Then Hong stepped in to spar with Yin Congyang. They fought for a long time, until Hong went all out, bringing his Second-Layer Domain and Planetary Level Seven strength fully to bear. Only then did he narrowly win with a single move.
Hong couldn't help praising him. "Congyang, you really are exceptionally gifted. That day, I was only speaking off the cuff, on a sudden impulse, yet you gained such profound insight from it. Your understanding of Hard-Soft Yin-Yang has improved so much. If your cultivation reached Planetary Level Five—not even that, if you were only Planetary Level Four—I'm afraid I wouldn't be your match. So, a solid foundation in cultivation is important too..."
Yin Congyang nodded silently. He had only broken through to the Planetary Level a few months ago. Though he had progressed rapidly, he had only reached the peak of Level One so far, and still needed more time before advancing to Level Two.
Whether at the Planetary, Star, or Universe Level, or at the Domain Lord and World Lord levels above them, advancement through the first three levels was fastest. Levels Four through Six took more than twice as long as the first three, while the final three levels required more than twice as much time as the middle three. Breaking through to a higher Life Gene Level took as long as all the time needed to advance from Level One to Level Nine combined—and even then, every other condition had to be met before a breakthrough was possible.
Otherwise, Hong wouldn't have spent decades at the Planetary Level only to reach Planetary Level Seven just recently. By that measure, Yin Congyang was already cultivating very quickly.
Of course, that was the time required when cultivating on one's own, without using any supplementary treasures. With the right treasures, cultivation could take tens or even hundreds of times less time. Luo Feng's Golden Horned Behemoth, for example, could shorten its evolution time by combining different metals in its Internal World. And before long, after Luo Feng bought Green Wave Marrow in the universe, Hong and Thunder God would use it to break through to the Star Level.
A few months later, it was August 2062.
That day, Babata excitedly told Luo Feng that the Black Dragon Mountain Spaceship had been repaired and was ready for a Cosmic Shuttle. He urged Luo Feng to register his identity in the universe as soon as possible so he could enter the Virtual Universe.
In the original story, Luo Feng had waited another month, until the Golden Horned Behemoth broke through to Star Level Four, before going to Qiu Long Planet. But now, he had made a promise to Yin Congyang and had also agreed to take Hong and Thunder God along. He decided not to put it off. The Golden Horned Behemoth would cultivate just as well in its Internal World, so the trip wouldn't cost it much time.
So Luo Feng called Yin Congyang, Hong, and Thunder God and asked them all to come to Yangzhou City.
The three arrived in Yangzhou City soon after.
Luo Feng asked with a smile, "Are you ready?"
The three nodded, full of anticipation. Before setting out, Hong and Thunder God had made arrangements at their martial arts schools. They would be away for at least a month, so they needed to prevent a repeat of the last time, when no one had been in charge. They also had to appoint people to keep watch over the monsters on Earth. If a high-level Lord-level Monster broke through to the Planetary Level, someone had to kill it immediately.
Luo Feng led the three into the sky. Eight thousand meters above Jiangnan Base City, a huge black spaceship hovered silently.
The hatch opened, and the four of them flew aboard together. They soon reached the control room.
Babata's face appeared on the screen. He looked smug as he told them, "The spaceship has left Earth."
"Set external scenery simulation to 100%," Luo Feng said.
Whoosh!
The control room, cabin walls, and floor all vanished. It was as if they were standing in midair. It was the first time Yin Congyang and the others had experienced such powerful three-dimensional simulation technology, and they couldn't help marveling at it.
A huge blue planet appeared in their field of view. Apart from Luo Feng, the other three had never seen Earth from outer space before. They all held their breath.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
They had seen views like this online and on television, but seeing it with their own eyes while standing in space stirred them to the soul. They fell silent.
The blue planet drifted farther away, growing smaller and smaller...
