Stepping Into the Laws

After exiting the Universe First Bank, Luo Zhiyuan prepared to stroll through Qiu Long City. He wanted to purchase the Lightning Shuttle, cultivation techniques, and cultivation resources, so he needed to carefully scout out where they could be bought.

Of course, these could also be purchased via the Virtual Universe, but Babata's auxiliary AI mentioned that as a Tier 2 mental weapon, it was extremely widespread. Therefore, many people knew the techniques for using it, making the price relatively cheap. Furthermore, buying it in a physical shop could be about half the price of the Virtual Universe. Since he had only just acquired a bit of capital, he was determined to save wherever he could.

Strolling through the bustling streets of Qiu Long City broadened Luo Zhiyuan's horizons, and the various types of humans he encountered were an eye-opener.

While walking, Luo Zhiyuan had Babata's auxiliary AI search the Virtual Universe for special planetary-level races; he had begun considering preparations for his first clone.

Luo Zhiyuan had been thinking about his clones for a long time. He could possess a total of five, so he had to maximize this advantage to perfect his various abilities.

Based on some information from the original Swallowed Star, Luo Zhiyuan chose several relatively good candidate abilities for himself:

First, he needed a clone that could rapidly increase his strength, as the growth potential of his current human body was likely limited. Finding a clone similar to one of the twelve peak bloodlines of the Starry Sky Behemoths was necessary, and he already had the scales of a Golden Horned Behemoth as a backup.

Second, to increase his survival capabilities, it would be best to find a clone with a talent for space, making it easier to comprehend teleportation. The Mosha Clan was an option he favored, but they were extremely rare and were energy-based lifeforms, making it very difficult to obtain their biological tissue.

Third, to ensure sufficient divine power after reaching the undying stage, he had to find a clone with a sufficiently large body. The first choice for this was undoubtedly the Sea of Jiuyou; the endless Sea of Jiuyou could be considered the largest lifeform in the universe, but obtaining such biological tissue was extremely dangerous. Without Luo Feng's protagonist halo, success was almost impossible.

Fourth, his innate secret technique involved the Law of Time, so he needed a clone proficient in the Law of Time. There was no suitable choice for this yet; perhaps the World Tree could be considered, as its innate talent was to control time and space, which was quite good.

Fifth, although he followed the path of an illusionist and his own soul was relatively strong, he could still be attacked by soul-based secret techniques, so choosing a clone that was immune to soul techniques was also necessary.

For the time being, Luo Zhiyuan had only thought of these five requirements, though they were all a bit "aiming too high" for his current state. Aside from the first point, for which he had some preparation, the others were incredibly difficult. However, as someone who had died once and come back to life, Luo Zhiyuan would never bow down to simple difficulties in this life; he would find a way to overcome them and do his absolute best!

While Luo Zhiyuan was walking and thinking, he inadvertently arrived in front of a large shop. Looking up, the sign "Rare Treasure Shop" hung prominently at the entrance. This was a shop he had an impression of; in the original work, this store was famous for its wide variety of goods. It was a good place to broaden his knowledge, so he stepped inside.

The Rare Treasure Shop occupied a vast area, comparable to a large plaza on Earth. Inside, the store was divided into sections: combat uniforms, beast taming, mental weapons, exotic fruits, robots, and so on. There was a lot of everything, all displayed with simulated projections, and every item was exorbitantly expensive.

Luo Zhiyuan first went to the combat technique area. There was a dizzying array of combat techniques here, and after looking for a while, he felt lightheaded. He asked the clerk present: "Do you have the combat technique for the Lightning Shuttle here?"

"Yes, sir. The Lightning Shuttle is a relatively common Tier 2 top-grade mental weapon in the universe. The price is 100 million Black Dragon Coins. Do you need it?"

This price was the same as what Babata had estimated. Too lazy to check other shops, Luo Zhiyuan said straightforwardly: "I want it. Can we trade now?"

"Of course, sir. Please wait a moment; we can transmit it to your auxiliary light brain immediately." After Luo Zhiyuan transferred the 100 million Black Dragon Coins, his auxiliary light brain received the combat technique for the Lightning Shuttle.

