Jiang Luo skimmed through the Burning Technique, his eyes lighting up. "This really is a shortcut to quickly improving my Law of Fire. The only problem is that the materials are hard to find."
The divine arts and cultivation techniques he had manifested from the myriad worlds had all been modified by the Wordless Seal to suit the Supreme Rule of the Source World on the Origin Continent.
The original Burning Technique was a mysterious cultivation method that used Exotic Fires as fuel to drive the practitioner's constant evolution.
The version manifested with the power of wishes had become a technique that improved one's mastery of the Fire Origin Law by devouring special materials.
After all, the Swallowed Star universe had no such thing as the many wondrous Exotic Fires.
The strength of a flame depended purely on the practitioner's comprehension of the Law of Fire.
The special materials the Burning Technique required one to devour were treasures containing the Fire Origin Law!
Treasures containing Origin Laws were generally very precious. Many were used to forge valuable Immortal weapons, while others had even more astonishing uses.
As far as he knew, the Ice Fire Fruit produced in the Ancestral God Secret Realm even contained complete Laws of Water and Fire.
The Golden Leaves of the Kras Ancient Tree, for example, contained a tiny trace of the Light Origin.
Purple Blue Thunder Glaze contained the Lightning Origin Law and could be used to forge valuable weapons.
Nine Pure Light Sand contained a measure of the Time Origin Law and was a precious material for making time-type weapons.
"Wu He, check the past primary and intermediate auctions for treasures containing the Fire Origin Law," Jiang Luo ordered.
Such precious treasures would probably only appear at the Gulun Auction or an even higher-level auction.
Wu He quickly found the results. "In nearly the last hundred Gulun Auctions, there were seven appearances of materials containing the Fire Origin Law.
"On average, one appears every fourteen auctions.
"Materials containing the Fire Origin Law do appear at every intermediate auction, though. They're usually used to forge powerful Immortal weapons.
"However, intermediate auctions are held only once every hundred years and are open to Immortal Experts from all 1008 Universe Kingdoms.
"The good news is that the next intermediate auction isn't far off. It'll be held in nine years."
Jiang Luo's expression shifted. "Nine years?
"Fine. I'll ask around after I get to the Gulun Secret Realm.
"Besides, these treasures are all extremely precious and expensive. Even with the Flint Star Sector Lord's inheritance, I might not be able to afford one."
After ten years of being cultivated with vast resources, the Ten Thousand Feather Tree had reached Domain Lord Level.
At this year's Gulun Auction, he had even bought 56,000 Hunyuan Units' worth of materials in one go.
They were for advancing the Ten Thousand Feather Tree to World Lord Level.
At World Lord Level, the Ten Thousand Feather Tree would have the basic ability to protect and manage his star system territory.
He had assigned one Star Level offspring of the Ten Thousand Feather Tree to every life-bearing planet where he cultivated faith.
But Star Level offspring could manage planets, govern ordinary people, and spread faith just fine. They weren't enough to protect a planet if Space Pirates showed up.
Once the Ten Thousand Feather Tree reached World Lord Level, it would be able to produce Universe Level offspring on a large scale—strong enough to serve as planetary guardians.
This would consume even greater resources. Every time the mother tree produced an offspring, it expended life force, and the stronger the offspring, the more life force it took.
But all things considered, using the Ten Thousand Feather Tree to protect his star system territory and its source of faith was still the most cost-effective method.
Installing defensive and weapons systems on every life-bearing planet would cost even more!
Besides, most planetary defense systems required people to operate them.
That would mean needing even more slaves.
Evolving an auxiliary Smart Brain into an intelligent lifeform also took plenty of investment and time.
A single star system had at least hundreds of millions of life-bearing planets. How many slaves would he have to buy?
The Ten Thousand Feather Tree's offspring were like its clones. They were not only as intelligent as humans, but also completely obedient to Jiang Luo's will.
Only now could he leave the Huanming Star Sector with peace of mind.
After raising the Ten Thousand Feather Tree to World Lord Level, Jiang Luo took his parents from the Imperial Capital Star of the Movita Empire back to Luo Planet.
The Flint Star Sector Lord's treasure was gone.
The suspicion that Jiang Luo had obtained the Flint Star World token had also been cleared. And with his status as a disciple of the Ancient Wheel Hall, the Obsidian Company naturally no longer dared target him.
After providing the people of Luo Planet with sufficient resources and spending two months with his family,
Jiang Luo said goodbye to his parents and younger siblings, then boarded an E6-grade alloy ship from the Flint Star Sector Lord's collection and headed for the Gulun Secret Realm.
He stored the pyramid-shaped Flint Star Main Ship in his Internal World.
