Leaving After the Deed! The Mysteries of the Nine Star Transformations!

Having grasped the crux of Luo Feng's training bottleneck, Lin Yuan was no longer impatient.

He was like a patient hunter...

Quietly lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

He valued this mission highly because the reward was something he could not refuse. Lin Yuan was a War God, a top-tier expert among martial artists, yet he was far from the pinnacle of the pyramid.

Since he had the "System" by his side, Lin Yuan would never settle for mediocrity. He would strive to climb higher, leaping from Earth into the vast starry universe!

"Planetary level is merely the beginning. Since I have been reborn and possess the System, if I cannot stand at the peak of the universe and look down upon all races, wouldn't this life have been in vain?"

Lin Yuan stood behind the one-way glass, his gaze profound.

He chose not to disturb Luo Feng just yet.

Because he knew that when a person is fully focused, they are often unable to listen to the advice of others.

Only when a person's physical and mental strength reaches the critical point of extreme exhaustion, and their mind experiences a brief moment of blankness, is their subconscious most receptive to external "suggestions."

Guidance given in that state is more effective than a thousand words.

Time ticked away, second by second.

The roaring sound inside the gravity chamber never ceased, until three hours later, when the heart-stopping thuds finally came to a halt.

Hiss—

The heavy alloy door slid slowly to both sides.

Luo Feng dragged his exhausted body out.

"Still not working... My strength is clearly sufficient, so why is the second layer always just a little bit off?"

Luo Feng kept his head down, his brows tightly locked, replaying every strike from moments ago in his mind as he walked.

He walked very slowly, completely immersed in his own world, not even noticing the changes in his surroundings.

This was a secluded path leading to the trainee lounge, dimly lit and rarely frequented.

Just then, a slender figure slowly emerged from the shadows ahead.

Lin Yuan had his hands in his pockets, his pace leisurely. His aura was restrained to the extreme; at a glance, he looked like an ordinary person, yet he was shrouded in an unspoken pressure.

It was the natural, oppressive sense of life-level superiority exuded by a peak-level Advanced War God, or perhaps someone who had already stepped half a foot into the Planetary level.

Luo Feng, who had been deep in thought, felt the hair on his body stand on end.

This was the instinctive intuition honed by a martial artist through life-and-death tempering in the wilderness!

He subconsciously lifted his head, his gaze instantly colliding with the approaching Lin Yuan.

Luo Feng's heart skipped a beat.

The young man before him looked no older than himself, but those eyes were like an ancient well, bottomless and seemingly capable of absorbing all light.

Out of an instinctive reaction to a powerhouse, Luo Feng immediately concluded that the person before him was no ordinary individual!

He quickly composed himself, stopped, stepped aside to clear the path, and respectfully nodded to Lin Yuan.

This was the basic etiquette in the training camp for low-level trainees toward high-level powerhouses.

Lin Yuan's expression was calm; he gave a slight nod in return.

Then, he walked straight past, the distance between them closing until they brushed shoulders.

At the very moment their figures crossed.

The air seemed to freeze for an instant.

Lin Yuan did not stop, his gaze fixed straight ahead, but he tossed out a sentence in a voice that was neither loud nor soft, sounding like a mutter to himself or perhaps a sigh:

"The Nine-Layer Thunder Blade: its essence lies in layering, its root lies in retraction."

The voice was not loud, yet it clearly drilled into Luo Feng's eardrums.

Luo Feng's pupils contracted sharply.

Following that, the voice continued, carrying a clarity that pierced straight to the source:

"If force is not contained, how can it be layered? Rather than pursuing release, you should first learn to grasp."

As the words fell, Lin Yuan's figure had already walked several meters away.

He did not look back, nor did he offer any explanation.

However, these few short sentences were, to Luo Feng, no different than a thunderbolt exploding in his mind!

Boom!

Luo Feng froze in place, his entire body trembling violently as if struck by electricity.

"Its root lies in retraction... Rather than pursuing release, first learn to grasp..."

These words echoed crazily in his mind like a demonic chant, over and over, continuously battering his inherent mental barriers.

He subconsciously extended his sweat-drenched right hand, splayed his five fingers, and then gripped them tight!

Creak!

His joints popped and cracked.

An unprecedented sense of clarity surged into his heart.

"That's it! That's exactly it!"

Luo Feng's eyes snapped open, erupting with a radiance of wild joy.

"I've been obsessing over how to strike with force, but I forgot that only by clenching the fist tight can the strike be truly ruthless! Only by 'withholding' the force of the previous layer can I stack the force of the next!"

