The vast universe

In the vast universe, Earth was as insignificant as a grain of sand in the Ganges. Perhaps it was special in some ways, but there were plenty of special planets in the universe.

Beyond Earth lay the Solar System. A hundred billion star systems, including the Solar System, made up the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Milky Way Galaxy, in turn, was one of the eight galaxies of the Silver Blue Empire, a basic-level cosmic civilization.

The Silver Blue Empire was a vassal state of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, an intermediate-level cosmic civilization that occupied the Black Dragon Mountain Starfield.

The Black Dragon Mountain Empire was, in turn, one of the vassal states of the Dry Witch Universe Country.

Human Territory contained a full 1,008 Universe Countries, yet occupied only a tiny portion of the Primal Universe.

There were five other pinnacle races. Among them, humanity was neither the weakest nor the strongest.

Within the Primal Universe, there were also Cosmic Secret Realms, Divine Kingdoms, and other places, all harboring life.

Beyond the Primal Universe lay Miniature Universes and the Universe Ocean.

Beyond the Universe Ocean lay even greater expanses.

In this vast universe, Earth truly was far too small.

Only by leaving Earth could one be considered to have left the beginner village.

A silver-white, saucer-shaped spaceship came to a temporary stop between Earth and the moon.

Dongguan followed the boarding passage and emerged directly into space.

At the Planetary Level, one no longer needed to breathe. At the Star Level, one could traverse space in the flesh.

But at Star Level speeds, one could at most travel within a star system. It was nowhere near as effective as using a spaceship.

"The universe is vast, and Earth is small. But Qiong, tell me-isn't she beautiful?" Gazing at Earth, the planet he had once seen only in pictures and videos, Dongguan felt a surge of emotion.

"She certainly is. Life-bearing planets are different from ordinary planets. They're more complex and more beautiful. And if we disregard size, Earth already ranks among the very best life-bearing planets." Light and shadow gathered, and Qiong appeared on Dongguan's shoulder.

"Perhaps the Qiong Luo Race's homeworld was the now-destroyed Qiong Luo Star, but my homeworld should be Earth. I was born and raised here. I love Earth no less than anyone else on the planet. Do you understand?" Dongguan asked.

"I don't understand. Perhaps I haven't adjusted because I've only been an intelligent life for a short time. I'll keep trying," Qiong replied. "Besides, the Qiong Luo Star has been destroyed, and your identity as a member of the Qiong Luo Race should be concealed-especially since you're the child of our clan leader, the Dong Xuan World Lord. There's nothing wrong with considering Earth your homeworld."

"However, according to my analysis, this is merely a temporary emotional fluctuation experienced by many intelligent beings when they first leave their planet. Once they've witnessed the vastness of the universe, they no longer feel this way." Qiong's eyes flickered.

"You haven't been a true living being for long enough. There's more to the world than data. That's the limitation of ordinary intelligence, and you need to change."

"I'll keep trying."

Just then, as Earth revolved around the sun, a shift in angle allowed a ray of sunlight to strike Dongguan directly.

Bathed in sunlight that had not been filtered by the atmosphere, Dongguan closed his eyes at the unfamiliar sensation.

His skin trembled faintly. His "super light sensitivity" ability allowed him to detect something special about the sunlight.

If this direct sunlight struck an ordinary person from before the Great Nirvana, it would sting, cause diseases such as skin cancer, and potentially lead to even more serious consequences.

Of course, humans before the Great Nirvana could not enter space in the flesh anyway.

Fortunately, Dongguan was at the Star Level.

During this time, he had cultivated by absorbing resources without using the Nutrient Pod, yet he had still reached the second order of the Star Level.

Dongguan slowly opened his eyes, while the vertical eye between his brows kept opening and closing, as though breathing in light.

"Master, have you gained any insights?" Qiong asked.

"I have a direction for advancing my domain to the second layer."

With that, the ship's boarding passage flashed. Green light swept over him, and Dongguan returned to the ship.

"Let's go. Follow the route my mother once took to get here," Dongguan ordered from inside the ship.

