Chapter 1528
Chapter 1528 - 1524: The Builder
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8 min read
"We.....we old folk all felt that you would have your day eventually," said the voice at the other end of the line, "but even Little King Kui, who had the highest hopes for you, didn’t expect to see this day within 20 years."
When she saw Lord Xiuyi’s Clone again, even she was shocked in that moment.
"Even Little King Kui has not reached this point," Lord Xiuyi, too, was surprised by Lu Ping’an’s "progress."
This surprised Lu Ping’an a little.
"He hasn’t reached this point yet? Not even Quasi-God?"
"Generally speaking, only a part of the Quasi-Gods have reached this stage, and it’s not mandatory. In fact, some of the Tenth-orders I know had not taken this step when they were still Mortals."
Fully understanding one’s own essence of Life and accomplishing Transcendence is the privilege of a very few with the Life system Talent.
Among the Top Life Series, it’s not an absolute prerequisite... but those Life Forms that have taken this step have thoroughly transformed, they tend not to die easily, and their Evolution tends to proceed much more smoothly, significantly increasing their chances of reaching the highest levels.
If you skip this step, you can only achieve a qualitative change when you are building your Divine Kingdom... Heaven knows how long they need to accumulate just to reach the basic threshold for a transformation.
"So that’s it..."
This time, when Lu Ping’an’s "actual self" saw Lord Xiuyi, what he saw was no longer a seemingly ordinary owl.
The lady, who looked incredibly young no matter how you sliced it, just sat calmly on the window, the owl was merely her phantom, and behind her were faintly visible countless "links".
She was just a part of the vast being that was Lord Xiuyi, like a lake on Elder Liu’s island, like a part of Lu Ping’an’s countless "Blackfire" and "Life-points," like...
"Octopus... is it a similar form too?"
At this moment, Lu Ping’an couldn’t help but think of the form of the Octopus, an Evil God from the Super Plane; it seemed also to be a conglomerate of multiple Deities, with the Sons of the Evil God being just a part of it.
Upon hearing this, Lord Xiuyi smiled and then shook her head.
"Not the same?"
"No, I don’t know... It is probably stronger than me. The Weaker should not attempt to understand the form and the root of the Strong—it is quite foolish and dangerous."
Well, that’s a very convincing argument, but it seemed that Lord Xiuyi had once tutored Lu Ping’an.
The more this world’s style developed, the higher-level life forms seemed more like "Demons" than "individuals". If it’s a scale of Octopus spanning multiple worlds, it’s quite normal that they are incomprehensible.
"But cutting off its world should be able to hurt it, right?"
Lu Ping’an’s eyes, unfocused, his gaze was still on the dark worlds where the flames were burning.
The cataclysm known as the "Burning Legion" had not ceased even after his departure; on the contrary, due to the lack of interception, it had grown even larger.
"Of course it can, that’s a strategy too..."
Damaging a world just to harm an individual may sound far-fetched, but against such beings that can easily span several worlds in size, it seemed to be an effective method.
The Octopus was like a super Octopus with its Tentacles deeply embedded into dozens of "jars"; cutting off a Tentacle in one of its jars would naturally hurt it, but to deliver a fatal wound, this alone would not be enough.
"Is it, too, of the Life system?"
"They may not be from our framework... but their Life Form, likely is."
This time, the answer was definite.
Every Extraordinary’s Evolution was different, and the Firebird Lu Ping’an had witnessed was in a sort of "plasma state"... at least in his eyes, that was its form, and he did not believe his Eye of Truth could observe a full hundred percent of the Twelve-Pillar Firebird.
But still, Octopus certainly couldn’t compare to Firebird, so there would always be damage...
"A War of a hundred years, a thousand years..."
"Unlikely. Once the battle damage reaches a certain level, it will sever its limbs and leave. What we need is precisely this level of victory... It’s unrealistic to kill a Transcendent that has surpassed the world in the short term."
