White Phoenix

But now that his strength had broken through again, the Wind Shadow Blade was starting to fall behind. After all, it was only a Grade 5 Force Weapon, while his full-power attacks were already at the Marquis Level. He needed a better weapon.

He checked the relevant information. A War Blade suited for a Peak Marquis Immortal fighting at full strength cost around 3 million Hunyuan Units, and since it was custom-made, there was no discount. Of course, providing all the materials himself would make it much cheaper. Depending on the quantity and compatibility of the materials, it would cost between 100,000 and 300,000 Hunyuan Units.

But there was no rush. He still had more than three thousand years in Chaos City, so he could wait until before he returned to the Outer Battlefield to think about it.

As he considered this, Ye Muxuan took a deep breath and opened the Secret Technique category, his expression grave. This was where the bulk of the points would go!

No matter the circumstances, one's own strength was the foundation of everything! He had a budget of 100 million points, giving him an advantage over most geniuses, so he needed to choose carefully.

Ye Muxuan didn't look at any other Secret Techniques; he didn't need to. He went straight to the Secret Techniques of the Jinghong Lineage.

On the screen before him appeared a dense list of Secret Techniques. Any one of them would be enough to drive Immortals and even Venerables wild if it were available outside.

Drifting Shadow Secret Canon, Three Thousand Phantom Bodies, Wind Travel Essays, Seven Volumes of Wind Blades, Space-Time Shadow, Star River, Nine Transformations of Thunder Fury, Autumn Killing Secret Canon...

There were more than a hundred Secret Techniques worth over 100 million points alone, and three were worth a trillion! There were countless others at every level, from a few hundred or a thousand points to millions or tens of millions!

And these were only the Secret Techniques of the Jinghong Lineage, associated with the Jinghong Chaos Stele. There were more than fifty other Chaos Steles, too. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the treasury contained nearly every mature Secret Technique still known to the Human Race.

Of course, the self-created Secret Techniques of some experts were still being perfected and weren't included in the treasury. The powerful cared greatly about their reputations, after all. Sharing an unfinished Secret Technique would only tarnish their names.

Ye Muxuan carefully reviewed the basic information on each Secret Technique, comparing them against his own circumstances as he narrowed down the options.

He was already a World Lord, with a very deep understanding of the laws. His self-created Second Form had even reached the Peak Marquis level. He was only one step away from fully comprehending the complete Origin Law of Wind and becoming an Immortal through it.

His standards were therefore exceptionally high. Back when Muxuan had browsed the treasury of the Military System, he had looked through many Secret Techniques before finally choosing the Extreme Wind Secret Canon, which suited him extremely well. But now, Ye Muxuan felt that the Extreme Wind Secret Canon alone clearly wasn't enough.

Even the ninth level of the Extreme Wind Secret Canon only reached the Marquis level. After mastering it, he could use a Marquis-level Secret Technique created by someone else, but its power would only just reach that level.

Only a self-created Secret Technique could bring his full strength to bear.

That was why Ye Muxuan's self-created Second Form had already reached the Peak Marquis level. His Law Comprehension was roughly on par with the Fifteenth Floor of the Heavenly Bridge.

Of course, among the World Lords in the Core Layer of the Five Great Powers, this level was downright ordinary. Among the remaining eighty-three World Lords in the Virtual Universe Company's Primal Secret Realm, even the weakest had reached the Sixteenth Layer. And among the more than eight hundred World Lords in the Taichu Region, several of the top members had reached the Sixteenth Layer of the Heavenly Bridge. Even in the Heavenly Region where he currently resided, his Thirteenth Floor level put him only around the middle of the pack. After all, the World Lord stage was when many geniuses' strength surged.

And the Human Race had five such powers!

After taking stock of his circumstances, Ye Muxuan realized he didn't need a combat Secret Technique. What he needed was one for research. According to his plans, he intended to return to the Outer Battlefield or a Universe Secret Region during his World Lord stage, before completing a series of goals.

He could use a research Secret Technique to help him create his own. By the time he broke through to become an Immortal, he would have accumulated a solid foundation, and his strength would naturally be even greater.

So...

After narrowing down his choices, Ye Muxuan's gaze settled on three Secret Techniques. He hesitated, unsure which to choose.

Wind Travel Essays, nine levels, full price: eight billion points.

Space-Time Shadow, seven levels, full price: ten billion points.

Miscellaneous Theories of Clear Shadows, nine levels, full price: one trillion points.

All three were research Secret Techniques written by experts of the Jinghong Chaos Stele lineage. Though they mainly focused on research, they also contained quite a few combat techniques, most of which were meant to support research.

Space-Time Shadow leaned toward the Time Origin Law, while Wind Travel Essays and Miscellaneous Theories of Clear Shadows focused more on studying and understanding the Jinghong Chaos Stele. The Virtual Universe Company's point valuations showed that Miscellaneous Theories of Clear Shadows offered the deepest insights into the Jinghong Chaos Stele.

However, the creators of these Secret Techniques were all at least Kingdom Lord level. Ye Muxuan wasn't qualified to judge any of them.

"Master, you've received an internal message from the Virtual Universe Company," the Intelligent Life Nine Phoenix reminded him from his shoulder.

"An internal message?" Ye Muxuan paused. He didn't have much of a network within the Virtual Universe Company. Otherwise, he wouldn't be agonizing over which Secret Technique to choose. Back on the Outer Battlefield, Muxuan hadn't had any options. The Basic Inheritance he'd received as someone from a Universe Secret Region hadn't been anything special—just passable. He'd relied entirely on his talent and comprehension to power through. He could only choose according to what he'd understood at the time, and in the end he'd picked the Extreme Wind Secret Canon. It was, after all, a combat Secret Technique for Marquis Immortals, worth 5 billion Military Merits. Now, though, there were too many options, and he feared making the wrong choice.

Ye Muxuan opened the message.

"Muxuan, I watched your video of your attempt at the Heavenly Bridge. You haven't yet grasped the essence of the Jinghong Chaos Stele. I also watched your battle videos from the Outer Battlefield. Your self-created Secret Technique is still quite crude. It's too early for you to start creating your own Secret Techniques. You should focus on studying the Jinghong Chaos Stele more. When the time is right, you can start creating your own."

"There's a Secret Technique in the treasury called Shadow Sweep. It's the best supplementary Secret Technique for studying the first three diagrams of the Jinghong Chaos Stele. There's also Floating Light, which is a good supplementary Secret Technique for studying the first six diagrams."

"Of course, if you have points to spare, you can also buy Miscellaneous Theories of Clear Shadows. It's the supreme canon for studying the Jinghong Chaos Stele and will greatly help your Law Comprehension. I look forward to the Jinghong Lineage producing another master, or even a Kingdom Lord."

"White Phoenix."

PS: To be honest, writing this fanfic has left me a little dazed. I got carried away—what a nightmare. I've been writing it entirely on my phone, using Writer Assistant. I write a little over two thousand characters, check it over, and schedule it if I don't spot any typos. (There may still be some I missed, so please bear with me.) Since the fanfic's outline is basically already in the original, and the setting's already there, sometimes I can't help repeating things, which makes it feel, uh, a bit padded.

I wrote just under ten thousand characters on my phone on the 15th, downloaded Writer Assistant, and uploaded it at nine that evening. A few of the names I came up with didn't pass review, so the author name and book title ended up being decided rather haphazardly. For the first three or four days, it didn't even have a cover. But you all love Swallowed Star, and in the end, in just over ten days, you gave me more than a hundred monthly votes and over a thousand bookmarks. Thank you all so much!!! Well, this chapter is an extra update for passing a hundred monthly votes. Writing on my phone really is...