"All right," Qiong replied. "Master, you've already adjusted to the Star Level over this period. It's time to enter the Nutrient Pod again and reach the ninth order of the Star Level."

"All right," Dongguan agreed.

Through the ship's simulated exterior view, Dongguan watched as it traveled farther and farther from the Solar System.

The moon, Earth, the other planets, and even the sun grew smaller and smaller.

Before entering the Nutrient Pod, Dongguan suddenly said, "Before the Great Nirvana, some scientists on Earth speculated that traveling faster than light would allow you to move backward through time."

"Exceeding the speed of light only brings you into the Dark Universe. It doesn't let you move backward through time. If you travel through the Dark Universe to a more distant location, then observe the light arriving from the planet you left, you could theoretically see images of that planet's past. But they would only be images. In reality, whatever was going to happen has already happened."

"So theoretically, anyone with a spaceship could travel backward through time and observe the past." Dongguan smiled.

"In theory, yes. In practice, though, all kinds of light intermingle in the universe. At great distances, they become very difficult to distinguish. Observing something nearby is possible, but beyond a certain number of light-years, the images become distorted." As Qiong analyzed this, Dongguan stopped smiling and fell silent.

"Light. Time." As Dongguan opened his eyes, a dark gold gleam seemed to flash through the spirit eye between his brows.

"Qiong, I remember you once picked out the wrong manual. It was called Flow of Time, wasn't it? Let me see it again."

"Hm?"

"I think I've grasped a sliver of time."

"Really?" Qiong was delighted. "I'll get it right away. Master, enter the Nutrient Pod, then send your consciousness into the Virtual Space."

Ordinary cultivators of the universe comprehended domains at the Universe Level to become Domain Lords, comprehended laws as Domain Lords to become World Lords, and mastered laws as World Lords to become Immortals.

That applied only to lower laws.

As for upper laws, even geniuses generally only began studying them at the Universe Level. Those who studied upper laws at the Star Level were peerless geniuses with a strong chance of reaching the top ranks of the Genius Battle.

At this moment, Qiong, who had only recently become an intelligent life, was filled with hope.

Master is actually a genius of this caliber. He's grasped a sliver of the time law at the Star Level.

Dongguan entered the Nutrient Pod physically while his consciousness entered the Underground Library in the Virtual Space.

Flow of Time had already been placed on the desk in front of his usual seat.

Outside, the spaceship left the Solar System entirely and plunged into the dark void of space.

His physical body slowly absorbed the nutrient solution, gradually increasing the strength of his body and spiritual force, while his consciousness immersed itself in studying secret techniques in the Virtual Space.

Five months passed just like that.

A humanoid target stood in an extremely spacious Training Ground within the Virtual Space.

Dongguan floated alone five hundred meters away from it.

More than a thousand leaflike objects gathered around him, gradually forming a massive, hiltless, emerald-green blade before him.

Whoosh!

The blade swung down and struck the target. When it was just a hundred meters away, it abruptly accelerated and smashed the target apart.

He dispersed the blade again and recalled its pieces. As each leaflike object touched the skin of his hand, it merged directly into him and vanished.

"The power is good, but your control is lacking. You can blast apart a Cosmic Level Third Order target, but that's all-you can only blast it apart." Qiong appeared on his shoulder, data flickering as the conclusion was delivered.

"I've finally reached the beginner stage of Twofold Speed. Unfortunately, unless I reach the Absolute Stage, it'll never be as useful for a warrior as it is for a Psychic." Dongguan shook his head in disappointment.

The comments about power and control concerned his new psychic weapon: the Plant Lifeform Thousand-Leaf Grass and its corresponding Secret Art, Thousand-Leaf Psychic Control.

The sudden acceleration just now had not come from an increase in force, but from his attainment of the beginner stage of Twofold Speed within Flow of Time.

Flow of Time was a precious time-based secret technique divided into four layers: Twofold Speed, Fourfold Speed, Eightfold Speed, and Time Acceleration.

Each layer was further divided into four stages: beginner, burst, sustained, and absolute.

At the beginner stage, one could use the technique, but initially, only one or two attempts out of ten might succeed. It was not particularly effective in actual combat.

