As the sun and moon revolved, time slipped by like a shuttle.
Before he knew it, a month had passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Lin Yuan had almost completely shut himself away inside the black King-Level Intelligent Fighter. Aside from taking on essential supplies, he was like an ascetic, immersed in a world of cultivation and enlightenment.
There was no doubt about it: anything the system produced was top quality.
Nine Star Transformations truly lived up to its reputation as an ultimate cultivation art that led straight to Universe Level. Compared with the Five Hearts Toward Heaven cultivation method passed down on Earth, it was like a dimensionality-crushing advantage.
If the Five Hearts Toward Heaven method was like scooping up water one spoonful at a time, then Nine Star Transformations was like throwing open a floodgate, drawing cosmic energy into his body like a mighty river surging upstream!
With such terrifying efficiency, Lin Yuan—already at the peak of High-level War God and with his Spiritual Force pressing against a bottleneck—quickly reached the threshold.
Buzz—
One night, the fighter hovered ten thousand meters above the ground.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged when a crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out from deep within his sea of consciousness.
Immediately afterward, his previously formless Spiritual Force seemed to be drawn by some mysterious power. It began to compress and condense at a frenzied pace.
At last, it transformed into drops of crystalline liquid that floated at the center of his sea of consciousness.
His Spiritual Force had liquefied!
That meant his Spiritual Force had officially crossed the threshold into Planetary Level!
However, when Lin Yuan opened his eyes, though his gaze gleamed, he showed little joy.
He knew perfectly well that only his Spiritual Force had broken through.
His martial cultivation was still at the peak of High-level War God.
A true Planetary-Level powerhouse condensed a tangible Miniature Planet inside his dantian, complete with its own gravitational field. Their life genes underwent a fundamental leap, and they transcended their mortal bodies.
They could live for a thousand years and cross the Void in the flesh.
As for Lin Yuan, the Origin Energy in his dantian was still liquid. It was far purer than that of an ordinary person, but its nature remained unchanged.
"One step at a time. Even with the system, I can't reach the heavens in a single bound."
Lin Yuan was calm.
Though the breakthrough in his Spiritual Force had given him offensive power comparable to that of a Councilor Level powerhouse,
the power had come too quickly and too fiercely. It was like a child suddenly being handed a machine gun. Without proper practice, he couldn't bring out its true power.
"Quality alone isn't enough. I need strength to match."
So, for the next half month, Lin Yuan left the fighter.
His travels took him across the Wilderness Zones of Eurasia, from the deep forests of China to India's tropical rainforests, then on to the ruined cities of the European Union.
Like a tireless hunter, he roamed in search of powerful prey.
He wanted not only to hone his newly advanced Spiritual Force, but also to fully integrate his new War Blade, Shadow Devourer, and its accompanying secret technique, Shadow Kill, with his own martial path...
In a ruined city on the European Union's border, everything lay in desolation.
Once a thriving metropolis, it had become a playground for monsters. A thick stench of blood hung amid the crumbling ruins.
Anyone looking down from above would have been terrified out of their wits by the sight.
For several kilometers in every direction, the streets ran red with blood, like a hellish painting.
More than a dozen enormous corpses lay strewn across the ground.
There were Iron-Armored Dragons clad in heavy armor, Flame Lions wreathed in fire, and Shadow Moon Wolves renowned for their speed...
Even more astonishingly, every one of these monsters had been a High-level Lord-level Monster that ruled over its own territory! Normally, any one of them could have put a War God team through a brutal fight.
But now, they were all cold corpses.
And every one of them had died in the exact same way—
Decapitated!
The cuts were as smooth as mirrors, as if an exceptionally sharp blade had severed their lives in a single instant, leaving them no chance to fight back.
Who could have done this?
Boom!
Just then, a deafening crash came from the center of the ruins.
A twenty-meter-tall Diamond Giant Ape let out a furious, despairing roar before its enormous body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
A hair-thin line of blood appeared across its neck, then a spurt of blood gushed out.
The dust settled.
A slender figure stood silently beside the giant ape's corpse, a black War Blade in hand.
It was Lin Yuan.
His combat suit was spotless—not even a drop of blood had touched it. The Shadow Devourer in his hand gleamed with a cold, dim light, its aura as frigid as midwinter.
"Boring."
Lin Yuan casually twirled the blade, sheathed it, and couldn't help grumbling.
When he infused his Planetary-Level Spiritual Force into his swordplay and unleashed the Shadow Kill secret technique, those so-called High-level Lord-level Monsters were as fragile as vegetables beneath a cleaver.
Too weak.
They couldn't make him feel even the slightest pressure, let alone force him to his limits.
"Looks like I'll have to find stronger opponents."
Lin Yuan shook his head and spent a little time efficiently harvesting the most valuable materials from the Lord-level Monsters.
He wasn't short on money, but even the smallest drops filled a bucket. Added together, the materials were still worth a small fortune.
Once he'd finished cleaning up, Lin Yuan flashed away, becoming a streak of flowing light as he returned to the Intelligent Fighter hovering in midair.
"Activate the communications system."
He had blocked all outside signals so he could focus on cultivation and combat.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
As soon as communications came back online, a piercing alarm blared frantically through the cabin.
The virtual screen popped up automatically, its entire interface covered in glaring red.
This was...the highest-level red alert?!
And it had been issued personally by the Extreme Martial Arts Hall's Global Headquarters!
"Hm?"
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, a flicker of interest in his eyes. An alert of this level from headquarters couldn't be about anything trivial.
He reached out and opened the message.
[Emergency Mission: Hunt the High-level Beast King—Phantom Cat Emperor!]
[Location: Wilderness Zone on the outskirts of West Sea Base City, Europe.]
[Target Strength: High-level Beast King (close to the threshold of Emperor level).]
[Threat Assessment: Extremely High! The target is as fast as a ghost and, exceptionally for its kind, specializes in mental illusion attacks.]
[Situation Report: Recently, War God teams have been disappearing frequently around West Sea Base City. An investigation found that the Phantom Cat Emperor was responsible.
The Beast King is highly intelligent and excels at ambushing and slaughtering human powerhouses. Three days ago, an Elite Squad consisting of three High-level War Gods went to hunt it down. The entire squad was wiped out, leaving no trace of their remains!]
Lin Yuan nodded slightly as he read the information on the screen.
"Looks like things have become a real mess over there."
A High-level Beast King that specialized in mental illusions was indeed a nightmare for War God-level powerhouses. Even someone at the peak of High-level War God would be doomed once caught in an illusion.
As for why the Councilor Level powerhouses there weren't stepping in—
Lin Yuan knew the reason well.
In this era, humanity had gained the strength to contend with the monsters, but it was still on the defensive.
Every Councilor Level powerhouse was a strategic deterrent. They had to remain stationed at their respective Base Cities at all times to guard against sudden beast tides.
Who knew whether this Phantom Cat Emperor was bait? If a Councilor left and a beast tide took advantage of the opening, the consequences would be unimaginable.
That was why such tricky, dirty work often fell to free-roaming Inspectors like him, who had enough strength to handle it.
"Psychic illusions, huh..."
Lin Yuan's lips curled into an amused smile.
In the past, he might have hesitated to face an opponent like this. But now, his Spiritual Force had just reached Planetary Level, and he'd been looking for a suitable whetstone.
This Phantom Cat Emperor was practically a walking bundle of experience points!
After a pause, Lin Yuan's gaze shifted downward.
At the very bottom of the screen, a button flashed red—
[Accept mission?]
Lin Yuan didn't hesitate for a moment. He tapped it lightly.
"Accepted."
Before you continue