the least bit restless. Instead, he was full of ambition and thoroughly enjoying himself.
Every day, his real body ground out progress in reality, while his consciousness logged into the Virtual Universe to attend classes, train, and spend time with Chi Li, An Yao, and the others. His life was full and satisfying.
In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed.
The Virtual Universe, Battle Space.
On the dark-red Arena, Yu Duan's figure flickered as several Light and Shadow Phantoms spread out and charged at An Yao.
Light and Shadow Phantoms were actually just afterimages, nowhere near the same level as Spatial Phantoms.
"That was a nice move. Too bad your movement technique is still poor, Yu Duan."
The translucent sword in An Yao's hand suddenly blazed with light. In an instant, his domain emerged, transforming into a frigid sword beam that swept across the Arena.
Yu Duan lagged far behind An Yao in both his level of comprehension and Force Application Technique, so An Yao certainly wasn't going all out. They were only sparring as friends.
"Is that so?"
Yu Duan's voice seemed to come from several Light and Shadow Phantoms at once.
The next moment, a brilliant field of starlight swept outward, then abruptly contracted. The curved blade in his palm seemed to pierce the boundless night like the morning dawn, breaking through the darkness!
Clang!
A piercing sword cry rang out. The power of the Origin Law of Light burst forth, and for an instant, the entire dark-red Arena seemed to lose all its light.
When the sword cry faded, only An Yao's figure remained on the Arena.
But there was no joy of victory on An Yao's face—only astonishment.
"F-Fivefold Domain?"
Recalling the burst of power Yu Duan had displayed in that instant, An Yao spoke in disbelief.
Whoosh!
Faint glimmers appeared in space, and Yu Duan, whom An Yao had cut down with a single sword stroke, re-formed.
"Yeah. I broke through to the Fivefold Domain a couple of days ago. I was hoping to catch you off guard and get a little advantage, but I didn't expect you to get serious." Yu Duan looked regretful.
An Yao opened his mouth, unsure what to say. Then he eyed Yu Duan suspiciously. "You little punk, tell me the truth! Before you entered the Sacred Land, did you really have only the Triple Domain?"
"Why would I lie? I was about at the peak of the Triple Domain, then advanced to the Fourfold Domain a few days later. I happened to have an epiphany while training some time ago, and broke through to the Fivefold Domain."
Yu Duan didn't make a point of hiding anything, but he didn't go out of his way to explain, either.
"By the way, how high would my strength rank among the Star Level students now?"
Seeing Yu Duan turn to serious business, An Yao sobered up. He thought it over for a moment, unsure how best to answer.
"Normally, mastering the Fivefold Domain gives you a chance of breaking into the top 100,000. But... your Force Application Technique and secret techniques are both too poor. Getting into the top 100,000 will be tough."
As he spoke, An Yao couldn't help complaining, "With your talent, Yu Duan, didn't your family elders give you any powerful techniques or divine weapons? Your way of applying force seems pretty crude, too. I doubt your training is very efficient."
Yu Duan smiled and shook his head. "I won't hide it from you. I don't come from some powerful faction or great family. I was born among a native race, and I'm the strongest member of my race. Where would I get high-end divine weapons or secret techniques?"
"Huh?"
An Yao stared at Yu Duan, dumbfounded.
Was he seriously telling a made-up story?
A native-born fighter making it into the core Sacred Land of a High-level Universe Country—that was the stuff of legends.
"I do have quite a few secret techniques, but I don't have permission to pass them on to you."
"The only one I can decide on is the basic sword technique that goes with this divine weapon. It's a common technique without copyright, so nobody's going to come after us for it."
As An Yao spoke, he waved the Light and Time Sword in his hand, its surface like glass. "But it's definitely countless times more sophisticated than your blade technique. Want it?"
The Light and Time Sword was one of the Origin Force weapons used by Fighters. It contained the mysteries of the two Source Laws of light and time.
A divine weapon was, in essence, a top-tier Fifth-Order Force Weapon—the very best there was.
The vast universe held countless races, so naturally there were countless types of weapons.
Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, wheels, claws, forks... There were more common and rare weapon forms than anyone could count.
As a result, Fighters had many kinds of Origin Force weapons. Unlike the Spirit Reader Controller lineage, which had only the Nine Great Divine Weapons, they had hundreds.
For Spirit Readers, a weapon's form made little difference to how they used their secret techniques.
Weapons were different. Common types like sabers, swords, spears, and lances had some similarities, but using a secret technique with a bizarre weapon could make a huge difference.
You couldn't very well use a spear technique or battle skill with a weapon shaped like a wheel, could you?
That was why there were so many Origin Force weapons—hundreds in all.
The Light and Time Sword was one of the most common Origin Force weapons that incorporated the laws of light and time.
"I want it. If you're giving it to me, I'm taking it. No need to be polite."
Yu Duan suddenly felt that the Morning Dawn Blade in his hand had lost its appeal.
What was a lousy Third-Order secret technique compared to the secret technique that came with the Light and Time Sword?
An Yao might say the sword's accompanying secret technique was common, but even if it came free with the weapon, you still had to be able to afford the weapon.
A top-tier Fifth-Order Force Weapon was worth a hundred billion Universe Coins. At Star Level, you couldn't even use one—one slip could injure you.
But Origin Force weapons were much like the Nine Controller God Weapons: if your comprehension was deep enough, even a Star Level fighter could use them with great skill.
That was why divine weapons were so eye-wateringly expensive. At auctions, they usually sold for two or three Hunyuan Units—far more than top-tier Fifth-Order Force Weapons.
"Good. If anything's unclear, ask me. I can already use the first level of the Light and Time Sword's secret technique." An Yao patted Yu Duan on the shoulder and said casually.
Half an hour later, in Yu Duan's estate in the Virtual Universe.
In the guest room, Yu Duan carefully read through the nine levels of secret techniques for the Light and Time Sword.
Combined with the Law Secret Patterns on the divine weapon, the Light and Time Sword had nine sword techniques.
Mastering the first sword technique made one invincible among Star Level fighters.
Mastering the third made one invincible among Universe Level fighters... And the final, ninth technique was theoretically a match for the most ordinary Immortal.
Of course, "invincible at the same level" was just a figure of speech.
After all, reaching the threshold of the laws at Star Level was also said to make one invincible at the same level. Yet plenty of top geniuses could do it—so which of them was the invincible one?
The first level of the Light and Time Sword was called "Light Splitting Stab."
The second was called "Shadow Bearing Cut."
The third was called "Severing Dusk and Dawn."
The fourth was called "Sun and Moon Rotation."
The fifth was called "Time Rift."
The sixth was called "Light and Shadow World."
The seventh was called "Reflecting Star Sea."
The eighth was called "Sword Shadow Intercepting Cosmic Light."
As for the final level, the ultimate technique of every weapon of this caliber was called "Immortal Rival."
That wasn't the technique's original name. As the ages passed, the original name gradually fell out of use. Only the legend that it could rival an Immortal endured, repeated and passed down through the ages.
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