"It was good to be young!"
Feeling his decrepit body brim with vigorous life once more, Lu Qingshan felt as though his state of mind had been infused with vitality as well.
For a Domain Lord with a lifespan of a hundred eras, he, at less than a hundred thousand years old, could indeed only be considered a child.
He did not rush to leave seclusion. Instead, he settled his mind and carefully savored the transformation brought by his breakthrough.
With his foundation restored, the power surging through his body and his clearer comprehension of the laws both left him entranced.
Half a month later, in the seclusion grotto.
A blade light wreathed in dazzling violet lightning tore through the air and slashed viciously into the metal wall before him.
Boom!!
Amid the deafening roar, the wall cast from D5-grade metal let out an agonized shriek. This utterly domineering slash had actually left a shocking, deep fissure across its surface that struggled to close.
"Nine Thunder Blades, a World Lord's supreme technique... the power of the seventh blade actually increased this much!"
A sharp light flashed in Lu Qingshan's eyes.
D5 metal was incomparably sturdy, capable of taking a full-force strike from a Domain Lord Level 5 expert without suffering the slightest damage.
Just now, he had left a deep gouge in it using only the seventh move of Nine Thunder Blades. This meant that, in offensive power alone, he could already rival experts above Domain Lord Level 5. Compared to before, when he could only hold his own against Domain Lord Level 1 or 2 experts, his strength had increased far more than tenfold.
But that was not the key.
Lu Qingshan's gaze remained fixed on the depths of the fissure.
The attack had long since ended, yet a destructive force continued to corrode and ravage the fissure. Even this special metal with its self-healing properties was now completely unable to repair itself.
Within the fissure, a faint yet incomparably condensed wisp of violet light flickered dimly, radiating an aura of eternal undying.
"The power of laws!" Waves surged through Lu Qingshan's heart.
With his foundation restored and his deep accumulation finally bearing fruit, he had actually touched upon and grasped a trace of the Law of Lightning in one fell swoop.
This was standard for the top Star Level disciples from the great sacred lands and secret realms in the universal Genius Battle, yet Lu Qingshan, a Domain Lord expert who had lived for ninety thousand years, had only just touched the threshold of the laws.
Lu Qingshan himself was also a genius, a galaxy-level genius, but the gap between one genius and another was even greater than that between a human and a dog.
Heh.
Lu Qingshan smiled faintly.
After gaining his golden finger, the gap between him and the top geniuses had already been erased. Being a genius was merely the threshold for meeting him.
He sensed the changes brought by the law.
Comprehending a law meant stepping into an entirely new realm; laws were the hallmark of World Lord experts. World Lords who gained the acknowledgment of an Origin Law were the elite among elites. Grasping a law at the Domain Lord stage was like comprehending a domain at Universe Level: it was a pass to higher realms.
Of course, there were many requirements for breaking through to World Lord, and mastery of the laws was only one of them.
Just as he had been back then: even with both his domains at the ninth stage, he had still been stuck at Universe Level, unable to advance an inch.
I should hurry and digest the remaining Life Fruit energy in my body, and keep improving my strength. I also need to make arrangements for the remaining nine Life Fruits soon.
He planned to keep just one for later use, whether to give to a disciple in the future or turn into cash at an auction house, and use all eight others. With his current Domain Lord strength, keeping one Life Fruit would not attract excessive covetousness.
As for how to use them, Lu Qingshan already had a plan of his own.
Lu Qingshan rose and headed deeper into the cavern.
After passing through a long corridor, he stopped at an open platform ten kilometers deep. Before him lay mountains of metal ores of various colors. At the center of the ores, a peculiar plant over ten meters long slowly swayed its branches and leaves.
The edges of its long, narrow, dark brown leaves were densely lined with sharp, sawtooth notches. Sensing Lu Qingshan's approach, the plant life immediately began waving its vines joyfully.
