I Owe My Current Realm Entirely to My Own Hard Work and Sweat

Although he complained about Liujing, Yu Duan did not hesitate in the slightest to place orders for various resources.

It was impossible to spend all his money at once, but taking out a portion to cultivate Liujing to Universe Level 1 was easy—it would only cost a few tens of billions of Universe Coin, mere pocket change.

He would handle the rest slowly; he didn't need Liujing's help right now, so there was no need to rush it to the peak of Universe Level.

When it came to money and resources, he had to prioritize his own cultivation first, using only the surplus to nurture intelligent lives, auxiliary lives, and the like.

Putting the cart before the horse was not what Teacher Qinghuan King intended.

The reason Teacher Qinghuan King sent Liujing was to let Yu Duan know that he was still poor, that he had to keep working hard, and that he could not afford to slack off.

The day after the ranking battles ended, inside Yu Duan's palace.

Under the shroud of his Silver Pupil fluctuations, Yu Duan was frantically training in the Light and Time Sword Technique, repeatedly executing the second stage, Shadow Bearing Cut, with all his might.

"Your Highness, given your attainments in the laws of light and time, if you were to dedicate some of your energy to movement techniques, you could certainly achieve entry-level mastery."

Ku Mixiu hesitated for a moment before offering this suggestion to Yu Duan.

The difficulty of achieving entry-level mastery in the first stage of the Flowing Light of Years movement technique, 'Time Flow Shadow', was roughly equivalent to the 'Nine Line Flow', perhaps slightly harder.

Since Yu Duan was able to execute the Shadow Bearing Cut, theoretically, he was capable of stepping into the entry-level of 'Time Flow Shadow'.

As an extremely precious secret technique, even the first stage was divided into three levels: entry-level, minor accomplishment, and major accomplishment.

Once one achieved entry-level in Time Flow Shadow, they could significantly overcome their own inertia, allowing for instantaneous right-angle turns while moving at full speed, with a level of agility not inferior to spirit readers of the same rank.

After reaching the second level, minor accomplishment, one could initially achieve 'wall-passing', controlling one's own atoms to move directly through stationary obstacles.

As for the third level, major accomplishment, it was akin to 'becoming ethereal', maintaining this state of 'passing through' objects even during combat.

Mastering this level would basically allow Yu Duan, at the Star Level, to ignore pure physical attacks from peak Universe Level powerhouses (excluding those who had mastered laws).

As for Domain Lord level powerhouses, their mere domain pressure would be enough to render Yu Duan unable to move, let alone execute movement techniques.

The gap in cultivation levels was almost impossible to bridge, and this became even more true the further one progressed.

"I feel that training the sword technique is a more efficient way to comprehend the laws."

Yu Duan was 'speaking the truth', and this reason was relatively unassailable.

As long as Teacher Qinghuan King didn't force him to train in movement techniques, Yu Duan would pour all his energy into 'grinding' his progress.

"Very well... Your Highness, there are still some issues you need to pay attention to when executing the 'Shadow Bearing Cut'."

Ku Mixiu knew his place well and certainly wouldn't say anything more.

Since Yu Duan's attitude was firm, he would simply focus on guiding Yu Duan through the problems in his sword training and answering any related questions.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Light and Time Sword flowed in Yu Duan's palm, the invisible blade slicing through the air and sending out layers of ripples.

This was a sign that Yu Duan's practice of the 'Shadow Bearing Cut' was not yet precise enough.

The closer one got to major accomplishment, the less movement and sound the ultimate Shadow Bearing Cut would produce, becoming more silent and concealing its murderous intent.

In less than half an hour, Yu Duan's physical strength and force were completely exhausted.

"Tianran, give me the medicine!"

"Yes, Master !"

An intelligent robot flew over, carrying a pale golden test tube of medicine on its head.

Yu Duan downed the medicine in one gulp, feeling his physical strength and force begin to recover rapidly, and resumed his training.

In the blink of an eye, nearly ten days had passed.

Late at night, with bloodshot eyes, Yu Duan felt his condition and realized he had reached a limit.

Even though his physical strength and force were still relatively abundant, a wave of intense fatigue washed over him.

