Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 142 Target Selection, Second Inheritance Token, Invincible Defense

There are two types: the first enhances the foundation, and the second improves the efficiency of comprehending the laws of fusion.

The so-called "enhancing the foundation" refers to things like increasing the gene multiplier after fusion or improving the stability of the immortal divine kingdom.

If he could devour the Dark Lord, even if it only had a gene multiplier of 1000, due to the natural compatibility, when the demon and the form became one, Hunzhen had no doubt that he could achieve the perfect gene multiplier in the original universe.

Conversely, if the fusion target is not so compatible with the existing clone, even a simple addition of the multipliers may not be enough to achieve the desired result.

A premonition told Hunzhen that, given the compatibility between the Three-Life Demon Lord and the Time-Space Demon God, once he entered the Immortal realm, a gene multiplier of 5000 would be his lower limit.

However, doubling this number to reach the perfect gene multiplier of 10081 times that of the original universe would be extremely difficult.

Either choose a partner with a gene multiplier of over 1,000 times and who is relatively compatible with the Time-Space Demon God, or choose a partner with a gene multiplier of over 5,000 times and who does not conflict with the Time-Space Demon God's clone.

The first thing that came to Hunzhen's mind was the World Tree.

Both are special life forms with the talent of time and space. Even though their life structure is quite different from that of the Time and Space Demon God and they are plant-like life forms, they have the advantage of thousands of times the life gene multiplier. One increases and the other decreases, which exactly cancel each other out. Moreover, by using the World Tree as an avatar to break through, the divine kingdom will be very stable.

In addition, merging with the World Tree clone will also make the divine body even larger.

When a life form becomes too large, its energy becomes difficult to increase linearly, and its body density will decrease significantly. However, for a being of the size of the World Tree, it is not too difficult to increase the energy of its divine body after breaking through to the Hunzhen realm by several times or even ten times compared to when it did not have a World Tree clone.

If you want to improve your foundation, the World Tree is undoubtedly the best choice for Hunzhen.

In contrast, it would inevitably face the strongest World Tree, which has reached the level of a Cosmic Venerable and possesses the combat power of a Cosmic Lord.

"With my current strength, without the combat power of a Universe Venerable, how can I possibly snatch food from the jaws of the strongest World Tree?"

Hunzhen silently shook his head: "Don't even think about it."

Hunzhen had no choice but to put this goal aside for the time being.

The World Tree was not his most desired target.

After all, his spacetime talent was already extremely high, close to its limit, and his single-space talent had unsurprisingly reached its ceiling.

It should be understood that the closer one gets to the limits in this world, the more difficult it becomes to improve.

Using the World Tree as an avatar only enhances one's foundation and theoretical strength, offering no benefit whatsoever to one's comprehension of the laws.

Hunzhen's gaze quickly fell on the object that could improve the efficiency of his fusion law comprehension.

The Ancestral God Cult is undoubtedly a secret realm that gathers the most unique life forms in the primordial universe.

In addition, during this period, Hunzhen, under the identity of Milirat, got along peacefully with many inheritors, so it wasn't too difficult for her to obtain information about some special life forms.

Thus, a hundred years passed in the blink of an eye as one cultivated oneself, made friends, socialized, and gathered intelligence.

Hunzhen roughly selected four targets.

Regarding special life forms, most of the descriptions in these intelligence reports are speculations based on their combat experiences, since virtually no life form would voluntarily reveal its trump cards and talents.

Luo Feng only understood the true talent of the Lord of the Nine Netherworlds after he created his clone.

Of the four targets chosen by Hunzhen, three were special life forms and one was an ordinary life form.

Let's start with ordinary life forms, which can be said to have the most extensive and detailed intelligence gathering.

Considering that ordinary life forms may not be inferior to special life forms in terms of their talents in the laws, and some may even have higher potential, Hunzhen also included ordinary life forms in his consideration of clones.

If it's necessary to sacrifice some of the foundation in order to improve the laws, then for Hunzhen, it's not unacceptable.

This ordinary being is named the Stone Tempering Clan. They are rock-based life forms, possessing talents in earth, space, and time. Their racial talents allow them to enter a state of lifelessness, as if they were non-living, thus becoming one with the universe.

It's as if you've truly transformed into an ordinary, stubborn rock, undergoing the tempering of the laws of the universe, only to awaken after a long period of time. Once awakened, you'll instantly gain enlightenment, unleashing countless insights into the laws, breaking through all the barriers and bottlenecks of your previous understanding.

This race is small in number but generally powerful. Each of them is a practitioner of asceticism. The longer they accumulate time after turning into lifeless, stubborn rocks, the more they comprehend the laws of nature after regaining their life state.

Their tribal leader even had a legendary experience of being dead for tens of millions of epochs before awakening and breaking through to become the Lord of the Universe.

In terms of comprehension alone, the Stone Tempering Clan possesses many special abilities.

As a clone target, its biggest advantage is that it is infinitely easier to devour compared to other targets.

However, despite having so many advantages...

