Chapter 484: Embarking on a New Journey

Chapter 484: Embarking on a New Journey

"Astral King!"

Ji Xinghuo felt the surging astral power coursing through his body, his physique stronger than steel, and an unparalleled sense of power caused him to exclaim in wonder.

A realm that once seemed so distant, the Astral King, was now within his grasp!

Although he had defeated numerous Sixth Stage powerhouses and slain many, finding some Astral Kings to be no match for him, the feeling of attaining this level himself was still vastly different.

Checking the time, he noted that it was around April of the year 2228 AD on Earth. In three months, it would be his 27th birthday.

27 years old! On Earth, anyone who reached the Legendary realm before the age of 30 was considered a prodigious talent.

And here he was, an Astral King at 27. If this news spread on Earth, he couldn't even begin to imagine the sensation it would cause. Even in his wildest dreams during his days of aspiring to become an Other, he had never dared to envision such a day.

The experiences of the past five years had been stranger than any dream.

"This is amazing!"

Ji Xinghuo's heart was filled with joy, but he quickly calmed himself. The Astral King was merely a milestone on the path of evolution, far from the end goal, not even close to the middle stage, still only the early stage.

From a broader perspective, the first six evolutions of an Other were but preparations for the seventh evolution, the ascension to a Star Shepherd.

The cultivation of a Sixth Stage Other was extremely complex and challenging, far surpassing the previous stages.

Before this, Ji Xinghuo had gained a detailed understanding of Sixth Stage cultivation from the Astral Kings and the Titanium-Cobalt family on Earth.

The Astral King realm was divided into three stages.

The first stage was the simplest, requiring only continued training as before.

At the Sixth Stage First Stage, one had to cultivate astral power to its upper limit, usually increasing it by 30% to 50% from the power they had upon breaking through. An increase of over half was considered a sign of exceptional talent, depending on the system and number of exotic entities.

It was at the Second Stage that the true challenge began.

From this stage onward, an Other had to implant foreign objects similar to the astral gland within their body, be they natural or artificial. These objects helped to condense astral power into a "seed," and then the fused exotic abilities were transferred into it, creating a "star seed."

Different star seed shells produced various effects.

For example, they could increase the speed of exotic ability upgrades, enhance their effects, or accelerate cultivation speed, among other things.

Star seeds could raise the upper limit of astral power, boosting an Other's strength across the board.

Throughout the Second Stage, an Other focused on condensing star seeds, transferring their exotic abilities one by one into the seeds.

This was an extremely tedious and patience-testing process. The more exotic abilities one had, the more star seeds they needed, and the longer it took. It was common for some Astral Kings to remain at the Second Stage for several decades or even centuries.

And condensing star seeds was just the beginning.

Once the number of star seeds reached a certain requirement, one could construct a "stellarray," entering the Third Stage.

A stellarray could be understood as a system that combined astral power and exotic abilities, with the astral gland at its center and the star seeds as nodes. It was constructed according to strict standards and planning and formed the foundation for ascending to a Star Shepherd.

Like star seeds, stellarrays also came in many types.

Others chose the stellarray that best suited them based on their job templates, exotic ability systems, and future evolutionary paths.

As long as one had initially constructed a stellarray, they were considered a Sixth Stage Third Stage Other.

A stellarray could further increase one's astral power cultivation and upper limit, greatly enhancing an Other's strength.

At this stage, an Astral King could continue to fuse exotic abilities, condense star seeds, and then supplement them into the stellarray, making it more complete and powerful, until all exotic abilities had formed star seeds and become nodes in the stellarray.

When the stellarray reached its limit, one would be at the peak of the Sixth Stage.

At that point, they would be qualified to attempt the ascension to a Star Shepherd, but they would have only barely met the requirements.

Ascending to a Star Shepherd had extremely stringent requirements in terms of astral power, exotic abilities, star seeds, and stellarrays. No ordinary Astral King could meet these requirements; only the most elite and minuscule fraction of Astral Kings had the opportunity to try.

