Swallowed Star

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Luo Feng stood on the suspended miniature continent and surveyed his surroundings.

“Looking around the void space, I can obtain one secret technique. And upon mastering it, I can enter the ninth level? If I fail, all my memories will be erased, and I will have to leave Wu Qi Tower?”

Luo Feng frowned. The temptation to enter the ninth level, especially when he was so close to achieving it, was extremely great. But the countless characters suspended in the void space around him left him in a daze thanks to their overwhelming numbers. He did know where to start.

At first glance, they were like a sky filled with stars. Every character was one star, and they were all connected to one another. But because all of them were gathered together, it was impossible to identify where the starting point of this secret technique was or where its end would be. He did not even know where there could be pauses.

“To cultivate this secret technique, I must first organize all its contents?” Luo Feng looked at the countless characters suspended all over the surrounding void space. “But I know nothing about any of it. How am I going to divide them up into phases? If I cannot divide them into phases, how am I going to start the cultivation?”

Luo Feng was frustrated.

******

Time passed. In a blink of the eye, nine days had gone by.

“How do I cultivate?” Luo Feng wondered aloud.

He looked at the numerous characters. Each was emitting light rays that were at times strong and at other times weak. It was like a gigantic scroll whose start and end were connected. It was presented right before Luo Feng, but he could not understand anything about it. The rays of light from the characters were nothing new to him, but he still could not make enough sense of them to be able to comprehend their meaning.

“Does this mean I have to stop at the eighth level?” Luo Feng was very reluctant. But the countless characters on the gigantic scroll seemed so profound—like characters in a Holy Writ that he simply could not fathom.

Buzz!

All of a sudden, Luo Feng, who had been studying the characters, suddenly witnessed all the characters on the gigantic scroll suspended in void space lighting up. Instantly, his consciousness was pulled within the scroll. It was as if he was using a virtual universe sensor so that his consciousness could enter the virtual universe. At that moment, his consciousness entered the scroll.

******

Luo Feng stood on that suspended continent, unmoving. Far away in the surrounding void space, on the circular scroll with countless characters that resembled stars, there was an upsurge of light rays that were flashing and shining intermittently. At that moment, it was as though they were following a unique rhythm.

Hua!

A blurred figure condensed and appeared within the void space. He was garbed in a luxurious robe that had faint black rays encircling it. As a blurry shadow, he stood amid the void space as though he was the core of the entire world on the eighth level. Exuding an aura of absolute elegance, he looked far into the distance at Luo Feng who stood rooted to his spot on the miniature continent he was on.

“This is the second one,” the black figure gently whispered. “The previous one whose consciousness managed to enter the world of scrolls was quick to fail. Let’s see if this one can succeed or not…

“Perhaps I have been asking for too much? My World of Jin might be vast and mighty, but to give rise to an extraordinary figure who could cultivate this secret technique… Maybe it was just too unrealistic. But other than this, what else can I do? What else can I do? My original body has been annihilated… I have no other choice, no other choice.” The black ray figure quietly lamented. “Among countless lives, there a miracle is bound to be born.”

The black, ray-like figure looked at Luo Feng from afar with a look of earnest longing on his face.

Luo Feng stood rooted to his spot in a dazed manner. His consciousness had already entered the world of scrolls.

******

The world of scrolls.

Luo Feng could only feel his consciousness being attracted into the world. It was a feeling similar to entering a virtual world. Everything before him changed, and he arrived before a towering palace that was radiating a faint purple light.

This palace was constructed on the peak of sprawling, high mountains. At first glance, the towering palace seemed to be enveloped by the clouds. Therefore, everything around it seemed to be blurred. Just one glance, Luo Feng could already feel the powerful suppression. He turned to look back into the distance. He could see no end to the vast mountain range.

“What place is this? I was just looking at those characters in the void space a while ago, and my consciousness was forcibly pulled into this place?”

This place seemed all the more mysterious to Luo Feng. How powerful was his willpower? And yet those characters within the void space that composed the circular scroll had been able to pull his consciousness here by force.

“Come in! Come in! Come in!”

From within the doors of the towering palace that was radiating faint purple light, sounds of beckoning could be heard, causing Luo Feng to fall into a daze right away. Moving as though his will was not his own, he walked toward the palace doors right away and entered the depths of the great hall.

“Huh?” Luo Feng was abruptly awakened. Immediately, he looked around the place. “I am already within the hall? Unknowingly and without any trace of vigilance, I was pulled under control. This… this difference in power is much too great.”

This was an extremely beautiful hall. To the sides, there were numerous exquisite pillars, and on every pillar were carvings of various pictures. A distance away, some decorations were found on the walls. All of these exuded a powerful oppressive force. Luo Feng wanted to take a closer look, but no matter how he tried, he could not see anything clearly; even the ground beneath his feet was unclear. It was as though he looked at everything through a thick mist.

Hong!

The entire hall suddenly trembled.

Luo Feng immediately turned around, and within the same hall he was in, a beast appeared. It was covered entirely with black scales, and its body resembled the form of a lion. On its forehead was a curved purple horn, and both its eyes were filled with purple light. It could be seen walking about the palace hall, and its presence caused the entire hall to tremble.

“You are…” Luo Feng looked at the beast.

“I am the secret technique itself,” the purple horned beast replied proudly.

Luo Feng was taken aback. “The secret technique itself?”

“Why, even weapons can have spirits. Why can’t this secret technique have a spirit too?” The purple horned beast snorted.

Luo Feng was dumbfounded. Then he went wild with ecstasy. Oh, god! The spirit of a secret technique!

If it had been a warrior from the World of Jin, then he might not have understood what was meant by a “spirit of a secret technique.” But Luo Feng, who had received the inheritance of the pulse of Duan Dong River, possessed knowledge of the ancient civilization. Naturally, he would understand. Within the ancient civilization, only a few formidable super existences who stood at the apex of the entire ancient civilization would go to such lengths and spend such a great deal of effort to refine and produce a piece of a treasure of a secret technique for the sake of choosing a suitable heir to inherit the sets of knowledge they took great pride in.

To enable a secret technique to contain a spirit was a very stringent process that involved combining a secret technique and a spirit. From the pulse of Duan Dong River, only the three generations of ancestors could have achieved that. No heir from the other generations had been successful.

When a secret technique had a spirit, it would be able to choose a master that truly suited it. If other great beings vainly attempted to rely on their strong powers to forcibly seize this secret technique, they were bound for failure. And if the secret technique was unable to recognize a master, any attempt to kill its spirit would be impossible to achieve. After all, only a master could easily eradicate the spirit of a treasure. In other words, a particular super great being would naturally be able to destroy the spirit of a treasure when he destroyed that treasure. However, out of all those who could refine treasures of secret techniques, were there any who were not super existences from the ancient civilization?

Even for the three generations of ancestors who could come up with a spirit of a secret technique, even when it came to the ancestors themselves, if the spirit of a treasure they created did not recognize them as masters, there was no way they could destroy the treasures—even if they were the creators of these treasures. So, destroying such a spirit of a secret technique was difficult, but to meet the requirements and acquire the set of knowledge that these peak existences were so proud of was even more difficult.

“Exactly what sort of secret technique would specially require a spirit of a secret technique? Could this be something that His Majesty the Godly King created?” Luo Feng mumbled to himself. “Even from the pulse of Duan Dong River, only the three generations of ancestors could achieve this.”

Facing this purple horned beast, Luo Feng obediently sat beside it and listened. After all, even the three generations of ancestors could not use force against it, so everything had to be done according to the rules determined by the creator of this spirit of a secret technique.

“For you to be able to enter the world of scrolls, you must have a solid foundation,” the purple horned beast said. “However, whether or not you can obtain this secret technique depends on your skills. Look carefully—”

The purple horned beast’s sharp horn suddenly shot out four beams of light rays.

Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong!

Four rays of light bombarded in four different directions within the hall, and all of a sudden, four huge rolls of scrolls appeared on each of the four walls within the hall simultaneously. As the scrolls unrolled during descent, countless characters could be seen on the scrolls. However, three out of the four scrolls contained characters that were blurred.

Only one of these scrolls was different. And that was the one suspended in midair before the palace doors. Every character on that scroll was crystal clear. Luo Feng could finish reading it without trouble.

“These four scrolls,” the purple horned beast said. “Before your eyes is the only one you can see clearly. This is the acceptance guide of the secret technique.”

“Acceptance guide of the secret technique?” Luo Feng nodded.

Acceptance guide of secret technique. For the existences of the ancient civilization who stood at the peak, it was never easy to find an heir. Getting killed during the maturing process was not a big deal. But after a warrior was killed and one’s memory was being searched, if the super-secret technique it took such great pride were to be leaked out into the open, there would be big trouble. This was why they would usually deploy many means of precautionary measures.

The “inheritance imprints” of the pulse of Duan Dong River were one such example., Under the restraint of the inheritance imprints, Luo Feng was unable to leak out anything about it. Even if he had been killed and his memory had been searched, the inheritance imprints would break up and destroy everything, so it was impossible for the enemy to find anything.

Of course, there were many groups of powers, like His Majesty the Godly King of Jin, who, when handing over to someone under his command, would also follow the progress of his subordinate. If his subordinate’s abilities grew stronger, then gradually, he would impart more profound knowledge. This was because the more powerful his subordinate was, the more difficult it would be to search his memory.

If it was not truly an inheritance of a pulse, and he was not imparting it to a subordinate, then he would use methods like the “spirit of a secret technique” to cast the net and search for an heir. Usually, an “acceptance guide” of a secret technique would be used, and once this acceptance guide of secret technique was mastered, the truly powerful secret technique would be accepted and guided in to become internalized. By then, even if one’s memories were searched, under the influence of the acceptance guide, there would be no way the true secret technique could be found.

The acceptance guide of a secret technique not only had the function of protecting the secret technique. It also had the ability to choose an appropriate heir. This secret technique would be fraught with difficulties, and only those who managed to fulfill the various requirements would be able to master this technique.

Mastering the acceptance guide of a secret technique would naturally mean that one could master this secret technique. Therefore, he would be accepted and guided into it.

Everything would be completed.

The more powerful a secret technique is, thought Luo Feng, even for a true god of void space, an eternal true god, or someone higher up in rank, all of them would still have to go through cultivation. I am merely a law master, so I will certainly not be able to master the entire secret technique now. If I were able to master it all, then it would mean this secret technique carried no value at all.

So, the significance of the eighth level of Wu Qi Tower, regretfully, is to master the acceptance guide of a secret technique and, thereafter, to completely internalize this powerful secret technique within one’s own soul! Upon memorizing it, one would be considered to have succeeded. If the acceptance guide of a secret technique is never fully mastered, then the result will be failure.

Luo Feng was quick to pick up on understanding the true significance of the eighth level of Wu Qi Tower. Upon mastering the acceptance guide of the secret technique, he would be able to obtain the entire secret technique. After that, he would be able to enter the ninth level of Wu Qi Tower.

This would be the final barrier to overcome!

This acceptance guide of secret technique must be very difficult. Otherwise, there would not be so many obstacles still to face ahead. And since long ago, there has been no one who has succeeded within the World of Jin.

Luo Feng started to look very carefully at that scroll suspended before the palace doors. At his side, the purple horned beast was still speaking.

“This acceptance guide of a secret technique is very stringent,” it said. “The cultivators should ideally be law masters, and as for the highest level, one could, at most, be a true god. Any higher than that, and it would be impossible to achieve success in cultivation.”