At the burst stage, every use succeeded, but the duration was very short, so it could only serve as a finishing move.

At the sustained stage, there was no time limit. As long as one could bear the expenditure, one could keep using it.

The absolute stage meant complete mastery. Before reaching it, one could only use the technique on inanimate objects, giving Psychics an advantage over warriors in this regard. After reaching the absolute stage, one could use it directly on oneself.

Once a layer reached the sustained stage, one could begin cultivating the next layer. However, the gap between the absolute and sustained stages was greater even than the gap between two layers.

As their names implied, the first three layers accelerated time by different multiples. Once one reached the final layer, however, one could theoretically accelerate time by up to 10,081 times, provided one could sustain the expenditure.

The absolute stage of the fourth layer was Time Acceleration, one of the three ultimate techniques of the time law.

Of course, the four stages could also be described simply as beginner, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Perfection.

The terms beginner, burst, sustained, and absolute described the characteristics of each stage.

Having unexpectedly grasped a sliver of the time law, Dongguan naturally wanted to study this Secret Art.

Yet after several months of effort, he had only reached the beginner stage of Twofold Speed. Out of ten attempts, only one or two succeeded.

"Master, you can't put it that way. Although the time law and Flow of Time have greater future potential, psychic secret techniques currently offer a bigger improvement to your combat power," Qiong argued.

As an intelligent life, Qiong was becoming increasingly like an ordinary living being. That was progress.

"I know." Dongguan nodded. "But weren't you the one who told me to fight as a warrior whenever possible?"

"That was for safety. Who could have imagined you were such a genius, Master, capable of grasping a sliver of the time law at the Star Level? Unfortunately, I only have this one time-based Secret Art."

Qiong paused, then continued, "In that case, you need to pay even more attention to cultivating Body Transformation. Once it reaches a sufficient level and you can control your flesh, you'll be able to conceal your spirit eye."

"But I'm still soaking in the Nutrient Pod. Body Transformation cultivates the body. Practicing it in the Virtual Space is far too inefficient."

Body Transformation was a secret technique for cultivating the body. Ultimately, it could allow one to exert a hundred times one's strength, one of the conditions for breaking through to become an Immortal.

Moreover, the Body Transformation Secret Art contained several wondrous flesh-related secret techniques. One could only practice them after cultivating the main Body Transformation technique and reaching a certain strength multiplier.

Reading and learning in the Virtual Space were completely unaffected. Law-based and combat-based secret techniques were affected to some degree; after all, this Virtual Space was inferior to the Virtual Universe Network.

As for techniques that cultivated the body, even practicing them in the Virtual Universe could not compare with practicing in reality.

Naturally, while soaking in the Nutrient Pod, Dongguan would not waste his effort practicing Body Transformation at this time.

"Also, Master, don't abandon Heavenly Blade or Light Control. The time law may be profound, but breaking through to become an Immortal still depends on the light law. Heavenly Blade can help improve your domain, while Light Control analyzes the light law."

"I know. One step at a time." Dongguan felt rather helpless.

Back on Earth, he had treasured a copy of Nine-Layered Thunder Blade and constantly lamented that he had no secret techniques to study. Once his research into the rat eye began showing promise, he had poured enormous effort into it.

Now that he had obtained an inheritance and gained many secret techniques, he was struggling to keep up.

As for his earlier plan to read the many secret techniques in the library, that had long since been postponed indefinitely.

"Oh, and there's also Soul Altar, Master. You need to cultivate that too. It's a soul defense Secret Art. Otherwise, while traveling the universe, you might fall victim to a surprise attack. Back then, the Dong Xuan World Lord cultivated this Secret Art to a sufficiently high level to withstand King Huozhen's Soul Invasion. That gave him the chance to command an Immortal Plant Lifeform and fight him."

"I'll cultivate it." Dongguan added another manual to his schedule.

There was no helping it. When traveling the universe, one could do without soul attacks, but soul defense had to be maxed out. Otherwise, one might fall victim to a surprise attack.

Besides, he had a master of souls as an enemy.