To step into a star domain and instantly incorporate it into one's mind like a star chart, discerning every movement within the domain—what kind of mystical power was this?
Even Shi Yan himself was deeply amazed by this profound wonder. As his cultivation advanced, the profound mysteries of the stars and space he cultivated began to show signs of merging. This slight convergence of the two mysteries brought him an entirely new enlightenment, granting him such marvelous ability.
For those who cultivate multiple profound mysteries simultaneously, breakthroughs at higher realms are slow, and achieving sudden, massive jumps in cultivation level is exceedingly difficult.
This holds true for all martial artists.
For an Origin God, breaking through a realm requires all the cultivated power proficiencies—the profound mysteries—to advance in tandem, and the divine power required is exponentially greater than for those cultivating only a single mystery!
An Origin God cultivating only one profound mystery might require hundreds or even thousands of years to advance a single tier within that realm. Those cultivating multiple mysteries expend several times the time and energy of those focusing on just one—how arduous is that path?
This reality directly leads to a situation where those who cultivate multiple profound mysteries might never achieve another breakthrough after ascending to the Origin God realm, even if they live out their entire existence.
Many martial artists, acutely aware of this massive drawback, choose to delve into only one profound mystery, immersing their entire lives in a single domain of understanding, thereby ensuring steady advancement through the accumulation of long years.
Someone like Shi Yan, cultivating the profound mysteries of Stars, Space, Life and Death, and Devouring simultaneously, and achieving swift breakthroughs, is absolutely the greatest anomaly in the entire Star Sea! A genuine miracle!
A saying circulates across the Star River: those who can merge with the Ancient Continent and thereby gain deeper access to the source, discerning the true meaning of profound mysteries, can wander effortlessly within the very origins of these mysteries.
Such individuals appear at most four times in any era, as there are only four Ancient Continents.
Those four who merge with the essence of the Ancient Continents will experience comprehension of realms and understanding of profound mysteries far faster than ordinary people, and they can more easily penetrate the subtleties of these mysteries.
If such individuals choose to cultivate multiple profound mysteries, and if their fortune is immense, their comprehension of the mysteries might not fall behind others.
The only challenge they face is the accumulation of divine power!
For those cultivating multiple profound mysteries, each breakthrough demands several times the divine power required by peers at the same level! Once they reach the Origin God realm, even supplementing with Divine Crystals and heavenly treasures requires an exceptionally long time; there are almost no shortcuts to instantaneous breakthroughs in this world.
But the Profound Mystery of Devouring is recognized by countless beings across the Star Sea as the true shortcut!
The only reason the Profound Mystery of Devouring is extolled as the foremost dark art, the paramount mystery, is that those who cultivate it can benefit themselves at the expense of others, accumulating divine power at an astonishing speed to swiftly reach the critical point for breakthrough!
That Devouring can absorb all forms of power for one's own use: the strength of the divine body and flesh, divine power, the soul, and various forces of different attributes. As long as it is energy, it can be devoured—even the subtleties of profound mysteries can be gathered and integrated into the altar of the heart as comprehension of the realm.
This dark art of Devouring is practically a subversion and destruction of the very rules of Heaven and Earth!
Relying on this art, the Blood Fiend, upon his sudden appearance, paved a path of bloodshed, dominating the Star Sea. His reputation as the foremost power in the Star Sea testifies to the terrifying nature of this dark art.
Possessing the dark art of Devouring, while simultaneously cultivating the profound mysteries of Stars, Space, and Life and Death, his speed of breakthrough is not merely not slow; it is even faster than those who cultivate only a single mystery!
All of this is owed entirely to the Profound Mystery of Devouring!
Although practitioners cultivating multiple profound mysteries advance slowly, they almost always hold an absolute advantage when battling peers of the same realm.
This phenomenon becomes more pronounced in the higher realms!
This is because, as the cultivation level of those cultivating multiple mysteries steadily increases, their disparate profound mysteries often begin to merge, birthing endless subtle marvels!
The wonders arising from merging different profound mysteries are difficult for ordinary people to comprehend or effectively counter. Now, the moment Shi Yan entered the Star Sea, he instantly generated a marvelous sensation of being the sovereign of the star domain, his consciousness and thoughts reaching like the tentacles of a colossal octopus into every hidden corner of the star domain.
This was the marvel brought about by the initial fusion of the profound mysteries of Stars and Space. As his cultivation progresses, this marvel will only grow more astonishing.
Even Di Caro, because he only cultivated the profound mystery of Space and does not know the true meaning of the Star mystery, although he has now stepped into the Second Heaven of Immortality, his subtle grasp of the overall situation within a single Star River might not reach the height Shi Yan currently possesses.
This wondrous ability is often only possessed by those who cultivate multiple profound mysteries, because they chose a path destined for hardship and paid a greater price in effort.
Perhaps it is a form of fairness from the heavens: because they paid so much more than others, they receive more—an endless subtle marvel born from fusion, and this marvel varies depending on the hierarchical relationship of the merging profound mysteries.
Space and Stars are among the most arcane and supreme profound mysteries in existence; these two can naturally combine elegantly. Once their fusion begins, the marvels unleashed are certain to shock the Star River!
"There are about five hundred Submerged God Ships, carrying over twenty thousand God Clan martial artists. Their starting cultivation level is God King, and the Submerged God Ships are quite scattered, with a natural storm field of intense severity in the middle..."
Squinting his eyes, Shi Yan's divine sense stretched out like an invisible tentacle, probing ahead, detailing the layout of the God Clan forces.
