Swallowing the Stars: Heart of the Martial God

Chapter 231 Luo Feng
He immediately abandoned the idea of ​​forcibly condensing the secret rune, and instead used his soul power to simulate the "aftereffects of the severance," allowing the secret rune to remain in a semi-dispersed state.

A miracle occurred: under the influence of the lingering energy, that secret rune automatically connected with the other 3,599 secret runes, forming a cyclical whole.

The moment the last secret rune merged with the Daoist essence, Ling Xuan's soul surface shone with a chaotic luster, and the hidden secret runes covered it like armor, thus passing the first test.

"You've completed the Hidden Rune Imprint in a million epochs; among all the inheritors, you're one of the fastest," the Spirit of the Mystic Arts said with a hint of approval. "But this is just the beginning. The second test is the real challenge—forging the 'Spirit Fire Foundation.' This Chaotic Mystic Fire requires the soul as fuel to forge the foundation that supports the mystic art. The flame will grow increasingly intense with the passage of epochs; only those who can withstand the tempering of the flame for billions of epochs will pass the test."

The giant beast opened its mouth and spat out a ball of chaotic secret fire. The flames were dark purple, and as soon as they appeared, the surrounding Daoist light spots all gave way.

Ling Xuan took a deep breath, dispelled the protective runes around his body, and actively probed his soul into the flames.

Upon contact, Ling Xuan felt as if his soul had been thrown into a furnace, every inch of his soul burning intensely, several times more painful than when he first recognized the Purple Abyss Star Palace as its master.

He gritted his teeth and activated the soul armor formed by the hidden runes to resist, but the temperature of the flames continued to rise with the passage of time. After a million epochs, cracks began to appear in the soul armor, and dark purple flames invaded his soul through the cracks, scorching his life imprint.

The five great secret realms are perfectly unified, and nine Emperor characters emerge from the Sea of ​​Wheels secret realm to protect his Immortal Platform.

Fortunately, the inheritance process took place in the Star Prison, which isolated him from his various clones. Otherwise, his clones would not only have fallen into a deep sleep, but would have also unconsciously emitted terrifying shockwaves of will.

With his eternal true god-level will strength, even the Giant Axe Founder could not withstand the impact of his will, and the Heavenly Court would be absolutely barren.

Five million epochs passed in the blink of an eye, and blurry illusions began to emerge from the flames—the smiling faces of his loved ones, the peak scene of perfecting the Great Dao, and even the ultimate realm of "severing all laws" that he had always dreamed of.

These illusions were so real that Ling Xuan almost became immersed in them. Fortunately, the Heavenly Blade Daoist essence deep within his soul suddenly erupted, severing the illusions like a sharp blade and instantly bringing him back to his senses.

"What exists may not be reasonable, and when it is time to cut it off, one must do so without hesitation." He silently recited this in his heart, which further strengthened his resolve to follow the Dao.

As countless epochs approached, Ling Xuan's soul had been tempered by the Chaos Secret Fire until it resembled a Chaos Crystal. His original dark soul had turned deep purple, and the Hidden Secret Patterns were deeply imprinted on the core of his soul. Even his third eye between his brows bore the mark of flames.

When he withdrew his divine power, the Chaos Secret Fire automatically merged into his body, intertwining with the Dark Heaven True Meaning to form a new Daoist flow of light, and he successfully passed the second test.

"The first two trials have been passed. The next trial is the third: condensing the 'Secret Seal.'" The voice of the Spirit of the Mystic Arts became solemn. "This seal is formed from the origin of the secret technique. It must be touched with the soul to resonate with it. The higher the degree of resonance, the smoother the subsequent cultivation of the secret technique will be. There is no clear standard for passing this trial, but if you can achieve 30% resonance within 800 billion epochs, you will be considered to have passed the initial test and can begin the introductory cultivation of the secret technique."

The chaotic scales on the giant beast's forehead unfolded, and a circular secret seal slowly floated out. At the center of the seal was a rotating chaotic vortex, surrounded by countless tiny hidden secret patterns, radiating a pressure that made the entire void submit to it.

Ling Xuan took a deep breath and released all his soul power. The moment he touched the secret seal, a vast stream of information flooded into his consciousness—the creator's understanding of the Great Dao, key insights into cultivating secret techniques, techniques for dealing with various Daoist conflicts, and even the creator's insights from sitting in chaos for millions of epochs.

The information was so overwhelming that Ling Xuan's consciousness was instantly engulfed.

For the first thirty million epochs, he could only passively receive information, like an observer watching the creator's cultivation journey unfold in his mind: he saw the creator meditate in chaos for millions of epochs to refine a secret rune; he saw the creator use secret techniques to draw upon the power of chaos to resist powerful enemies; and he also saw the creator's dedication in his later years to constantly modify the structure of the secret rune in order to perfect the secret technique.