"It doesn't fit my simulation system."

Hunzhen hesitated for a moment, but still decided to discard it.

The improvement of one's understanding requires completely forgetting external things and merging with the universe.

Transformed into a state of lifeless, stubborn rock, its thoughts are almost stagnant, with only a fleeting thought allowing it to decide whether to break free from the rock.

It's hard to say whether Hunzhen can still activate its simulation capabilities normally in this state.

Even if one could achieve this, maintaining the state of a stubborn rock would not yield much insight into the laws of nature; the key lies only in the moment of breaking free from the seal.

Of course, it is also possible that simulated inheritance would not be so inconvenient, and that one could directly inherit the time of the stubborn stone one by one, allowing the original body to accumulate time for a longer period of time, and ultimately gain more insights.

However... it is ultimately uncertain and there are risks involved.

Hunzhen would only choose the Stone-Refining Clan if the success rates of the other three targets were low.

The characteristics of the first two special life forms are exactly opposite.

The first special life form is named Unbound Element, an energy life form with a life gene multiplier of around 1000. It possesses extremely high talents in wind, thunder, and light, but its specific talents and abilities are unknown. Based on its combat experience, it is suspected to have a special ability that greatly enhances its combat power after losing its mind and going berserk.

The second special being is named Tiamat, a flesh-and-blood being with five heads of different colors and shapes. She is also known as the Five-Colored Dragon Mother. Her life gene multiplier is around 3000 times, and she possesses extremely high talents in the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth). Her specific talents and abilities are unknown.

Based on his combat experience, he is suspected to possess a special Five Elements Domain with extremely strong suppressive power. Furthermore, judging from the information left behind at the scene of his battle that destroyed many star systems during his early years as a Realm Lord, he also possesses a purely destructive ability or technique.

Neither of them considered the possibility of merging with lower-level laws. Instead, they chose the path of merging the lower-level laws they were good at with a single higher-level law for which they did not have a strong talent, and thus came to the Ancestral God Cult.

They are now all at the immortal level, possessing the combat power of a cosmic venerable.

The reason why Hunzhen set his sights on these two is quite simple.

This can be seen from the "enhancing the cultivation of the laws of fusion".

Unsurprisingly, Wuji Element and Tiamat possess extremely strong Yin-Yang Fusion Law talents and Five Elements Fusion Law talents, respectively. Even if they are weaker than the superior-inferior fusion law talents of the Innate Beast God, they are only slightly inferior.

Choosing any one of them as an avatar can greatly increase his progress in the Yin-Yang or Five Elements Fusion Law, thereby indirectly increasing his cultivation speed in the Space-Time Fusion Law and the Chaos Law.

Since it's already difficult to significantly improve one's spacetime talent, it's only natural to think of increasing the speed of progress in fusing lower-level laws.

Compared to devouring the World Tree, these two goals are equally difficult for others, but for Hunzhen, they are much more achievable. At least, they are far more controllable than when he possessed the body of the Three-Life Demon King.

The key point isn't that he has a cheat code, but that he can find reinforcements.

Even if he didn't know the talents of the two special life forms, the improvement in the compatibility of a single law was enough to satisfy Hunzhen, but it wasn't enough to make him want to make a final decision.

This brings us to the last special life form.

Its name is Enlightened Azure Lotus, a plant-type life form with a life gene multiplier of only 100 times. Its innate compatibility with the law is the lower-level law of wood, and its combat power is relatively low compared to other special life forms at the same level.

However, his advantage lies in his exceptional talent for comprehending the laws, or rather, "enlightenment." It is said that he has almost no bottlenecks in his cultivation, and even without a high degree of spatial talent that aligns with the laws, he can quickly get started.

He is now at the level of a Cosmic Venerable. Unfortunately, he is naturally peaceful. When he first appeared in the primordial universe and joined the Ancestral God Cult, he was already at the Immortal level. It took him millions of epochs to reach the level of a Cosmic Venerable. He has few combat records.

According to the deduction of the Chaos City Lord, Hunzhen has a high probability of possessing the combat power of a high-level Venerable.

At the Venerable level, the gap between the initial and advanced levels is not significant; there is at least no overwhelming difference. The qualitative change occurs between advanced Venerables and cosmic overlords.

However, a high-level Venerable is a complete and utter crushing force to ordinary immortal-level combatants.

Killing a King-level Invincible being (the most ordinary level of a Universe Venerable) should be a piece of cake.

"Should we choose to fuse with a lower-level law, or opt for a higher level of understanding and improved overall efficiency?"

Not long after, Hunzhen made a decision.

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Neither Yin and Yang nor the Five Elements are his true path.

Improving one aspect doesn't reduce the time spent on the other, so the overall efficiency improvement won't even double. Furthermore, this gain will decrease as his mastery of one of the lower-level fusion laws increases.

However, if he chooses the Enlightenment Lotus, even if he enters the realm of the Universe Lord or even higher, the improvement in his comprehension will not be outdated and will still be useful in his research on the laws of chaos.

