After this had gone on for a while, night soon fell.
Lin Yi stayed quietly in his room.
He did not cultivate.
Blue Star lay in a ruined region where Source Energy was scarce. It had no history of using Source Energy, let alone any manuals for cultivating it.
If he wanted to cultivate properly, he would have to wait for the assessment to begin, obtain a basic cultivation method from the Spirit Radiance Crystal, and then use Source Energy Crystals to cultivate efficiently.
But being unable to cultivate did not mean he could not improve himself.
He planned to make the most of this window of opportunity, before the deity's avatar arrived and Blue Star was covered by its Divine Kingdom Projection, while nothing could yet be traced back to him, and improve his physical condition as much as possible.
After all, there were plenty of high school students with good physiques. One more would hardly stand out.
Lin Yi lay quietly in bed and closed his eyes.
His soul origin was like an invisible, precision probe, scanning his young body in minute detail.
The distribution of his muscle fibers, the density of his bones, the transmission efficiency of his neural network—every bit of data appeared clearly in his consciousness.
Drawing on his profound understanding of the evolution of life from his previous life, he rapidly worked out the most efficient regimen for nourishing his body.
Outside the window, the summer night remained stifling, and the cicadas sang without tiring.
Lin Yi's breathing, however, grew long and took on a distinctive rhythm.
With every breath in, it was as if he were drawing on the faint, nearly nonexistent energy particles floating in the air.
In Blue Star's energy desert, their effects were a mere drop in the ocean, yet they still naturally nourished every cell.
With every breath out, metabolic waste quietly left his body.
Lin Yi controlled his muscles, making minute, imperceptible tremors and stretches, like the most skilled internal martial arts master, gently yet thoroughly awakening his body's potential.
He spent over two hours conditioning and training himself with his self-created breathing method. Only when a heavy weariness settled over him did he get up, wash up, and prepare to rest.
Moonlight streamed through the sheer curtains, casting mottled shadows across the floor.
Though Lin Yi's body was tired, his soul remained as clear as day.
As he regulated his breathing with his eyes closed to ease his physical fatigue, he began reviewing what he had gained that day.
"The Heaven-Equaling Battle Armor is settled. Next..."
But he had barely begun to sort things out when a strange force suddenly tugged at him from deep within his soul.
Lin Yi's eyes flew open, only for him to realize he was no longer lying in his familiar bed.
He was surrounded by an endless expanse of chaos. There was no solid ground beneath his feet, yet he stood firmly all the same.
Most bizarrely, the space was filled with a faint purple mist that drifted slowly like a diluted nebula.
"What is this...?"
Lin Yi warily surveyed his surroundings, quietly on guard.
Just then, a point of light suddenly flared at the center of the space.
As the light gradually grew clearer, it finally revealed a jade pendant floating in midair.
It was the very Ancient Jade that had turned to ash in his palm that day!
The Ancient Jade was now completely intact, its surface flowing with mysterious purplish-gold patterns. They were not still, but writhed slowly like living things, sometimes forming abstruse runes, sometimes shifting into the paths of stars.
Lin Yi's heart shuddered. He could clearly sense the thin purple mist in the space slowly seeping out from the Ancient Jade, thread by thread.
"So you didn't disappear..."
Lin Yi murmured inwardly and instinctively drifted toward it.
But when he came within about three feet of the Ancient Jade, he was struck as if by lightning.
A flash of enlightenment, swift as lightning, entered his consciousness.
Somehow, he suddenly knew things about this space.
This space was a special dimension that the Ancient Jade had formed within his soul origin.
The purple mist was "Spirit Enlightenment Qi," created when the Ancient Jade absorbed and transformed the universe's primordial energy. He could absorb it at will, and the amount he absorbed determined how long he could remain in a state of "enlightenment."
In that state, his comprehension would increase exponentially. Whether he was studying cultivation techniques, devising combat skills, or solving problems, he could reach a state of perfection approaching "communion between heaven and man."
"Improved comprehension. Enlightenment..."
Even Lin Yi's soul origin trembled faintly beyond his control.
