An Unexpected Turn

Virtual Space, underground library.

"Heavenly Blade," "Thousand-Leaf Psychic Control," "Light Control," "Body Transformation," "Soul Altar," "Flow of Time."

The six Secret Arts lay on the table. Like an emperor deciding which consort to summon, Dongguan found himself spoiled for choice.

Every one of them mattered. He needed to train in both major professions, warrior and Psychic, study both the law of light and the time law, and strengthen his soul defenses.

After some thought, he set "Flow of Time" aside for now. Having mastered the basics of double speed, he needed to deepen his understanding. More importantly, he needed greater comprehension of the time law. Without that, reading this Secret Art again would do him no good.

He also set aside "Body Transformation." That was best practiced in the real world.

"Light Control" could wait as well. Reading this Secret Art could improve his understanding of the light attribute, but his light domain was only at the second stage, and he had yet to comprehend the law of light.

To improve his domain, he had to study "Heavenly Blade."

He put "Thousand-Leaf Psychic Control" aside too. His comprehension of the time law was too shallow. Using his beginner-level double speed to make his warrior moves more unpredictable was enough; there was no need to specifically train in Psychic methods.

"I'll learn 'Soul Altar' first," Dongguan decided.

The soul was both mysterious and crucial. Inadequate soul defense was an extremely serious weakness.

He opened the book and gradually immersed himself in it.

The first step of "Soul Altar" was to build an altar within his sea of consciousness to protect his soul.

Initially, although it offered protection, the altar was too crude. Against a powerful soul attack, it would only weaken it by one stage.

After that, the altar needed meticulous refinement. Law comprehension, Secret Art comprehension—everything could be engraved upon it. Ideally, however, pure law comprehension would establish the foundation first, followed by modifications using Secret Arts related to that law.

"Light and time."

"Soul Altar" was a remarkable soul defense secret technique, with a very high ceiling and a very low floor.

At its lowest level, a newly formed soul altar offered roughly the equivalent of strengthening one's own soul defense by half a stage-not even a full stage.

Even the sea of consciousness itself could weaken an attack by one stage.

But as comprehension of an artistic conception was incorporated into it and approached the level of a domain, that protection would gradually rise to one stage.

Upon reaching the domain level, its defense would increase by two stages outright.

If he engraved his entire comprehension of a ninth-stage domain into it and reached the peak of Universe Level Ninth Stage himself, he could withstand a brute-force soul attack from a peak Domain Lord Ninth Stage expert-in other words, an attack with a mental power amplitude a thousand times that of Universe Level Ninth Stage.

Of course, a First Stage Domain Lord facing a brute-force attack from a First Stage Realm Lord might fare somewhat worse.

As cultivation levels rose, the relative gap in strength remained unchanged, but the absolute gap grew ever larger.

With further advancement, the multiplier would diminish somewhat, but laws could be incorporated.

If an entire lower law could be incorporated, the result would be equivalent to Immortal Level soul defense.

Of course, anyone who comprehended a complete law would already be an Immortal by then, so that seemed rather pointless.

But lower laws were not the only things that could be engraved into it. Upper laws and Secret Arts could be incorporated as well.

This was a soul defense secret technique meant exclusively for geniuses.

If Dongguan had not comprehended a trace of the time law, Qiong might not have chosen it.

While practicing the Secret Art, Dongguan returned to reality. His soul and sea of consciousness existed in the real world, but he could still practice soul Secret Arts while absorbing nutrient solution.

Hum!

A tremor ran through him, and his body began tumbling inside the Nutrient Pod.

"Qiong, what happened?" Dongguan called out hurriedly.

"Master, something unexpected seems to have happened."

"Open the Nutrient Pod. I'll come out and take a look."

As the pod's hatch opened, Dongguan stepped out.

He clenched his fists to feel his physical strength, sensing the seven fireballs in his mind and the seven in his dantian.

Stellar Level Seven.

In just over five months, he had advanced a full five stages. The Nutrient Pod's effects were far beyond those of ordinary energy absorption.

"Unfortunately, once I reach Star Level Ninth Stage, I won't be able to advance this quickly anymore." Yet there was no regret in Dongguan's eyes. "In a few years, the Virtual Universe Company's Universe Peak Genius Battle will begin. If I can make it in, I'll be able to keep advancing quickly."

With his current strength, his chances of making it through the genius battle were minuscule, but he still had several years, didn't he?

Less than three years had passed since he regained his memories, yet he had already reached the second stage of the light domain and comprehended a trace of the time law.

His domain was already close to Hong's. With another few years, he had a good chance of passing the preliminaries. Then he would have several more years to improve. In the end, surely he could at least secure a place in the Doomsday Secret Realm.

That was right. He was not so arrogant as to insist on entering the Primal Secret Region. He would secure the Doomsday Secret Realm, strive for the Heaven Realm, and try for the Grand Primordial Realm. As long as he got in, that was enough. There would be more opportunities later.

He could think about that later. First, he needed to see what had happened.

"Qiong, set the exterior simulation to one hundred percent," Dongguan ordered.

"Yes."

At Qiong's response, the spaceship's cabin gradually vanished from Dongguan's sight, revealing the scene outside.

The boundless dark void was gone, as were the scattered stars he had seen before. Now everything was a riot of colors and utter chaos, and a chill rose through Dongguan's spine.

Danger!

Fortunately, the spaceship still stood between him and it.

"What happened?" Dongguan calmed himself and asked Qiong.

"While the ship was traveling, we seem to have been swept into spatial turbulence." Qiong's voice was grave.

"What level is it? Can the ship withstand it?" Dongguan asked.

The ship's hull was made of E9-class pure metal. Even without considering its internal modifications, it was a luxury among E-class spaceships.

