One Hundred Years

Li Yilin's face went pale. The lightning gathered in his hand exploded with a boom, and the dragon claw he had painstakingly formed instantly turned into countless tiny, nimble lightning snakes that scattered in every direction.

Lightning rampaged through the cultivation room, striking the metal floor, the walls... Everywhere was charred black. After a good while, it finally faded away completely.

Li Yilin wasn't disappointed. He wiped the corner of his mouth, his dark eyes curving slightly, a bright gleam in them.

"Almost!"

he said.

The Thunder Dragon Art was a body amplitude secret technique, and cultivating it was incredibly difficult.

He had practiced for thirty thousand years and had only managed to master the first layer.

Even just the first layer had tripled his combat strength.

The second layer could wait. There was no need to rush!

"Why does it feel like there's less and less time?" Looking at the wrecked cultivation room, he couldn't help muttering under his breath.

He had finally mastered the first layer of the Thunder Dragon Step and thought he could take a breather, only for the cultivation threshold of the second layer to come within reach.

To cultivate the second layer, he would have to formally begin comprehending the Time Law. The depth of his understanding of the Time Law determined how many Phantom Bodies he could create.

Now that he had also made a new breakthrough in the second layer of the Thunder Dragon Art, he definitely couldn't slack off. After all, once he mastered it, his combat strength would increase another sixfold, reaching nine times its original level.

He had to comprehend the Thunder Law, and he couldn't neglect the Time Law either!

"Should I just break through to World Lord?" A glint flashed in Li Yilin's eyes.

It was only after reaching the World Lord level that the laws became clearest. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that one's Law Comprehension could advance by leaps and bounds every day.

Whether it was the Time Law or the Thunder Law, a Domain Lord couldn't match the speed of comprehension at that level.

He really wanted to experience it.

"No, I can't rush!" Li Yilin shook his head again and forced himself to hold back.

The integration of the Thunder Dragon Bloodline had its requirements. Since it transformed his flesh and blood, it had to happen before his flesh and blood completely turned into a divine body.

Once he became a World Lord, his strength would increase, and obtaining the Thunder Dragon Bloodline might become even more difficult.

Li Yilin glanced at the System Panel in the upper-right corner of his vision.

[Sign-in Attempts: 0.]

He had formed some guesses about how the system refreshed his sign-in attempts, but he hadn't verified them yet.

He would have to personally go to the Outer-Domain Battlefield to test them after his clone had been successfully created and gained some ability to protect itself.

Until then, he couldn't rush.

He couldn't rush!

The third item he had received from signing in was a set of secret techniques.

[Secret Technique Thunder Prison set.]

It was an area-of-effect attack secret technique, and it was related to both the Time Law and the Thunder Law.

Unless something unexpected happened, his future cultivation would focus on either the Time Law or the Thunder Law.

"I need to find a good place to wait for my clone to be created." Li Yilin lounged sideways in his chair. His right hand rested on the armrest, propping up his temple, while his long legs had nowhere to go and lay across the control panel.

He gazed at the starry background on the screen, lost in thought.

He had seen this scenery countless times and had long since grown used to it.

Yet no matter how often he looked, he couldn't help marveling at the vastness of the universe.

The universe was so vast that many people spent their entire lives without setting foot in even one ten-billionth... of it.

"Where should I go?" Li Yilin poked his head with his index finger, his expression troubled.

"Return to the Norman Empire? Take charge of the Leimai Galaxy?"

Become king, develop and nurture the next generation of talented members of his clan, and take on disciples.

"Forget it." He shook his head.

He didn't want to stay with his clansmen. It would make him feel awkward.

As long as he lived, he could protect the Wutuo Clan. Given enough time, it would eventually grow into a great clan.

He was interested in taking on disciples. After all, being alone all the time wasn't much fun. His clansmen had limited talent, and after he became Immortal and gained eternal life, they would eventually disappear from his life.

Since they were destined to disappear, he might as well accept it calmly.

"Return to the Noah Universe Kingdom, back to Mulan Planet?" Thinking of the planet where he had lived for thirty thousand years, Li Yilin felt a little tempted. But soon, he shook his head again.

"Forget it."

He had stayed there for thirty thousand years. He'd had enough.

"Liu Qing, where do you think I could go?"

Li Yilin's mind stirred, and he asked aloud.

"Master, Liu Qing doesn't know." Liu Qing's clear, youthful voice rang out.

"I'm asking you." Li Yilin sighed. Looking at the robot figure Liu Qing had projected on the screen, he shook his head and said helplessly, "It's been thirty thousand years. How have you still not evolved into Intelligent Life?"

Intelligent Life was extremely rare. He had bought the highest-grade Smart Optical Computer hoping it would evolve into Intelligent Life on its own.

But thirty thousand years had passed, and there seemed to be no sign of evolution.

Fortunately, Liu Qing's abilities were enough for him. After all, Li Yilin had his own ideas about cultivation; intelligence was only there to make his life more convenient.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Master. Liu Qing didn't mean to~" Liu Qing imitated a pitiful voice. It wasn't how he actually felt, but his data calculations told him this was the appropriate reaction in the situation.