Having experienced three major breakthroughs—from Star Dust to Star Core to Star Nebula—how could he not understand the value of enlightenment?
How many powerful experts remained stuck at bottlenecks for thousands, even tens of thousands of years, before dying in despair?
Did they lack resources?
Willpower?
Neither.
All they lacked was that sudden flash of inspiration.
And this Ancient Jade could actually create such a state—one that was normally impossible to seek out!
"This is simply..."
After musing over it for a while, Lin Yi finally began to calm down.
For now, he only knew what the purple mist could do. Its exact effects still needed to be tested.
Besides, the purple mist in the Ancient Jade's space was extremely faint. If he had to wait an especially long time after using it once, it might turn out to be useless.
To understand the effects and cost of the Spirit Enlightenment Qi more precisely, Lin Yi decided to conduct a small experiment.
He first looked around for a while, then picked his target.
"You'll do."
He focused intently, concentrating his soul power into an invisible, precise finger. Carefully, he reached toward the tiniest wisp of purple mist drifting near the edge of the space.
The wisp writhed faintly, as if alive, carrying an indescribably profound aura.
Lin Yi gently touched it with the tip of his soul, then moved his mind. His soul origin opened like a barely ajar door, slowly drawing in the isolated wisp of purple mist.
Boom!
The instant the purple mist entered him, Lin Yi felt as though his consciousness had been hurled into the heart of a supernova.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly, while his thoughts accelerated exponentially. A hazy Source Energy formula from his memories suddenly became clear, its derivation and its connection to the laws of the universe revealed with crystalline clarity.
A small question that had troubled him in his previous life—how to use the laws of the universe to reinforce Source Energy and improve its structural stability—was answered in this state of accelerated thought. The solution appeared as simply and clearly as one plus one equals two.
However, this state of seeing through the universe and thinking like a god lasted only the briefest instant.
Almost as soon as the thought arose and the answer appeared, that boundless clarity receded like the tide, and his consciousness returned to its normal speed in the soul space.
Lin Yi's soul form shuddered violently. A trace of lingering regret showed in his eyes, but they shone with startling brightness.
"One second. Just one second."
He had precisely gauged how long the state lasted: exactly one second.
One wisp of purple mist bought one second of enlightenment.
Immediately afterward, he turned his senses toward the Ancient Jade.
The space where he had taken the wisp seemed to have caved in ever so slightly.
He focused on observing how quickly the Ancient Jade generated purple mist.
The patterns on its surface flowed, and purple mist slowly seeped out once more.
Lin Yi silently kept track of the time.
After half an hour, he calculated the conclusion based on the amount of mist that had regenerated.
"One day!"
It took a full day for the wisp of consumed mist to be replenished completely.
The conclusion made Lin Yi's heart sink at first, but then an even more blazing fire ignited within him.
One second was a drop in the ocean when it came to Star Nebula Rank problems or profound legacies. But if he patiently accumulated the mist over time, it could prove enormously useful.
After all, those at Star Nebula Rank could live for a hundred thousand years!
Having learned what he wanted, Lin Yi followed the information imprinted in his consciousness and used his mind to touch and activate the Ancient Jade.
An irresistible repelling force swept over him, and Lin Yi suddenly opened his eyes in bed.
He immediately scanned his body again and again. First, he confirmed there was nothing unusual, then he entered and exited the Ancient Jade's space twice more.
In the end, he verified one thing: he did not need to send his entire consciousness into the Ancient Jade's space. Sending in just a trace of thought worked just as well.
And when he used the purple mist in the Ancient Jade's space through that separate thought, his body and soul origin remained completely unchanged.
Only after his concerns had been put to rest did a smile finally creep onto Lin Yi's lips.
"One wisp of purple mist, one second of enlightenment. One day to produce a single wisp."
He lay in bed without turning on the light, gazing at the ceiling in the darkness as he mused to himself:
"I'd only planned to pretend to be a genius, score highly on the assessment, secure a better starting point for myself and Blue Star, and get a few more cultivation resources. But now... who could say I'm faking it?"
Before you continue