Ten Leisurely Years

The next morning, Yu Duan rose from his nutrient pod, feeling refreshed and restored to his peak state, his body brimming with immense power.

"A new day begins..."

Yu Duan let out a long breath and threw a few random punches, stretching his limbs.

Those slow, leisurely movements lacked any killing intent, yet within each punch and step, they contained the profound mysteries of the light and time laws.

Gradually, Yu Duan's aura underwent a transformation, vaguely becoming one with nature—this was the Unity of Heaven and Man.

In this state, Yu Duan's speed of comprehending the laws was at its absolute fastest.

Of course, compared to the pre-advancement provided by the Book of Causality, this efficiency was far too slow.

After a long while, Yu Duan slowly withdrew his energy and looked toward Ku Mixiu, who had appeared at some point.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Ku Mixiu," Yu Duan said with a smile.

Ku Mixiu bowed slightly: "Your Highness, this is the force armor boots that our great master asked me to deliver. They can, to a certain extent, compensate for your current weaknesses in movement techniques."

As he spoke, Ku Mixiu retrieved a pair of silver-white, ancient-looking boots from his internal world. Fine, flickering law patterns covered the boots, clearly indicating they were no ordinary item.

Force boots are equipment designed to assist martial artists in executing movement techniques, similar to the flight-type weapons used by spirit readers.

For spirit readers, offensive weapons are far more precious than flight-type ones.

But for martial artists, it is the exact opposite; the value of footwear equipment is significantly higher than that of offensive weapons of the same tier.

The boots sent by his teacher, Qinghuan King, were Tier 5 force boots imbued with the mysteries of light and time laws: the Tamyue Boots.

"Teacher really has prepared everything for me."

Yu Duan took the force boots. Such high-tier equipment could not be used immediately; they required a period of nourishment with one's own force or spiritual energy before they could be wielded freely.

Seeing his young disciple focusing his main energy on sword technique cultivation, Qinghuan King had said nothing, simply sending over these Tier 5 force boots.

"Additionally, our great master has opened a private willpower training space within the Virtual Universe. Its effects are far superior to the willpower-honing secret techniques you are currently using, Your Highness."

Yu Duan's eyes lit up: "A willpower training space?"

Ku Mixiu said with a look of reverence: "Yes, it is the 'Eighteen Layers of Life and Death Illusion' personally set up by our great master. If you can pass through it completely, your willpower strength will be comparable to the average level of a 'peak King-level' powerhouse."

Being able to set up an array of this caliber meant that Qinghuan King's own willpower was at least one level higher than the limit of the array itself.

This was the true weight of Qinghuan King.

Yu Duan's understanding of his teacher's status was still quite shallow, far less than that of Ku Mixiu, who had once been a World Master in the core layer of a peak power.

Qinghuan King was not only a super-existence among King-level immortals but also the strongest soul master among the countless immortal gods under the Virtual Universe Company.

"Let's go, let's take a look."

Yu Duan immediately logged his consciousness into the Virtual Universe and instantly discovered a new option in his teleportation permissions: the 'Eighteen Layers of Life and Death Illusion' space.

"Tianran, teleport me into the illusion space!"

"Understood, Master!"

"Hmm? Why is there no reaction?" Yu Duan paused, still standing in his manor.

Tianran was also a bit confused and responded uncertainly: "Master, could it be that the Virtual Universe network is malfunctioning?"

"A malfunction? Don't be ridiculous. I'm afraid I've already entered the illusion, and you are just a part of it."

As a transmigrator, Yu Duan was well aware of the weight of the Virtual Universe network.

Even after the great will of the Original Universe suppressed Yuan Zu, the Virtual Universe secret technique he had deployed still covered the entire Original Universe without being affected in the slightest.

Tianran hesitated: "So, I am fake?"

"This illusion is truly realistic. Let's go, let's see the Qinghuan King teacher inside the illusion..."

In the blink of an eye, ten minutes passed.

In the palace of the real world, Yu Duan's consciousness cleared, and he opened his eyes.

Yu Duan glanced at the time: "I spent nearly half a month in the illusion, yet only about 10 minutes have passed in the real world."

Ku Mixiu, standing to the side, smiled and said: "Your Highness was able to pass the first layer of the illusion with ease; your willpower strength has already exceeded the average level of a Star Level."

"The effects of this kind of willpower training are indeed more efficient than enduring pain, though it is also much more grueling."

Yu Duan decided to shelve the Lianxin Dian; from now on, he would simply train his willpower directly in the illusion.

"Mr. Ku Mixiu, let's begin today's training."

These were all minor interludes; making progress was what mattered most.

After resting for a night, Yu Duan returned to his "liver emperor" state. As long as his willpower was not exhausted to its limit, he would never stop.

