Chapter 135: Stellar Level (Part One)

Luo Feng did not cease his cultivation. Upon returning home, through the guidance technique and the consumption of spirit crystals, his martial arts cultivation truly stepped into the planetary level.

"Excellent, excellent! You have actually awakened the Vajra Body!" Babata, watching Luo Feng break through, was very satisfied with the ability he had triggered. This Babata was the original entity.

"What is the Vajra Body?" Luo Feng asked.

"When a martial artist enters the planetary level, their body undergoes a qualitative improvement. Their genes sublimate, triggering hidden dormant abilities," Babata explained. "What you have awakened is the Vajra Body. Once activated, your bones, muscles, and skin will experience a massive increase in defense. For a spiritual master, this is quite a favorable ability; after all, a powerful spiritual master requires a strong physique to withstand the strain. This divine ability of yours will allow you to better utilize your spiritual powers."

"As long as it's not a useless ability, that's fine!" Luo Feng sighed in relief. "How is Qin Ming doing with his training?"

"Let's not talk about that."

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid of discouraging you."

"Is the gap between him and me really that large?"

"For the time being, you are separated by the distance of an Earth. You are on this side, and he is on the other!"

"That is truly discouraging. Very well, I will continue my training. I don't believe I can't catch up to him. Back when we were in the same class, whether it was academics or physical fitness, I was always a step ahead of him."

"Don't dwell on past glories!"

"Fine, I won't. What about Hong and Thor?"

"Those two? For now, they are also far stronger than you, especially Hong. His state of mind is very high; he has a sliver of hope to reach the cosmic level in the future!"

"Since I am the fourth disciple, so be it. The future is long, and as the master's most direct successor, I cannot lag too far behind them!"

"That's the spirit! Keep working hard. Very well, starting today, I will teach you the strongest movement technique of our lineage: 'Space Control.' Once you reach perfection, you will be able to teleport."

"Isn't it just teleportation? Watch me; I'll master it in the shortest time possible!"

"The shortest time? Heh, do you know that the old master spent his entire life without ever achieving teleportation?"

"Is it really that difficult?"

"Is it?" Babata muttered to himself, thinking of that monstrous fellow who, without even needing to practice, had acquired an ability that even immortal powerhouses would envy.

Qin Ming was almost entirely indifferent to the changes in the outside world. He consumed spirit crystals and drank medium-grade spirit liquid; his physical fitness kept improving, accumulating steadily and deepening his foundation. Inside his dantian, nine miniature stars had condensed, signifying the ninth level of the planetary stage. At this point, Qin Ming had stalled and could not break through.

"I have reached the limit; why can I still not break through?" Qin Ming was growing anxious. His cultivation had always been smooth sailing, but this time, he had been delayed for a long time.

"The stellar level is a major threshold. Is it really so easy to break through?" Babata comforted him. "Being able to break through within ten years would already be quite impressive."

"Ten years? That's too long!" Qin Ming shook his head.

"If you want speed, it's simple!" Babata laughed. "Breaking through to the stellar level is, in short, another extreme leap of your genes—an evolution of the essence of life. To achieve this, you need a spiritual object that allows genes to rapidly transform. In the universe, there are many such things, like bloodline agents. Enhancing your bloodline means enhancing your potential, which can allow you to instantly shatter the barrier and step into the stellar level. Alternatively, there are spiritual objects containing vast cosmic energy—though, of course, they must be of a higher grade than the flora spirits on Earth, otherwise, they are useless!"

"Bloodline agents? Enhancing bloodlines?"

"In the universe, such things are held by major powers; they are extremely rare and worth a fortune. As for spiritual objects, they are even more extraordinary. In Earth's environment, they simply cannot be birthed. Qin Ming, you don't need to worry. If you refine spirit crystals every day, you will step into the stellar level sooner or later. It is only a matter of time. For you, with a thousand-year lifespan, this is nothing. You can use this time to practice more secret techniques."

"Alright!" Qin Ming did not dwell on it. Dwelling was useless. Earth was too impoverished. Since he could not find what he needed on Earth, he would search in another world.

Night fell. Qin Ming sat cross-legged in his fighter craft, eyes narrowed, breathing steady. His consciousness traveled across space and time, descending into the body of Jiang Fan in the Great Hong World, entering the Jade Spring Mansion.

"If medium-grade spirit liquid won't work, I'll use high-grade!" He had made his decision; this time, he would definitely get his hands on the high-grade spirit spring.

Medium-grade spirit liquid corresponded to primordial spirit cultivation, which was the planetary level in the *Swallowed Star* world; high-grade spirit liquid could assist Earth Immortal cultivation, which corresponded to the stellar level.