"Lead me to the place where cultivation resources are sold. I want to see if there are any suitable auxiliary cultivation items."

"Certainly, sir. Please come this way." The clerk enthusiastically led Luo Zhiyuan in another direction.

"May I ask, sir, what type of cultivation resources are you looking to purchase? For a martial artist? Or a spirit reader?"

"A spirit reader."

"In that case, I recommend you purchase these types. First, this one is called..." The clerk introduced various cultivation resources suitable for the planetary level to Luo Zhiyuan in detail. After several comparisons, Luo Zhiyuan chose a magical fruit called the Azure Fruit.

At the planetary level, eating just one of these fruits could increase one's spirit reader cultivation by one rank, and there were absolutely no adverse reactions. Furthermore, after consuming two in total, it could even increase one's physical cultivation by one rank. It was truly a treasure for planetary-level spirit reader cultivation. Of course, the price was also steep—400 million Black Dragon Coins each. Luo Zhiyuan bought four.

Four hundred million Black Dragon Coins was enough to buy 4,000 planetary-level rank 9 spirit reader slaves; it was a very extravagant cultivation resource. If he had chosen relatively milder items, the price might have been much lower, though the effect would also have been significantly reduced.

Luo Zhiyuan wanted to improve himself quickly, so he considered it spending money to buy time.

In the reception room of the Rare Treasure Shop, Luo Zhiyuan clarified the methods and restrictions for consumption, then immediately ate one Azure Fruit. It was sour, with a slightly sweet aftertaste, and the texture was quite good.

Soon, he felt a sensation of extreme coolness penetrate his mind, and his spiritual energy increased by one rank, reaching planetary-level rank 6.

After his spiritual energy improved, he felt refreshed throughout his body and his mind felt incredibly clear. He left the Rare Treasure Shop with a satisfied expression to continue his shopping.

Walking on the road, Luo Zhiyuan inadvertently tested his power and discovered that his domain had actually broken through to the third level. He then tested and felt the state of his body; after activating his innate secret technique, Flowing Time, the flow of time increased, and he could maintain it at a five-fold acceleration state. He even received a flash of insight: his innate secret technique, Flowing Time, could increase acceleration up to ten times!

Closing his eyes, Luo Zhiyuan carefully sensed his body's condition under the Flowing Time state and had an unusual feeling. He discovered that he could slightly control the flow of time in the area around him. However, this was not the effect of Flowing Time, because the innate secret technique Flowing Time could only accelerate the flow of time for his own body and had no effect on the surrounding environment.

Now, he could control the flow of time in his immediate vicinity. Although he could only slightly accelerate it, this meant that he had crossed the threshold of the Law of Time!

Opening his eyes abruptly, Luo Zhiyuan was stunned by this surprise. He didn't know how this had happened. Previously, when he comprehended the Light Domain, there were traces to follow—perhaps because he had sensed the light-attribute cosmic energy while his soul was possessing the body—but what was this about the Law of Time?

He had never successfully comprehended the Law of Time; he had only frequently used his innate secret technique, Flowing Time. Could it be that because he had used Flowing Time for so long, his body had sensed the Law of Time on its own?

One had to know that the Law of Time, as one of the two supreme laws, was significantly harder to comprehend than the lower-level Law of Light—not just a little bit, but thousands or tens of thousands of times harder.

And his comprehension of the Law of Light had only reached the third level of the domain; he hadn't even crossed the threshold of the Law of Light, so how could he have crossed the threshold of the Law of Time? Could it be that he was a genius favored by the Primal Universe? Haha! As he thought about it, Luo Zhiyuan laughed to himself.

Forget it, it didn't matter. In any case, he had gained another powerful ability. Since he already had the innate secret technique, there was nothing unacceptable about comprehending the Law of Time. This was the benefit of being a transmigrator, hehe.

However, since he had comprehended the Law of Time, why was his light domain still only at the third level and not yet across the threshold of the Law of Light? It seemed he still needed to work harder to comprehend the Light Domain.

