From the Metropolis to the Strongest in the Cosmos

With his divine avatar in mind, Li Yang had his World Tree avatar begin cultivating the Soul Chapter.

The Soul Chapter Cultivation Technique, housed within the mysterious small sword, could allow a soul to reach a state of perfection at every realm.

Now that he had broken through to the Star Lord Realm, his soul could be strengthened once more.

Previously, he had been unable to gestate his Fire Nether Divine Beast avatar, but it had finally formed after his soul was strengthened.

Instead of making any exchanges for now, Li Yang went to see his teacher, the Blade Slaughter Sect Master.

”You broke through?” the Blade Slaughter Sect Master asked his disciple with a smile. ”Have you reported it yet?”

”Yes, Teacher.” Li Yang nodded.

Even after passing the twelfth step of the Path of the Deities, one could technically choose to remain in the Lianyun Mountain Range, but no genius would ever make that choice.

After all, with an achievement like passing that step and then breaking through to the Star Lord Realm, the resources the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall would invest would be far greater!

More resources would be available, so why not break through? Why remain stuck at the Longevity Realm?

Such peerless geniuses all pursued faster cultivation and greater strength, so they would never halt their progress.

”Mm, the news of your breakthrough should be approved soon. When it is, you’ll be issued one hundred million contribution points.”

Previously, from passing the twelve steps of the Path of the Deities, Li Yang had accumulated a little over one million contribution points in total.

A single secondhand Fire Spirit Pearl, which had taken an Emperor Level expert from the Fire Nether Divine Beast race over a hundred million years to craft, was priced at three million.

This was a testament to how precious contribution points were!

And for demonstrating the potential to pass the twelve steps of the Path of the Deities, the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall would directly award one hundred million contribution points!

Li Yang could use these contribution points to purchase treasures, cultivation resources, and more, free to choose whatever he wished.

This was one of the benefits of being nurtured as a top-tier genius!

Other geniuses who broke through to the Star Lord Realm might not receive even one percent of that amount in contribution points.

This benefit alone was enough to make countless geniuses desperately yearn to pass the twelfth step.

Li Yang nodded. He already knew this and was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the one hundred million contribution points.

”Teacher, once the one hundred million contribution points are issued and I’ve exchanged them for the items I need, I plan to leave.”

Li Yang said respectfully, ”I came today to bid you farewell, Teacher.”

The Blade Slaughter Sect Master nodded. ”Leaving early to adapt to life as a Star Lord Realm cultivator is a good idea. Cultivation at the Star Lord Realm is completely different from the Longevity Realm.”

”At the Longevity Realm, you stay within the Saint Hall, receiving guidance from many experts. You can listen to whichever expert you wish lecture on the Laws. But starting from the Star Lord Realm, it’s more about exploring and cultivating on your own.”

”However, you can never become a true expert by relying on others.”

”The Longevity Realm is about relying completely on the Saint Hall’s resources. At the Star Lord Realm, you gradually start to rely on yourself. By the time you reach the World Realm, you are entirely on your own. The Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall won’t manage you anymore. How you develop, how you improve—it will all be up to you.”

”Take the Sky-Fierce Flood Dragon, for example. It’s a lifeform of an extremely high order, born having mastered three of the four great profundities of the Space Law, yet even some of them fail to break through to the Divine Realm.”

”Becoming a Deity is not so easy.”

After a moment, the Blade Slaughter Sect Master added, ”Also, Li Yang, you probably haven’t received the message yet. Now that you’ve broken through to the Star Lord Realm, your own strength is too low, so the Saint Hall will arrange for a dedicated Deity to protect you. Their strength should be that of a Tri-System Deity.”

”A Tri-System Deity?” Hearing this, Li Yang’s heart skipped a beat.

The Human Race rejoiced at the emergence of a genius, while the Alien Races wanted nothing more than to eliminate them as soon as possible.

