bookbashuk Chapter 17: Breakthrough! Eternal Star Level!
Chapter 17: Breakthrough! Eternal Star Level!
Inside the sealed room, all was silent.
The walls, made of Kro alloy, isolated the area from the outside world.
Before Hong, another wooden crystal turned gray at a visible speed, and the life energy contained within it was savagely swallowed into his body.
Hong controlled these energies, repeatedly using all his strength to crash into the invisible barrier that stretched between the planetary and celestial levels.
Each impact caused his spirit to tremble slightly, and his consciousness to become somewhat hazy.
An indescribable sense of anxiety spread through his heart.
As a time traveler, he mobilized global resources and even profited from the protagonists of the future story. But in the end, would he still have to watch the tragedy of the original story repeat itself?
Two completely different lives began to surface uncontrollably in his mind.
One scene depicts Lin Jue, living on a peaceful Earth, reading the text of "Swallowed Star," feeling thrilled by Luo Feng's rise and lamenting the limited screen time Hong had in the later stages.
The other part is set in this real and cruel world.
He saw himself in the underground training ground, like a madman, repeatedly striking the training stakes with the alloy gun barrel. That fear of death and desire for survival was so real.
He saw himself on the Australian continent, covered in blood, using his last bit of strength to stab the broken gun barrel into the python's vital spot in a frenzy.
He saw himself hovering above the Jiangnan base city, having instantly killed the armored scorpion dragon with a single shot, and the hundreds of thousands of survivors below looking at him with fervent worship.
He saw himself confronting Thor on the wasteland, completely suppressing him with his domain, and then reaching out his hand to say, "Together, we will protect this planet." He felt a surge of pride.
He also saw himself paving the way for that boy named Luo Feng time and time again, watching that troublemaker grow step by step.
These memories are no longer just cold, impersonal plots in a novel.
These are his own lived experiences, flesh and blood. The blood he shed, the wounds he suffered, the monsters he killed, the people he protected... all of this belongs only to Hong, not to that reader named Lin Jue.
He enjoys the power to wield absolute authority and command the entire world.
He reveled in the power to turn the world upside down with a snap of his fingers and to hold life and death in his hands.
He relished the unparalleled sense of accomplishment of watching human civilization rise from ruins in his own hands.
Exhausted from failing to break through his bottleneck, his consciousness seemed to sink into an ocean of fragmented memories. In the center of this ocean, he saw a blurry version of himself.
That was Lin Jue's afterimage, representing his sense of alienation and bystander mentality as a transmigrator. It was precisely this mentality that prevented him from fully integrating his spirit and will with this body and this world.
"Who am I?"
He posed this question from the deepest part of his soul.
"You are Lin Jue, just a reader who knows the future."
"That afterimage answered."
"No, I am Hong. Hong of Tianwu Martial Arts School. Hong of Jixian Martial Arts School. Hong of Earth."
He countered.
"Then why are you still bound by the so-called plot? Why are you still anxious about changes to the plot?"
The afterimage's voice carried a hint of mockery.
In the very moment of his mental struggle, a breathtaking scene exploded in his mind.
It was a colossal cosmic beast far more ferocious and massive than the golden-horned behemoth he remembered. It tore apart the dome of light defense network that Thor was overseeing, shattered the lightning spear that Thor had painstakingly condensed with a single claw, and left the arrogant man in a state of near-death.
It opened its gigantic maw and destroyed base cities one after another. He saw Yao Rao, Wang Yu, and even Luo Feng, who had just begun to emerge and had not yet had a chance to shine. In that catastrophe, they, along with billions of humans, turned into cosmic dust.
This wasn't part of the story; it was the reality he feared most. He wasn't afraid of the story falling apart, but of everything he had protected, everything he had built with his own hands, being utterly destroyed.
"No."
An unprecedented anger and protective will erupted from the deepest part of his soul like a volcano.
At this moment, he stopped thinking about the Golden Horned Beast and the original plot; only one thought occupied his mind.
"Anyone who dares to touch my Earth, I will kill them. Anyone who dares to harm my people, I will wipe out their entire family."
"I am Hong."
A declaration originating from the soul resounded throughout the entire sea of consciousness. The afterimage belonging to Lin Jue vanished completely at this moment, smiling as it merged entirely into Hong's will.
His spirit, soul, body, and the immense genetic energy within him achieved an unprecedented harmony and unity in that instant.
boom.
The moment the mental barrier was broken, the torrent of energy that had been suppressed and blocked finally found an outlet. That barrier shattered before the new, pure will of the torrent.
Inside the sealed room, an energy storm suddenly erupted.
Cosmic energy surged into Hong's body at an unprecedented speed and scale. His body greedily absorbed all the energy it could reach.
Within his dantian, the genetic energy that had originally manifested as a gaseous planet began to condense, compress, and grow stronger. Finally, a miniature star, more dazzling than a diamond and radiating a dark golden light, slowly took shape.
Under the onslaught of energy, his body underwent a radical transformation. His bones became as translucent as jade, his blood turned into scalding golden magma, and ancient, dark patterns began to appear on his skin.
His level of life is undergoing a great leap.
His domain also underwent a transformation at this moment.
The domain transformed into a true dark world, its scope expanding significantly. In this world, he was the ruler, controlling light, space, and energy.
The third realm!
After an unknown amount of time, the energy storm inside the sealed room gradually subsided.
Hong slowly opened his eyes, a flash of dark golden light disappearing in an instant. His aura had been completely concealed, and he appeared no different from before, but his eyes seemed to contain a starry sky, unfathomable.
He calmly extended his palm.
The surrounding light seemed to be drawn in by an invisible force, converging towards his palm and dimming the entire secret room.
"So this is what the 'Eternal Star' is like."
He murmured to himself, his voice carrying a calm and composed air of complete control.
He didn't immediately emerge from seclusion, but instead addressed the void with an unquestionable tone, speaking calmly:
"enchanting."
After a moment of silence, he spoke again, his voice traveling through the heavy alloy door and reaching the outside world, amplified by the power of his genetic energy.
"Notify Thor to come see me."