Fang Tutor's actual age was not long enough, nor had he undergone closed-door cultivation for extended periods. If he were to undergo years of rigorous cultivation in a single closed session, he would easily experience a disconnect upon returning to reality.
Therefore, after cultivating for a year in the Time Pavilion, he would often choose to return to Blue Star, to extricate himself from the ethereal and illusory feeling of 'a year passing in the blink of an eye,' and to relive the reality and liveliness of the real world.
He went in and came out, came out and went in again, spending more than half a year in reality and consuming his entire year's quota.
"Now, my realm is..."
"Sevenfold Enlightenment Myth: 5 strands of divinity!"
This was roughly the level of a top-tier genius myth.
After another 8 years of cultivation in the Time Pavilion, and more than half a year in reality... this time should theoretically be sufficient for him to condense 300 strands of divine factor and cultivate directly to the Six Strands of Divinity Myth.
That is, the peak, most perfect myth, after which one could begin to attempt the breakthrough to demigod.
However, theory was still just theory.
Besides condensing divine factors, it also took time to construct stable divinity using 100 strands of divine factor as material. This process could take a few days if fast, or... there was no upper limit if slow.
Fang Tutor's initial progress was rapid; he only took a few days to construct the first, second, and third strands of divinity. However, when it came to constructing the fourth strand, he felt the pressure.
Above the third strand of divinity, the difficulty of maintaining soul stability while adding another strand increased exponentially.
This was precisely why myths beyond the four strands of divinity were extremely rare.
Fang Tutor possessed the knowledge and techniques of Candra, and his own foundation and talent were also top-notch, yet it still took him over a year to construct these two additional strands of divinity.
"But it's all worth it. As long as I can construct the sixth strand of divinity next, I can begin the advancement to demigod."
And with the foundation of six strands of divinity, the advancement to demigod would be nearly guaranteed.
He wished he could advance right now.
The '!' character accompanying the rank was exceptionally conspicuous, making a perfectionist want to press it directly. However, considering Liu Feng's situation, he naturally had to restrain himself. The foundation must be laid firmly; missing this opportunity would be a lifelong regret.
"The only problem is, time waits for no one."
Outside the academy, the dark Celestial River emerged from the gray mist in the distance, spanning the mist-free sky above the academy and continuing its endless journey into the distance.
The Calamity Scenery of Evil Gods was becoming increasingly abnormal.
The black Celestial River, blanketing the skies of the Yunhui, Luofeng, and other major regions, was not merely a distant spectacle; it also brought other harms.
—Oasis decay, pollution, corruption, and so on!
Initially, these were not strong, especially for super oases.
Many factions had experience in dealing with them.
However, as time passed, the impact of these disasters was gradually intensifying. It was difficult to ascertain the future situation or how much time was left!
Fang Tutor's heart was filled with a sense of urgency, yet cultivation could not be rushed. Even if the king of haste arrived, it would be useless.
He returned to the academy and changed his posture, continuing to ponder.
"My peak combat power, the rank and realm only occupy a small proportion of it, so there's no need to rush the breakthrough."
Over these past six months... nearly ten years, Fang Tutor had not only cultivated his mythic realm and honed his skills, but also attempted many unconventional methods to enhance his peak combat power.
Colloquially known as trump cards.
Faith power, world power, conviction power, god-slaying weapons... and so on.
However, even with numerous ultimate weapons in his possession, Fang felt that his firepower was severely insufficient.
Too weak, lacking power!
He pulled up the panel and chose to sort it in ascending order of rank.
Immediately, the avatars of Black Blade and An Jian You shifted back two positions.
At the very front were:
"Liu Feng (Demigod)"
"Zhou Bao (Demigod)"
After more than half a year, with both strength and intelligence, it was not difficult for the organization to find some treasures containing fragmented laws, as long as luck was not too bad.
One month after Liu Feng advanced to demigod, his third junior brother, Zhou Bao, also overcame his advancement tribulation.
If one were to compare those who were fortunate, one would see a situation similar to An Jian You: after finding a treasure fragment of the 'sword' law, this girl returned to the Valley of Nirvana and, after a few days of wandering, found a fragment of the 'Netherworld' system suitable for her.
However, An Jian You's rank was still far from being able to advance to demigod.
Currently, Spark had three regular demigod combat powers.
Liu Feng, Zhou Bao, and the god-slaying weapon · Shallow Red.
His second and third junior brothers, after advancing to demigod, owed the organization a mountain of contribution points. However, considering the impending disaster and the urgent need for top-tier combat power, Fang You still allocated them a significant number of chances in the Time-Year Secret Realm.
—The combat power of a demigod largely depends on the demigod manifestation.
Newly promoted demigods only manifest an empty shell of their demigod manifestation, lacking invincible defense, which even a slightly stronger myth could shatter.
