To Me... the Stellar Martial Path Was Within Reach!

Hm?

His lifespan had increased?

Lin Yuan hurriedly opened the Game Panel.

On his once-sparse personal panel, a new line had appeared—

Lifespan: 18/99 (lifespan plundered: 100 days)

Lin Yuan's gaze fixed on "lifespan plundered."

"Only a hundred days?"

Lin Yuan glanced at the dead Shadow Panther on the ground.

A Shadow Panther's natural lifespan was generally around fifty years. This was a world of advanced martial arts, after all, filled with the mysterious energy of the cosmic stars. Its panthers lived a little longer than ordinary ones on Blue Star in his previous life.

And the Talent Trait "Life Plunder" took one percent of a creature's remaining lifespan.

This Shadow Panther had been in the prime of adulthood. Around twenty years old, perhaps?

It might have had thirty years left, and one percent of that...

"That does seem to be a hundred days?"

Lin Yuan did the quick calculation and gave it little more thought.

It was free lifespan. However little he got, he would take it.

He just had to keep grinding, right?

He needed to level up anyway. If he could prolong his life and increase his natural lifespan while doing it, what was not to like?

"And if one gives me a hundred days, three would add a year to my life. Three hundred would add a century..."

The more Lin Yuan calculated, the brighter his eyes grew.

And that was just a short-lived Shadow Panther. If he hunted one of those legendary Stellar Behemoths said to tear the heavens and split the earth, to tread upon rivers of stars...

Now that was a thought.

Eternal life might really be possible. It might really be possible!

Lin Yuan could hardly wait.

Of course, right now he was only a lowly apprentice who had not even completed the Initial Body Tempering Realm.

Stellar Behemoths were terrifying creatures that only true Starry-Sky Warriors were qualified to hunt.

That was still a long way off.

Lin Yuan reined in his wandering thoughts and looked down at the Shadow Panther's corpse, a trace of contemplation in his eyes.

Shadow Panthers were among the more formidable predatory Fierce Beasts. Adults possessed four to five thousand jin of strength, and even a veteran Hunter at the Marrow Cleansing Stage would not dare let down his guard.

Surely that counted as a high-level monster in the Wilderness Zone?

Yet it had given him a mere two experience points?

The same as a Red-Tailed Fox?

"Looks like earning experience points won't be as easy as I'd hoped..."

He sighed softly.

Perhaps the Fierce Beasts were simply too low-level?

After level ten, the experience points required were measured in the thousands. It was nothing like before.

"I'll keep trying. If it doesn't work, I'll focus on training. Once I become a real Starry-Sky Warrior, I'll challenge a higher-level grinding area!"

Lin Yuan made up his mind. Without another glance at the Shadow Panther's corpse, he headed straight for the Boundless Grassland.

The Boundless Grassland truly deserved its reputation as one of the most dangerous parts of Wilderness Area No. 09527.

Its density of Fierce Beasts was far higher than that of the Gray Rabbit Plains.

Endless green grasslands and rolling hills nurtured untold numbers of Fierce Beasts.

You killed Yellow-Flower Dire Deer ×8. Experience points +16...

You killed Bloodthirsty Dire Wolves ×16. Experience points +32...

You killed a Working Leopard. Experience points +2...

You killed Proctology Directors ×32. Experience points +64...

With a sharp blade in hand, the urge to kill rose of its own accord.

Drawing on nearly five thousand jin of strength, Lin Yuan wielded the Blue Ice Battle Sword. With the doubled force granted by Microcosmic Swordsmanship, even a casual strike carried ten thousand jin of power.

The toughest hides parted like spring snow beneath the sun. Then his sword light threaded through with precision and grace, cleaving the Fierce Beasts' most vulnerable vital points and killing them in a single stroke.

Corpses littered his path.

Neither the fearsome packs of Bloodthirsty Dire Wolves nor the notorious Spotted Hyena packs, known as the grassland's Proctology Directors, could withstand his sword. He swept them away with ease.

Notably, Microcosmic Swordsmanship did far more than double his striking force. More frightening still was his unity with the sword: his control had reached the pinnacle of sensitivity to the smallest detail.