”Li Yang, the news that you passed the twelve steps has almost certainly reached the Alien Races,” the Blade Slaughter Sect Master said. ”There are definitely spies from the Alien Races lurking among our Human Race. If they get a chance, they will absolutely make a move against you. That’s why you must have someone to protect you.”

”With a Tri-System Deity protecting you, not even a Four-Element Deity from an Alien Race would be guaranteed to kill you. And the moment they attacked, their position would be exposed.”

Within Human Race territory, it is incredibly difficult for those hidden alien experts to escape once exposed.

Any expert of that caliber who makes a move is essentially on a suicide mission, and trading a Four-Element Deity for Li Yang simply isn’t worth it.

After all, even someone with Li Yang’s Talent isn’t guaranteed to become an Emperor in the future.

Therefore, the protection of a Tri-System Deity was more than sufficient.

”Barring any surprises, that Deity should have comprehended the Fire Element, Space, and Thunder Laws,” the Blade Slaughter Sect Master said with a smile.

”He’ll also be able to guide you, which is perfect. This is another perk you get for passing the twelve steps.”

”For an ordinary genius, dispatching an ordinary Deity for protection would be considered more than enough.”

The more talented the genius, the stronger the Deity assigned to protect them.

Li Yang wasn’t completely clear on these details, so he listened attentively.

”Oh, right. Since you’ve broken through to the Star Lord Realm, I have a gift for you.” With a wave of his right hand, the Blade Slaughter Sect Master produced a suit of black armor.

The armor appeared before them. It looked ancient and simple, with no apparent special qualities.

”Teacher, this is...” Li Yang couldn’t help but ask as he gazed at the armor.

”Bind it to yourself and see,” the Blade Slaughter Sect Master said with a smile.

Li Yang nodded, sending a strand of his consciousness to touch the armor.

The armor contained no consciousness, allowing his soul to imprint upon it easily. As it did, information about the armor flooded his mind.

A look of utter shock filled Li Yang’s eyes as he processed the information.

’A Divine Artifact. This is a mid-grade Divine Artifact.’

Weapons were divided into tiers. Tier One to Tier Ten Divine Weapons were for use by those below the Divine Realm.

Those at the Divine Realm, however, used Divine Artifacts. Once a weapon reached the level of a Divine Artifact, its value skyrocketed!

Even among Deities, most only possessed a single Divine Artifact; ordinary Deities might not even have one.

For a treasure like this, Li Yang, who was only at the Star Lord Realm, had absolutely no authority to even exchange for it.

The armor before him was called the Black Domain Armor, and its defensive power was extremely strong. When activated by someone with the power of the World Realm, it could easily block attacks from a Divine Realm expert.

The stronger the wielder, the stronger the defense.

”Teacher, this armor is too precious...” Li Yang couldn’t help but say.

’This armor must be useful to the Blade Slaughter Sect Master, too.’ he thought.

”Haha! Li Yang, this armor may be precious to you, but it’s nothing special to me.”

The Blade Slaughter Sect Master chuckled. ”I enjoy adventuring out in the world, so I have more Divine Artifacts than most. This piece of armor is useless to me, but it’s a perfect fit for you.”

Hearing the Blade Slaughter Sect Master’s words, Li Yang didn’t argue further.

’Perhaps the Blade Slaughter Sect Master has a second suit of armor, but even so... just as the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall reclaims Fire Spirit Pearls, he could have easily traded this Black Domain Armor to the Saint Hall for even better treasures.’

”Thank you, Teacher,” Li Yang said.

Blade Slaughter treated him very well. Previously, Blade Slaughter had gifted him the Void Source Pearl. He hadn’t recognized it at the time, and only learned how precious a treasure it was after Soul Ink identified it.

And now, he was being given a powerful Divine Artifact.

However, his current strength was too meager to repay such kindness. For now, all he could do was engrave the Blade Slaughter Sect Master’s grace deep in his heart.