"Therefore, if I want to improve the efficiency of the path of laws, my best choice is undoubtedly the Enlightenment Lotus."

Thinking of this, Hunzhen couldn't help but sigh softly.

Unexpectedly, whether it's improving one's foundation or increasing cultivation efficiency, the best choice in the end is plant-based life forms.

"No rush," Hunzhen thought to himself.

Whether he chooses the World Tree or the Enlightenment Lotus, his current strength is far from sufficient even if he calls for reinforcements.

"Even with a simulation system, I would need to possess at least the combat power of an ordinary Universe Venerable before I could even consider this matter."

After joining the Ancestral God Sect, his comprehension of the laws improved at an even faster pace, far from reaching its limit.

The combat technique is in its early stages, but it will take some time before it is fully developed.

"When my understanding of the laws reaches the level of a cosmic overlord, and I comprehend at least a cosmic overlord-level, that is, a peak combat technique, then it will be the time for me to truly begin my hunt."

After all, if reinforcements are needed, Milirat's identity will be hard to keep, and the alien races will inevitably see through her.

He is just a member of a newly emerging and weak race. No matter how strong his social skills are, how can he get the cosmic venerable one to serve him?

Nobody's a fool; it would be strange if they couldn't see that Milirat was actually a direct descendant of humans.

This also means that the best opportunity usually only comes once.

Drop drop drop.

The virtual device transmitted the communication.

A smile appeared in Hunzhen's eyes: "A hundred years... my second inheritance token is finally about to arrive."

After laughing, he walked out of the cultivation residence with a smile.

The residences of the Hongmeng and the Demon Clan Alliance on Zijing Island are not close to each other.

Fortunately, Niu Feiyang took the initiative to move closer to Hunzhenbao's location, so he didn't need to go too far.

"Damn it, it must have been that idiot Boiling Sheep who ruined this!"

Not far away, the Jade Luo Venerable, who was hiding in the shadows, saw Hunzhen stop after taking only two steps from leaving the mansion, completely within the territory of the Hong Alliance's residence, and felt a surge of resentment in his heart.

But I know I can't wait any longer.

For the past hundred years, Milirat seemed to know that she was being watched, so she stayed at home and never left her house. She hoarded so many Glory Points but never even went out to the Land of Inheritance. She just stayed at home like a shut-in.

Although Niu Feiyang and Mililat have been in contact and seem much closer, to the point that Niu Feiyang has promised to guarantee Mililat's identity and give her a Beast God Inheritance Token without her joining the Demon Alliance...

However, the two never actually met again.

until today.

"This is the perfect opportunity to assassinate Milirat, and we can also frame those fools in the demon race for it—a win-win situation!"

Of course, a mere Milila was not enough for the Zerg to require a cosmic venerable like Venerable Jade Luo to personally take action.

The price for resurrecting an immortal and a Venerable is different. Venerable Yu Luo is only the main person in charge. She promised many rewards to the two limit-level King-level experts and sent her three King-level soul servants to guard them. In her opinion, she also attaches great importance to Milirat!

Just as Hunzhen stopped—

Suddenly, five figures appeared at the same time.

Two newly appointed illusionists immediately used their soul control abilities on Hunzhen, while another newly appointed illusionist was responsible for controlling the surrounding area to prevent Hunzhen from escaping.

The remaining two King-level Limit Breakers, one dispersed numerous psychic weapons to suppress the enemy and launch an attack simultaneously, while the other, a different race King-level Limit Breaker, darted in and invaded within ten zhang of Hunzhen, attempting to assassinate him at close range.

In just a moment, Hunzhen seemed to be in a life-threatening crisis.

However, in this situation, a faint, cold smile appeared on Milirat's goddess-like, exquisitely beautiful face.

Venerable Yulu's expression immediately changed: "This is bad, she wasn't affected by the soul attack!"

Immediately order the two illusionist servants to abandon their illusionary methods and attack using the weaker methods of the controller.

Suddenly, Hunzhen revealed himself in an incomparably magnificent silver armor, and in his hand he gripped a black longsword that exuded an ominous aura and burned with dark red flames.

Void Armor!

Time-Wounding Demon Blade!

When Hunzhen put on the Void Ghost Armor, invisible spatial fluctuations spread out. The martial artist Feng Wang Wudi, who tried to get close, was always limited to ten feet away, even though his steps were as fast as the wind. Despite maintaining extremely fast movement, the distance between them hardly decreased.

No, the distance between him and Hunzhen was constantly shrinking, but the rate of shrinking was too slow!

It was as if a distance of only tens of meters had been stretched to tens of light-years.

"So close yet so far."

This is an extremely powerful defensive move developed by Hunzhen, based on the extremely strong spatial characteristics of the Void Ghost Armor and inspired by the defensive techniques of the seventh level of the Yuan Shen weapon, "Infinite Universe".

By infinitely extending the distance in space, ranged attacks are significantly weakened, making melee attacks almost impossible to get close to.

Invincible defense.

(End of this chapter)