Swallowing the Stars: Starting with Optimizing the Five Hearts Towards the Sky

"Little guy, what are you thinking about?" Seeing Chen Yuan deep in thought, Thor asked curiously, "You haven't asked me yet. Is there any question I can answer for you?"

Chen Yuan raised his head and said seriously, "I was thinking, if my understanding of artistic conception were deeper—for example, if I comprehended other branches of artistic conception—would that be helpful to my field of comprehension?"

This question stemmed from Hong's previous explanation. Chen Yuan continued, "Just now, Master Hong said that a domain can amplify one's understanding of laws. Conversely, if one's understanding of the artistic conception is profound enough, will it affect the formation of a domain?"

Thor did not answer immediately, but instead showed a rare thoughtful expression.

"If you ask me whether having some understanding of the laws increases the likelihood of a new domain emerging, my answer is yes."

Thor stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then replied, "But if we replace the laws with artistic conceptions... to be honest, I hadn't considered this at all before, but based on experience, it should be helpful."

"After all, the more branches of the conception you comprehend, the more you understand the essence of the Law of Wind, and the more you comprehend the law."

"Theoretically, it would increase the possibility of comprehending a domain... but whether a domain will definitely appear, I can't judge that. After all, my brother and I didn't follow this path when we first comprehended our domains." Thor shook his head and sighed to Chen Yuan, "You little rascal, your way of thinking is quite unique. How did you come up with all this?"

Thor couldn't contain his curiosity again.

"I just have a feeling that the more branches of the artistic conception I comprehend, the more likely it is to influence the emergence of the domain." Chen Yuan rephrased the influence of the secret technique, "but I'm not sure if this feeling is true or false, or if there's any possibility of it succeeding."

"Hey, I see." Thor patted Chen Yuan casually. "If you ask me, you don't need to think too much. Just follow your feelings and try to comprehend it... Anyway, you can never have too many branches of intent. The more you comprehend, the greater your chance of stepping into the threshold of the laws in the future."

"I understand." Chen Yuan nodded, then suddenly asked, "So, is there an absolute core branch to the concept of artistic conception... or rather, the laws?"

"Um?"

Thor's expression suddenly turned serious. He exchanged a glance with Hong, and seeing Hong slowly shake his head, Thor asked, "Little guy, did you come up with this question yourself?"

Chen Yuan nodded: "Because I have comprehended a branch of the Wind's essence. I feel that this branch is very important. It seems to be the core branch of the Wind's essence, but I am not sure whether such a core exists in the essence or the law."

He was referring to the "Wind of Existence" concept. Although this concept is the core of the Thousand Winds Manual, it is not obvious and does not significantly enhance his combat power like other branches.

Over time, Chen Yuan developed the misconception that the existence of this branch of artistic conception was unimportant, which is why he suddenly asked the question.

"Chen Yuan, the question you asked is about knowledge that neither Thor nor I have yet explored."

Hong, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up, his expression serious: "But I can tell you... the law does indeed have a core, because that's what my teacher told me personally."

"My teacher is a powerful realm lord who has studied the laws for many years... He told me that the core branch of the law of light is called 'Eternal Light'."

At this point, Hong shook his head: "My teacher said that as long as I comprehend this core branch, my laws of light will become very strong, but unfortunately, I have been cultivating for many years and still haven't been able to touch this branch."

"Brother is right. Not only the laws of light, but even the laws of lightning have a core branch called 'Lightning of Moment,' which I learned from my teacher's legacy," Thor added. "And my teacher—Lord Kabu—though he has fallen, was an extremely powerful Lord of the Realm in life, comparable to Brother's teacher."

"Neither my older brother nor I were able to grasp the so-called core branch, but according to the teacher's records, this core branch is extremely important."

Thor looked at Chen Yuan seriously and warned, "Therefore, if you have clues to the core branch, you must comprehend it at all costs."

Chen Yuan nodded, silently chanting in his mind: "Eternal Light... Momentary Thunder, and..."

"The wind of existence!"

He suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

A moment later, Chen Yuan bid farewell to Hong and Thor and left the virtual universe.

Back to reality, he immediately took out paper and pen and started writing and drawing in a blank notebook.

Two hours later, looking at the notebook filled with pages and pages of writing, Chen Yuan felt a surge of satisfaction: "I understand!"

"Those laws... or rather, the lower-level laws, should all have core branches, and these branches should be strongly related to their corresponding higher-level laws!"

"After all, whether it's the eternal light, the fleeting thunder, or the wind of existence that I've sensed... they all have in common that they are related to time."

"Eternity is infinity, a moment is an instant, existence records everything..."

"These three core elements also represent the three essential aspects of time."

"The eternal light represents the continuity of time, the fleeting thunder symbolizes the stagnation of time, and the wind of existence... represents the reversal of time!"

"But retrospection is merely the surface of the law; its fundamental image is actually...flow! The flow of time!"

"Therefore, the true name for the wind of existence should be the wind of retrospection, or the wind of flow!"

"Of course, it is impossible to control time with these branches of the lower laws, but they can serve as a springboard to establish connections with the higher laws."

"Truly worthy of being a top-tier realm lord, able to find the most crucial one from among the myriad branches of a lower-level law." Chen Yuan thought to himself in admiration, then thought of the original plot.

"Back then, Luo was so obsessed with comprehending the laws of time. Could it be that he grasped this core?" Chen Yuan thought about it more and more and felt that it was possible. "Having a springboard to comprehend the laws of time, and being a World Lord is the stage where the comprehension of laws is clearest, Luo gave up on studying the laws of light and instead wasted a lot of his lifespan on the laws of time. As a result, an accident led to the birth of tragedy."

"I must take this as a warning."

Chen Yuan took Luo's experience as a warning.

"I'll focus on comprehending the Law of Wind first! After all, my physique is naturally more compatible with the Law of Wind. As for time... I can comprehend it after I've perfected the Thousand Winds Manual and gained a physique compatible with time."

After figuring it out, he looked down at the notebook in his hand: "This is full of associations about laws, but they are too scattered, and there are only lower-level laws on the time side, but none on the space side."

"Hong and Thor helped me a lot this time. Should I ask the system to optimize this booklet and then show it to them?"

Chen Yuan thought to himself, "Hmm... if I'm going to do it, I should do it well. It's not just about time; it would be best if I could also write out the connection between the Five Elements Law and the Space Law."

As for optimizing the content related to the Five Elements of Space, that depends on the system.

Chen Yuan acted on his idea immediately. He opened the panel and was about to create an optimization task when he suddenly noticed that some data had changed.

Thousand Winds Manual: Combat-type secret technique; Rating: Peak Planetary-level secret technique; Current progress: Proficient (90.14%)

Power Level: 19

Enhancement of artistic conception: 5.3 times

"The Thousand Winds Manual has increased proficiency by nearly 20%."

Chen Yuan stared at the panel, lost in thought: "Is it because of my insights just now?"

Regardless of whether it was true or not, Chen Yuan was in a pretty good mood because this improvement... was at least equivalent to two months of hard training.

After all, the increase in proficiency of secret techniques is not a fixed value. Rather, the closer the proficiency gets to the limit, the slower Chen Yuan's daily cultivation progresses.

However, the improvement in the Thousand Winds Manual was an unexpected bonus, not part of Chen Yuan's plan, so his joy was short-lived. He then looked at the panel and said:

"System, create an optimization task. Using the contents of this notebook as the core, optimize the content, expand the relationship between the Five Elements Law and the Space Law, and retain its universality."

[Task creation in progress...]