In a sense, this was also a form of willpower training.

The life of cultivation is just that simple, unadorned, and boring.

Yu Duan's desperate style of cultivation affected many people, especially those closest to him; An Yao and Chi Li were the most influenced.

Gradually, the core students at the top of the rankings among the Star Level students in the Sacred Land became more and more competitive.

This brought great satisfaction to the Immortal Gods responsible for teaching within the Sacred Land.

However, once this group of super geniuses started competing so fiercely, the ones most affected were those who hadn't yet crossed the threshold of the origin laws.

Your talent was already high enough, and now you're all working this hard—how are the rest of us supposed to survive?

As the source of this intensified "rat race," Yu Duan, the instigator, was naturally even more frantic.

He was simply squeezing every ounce of potential out of himself, engaging in hellish training and drills.

Every single day, Yu Duan could perceive that he had made some slight progress.

Although this progress became less and less noticeable as his own comprehension of the laws deepened, there was always some improvement nonetheless.

The first year after the ranking battle ended, no strange incidents occurred.

Throughout the entire year, Yu Duan only rested for a single day; that day was when his home planet, Light Source Planet, braced for the impact of the Death Omen Star.

Through the Virtual Universe, Yu Duan communicated with Master Zhen Li and the others, discovering that Senior Brother Yan Lun, who had originally recommended him for the Sacred Land, was also stationed on Light Source Planet.

According to Senior Brother Yan Lun, he had nothing better to do anyway, and since such a significant event was happening in his junior brother's hometown, he decided to come and take a look.

If any accidents occurred, he would be there to provide a safety net.

As the person in charge of the Chilian God branch of the Beiming Divine Realm, how could Yan Lun possibly have nothing to do?

Regardless of his motives, Yan Lun's help to Yu Duan was genuine and substantial.

In the future, as long as it was within his power, Yu Duan would certainly repay this Senior Brother Yan Lun.

If one could say that Yu Duan hadn't achieved "perfect attendance" in the first year because he had rested for one day.

Then, starting from the second year, it was true perfect attendance.

Never mind resting; the total time he spent sleeping throughout the entire year was only about 300 to 400 hours.

In the blink of an eye, nearly 10 years passed in a flash, and Yu Duan's age exceeded 30.

However, because he had been so young when he broke through to the Planetary Level, Yu Duan still possessed the appearance of a youth.

But compared to the Yu Duan of ten years ago, his temperament had undergone a distinct change, becoming more introverted and profound.

Yu Duan had always been a person who acted with a steady and measured style.

But the current Yu Duan, perhaps due to his increased comprehension of the laws, carried an inexplicable aura about him.

Whether it was An Yao, Chi Li, or Yalunsi and the others, after spending a long time in contact with Yu Duan, they gradually grew accustomed to asking him for advice on various decisions.

The reason was hard to explain; it was just that they always felt Yu Duan's judgment was more accurate and more reassuring.

Late at night, Beiming Sacred Land.

Yu Duan stood in the courtyard, gazing at the massive stars in the sky, his expression unreadable.

Those stars emitted a faint glow, moving along specific trajectories, seemingly pulling at some special fluctuations that kept the core island of the Sacred Land perpetually covered in ice and snow.

"Is Your Highness thinking about the ranking battle four days from now?"

The figure of Ku Mixiu appeared silently behind Yu Duan.

Yu Duan withdrew his gaze from the stars and shook his head with a smile: "Yalunsi is too strong; I am no match for him, so there is no need to waste energy preparing. As for the others, there is even less need."

Yu Duan hadn't been spacing out just now; his consciousness had simply been flooded by the insights advanced by the Book of Causality, and he had just emerged from it, savoring the mysteries within those insights.

At this moment, inside Yu Duan's internal space.

The ancient pages, flowing with seven-colored light, revealed new text.

"Repaying the cost of the advance: fully execute the third level of the Light and Time Sword Technique, 'Severing Dusk and Dawn', 16,164,200 times..."

The cost of the advance had skyrocketed from 2 million times for the second level to 16 million times for the third.

Previously, Yu Duan had estimated that it would take about 7 to 8 years to repay the cost of the second level of the sword technique.

However, now that he had a teacher, he couldn't decide on all his training projects himself, which had an impact, taking him 10 years.

Considering that the difficulty of executing the third level was higher and the consumption greater, the time actually required to repay the advance would be about 120 years.

"Over a hundred years... it seems I'll have to wait until I reach the Universe Level to continue making advances."

With about 4 years left until the genius competition, he couldn't possibly fill this progress bar in just 4 years.

Therefore, he could afford to slow his pace a little; he would use these 4 years to shore up his weaknesses in movement techniques, fundamentals, and combat experience.