Immortal Altar

"6.2 million mixed units and luck?" A monstrous wave surged in Luo Feng's heart. "6.2 million mixed units, what a terrifying fortune is that? The entire Black Dragon Mountain Starfield is only worth between 3 and 10 million mixed units." "Back then, your teacher also went all out, risking everything he had to succeed! A Moyun Vine that reaches 'Immortal' status is incredibly powerful, far stronger than an ordinary human Immortal. With it, your teacher gained immense power, and even if others were stronger than him, it would be extremely difficult to kill him," Babata said. "Hard to kill? Yet he was still killed in the end," Luo Feng mused inwardly. "Points, points." Luo Feng felt anxious. Accumulating quantity is easy. But breaking through a bottleneck is difficult. Cultivating a Sector Lord-level Moyun Vine... the cost makes Luo Feng's heart ache, about 120,000 points. "Buying 'Temporal Essays' requires points, cultivating the Moyun Vine requires points, repairing the Yunmo Star requires points, and all of them demand huge amounts of points," Luo Feng thought to himself. "Fortunately, I'm not under too much pressure right now." Currently, Luo Feng's points are barely enough, provided he doesn't cultivate the Moyun Vine or repair the Yunmo Star. "Teacher!" In Hall No. 2, hundreds of Taichu District members respectfully saluted. "Hmm." An Immortal, nearly 30 meters tall, whose body seemed forged from metal and had three horns on his head like a demon god, walked into Hall No. 2. His voice boomed, "Gold, the ultimate in Yang and rigidity, indestructible and unstoppable! Space, encompassing all matter and energy, everything within the entire cosmic space when time stops!" Silence. This great Immortal absolutely forbade anyone from speaking during his lectures. And he always began his lessons with that iconic phrase, 'Gold, the ultimate in Yang and rigidity... everything within the entire cosmic space!' He was a short-tempered, savage, and fierce being, yet many core members enjoyed attending his classes. The Immortal lectured there, and as he waved his hand, streaks of law secret patterns appeared in mid-air. "That's it." "Oh." Luo Feng listened intently, sometimes enlightened, sometimes nodding slightly, sometimes frowning in confusion. After a long while—the lecture ended. Luo Feng turned his head, slightly startled, because Yike, who had been sitting beside him, had vanished. "Huh? Even if he leaves the Virtual Universe Network normally, he should at least say goodbye," Luo Feng wondered. "Did he leave midway?" Luo Feng immediately sent a call invitation to Yike, but... "Call blocked?" Luo Feng smiled. "Looks like he ran into something important." Blocking call settings is very common. Generally, during enlightenment, cultivation, or adventuring... anyone doing something important that requires focus will choose to block Virtual Universe Network messages. Of course, there's another possibility: death. Once dead, auxiliary AIs, optical computers, and the like cannot access the internet, and naturally cannot receive any calls. After the lecture, Luo Feng didn't rush to choose a combat secret technique for his Golden Horned Beast clone. Instead, he decided to try his luck at the 'Immortal Altar' and the 'Illusory Sea'. "Points!" "I need hundreds of thousands of points right now, and even more in the future," Luo Feng fretted. "How do I get points? Just challenging the Sky-Reaching Bridge isn't nearly enough." Listening to Yike and Zhajiwu, the two Sector Lord-level core members, Luo Feng could tell that points became increasingly valuable further down the line, with Immortals even exchanging money for them. Because the 'treasure vault' of the Virtual Universe Company only allows items to be exchanged with points. "First, I'll check out the Immortal Altar and the Illusory Sea." Core members could easily enter the Sky-Reaching Bridge, Immortal Altar, and Illusory Sea—these three major planes. The Immortal Altar plane. On a vast black mountain range stretching as far as the eye could see, there were countless peaks. At the summit of each peak stood a golden altar. At a glance, thousands upon thousands of golden altars dotted the thousands of peaks. Whoosh! A black-haired youth appeared at the base of the stairs of one of the golden altars. "Hmm?" The moment Luo Feng appeared in the Immortal Altar plane, he felt uncomfortable. "I can't sense the cosmic origin fluctuations, nor any external energy. My internal primal energy is gone, and my mental force is incredibly scarce, barely supporting a wisp of consciousness." It was very strange, very uncomfortable! He had lost his primal energy, his mental force, and the law fluctuations he could sense... all energy was gone. The only thing he could use was—physical strength! "A place to test pure strength." "Immortal Altar!" Luo Feng looked up. The staircase had 99 steps, and the platform at the very top represented the 100th step. "Only when one's physical exertion reaches 100 units does it signify perfect control over the body." He ascended the steps, quickly reaching the altar platform. On the Immortal Altar's platform stood a humanoid target. Beside the target was a screen displaying text, which translated into Huaxia language read: "Please use your fist, elbow, head, knee, and foot, respectively, to strike the target within 1 second. Your strength will be calculated based on the lowest attack among these five strikes." "Five strikes?" Luo Feng was startled. He had originally thought it would be like on Earth, where a single punch would suffice. He hadn't expected the time limit of 1 second, requiring five attacks simultaneously, using the fist, elbow, head, knee, and foot. "Let's try it," Luo Feng said, stretching his limbs slightly. Snap! The sound of bones colliding. Boom! The sound of a leg cutting through the air. "Hmm." Luo Feng's eyes lit up, and he instantly launched