But spatial turbulence varied in scale. Universe Level cultivators could survive weaker turbulence, while stronger turbulence could annihilate even Immortals.

"The situation isn't good. The spatial turbulence itself is manageable, but it contains some kind of dark energy that greatly increases its destructive power. The ship's own defenses cannot withstand it."

"Then what do we do?"

"Although this is only an E9-class spaceship, Dong Xuan World Lord considered its defenses when he built it. It has a backup F9-class shield capable of withstanding Immortal Level attacks. However, we currently cannot replenish that shield's power source."

"Power? Don't we still have plenty of universe crystals?"

Universe crystals were both currency and energy. Under normal circumstances, they could readily serve as a power source.

"The ship can use universe crystals, but that shield requires wood-attribute immortal crystals. Those we had before were left by your father's Immortal Plant Lifeform," Qiong explained.

"Then what do we do?"

"I'm calculating the best plan to minimize the time we spend using the F9-class shield. Hopefully, we'll still have some power left after the ship escapes the turbulent storm."

"Then keep going. I'll watch," Dongguan replied, clenching his fists tightly.

At that moment, the pride he had built on Earth, the joy of receiving his inheritance, and his growing sense of satisfaction were all brutally shattered.

Does my path end here? What good is comprehending a trace of the time law and being a peerless genius? Faced with a sudden crisis, my fate is completely out of my hands.

Strength. It always came down to strength.

At that moment, Dongguan craved strength more than ever. If he were already an Immortal, he could find a way to survive even if the ship could not hold out.

But as a mere Star Level cultivator, if the ship fell, he could only perish with it.

The spirit eye between his brows strained open. Through the simulated scene, Dongguan carefully studied the storm outside.

"Qiong, isn't the storm weaker in that direction?"

Qiong scanned in the direction Dongguan indicated.

"It seems so, but the storm's center could also be weaker. That may not be the way out."

"Break through in that direction. Even if it really is the storm's center, we can stay there temporarily and wait for the storm to weaken before coming out again."

"Yes." Although Qiong was already a living being as an intelligent life, she still retained her obedient nature.

Amid the dark storm and spatial turbulence, the silver-white spaceship swayed like a fallen leaf in the wind. Occasionally, dark energy or spatial energy struck it, and an emerald-green shield would light up around the ship, preventing damage to the vessel itself.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Inside the ship, Dongguan was growing tired from continuously using his spirit eye.

Outside, however, there was once again peaceful darkness.

Normally, the desolation of space was hardly pleasant. Now, though, Dongguan found it incredibly welcoming, as if he had returned home.

Desolation and emptiness were far better than the perilous excitement of before.

But he noticed that the surrounding scenery seemed quite different. The stars appeared to have changed.

Moreover, cloudlike wisps drifted through the surrounding void, along with meteorites.

Although meteorites also existed in ordinary space, there would not be this many.

"Qiong, determine where we are."

Though the cosmos was desolate, their position could still be determined from the directions and distances of distant stars.

"Master, there is nothing similar in my database."

"Hm?"

"My database contains most of the publicly available star charts for the entire Dry Witch Universe Country, along with some confidential ones and charts covering parts of the regions beyond it. Even if I cannot determine our exact position, identifying our general location should be no problem."

Dongguan nodded. That was what he had thought. Once they established their location and fully repaired the ship, they could enter the Dark Universe and make direct contact with an interstellar civilization. Exploring the route could wait until another opportunity arose.

In truth, one reason he had come out this time was that he could no longer suppress his yearning for the cosmos, and Luo Feng had consistently refused to give him Earth's coordinates in the Dark Universe.

The sea of stars was humanity's dream, and Dongguan naturally shared it.

Still, there was good reason why they always entered the Dark Universe directly in the original story. Hadn't his own journey ended in an unexpected mishap?

"We are very likely no longer in the Dry Witch Universe Country. Space is extraordinarily mysterious. Though we were only caught in the turbulence for a short time, it is still possible," Qiong concluded.

"What's that?" Dongguan suddenly spotted a boundlessly vast continent lying flat in the distant void.

He looked again at the strange surroundings and the drifting mist.

"If this wasn't created by a mighty expert, then we've most likely entered a Cosmic Secret Realm," Dongguan judged.

It was not impossible for such a continent to exist in the ordinary universe, like the Virtual Universe Company Headquarters, but those were all created by powerful experts.

If it had formed naturally, it could only be a Cosmic Secret Realm.

"A Cosmic Secret Realm?" Qiong picked up on the term. It existed in her records.

She simply had not expected Dongguan to reach that conclusion before she did, despite her being an intelligent life.

It seems I need to work even harder, Qiong thought.

Dongguan looked back at the seemingly endless dark cosmic storm in the direction opposite the Void Continent.

"Qiong, how much energy is left?"

Qiong checked and answered, "The ship can use universe crystals directly, so although it has consumed quite a lot of energy, that is not a problem. However, only 31.9% of our stored wood-attribute immortal crystals remain. Returning the way we came is essentially impossible, and we would also need to locate the exact position of the entrance."

Active exploration consumed more energy than passively using the shield. With less than half their energy remaining, they certainly did not have enough.

"Set off. Head for the Void Continent," Dongguan ordered.

Since they could not return for now, they might as well explore. Perhaps they would find an opportunity, and this secret realm might have another exit.

After lingering briefly in the secret realm's void, the silver-white spaceship accelerated again, racing toward the vast continent.

"Oh, and Qiong, make sure we're camouflaged."

The ship gradually changed. Its silver-white color dimmed, slowly blending into the starry sky.

"Master, it is time to practice 'Body Transformation.' When exploring the universe, this Secret Art will help you disguise yourself more effectively."

"All right," Dongguan agreed. Then he entered the World Ring and began cultivating.