At the age of fifty million epochs, Ling Xuan began to try to resonate with the secret seal.

He integrated his understanding of the Dark Heaven's True Meaning into the Daoist rhyme of the secret seal, but as soon as they made contact, the secret seal erupted with a repulsive force, shaking his soul back, and even causing tiny cracks to appear on the hidden patterns on the surface of his soul.

He did not give up, adjusting the rhythm of the Daoist chant time and time again, searching for patterns in the rejection—he discovered that the core of the Daoist chant of the secret seal was "chaotic inclusiveness," while the core of the Dark Heaven True Meaning was "annihilation and severance." The two seemed to be in conflict, but in fact, they both originated from the origin of "nothingness."

At the age of 80 million epochs, Ling Xuan finally found the key to resonance: using the "annihilation" of the Dark Heavenly True Meaning as a guide, he drew upon the "chaos" power of the secret seal, and then used the "concealment" nature of the hidden secret pattern to fuse the two together, forming a cycle of "annihilation-chaos-concealment".

This time, the seal no longer rejected him; instead, it emitted a gentle light, infusing a wisp of chaotic power into his soul.

When the first hundred millionth era arrived, Ling Xuan's resonance with the secret seal finally reached 30%.

The chaotic vortex at the center of the secret seal slowly rotated, emitting a wisp of light that merged into the depths of Ling Xuan's soul—that was the introductory method of the secret technique, containing the method for cultivating the "secret seal seed".

"Achieving 30% resonance in one hundred million epochs is far beyond expectations." The voice of the Mystic Spirit was filled with admiration. "Next, you need to use the Mystic Seed as a foundation and continuously nourish it in subsequent epochs. Once the seed matures, you can begin true cultivation. The secret realm will not be closed. You can continue to cultivate here, or you can leave temporarily and return when the time is right."

Ling Xuan sensed the secret seed deep within his soul and felt a warm, chaotic power flowing through his body, intertwining with the Dark Heavenly True Meaning and the Heavenly Blade Dao Rhyme to form a new power system.

He bowed deeply to the spirit of the secret technique: "Thank you for your guidance, senior. I am willing to continue my cultivation here and make the seed of the secret seal mature as soon as possible."

The spirit of the secret technique nodded, its six legs treading through the void, transforming into countless points of light that merged into the surrounding Daoist aura: "I will protect you here. If any conflict arises, I will help you resolve it."

Ling Xuan sat cross-legged, immersing his soul into his body, and began to sort out his insights from one hundred million epochs.

He could clearly sense that the Secret Seal Seed needed the power of chaos and his own Dao essence to nourish it, and the surrounding void just happened to contain a massive amount of chaotic Dao essence. He only needed to use the Hidden Secret Rune as a guide to absorb it into his body.

In the void, Daoist light points surrounded Ling Xuan, flowing slowly with his breath.

One hundred million epochs is merely the beginning of a trillion epochs of cultivation. Ling Xuan's secret cultivation method has only just begun to get on track.

He knew that more challenges awaited him in the future, but he felt no fear, only his unwavering dedication and yearning for the Great Dao, which flowed quietly through the ages.

……

A night breeze swept across the rooftop of Jiangnan City. Luo Feng stood with his hands behind his back, his muscles undulating slightly beneath his black combat uniform.

The mental power spread out quietly, like invisible tentacles sweeping across the residential buildings a thousand meters away, and even the trembling petals on the windowsill could be clearly felt—this was the power of an eighth-level planetary mental master, second only to Hong and Thor in the current martial arts system on Earth.

"Hehe, eighth-tier planetary level, finally showing some promise." Babata's voice echoed in his mind, tinged with smugness. "But Luo Feng, you need to understand that while you are a top-tier expert on Earth, in the vast universe, planetary level is nothing special. Stellar level experts can crush you with ease, let alone those big shots like domain lords and world lords."

Luo Feng smiled helplessly, "Babata, I know. I won't be arrogant. Is your spaceship repaired?" "It's been repaired for a long time. It's just a power system; it's nothing to me, the great demon Babata."

"First stop, Qiulong Star!" Babata's virtual image suddenly popped up. "That's the closest bustling hub to Earth, under the jurisdiction of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. It's 32 light-years away. Our X81 spaceship can travel through the dark universe in just ten days!"

It brought up a holographic star map, and a planet surrounded by a colorful halo was clearly visible. "There are space adventurers and merchants everywhere there, as well as the administrative departments of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. You will join the Black Dragon Mountain Empire there and obtain the status of a space citizen. Only in this way can you gain a foothold in the universe and find a way to protect Earth!"

After Ling Xuan transmigrated, he did not change Earth. Just like in the original story, Earth experienced three destructions and rebirths. Fifty thousand years ago, Hu Yanbo perished here and used a secret method to conceal Earth's dark universe coordinates, turning this planet into an unclaimed one, and Earthlings became the native inhabitants.

