In an underground chamber in the Canglan Residential Area.
A stick of Sandalwood Incense in the corner had burned more than halfway down. Its faint, rising fragrance soothed the mind.
At the center of the chamber, Yang Zheng sat cross-legged on the floor, his palms, soles, and crown facing upward. As his body absorbed the vitality of the Verdant Grass Dew, it also drew in the cosmic energy that permeated his surroundings.
The dew's boundless vitality and the cosmic energy passed through the mitochondria in his cellular factories, transforming into streams of gene origin energy that gradually strengthened his body from the surface inward.
Meanwhile, in Yang Zheng's sea of consciousness, the Pyramid continuously released energy. His spiritual force, which had originally existed as both mist and liquid, steadily transformed into liquid.
As his body grew stronger, his spiritual force naturally surged as well, rising to the limits his body could withstand.
He had no idea how much time passed.
Finally, the Pyramid in his sea of consciousness abruptly swelled, then split apart with a series of cracks. Endless, surging spiritual force spread throughout his entire sea of consciousness.
All the transformations finally stopped. In the fluorescent-lit underground chamber, Yang Zheng at last opened his eyes.
"The Pyramid... shattered..."
All his dormant spiritual force had been released and exhausted. From now on, he could only increase his spiritual force through his own cultivation.
Rumble!
He immersed his awareness in his sea of consciousness. Mist swirled and billowed without end, while torrents of liquid flowed beneath it like a galaxy coursing through his mind.
"So powerful!"
Yang Zheng suddenly punched the Alloy Wall beside him, burying more than half his fist in it. Then he delivered another heavy blow with his left fist, shaking the entire underground chamber.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Every casual punch left a startling crater in the Alloy Wall.
"That feels good. So good."
This increase in strength was far more terrifying than the one he had experienced after taking dragon blood. Having suddenly gained such tremendous power, Yang Zheng could not help venting his exhilaration in this most savage of ways.
"Let's try my spiritual force!"
Yang Zheng turned toward his S-grade combat suit. Ten throwing knives instantly shot through the air and began circling him at astonishing speed. They reached ten times the speed of sound in an instant and continued accelerating.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The S-grade throwing knives flew so fast that they sliced grooves into the nearby Alloy Wall as they swept past.
"Time to test my punching strength!"
Leaving the underground chamber, Yang Zheng entered the Martial Arts Training Hall and quickly switched on the Punch Strength Tester. His fist struck its Punch Target like a meteor, making the target shudder violently.
"213,210 kg."
A string of digits promptly appeared on the Punch Strength Tester's screen.
"About what I expected!"
Yang Zheng nodded in satisfaction. His punching strength had jumped from 60,000 kilograms before taking the Verdant Grass Dew to 210,000 kilograms, already approaching the level of a High-level War God.
As for his spiritual force...
Boom!
The back of a throwing knife shot into the Punch Target, unleashing an impact of over 500,000 kilograms.
An Advanced War God's punching strength ranged from 256,000 to 512,000 kilograms. Yang Zheng was now a genuine Spirit Reader at the pinnacle of the High-level War God tier, worthy of being called an Invincible War God.
"Unfortunately, I can only control six throwing knives at most right now."
Yang Zheng shook his head. Without having studied systematic secret techniques for controlling spiritual force, his control remained crude. He could not precisely control a greater number of throwing knives.
"I need to get my hands on Fundamentals of Psychokinesis as soon as possible!"
According to his contract, he would receive this reward once his physical power multiplier reached six. The many secret techniques recorded in Fundamentals of Psychokinesis were exactly what Yang Zheng needed most right now.
Given enough time, Yang Zheng might have tried using his Golden Finger, the Cultivation Progress Bar, to develop some control methods of his own.
Unfortunately...
There really was not enough time.
In just over a year, the Golden Horned Beast crisis would erupt. Another two years after that, the Universe Adventurers would arrive on Earth, followed by the Nuolan Shan Family...
This disaster-prone little planet truly did not let anyone pause for even a moment.
Night fell.
Rows of streetlights lit up throughout the residential area, their light streaming through the glass into the second-floor bedroom.
"My movement technique has already reached the Artistic Conception Level. In theory, the next stage should be the Domain Level, but this domain..."
Yang Zheng felt troubled. Having read the original novel, he knew domains were not easy to master, especially at the Apprentice Level.
He had great confidence in his cheat's progress bar, but the crucial step in activating a bar was reaching that initial 1% progress. Otherwise, the cheat could not do anything.
It had already been nearly ten days since he mastered Artistic Conception Level movement, yet there was still no sign of progress toward the Domain Level.
"Forget it!"
"I'll just have to take things one step at a time!"
Yang Zheng focused his awareness on the Artistic Conception Level movement technique in his mind and the activated Nine-Layered Thunder Blade progress bar beside it. Then he got up, found a pen and paper, and wrote down some of his insights.
At noon the next day, a group arrived on the top floor of the Limit Hall's Headquarters Building.
"Zheng, take good care of yourself over there." Yang Rong held Yang Zheng's hand, reluctant to let him go.
Even now, she could still vaguely remember how terrified she had been when Yang Zheng first entered the Wilderness Zone.
If her husband had not secretly sent people to look after him, she would never have let Yang Zheng embark on the warrior's path. But as time passed, she gradually came to terms with it.
Children had their own fortunes to find.
Her son had grown up and had his own choices to make. As parents, they should not interfere too much. Quietly supporting him was enough.
"All right, all right. It's not as though he's never coming back!" Wang Jiu pressed a hand to his forehead. This woman always left him with nowhere to vent his temper.
"Have a safe trip, big brother!"
"Big brother, what local specialties does Hongning Base City have? Remember to bring us some when you come back!"
Compared with their reluctant mother, Yang Rong, the twins Yang Jing and Yang Yi seemed much more composed. Still, they were more curious than worried about Yang Zheng's safety.
After the Great Nirvana, ordinary people could only spend their entire lives in their own base city. Only a few could afford the expensive plane tickets to move to another base city.
After all, Yang Jing and her brother were still young.
They had never left Northwest Base City, so naturally they were curious about the outside world, especially Hongning Base City, home to the world's strongest man.
"Mom, don't worry. I might be back in just a few days!" Yang Zheng looked at his parents, then walked toward the Triangular Fighter parked in the distance.
Whoosh!
The hatch closed.
The purplish-red Triangular Fighter rose into the air. After a quick identification exchange with the Base City Monitoring System, it became a streak of light and vanished into the sky.
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