The Gulun Secret Realm was a miniature universe secret realm, only about 300,000 light-years in diameter.
It contained many dangerous areas.
On a vast continent, a spaceship slowly descended.
"Your Highness," said the Domain Lord-level captain in charge of the ship respectfully, "this continent is where members of the Ancient Wheel Hall below Immortal Level live, train, and temper themselves."
Jiang Luo was taken aback. "Below Immortal Level?"
"Heh." The Domain Lord-level captain smiled. "The disciples on the Gulun Sacred Island in the Virtual Universe are indeed only Universe Level and below.
"The Sacred Island itself exists to select geniuses for the Genius Battle, the Strong Ones Battle, and the various giants.
"But Star Level and Universe Level geniuses who fail to enter the Giant Axe Arena or the Virtual Universe Company will eventually advance to Domain Lord or even World Lord Level.
"As long as they meet the requirements of the Gulun Secret Realm, their status as Ancient Wheel Hall members won't be taken away just because they've become Domain Lords or World Lords.
"After all, a Universe Country also has to cultivate experts for itself."
Jiang Luo understood. In other words, this continent was home not only to Star Level and Universe Level geniuses like them, but also to older Ancient Wheel Hall disciples at Domain Lord and World Lord Level.
Jiang Luo had barely settled into the secret realm when visitors arrived.
"Senior Brother Ji, Senior Sister Eloise."
Ji Chen entered the castle with a woman dressed in green scale armor.
The woman smiled. "Junior Brother Jiang, you've always kept to yourself and hardly ever logged into the Virtual Universe. You've finally come to the Gulun Secret Realm."
She was also a Star Level genius from the Huanming Star Sector, named Eloise.
This was Jiang Luo's first time meeting her.
Ji Chen sighed. "There are twelve disciples from the Huanming Star Sector in the Gulun Secret Realm now, but aside from the three of us, the rest are all senior brothers at Domain Lord or World Lord Level.
"Although we live on the same continent, they rarely interact with us.
"Come on, I'll show you around. You may have looked up information about the secret realm, but I expect there are some details you still don't know..."
Jiang Luo had no reason to refuse. He did want to learn more about the Gulun Secret Realm from Ji Chen.
Inside the spaceship's lounge,
Ji Chen pointed out the scenery outside as he explained, "I told you earlier that the most precious thing in the Gulun Secret Realm is the Red Rock Beast.
"This ferocious beast is also called the Giant Axe Red Rock Beast.
"Legend has it that the great Founder first created and raised them in the Giant Axe Universe.
"They can reproduce only in the Giant Axe Universe.
"The most precious part of a Red Rock Beast is its core, known as the Rock Beast Heart. Consuming one can temporarily improve how clearly you perceive the Origin Laws.
"Heh, actually, the Rock Beast Heart strengthens the fluctuations of the laws in the surrounding universe. When those fluctuations become more intense, it's like your perception has become clearer, right?
"Even many members of the Alien Race covet the Red Rock Beast's benefits.
"The beasts in the secret realm were all brought over from the Giant Axe Universe by people sent by the ruler.
"Besides the Giant Axe Universe, only a couple dozen Universe Countries have the right to bring Red Rock Beasts over from there."
Jiang Luo quickly asked, "Are there Rock Beast Hearts that strengthen the fluctuations of the Space Law?"
Ji Chen and Eloise laughed at the same time. "I knew you'd ask."
Eloise sighed. "Who doesn't want to comprehend the Space Law? But higher-level laws are usually hidden behind lower-level laws, and their fluctuations are extremely faint.
"Even if you obtained a Rock Beast Heart that could strengthen the fluctuations of the Space Law, it would still be difficult to get started with the Space Law.
"Of the more than six hundred Star Level disciples in our Ancient Wheel Hall, only a handful have crossed the threshold of a higher-level law."
Jiang Luo pondered.
He wondered whether using the Mysterious Heaven Skill to devour the bloodline of a Red Rock Beast compatible with the Space Law could improve his talent for it.
After devouring the Flame Star Behemoth bloodline, his perception of the Space Law had become much clearer than before, but comprehending it was still difficult.
Luo Feng's cultivation of the Space Law had only begun to advance by leaps and bounds after he created a Mosha Clan clone.
But his Mysterious Heaven Skill could only devour the bloodlines of flesh-and-blood lifeforms. It wouldn't work on an energy lifeform like the Mosha Clan.
Besides, where could he find a Star Level or Universe Level Mosha Clan member?
No matter how miraculous the Mysterious Heaven Skill was, he couldn't devour a bloodline just from a scrap of skin.
Ji Chen continued, "Aside from the Red Rock Beasts, the most important thing in the secret realm is the Immortal Ladder..."
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