Chapter 408 – Three Limit Breaks, Gazing into the Inner Cosmos

The Dark Gold Hammer, enveloped in a terrifying momentum, thunderously descended and met a palm shrouded in a radiant glow, touching lightly without any flair.

“Buzz-“

Upon contact, a horrifying, indescribable tremor resonated.

“Crackle-“

The radiant glow on the palm holding the Dark Gold Hammer rapidly fractured, releasing a series of loud explosions.

A multitude of dark ripples spread from the collision point, causing the void to ripple like the surface of water.

Through the shattered radiant glow, a slender, pale hand appeared-flawless and fair.

A man’s hand.

The hand holding the Dark Gold Hammer momentarily dropped.

“Ha!”

Yongdu, with both hands on the hammer, saw his chance and pressed down fiercely with both hands.

Yet, the hand that seemed to be suppressed by the hammer suddenly clenched into a fist and then lightly tapped the face of the hammer upward.

“Crack.”

For Yongdu, who wielded the hammer with both hands and an overwhelming presence, the force of this upward punch felt no more significant than a mosquito bite, barely noticeable.

The figure who threw the punch then stood still, calmly watching as Yongdu continued to smash the hammer downward.

However, just then-

“Snap-“

A crisp crack appeared on the face of the Dark Gold Hammer.

Then one crack turned into two, two into three, and soon, countless cracks spread across the surface of the Dark Gold Hammer like a spiderweb.

“Boom!”

Before the hammer could reach the figure’s head, the massive and brilliant Dark Gold Hammer suddenly shattered, breaking into countless pieces smaller than the metal blocks it was made from, scattering in Yongdu’s hands like leaves in the autumn breeze.

“Uh-“

Yongdu remained in the posture of smashing down with both hands, staring blankly at his now empty hands.

His face showed bewilderment and an indescribable shock and disbelief.

Lord Yongdu was not only shocked by the sudden shattering of his great hammer but also by the energy, skill, and understanding of “the power of the natal star diagram” that he had infused into that strike.

Under the influence of a mysterious force, everything quickly crumbled and fell apart.

This force originated from the figure enveloped in a radiant glow standing before him.

What kind of monster is this?!

The thought that if the force had hit him instead of his hammer, it would have been catastrophic, sent a bone-chilling cold through Lord Yongdu’s spine that swiftly swept over his entire body.

With almost no hesitation, the weaponless Lord Yongdu turned and fled without a word.

The tri-shark star diagram reappeared in the void, this time pulling Lord Yongdu along, transforming him into a dazzling streak of light that escaped at an incredible speed.

Lord Yongdu, a tenth stage powerhouse, ran away?!

His sudden flight stunned two ninth stage onlookers.

But they quickly recovered, turning to flee with faces full of terror.

Their speed was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

The emerging figure did not pursue the trio but simply watched them disappear.

Once they were completely out of sight, the figure slowly descended from mid-air.

As he landed, the dense radiant glow around him gradually receded.

A young man about two meters tall, with a strong and well-proportioned body, handsome features, and shoulder-length black hair parted in the middle, soon emerged from the glow.

Suddenly, something squirmed out from under his armpit.

It was a round, plump green bird, almost spherical in shape.

Struggling to flap its wings, the chubby bird laboriously perched on the young man’s left shoulder, panting heavily.

Naturally, this duo was Lu Yuan and the cuckoo bird.

“Even in my normal state, I stand above the tenth stage. By utilizing the power of the ultimate skill, I can even effortlessly defeat a tenth stage. Is this really my current strength?” Lu Yuan murmured, looking at his smooth, pale palms, recalling the recent battle with a tenth stage powerhouse from an unknown planetary force.

He then checked his current attribute panel-

[Name: Lu Yuan]

[Age: 17]

[Strength Points: 40 (Limit Break 3)]

[Agility Points: 40 (Limit Break 3)]

[Constitution Points: 40 (Limit Break 3)]

[Intelligence Points: 40 (Limit Break 3)]

All four basic attributes surged to 40 points, reaching the height of three limit breaks.

All four basic attributes have achieved three limit breaks!

This is also why Lu Yuan can firmly stand above the tenth stage.

All these enhancements were brought about by a “violent chemical reaction” between the yellow crystallized form he acquired during the first stage of the trial and the Phoenix Essence within him.

