Planetary Rank

Seven days later, Jiangnan City, outside the city, in the Luo Family's first-grade cultivation chamber.

This secret cultivation site covered a full fifty thousand mu and was forged entirely from Star-Meteor Alloy, which could withstand attacks from Star Rank fighters. A faint silver Flowing Light shimmered across its walls.

The chamber was divided into dozens of functional zones. The indicators in the gravity room on the left cycled between 10 and 1,000 times normal gravity, while the weapon racks in the corner displayed an assortment of gear, from pulse war blades to particle rifles.

The floating medical pods in the treatment area were available around the clock. Three Universe Level warriors clad in silver-white armor stood motionless outside the entrance like statues. The faint energy fluctuations around them were enough to deter anyone with ill intentions.

Tang Ping sat cross-legged on a golden-threaded cushion in the center. Woven from the silk of Cosmic Star Silkworms, every strand held a faint calming energy that automatically countered outside interference.

His eyes were half-closed, and his fingers absently brushed the Wind-Thunder Secret Canon on his knees.

In recent days, aside from receiving the Sky-Splitting Sword delivered by people sent by Babata, he had devoted nearly all his time to studying this secret canon—especially the Falling Ink Star's exclusive advanced Spirit Reader cultivation method, the Nine-Nine God-Forging Technique.

According to the technique's records, a Spirit Reader's soul strength should be two ranks higher than a warrior's. Though Tang Ping's physical strength was only at Apprentice Rank, Level Nine, his soul had already reached the threshold of Planetary Rank, Level Two. He was just one step away from breaking through.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at the glowing blue crystal vial before him. He had bought the Star Condensation Dew with a 50 percent discount through the Luo Family, paying five million Silver Blue Coins.

The liquid inside swirled like starlight in liquid form. It was said to be a sacred medicine refined from the cores of fallen stars, capable of protecting the foundation of one's mindscape and preserving one's potential even if a breakthrough failed.

Outside the family, Star Condensation Dew had long since become impossible to find at any price. Even ordinary geniuses who had the connections to buy it wouldn't spend a fortune on a breakthrough that was "highly likely to succeed."

But Tang Ping didn't begrudge the expense in the slightest. For someone like him, who valued his life above all else, even a ten percent risk of failure was no different from courting death.

He unscrewed the cap. A crisp fragrance wafted into his nose, and Tang Ping tipped back his head and drank the Star Condensation Dew in one gulp. The cool liquid slid down his throat, then instantly transformed into a gentle surge of energy that flowed toward his mindscape. He immediately closed his eyes and began his breakthrough in earnest.

Inside his mindscape, the previously placid Spiritual Telekinesis turned into a dazzling river of stars. Countless points of light gathered into a vortex, spinning madly at its center.

Then the vortex abruptly expanded. His telekinetic energy thinned like flowing water, becoming a transparent veil, only to suddenly contract a moment later and condense into a translucent sphere of water. Within it, blue wind energy and purple lightning energy intertwined like swimming dragons, glimmering with an uncanny light.

"Expand, contract!" Tang Ping's consciousness controlled the sphere as though it were a beating heart.

With each expansion, more free-floating spiritual energy was drawn in. With each contraction, the density of his telekinetic power increased. By the time the eightieth contraction was complete, the sphere had solidified until it was like glazed crystal, and a faint halo had even appeared on its surface.

"The eighty-first step. Success means Planetary Rank; failure means all my efforts go to waste!" Tang Ping took a deep breath and focused his consciousness on driving the final step of the Nine-Nine God-Forging Technique.

The transparent sphere at the center of his mindscape suddenly shook violently. Strands of milky-white telekinetic mist seeped out from its core. Ten strands, twenty, fifty... The mist kept multiplying until it soon enveloped the entire sphere, forming a cloud that continued to swell.

Tang Ping's consciousness worked like a precision instrument, manipulating the sphere of water inside the cloud and subtly reshaping it—stretching it into an ellipsoid one moment, twisting it into a spiral the next. Each transformation stripped away impurities from his telekinetic power and purified the soul energy at its core.

Who knew how much time had passed? The cloud had expanded to a hundred times the size of the original sphere, and the telekinetic mist inside was so dense it seemed almost solid.

"Explode!"

An inaudible boom rang through his mindscape. The enormous cloud erupted in an instant, like a supernova at the end of a star's life, and a torrent of milky-white telekinetic power swept through the entire mindscape.

At the very peak of the explosion, a tremendous force of suction suddenly arose from the core of the mindscape. All the mist and flowing water were devoured as if by a black hole, surging madly toward the center.

"Hum~"

His mindscape shuddered, and all the energy vanished in an instant. In the empty center, only a fist-sized orb of light remained. A pale golden halo covered its surface, while inside, countless transparent pyramid-shaped crystals were packed tightly together like stars, radiating strange fluctuations.

"Did I succeed?" Tang Ping's consciousness entered the orb of light and instantly felt a power unlike anything he had ever known. His purified Spiritual Telekinesis responded as easily as an extension of his own limbs. With a mere thought, it could reach every cell in his body.

At the same time, Tang Ping's body in the cultivation chamber underwent a sudden transformation!

His bones cracked, and pale golden life energy surged from his marrow. His meridians widened like river channels, able to carry more Origin Force. Nourished by his telekinetic power, his muscle fibers rearranged themselves, and a faint sheen even appeared on the surface of his skin.

Most astonishing of all was the chain of genes within him. Under the influence of his telekinetic power, its intertwined segments broke apart and recombined, unleashing greater life potential. This was the leap from Apprentice Rank to Planetary Rank—a fundamental transformation!

"Whew~" Tang Ping slowly rose to his feet, feeling as light as a feather. At a thought, he shot into the sky and hovered more than three hundred meters above the ground.

With nothing beneath his feet to support him, he still hung steadily in midair. He could even make out every line in the training grounds below.

"So this is Planetary Rank..." He looked down. The orb of light in his mindscape was slowly rotating like a miniature planet.

The orb was not only the core of his Spiritual Telekinesis; it also possessed a unique magnetic field. It could counteract Earth's gravity and let him float at will; release magnetic thrust and let him fly at tremendous speed; and even seal the pores across his body, allowing him to survive without breathing.

According to the Luo Family's records, only upon reaching Planetary Rank could one truly be called a warrior or a Spirit Reader. Only then could one wander the universe, register as a Universe Citizen, and scrape by.

"No wonder... no wonder so many people have no interest in women and devote themselves entirely to cultivation." When Tang Ping touched down, he could still feel the airflow from his flight lingering on his fingertips. He was utterly shaken.

The sensation of hovering high above the ground and controlling energy had been more intoxicating than any other pleasure. The sheer exhilaration of growing stronger, of feeling every cell in his body rejoice, stirred him far more deeply than any worldly indulgence.

No wonder some people would do anything to grow stronger—even join the Alien Race, abandon their wives and children, and work for them like dogs, all for some so-called cultivation treasure.

The feeling really was intoxicating.