Gene Evolution

BOOM!!!

A tremor deep within his soul rippled through his entire body, and every single cell in Feng Qingmo's frame began to undergo a violent transformation!

A wave of intense agony surged from the depths of his cells, causing his vision to blacken and forcing him to collapse onto the stone platform.

What is happening? After weathering the initial wave of excruciating pain, he barely managed to steady his mind and hurriedly inspected himself.

Every cell was blanketed in a strange radiance; while invisible from the outside, Feng Qingmo's interior was flooded with an incomparably intense light. Under this illumination, his body seemed to turn translucent—every bone, every muscle, and every blood vessel became nearly transparent.

Following the source of the light, his consciousness dove into his sea of consciousness, only to be shocked to find a bead hovering exactly where his spiritual force core should be, emitting endless brilliance.

This light seemed to carry a peculiar energy, causing every cell it touched to begin shifting.

Only after his cells gradually adapted to the changes brought about by this radiant energy did the agony slowly subside.

But at this moment, he had almost completely lost control of his body; he couldn't even manage to twitch a finger.

He withdrew his consciousness from his sea of consciousness to focus on the changes within his body.

The cells inside him were undergoing a metamorphosis within the light—a change originating from the depths of his genes, causing them to evolve and become more powerful.

Typically, such a biological transformation only occurs when crossing a major cultivation threshold.

For instance, when breaking through from an apprentice to the Planetary Level, the body's genes undergo a massive leap; only after this genetic evolution can a Planetary Level being reach a lifespan of over a thousand years.

Yet, the energy carried by this light was capable of achieving exactly that!

Genetic evolution? This... isn't this the same as the Nine Calamity Secret Manual from the original story?

Feng Qingmo's eyes widened slightly, and he fell into a state of profound shock.

What is this bead in my sea of consciousness? Why is it capable of violating the rules of the universe?

Clearly, there was no one to answer the questions in his heart, and unable to do anything else, he could only watch the radiant bead in silence.

One day, two days, five days...

It was not until ten days later that the bead's light suddenly dimmed. Soon, all the radiance retracted, and the bead in his sea of consciousness appeared somewhat dull, floating quietly in the center.

Feng Qingmo immediately regained control of his body, though his cells, having just endured a prolonged reconstruction, had yet to fully settle.

Struggling to sit cross-legged, he began to attempt to cultivate genetic energy.

The moment he started, every pore on his body seemed to open automatically. The omnipresent cosmic energy swarmed toward him, forming a small energy vortex around him as countless streams of cosmic energy poured through his pores to be absorbed by his cells.

His physical fitness skyrocketed, leaping from his previous status as a mid-level War God to the peak of the mid-level War God stage, nearing the high-level War God stage!

Half a day later, he stood up, his bones popping and cracking. As he moved about, feeling the explosive power within his body, a look of excitement couldn't help but surface on his face.

"The cosmic energy absorbed this time is roughly equivalent to the total amount previously held in my body—I've become twice as strong!" He sensed carefully. "In other words, the bead in my sea of consciousness can truly drive genetic evolution. If I was at 1x gene strength before, I am now at 2x, which is why my foundation is twice as powerful as before..."

He then sensed his spiritual force. Because his physical genes had doubled in strength, his spiritual force had risen in tandem, though the increase was not as significant as the physical one.

A portion of the cosmic energy absorbed into his body had also entered his sea of consciousness, converting into spiritual force. After the dark cyan liquid droplets originally in his sea of consciousness fully dissolved, his spiritual force, which had been at the entry-level of a mid-level War God, had now reached the average level of a mid-level War God.

Overall, however, his physical fitness had now surpassed his spiritual force, and if one factored in his combat techniques, he was even stronger.

Of course, his spiritual force was now capable of merging three strands of intent, equivalent to a 3x amplitude. With such an amplitude, the power of a single SS-Grade Flying Dagger was no less than that of an average high-level War God spiritual master.

He hadn't eaten or consumed water for over ten days, but under the influence of that miraculous light, his bodily functions had remained at their peak, and after finishing his cultivation, he felt full of vigor.

But now, a grave problem lay before him: how was he to get out?

He had entered through a bizarre method, and since he still didn't understand how that had happened, he naturally couldn't use that same method to leave.

Applying his spiritual force to his combat boots, he flew to the top of the cavern and began to inspect the space inch by inch.

After searching for a full half-day without finding even a single crack, he dropped back to the ground and spent another half-day examining the entire floor and the circular cavern walls.

"This shouldn't be. I clearly don't feel stifled, which means there must be a passage for air circulation. How can I not find a single trace..."

"Then there is only one method left..." He chose a random direction and moved to a spot about twenty meters from the wall. The SS-Grade Flying Dagger in the thigh pocket of his combat suit flew out automatically, then, accompanied by a sonic boom, stabbed into the cavern wall.

With a "clang," the dagger bounced back. Fortunately, its material was extraordinary, so it remained undamaged.

A sweep of his spiritual force revealed not a single mark on the wall, leaving Feng Qingmo deeply shocked. Given sufficient strength, an SS-Grade Flying Dagger could injure a King-Level Monster—that is, a Planetary Level monster—yet under his full-force strike, the wall didn't show even a scratch!

"Fine, no need to test the sword then..." He glanced at the sword in his hand and simply sheathed it back on his back. The sword was only S-Grade; it wouldn't be worth it if he failed to damage the wall and ended up damaging the sword instead.

The material of the floor was the same as the walls, so he dismissed that idea. He looked up at the ceiling and chose a smaller stalactite. With a thought, the flying dagger that had bounced onto the ground leaped up, transformed into a streak of black light, and pierced the stalactite.

"Crack~"

"It worked!" Feng Qingmo felt a surge of joy. The flying dagger had struck the center of the stalactite, and amidst a series of light cracking sounds, the lower half snapped off and fell.

Sweeping his spiritual force over it, he found that the broken section of the stalactite was hollow, revealing a pitch-black interior that led to who knows where.

At last, Feng Qingmo knew where the ventilation duct was—a draft of air was flowing out from inside the stalactite!

The design was exceptionally ingenious; it was completely invisible from the outside.

"This hole is too small; I can't fit through..." After waiting a moment to ensure there was nothing unusual, Feng Qingmo simply flew up to search for a stalactite large enough to accommodate him.

In the center of the cavern ceiling, there were several larger ones with a base diameter of nearly two meters; if they were also hollow, he should have no trouble passing through.