Swallowed Star
chapter-1068

“No way…” Ancestor was shocked as he looked down at a faraway spot. “How is it possible that he could comprehend the heart of the beast?”

******

Weeds grew all over the plain. There was a towering sculpture of a gigantic lizard positioned in a slight squat as though poised for takeoff. And at the back of the Gold Beast God sculpture, Luo Feng lay on a bed of scales, eyes squinting. He was looking in midair, where countless complicated gold threads of engravings flowed continuously.

His hundreds of millions of years of painstaking cultivation were no different from one another. In fact, Luo Feng had fallen into a unique state. He’d spent hundreds of millions of years studying the eight pictures of engravings of the Gold Beast God, where every picture of engravings represented a different aspect of the Gold Beast God. Eight pictures of engravings… Luo Feng felt as though he was looking at a different face of the Gold Beast God every day, and day after day, month after month, year after year…

The years went by. Luo Feng went on studying these eight pictures of engravings, and for a good many years, he felt as though he had the company of Gold Beast God every waking and sleeping moment of his life.

Currently, Luo Feng had lost himself to the 180 million years spent on studying these pictures of engravings. He forgot who he was. Now… he felt as though he actually was a beast god!

Joy, happiness, anger, rage, insanity… He was roaming the universe! He was fighting his enemies in bloody battles stretching to endless voids. The fighting extended to other galaxies… until finally, he unwillingly breathed his last.

******

Luo Feng lay unmoving, his eyes gradually closing. Only the Gold Beast God was real! All else was fabricated.

His sleep went on for a whole millennium.

During this millennium, even Luo Feng’s original earthling body and his Remote Ocean body went into a deep slumber. No matter who tried, no one at all was able to contact Luo Feng! Over the course of 1,000 years, Luo Feng forgot his human memories; he forgot everything. In his deep slumber, he thought of himself as a beast god…

A millennium went by peacefully. Then Luo Feng opened his eyes.

“Is this the so-called ‘Transformation of Things’?” asked Luo Feng. “Was it my illusion or was it reality?”

The moment he opened his eyes, he was in a trance—stupefied and unable to differentiate whether he was Luo Feng or a beast god. But quickly, he sobered up. Hundreds of millions of years’ worth of human memories came flooding back and overrode the memories that he had collected while he was incarnated as the beast god.

“A beast god? What a magical feeling.”

Luo Feng lay on the back of the Gold Beast God sculpture, reminiscing about the feeling of being a beast god, which was still so vivid to him. He felt as though he could go back into that state easily.

A beast god was an entirely different existence from that of humans. It was in a state that was detached, free, and true to its own nature.

******

At the apex of the mountain, Ancestor watched the entire episode, shaking his head amidst sighs. He found it all so ironic.

“The final bottleneck of the beast god path,” he said. “‘Heart of Beast God.’ The most difficult stage to comprehend and the most difficult to find, yet he has mastered it?”

The beast god path, according to the Ancestral God School, was divided into a total of seven major inheritances. Upon figuring out the entire Beast God path, one would have attained the universe master level and become a pinnacle existence in the universe… Yet it was not that simple for one who wanted to become a universe master. Just as it was with the golden horned beasts’ lineage, after countless eras, they only had a total of two universe masters. Similarly, the flaming star beasts’ lineage had only one universe master.

All of these clearly reiterated the fact that becoming a universe master was difficult to the point of nearly being impossible! There were many levels to accomplish!

One of the Beast God path’s most difficult levels to figure out—because of its ethereal nature—was understanding the Heart of Beast God, upon achieving this level, one could truly become an incarnation of the Beast God! This had left many universe overlords wondering, like Xi Luo Duo and the many universe overlords, if they could only be incarnations of “pseudo beast gods” because they were unable to understand the Heart of Beast God.

Without a Heart of Beast God… there was no way one could truly become an incarnation of a beast god.

For Luo Feng, this was an unintentional reward, as he spent such a long time wholeheartedly studying the eight pictures of secret engravings. Tens of millions of years of dedicated work had led him into a deep slumber where he forgot everything. During his slumber, he dreamed about leading the life of a beast god for a long time.

“This Luo Feng made a resounding name of himself in less than 100,000 years!” said Ancestor. “In my Beast God sector, he has cultivated himself for around 180 million years… He has dedicated himself wholly to studying the secret engravings of ‘Golden Space.’ Without any guidance, solely based on his own experience, he has attained the highest level. At the tip of his fingers, he could create techniques at the universe knight level… Obviously, he will have become extremely familiar with the Gold Beast God’s eight pictures of secret engravings. And these eight pictures are the full representation of Gold Beast God.”

Moreover, thought Ancestor. Golden horned beasts are descendants of the Gold Beast God. They can easily understand the Heart of Beast God. For two to merge as one… accomplishing this is expected.

Ancestor quickly understood why it was the process of accumulating richly and breaking forth vastly. Luo Feng had waited patiently, so when he had everything he needed to know in place, he would achieve success.

After all, Luo Feng did spend 180 million years studying these pictures of secret engravings. It only took him thousands of years to attain the pinnacle emperor level—tens of thousands of years to develop his talent of creating three forms of ultimate technique… If he continued to study the laws, given 180 million years, Luo Feng would have cultivated himself to the level of a senior universe knight. All just to defeat Ancestor!

So, Luo Feng had not spent an inkling of effort on law comprehension. He gave his all to studying the pictures of secret engravings. Hence, he attained his achievements in this chosen studies… which far surpassed his achievements in law comprehension. After all, law comprehension required many tens of thousands of years to cultivate. Just studying the pictures of secret engravings, he spent 180 million years. That was simply incomparable!

