Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map

Sixteen years later.

Inside a villa in Luo Capital.

"Ah Luo, are you still going to the Martial Hall today?" After breakfast, Yue Qin looked at the sunny, handsome youth before her, a trace of pride rising in her heart.

Jiang Luo smiled. "I'm going to East Snake Mountain for closed-door cultivation. This session likely won't be short, so you, Dad, Yingying, and Ting don't need to wait for me."

After seeing her eldest son off, Yue Qin turned back, eyes narrowing as she began her signature routine with her two younger children. "Why can't you two learn from your brother?"

"Especially you, Ting. It's one thing that your grades are poor, but you don't put any effort into martial arts either. You fish for three days and dry nets for two, not even reaching the level of a martial artist. You're a disgrace to our Jiang family!"

Jiang Ting poked at his food, muttering under his breath, looking as if he couldn't care less.

The youngest, Jiang Ying, sighed helplessly. "Mom, stop comparing us to Big Brother. He is the youngest Martial Saint in the history of the Alliance and a member of the Upper House. Not only is he unprecedented, but I doubt there will ever be another monster like him..."

Under their mother's sharp glare, the young girl pursed her lips and swallowed the word "monster."

Jiang Ting snorted. "Our principal is a Grandmaster ranked in the top ten of the Alliance. They say he was a peerless genius in his youth, but didn't he lose to my brother in a match before?"

"No matter how much of a genius someone is, they won't catch up to a single finger of Big Brother even if they train until they die. So what's the point of practicing?"

With that, he ran upstairs, refusing to listen to any more of his mother's nagging.

Yue Qin's expression faltered, and she gave a bitter smile.

She recalled that when Jiang Luo became a martial artist at seven and defeated his father—who was a high-level coach at a martial arts club—her husband had lost much of his passion for the path of martial arts.

Having a son with such peerless talent and unmatched ability brought the family both pride and immense pressure.

Inside a mountain range, two guards stationed before the core cultivation chamber bowed respectfully upon seeing Jiang Luo. "Hall Master!"

Jiang Luo nodded, entering the mountain's interior through the mechanical doors under their reverent gazes.

"Not bad. While it doesn't compare to the most devout form of faith, it is far better than the faith directed toward 'Emperor Luo' or 'Ancestor Luo'."

Jiang Luo felt the power of faith flowing from all directions into the seal deep within his soul, where it was converted and condensed into wisps of white wish-power, flowing into a single star.

The dazzling white sun of wish-power that he had accumulated over five thousand years in the seal's space had been entirely consumed.

Now, only one white star remained—wish-power he had newly acquired and accumulated over the past few years under the titles of the youngest Martial Saint in history and the strongest Martial Saint of the current era.

Although the quantity of wish-power was less than one-twentieth of what he had before, he was already very satisfied with this rate of accumulation.

It had been sixteen years since he abandoned his body and reincarnated through the secret technique of Living Corpse Reincarnation.

However, it had only been three years since he became the youngest Martial Saint and founded the Crimson Bright Martial Hall, and only one year since he became the recognized strongest Martial Saint of the current era.

To collect one-twentieth of the wish-power accumulated over five thousand years in such a short time!

Of course, this was related to the fact that the ancient population was far smaller than it was today; Luo Planet currently held over ten billion people, a result of the development of technological productivity.

Secondly, his soul previously required a constant consumption of wish-power just to maintain itself, so a large portion could not be saved.

However, at this rate, he estimated that in another dozen years or so, he would be able to restore the amount of wish-power he had spent thousands of years accumulating.

It's a pity this situation won't last long... Jiang Luo thought to himself.

Once the people of Luo Planet made contact with cosmic human civilization, the quality of their faith would drop significantly.

Through his research over the past decade or so, he had discovered that faith also had distinctions in quality.

The most devout were those who viewed him as an omnipotent supreme god, a singular object of faith.

Thousands of years ago, when his title of "Emperor Luo" became the supreme among gods in mythology, such believers had appeared.

On average, the faith of such devout believers could be converted into a wisp of white wish-power in a year.

Next were those who worshipped him as the strongest being in the known world; it would likely take a hundred such believers a year to contribute a single wisp of white wish-power.

Then there were those who revered him as an ancestor or a famous figure; strictly speaking, this could no longer be considered faith.

It was merely a feeling of admiration and respect, and even ten thousand people might not contribute a single wisp of white wish-power in a year.

Once the people of Luo Planet made contact with cosmic civilization, Jiang Luo would certainly be unable to hold onto his title as the "strongest."

The people of Luo Planet would still respect Jiang Luo—in the name of their leader and the strongest of their kind.

But that would no longer be the worship of the "strongest," nor could they be called believers.

Let alone viewing him as an omnipotent supreme god.

It would be best to purchase a life-bearing planet, migrate mortals to multiply and thrive, and cultivate faith in a supreme god...

Jiang Luo shook his head, cutting away the tangled thoughts one by one. He closed his eyes, merging his body and mind with the heavens, the earth, and the planet, sensing all things in nature.

Countless scorching golden flames gathered in his right hand, while cold, icy light gathered in his left.

In one hand, he held a star of flame; in the other, a star of ice!

This was the first volume of the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map, manifested by consuming almost all the wish-power he had accumulated over thousands of years.

The first three levels were the apprentice stage.

From the fourth level onwards, it was the Planetary level.

He had mastered the third level three years ago, reaching the War God tier, which made him a Martial Saint Grandmaster on Luo Planet.

Since ancient times, no powerhouse on Luo Planet has ever surpassed the Martial Saint realm to reach the Planetary level; the Grandmaster Martial Saint is already the highest rank on the planet.