"I'm currently at the Sixth Stage First Stage," Ji Xinghuo thought to himself. The First Stage cultivation was the simplest of the three stages, the same as his previous training.

However, for many Astral Kings, even the First Stage was no easy feat.

Of the 49 Astral Kings on Earth, half were at the Sixth Stage First Stage, and some had lingered at this stage for decades, still unable to cultivate their astral power to the First Stage limit, with the Second Stage seeming forever out of reach.

But for Ji Xinghuo, it would require minimal effort. All he needed to do was continue his training.

Each Star Realm day increased his astral power by 500 points.

In 20 days, it would be 10,000 points.

Ji Xinghuo examined his astral gland and astral power state and estimated that to reach the Second Stage, he would need to double his astral power.

In other words, he needed around 320,000 points.

This would take less than five Star Realm months, which translated to approximately 320 Earth days, less than a year.

After making these calculations, Ji Xinghuo felt relieved. He immediately took out a Star Tear and absorbed the energy contained within it.

【Astral Power: 159,227/159,227】

【Fusions: 4】

Holding the now-inert stone that had once been a Star Tear, Ji Xinghuo couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. There was no doubt that Star Tears were the best artifacts for expanding one's capacity, with none surpassing them.

"I now have four more fusion attempts." Ji Xinghuo looked at the number of attempts displayed on the interface. He had forgotten about the Star Tears, and with these, he would be able to fuse four exotic abilities even without any new expansion artifacts during the Star King stage, which would still result in a significant improvement.

He had already decided that two of these four attempts would be used for the Cosmic Power and the Magnetic Extremity Sword Technique. The remaining two would depend on what other exotic abilities he encountered.

In terms of exotic abilities, there was no rush, and he would wait for the right opportunity.

The key now was the star seed and the stellar array, which were crucial for his attempt to become a Star Shepherd.

Of course, Ji Xinghuo wanted the best star seed and the stellar array that suited him the most. He would have to obtain these from the Titanium-Cobalt family.

However, nothing in life comes free. To obtain the star seed and stellar array, he would need to make contributions to the Titanium-Cobalt family.

Merely agreeing to the marriage alliance would not be enough.

"It looks like I'll have to get deeply involved in the affairs of the Titanium-Cobalt family," Ji Xinghuo thought, feeling no resistance to the idea. When he had agreed to the Titanium-Cobalt Dragon King's conditions, he had known that this day would come, and he had prepared himself mentally for it.

Before his promotion, he had already made a plan.

Next, he would continue his cultivation.

However, instead of secluding himself in the secret realm, he would hunt the monsters in the Abyss while cultivating simultaneously.

Although this would affect his efficiency, the spiritual source energy he would gain far outweighed the minimal loss of astral power.

Currently, spiritual source energy was more important than astral power!

Ji Xinghuo scanned the interface, looking at the progress of his various exotic abilities, as well as the exotic ability information of his three battle pets. Each of them required tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of spiritual source energy to upgrade, and he had none left at the moment.

"Come here!"

He called out softly.

Doomsday, who had been dozing lightly, immediately woke up.

It transformed into a beam of light and flew over from a distant island, its dragon wings stirring up a violent hurricane as it approached.

Qinghong also quickly swallowed the roasted fish in a few bites, leaped into the air, and shrunk its massive body to the size of a palm before landing on Ji Xinghuo's shoulder, its eyes gleaming with excitement.

They had been in the secret realm for almost two Star Realm months, and they were all feeling bored.

Ji Xinghuo mounted Doomsday's back.

Boom...

Doomsday flapped its wings, and the light on its wings burst forth as it glided over the sea and soon reached the rift that served as the exit of the secret realm. It dove into the rift without hesitation.

The scenery before their eyes changed, and they found themselves underwater.

Ji Xinghuo's thoughts moved, and he led Doomsday and Qinghong into a Star Realm Jump, appearing above the sea shortly after. The temperature dropped sharply, and the sky darkened, a stark contrast to the secret realm they had just left.