With such greedy thoughts, Luo Zhiyuan continued his shopping trip with a silly grin, and soon, he arrived at the slave trading market.

The slave market occupied a vast area, covering dozens of square kilometers. Although the sun was bright and the sky was a beautiful purple, the slave market was filled with an aura of darkness and despair.

From afar, Luo Zhiyuan saw many cages, large and small. Inside the cold, black metal, countless lifeforms were shivering.

"Please, keep me and my sister together! We don't want to be sold separately!"

"Come and take a look! Beauties from the Youmao Clan, 5,000 Black Dragon Coins each! Bulk discounts available!"

"Great Theseus, bless our village people so we can meet a kind master, and not be turned into specimens like those in Lesi Village."

"Super practical Heilun clansmen! Naturally equivalent to apprentice-level rank 9 martial artists, the best choice for miners! 15 Black Dragon Coins each, buy 100 and get 5 free!"

Before he even got close, he could hear countless cries and pleas, mixed with the loud hawking and shouting of the slave traders. This left Luo Zhiyuan, who had lived in a peaceful environment for 30 years, stunned and frozen in his tracks.

The lifeforms in those cages included countless apprentice-level slaves like lambs waiting for the slaughter, tens of thousands of anxious planetary-level slaves, thousands of indifferent stellar-level slaves, and it was even said there were extremely rare universe-level powerhouse slaves!

Some of these slaves had body structures similar to Earth humans, some had beast-like features, some were tall, and some were covered in scales. But no matter how different their bodies were, they could all be easily recognized: they were all humans!

Yet, these humans formed a stark contrast with the other humans on the street. The humans walking on the street were all dressed in bright clothes and full of vitality, while the humans in the cages had no light in their eyes, no desires, and even their instinct for survival seemed to have been lost, leaving only a shadow of dead silence.

Below the planetary level, no cosmic civilization would acknowledge you as a legal citizen; you had no rights whatsoever. Scenes of Earth being discovered by a cosmic civilization and then enslaved seemed to flash before Luo Zhiyuan's eyes, and his heart was severely shaken.

No wonder Luo Feng was terrified back then; Luo Zhiyuan was also jolted awake by the cruel reality of this so-called cosmic civilization. Throughout his journey, all the glitz and glamour he had seen on Qiu Long Planet was only one half of cosmic civilization, and the other half—the cruelty—was only now revealing itself before him.

Strength is the foundation, the strong are respected, and cosmic civilization has always followed the law of the jungle. Luo Zhiyuan had originally thought he had grasped this truth while reading the Swallowed Star novel, but he had become lost in the dazzling brilliance of this cosmic civilization, and only now did he truly feel a bone-chilling coldness.

Those slaves locked in cages were also part of the human race. As one of the six peak races in the universe, Luo Zhiyuan had once naively thought that all humans were treated equally, only to discover that without strength, one might not even be considered "human"!

Looking from afar at the slaves waiting to be sold—from Apprentice level to Planet level, to Star level, and if one had enough money, even Universe level slaves could be bought—the smile had vanished from Luo Zhiyuan's face. He turned his head to look at the Star level 7 spirit reader guard captain he had brought with him, only to find that the man was accustomed to this and remained indifferent.

What had already happened, Luo Zhiyuan was powerless to change, but he would never allow the people of Earth to end up like those slaves in cages. He had to become stronger; he had to be like Luo Feng and grow into a powerhouse capable of holding up a free sky for Earth.

Because on this Earth, there were family and friends who cared for him and loved him. He had already lost one Earth, and he did not want to lose another!

Luo Zhiyuan did not continue wandering around Qiu Long City. He boarded the L-1 and set off to return to the Solar System, though he did not head directly back to Earth, instead stopping at the planet closest to Earth: Venus.

Activating the ship's external view simulation, Luo Zhiyuan sat cross-legged, hovering in the main control room, looking at the blue planet not far away. In his heart, he kept pondering how he could grow rapidly and how he could hold up a free sky for Earth.

