The Black Eye Galaxy was a place of mystery to Qi Ze, a region devoid of the grand and minor worlds he was used to. Instead, it was filled with countless, individual planets, each blinking in the sky like a beacon of its own existence. Qi Ze couldn't sense the presence of the Heavenly Dao here, but the place was awash with rich spiritual energy that eagerly sought to enter his body.
The newly arrived Qi Ze, grievously wounded, desperately needed this spiritual energy to heal, but it nearly killed him instead. The spiritual energy here contained a violent, destructive force that could destroy meridians and dantians, driving one to madness.
Just absorbing a sliver of this impure energy caused Qi Ze's internal organs to suffer damage, his meridians to rupture, and his cultivation to plummet to almost nothing. It took all the high-grade spirit stones in his Qiankun Ring to stabilize his condition. After two years, his internal injuries had healed, but his cultivation had stagnated due to the lack of pure spiritual energy.
If he could recover to the Foundation Establishment stage, he could use his divine sense to separate the violent energy from the spiritual energy, allowing him to continue his cultivation.
The people here were entirely different from those on the Qianyuan Continent, not even belonging to the same species. Qi Ze knew nothing of silicon-based or carbon-based beings, only that these silicon-based beings lacked the basic upper, middle, and lower dantians.
After over two years of observation, he found that some only had the lower and middle dantians, others the upper and middle, and a very few had all three. He gradually realized that those with the lower and middle dantians usually had good physical constitutions, suitable for body cultivation techniques. Those with the upper and middle dantians typically had strong mental abilities, suitable for scientific research. Those with all three dantians were the chosen ones, possessing both robust physiques and mental abilities, capable of awakening special abilities. They were destined to rule this world.
They developed their individual strength to the extreme, able to survive in environments with extreme temperatures, and could even survive without oxygen. Compared to the original carbon-based beings, they seemed stronger, but in Qi Ze's eyes, this was their greatest tragedy.
Original humans weren't powerful, but they could pursue the Heavenly Dao through cultivation. The Heavenly Dao, controlling all things, granted power to humans who could utilize or circumvent its laws. Controlling wind and rain, moving mountains and overturning seas, it was all within their grasp. A flash of insight or a grueling battle could propel them from one realm to the next. Their future was always uncertain.
But now, humans had lost this ability. Their potential determined their future achievements at birth, classified into S, A, B, C, D, E, and F grades, everyone trapped within these ranks, branding themselves as either talented or worthless.
They couldn't break these shackles, like preformed vessels that would only shatter if pushed too far. Yet humans were not a species content to remain stagnant. Their pursuit of power was unending. When individual power couldn't be enhanced further, technology was pushed to its limits. Weapons of all kinds were created, cold, hot, large, small, even a three-year-old with a lethal weapon could become an entity to be feared.
On the Qianyuan Continent, cultivators focused on personal cultivation and shamed the reliance on objects, causing the weapon refinement sect to gradually decline, struggling to pass on its legacy. Qi Ze had hoped to rejuvenate the sect, only to nearly lose his life in the process.
Lurking in this alien continent for two years, gradually understanding his surroundings, he suddenly realized: this was the best of times, a time destined for weapon refiners. The people here, trapped by the limits of their grades, could be helped to break free by his spiritual weapons.
Though their dantians were incomplete, their meridians were exceptionally wide, and most possessed spirit roots, making them excellent candidates for using spiritual weapons.
The Supreme Divine Creation Sect was the top weapon refinement sect on the Qianyuan Continent, with an iron rule: objects above, cultivation beneath. The disciples spent their lives crafting a divine weapon, focusing solely on the skill of forging, never on the strength of cultivation. Crafting a spiritual weapon that even commoners could use to its fullest potential was their greatest honor.
Qi Ze, stranded in the Black Eye Galaxy, was both unlucky and fortunate. His sect had perished, but here he could continue his path of weapon refinement. Yan Junyu's death was a catalyst, urging him to step out of his comfort zone and fight for a future, to preserve a thread of inheritance.
He shut down the webpage, walked to the desk, gazing at the long-dried calligraphy, remembering the once-prosperous and mighty sect, and sighed deeply. "As long as I'm alive, the Supreme Divine Creation Sect will never disappear."