"That dark area ahead is the outer natural barrier of the Hexagonal Star Land; it's a star domain abyss. The interior of this star domain abyss is filled with various dangers of the Star Sea: constantly colliding and exploding fragments of shattered meteorites, drawn-in cosmic dust, violent, boundless gales, and intensely cold ice shards like swords. Our martial artists from the Fire Rain Star Domain generally dare not venture deep there."
Yu Shan walked forward gracefully. She wore a form-fitting, emerald-green evening gown that **revealed her snow-white shoulders, the cleavage between her breasts deep and prominent; she looked less like someone coming to fight and more like attending a night banquet, yet her expression was extremely grave as she gazed deeply into the dark area ahead.
"For the God Clan to choose that place as an ambush point truly exceeds my expectations. The one who chose this spot must be terrifying. I dare say, without your reminder, if the God Clan used their ultimate weapon to shatter the barrier of the Hexagonal Star Land, facing a dead end, we would inevitably choose this place to break out. Because this area is a natural deadly zone, while it would cost us dearly, it would also make the pursuing God Clan members pay a heavy price. We would think that way, and we would act upon it..."
Yu Shan's crescent-moon eyes showed a trace of lingering horror. "We absolutely could not have foreseen that the God Clan's Submerged God Ships would be hidden within. If we had done so, I fear it would have meant total annihilation!"
Shaun, Xuan Fei, and those Fire Rain Star Domain martial artists who regarded Benny as their leader, who had followed along, all felt a chill run through them, their spines turning cold, as if they could see the terrifying scene of themselves charging in only for the Submerged God Ships to reveal their fangs and tear them apart one by one.
"The enemy is not yet fully prepared; an immediate assault will result in heavy losses, and those suffering will certainly not be us," Shi Yan stated coldly.
The Blood Fiends from the Mayah Star Domain trusted him unconditionally. Hearing this, they all ordered sternly, directing their charging forces to align neatly, ready to surge forward. The Demon Clan and Beast Clan members who had arrived had all been trained and tempered by Lianna; their auras were calm yet chilling, their eyes glinting fiercely.
Their bearing and palpable ferocity were perhaps a fraction more terrifying than those led by Benny. While other teams were still preparing, they had already arrayed themselves perfectly. Their divine weapons, armor, and murderous intent seemed to coalesce into a single entity.
If one were to probe them with divine sense, they would find that the immense surges of fierce energy within their battle formation could condense into a single mass, resembling the monstrous maw of a ferocious beast, poised to devour and tear apart everything!
That was the Battle Soul of the formation!
Suddenly, a figure as cold and hard as bedrock stopped sharply at the head of the battle formation tempered by Lianna, sharp as the tip of a spear.
It was Gui Liao!
He was already the leader of a Beast Clan combat unit and had received instruction in military command from Lianna. Now, having broken through to the Thirteenth Level, Middle Stage of the Beast Clan hierarchy, he had only added bloody brutality!
"Bite!"
Gui Liao roared, like an unyielding sharp instrument, leading the charge into the dark area ahead.
The team behind him, drawn by his ferocious aura, surged instantly, writhing like a giant python following in his wake, opening its massive, bloody jaws, intent on crushing and entangling every living thing!
"Horn of Destruction!"
At the same time, Benny roared fiercely. The combat teams led by him instantly formed an array resembling a dragon's horn. Surges of sharp energy erupted from everyone's crown, converging into a single beam at the horn's tip, piercing toward the dark area ahead.
Gui Liao and Benny led separate teams, bursting forward violently. Instantly, the Blood Fiends, Feng Han, Lin Xin, Yan Chi, Bing Jie, also issued their respective orders. Shaun, Yu Shan, and the others focused their minds and unleashed the subtleties of their profound mysteries. The assembled forces rushed toward the abyss ahead like a surging torrent, seemingly unafraid of death.
In the dark area ahead.
One Submerged God Ship floated amidst clumps of grayish-white cloud cotton. The God Clan warriors aboard released their own Void Realms, manifesting the power of their profound mysteries, striving to pull the grayish-white clouds aside.
Those grayish-white clouds were named "Mind-Confusing Lead Clouds," a terribly dangerous cloud cluster in the Star Sea. These "Mind-Confusing Lead Clouds" had only one effect: they dissolved divine sense.
When warriors engage in combat, they must release their divine sense to lock onto the enemy's whereabouts and altar. If divine sense touches these "Mind-Confusing Lead Clouds," it is immediately annihilated.
If a warrior carelessly falls into the center of these "Mind-Confusing Lead Clouds," their vast Sea of Consciousness might soon be left with not a single wisp of divine sense remaining.
This would directly cause the altar of a powerful warrior to collapse!
The Sea of Consciousness is the most fundamental cornerstone of the altar; it nourishes the mysteries and tempers the soul. When the Sea of Consciousness dries up, the altar naturally shatters.
Therefore, these "Mind-Confusing Lead Clouds" were incredibly perilous. At this moment, the God Clan members were not releasing their divine sense; they were using divine power only to shift the clouds, guiding them into the positions they had meticulously arranged beforehand.
They were preparing to give the martial artists of the Fire Rain Star Domain a huge surprise in the near future by manipulating these clouds. This location was a deadly abyss within the Fire Rain Star Domain, seldom visited by its martial artists. But the God Clan was different; they traveled across various star domains and possessed unique knowledge of dangerous abyssal regions.
They were exceptionally skilled at transforming desperate, dangerous situations into their own blessings, turning them into controlled checkpoints.
They were doing just that now, quietly modifying the abyssal dangers, arranging natural horrors similar to the "Mind-Confusing Lead Clouds" to deal with any Fire Rain Star Domain individuals who might flee into the area.
It seemed, however, that this particular maneuver had encountered a slight, unexpected complication...
ps: Monday, requesting recommendation votes~