He turned his head to scan the surroundings, his Macrocosmic Eye sweeping over the nearby tens of thousands of miles of sea, finally settling on the west.

Jishi Sea was indeed too remote.

Not only was it 400,000 kilometers away from the True Dragon Empire, but it was also sparsely populated, and even the number of monsters was very low, making it unfavorable for hunting.

If he was merely hunting monsters, there was no need to venture so deep.

Ji Xinghuo pointed to the west.

In that direction, they would not only be closer to the northeastern part of the True Dragon Empire, still within the territory of the Azure Wave Dragon Domain, but there would also be a large number of monsters, and they could bypass the forbidden sea zone of that Imperial Thunder Snake.

Doomsday immediately took off, soaring high in the sky like a streak of dark golden light, leaving behind a trail of brilliant light.

As they moved forward, Ji Xinghuo sat on Doomsday's back with his eyes closed.

He was cultivating.

The super-fluid astral power circulated rapidly within his body, starting from the astral gland, making several rounds before returning to it. During this process, most of the astral power was consumed, only to be replenished and circulated endlessly.

Then, he absorbed the etheric energy from his surroundings, combining it with his cells to transform it into astral power, growing bit by bit.

The Astral Gland Cultivation Method was extremely boring.

However, it required mental focus, and even with Ji Xinghuo's super-frequency brain, he often lost control, resulting in low cultivation efficiency at the beginning.

Just as he was getting used to cultivating while flying, Qinghong issued a warning, having discovered monsters.

They were a group of cicada-wing snapper that had just emerged from the void.

There were a lot of them!

No one knew where they had come from, but they filled the sky, numbering at least over 20,000. They brought with them a storm that covered a radius of hundreds of kilometers, but they had not detected Ji Xinghuo and Doomsday, and were flying west.

"Qinghong, it's all yours," Ji Xinghuo said to Qinghong on his shoulder. He intended to cultivate and did not plan to take action himself.

"Roar!"

Qinghong let out a low roar.

Ever since it had devoured the Void Kunlong's genes and reorganized them, its strength had increased significantly, but it had not had the opportunity to test its powers in battle since then.

Now, it finally had a chance to stretch its muscles.

Qinghong leaped into the air and disappeared from view.

Ji Xinghuo's eyes pierced through the void, witnessing Qinghong's high-speed movement. This was not a Star Realm Jump but the Void Shuttling ability inherited from the Void Kunlong, much slower than a Star Realm Jump but without any distance limitations.

As Qinghong shuttled through the void, its body swelled rapidly, transforming into a behemoth over 200 meters long.

A dozen or so seconds later...

Qinghong leaped out of the void, its massive body appearing right in the middle of the cicada-wing snapper swarm. It immediately released its gravity field.

Boom!

An invisible wave of gravitational force spread out for ten kilometers, causing the gravity within the area to increase several hundredfold.

In an instant, the cicada-wing snappers began to fall towards the ocean surface, their sharp cries filling the air as they slammed into the sea, which had been flattened by the immense gravity. At least a third of the cicada-wing snapper swarm was crushed to pieces, providing Ji Xinghuo with spiritual source energy.

【Spiritual Source Energy +30】

【Spiritual Source Energy +27+32+24...】

Ji Xinghuo's vision was flooded with prompts as the long-stagnant spiritual source energy value finally began to rise again.

A dozen or so of the nearby cicada-wing snappers spotted him and, even as they fell, launched water blades at him. He flicked his finger, and a faint lightning bolt shot out, striking the surrounding cicada-wing snappers and turning them to ashes in an instant.

Ji Xinghuo waved his hand.

A 'Lightless Dark Domain' enveloped both him and Doomsday, concealing them in the sky to avoid interfering with Qinghong's battle.

At this moment, most of the cicada-wing snappers had fallen into the water, but they showed no signs of fleeing. Instead, led by several Calamity-level cicada-wing snappers, they launched a desperate charge at Qinghong, sweeping along seawater and storms in their frenzy.