an attack on the humanoid target before him. Instantly, Luo Feng's entire body arched like a bow, his right fist, like an arrow released from a string, fiercely struck the target's head—1st strike! Then he spun, condensing his body's strength into a single force, and delivered a fierce kick to the target's chest, causing it to slightly dent—2nd strike! As soon as he landed, he surged forward and leaped, his knee shooting upwards, directly 'tapping' the target's abdomen with the full force of his body, unleashing all his power—3rd strike! Immediately after, he bent down, his body like a great bow, then sprang back, his forehead fiercely smashing into the target's chest—4th strike! Then he leaped up, his right elbow bent, his entire body's muscles acting like a series of engines, bursting forth with power that instantly transferred to his right arm, delivering a vicious elbow strike—5th strike completed! "Hmm?" Luo Feng looked at the screen beside him. Data appeared on the screen—"31 units, 28 units, 36 units, 29 units, 35 units. Result: '28 units'. Points gained: 0." "28 units of exertion?" Luo Feng shook his head. Back on Earth, the Ninefold Thunderblade's highest level was only 7 times exertion. Of course, Luo Feng's current realm was completely different; he could casually create thousands of secret techniques better than the Ninefold Thunderblade, just like the creator of the Nine Universe Chaos Tablet, who wrote 'Temporal Essays' and freely composed secret techniques. "Within 1 second, five continuous strikes from different body parts, calculated by the lowest attack strength." "Hmm, truly demanding requirements." Luo Feng had tried it once and understood why the requirements were so strict. "Only when attacks from all parts of the body can reach 100 units within a short time does it truly represent perfect control over one's body." "Again!" Five consecutive impacts, and another five results appeared: "35 units, 30 units, 36 units, 29 units, 35 units. Result: '29 units'. Points gained: 0." "Again!" The result was 28 units. "Again." The result was 30 units. ...He tried again and again, hundreds of times. Luo Feng's best result was only 32 units, and his worst was merely 26 units. Consistently, he received 0 points! The Sky-Reaching Bridge, Illusory Sea, and Immortal Altar could all yield points. However, the rules were different. The Nine Universe Sky-Reaching Bridge had a total of 27 levels. The first level awarded 100 points, the second 200 points, the third 400 points... and so on, with each subsequent level awarding double the points of the previous one. The Illusory Sea contained numerous islands. Starting from the outermost islands, one would fly deeper into the Illusory Sea, entering island after island. The deeper the island, the more terrifying the so-called illusory will suppression became. The Illusory Sea's point rules were somewhat similar to the Sky-Reaching Bridge. From the outside in, the Illusory Sea had a total of 21 islands. The first island awarded 100 points, the second 200 points, the third 400 points... and so on. The deepest part of the Illusory Sea was the 21st island. The Illusory Sea and Sky-Reaching Bridge were challenged by Immortal powerhouses, and even Venerables would attempt them, hence the high points. But the Immortal Altar was different! Perfect control over one's entire body's strength was one of the prerequisites for becoming an Immortal, so the Immortal Altar offered the lowest points among the three. 50 units of exertion: 1,000 points. 60 units of exertion: 2,000 points. 70 units of exertion: 4,000 points. 80 units of exertion: 8,000 points. 90 units of exertion: 16,000 points. 100 units of exertion: 50,000 points. (Below 50 units, always 0 points) "My exertion is this poor?" On one of the thousands of golden altars in that vast black mountain range, Luo Feng practiced again and again, trying tens of thousands of times, spending an entire day. His best result was still only 34 units. He couldn't blame anyone. Firstly, Luo Feng was a mental-force master, and he had never seriously trained his physical exertion. Although the Demon Killer Clan clone specialized in close combat, it was an energy lifeform and didn't rely on muscle and bone for exertion. There was no such thing as 'exertion' for it, so it couldn't train its exertion ability. As for the Golden Horned Beast, it was a flesh-and-blood lifeform, and indeed, exertion was important for it! However! For all these years, the Golden Horned Beast had been focused on studying 'Absolute Space' and 'Original Universe,' spending its other time comprehending the origin laws of gold. It had never practiced any combat secret techniques. Nevertheless, due to the Golden Horned Beast's natural body structure, it was inherently good at exertion, and even without dedicated practice, it could reach around 60 to 70 units. Human physical exertion, however, was more difficult. Luo Feng's ability to reach '34 units' was thanks to his strong consciousness and high comprehension of laws. "How embarrassing, 0 points," Luo Feng couldn't help but think. "Later, I'll find a combat secret technique for the Golden Horned Beast, one that emphasizes exertion. Exertion... is one of the thresholds for becoming an Immortal, and I can't be careless." "Alright, if I can't get many points from the Immortal Altar, then I'll try the Illusory Sea." "My consciousness and will are what I'm most confident in." "I need to delve deeper into the Illusory Sea to get more points." Luo Feng immediately prepared to head to the Illusory Sea plane. Suddenly—"Hmm? An email?" Luo Feng tapped the air before him, and a screen instantly appeared, displaying an email. "Is it from the Virtual Universe Company?" Beep. Luo Feng opened the email and began to read, but his face instantly turned pale. "Impossible, impossible," Luo Feng couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly.