Chapter 1101: The Bottleneck of Life Genes
Luo Feng sat on his throne and looked down at the numerous black figures kneeling before him. Thousands of special life forms were looking at him with surging emotions and worship… At that moment, a realization dawned on Luo Feng. These special life forms that seemed so uncommonly big and powerful shared a common grief… they were too weak and insignificant.
Because of the lures of high levels of life and talent techniques, billions of races within the universe were taking matters into their hands—to either enslave or soul transfer! A group of special life-forms without a strong protector would be quickly torn apart by the vast numbers of races in the universe who were blinded by greed! Devoured!
Back when Blood Cloud Palace Master ran rampant about the universe, there was still a substantial number of special life forms. When he saw these special life forms being hunted down and killed, his heart went out to them. So, group after group of special life-forms he rescued, until finally, he had gathered a group that amounted to a few thousand special life-forms! After countless years of growth, with Sitting Mountain Guest's guidance, there were the births of top-tier universe lords such as Black Sky Horde Leader, Silver Dragon Knight, and Black Thorn Devil Master.
Back then, they would have probably met the fate of being hunted and killed. Of course, since that time long ago, any races of special life-forms without protectors had long vanished along the historical river of the universe—which was why some ancient beings like Primal Chaos City Leader owned quite a few special life form bodies. However, as time passed, during the times of later generations such as Luo Feng's, it was rare to see special life forms due to soul transfer.
"Sitting Mountain Guest protected them, guarded them, guided them. He was just like a father to them…" Luo Feng said to himself. "No wonder they all call him 'Master.' They really respected and worshipped him from the bottoms of their hearts."
As of today! thought Luo Feng. I am thus, Blood Cloud Palace Master. I may have gained a new power, but I have also rid a part of Earth's. I have a new responsibility to take on.
Three top-tier universe overlords… This was indeed a force that many powers of the universe would covet! Especially Black Sky Horde Leader, whose godly powers were almost 100 times purer than those of Heavenly Yang Knight. Though both were senior true treasure armors, Luo Feng needed a force that was two levels higher than what he used to kill Tian Yang Knight in order to bring about the same attack power… and Black Sky Horde Leader's godly body was millions of miles larger! That was billions of times bigger than the godly body of Tian Yang knight, which was not even 30 feet tall…
As for Silver Dragon Knight and Dark Thorn Devil Master, thought Luo Feng, their godly bodies were not as outrageously big, but neither were they small. With the three of them around, this force of special life-forms they make up—so long as they do not cross paths with universe masters—will be able to ward off attacks from any other opponents.
Luo Feng nodded as he analyzed the situation. Protecting such a force would not be as difficult as protecting his own kind on Earth. After all, this bloodline of special life forms had matured over countless years. They could protect themselves.
A sudden realization dawned upon Luo Feng. The reason the treasure vault contained so many precious materials, treasures, and ordinary true treasures, was because Luo Feng's future opponents would be universe masters. If he used ordinary true treasures in a battle against a universe master, they would be shattered right away! Obviously, these ordinary true treasures were not what Sitting Mountain Guest had left for Luo Feng, but for this group of special life forms.
"Black Sky," Luo Feng spoke.
"Master," Black Sky Horde Leader replied politely.
Luo Feng looked down. "The true treasures that all 18 of you possess. Tell me about them."
"Yes, Master. I have a senior true treasure armor, six senior true treasures heavenly hammers!" Black Sky Horde Leader then joked good-naturedly, saying, "Master, are you going to bestow me with a top-tier true treasure armor? Previously, you even said… the next time around, you would find a way to get me a top-tier true treasure, and you told me that if I owned a top-tier true treasure armor, even universe masters will find it difficult to kill me."
Luo Feng was taken aback. Top-tier true treasure armor? Teacher had left him with a treasure vault that only contained about 100 ordinary true treasures.
Sitting Mountain Guest Teacher is so scheming, thought Luo Feng, grumbling to himself, but there was nothing he could do. Now that I have succeeded in the title of Blood Cloud Palace Master, the responsibility of designating valuables for the great beings under my command is also mine?
"I am thinking of a solution," Luo Feng answered. "Top-tier true treasure armor is not easy to obtain."
"Yes, but Master will be able to make that happen," Black Sky Horde Leader said.
Luo Feng quickly moved on. "Next."
******
Silver Dragon Knight, Dark Thorn Devil Master and the rest gave respective reports about their own true treasures, and Luo Feng discovered that these 18 universe knights all possessed true treasures, which were obviously obtained based on their personal capabilities. For instance, the three top-tier universe overlords owned senior true treasures, and each of them owned a few true treasures! Luo Feng had initial plans to bestow true treasures to them. Thus, he had to banish those plans. In the end, he could only bestow some other undying special life-forms with treasures before he concluded the meeting.
"This is a form of power," Luo Feng said to himself. "Although I shoulder the responsibility of leading and guarding them, they can also help me with a lot of things. In the future, for my kind living on Earth, I would certainly be the one to protect them. Black Sky Horde Leader, together with this group of special life forms and the branch of life forms on Earth, should be able to complement each other."
That very day, Luo Feng ordered all these special life-forms to retreat. And to Black Sky Horde Leader, Silver Dragon Knight, and Dark Thorn Devil Master, he commanded, "Black Sky, Silver Dragon, Dark Thorn, I need to make a trip out. Matters regarding those children in the ancient secret region. Please take care of them. If you all are unable to settle them, inform me."
"Yes, Master," all three replied through their tokens.
******
That very day, Golden Horned Beast body secretly returned to the human territory, back to his god country.
