Swallow the starry sky, grind to become the strongest in the universe

Chapter 20 Five Fleeting Years, Fame Spreads Across the Holy Land

Virtual universe, training ground.

Dressed in white, Yu Duan appeared like a ghost, his figure shimmering with light and shadow, reflecting several white phantoms.

"Split Light Thrust!"

In Yu Duan's palm, the Time Sword, which resembled pure crystal, suddenly trembled. Countless winding white-gold patterns on the blade lit up, and a layer of brilliant light rain emerged, condensing into a sharp sword light.

However, in the next instant, the misty rain of light surrounding the sword blade suddenly dissipated, and the originally dazzling sword light dimmed, piercing the power target that resembled a metal monument.

"Master, according to the sword technique explanation, to unleash 'Light Splitting Strike' at the Stellar level, one must at least cross the threshold of the Law of Light!" The intelligent assistant blinked and quickly moved closer to Yu Duan, whispering words of comfort.

Crossing the threshold of the Law of Light is a basic requirement, but it does not mean that meeting this requirement guarantees success in performing the act.

Yu Duan couldn't help but roll his eyes: "I know, I'm just practicing and trying out the power generation techniques described in the 'Sword Technique Commentary'."

The physical exertion techniques differ from the mental intensity (psychic power amplitude) of a spiritual practitioner.

Every improvement in the level of consciousness inevitably requires arduous mental training, gradually honing one's will and awareness.

However, the technique of generating force is different. Changing from a crude and clumsy way of generating force to a more refined and biomechanical way of generating force can lead to a significant improvement in a short period of time.

Yu Duan is in a similar situation now.

Looking at the words '24 times the force amplitude' that appeared on the strength target, Yu Duan nodded in satisfaction.

As expected of a top-tier sword technique aiming for 100 times the perfect power, it is many levels stronger than the power burst technique that comes with the Nine Dawn Blades.

Moreover, under the same burst of power, the physical exertion is greatly reduced.

"I still need to keep working hard... I hope that when the ranking battle starts, my combat skills such as power generation and movement will not hold me back."

A 24-fold increase in power amplitude is already considered excellent among stellar-level martial artists in the universe.

However, among the geniuses of the Northern Divine Land, thirty times is considered the most ordinary level, forty times is barely considered excellent, and only fifty times is considered first-rate.

"There's a training session today on 'practical applications of light in the field,' remember to remind me."

Yu Duan continued to practice his power generation techniques, when suddenly he remembered something and gave Tian Ran an instruction.

Tianran quickly saluted: "Yes, Master! ∠(°ゝ°)!"

Apart from the initial few public lectures on how to improve one's skills and understand the principles, the public lectures that Yu Duan booked afterward were all practical training courses.

The reason is simple: they feel that the teacher's explanations are not very useful, and it would be better to learn more combat skills.

……

The universe is vast, and the stars are countless.

On a cosmic scale, it may take tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of epochs for a spiral galaxy to complete one revolution.

On such an almost eternal timescale, five years is indeed as short as a fleeting moment, with little difference between them.

But for Duan, five years... even considering his past and present lives, is not a short time.

The Northern Divine Land is a training base for the highest geniuses of a high-level cosmic nation.

Although the competition here is fierce, it is an ivory tower compared to the treacherous world society.

Having been a member of the Northern Ming Holy Land for nearly five years, Yu Duan has spent his time attending classes, training, and sparring with a small number of friends.

The core members of the Holy Land do not need to engage in life-or-death adventures like the core members of the five top forces. Even the World Lord level members are at most assigned to external posts and do not need to go to places like the extraterritorial battlefield.

Virtual universe, Beiminghai space.

On Dark Radiance's exclusive territory, a blizzard raged, plunging the world into darkness.

Inside a spacious palace, Yu Duan, An Yao, Chi Li, and another young man with red hair gathered together. In front of them was a small stove, where they were simmering a wine that was quite valuable even in the virtual universe.

"The ranking battle starts in two months. Is Yu Duan confident that he can break into the top 1,000?"

An Yao's bronze skin gleamed metallically under the fluorescent lights as he raised his wine glass and looked at Yu Duan beside him.

Yu Duan's progress over the past five years has been too rapid.

Yu Duan didn't deliberately flaunt anything, but he also didn't pretend to hide anything. When sparring with his friends, he didn't hold back at all, since they were all stronger than him anyway.

Less than two months after advancing to the fifth level, he broke through to the sixth level.

