Chapter 302: Breakthrough to Martial Saint Realm! |
After all this was done, your lifespan finally could no longer sustain the Seven Luminaries' power.
Your projection across the entire world vanished at the same time.
With hair turned completely white, your features shriveled and aged like something dried up, you fell freely through the air, plummeting toward the ground.
Wind howled past your ears.
Blue sky and white clouds filled your view.
The earth lay behind you.
"It's over..."
Five simulations, five lifetimes.
This time was the longest, the richest in experience, and the one in which you intersected with the most people.
Is it over... really?
Li Lingyue burst up from the ground and caught you as you fell from the sky.
"Chen Lang!"
Seeing you in such a battered, ruined state, Li Lingyue's eyes filled with tears.
"Don't be sad... Lingyue, do your duty as a Guardian... the human world still has a long road ahead..."
"How could you go before me! Hang on, I'll find a way to extend your life!"
You forced a wry smile.
Your lifespan was exhausted, and you had already borrowed via a Life Loan that would need to be repaid later.
Even if Li Lingyue let you live a while longer, when repayment time came, if you couldn't pay back you would still be headed for death.
Just as you were about to depart this life, someone arrived at your side.
"Third Brother-in-law?"
Shen Qingshan rushed over from the Starry Domains, speaking urgently.
"The Founding Ancestor said he left you a grand gift, use this method to claim it quickly!"
Shen Qingshan handed you a Heart Art and told you to circulate it.
You struggled to sit up, crossed your legs, and began to cultivate.
Your mind entered a profound space, bright all around, filled with light.
"This is..."
Within those radiances, seven figures stepped forward.
They were precisely the seven Martial God–level forces who had served as the formation cores of the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array.
Shen Yang and Li Wentian walked side by side at the front.
Li Wentian was still in that same arrogant, self-important manner.
"Junior! You have at last not wasted Zhen's power, winning this world war's victory!"
Shen Yang smiled.
"Chen Yi, the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array is tremendously powerful.
It is not a Void Realm thing; when used in the Void Realm it still could not unleash its full force.
After my power entered the array, I discovered it has a small 'side effect'—for you, that is good news..."
You asked with curiosity.
"What 'side effect'?"
"It can help you increase your cultivation!"
"Really?"
"Haha, the seven of us Martial God–level powers inject into one person, combined with a Real Realm grand formation aiding it, letting you break through a cultivation stage should not be difficult, right?"
Li Wentian waved his big hand, and the surrounding lights began to converge into your body.
Seize it! Junior!
Congratulations! Your cultivation has broken through to the Martial Saint Realm!
Theoretical lifespan extended to four hundred years!
Equippable trait slots +2, increased probability to draw high-quality trait tags!
Previously, you had borrowed 200 years via the Life Loan.
——The maximum lifespan amount a Life Loan can borrow equals the current theoretical lifespan limit.
Although, through trait effects, you had reached special states such as Martial Saint, Martial God, Transcendent, Unity of Heaven and Man, and the Seven Luminaries' trans-dimensional elevation, your true cultivation level remained Martial King.
At the instant the borrowing completed, your theoretical lifespan reached 440 years.
The Seven Luminaries Immortal Array then consumed over three hundred years of your lifespan, and your actual age had also surpassed 100 years.
In other words, the lifespan you had left just now was infinitesimally close to zero, sending you into a near-death state.
Now, your true cultivation level has broken through to Martial Saint, and Martial Saint grants two hundred more years of lifespan than Martial King.
So your remaining lifespan now is 200 years.
Your current age < theoretical lifespan / 2, the Half-Emperor for a Thousand Ages trait becomes active, and your apparent cultivation reaches Martial God.
You borrowed 200 years via the Life Loan; in future you must repay five years' worth for every one year borrowed, for a total repayment period of 60 years, and principal plus interest totals 300 years.
Question: how many more years can you live?
I know you can't calculate it, that's all right, the simulator will calculate it for you.
If nothing goes wrong, you can still live 33.33333333... years.
"You really can calculate..."
Chen Yi outside the simulation didn't care how many years he had left.
Even if it ended at this moment, he had profited hugely.
"This loan's interest is pretty steep, borrow 200 and pay back 300? The key is, if life isn't enough, borrowing 200 years doesn't mean you can actually live 200 years..."
So, this trait can't be used recklessly.
The best scenario is when your lifespan is already about to run out, borrow the maximum and enjoy it one last time.
Never borrow while in your prime, or you'll be committing years that should have been yours.
"A glimmer of hope at the end of the road, I didn't expect this simulation to continue for thirty more years. Let's see how the postwar human world turns out."
Eighty-sixth year, one hundred and five years old.
Extracting trait tag...
Extraction successful!
"Martin's Morning" (green rare): Every morning when you wake up you become a random person, including race, appearance, gender, height, etc. Does not affect cultivation, combat power, lifespan, or racial talents.
Adjust the trait tag?
Yes/No
You equipped Proficiency!
You equipped Bad News Spreads in Martial Circles!
The war ended.
The human world returned to peace.
Everything awaited restoration.
Although you only had thirty-some years left to live, your current remaining theoretical lifespan was still considerable.
So you still looked like a middle-aged man.
Martial God–level power allowed you to roam the human world freely even without Black Wind.
In the current human world, you and Li Lingyue became the only Martial God–level forces.
One of you was the world's sovereign female emperor and Guardian.
The other was the savior who rescued all living beings, honored by the people as God Yi.
Your temples for incense offerings were always adjacent.
Or sometimes you were worshiped together.
Stories of your romance began to be created among the populace and gradually spread.
"Lingyue, this 'Guardian' thing, why is it you, or why is it Senior Hu, and not someone else? What is the proof?"
In calm times, you would occasionally frolic among the flowers in the Southern Borderlands with Li Lingyue.
Idly, you asked her for more information about the Guardian.
"There is no real certificate; it's more like a transmissible power."
"Are there any manifestations?"
"A Guardian can live three thousand years."
"So many!"
You remembered Martial God lasted just a thousand years.
That is the Void Realm's limit.
Even if one could, like you or the Dragon-Man Heaven Venerable, reach power beyond Martial God through some method, one could not exceed the world's inherent limit.
"A Guardian protects a world, and the world naturally gives back."
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