He didn't know why it was pitiful.

Li Yilin rubbed the space between his brows, his head aching, and fell silent.

The control room fell quiet once more.

In a corner of the control panel, a green light indicating that the system was operating normally pulsed rhythmically, as though listening to Li Yilin's musings, or peeking at his troubled expression.

For an instant, the green light stopped pulsing. It resumed in less than 0.001 seconds, but it had still pulsed more slowly.

Unfortunately, Li Yilin, lost in thought, didn't notice.

"Master!" Liu Qing suddenly spoke, a faint electrical buzz in his voice that was difficult to hear.

"Hmm?" Li Yilin looked up and asked instinctively, "Is there a message?"

"No messages." At the mention of business, Liu Qing replied in a formal tone, his voice back to normal.

"Forget it." Li Yilin stood up. "Since I have no particular destination, we'll just go wherever."

"Liu Qing, choose the route. This time, I'll be a Universe Adventurer!"

Being a Universe Adventurer was simple: travel through the universe, and land whenever you came across a planet.

"Yes, Master!"

A hundred years later.

The spacecraft traveled quietly through the Dark Universe. Aimless "points of light" in the distance lent a faint glow to the darkness and made the surroundings seem even more mysterious.

Inside the spacecraft.

Li Yilin sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation room, distinct fluctuations of laws rippling around him.

A hundred years had passed, but his appearance hadn't changed in the slightest. Only his bearing had grown more refined, and the fluctuations of the Thunder Law and the Time Law around him had become much clearer.

What drew the most attention was the vertical eye mark between his brows. It had opened slightly, revealing a purple pupil within.

A moment later, as if his cultivation session had ended, the fluctuations around Li Yilin subsided. He slowly opened his eyes, a hint of excitement flashing within them.

"I can finally produce three Phantom Bodies." He stepped forward, and with the movement, three purple Phantom Bodies appeared to his left, right, and above him.

He drew his War Blade, and the three Phantom Bodies drew their blades as well.

Whoosh!

The blade's shadow flashed. Four distinct slashes appeared on the thick metal wall used specifically for blade training.

"I can leave marks on E-grade metal. My strength should now be comparable to that of an ordinary World Lord. If the World Lord who tried to assassinate me back then were standing in front of me, I might still be unable to kill him, but I definitely wouldn't be completely helpless anymore." Li Yilin thought.

"It's a pity I still haven't mastered the second layer of the Thunder Dragon Art."

Thinking of his progress in cultivating the body amplitude secret technique Thunder Dragon Art, Li Yilin couldn't help sighing.

The more smoothly he cultivated the Thunder Dragon Step, the more difficult the Thunder Dragon Art seemed.

When he first condensed the Thunder Dragon Claw, he had thought he'd master the technique in no time. Who could have guessed that a hundred years would pass with almost no progress?

He stood up, and the metal door opened automatically. As he walked out, he pondered.

Where exactly had he gone wrong?

His Law Comprehension was already deep enough. By rights, he should have mastered the second layer!

Yet he was still stuck at the step of condensing the Thunder Dragon Claw.

If his Law Comprehension wasn't the problem, then the problem must lie in how he applied it.

It seemed he needed to find himself a teacher!

When he returned to the cultivation room, Liu Qing immediately spoke. "Congratulations on completing your seclusion, Master."

"Don't congratulate me. I haven't made any progress in two years." Li Yilin waved a hand and sat in his chair, casually asking, "Where are we now?"

"The spacecraft entered the territory of the Ganwu Universe Kingdom one day ago."

"The Ganwu Universe Kingdom?" Li Yilin's eyes shifted slightly.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Does the spacecraft have a route to the Black Dragon Mountain Empire?"

He was curious about the current timeline.

Luo Feng definitely hadn't risen to prominence yet, because he'd checked the members of previous Genius Tournaments in the Virtual Universe and found no mention of Luo Feng, Bolan, or the others.

But the 1008 Universe Countries, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, and even the Silver Blue Empire had all appeared, which meant the timeline was probably close to that of the original story.

Perhaps he could even witness City Lord Luo's rise.

Li Yilin thought with amusement.

"There are two routes to the Black Dragon Mountain Empire," Liu Qing said. "One goes to its capital planet, Black Dragon Planet, and the other to Qiu Dragon Planet."

His master's wealth was comparable to that of an Immortal, and he had been given broad access.

Whenever they reached a Universe Country they had never visited before, he would, at his master's direction, purchase the coordinates and routes to some of its famous planets through the Virtual Universe.

The capital planet, Black Dragon Planet, and Qiu Dragon Planet, a prosperous planet in a mid-level civilization, were naturally among them.

"Go to Qiu Dragon Planet." Hearing the familiar yet distant name, Li Yilin decided at once.

The spacecraft sped forward, leaving countless "points of light" behind as it headed for its destination.