Upon internal visualization, Lu Yuan observed.

At this moment, right in the center of his chest, a vermilion gold sphere was spinning smoothly.

This was his blood sphere.

Lu Yuan remembered that when he had just advanced to Grandmaster and condensed his blood sphere, it was initially in a mist-like form.

After a breakthrough, the mist-like blood sphere transformed into a higher quality liquid form, known as the “First Transformation Blood Pill.”

Now, this blood pill had undergone a significant transformation and had completely solidified, truly becoming a “pill.”

And the vast and dense quality of Lu Yuan’s vital energy was many times stronger than before.

It was like the difference between heaven and earth.

The yellow crystallized form inside his chest had long disappeared, but the bundle of Phoenix Essence still remained.

However, it had shrunk quite a bit, probably to about two-thirds of its original size, from the size of a pigeon’s egg to that of a quail’s egg.

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but marvel secretly.

With such a huge increase in his attributes, the Phoenix Essence was still not fully absorbed?

It truly was the life essence left by a legendary creature, and his mere mortal body had to digest it in several stages.

“I wonder if, once I’ve completely absorbed this Phoenix Essence, my body might possess a trace of the legendary Phoenix’s bloodline.”

“It’s a pity that the yellow crystallized form is gone; I can only wait for the next trial to begin to see if I have another chance to obtain something like it.”

Lu Yuan mused inwardly.

In fact, he was very curious about what exactly that yellow crystallized form was.

It felt like it did more than just help him absorb the Phoenix Essence.

Lu Yuan distinctly felt an indescribable substance merging into his bones and blood, originating from the yellow crystallized form, although he was unsure of its nature and could not unearth it further.

“It must be something valuable, otherwise it wouldn’t have turned this fellow into what he is now.”

Lu Yuan casually grabbed the cuckoo bird perched on his shoulder and examined it up close.

The cuckoo bird looked drastically different from its original form.

Originally only as long as a finger and thin, it had now grown as round as a ball, resembling the birds from “Angry Birds.”

Holding it felt quite pleasant; its fur was fluffy and soft, quite therapeutic.

“Can you still fly in this shape?” Lu Yuan curiously asked the cuckoo bird.

However, the cuckoo bird, looking fully sated and uninterested, lazily glanced at him.

Lu Yuan shook his head, casually tossing the cuckoo bird back onto his shoulder, no longer bothering with it.

His feelings towards the cuckoo bird were quite complex.

The cuckoo bird had tricked him many times, repeatedly putting Lu Yuan in precarious situations, yet somehow always managing to bring him benefits.

It was truly a mix of good and bad luck.

But so far, Lu Yuan felt that the good luck the cuckoo bird brought him still outweighed the bad.

“After the blood pill fully forms, the path ahead as a [Grandmaster of Martial Arts (Extraordinary)] seems clearer.”

Lu Yuan closed his eyes, feeling the vast vital energy in his body circulating back and forth under the guidance of the golden blood pill.

“The blood pill refines, gathering the Three Flowers, merging the Five Qi, and then…”

In Lu Yuan’s mind, an image from one of the murals he had seen in the Hutian secret realm emerged.

It was the mural that truly explained the origin of the Hutian secret realm.

-The Hutian secret realm had sprung from within the body of a little figure.

“Whoosh-“

Lu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze flickering with incredulity.

“Could it be that after gathering the Three Flowers and merging the Five Energies, the next step is to create a world similar to the Hutian secret realm inside one’s body?!”

Lu Yuan appeared slightly stunned, the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

If a [Grandmaster of Martial Arts (Extraordinary)] could reach the step of activating an “inner world,” then indeed, there was much to look forward to.

“I now have attributes with three limit breaks at 40 points each, and my blood pill has reached Mastery, but my strength is only at the tenth stage.

So, should the step of [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] where one activates their inner world correspond to the Star Lord Level?”

Lu Yuan speculated in his mind.

Although his strength had soared, making it feel like child’s play to dominate ordinary tenth-stage fighters, he still felt completely out of touch with the Star Lord Level.

“It’s still far too much of a gap…”

He compared himself to the handsome youth from an advanced civilization at the Star Lord Realm whom he had seen before entering the trial, and realized that the Star Lord Level was still a realm he had to look up to.

For instance, his current mental power intensity could cover thousands, even tens of thousands of square kilometers on a regular planet-easily enveloping an entire city.

