Cao Bing

Cao Bing opened his eyes in a daze, unable to stop a bitter smile from forming in his heart.

He had transmigrated again!

Why "again"?

Cao Bing had already transmigrated once before this.

He had originally been an utterly ordinary office worker born in the '90s, only to wake up one day and find himself lying in an unfamiliar bed.

He had also inexplicably received a flood of unfamiliar memories.

He had become a mere sixteen-year-old high school student.

But the time in this world was already 2054, and humanity now lived within survival bases. Beyond those bases lay the domain of savage beasts.

The place he was in was Jiangnan Base City, and he even had a classmate named Luo Feng!

The moment Cao Bing finished absorbing that information, he was utterly dumbfounded.

Wasn't this Devouring Starry Sky?!

A novel written by an author he had once loved reading!

Cao Bing had never imagined that he would transmigrate to such a place.

A world filled with crises like this was simply far too dangerous for him!

Even though Jiangnan Base City, where Cao Bing lived, had not encountered any major dangers in the novel.

There was also the fact that the parents of this high school student Cao Bing had been Martial Artists, though unfortunately, they had already died in battle in the wilderness before his transmigration.

Still, they had left him quite a bit of wealth: aside from a house, there were over three million in savings, along with some government compensation.

Cao Bing had more than 3.5 million in his hands.

Among ordinary people, that could already be considered an enormous fortune.

But Cao Bing knew it was nothing. Which Martial Artist did not spend millions at a time?!

Of course, if Cao Bing had been willing to remain an ordinary person forever, that money would absolutely have allowed him to live a prosperous life.

But was Cao Bing willing?

In a world of superhumans, to live quietly as an ordinary person, then naturally fade away in less than a century?

Who could accept that!

Thus, Cao Bing resolutely set foot upon that road of no return.

Fortunately, Cao Bing's family still had considerable assets. While he was still a junior trainee, he spent money to hire senior trainees to personally guide him one-on-one.

In a little over two years, Cao Bing had poured nearly a million into it, finally forcing himself to the peak of advanced trainee level.

He was only one step away from becoming a true Martial Artist.

Yet that single step had remained uncrossable for two entire months.

Perhaps this is the difference between me and the protagonist, Cao Bing had thought bitterly at the time.

Then, on this day, after Cao Bing finished his grueling training at the martial arts hall and lay down on his bed, something unexpected happened.

Normally, when he closed his eyes, his vision would sink into darkness. But this time, Cao Bing saw a tiny point of light in his mind.

The point of light was not large, merely the size of a grain of rice.

Yet within Cao Bing's mind, it was exceptionally conspicuous.

At the time, Cao Bing was filled with curiosity and confusion. He clearly remembered that Luo Feng had become a Mental Master because a dark golden "metal sphere" existed in his mind.

Though his own was a little smaller, what if it worked? Even becoming just a beginner Mental Master would be a profit!

Thus, after a bout of hesitation and inner struggle, Cao Bing still extended his consciousness toward it.

But the moment he probed it, his entire consciousness was sucked directly into the point of light.

Then the scene of his previous transmigration repeated itself.

A massive flood of memories entered his mind once more.

They stabbed at his brain and consciousness. Only after a long while did he open his eyes in a daze.

In this world, he was the heir to an ordinary martial arts hall in Yanjing City, Eastern Region, Great Chu Empire. But the same thing had happened here: three months ago, the master of the martial arts hall had died of illness.

The martial arts instructors and students had scattered like birds and beasts.

Of the enormous martial arts hall, only Cao Bing and a loyal old servant remained.

"Prince Who Guards the South, Qin De, Yanjing City? Tongtian Diagram?" Cao Bing rubbed his still-aching head and muttered softly.

"Isn't this Stellar Transformation?!" Cao Bing got another headache.

He was equally familiar with the Stellar Transformation World. It was a novel written by the same author who had written Devouring Starry Sky.

"What is this? Tomato, was this your doing?" Cao Bing could not help looking up at the sky.

As for the world of Stellar Transformation, if one called it dangerous, then as long as Cao Bing did not get involved early on, it was not truly dangerous. At most, war would bring some uncertain risks.

But if one called it safe, the great powers that appeared later on were simply too numerous. Although none of them were in this realm, the Controllers Lin Meng and Hongmeng were truly terrifying.

He was now effectively inside a world created by them, and he did not believe for a moment that they would be unable to notice him.

After all, the world belonged to them. Having barged in so recklessly, they could probably kill him with a single thought.

Fortunately, nothing had happened. Perhaps they did not care about an ant like him, or perhaps this body had originally been a native of Stellar Transformation, so they had spared him.

In any case, Cao Bing had already transmigrated here for several minutes, yet he was still fine.

"Forget it. I'm already here, so why think so much? Since I'm not dead, I can live! Let's look at the good stuff first!" Cao Bing muttered to himself. He turned over, got down from the bed, and opened a hidden compartment beneath it.

From within, he took out an illustrated manuscript.

"Tongtian Diagram."

The Tongtian Diagram could be called Qin Yu's greatest early opportunity in the Stellar Transformation World aside from Meteor Tears. It was also the key to obtaining the supreme cultivation technique, Stellar Transformation, and had helped the protagonist immensely.

That was right. The body Cao Bing now possessed had a complete rubbing copy of the Tongtian Diagram, an heirloom that Cao Bing's family had passed down through generations.

Before dying, its original owner, Lei Wei, had divided the manuscript into three parts and scattered them across the continent. It had passed through countless owners, yet none had been able to solve its mystery. It was precisely because it had passed through so many hands that rubbing copies existed.

The ancestors of this body's original owner had once obtained the complete Tongtian Diagram, copied it, and passed it down until today.

When Cao Bing had just received this part of the memories, he had been overjoyed.

The manuscript that Qin Yu had obtained only after countless bitter battles and hardships had appeared in his hands so easily.

Though it was only a rubbing copy, it could produce the same effect, could it not?

Others could not decipher the secret upon it, but Cao Bing could.

He had read all of Stellar Transformation and knew how to make it work.

"Unfortunately, this Tongtian Diagram requires one to push external cultivation to the Xiantian Stage before it can function. Only upon reaching Xiantian Great Perfection can one be guided into the boundless Wildlands."

"And my dantian is not innately flawed like Qin Yu's. I don't know whether I can cultivate Stellar Transformation."

But even if he could cultivate it, the first step alone was exceedingly difficult. Training external cultivation to the Xiantian Stage—how could that be possible?!

How many resources had Qin Yu consumed? How many hardships had he endured before reaching that level? No one on the continent had achieved it in all this time. Even Qin Yu had only managed it with the help of Meteor Tears.

Even if he could persist in extreme body training every day, how could the resources of a shabby little martial arts hall support him until the Xiantian Stage? It was simply impossible. Without sufficient resources, forcibly training his body would only leave him depleted, plagued by hidden injuries, and eventually dead.