By now, Jiang Fan had perfected the third layer of the Profound Dao Technique. His cultivation of Qi had reached the perfection of the primordial spirit. During his cultivation in the *Swallowed Star* world, whenever he studied secret techniques and spatial laws, he would often descend here to meditate on the Enlightenment Platform, simultaneously raising Jiang Fan's cultivation.

Jiang Fan carried forty-nine Azure Sky Swords, pushed open the gate to the True Illusion Realm, and stepped inside, descending into the stone courtyard. Before the courtyard lay a lake; behind it, a gravity grassland; to the left, a forest; and to the right, a mountain range. The low-grade spirit spring was in the stone courtyard, the medium-grade was found in the mountain range, and the final high-grade spirit spring was in the forest.

The forest? He had investigated it several times and had been driven back each time.

"I am now at the perfection of the third layer of the Profound Dao Technique, my primordial spirit is fully formed, and I have forty-nine low-grade treasure-level Azure Sky Swords. If I still cannot kill it, I will have to use an immortal artifact!"

Thinking this, Jiang Fan flew out of the stone courtyard and entered the forest. At the same time, the Azure Sky Swords he had obtained from the Great Song Emperor flew out, circling him and shredding the ambushing tree demons, man-eating flowers, vines, and venomous snakes. Eventually, he arrived outside a mountain valley. Without hesitation, he flew straight in.

In the center of the valley stood a tree a thousand feet tall, its canopy covering the sky, its swaying branches forming a green thicket. A single tree engulfed the massive valley. This was clearly a terrifying tree demon. Under the tree, there was a spirit spring, shrouded in a layer of light that isolated it from the tree demon's prying.

"Nine-Sun Fire Thunder!"

Without a word, Jiang Fan pushed his hands forward, sending a blaze of fiery lightning crashing down onto the tree demon. Fire tortures wood; thunder conquers demons. Fiery lightning was the perfect method to deal with a tree demon.

*Crack!*

From within the branches, a dark green light surged out, dispersing the fire thunder. A hundred more branches pierced through space, attacking from all directions. The entire valley was sealed off.

"An Earth Immortal-level tree demon—it is hard to overcome with physical force alone. With my current techniques, even if I could destroy it, I don't know how long it would take, and I don't want to waste the time!"

Jiang Fan manipulated the forty-nine Azure Sky Swords to shred the branches, weaving them into a sword formation. Thousands of sword beams carried the intent of death; in a single round of slaughter, nearly half of the tree demon's branches were severed.

"The power of the sword formation, combined with the amplification of the treasure artifacts, has increased my combat power tenfold!" Jiang Fan was excited. This was the first time he had used forty-nine low-grade treasure swords to form a formation. The power was terrifying, and in no time, he had eradicated the tree demon.

He flew to the spirit spring, and the light shrouding it suddenly vanished.

"It really is high-grade spirit liquid!" Jiang Fan was overjoyed. He quickly transferred a large amount of the spirit liquid into his Purple Mansion space before returning to the main hall of the Jade Spring Mansion. After some consideration, he went out to take a look.

The city of Baihe was calm and peaceful. The Jiang family was developing steadily. Jiang's father had reached the peak of the Dao-Entry Realm; attaining the primordial spirit would not be difficult. After Jiang Shan came out of seclusion, he went back in to attempt the primordial spirit realm. Overall, the Jiang family was rapidly accumulating strength in the shadows.

"In ten days, a siege on the God-Hidden Gate?" Just as Jiang Fan was preparing to return to the Jade Spring Mansion, he discovered a message on his silver seal token from Ji Changkong: "In ten days, we will move against the God-Hidden Gate; I hope you can participate."

"Ten days?" As he pondered this, he returned to the Jade Spring Mansion, sat on the Enlightenment Platform, and with a shift of consciousness, crossed the space-time universe.

Jiang Fan became Qin Ming. After adjusting for some time, Qin Ming took his fighter craft to the peak of Antarctica. He did not descend but sat cross-legged inside the craft.

"I hope this time, I can successfully break through!"

In his mind, the high-grade spirit liquid flowed into his mouth and entered his stomach. Every cell in his body emitted a greedy intent, crazily absorbing the power of the spirit liquid, evolving his body, and sublimating his origin. The nine miniature stars in his dantian rotated violently, finally colliding with a bang. Instead of exploding, they fused into a single miniature star. At the same time, Qin Ming's body underwent a drastic change—even greater than the shift from God of War to the planetary level. His entire body felt as if it had been shattered and reconstructed, and even the patterns within his body deepened.

Half a day passed before the transformation was complete.

The stellar level was achieved!