Two Thousand Years of Hibernation

Five servants knelt prostrate beneath the grand hall, not daring to utter a sound. The Tianlang, standing on the colossal throne, his emerald eyes glinting with ferocity, thought, “Even if this human reappears, by the time I receive news and go to find him, he’ll likely have vanished again.” Tianlang immediately recognized this and swiftly made a decision. “Prepare the ice blocks,” Tianlang rumbled. “Yes, Master,” the five kneeling servants responded in unison. The leader among them immediately flipped his hand, respectfully placing a meticulously carved, massive rectangular ice block on the ground. Tianlang descended from the throne, his four hooves treading softly as he approached the ice block. “Tell me about this human’s battle with Galloping Thunder King and Yinmou,” Tianlang instructed. “Yes, Master. This human first engaged Galloping Thunder King. After several exchanges, Galloping Thunder King was actually suppressed by the human. Moreover, the human’s speed was terrifyingly fast, making escape impossible. He was forced to burn his divine body! Yet, even after burning his divine body, Galloping Thunder King’s speed still couldn’t match the human’s…” The five servants recounted the information one after another. Though their account was brief, all the key points were conveyed. Tianlang lowered his head, gazing at the ice block. “Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle~~” Demon race script materialized out of thin air on the ice block, and rankings were swiftly established. Ranked First: Xue Wo. Ranked Second: Yinmou. Ranked Third: Tianlang. Ranked Fourth: Heifeng. Ranked Fifth: Ci’an. Ranked Sixth: Human. … Many of the six strong individuals were named according to their race or ethnic group. For instance, ‘Ci’an’ and ‘Human’ are group names, and ‘Tianlang’ is also a race name. As for Xue Wo, Yinmou, Heifeng… these were names given in the Ice Prison based on their appearance. This naming convention is common because there is only one Ci’an race member in the Ice Prison, and only one human. The rankings of the strong individuals in the Ice Prison were quickly finalized, with each strong individual accompanied by a brief introduction. The over eight hundred strong individuals nearly covered the entire ice block, yet a large blank space remained at the very top. The five servants exchanged puzzled glances, whispering telepathically: “Master usually carves the rankings from the top of the ice block. Why isn’t he doing that this time?” “Indeed, Master has carved rankings countless times, but I’ve never seen him do this.” As they conversed, demon race script began to appear in the blank space at the top of the ice block— “Any strong individual who brings this human to me, Tianlang, I swear to protect them forever. When I meet this human, I will not lay a hand on him to kill him. This oath… is witnessed by all strong individuals in the entire Ice Prison through this ranking ice stele!” “Done,” Tianlang lifted his head. “You will make 900 copies of this ranking ice stele and send them to the mountaintop.” “Yes, Master,” the five servants respectfully replied. They swiftly began to copy and carve. With their Undying God abilities, they naturally produced 900 ice steles in moments. Immediately, one of them took these ice steles… and flew away from the palace, heading towards a distant mountain peak near the ice sea. That was the designated place for distributing rankings, a place where fighting and lingering were forbidden, a rule recognized by all strong individuals. … The ranking ice steles were silently taken by strong individuals passing by, and Tianlang’s bounty naturally spread throughout the entire Ice Prison. “Tianlang’s protection?” “If I could gain Tianlang’s protection, as long as Tianlang lives, who could kill me?” “Tianlang wouldn’t break his oath, would he?” “How could he? Tianlang announced it to the entire Ice Prison through the ranking stele. All strong individuals know. How could he possibly break his oath for us weaklings and lose face? Besides, Tianlang has always been very proud and disdains to act against us weaklings. His good temper is famous.” “Quickly, find the human.” “Yes, find that human.” … Apart from the top few dozen strong individuals in the entire Ice Prison, who among the others didn’t live in constant fear? Even White Bone King and Galloping Thunder King were terrified of encountering the five giants, let alone the other imprisoned strong individuals. Though these strong individuals were weaker, they accounted for over ninety percent of the Ice Prison’s population. The search for Luo Feng naturally became much more frantic. However— Luo Feng’s lair was hidden deep within the snow, concealed by a miniature detector. Even if other strong individuals reached the entrance of his lair, their naked eyes and divine power still couldn’t detect him. Unless they attacked and destroyed the lair, forcing Luo Feng out. The craze to find the human lasted for several centuries. Gradually, the frenzy began to subside, but some weaker King-level strong individuals still searched whenever they had nothing else to do, because finding him… meant a stable life. … In a vast God Kingdom, amidst an endless ocean dotted with islands, on one such island. Black-Clad Luo Feng sat cross-legged on the sandy beach, watching the waves repeatedly crash onto the shore and recede. His Golden Horned Beast clone, meanwhile, was in his inner world, copying Beast God statues. “A thousand years have passed in a blink,” he mused. “My Beast God intent reached the 20th level of the Sky-Reaching Bridge a millennium ago. I thought… further progress would be difficult, but unexpectedly, my Beast God intent, though slow, has never stopped improving, constantly rising.” Black-Clad Luo Feng smiled. “However, the gap from the 20th level to the 21st