Law Fruits

Three days later.

Inside the spaceship's control room.

Li Yilin lay on the floor with his eyes tightly shut.

Stains mixed with large patches of dried blood covered him and the floor beneath him.

After an unknown amount of time, his tightly shut eyelids twitched twice before he slowly opened his eyes.

Staring at the metal ceiling above him, he was dazed for a moment. Then he quickly came to his senses and raised a hand.

He clenched his fist.

"Crack!"

He blinked. "I did it?"

He sat up and looked at the stains on his battle armor. Unbothered, he took it off, baring his upper body.

His skin was pale and smooth from years without sunlight. Beneath it, lean muscles shifted with every movement, lending him a sense of strength and an undeniable charm.

Li Yilin didn't hurry to get dressed. Bare-chested, he hopped around the spaceship, then threw a couple of punches. The whooshing sound of his fists tearing through the air made the corners of his mouth lift with satisfaction. The abundant strength coursing through his body made him want to leap out of the ship and roam the universe.

Though he had suffered, all the treasures he had devoured to recover from his injuries while being hunted had been perfectly digested and transformed into strength as he fused with the Thunder Dragon Bloodline.

Now, his strength had reached—

"Domain Lord Ninth Stage!"

His Gene Level had increased threefold. It was now eight times the ordinary level. Just two more increases, and he would rival the most ordinary Special Lifeforms.

He could feel that he was already capable of breaking through to World Lord.

However, Li Yilin wasn't going to rush it. He wouldn't break through until his Clone had been born.

He glanced at the enormous egg in his World Ring, which had yet to show any signs of movement, and anticipation filled his eyes. Clone, you'd better not disappoint me!

After watching his Clone for a while, Li Yilin finally withdrew his gaze, satisfied, and looked at the other two items he had received from the sign-in.

The second item was a box about as long as an arm. It seemed to be carved from some kind of wood, with a deep, ancient look and complicated, mysterious patterns on its surface, as if they were secret patterns meant to isolate energy.

He picked up the wooden box and gently opened it. The moment a crack appeared, a strand of silver light slipped out impatiently. In the blink of an eye, silver light filled the entire control room. A rich fragrance accompanied the dazzling silver starry sky that filled the room, so dreamlike that reality and fantasy seemed indistinguishable.

Li Yilin narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at what was inside the box.

They were actually three fruits!

Each fruit was about the size of two baby fists. Their entire surface was a brilliant silver, and they radiated a dazzling light like the starry river of the cosmos. Through their transparent skins, he could see the silver flesh within, and sense its pure energy flowing like a river of stars.

Just one glance stirred an irresistible desire within him. It was as if a mysterious voice deep in his soul were urging him to touch them, to possess them...

"Thud!"

He quickly shut the box, his heart pounding.

These were definitely good things!

He checked the System Panel, and sure enough, it had changed.

[Law Fruit ×3. Whoever consumes one can increase their affinity with the laws of the body, making Law Comprehension easier and clearer. Only the first fruit consumed has an effect; the effects cannot be stacked. The law selected as the target is random.]

It seemed Law Fruits were precious. Even the system's description had become much longer.

Li Yilin thought for a moment. Without hesitation, he opened the box, picked up one of the fruits, and started eating it with a series of crunches.

There was no pit, and he finished it in just a few bites.

As soon as the flesh entered his body, it transformed into streams of pure energy that spread throughout him.

At the same time, another stream of energy traveled up his meridians and entered the depths of his mind, where it merged with his Life Core...

A comfort and satisfaction that welled up from within enveloped Li Yilin, like rain falling after a long drought.

"Mm..."

Unable to help himself, Li Yilin let out a satisfied sigh. His sigh was filled with intoxication and delight at the changes in his body.

It felt so good!

He closed his eyes. With the help of the Law Fruit, he could feel his thoughts growing clearer. The Time Law, which had once been disordered and scattered, vague and hard to make out, was becoming increasingly clear as his thoughts spread outward.

In just that short time, his clarity of comprehension of the Time Law had increased more than tenfold.