“This is…”

Ancestor, who had calmed himself previously, suddenly revealed a sharp change in expression. He was unable to believe what he saw as he looked down at the beast god sculpture on the vast plain. Luo Feng was lying down on the sculpture. Even when he had previously comprehended the Heart of the Beast God, he had not shown such arrogance and rudeness.

******

On the back of the beast god sculpture.

After Luo Feng woke from a millennium of deep slumber, he started to study the eight pictures of engravings of the Gold Beast God all over again. With the picture of secret engravings of his miniature universe as the final template, he tried to create a technique of his own. He could still feel the aftermath of his thousand years of slumber, during which the Heart of Beast God possessed an indistinct influence over him.

Hua! Hua! Hua!

Countless golden threads floated midair.

“It should be like this,” he said. “Yes. Like this.”

It must be by pure luck or coincidence, as Luo Feng himself was unclear of the underlying theories he used when he speedily combined all eight pictures of secret engravings. Other than the majority of the law threads being combined based on his strong foundation, there were a few law threads that were combined purely based on his unique instincts, where he was free of inhibitions and followed his heart’s desire without a second thought.

It was as though the Gold Beast God was wandering about the universe, following its heart, killing when it wanted to kill, eating when it wanted to eat, sleeping when it wanted to sleep… When it came to the method of combining the law threads he was still unsure of, he combined them with such an attitude—following his heart. The most important thing was to feel pleased and fulfilled in the moment.

Hong!

Suddenly, a golden ray appeared.

The golden ray sliced through heaven and earth in the blink of an eye. The frozen space was forcefully pried apart to reveal a ripple gully. Even the ground, under the resonating waves of the light ray, was cut apart to give way to a deep valley tens of millions of miles long. In an instant, the whole surface underwent a fundamental change. Then normality returned.

“I… I am left with such little godly power!” said Luo Feng.

He was dumbfounded as he sat on the back of the Gold Beast God sculpture. He gazed at the end of the vast land, at the deep valley, until everything returned to normal.

“What level of technique was that?”

Luo Feng could not believe he was so powerful. A few thousand years on law comprehension was enough for him to attain pinnacle undying level. If these 180 million years were spent devoted completely to studying law comprehension… for him to master the sixth, or even to the seventh stage of the beast god path was certainly achievable. Yet he had spent this long period of time studying only the pictures of secret engravings!

He was certainly successful, and now he could easily create techniques at the universe knight level, or, at times, he might even be able to create ultimate techniques at the universe overlord level. He was that powerful! Yet in terms of magnitude, his power was far less than that of the light ray.

“Could it be the ultimate technique of a universe master?”

Luo Feng still found it unbelievable. If he had not been mastering it, he would not have known. After all the studies on the pictures of secret engravings, he knew that while sometimes, with a stroke of luck, the pictures of secret engravings could allow one to miraculously create a set of technique… But the more powerful a technique was, the more it was impossible to depend solely on luck. Foundation was more important!

180 million years! Luo Feng was very accomplished in his studies of the pictures of secret engravings and could easily create techniques that were at the universe knight level. But the most powerful technique that he had created so far was merely the universe overlord ultimate technique, which was two levels higher than the ones he normally created. If he wanted to create a technique of a universe master level… he guessed he might need many hundreds of millions of years more.

If the day came when he could readily create techniques of universe overlord level however he pleased, then who knew? He might get lucky and happen to create a technique of the universe master level. The foundation required would be higher!

The most talented painter, with a stroke of inspiration, could paint a superior picture. But without a solid foundation, even with inspiration, one would not be able to produce a sensational piece of work.

Luo Feng had now built a very strong foundation for himself. As an individual in the context of the universe, he could be considered a master—a founder capable of creating techniques! However, if he was expected to create techniques of universe master level… then to him, it was still something unbelievable.

“Is it a technique of the universe master level?”

Sou!

Luo Feng jumped up from where he was and flew to a faraway spot on the mountain. On his shoulder was a golden horned beast.

After flying for a short while, he arrived at the mountain cliff where there were three technique sculptures, all of which had been left behind by space beast universe masters. These three were all techniques of the universe master level.

“I shall carve the engravings of my creation with the use of my power. I should be able to understand it.”

Luo Feng looked at the stone surface. Godly power was gushing out, and all he could see at that very moment was a huge picture of a technique that was complicated beyond comprehension. Even many universe knights would have felt as though they were reading a heavenly book. Even if Luo Feng were to spend 180 million years, he would still be unable to comprehend this.

This picture of technique was simply too deep to be fathomed. It exuded an endless wave of power that corresponded to the magnitude of power coming from the other three ultimate technique sculptures beside it. It was not the least bit weaker.

It represented hundreds of millions of years of hard work! Plus a Heart of Beast God… At any moment, Luo Feng spontaneously created such a technique.

This was a technique he had created with the picture of secret engravings of his miniature universe as a template; it might be considered a simplified version of it. It was simply a near-perfect combination of the eight Beast God pictures of the Gold Beast God that formed the attack-type technique: Ultimate Level Technique of Universe Master!

******

At the apex of the mountain, Ancestor watched.

“Tens of millions of years spent on experiencing, learning and creating,” he muttered. “And the Heart of Beast God. If at any point in time, the eight pictures of secret engravings of the Gold Beast God are almost perfectly combined, whether in a manner that makes sense or not… such a technique will emerge.”

At that moment, he transmitted a message to Sitting Mountain Guest who was in the primal universe.

“Sitting Mountain Guest!” he said. “Why are you still not on your way here?”