Luo Feng's life had been divided into two parts. One of it took the form of a golden horned beast and was involved in studying Star Tower based on his knowledge of pictures of secret engravings, while the other took the form of an Earthling original body and stayed on Redbud Island for self-cultivation!
His original earthling body had started to cultivate the eighth volume of the Nine Volume Manual! The advantage of having a small godly body was that the rate of cultivation would be much faster.
After about a year or so, Luo Feng had mastered the eighth volume. His life gene level increased from 9,800 times to 10,050 times, and this was purely a rough gauge estimate. Thereafter, Luo Feng moved on to mastering the ninth volume of the Nine Volume Manual…
During the cultivation process, his life gene level increased at an extremely slow rate, especially when he was midway through—suddenly, his life gene level arrived at its bottleneck! It stopped increasing when it was one final inch away from the perfect life gene level. No matter how he continued with the Nine Volume Manual, his life gene level would not budge an inch.
"Just a little bit more. Remote Ocean body and Golden Horned Beast body reached the perfect gene level right away, but my earthling body still needs the last bit to reach the perfect life gene level. No matter how I try to start cultivating the ninth volume of Nine Volume Manual from the middle… it's all useless!"
Luo Feng was panicking. Useless! No matter how he tried to go back and forth during the cultivation process, his life gene level remained stagnant.
"Just that little bit more. What am I supposed to do?"
******
It was his third year on Redbud Island. Luo Feng sat cross-legged on the stone bridge by the pond in the courtyard of his mansion. By this point, he had finally reached the last step to completing the Nine Volume Manual! His Golden Horned Beast body and Remote Ocean bodies had both attained the perfect gene before they could reach the final step, so his original earthling body was the first to have cultivated the final volume.
Hua! Hua!
There Luo Feng sat with his entire being emitting a sound as mighty as a surging sea. At the same time, golden threads started to form, and his skin glowed. A gigantic, mysterious, intricate picture of secret engravings appeared all over him! If Luo Feng's skin were to have been peeled off and laid flat, it would have formed a picture of secret engravings. Although it was different from the engravings of the Nine Volume Manual, the aesthetics were the same.
Peng!
Luo Feng felt a fundamental breakthrough happening to the origin of life. It seemed he had made it through the bottleneck! His life gene level had finally moved once again, albeit a small step forward! Just this one small step, however, represented a leap toward a fundamental breakthrough.
"A breakthrough." Luo Feng's eyes were filled with glee. "I must make a trip back to my god country."
Luo Feng could feel his godly body attempting to absorb the power and felt its continuous growth. On Redbud Island, there was insufficient power to absorb, so he needed to transfer back to his god country as soon as he could. He left Redbud Island quickly.
******
In his god country, the limitless Remote Ocean set off tumbling waves a few hundred miles high. At the peak of the waves, a black-haired youth stood in midair, stark naked. An immeasurable amount of ocean water was surging up from beneath, as though there were countless ribbons surrounding him, continuously being absorbed by him.
The black-haired youth started to grow bigger and bigger. From a height that was below six feet, he started to grow taller at an alarming rate. 30 feet, 300 feet, 3,000 feet…
The godly power within his godly body was continuously increasing as well. The increase was more than trillions of times! It had reached an unsurpassable stage that was tumultuous and frightening.
When he became a towering figure standing at a height of over 55,000 miles, the growth finally stopped.
"As of today!" said Luo Feng. "My original earthling body and my Golden Horned Beast body shall be my main battling powers!"
Luo Feng smiled. His original body's godly being was very pure, but it was small. As a result, he had been unable to use "I am the Universe." But now, his original earthling body and his Golden Horned Beast body matched in size. Naturally, it was able to display greater powers. Just like when displaying Golden Light—the ultimate technique of a universe master—he did not need to worry about his godly body being overly-used up.
"It's time to pay Primal Chaos City a visit," he said. "That Cutting Pearl Sword is now too weak for me."
******
First and foremost, Luo Feng headed to Primal Chaos City in the primal universe. He gathered together his Cutting Pearl Sword and a large quantity of ordinary true treasures he had obtained from all the hunting he did on the Original Star. Then he added on 20-odd true treasures from the treasure vault in Blood Cloud Palace and calculated a total. Lastly, he added on the remaining true treasure points that he had to trade for a top-tier true treasure blade—Sorrowful Nine Snow!
The blade was originally named Sorrowful Nine Snow, but Luo Feng gave it a new name. Thus, it became known as Ghost Blade.
"Black Sky, Silver Dragon, Dark Thorn… The 100-plus true treasures in the treasure vault are what Master has left for you special life forms, but all those fellows still need a long, long time to grow up. I will take part of the total now, and I will return them in the future."
Now that the bug soldiers, automaton race, and demons alike were so eager to take him down, Luo Feng was feeling the pressure, too. He needed to become even stronger. This was for the better.
With the pinnacle true treasure Force Armor activated to the third form (where enemies' attacks were reduced to only 1/10,000 their original power) and a godly body that was 55,000 miles tall, his survival skills had attained an alarming level. If he were to battle with a universe master, a mere senior true treasure blade was obviously too weak.
He left his god country and returned to Redbud Island.
Golden Horned Beast body took off from the pictures of secret engravings and continued to stay in the god country to study the secret engravings on Star Tower.
On Redbud Island, Luo Feng stayed in silent retreat to continue increasing his comprehension of the beast god path. After all, the more one could comprehend about the Beast God Path, the more beneficial it was in attaining more in the field of secret engravings. And with such peaceful days, it was little wonder that within the blink of an eye, 61 years had done by.