But compared to the powerhouses of the Star Lord Realm, who measure their might by planets, he was still lacking far too much.

“Even if I activate the secret technique of the gathering of three flowers at the apex, I still fall short.”

“There’s an unprecedented vast chasm between the tenth stage and the Star Lord Level, much like traveling from one planet to its neighboring one.”

Lu Yuan recalled his experiences during the first-stage of the trial.

No wonder he could defeat the monsters at the tenth stage of the trial, but at the eleventh stage, he was no match for even a single hair of his opponent.

The trial was clearly conveying to them, the challengers, in the most direct and clear way-

The gap between the tenth stage and the Star Lord Level is just that huge!

“For now, I don’t need to worry about encountering an opponent at the Star Lord Level. By the time I qualify to face such a level, perhaps I will have also made a breakthrough to a corresponding realm in [Martial Arts Grandmaster].”

Lu Yuan thought, gradually suppressing his thoughts.

He was now ready to start exploring this ancestral land secret realm.

The second-stage trial must have been underway for a while; he entered late and had secluded himself for a period upon arrival.

He had fallen behind others considerably and needed to hurry to make some gains, otherwise, if the secret realm were to close soon, he would emerge empty-handed, and others might think he had just been lazy inside.

“Let me see what resources are listed on the exploration checklist.”

Before entering the secret realm, the advanced civilization responsible for this trial issued each trialist a detailed list.

The list meticulously documented the variety of precious resources found within the ancestral land secret realm, including information on their characteristics, importance, and respective ratings.

It also included a partial map of the ancestral land secret realm, which Lu Yuan was planning to study thoroughly.

However, just as he was about to plan his next steps in the exploration, his communicator suddenly received an urgent message.

The message only disclosed a set of coordinates and instructed the recipients to rush to that location immediately.

This message was jointly issued by the powerhouses from Xia State, the Distant Star Federation, and Javier, and it also included Yuwen Tong’s signature.

“It seems like there’s a significant discovery,” Lu Yuan mused, blinking.

Since he had no other immediate plans, he didn’t think too much about it and quickly pulled up the map to head towards the given coordinates.

“Damn it!”

“Boom!”

Accompanied by an angry shout, dense silver vines rapidly expanded and glowed.

Like crazed starry sky silver pythons, they fiercely burrowed into the ground, upheaving vast swathes of earth and causing upheaval in the area.

After a moment of venting, the silver vines retracted and hovered mid-air, gently swaying like tentacles.

As the master of all this chaos, the silver-braided youth Anders stared grimly at the Black Robe Elder kneeling before him.

“So, the location we’ve spent so much time locking down was fake?”

“Now that all leads are gone, how do you plan to take responsibility?!”

“This is indeed my fault.”

The Black Robe Elder bowed deeply before Anders, inwardly cursing his luck.

He had never expected that a mere informant from a lower civilization could deceive them with false information, probably hoping to leverage it for some advantage.

The critical mistake was that he hadn’t even considered this possibility; he had met the informant and killed him before he could even speak.

Little did he know, the coordinates provided by the informant were false, and the truth went to the grave with him, leaving no one to question.

“There is, however, a solution…”

The Black Robe Elder, experienced and cunning from years, quickly thought of a way to address the issue.

He carefully lifted his head, meeting Anders’ icy gaze, as if to signal him to continue.

“The matter of the Immortal Bloodline is certainly true; otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to find out about it so easily. But the identity of this person is very secretive, and even within the Bai Family, only a very few are truly aware.

The group that disclosed this information to us spoke of a so-called genius, who may not necessarily be the Immortal Bloodline bearer unearthed by the Bai Family.

It might just be a coincidence that we happened upon them.

Even if we previously obtained the real coordinates from him, it’s not guaranteed that we can successfully locate the Immortal Bloodline you’re looking for.”

The Black Robe Elder started off with flattering words, aiming to minimize his own fault as much as possible.

Seeing Anders growing impatient, he finally shifted the direction of the conversation, revealing his own solution.

“One thing is certain: the Immortal Bloodline bearer is now definitely within the ancestral land secret realm.”

The Black Robe Elder smiled slightly and said, “If we devise a plan to gather everyone currently in the secret realm together for a systematic search, we can surely find the Immortal Bloodline.”