Lin Yuan's swordsmanship was not merely powerful. His defense was watertight.

Even when dozens of savage Spotted Hyenas rushed him at once, he easily blocked every attack, then struck through the gaps to claim one hyena's life after another.

The gulf between their levels was simply too vast.

Swordsmanship at the Microcosmic level would have been remarkable even among true Starry-Sky Warriors.

What chance did these mangy beasts have?

It was an assault from an entirely higher dimension.

And there was more. The value of "Swordsmanship Mastery," the strongest Golden Legendary Tier Talent Trait, was still rising!

"This isn't just about earning experience points. It's a whole new trial for my swordsmanship."

Sword in hand, Lin Yuan swept through enemies on every side.

Wherever he went, almost none could survive a single exchange.

Amid the slaughter, he carefully contemplated the mysteries of swordsmanship.

Swordsmanship Mastery had granted him a godlike talent for the Sword Dao. Reaching the Microcosmic level overnight was merely its most basic ability. Insights into the sword seemed to well up within him at every moment.

"Everything I learned before was just basic sword moves and beginner routines. None of it formed a complete system."

Lin Yuan seemed to fall into a state of sudden enlightenment.

Countless sword moves clashed in his mind. Sword light raged, bringing him an entirely new understanding.

He began deliberately joining those scattered moves into a true sword style of his own, one with both offense and defense.

Every move held an agile, effortless grace.

Each time he struck, his sword followed the angle most comfortable and precise for him. Its momentum was fierce, yet it retained a vast, sweeping grandeur.

"I created a sword style?"

Lin Yuan jolted awake, and the sword light dancing in his hand came to rest.

His expression shifted, his eyes shining.

A self-created sword style!

It was only a mundane sword style of the Body Tempering Realm, one that had yet to cross the threshold into the Stellar Martial Path, but...

He was merely a Marrow Cleansing apprentice. Had he truly created a complete, formidable sword style of his own?

"Swordsmanship Mastery..."

"So that's what mastery means!"

Lin Yuan was elated. He understood the terrifying power of Talent Traits even more deeply now.

This sword style would not raise his combat strength by much. It was only a mundane style, after all.

But it had deepened his understanding of the Sword Dao and raised his swordsmanship to another level.

He had not reached Perfect Grade yet, but he was close!

"In swordsmanship alone, I'm probably ahead of many true Starry-Sky Warriors."

Lin Yuan felt rather pleased with himself.

This was not arrogance, but a clear sense of his own level.

Starry-Sky Warriors were powerful, but weapon skills depended more heavily on talent and comprehension.

A gift for martial arts did not necessarily mean a gift for understanding them.

When many Starry-Sky Warriors first broke through, their skill was still only at the Basic Stage. Being able to control one hundred percent of their own power was enough to meet the standard.

Of course, such Starry-Sky Warriors were considered poorly gifted. Their combat strength was unremarkable, too, and they were relatively rare.

With some time, most Starry-Sky Warriors could reach the Mastery Stage and exert one and a half times their normal force. That was the usual standard.

As for the higher levels of skill, Microcosmic Swordsmanship and even Perfect Grade?

Those belonged to true geniuses. Ordinary people found them difficult to reach.

Lin Yuan had attained Microcosmic Swordsmanship while still in the Body Tempering Realm, before becoming a Starry-Sky Warrior. He had even caught a glimpse of Perfect-Grade Swordsmanship. He had every reason to be proud.

"Ahem. Stay humble, stay humble."

"Until I actually become a Starry-Sky Warrior, all this is just passing smoke. It's not worth mentioning..."

Lin Yuan knew his limits.

His swordsmanship might have reached the Microcosmic level, perhaps even half a step toward Perfect Grade.

But the gap between him and a true Starry-Sky Warrior remained frighteningly vast. They were not even on the same plane.

Becoming one was a tremendous leap in the level of life itself, something no mere difference in swordsmanship could bridge.

"But it won't be long now..."

Lin Yuan raised his head toward the blazing sun.

He lifted his left hand as if to seize the great sun in the sky, his resolve sharp enough to cut through anything.

"To me..."

"The Stellar Martial Path is within reach!"