This was an ancient city.
The streets were paved with large blocks of cut stone. The passersby varied in appearance, height, and race, but most wore plain gray clothes, and each had a little sprite perched on their shoulder.
Whoosh!
A person suddenly appeared out of thin air on the street. It was Yun He.
Yun He wore plain gray clothes. A fist-sized sprite with a large head and a clueless expression sat on his shoulder, dressed in green. It looked very cute.
"Uh, this is my intelligent assistant? It looks kind of dumb."
The Auxiliary Optical Computer's intelligence was limited. It could only carry out its master's orders and could not think independently at all.
Standing on the street, Yun He watched the passing crowds and looked around curiously.
"So this is the Virtual Universe? It really is amazing!"
"Master, you have mail!" the intelligent assistant suddenly said.
"Open it," Yun He instructed.
The message was from the Virtual Universe. It asked whether he wanted to link the Universe Galaxy Bank account under his name and explained the benefits in detail. Linking a bank account would allow him to spend money, practice martial arts, buy and sell goods, use financial services, conduct transactions, and so on in the Virtual Universe...
"Link it!" Yun He said.
"Yes," the intelligent assistant replied. A second later, it said, "Account linked successfully!"
After that, Yun He spent some time exploring the Virtual Universe, learning about its wonders.
He only logged off several hours later.
Then he went to the Slave Market in Qiu Long City and bought a pair of twin female slaves to take care of his meals, daily needs, and cleaning.
The twins were very beautiful members of the Dream Shell Clan, closely resembling Earthlings.
They were Apprentice Level Nine, equivalent to the peak of the High-level War God rank on Earth.
The price was 2,000 Black Dragon Coins...
Two beautiful girls with emerald hair stood before Yun He. One was alluring and seductive, while the other was innocent and shy.
They looked exactly alike, differing only in their demeanor.
They were far more beautiful than many celebrities on Earth.
Yun He could not help but sigh. The universe truly was a place where the strong preyed on the weak.
These two Dream Shell Clan girls, for instance, came from a planet ruled by a Universe Level lord. The billions of Dream Shell Clan members on that planet were all the Planet Lord's private property. Every so often, the lord would harvest a batch of them, both men and women, and sell them at the Slave Market.
Dream Shell Clan slaves were all beautiful or handsome, regardless of gender, so they were fairly well known at the Slave Market.
But that was precisely their tragedy.
With no powerful figure among them to protect their people, their entire race could only be sold like merchandise.
Yun He sighed. Looking at the two timid girls before him, he asked gently, "What are your names?"
"Master, my name is La Bei," answered the alluring girl, the elder of the twins.
"Master, my name is... La Lei..." The innocent girl lowered her head, her voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.
Those names...
Yun He was speechless. What do they make when you put them together? You're clearly trying to stir up trouble!
"Don't be afraid. As long as you don't make mistakes, I'm pretty easy to get along with. You can settle down here without worrying. All you'll usually need to do is clean and cook," Yun He said.
"Yes." The two girls bowed.
They were all speaking the Universal Language. Yun He had learned it before leaving for Qiu Long Star.
Yun He settled down on Qiu Long Star.
The castle had a secluded chamber specifically equipped for cultivation.
One day...
A powerful aura rose within the chamber.
Yun He slowly opened his eyes.
"Star Level."
It had been almost a year since he reached the peak of Planetary Level Nine. After living on Qiu Long Star for half a month, he had finally broken through.
Feeling the power within him, roughly ten times stronger than when he was at Planetary Level Nine, Yun He smiled faintly.
"System, shouldn't you be showing up now?" Yun He called.
Ding!
Congratulations on reaching Star Level. You have received a gift pack. Would you like to open it?
Just as expected. Yun He had confirmed his suspicion.
The system really did appear every time he advanced to a new level.
"Open it!" Yun He drew a light breath.
Ding!
Opening confirmed!
What reward will I get this time? Yun He was filled with anticipation.
Ding!
Congratulations! You have obtained a talent for the space-time law.
What!?
It's actually...
A talent for the space-time law?
Yun He's eyes widened.
Are you giving me a guaranteed ride straight to Universe Master?
You little rascal, you really get me!
Ding!
Reward successfully delivered.
An inexplicable cool sensation entered his sea of consciousness.
In an instant, Yun He felt his mind become incredibly clear. The space and time laws, which had always seemed hazy before, suddenly became more than ten times clearer!
They were even as clear as the law of light!
The law of light was a lower law, whereas space and time were higher laws!
They're actually equally clear?
All three laws are advancing together?
Yun He had no time to dwell on his surprise. He immediately immersed himself in comprehension.
Many things that had previously puzzled or confused him now became clear.
It was as though a thin, hazy veil had been lifted.
Beautiful!
So beautiful!
Wondrous!
So wondrous!
This is space?
This is time?
Clearer than ever before!
Yun He's entire consciousness seemed to merge into the two higher laws, so engrossed that he did not want to leave.
With his eyes closed, Yun He unconsciously traced his fingers through the air. Threads of law appeared in the empty space along their paths.
As his fingers danced, the threads slowly intertwined to form a mysterious pattern.
Yun He frowned and swept his palm across it. The mysterious pattern vanished.
His fingers danced again, and threads of law intertwined once more to form a mysterious pattern.
The entire pattern was etched into empty space. Faint light and darkness complemented one another, as though representing light and shadow. At first glance, anyone who saw it seemed able to understand that it had been inscribed using the law of light.
This pattern represented a portion of the law of light.
This time, Yun He did not erase it. He moved his fingers to one side and began drawing again.
This time, he was depicting the space law.
Silver-gray threads of law appeared in the air, intertwining and winding around one another to form a rather incomplete pattern.
Its strokes were clearly much simpler than those of the light pattern beside it.
Yun He swept his hand across it, erased it, and began drawing again.
After repeating this seven times, he finally formed a silver-gray pattern that looked much like the light pattern beside it.
The entire pattern was mysterious and profound.
The surrounding space trembled faintly.
Next came time.
Transparent threads followed his fingers as they traced through the air.
He drew, then erased.
After ten repetitions, a transparent, mysterious pattern finally took shape.
Yun He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the three patterns he had unconsciously drawn in the air before him.
They represented light, space, and time, respectively.
"If a complete law is represented by a perfect pattern, then it would take 10,081 small patterns like the ones I've drawn to form a truly complete law diagram!"
"In other words, I've only finished that final one. There are still another 10,080? And after that, I have to combine all the small patterns?"
Yun He smiled bitterly.
It was an enormous undertaking. Truly enormous.
The road ahead is long. I'll take it slowly.
For now, I'll blend these three small patterns together into a fusion law diagram.
Yun He closed his eyes again and moved his fingers, attempting to combine the three small patterns floating in the air.
But this was clearly not something he could accomplish in just one or two attempts.
He kept failing and erasing.
He failed again, then erased again.
Before you continue