This speed of progress completely stunned An Yao and Chi Li. However, after regaining their senses, the two immediately started placing bets on how long it would take Yu Duan to achieve his next breakthrough.

Yu Duan originally wanted to join in the fun and place a bet, hoping to make some money to spend, but Chi Li excluded him under the pretext of avoiding suspicion.

Then, Yu Duan broke through continuously at an indescribable speed until he advanced to the ninth level of the realm before his condition eased up.

After all, the price of gaining insights into the ninth level of the realm in advance is 2560 million hours of sunbathing. Even with a 1200-fold efficiency improvement, it would still take about 2 years and 5 months.

"The first thousand..."

Yu Duan downed the wine in his glass in one gulp, savoring the aroma that permeated his soul, before smiling and saying, "My goal is to be in the top 100."

Among the core students at the Stellar level, most have reached the peak of the ninth level of the Origin Law, while only 342 have crossed the threshold of the Origin Law.

Chili giggled and leaned closer, using her large breasts to intimidate Yu Duan: "Tsk, looks like little brother Yu Duan is quite confident, huh?"

An Yao revealed a lewd smile and chuckled, "That's not easy. Even if you, Yu Duan, are confident in crossing the threshold of the Origin Law, the time is too short."

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Yu Duan quickly changed the subject, saying, "Let's not talk about me. Are you confident that you can make it to third place this time?"

During the last ranking battle, Dark Radiance had not yet mastered the first level of the Time Sword, 'Splitting Light Thrust'.

Now, Dark Radiance has not only mastered the 'Split Light Strike', but has also moved beyond the stage of barely being able to execute it, and can be considered to have truly entered the realm of the art.

Of course, even if Dark Radiance's 'Split Light Strike' is fully mastered, it won't be able to challenge for the top two spots.

The first two are both old guys, over 5000 years old, who participated in the last Genius Battle and crossed the threshold of the superior origin law a long time ago.

"Of course I'm confident!"

An Yao's lewd smile vanished, replaced by a resolute look in his eyes: "Third place? Who else but me!"

Chili rolled her eyes, her eyes full of seductive charm: "Look how arrogant you are, don't turn around and get beaten up."

Beside him, the somewhat reserved red-haired youth smiled and said, "I believe in Brother Anyao, he will definitely be able to reach third place."

This red-haired youth is named Chilian Guster Clatten; the first two are surnames.

Judging from his name, he is a genius born into the royal family of the Blazing Lotus God Empire.

The first surname, Chilian, comes from the first ancestor of the Chilian Divine Empire. The great ruler personally bestowed upon him the title of Marquis Chilian, and he was also one of the top one hundred super strong individuals in the entire universe.

The second surname, Gust, is the name of the strongest member of the Clatten lineage, who was also an immortal god.

In recent years, Yu Duan has made continuous breakthroughs, and his performance in training sessions has naturally become more and more amazing.

Especially after soaring from the third level to the ninth level in just about three years, he became famous throughout the Northern Divine Land, alarming more than one immortal god.

Rumors even circulated that when the Holy Land's leader reported information to the Great King, the King himself became interested in this stellar-level little guy.

Whether it's true or false, nobody knows, and nobody dares to verify it.

In short, after this rumor spread, countless people began to inquire about Yu Duan and wanted to get to know him, including Clatten.

After learning that Yu Duan was from his own star system, Clatton brought a Time Sword as a gift and visited Yu Duan.

Faced with a gift that could sell for 2 to 3 Mixed Yuan Units at the auction, Yu Duan immediately recognized Kraton as a good friend.

……

The North Sea in the real world.

In the training ground on the second floor of the villa, Yu Duan opened his eyes, and a dazzling starlight flashed by.

"Almost there... there's still enough time."

Yu Duan spoke softly, and a dazzling starlight domain spread out, enveloping this training ground, making it resemble a divine realm on earth.

That dazzling realm of starlight even seemed to rival the brilliance of the simulated blue star.

Through layers of swirling starlight domains, Yu Duan could sense the faint, hazy, yet infinitely vast fluctuations of light originating from the depths of the universe.

Within the space inside the body, the Book of Cause and Effect, enveloped in a mist of seven-colored light, floats quietly.

"Repaying the advance payment, 2560 million hours of sunshine, current progress: 2479 million hours, zero..."

There are still approximately 81 hours left on the progress bar, which, with a 1200-fold increase in efficiency, would take about 28 more days.

(End of this chapter)