"Cultivating the Yan Shen Mi Dian allows one to summon the soul of the Primordial Yan God Great Emperor to possess the body, amplifying combat power! The first level grants a 100-fold amplification!"

"Yan Shen Mi Dian is divided into two major parts: the Yan Shen Hammer and the You Yan Shield. Only upon mastering both sections is the cultivation considered completely successful!"

Ye Chen was internally shaken. He hadn't realized that the Yan Shen Hammer and You Yan Shield manuals were merely the upper and lower components of the Yan Shen Mi Dian. Only by mastering both could one summon the soul of the Yan God Great Emperor to possess the body, yielding a 100-fold combat power boost!

"This is a battle body auxiliary manual; it can be stacked directly upon the Tian Dao Jing (body strengthening type) and the Xue Shen Mi Ji (self-detonation type). Different types of manuals can be superimposed!"

"However, the Nine Palaces manuals cannot be stacked this way. The Nine Palaces system belongs to the long-range offense and defense integrated combat type, using one's own power as the detonation point. Manuals like the Jiu Jue Qiang, which amplify the main body's cultivation, would work and could benefit from the Yan Shen Mi Dian's amplification."

Ye Chen’s eyes gleamed. Currently, his main body could unleash the peak power of 8 million times the Half-God level. If he could completely master the Yan Shen Mi Dian, his fighting strength would instantly surge! By then, slaughtering peak Pseudo-God experts would be as easy as swatting a fly!

It was worth remembering that reaching 1 million times the peak Half-God power was enough to challenge a peak Pseudo-God expert with an ordinary 100,000 Pseudo-God force! Of course, this assumed the opponent had no amplification secret techniques, a highly unlikely scenario…

And reaching 100 million times the peak Half-God power would make him comparable to a casual strike from an ordinary Divine Being expert!

For ordinary people, challenging higher realms was almost impossible, like climbing to heaven.

Ye Chen closed his eyes and began cultivating the upper part, the Yan Shen Hammer manual. The set of Yan Shen Hammer techniques he obtained on Earth was child’s play compared to this genuine version; it was extremely rudimentary. With his few thousand points of combat power back then, it took him a month to master. Now, he could learn the first level just by glancing at it.

But this genuine Yan Shen Hammer manual was profoundly esoteric and profound, in no way comparable to the pirated version. With Ye Chen's state of mind and innate talent, just looking at the manual made his head spin slightly.

"Yan Shen Hammer First Level is divided into five stages; complete mastery of all five constitutes success!"

"Stage One: Condensing the Haft!"

"Stage Two: Condensing the Shaft!"

"Stage Three: Condensing the Head!"

"Stage Four: Condensing the Ring!"

"Stage Five: Condensing the Core!"

Seeing these five stages, Ye Chen managed a wry smile. Having no time to complain, he immediately focused his attention on the first stage: condensing the Haft. This stage was not unfamiliar; he had condensed a haft when practicing the first level of the pirated version!

However, that haft was overly simplistic. Before this true Yan Shen Hammer, condensing the Haft involved numerous complicated steps. The entire Yan Shen Hammer contained 1,008 secret runes! Just the Haft alone required carving 252 runes!

Carving these runes, which held mysterious power, was extremely taxing on the spirit and required deep comprehension. Sometimes one knew how to carve the rune but couldn't execute it perfectly.

It was akin to seeing a masterpiece painting, exquisitely crafted, yet being unable to reproduce it oneself.

Ye Chen did not enter the virtual world; instead, he sat cross-legged in the spacious bedroom hall, his expression intensely focused, wholly dedicating himself to carving the runes for the first stage of the Yan Shen Hammer.

Puff!

He clenched his hand, and a fierce flame erupted from his palm. The firelight scattered with an eerie glow, rapidly coalescing into a scorching pillar of fire, nearly ten feet long!

The temperature in the entire room instantly soared. However, this was a Divine-level spaceship, and all materials within were forged from peak Pseudo-God or Divine-level components, making them extremely resistant to damage; they naturally did not fear this small amount of flame.

Ye Chen raised his left hand, tapped a finger, and outlined a flame rune in the void—profound and exquisite. After etching it out, he flicked it slightly, and the rune shot out like a meteor, striking the pillar of fire. The burning flames seemed to freeze momentarily, the light retracting, transforming the fire pillar into a long column resembling fire crystal, giving no indication that it was pure flame.

In reality, after the addition of that rune, the substance within the fire column had subtly mutated, becoming the material for the Yan Shen Hammer Haft, slowly transforming.

Ye Chen’s expression grew solemn. His fingers moved rapidly in the void, etching the runes from memory.

One, two, three…

Rune after rune was etched. Once he reached eighteen runes, the three-zhang-long, crystal-like fire column turned a blood-red, spectacularly beautiful, as if carved from pure crimson jade.

Ye Chen was drenched in sweat. Continuous carving severely depleted his mental power; he felt as if he hadn't slept in years, waves of dizziness washing over his mind, leaving him utterly exhausted.

Bang!

As Ye Chen was carving the 19th rune, a slight deviation occurred halfway through the etching. It suddenly exploded, the violent flames blasting him backward. At such close range, in his fatigued state, Ye Chen had no time to react and was struck.