level… is simply too vast. It will probably take ten times the time it took to go from the 19th to the 20th level.” Beast God intent is achieved by copying large statues and small Beast God statues. Of course, Luo Feng’s comprehension of the fusion laws of the ‘Path of the Beast God’ was also crucial. Without comprehension, merely copying would yield little achievement. Law comprehension is the root and main trunk of the tree! Intent is the branches and leaves. Only with deep roots and a thick, tall trunk can the leaves grow higher and more luxuriant. This is a mutually reinforcing process: a foundation of law comprehension allows one to copy and master higher levels of intent. And higher intent, in turn, promotes law comprehension. … Time flowed on. The Golden Horned Beast devoted itself entirely to studying the “Myriad Star Preaching Map” and copying statues to comprehend Beast God intent. Luo Feng’s Earthling body, meanwhile, was researching the “Bright Moon Strategy” and the “Myriad Star Preaching Map.” With the Chaos City Lord providing opponents tailored to the flaws in Luo Feng’s self-created secret techniques, Luo Feng’s techniques continuously improved, progressing remarkably fast. The attack moves created based on the second chapter, the ‘Muscle Chapter’… the sheer complexity of their law application was terrifying. Luo Feng spent a full 1600 years to successfully create the second form of the “Bright Moon Strategy”! This could be executed with both blade techniques and the Shi Wu Wings. A single strike… was like a colossal blade cleaving the sky, its power boundless, destroying all obstacles! Utterly domineering! However, when Luo Feng then turned to research the second form of the “Myriad Star Preaching Map,” he encountered difficulties. Based on his experience creating the first form, Luo Feng believed it would take only a tenth of the time spent on the second form of the “Bright Moon Strategy” to create the second form of the “Myriad Star Preaching Map,” as he already had research experience. But the actual process far exceeded Luo Feng’s imagination. “The first form was based on the first chapter, so it was simpler.” “The second form, based on the second chapter, is far, far more complex.” “Creating both the ‘Bright Moon Strategy’ and the ‘Myriad Star Preaching Map’ became very complex. So, the experience from creating the second form of the ‘Bright Moon Strategy’ offered much less assistance.” Luo Feng discovered the problem: close combat techniques and psychic weapon techniques have fundamental differences! They are completely different combat directions. As the complexity of the secret techniques deepened, the differences between the two would grow. The usefulness of shared research experience would also diminish. Luo Feng spent a full 500 years to create the second form of the “Myriad Star Preaching Map,” which was three-tenths the time of the second form of the “Bright Moon Strategy,” significantly longer than his projected one-tenth. … In the Virtual Universe’s Thunder Island, in the palace amidst the endless airflow at its highest point. Luo Feng stepped across the palace threshold, walking into the grand hall. Halfway, he stopped and respectfully said, “Teacher, my ultimate techniques are complete. Please offer your guidance.” “You’ve noticed, haven’t you?” a voice echoed from within the endless airflow. “I have,” Luo Feng respectfully replied. “I initially thought that with the experience of researching laws to create close combat techniques, creating psychic weapon techniques would be much easier. It was indeed somewhat easier, but nowhere near as easy as I imagined.” “You are creating peak ultimate techniques! Not some mediocre, ordinary secret techniques. Two fundamentally different secret techniques—one for close combat, one for psychic weapons… naturally, the differences will grow greater and greater later on. When you created the first form, you could still draw parallels. For the second form, the shared experience still had some effect. But by the third form, the effect will be extremely weak. By the fourth form, it will have no effect at all. For the fifth form, it will actually slow down the creation of both your techniques. The sixth form will become very difficult to create, and the seventh form represents the methods of a Universe Master… you probably won’t even be able to create it.” “Ah,” Luo Feng exclaimed in surprise. “Dividing your attention, having two secret techniques in your mind simultaneously, can be helpful at first, but in the later stages, they will interfere with each other, making it incredibly difficult to create the other technique. Do you think… strong individuals are afraid of spending more time? Wrong. Strong individuals possess eternal life; what’s spending twice the time? They fear that by dividing their attention, they will never reach the pinnacle.” Chaos City Lord continued, “Are you still sticking to your idea?” Luo Feng nodded: “I am!” “Then continue to persist,” the voice from the endless airflow responded. “I hope you won’t still be like this when you reach the fourth form.” Luo Feng merely bowed, remaining silent. “Go! Prove yourself right with your achievements,” the faint voice from the endless airflow urged. “Yes, Teacher,” Luo Feng bowed, thinking to himself that he would indeed prove it with his achievements! Swish! Luo Feng vanished into thin air, his consciousness returning to reality. … In the Eastern Ice Prison, deep within a snow cave. After more than two thousand years, Luo Feng, who had been sitting cross-legged in the chamber, finally opened his eyes. “Chaos City Lord Teacher, just you watch.” Because of his teacher’s words, Luo Feng felt no joy from successfully creating his ultimate techniques. Instead, he was filled with fighting spirit, a resolute will to strive. “If I am wrong, reality will have to tell me!”