This was a Star Level 5 Star-Eating Grass with a damaged origin, which Lu Qingshan had obtained years ago on a desolate, remote mineral planet. At the time, the Star-Eating Grass had devoured almost all the ores on the planet, yet had been unable to break through to Star Level, nearly remaining trapped to its death in that barren place. It was Lu Qingshan who had discovered and saved it.
He had originally intended to raise it himself, only to discover that the resources required for its growth were terrifying. After exhausting most of his wealth, he had barely managed to raise it to Star Level 5, and afterward had been completely unable to support it further.
A Star Level 5 Star-Eating Grass had been almost no help to Lu Qingshan at the time, while the resources required to raise it to Universe Level might not have been covered even by selling the entire Maple Leaf Empire.
What was more, this thing was far too precious. Lu Qingshan did not dare bring it out to fight at all.
Thus, this malnourished Star-Eating Grass had become a tasteless rib guarding his seclusion grotto-hardly useful, yet a pity to discard.
Though it was only Star Level 5 and had just nine vines, this Star-Eating Grass could devour any intruder below Universe Level. Anyone who broke in while Lu Qingshan was away would become its food.
The ores piled around it were not high-grade, almost all being A-grade and B-grade. These ores could not allow the Star-Eating Grass to evolve and grow; they could only sustain its basic vitality and keep it from withering.
"You've had it hard all these years." Lu Qingshan smiled self-mockingly. When he had taken it away back then, he had intended to raise it properly. Who could have known things would turn out like this?
"Fortunately, the hard days are over." Ignoring the Star-Eating Grass's affectionately entwining vines, Lu Qingshan turned his hand and took a Life Fruit from his Space Ring.
The moment the fruit containing vast life essence appeared, the Star-Eating Grass's somewhat scrawny trunk began swaying violently, conveying an intense desire. It instinctively sensed that this treasure was extremely important to it.
Several vines carefully stretched out, like a puppy crawling forward, gently touching the ground at Lu Qingshan's feet before climbing upward little by little, their posture humble and yearning.
"All right, stop acting pitiful. This was meant for you anyway." Lu Qingshan casually tossed it over.
The Star-Eating Grass's nine main vines instantly spread like giant pythons, forming a vast, abyssal maw that swallowed the Life Fruit with perfect accuracy.
Boom!
Vast life energy erupted within it. The Star-Eating Grass's formerly shriveled trunk began swelling and shooting upward wildly, its substance becoming tougher and denser.
Vines began splitting and growing from the trunk, increasing from nine to eighteen, then thirty-six... finally stopping at a full seventy-two. The energy contained in each vine also climbed steadily, breaking through bottleneck after bottleneck from Star Level 5 all the way to Universe Level 1.
"Universe Level 1, a seventy-two-vine Star-Eating Grass!" Lu Qingshan's eyes blazed. "Even when I was at Universe Level 9, I might not have been able to defeat it reliably."
With the Life Fruit's help, the Star-Eating Grass had completed a leap in its level of life, its strength ascending to heaven in a single step.
Two Life Fruits: one had restored his foundation. One had saved the Star-Eating Grass!
"Universe Level 1... still a little short."
Before his breakthrough to Domain Lord, a Universe Level 1 Star-Eating Grass could already have been an asset to him. Now that his strength rivaled Domain Lord Level 5, the help it could offer was limited.
However, that was easy to resolve. If there was one thing he lacked least now, it was Life Fruits.
Lu Qingshan did not stint in the slightest, taking out another Life Fruit. "Don't rush. Wait until you've fully digested this one before using the second."
He handed the second fruit to the Star-Eating Grass, which was still undergoing its transformation.
After settling the Star-Eating Grass, Lu Qingshan returned to his secluded meditation chamber. The Star-Eating Grass's next evolution would require time to settle, and he also needed to calmly contemplate the Law of Lightning he had just grasped.
Time slipped by, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.
(End of chapter)