Lu Ping’an nodded thoughtfully, perhaps this was indeed the path for his future.
At this moment, Lu Ping’an had come to a realization.
His path had always been clear from the beginning—if his Life-points didn’t go bankrupt, he would be immortal.
Whether it was the "positive aspect" of Life-points or the "negative aspect" of the Dark Fire, both were parts of his life; in a way, he too had become a "Super Octopus" entrenched in the Plane.
"A seventh-tier reaching such a state... you probably won’t need to stay at the seventh tier for long; under normal circumstances, you’d at least need to accumulate for a few decades."
But after expanding the Dark Fire and Life-points, every moment he harvested, collected Life, loaned out Life, operated Life... Just by continuously "taxing" and "charging service fees," Lu Ping’an kept evolving and growing.
Lu Ping’an silently acknowledged that his essence was the "buff of Life circulation"; whether through plundering or extracting a cut, his accumulation would speed up a hundredfold.
He now understood why beings like Elder Liu and the seventh and eighth order Extraordinary beings were of completely different "scales." One was an individual, and the other a region, even a nation—the sheer scale of their existence was not comparable.
The solitary cultivation of an individual opposed to the "whole world’s" evolution had vastly different speeds, quality, and scales.
"...It’s a pity, though, the increase in combat power doesn’t seem that significant."
What was more frustrating was that his main output system was still "Lu Ping’an."
The progression was more on the level of "realm," an overall leap; in the short term, it didn’t result in a significant change to his individual combat power... unless he decided to duke it out with his Black Fire Clone; but that thing was purely an army type.
Nonetheless, to the two Quasi-Gods (Big Cat and Xiuyi), this concern was far too ostentatious; they didn’t even think combat power mattered, as they saw it as nothing more than a transitory product.
At higher levels, combat power was just a matter of research outcomes; rarity lay in how to climb rapidly and stably.
𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Others needed a long accumulation period to go from seventh-tier to eighth-tier, from eighth-tier to ninth-tier—it starts at a few decades, with a few centuries being the norm. But for him...
"...it seems like I just need to wait."
Those black flames of the Flame Legion continued to harvest Life for him.
The Life Bank, releasing Life.
The Black Fire Legion, collecting Life.
But the two weren’t merely in opposition; the Life Bank’s "expenditures" also garnered Life, and the Burning Warriors receiving the buff of Black Fire also received the Life and Power bestowed by Lu Ping’an’s grace.
It was an intermingled existence of mutual inclusion, contrasting yet complementing, creating a "world" together.
A complete system, a complete world, this is what constituted a true "Life system"—the World’s Reason, as well as his own "existence."
At this moment, Lu Ping’an might not possess the strength of the Quasi-Gods, but in terms of reaching the most difficult realms and frameworks, he had already reached a level enviable by other Quasi-Gods.
You need to have a blueprint, a framework, before you can fill it and evolve infinitely; whereas, most high-level Extraordinary beings assemble it piece by piece, which could easily go awry.
Not to mention distant comparisons, like Big Cat’s "Mother Tree"... they were no longer comparable at all.
"At least, my safety embargo should be lifted by now."
Speaking of which, that was indeed the case; as long as Lu Ping’an wasn’t foolish enough to exhaust his points, his death would never come.
At that moment, Lu Ping’an felt quite relieved; after all, he had indeed experienced high pressure and burden before.
"It looks like I can take a stroll now..."
But the development of events was somewhat beyond expectations.
"Do you want to learn our way of fighting? With your current state, you probably have the means to learn how the life systems above Quasi-God slaughter each other."
And Lord Xiuyi’s goodwill had opened a door for him.
Would Lu Ping’an refuse? While he was still hesitating, the other party gave him a reason he simply couldn’t refuse.
"Believe me, if you don’t grasp it... multiple Exotic Realm Quasi-Gods will eliminate this threat belonging to humanity prematurely. You’ve already gained a value that could provoke a Divine War."
— End of Chapter 1528 —