As Luo Feng listened to Babata's description, he looked up at the starry sky. The Milky Way stretched across the sky like a silver ribbon, and those distant points of light seemed to have transformed into unknown adventures.

The longing in his eyes was gradually replaced by anticipation. He took a deep breath: "Wait until I say goodbye to my family."

A few days later, with instructions from his parents, wife Xu Xin, and younger brother Luo Hua, Luo Feng boarded a smart fighter jet, broke through the clouds, and landed steadily over the Pacific Ocean.

A huge black spaceship hovered in the sky.

Upon entering the spaceship, a cold, metallic scent immediately greets you.

The flowing energy patterns on the walls, the floating holographic control panel, and the automatically operating life support system—everything about them overturned Luo Feng's understanding of technology.

He reached out and touched the control panel; as soon as his fingertips touched it, countless streams of data flashed by.

"Is this the technology of a cosmic civilization?" Luo Feng couldn't help but exclaim.

"Don't make a fuss. This crappy ship is only worth about a hundred billion Black Dragon Coins. It's been out of production for a long time." Babata snorted dismissively, but still brought up the control panel. "Quickly get into the driver's seat and start the engine! Target—Qiulong Star!"

Luo Feng took a deep breath and sat steadily in the driver's seat, which was glowing with blue light.

The moment the fingertip touched the start button, the spaceship suddenly vibrated slightly, and the cabin lights changed from cool white to a deep blue.

The seawater outside the porthole receded rapidly, and the spaceship slowly rose into the air. The moment it broke through the sea surface, a pale purple energy shield appeared on its surface.

"Accelerate to the speed of light and enter the dark universe!" Babata's voice was filled with excitement.

Luo Feng felt a blur before his eyes, and the originally clear starry sky suddenly twisted into a vortex, then turned into countless streams of light and rushed backward.

The view outside the porthole had completely changed—there were no stars, no nebulae, only a chaotic dark gray, as if the spaceship was traveling through an endless fog.

“The coordinates of the dark universe correspond to those of the original universe, but here you can travel faster than the speed of light. Traveling one light-year is equivalent to traveling more than a thousand light-years in the original universe!” Babata explained. “We have to stay here for ten days. You can use this time to cultivate or look at the cosmic data I’ve compiled.”

On the morning of the tenth day, the spaceship suddenly trembled slightly.

"Slow down! Prepare to return to the original universe!" Babata shouted.

The chaos outside the porthole gradually faded, and the brilliant starry sky reappeared.

A massive planet came into view, its surface covered with continents of interwoven blue and green, with two colorful planetary rings encircling it like a magnificent belt, and two satellites nestled beside it.

"That's the Dragon Star!" Babata jumped up excitedly.

As soon as the spacecraft stabilized, it received a gentle traction signal. "Follow the signal, we're heading into port."

Babata piloted the spaceship, flying towards the massive complex of buildings near the planetary rings.

Looking around, Luo Feng saw that the docking port was larger than he had imagined—the smaller spaceships were only a few meters long, while the larger ones were over ten kilometers long, like a city floating in space.

Countless spaceships landed in an orderly fashion under guidance, with staff in various uniforms moving among them, including many alien races with horns and scales.

"Our X81 is a C5-class spaceship, dock in area C," Babata said, maneuvering the spaceship to slowly land in the designated berth.

The moment the hatch opened, a gravitational force three times heavier than Earth rushed towards him, causing Luo Feng to sway slightly. He then used his mental power to stabilize himself.

Luo Feng turned his head and saw a burly, green-skinned man wearing a gray uniform, about 2.8 meters tall, with two curved horns on his head, fly over and land in front of Luo Feng. He was humble and polite, and said in fluent Universal Language with a smile: "Respected sir, welcome to Qiulong Star. The parking fee for your Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship is 600 Black Dragon Coins per year! If it is less than a year, the fee will be 600 Black Dragon Coins. Here is your parking card."

As he spoke, he handed a silver, semi-transparent card to Luo Feng with both hands. The card had a "c" symbol on it.

Luo Feng casually tossed a coin to the ground. "Keep the change."

The man in the gray uniform hurriedly caught it, "Dry...Dry witch currency?"

"Thank you, sir." The man in the gray uniform became even more respectful. Anyone who could use such a high-end currency as Qianwu Coins was undoubtedly a big shot among big shots. Judging from the other party's skillful handling, his background was definitely astonishing.

"Let's go register first!" Babata urged.

Luo Feng took a deep breath and stepped out of the spaceship.

Standing on the alloy floor of the harbor, he felt as if he could feel the pulse of the entire planet—there were no monsters raging here, no dilapidated cities, only endless prosperity and the unknown.

PS: Speeded up
(End of this chapter)