Intense, searing pain spread across his face, feeling like being consumed by a raging fire. At the critical moment, Ye Chen squeezed his eyes shut, preventing his pupils from being scorched. Gritting his teeth, cold sweat streaming down his forehead, he quickly opened his dimensional folding pouch, retrieved the medicinal supplies plundered from the Feng Yue family, and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing briefly before swallowing them whole.

Gulp~

Stimulated by the large quantity of medicine, the scorched and blurred muscle tissue on his face began to writhe rapidly. With abundant tissue supply, it quickly healed completely, restoring his entire face without leaving a single scar.

Ye Chen opened his eyes and touched his face. Though the surface still ached slightly, seeing his face fully recovered in the reflection on the metallic floor, he let out a breath of relief. With a sweep of his hand, he tore open the Fire Civilization Space, walked into the storage chamber, and retrieved a peak Pseudo-God equipment set.

"Smelt!"

Ye Chen took out the Little Nine Cauldrons and placed the peak set inside. Before long, he refined it into a white-gold helmet that exuded rich energy fluctuations.

Ye Chen donned the helmet, casually taking some anti-fatigue medicine. He immediately felt a surge of vigor, like someone exhausted suddenly taking a stimulant. He clenched his fist, his eyes shining brightly, and with a twitch of his finger, he resumed carving runes.

The previous failure at the 19th rune wasn't due to hitting a limit, but a lapse in mental focus causing a deviation. Now, with his spirit fully restored and focusing his full power, the 19th rune was immediately successfully outlined and injected into the fiery-red crystal column, causing the three-zhang-tall column to vibrate slightly and hum, its aura growing more potent.

Ye Chen gritted his teeth, his fingers etching rapidly. Rune after rune materialized out of thin air, carrying profound and inscrutable power, seemingly embodying the grand principles of the universe, baffling comprehension.

As these runes were infused into the fiery-red crystal column, the entire column became even brighter, exquisitely beautiful, as if forged from crimson crystal.

20, 21, 22…

Rune after rune took shape under Ye Chen's hand, but by the time he reached the 98th rune, he started to feel the strain. In the interim, he had reached physical exhaustion eight times. After carving every ten runes, it felt like suffering a serious illness—utterly drained of spirit, haggard, and exhausted.

Ye Chen did not rest but swallowed large gulps of spirit-reviving medicine from his spatial folding pouch, forcing himself to maintain his mental focus while frantically carving runes.

Six continuous days passed.

Ye Chen carved a total of 158 runes. Ever since surpassing the 150-rune mark, every subsequent rune felt exponentially harder to carve. Sometimes he needed seven or eight attempts before narrowly succeeding.

Failed runes automatically exploded, but fortunately, the protection of the peak Pseudo-God helmet prevented him from being injured.

"159!" Ye Chen ground his teeth, his fingers trembling slightly. A wisp of flame appeared at his fingertip, and following the memory stored in his mind, he slowly etched it into the void, daring not to allow the slightest deviation.

Bang!

The rune he was carving halfway through suddenly exploded like a small landmine. The shockwave brushed against the Pseudo-God helmet but did no harm to his body.

Ye Chen couldn't help but offer a bitter smile, raising his hand to continue carving.

Failure!

Failure!

Still failure!

After more than a dozen consecutive attempts, he could not succeed. Ye Chen felt weak all over, sweat pouring from his brow, and a crushing fatigue washed over him like a tide. He bit his lip, struggling to raise his hand to carve, but his fingers trembled uncontrollably, as if completely spent.

Ye Chen let out a wry laugh, knowing he had reached his bottleneck; even with more drugs, his body had reached its limit.

Hoo! He exhaled softly, fell backward, lying sprawled in the room, staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment, before drifting into a deep sleep.

This sleep felt like a thousand years.

In his dreams, he encountered many people: his sister from the mysterious South Sea, Bai Long, Mo Feng, and… that figure constantly etched in the deepest recesses of his mind, carved into his heart.

Bai Yijun…

Opening his eyes, the ceiling snapped into view. Ye Chen started in shock, quickly sitting up to check the time. He frowned, realizing he had slept continuously for two days and two nights. He immediately headed to the attached washroom, splashed cold water on his face, felt completely refreshed, and returned to the room to resume carving runes.

While Ye Chen diligently cultivated the Yan Shen Mi Dian, far away in the White Lotus Divine Continent, in the Azure Water City, a group of mysterious people suddenly arrived.

Rumble~~

An ancient battleship emerged from the space jump point of Azure Water City. It was a star fleet of one hundred vessels, and astonishingly, every single ship was of the early Divine Being level!

It was an entire Divine Being squad!

The moment this fleet appeared, the Lord of Azure Water City, seated in his castle, instantly opened his eyes, his expression filled with shock and confusion. "Isn't that the Royal Guard of the Yan God Empire from the Ancient Continent? Why are they coming to a place like this?"

...

Brothers reading on the Unlimited Reading Station, Old Gu has seen all your support, and I am extremely moved. Thank you to all the brothers who recommended Dark Civilization in other book review sections. Thank you to every brother who likes Darkness. Unfortunately, Old Gu’s phone is with China Unicom, and I can’t post comments there, a tragedy RO.