His thoughts churned incessantly. The lifeless eyes he had seen in the slave market appeared before his eyes again, and he thought of the scenes in Swallowed Star where, hundreds of years later, the human race in the universe would discover the anomalies of Earth, forcibly seize half of its ownership, and even bully the people of Earth.

All of this happened within the glitzy and glamorous cosmic civilization. Amidst those bright and dazzling cosmic civilizations, these injustices and darkness existed at every moment. Light and darkness existed simultaneously, born together...

Unconsciously, Luo Zhiyuan's Light Domain suddenly appeared, fluctuating constantly. Within the domain, the light flickered between bright and dim, waxing and waning, even manifesting an abnormal phenomenon where half was light and half was darkness. Luo Zhiyuan's Light Domain continued to grow and break through... Suddenly, the light within the domain flared brilliantly, the darkness was completely eliminated, and in the blink of an eye, various chaotic light and shadows appeared.

Luo Zhiyuan was brought back to his senses by the chaotic light and shadows that had suddenly appeared around him. He looked blankly at the Light Domain around him, not understanding how these light and shadows he couldn't comprehend had suddenly appeared. It wasn't until he controlled the domain that he discovered some changes; he had a sense of familiarity, as if he had just stepped over the threshold of the Origin Law of Time. This feeling... it was the Origin Law of Light!

Luo Zhiyuan had once again stepped over the threshold of an Origin Law without realizing it. With only a dozen days between them, he had successively comprehended the Origin Law of Time and the Origin Law of Light. If Babata knew about this, he would definitely be terrified.

Being able to comprehend a domain at Planet level 6 already made one a top-tier genius in a medium-level cosmic civilization, and one would certainly rank among the best in the entire Black Dragon Mountain star region.

To be able to comprehend an Origin Law at the Planet level was a rare talent even in high-level cosmic civilizations. For example, the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, which was directly under the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, ruled over nearly a thousand medium-level civilization vassal states and more than 100 million star systems. Such a genius would only appear once every million years even within the Ganwu Universe Kingdom.

Comprehending two Origin Laws, one of which was the superior Law of Time, could absolutely be considered the mark of a supreme genius of the entire human race in the universe. Since the beginning of the universe, the human race had only had 1,008 high-level civilization universe kingdoms. Among all humans in the universe, having such talent at the Planet level was the mark of a peerless genius who might not even appear in ten million epochs—and one must remember, one epoch is 10,000 years!

Luo Zhiyuan was stunned by his own talent! He knew he might be favored by the Origin Will of the Primal Universe, after all, he possessed three innate secret techniques, but he hadn't expected his cultivation talent to be this good. He had crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws so easily, and two at once!

It seemed that his body must have undergone an incredible mutation, likely occurring during that fusion within Xu Xin.

His Planet level 6 spiritual force began to carefully probe the interior of his body. He wanted to see if there were any other changes in his body that he hadn't discovered yet. Although all the changes so far had been positive, who knew if there were any hidden dangers buried within him? He wouldn't be at ease without checking carefully.

After more than a day of careful probing, with his spiritual force scanning from inside to out, from head to toe, from bones to skin, and even from his consciousness sea to his dantian, Luo Zhiyuan had scanned himself back and forth more than ten times. Finding no problems, he felt relieved and stopped worrying pointlessly about his body.

Luo Zhiyuan began to experience the Origin Law of Time and the Origin Law of Light. He alternated between experiencing and comprehending the two laws, and his spiritual force also radiated outward, releasing his domain.

Within a radius of 50 meters, he felt he could control and alter both the light and the flow of time. Of course, the extent of the alteration was small for now, but as his comprehension of the laws deepened, he would surely become more and more adept at controlling them.

Just as Luo Zhiyuan was projecting his spiritual force and domain to comprehend the laws, the surface of Venus emitted a subtle fluctuation. Then, deep within his soul, Luo Zhiyuan heard a gentle, clear voice: "You have finally arrived, mysterious visitor. I have waited for you for over a hundred million epochs. Let me introduce myself: I am Chenxi, one of the eight innate Beast Gods of the universe, the Light Beast God!"