"I've reached my limit. Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ku Mixiu. I plan to rest tonight and continue tomorrow."

Yu Duan's voice was slightly hoarse; ten days of non-stop training had pushed him to the absolute limit.

One had to realize that the energy of a Star Level powerhouse was far beyond what an ordinary person could imagine.

One only had to look at the trial tower stage of the genius competition to see that the assessment process lasted dozens, hundreds, or even more days. One might find an opportunity to rest for a moment, but it was absolutely impossible to sleep.

Yet, this abundant energy had been completely drained by Yu Duan in just ten days, to the point where his cognitive reaction speed had become somewhat sluggish.

Grinding progress required full-effort execution, and this 'full effort' could not be vague; humans were not machines, and even machines would suffer from fatigue.

"Very well, Your Highness, please get some good rest."

This was the first time Ku Mixiu had seen someone train so frantically.

But Ku Mixiu could only see a part of it.

After Ku Mixiu left, Yu Duan went to his bedroom, where a low-grade nutrient pod had already been prepared. The nutrient solution inside was very ordinary, used only to slowly relieve fatigue and nourish cells.

It was a completely different thing from the nutrient solutions that could help one evolve.

"Splash!"

The nutrient pod opened. After Yu Duan lay inside, he directly instructed his intelligent assistant: "Tianran, wake me up in seven hours."

"Yes, Master!"

Upon hearing Tianran's reply, Yu Duan mobilized the genetic origin energy within his body, causing it to vibrate and surge at a specific frequency.

In an instant, a pain several times more intense than what he had felt when taking the Bloodline Evolution Agent spread throughout his entire body.

The will-tempering secret technique, Lianxin Dian!

Ever since he obtained this secret technique for tempering the will, Yu Duan had been practicing it diligently without pause.

According to the assessment of the Book of Causality, Yu Duan's willpower had already reached the average level of a Universe Level powerhouse.

"Haa... haa..."

The intense agony caused Yu Duan's body to spasm, and he uncontrollably let out wheezing sounds. His expression was hideously contorted, and every muscle in his body was taut.

During the process of activating the Lianxin Dian secret technique, aside from the pain it produced, it was not only harmless to the body but actually had certain benefits.

If a secret technique caused pain by damaging the body, it wouldn't be called a will-tempering technique; it would simply be pure self-mutilation.

"Thump! Thump! Thump..."

At this moment, to Yu Duan's ears, the sound of his heartbeat became extremely distinct, as if a heavy drum were being struck forcefully right beside him.

With every beat of his heart, the pain he endured increased significantly.

One minute, two minutes... ten minutes, until about 14 minutes into the secret technique.

Yu Duan, who had been in an extremely exhausted state with his willpower stretched to the limit, rolled his eyes back and passed out, entering a state of deep sleep.

"Master..."

The figure of the little sprite Tianran appeared, accompanied by a bouncing 'mercury'-like creature, which was Liujing.

"Glug, glug..." Bubbles emerged from Liujing's body, conveying a sense of confusion.

Tianran explained with a worried expression: "Master is tempering his own will, to the point of torturing himself into a coma."

"Glug?"

"The will-tempering secret technique doesn't cause physical harm, it's just... I always feel like this is a form of torture."

Tianran explained the will-tempering secret technique to Liujing briefly.

"Master is the most hardworking, the most desperate, out of all the geniuses I have ever seen—there is no one else like him."

As a high-level artificial intelligence, although Tianran was not a true intelligent lifeform, her emotions, intelligence, and the like were no different from a living being, and she even had her own social circle.

Among Tianran's friends were the intelligent assistants of Chi Li, An Yao, and others, as well as the newly met intelligent assistants of Yalunsi and Pengnuolai.

When the intelligent assistants communicated, Tianran had learned about the training subjects and courses of those geniuses.

Compared to her own master, they were practically 'on vacation' or resting.

"Glug, glug!"

Liujing 'glugged' twice, conveying a sense of determination, and then began to gnaw on a piece of highly valuable precious metal!

Master is cultivating, so I cannot fall behind; I must work hard to evolve—I'm going to eat, eat, eat!