Everything suddenly became clear!

It was as if the gate to a new world had been blown wide open before him!

The bottleneck that had plagued him for so long finally showed a hint of loosening at this very moment.

"Senior!"

Luo Feng turned around abruptly, eager to find the face of that expert, to thank him in person, or perhaps even to ask for further guidance.

But—

All that met his gaze was the empty corridor and the shadows stretched long by the dim, yellow lights.

Where was there even a trace of a person?

Lin Yuan had already completed his task and retreated, vanishing without a trace.

"Is... is this what a true powerhouse is like?"

Luo Feng stared blankly at the empty hallway, the shock in his heart refusing to subside for a long time.

He gripped the Blood Shadow Battle Blade in his hand tightly and bowed deeply toward the direction where Lin Yuan had disappeared.

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior! Luo Feng... will keep this etched in his heart!"

Half an hour later.

High above Hongning Base City.

A pitch-black, streamlined King-level intelligent fighter jet, like a giant black eagle, silently tore through the sky, speeding toward Jiangnan Base City.

The interior of the jet was luxurious and comfortable.

Lin Yuan sat on a leather sofa, holding a cup of steaming, freshly ground coffee, taking a leisurely sip.

Outside the window, the massive city clusters were brilliantly lit, resembling a galaxy on the ground, receding rapidly beneath his feet.

Just then, that familiar mechanical voice rang out in his mind right on cue.

[Ding!]

[Mission "Guidance Without Leaving a Trace" completed!]

[Distributing reward: Universe-level Genetic Energy Cultivation Method—Nine Star Transformations!]

Boom!

As the system's voice faded, Lin Yuan felt as if a supernova had exploded within his mind.

A massive, obscure, yet profoundly mysterious stream of information instantly flooded into the depths of his memory.

It was not merely text or images, but a legacy imprinted directly onto his soul.

He seemed to see a vast, boundless starry sky where countless stars moved along peculiar trajectories, inhaling and exhaling cosmic energy, endless and eternal.

"Is this... a Universe-level cultivation method?"

Lin Yuan closed his eyes, sensing it carefully.

By comparison, the Five Hearts Toward Heaven cultivation method, revered as a supreme treasure on Earth, was as rudimentary as a primary school student's calisthenics.

Nine Star Transformations drew the power of the stars into the body, tempering every single cell and causing the genes to undergo an essential leap!

Hum—

Without Lin Yuan needing to guide it, the genetic energy within his body began to circulate as if responding to some supreme summons.

The energy, which had been like a trickling stream, now roared through his meridians like a rushing river!

The efficiency... was dozens of times higher!

Crack, crack, crack...

Faintly, he could even feel the solid barrier blocking the path between the War God level and the Planetary level beginning to tremble violently under the impact of that raging energy, showing tiny cracks!

"What an overbearing cultivation method!"

Lin Yuan snapped his eyes open. Within his pupils, stars seemed to flicker and fade, and a brilliant light shot out, making the lights inside the jet appear dim by comparison.

He clenched his fist, feeling the power within his body that seemed capable of destroying the heavens and the earth.

"Perhaps, I can elevate my strength even further."

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to go into seclusion and break through immediately.

He was well aware that a martial artist's breakthrough required a comprehensive transformation of their physical constitution; although the barrier had loosened, fully crossing it still required a period of accumulation and settling.

But...

"While my martial artist cultivation cannot directly pierce that membrane in the short term, my spiritual force, on the other hand..."

The corners of Lin Yuan's mouth curled upward, revealing a confident smile.

Spiritual force was inherently easier to break through than martial artist cultivation, and now, with a heaven-defying technique like the Nine Star Transformations that could nourish the soul, combined with the formidable foundation of his soul from having lived two lifetimes.

Stepping into the Planet level with his spiritual force was already a certainty!

Everything was ready; all that was missing was the east wind.

"Luo Feng, this guidance counts as an investment I've made in you in advance."

Lin Yuan turned his head to look at the pitch-black night sky outside the window, his gaze seemingly piercing through the clouds to look toward a much more distant future.

"We should have many more intersections in the future, but they will never again be as simple as today's guidance."

"The next time we meet, perhaps it will be on that vast stage known as the 'Universe'."

With the Path of the Strongest system and the Nine Star Transformations, the ambition in Lin Yuan's heart was no longer confined to the corner of Earth.

He swore to walk a path of hegemony that would make all the races of the universe tremble!

"Return to Jiangnan!"

Lin Yuan set down his coffee cup and issued the order in a soft voice.

He was going to—begin his seclusion.