Murmuring to himself, he took out a few lower-grade spirit stones, arranged an energy-gathering formation on the ground, then sat in the center to cultivate. The air was filled with spiritual energy, but too impure to be absorbed. If he could find a substitute for spirit stones, he wouldn't worry about recovering to the Core Formation stage. Energy stones sold on the market were comparable to spirit stones in quality but contained a large amount of violent energy that needed to be purified.
In other words, if he couldn't restore his Foundation Establishment cultivation and use the fusion force to refine the spiritual energy in the energy stones, it would all be for naught. If another cultivator with a five-element spirit root came here, they might be rendered useless for life.
With his situation akin to a life-or-death emergency, Qi Ze had no choice but to use the remaining spirit stones to cultivate. Eyes closed, legs crossed, hands pinching the 'spirit' word seal, hovering three inches above his knees, wisps of spiritual energy seeped out of the spirit stones, swirling into his body, gradually gathering in the lower dantian, then rising along the meridians, from the middle dantian into the upper dantian, and finally flowing back to the lower dantian, completing a full circulation.
His entire being was immersed in meditation, unaware of a wisp of soul watching him with astonishmentâYan Junyu's strong mental power allowed him to see through the grades and abilities of those weaker than himself. As a soul, his vision of the world was naturally more real and vast. He could touch the particles of various elements in the air, and see the light they emitted when gathered together.
When Ouyang Ye picked up the two attribute weapons in the basement, Yan Junyu could see the flowing green and red light bands on the blade, dazzlingly bright. But now, he could barely believe his eyes, seeing a surge of colorful light spots from all directions, each one drilling into Qi Ze's body. Qi Ze was enveloped in a half-round glow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, each divine light flickering and merging, a breathtaking scene akin to a dream.
"What's going on? Full-spectrum abilities? What are these stones?" He took a few steps closer, suddenly noticing that his mental body began to absorb red and purple light points on its own, becoming more substantial as a result. A delightful sensation, indescribable in words, filled his mind, entrancing him.
He couldn't help but think anymore, mimicking Qi Ze's actions, sitting in meditation, and unconsciously entering a state of emptinessâthe next day, man and soul woke up one after another, both in a full mental state, not resembling someone who had stayed up all night. The spirit stones around the formation had turned into dust, swept away by the automatic sweeping robot, leaving nothing behind. Qi Ze grimaced, as if pained by the loss, but he knew these expenditures were necessary. Once his cultivation recovered to the Foundation Establishment stage, he could buy energy stones for purification. Then, he'd have as many spirit stones as he wanted, and all of high quality.
"You have to lose to gain, lose to gain..." He muttered the phrase as he headed into the bathroom to wash up.
Yan Junyu stood at the bathroom door, watching the youth busily, feeling a sense of grounding when his feet touched the ground, unlike the initial days after his death when it felt like he could float away at any moment.
"Are you a full-spectrum ability user? Only ability users can gain energy through meditation. But why can you also provide me with energy? You have so many secrets, so many that I could spend a lifetime investigating. You know what? I suddenly don't want to die. I just want to figure out who you are." He walked up to the youth, observing his every move closely.
Qi Ze couldn't hear his words, having tidied himself up and put on his school uniform to attend class with Ouyang Ye.
Ouyang Ye, holding a piece of bread, mumbled as he ate, "Young Master Qi, I thought about it all night, and the more I thought, the more it didn't make sense. Look, the price for my life was 160 million, and Yan Junyu's was 1.3 billion. He had a higher status and a higher price, which I could understand. But, in the end, it was me paying for both! It had nothing to do with the Yan family! It's like Yan Junyu got a free life! He took a huge advantage!"
"What do you want to do? Call the Yan family and tell them their young patriarch is in my hands, pay me 1.3 billion, and I'll return him to you?" Qi Ze took a bite of the bread, a barely noticeable expression of difficulty swallowing crossing his face before he continued, "If you feel like you're losing out, you can negotiate with the Yan family. It doesn't matter to me."
Ouyang Ye shrank his shoulders, chuckling awkwardly, "Forget it then, I'll pay. Thinking about it, the 1.3 billion was for me to buy abilities, so I'm not really losing out. Young Master Qi, can I really have abilities?"
"Believe in me, and you shall have eternal life." Qi Ze uttered these words with the expression of a seasoned charlatan.
Ouyang Ye had originally held 80% hope in him, but now it was down to 40%. But the observer, Yan Junyu, had a faint feeling: Qi Ze might really be able to create miracles. The longer he stayed by his side, the more he realized how his abilities defied logic.