As the spaceship continued accelerating, Luo Feng explained, "This spaceship has an Automatic Gravity Regulation System. It adjusts itself to keep the gravity inside the ship at a constant level. Right now, it's set to one Earth gravity."
"Approaching light speed. Shutting down external scenery simulation!"
"We'll reach light speed in ten seconds," Babata called from the screen.
"10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1!"
In the vast starry sky, a patch of space rippled faintly. A black spaceship, already blurred beyond recognition, suddenly vanished.
The ship shuddered for a few seconds, then steadied.
"Cosmic Shuttle successful. We've entered the Dark Universe," Babata announced from the screen. "Would you like to see the Dark Universe?"
"Can you turn on external scenery simulation now?" Yin Congyang asked. He was quite curious about the Dark Universe.
"The ship is traveling at light speed, so it can't capture the scenery. It would have to slow down first," Babata said with a mischievous grin. "But accelerating and decelerating use a lot of energy. How about I simulate some views of the Dark Universe for you instead?"
A holographic screen appeared out of nowhere before them. It showed a few dazzling images: a vast expanse containing nothing but countless glowing points, like fireflies. It was a sea of lights. Beyond those beautiful points, there was nothing else in that boundless space.
"The Dark Universe and the Original Universe we live in have corresponding coordinates," Babata explained. "But the coordinate ratio between the Dark Universe and the Original Universe is 1 to 10.081 million. In other words, if you travel one light-year in the Dark Universe, then shuttle back to the Original Universe, you'll have covered 10.081 million light-years."
"In the Original Universe, matter can't exceed light speed. Once it reaches light speed, it immediately shuttles into the Dark Universe. In the Dark Universe, though, it can go beyond light speed. This spaceship's top speed is 1.5 times the speed of light, but to conserve energy, a cruising speed of 1.2 times the speed of light is ideal. At that speed, we should reach Qiu Long Planet in ten days. You can rest or cultivate in the meantime."
"There's one more thing you should think about," Babata said, sounding as if he had been worrying himself to death over them. "You've all learned the Universe Common Language, right? You're all unregistered residents in the universe, with no nationality. You'll need to apply for citizenship in some Universe Kingdom. Citizenship in a low-level cosmic civilization is easiest to get, and a mid-level one shouldn't be too difficult either. The high-level civilizations are more troublesome; they require a review."
"Also, when you go to Qiu Long Planet, you'd better have a disguised identity. That's why I had Luo Feng bring the Flowing Silver Guard. You can pass yourselves off as young heirs from a major family, out on a training expedition, and avoid a lot of trouble..."
"Babata really has thought of everything," Yin Congyang praised him. "Anything else we need to know?"
Babata beamed at the praise. "Oh, it's nothing. There isn't much else to worry about. If anything unexpected comes up, I'll tell you through your Optical Computer."
Luo Feng suddenly thought of something. "Babata, we'll have to pay to enter Qiu Long Planet, right? There's a fee to dock the spaceship, right? And we'll have to pay for food and lodging, right? Where are we supposed to get the money?"
Babata tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Let me look... Here we go. The Master left some coins behind. He kept them on him, since loose change comes in handy sometimes."
"Coins?" Luo Feng froze. "Will that cover the docking fee?"
"Right, I searched the whole storage space. There are only 932 Ganwu Coins. But they're Ganwu Coins, not Black Dragon Coins, and certainly not cheap Silver Blue Coins! One Ganwu Coin can be exchanged for 1,000 Black Dragon Coins. Don't worry, it'll be enough to get by for a while—as long as you don't have any big expenses."
More than nine days later.
"Everyone, come to the main control room. The spaceship will perform a Cosmic Shuttle in ten minutes, and we're about to reach Qiu Long Planet," Babata's voice rang out over the intercom.
The spaceship kept slowing down until it came to a complete stop. It shuddered for a few seconds, then everything settled.
"Cosmic Shuttle successful. We've returned to the Original Universe. External scenery simulation at 100%. Welcome to the real universe..."
Before you continue