And the Law Fruit's effects had yet to stop!

A quarter of an hour later.

Li Yilin opened his eyes, satisfied, and looked at his hand.

It seemed no different from before. He clenched his fist instinctively, and his fingertips brushed through the air, sending ripples across the void. The Time Law coiled and flowed around his fingertips. That effortless feeling, as if his fingers were extensions of his will, was something he had never experienced before.

"I wonder if my affinity with the Time Law is now comparable to the spatial talent of the so-called 'darlings of space'—the Mosha Clan," Li Yilin thought.

Perhaps because the Wutuo Clan were naturally unsuited to comprehending laws, his talent for Law Comprehension had been very poor. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent thirty thousand years with just one percent of the Thunder Dragon Bloodline fused into him, yet still failed to even get started with the Thunder Law.

Now the Law Fruit had changed his talent for comprehending laws. Even a tenfold improvement would increase his cultivation speed by more than a hundredfold!

"My Law Comprehension has changed. I should check how my techniques have changed." Li Yilin headed for the cultivation room. The moment the metal door shut, he eagerly used the Thunder Dragon Step.

A purple Phantom Body stepped out of the void, identical to him in appearance. But...

Li Yilin stared at the Phantom Body, then at another one that appeared behind it. His pupils trembled in disbelief.

Had he really just used the first level of the Thunder Dragon Step?

The Thunder Dragon Step had three levels. The first summoned a single Phantom Body to create a localized disturbance in time. The second summoned a thousand Phantom Bodies to accelerate time within a limited area, producing an ebb-and-flow effect. The third, the Thunder Step, could alter the flow of time throughout a certain area of space, allowing its user to control the battle.

Time Acceleration was one of the three major branches of time. It was an ultimate technique that not even Marquis Immortals were necessarily able to master.

If he reached the third level, even a Marquis Immortal might not be able to stand against him. But that was a very long way off.

Li Yilin used the Thunder Dragon Step again, watching the Phantom Bodies appear in every corner according to his movements. The smile on his lips grew wider and wider.

Before consuming the Law Fruit, he could only summon one Phantom Body. But because his comprehension of the Time Law wasn't deep enough, he couldn't alter time.

To cultivate the second level of the Thunder Dragon Step, he had to first cross the threshold of the Time Law and gain a certain degree of understanding before he could begin.

Although the Thunder Dragon Step was a close-combat movement technique, it was actually more like a secret technique for comprehending the Time Law.

Now that he had consumed the Law Fruit, his comprehension of the Time Law had deepened considerably, and his understanding of the Thunder Dragon Step had grown clearer. So, naturally, he had mastered the first level.

"Thunder!" Li Yilin once again used his greatest trump card, the Body Amplitude Secret Technique—the Thunder Dragon Art.

Arm-thick bolts of lightning rampaged through the cultivation room. At the center of the raging lightning, Li Yilin floated in midair.

Bolts of lightning coiled around him, darting and leaping according to a special rhythm. Before long, they formed a soft armor of lightning over his body.

Once the armor had formed, Li Yilin stopped. Instead, he raised his hand, and strands of lightning as fine as hair surged up and gathered in his palm. As time passed, their color grew deeper.

"Thunder Dragon—Claw!"

At his quiet command, the violent lightning in his palm became as docile as a lamb. Guided by his will, it followed some mysterious, profound pattern as it lingered over his hand. Scales resembling those of some powerful creature spread down from his upper arm.

The scales seemed to sink into his flesh and merge with his bones. They fit together so perfectly that they seemed to have grown there naturally, as though they had always been one.

The scales changed and transformed at his wrist, while peculiar patterns grew along his five fingers...

A claw resembling that of some creature gradually took shape on his hand. Neither bone nor scale, its toes spread wide, and it gave off a heart-stopping aura.

Li Yilin's heart leaped with joy. He gently moved his fingers, and the sharp tips of his claws easily slashed through the void, leaving five pitch-black fissures as deep as an abyss in the flawless expanse. They were repaired almost immediately.

"Crack!" A faint sound rang out as part of the surface of the dragon claw burst apart.