Qinghong also landed on the ocean surface, its four limbs hovering just above the water.

With the effect of 'Acceleration', its massive body still maintained an incredible speed and agility.

Countless cicada-wing snappers swarmed towards Qinghong, but it remained suspended in the air, unmoving, and opened its mouth.

A stream of grayish-white breath was expelled.

Hoo...

The waterfall-like "Void Dragon Breath" was like a giant wave, drowning the cicada-wing snappers at the forefront, turning them to ashes instantly. As Qinghong turned its head, the Void Dragon Breath encircled the area, clearing out all monsters within a kilometer in the blink of an eye.

The fourth-grade Void Dragon Breath's lethality, amplified by the fifth-grade Void Kunlong Giant Qiong, was enough to instantly kill any monster below the Calamity level.

The number of cicada-wing snappers was directly halved.

Ji Xinghuo's mind felt slightly swollen.

Just from this wave, his spiritual source energy had surged by over 300,000 points, and with the addition of the cicada-wing snappers that had been crushed earlier, his total harvest had already exceeded 400,000 points.

The battle continued.

Those few Calamity-level cicada-wing snappers didn't die. They forcefully withstood the Void Dragon Breath and frantically attacked Qinghong, but they couldn't even scratch its holy scale armor. Qinghong didn't even bother to dodge; it simply waved its giant claws, swatting them one by one.

Each swat of its giant claws carried with it a Shattered Void Shockwave.

Pa! Pa! Pa...

Qinghong swatted at the attacking Calamity-level cicada-wing snappers like they were mere mosquitoes, their incredibly resilient bodies shattering like tofu under its claws, before exploding into a puddle of bloody mush.

In the blink of an eye, those few Calamity-level cicada-wing snappers were slaughtered, and without their leaders, the remaining cicada-wing snappers scattered and fled.

However, within the gravity field, their speed dropped significantly.

Not only could they not take flight, but their movement in the water was also extremely slow.

Qinghong pursued them and breathed out Void Dragon Breath.

The leaderless cicada-wing snapper swarm was wiped out in groups, and in just a moment, the storm subsided, the sea stained red with blood.

Qinghong shrank its body and flew back.

It landed on Ji Xinghuo's shoulder, its face full of proud and triumphant expressions, its tail wagging like an electric fan. It even sent a provocative glance at Doomsday, but Doomsday ignored it.

"Good job," Ji Xinghuo praised, "But don't get cocky. These were just a bunch of cicada-wing snappers. Doomsday could've handled them too."

Qinghong was happy after hearing only the first half of his sentence.

Ji Xinghuo's gaze swept across the sea.

Within his vision, the Calamity-level cicada-wing snapper's exotic information was displayed, revealing two star-falling exotics, both of which were 'Water Control'. As for the corpses of the other 20,000+ cicada-wing snappers, the Macrocosmic Eye didn't react at all, indicating that they didn't possess any particularly valuable information.

If it were in the past, checking the exotic information of so many monster corpses would have taken at least several dozen hours.

Now, all it took was a single glance.

If there were any special exotics or any important treasures or information, the Macrocosmic Eye would react.

If there was no reaction, it meant there was nothing of value, increasing efficiency exponentially.

"Let's go," Ji Xinghuo said as he collected the two Water Control exotics. He then mounted Doomsday and continued westward.

Heading west.

From then on, whether it was a swarm of monsters or a solitary Calamity-level monster, Ji Xinghuo didn't take action and instead left it all to Qinghong to hunt while he cultivated and absorbed spiritual source energy on the side.

Initially, he had Doomsday on standby, but Qinghong was able to handle every monster they encountered, so Doomsday never got the chance to join the battle.

His star power increased steadily.

His spiritual source energy also continued to rise.

On the day when the hot season transitioned into the cold season, as night turned to day, Ji Xinghuo had returned to a depth of around 150,000 kilometers. His star power had broken through 170,000 points, and his spiritual source energy harvest was even greater, once again surpassing 2,000,000 points!

(End of Chapter)

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