Of course, this is only equivalent to a War God in terms of cultivation realm.

His actual physical strength has long exceeded a thousand tons, rivaling a Planetary-level martial artist; he is the genuine number one powerhouse of Luo Planet.

And that is not even counting his spiritual telekinesis.

Because he has been nourished by the power of vows for thousands of years, his soul is far stronger than that of an average Luo Planet inhabitant. Once his physical body reached the War God level, his spiritual telekinesis had already stepped into the Planetary level.

And now, he is finally about to break through to the fourth level!

Perhaps it is because he was worshipped by the people of Luo Planet for thousands of years as "Emperor Luo" and "Ancestor Luo" in spirit.

The state of Unity of Heaven and Man is as simple as breathing to him, so practicing the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map is not particularly difficult.

Of course, being on the verge of breaking through to the fourth level so quickly is also the result of consuming a significant amount of the power of vows.

The power of vows can not only manifest various cultivation techniques and divine abilities, but it can also be consumed to help him overcome bottlenecks and accelerate the progress of his cultivation.

Jiang Luo faintly sensed two immense laws, mysteries that have existed throughout the vast universe for endless ages.

Massive amounts of cosmic energy, accompanied by wisps of radiance, began to accelerate and converge toward Jiang Luo.

First, a bit of water-colored radiance gathered, gradually forming huge lotus leaves.

Then, a bit of fiery light gathered, forming crimson lotus leaves.

The water-colored lotus leaves and the fire-colored lotus leaves circled him, overlapping above and below, rotating in opposite directions.

It was as if two Taiji fish were chasing each other.

Who knows how much time passed.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Huge flames condensed out of thin air in the surroundings, followed by surging waters; wherever they passed, everything froze into ice sculptures, only to shatter and burn to ash.

Jiang Luo felt every cell in his body explode, only to be reshaped into new cells under the intertwining of the two strands of genetic origin energy.

From this moment on, the mortal shell is shed!

"Crack, crack, crack~~"

"Pop, crackle~~"

Jiang Luo felt every minute part of his being undergoing rapid transformation, and the spiritual telekinesis that had been sealed within his sea of consciousness was completely released!

"This power..." Jiang Luo clenched his fist, and the air itself distorted.

It had surged by more than a hundred times!

"Probably 200,000... no, 250,000 tons!"

The magnitude of the power surge was so great that even he found it difficult to estimate accurately.

His pure physical strength alone was nearly 250,000 tons!

"The physical strength of an average ninth-rank Planetary-level is about this high, right? However, my genetic origin energy is still only at the first-rank Planetary level..."

The power of a genetic martial artist is divided into "physical strength" and "genetic origin energy."

The physical strength and genetic origin energy of a first-rank Planetary-level are both about a thousand tons, totaling two thousand tons.

Yet, after Jiang Luo perfected the fourth level of the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map and shed his mortal shell, his reshaped body directly reached the ninth-rank Planetary level!

It can be said that if one does not consider the force-multiplying factor, he could rival an eighth-rank Planetary-level based on his physical body alone.

"And physical strength is not even the most important thing..."

Jiang Luo revealed a smile, his intent shifting.

"Boom!"

The surrounding space shook violently. First, a crimson radiance rapidly permeated the area, shrouding the massive space carved out within the mountain belly like the domain of a god.

Then, a silver-white radiance superimposed itself over the crimson domain and spread out.

The two overlapped—one icy cold, one scorching hot.

They even faintly transformed into two giant lotus leaves...

A domain!

And it was a dual-element domain of water and fire!

This is the profound mystery of the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map after reaching the Planetary level.

"When Luo Feng, a genetic martial artist, stepped into the Planetary level, he gained the metal-attribute Diamond Body. Mine could perhaps be considered a Body of Water and Fire—"

"Not good!"

Jiang Luo was suddenly startled.

A cracking sound came from above the mountain range.

Fine fissures appeared on the surface of the mountain walls surrounding the cavern.

Jiang Luo immediately used telepathic transmission to the guards of the Crimson Bright Martial Hall outside: "Leave East Snake Mountain immediately!"

During the process of mastering the fourth level of the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map, he had triggered the origin laws and drawn in cosmic energy of water and fire attributes to temper his physical body, which had already caused damage to the interior of the mountain range.

Subsequently, releasing the dual domains of ice and fire only added insult to injury, becoming the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Rumble~~~

The earth shook, and dust filled the air.

East Snake Mountain collapsed completely!

A streak of light enveloping a dozen guards from the Crimson Bright Martial Hall surged out from the lingering dust.

"Hall... Hall Master!" a burly man exclaimed, his face full of shock.

Flight!

The Hall Master was actually carrying them through the high sky.

"Could it be..."

Jiang Luo waved his hand casually, and the dozen guards descended into the forest below.

Before his figure vanished, he left behind only one sentence: "If the Alliance sends people to inquire, just say I have made a breakthrough while in seclusion."

The guards of the Crimson Bright Martial Hall looked at each other in dismay.

A breakthrough?

The Hall Master was already an invincible existence among Martial Saints; if he were to break through again, wouldn't that mean...

Above the clouds, Jiang Luo transformed into a streak of light, tearing through the sky without any regard for the numerous artificial satellites in orbit.

Having broken through to the Planetary level, his physical body tempered by the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map, combined with his dual domains, gave him combat power comparable to a Stellar level.

There was nothing left on this planet that could threaten him, so naturally, there was no need to hide his strength any longer.

"With my current strength, it should be enough..." Jiang Luo's gaze was profound.