At this stage, demigods were not much stronger than peak myths, only by two to threefold.
But once the demigod manifestation was constructed, even if it were only a single arm, a demigod's combat power could be greatly enhanced.
No, even a single hand would suffice.
With a hand, one could wield immense power similar to a 'world in the palm' through the demigod manifestation. When Fang Tutor, possessed by Little Huan, first encountered the Blood-Red Emperor, he experienced that pervasive and overwhelming aura. At that time, if not for Little Huan's spatial abilities, escaping would have been difficult.
The process of forging demigod manifestations in the Netherworld, no, the Candra Empire, also began with the palm of the right hand.
Of course, it was not impossible for demigods who preferred to use their left hand to forge the sky-supporting left palm first.
"The construction of the demigod manifestation needs to proceed in parallel with the forging of the demigod body, and this process also consumes a large amount of Nether Crystals, divine factors, and god crystals."
If cultivating a myth was like paying to play, then constructing a demigod manifestation was a necessity to pay to play.
Zero-cost construction method? Non-existent!
However, low-tier, mid-tier, high-tier... the degree of payment also affected the construction speed.
Another influencing factor was the foundation and divinity!
Demigods also needed to condense divinity, the quantity being the same as condensed during the myth stage. The more divinity one had, the faster the demigod manifestation could be constructed, and the stronger the forged manifestation would be.
Therefore, many demigods, after promotion, did not rush to forge their manifestations but first condensed divinity.
This was a cost-effective method for constructing demigod manifestations.
"Liu Feng and Zhou Bao have both constructed two manifested arms and the upper half of the manifested torso. They now possess seventy to eighty percent of their peak combat power."
If Liu Feng and Zhou Bao were retracing their path to their peak, then Black Blade, An Jian You, Xidina, and others were forging new paths.
Among the three, Xidina's combat power lagged slightly behind.
This was not because Xidina was not fighting desperately or lacked talent, but her core skill was 'Nirvana Sacred Fire,' which had effects of amplification, damage, and rebirth.
Its greatest characteristic was Nirvana rebirth.
Xidina had already accumulated one round of rebirths and was accumulating the second.
However, she had not yet died.
As long as she didn't die, she couldn't unleash the effect of Nirvana rebirth and a surge in combat power. This girl didn't mind, still enjoying the thrill of combat and continuously hunting anomalies.
If Spark had a kill count list for high-level anomalies, Xidina would definitely be among the top three.
Brother Black Blade's core skill, 'Immortal Legion,' was still being upgraded. This was a rare, upgradeable, and management-based skill.
More than half a year ago, Brother Black Blade's Immortal Legion was relatively incomplete. Although powerful, most of its power came from Black Blade himself. The heroes within the legion were only 'elite warriors,' lacking rare, epic, and legendary heroes.
Now, they had them.
"You brats, hurry up, train me! Train until you die!"
On the training ground, a straight-backed figure was yelling at the trainees.
He was not an academy tutor.
Or rather, he was not a legitimate tutor; he was a hero tutor.
"Hero: Old Li"
"Origin: Once served as a sword instructor at the Spark Academy of the Candra Empire, and later perished in a city defense battle."
The early tutor of the academy, Bald Old Li!
After his demise, his remains were buried before the academy's memorial monument. Later, as the instance space concluded, he reappeared in the world.
Now, the memorial monument stood on the main peak, and it was the place where students took their oath upon enrollment.
A shred of immortal belief entrusted to this monument, through a miraculous fusion with Brother Black Blade's 'Immortal Legion' skill, gave rise to several rare-grade and epic-grade heroes.
Bald Old Li was one of them.
Having once been a myth and left behind a considerable reputation, he was now a general in the Immortal Legion and also served as an academy tutor, working to earn funds for the legion.
Brother Black Blade's personal income had doubled directly.
However, the improvement of his Immortal Legion also required considerable resources, so it could be said that he earned a lot and spent a lot.
"Despite the considerable expenses, Brother Black Blade seems to be the second richest person in the organization."
Excluding Boss Fang, the richest employee was naturally... Sister An.
Fang Tutor looked at Old Li from afar, feeling a sense of wistful emotion.
Old Li did not remember him.
After all, Old Li was only a myth, and the Immortal Legion was merely a gold-grade skill. Resurrecting the deceased and allowing them to live again was entirely impossible.
Old Li was a hero, but he was only a wisp of obsession.
He had very little memory remaining, only the swordsmanship to vanquish anomalies, etched into his bones and soul.
...
Within the Time-Year Secret Realm,
Rumble—
Flames filled the sky, creating a magnificent ocean of fire.
"Yiloxi is causing trouble in the secret realm again. I hope she doesn't damage the buildings that were painstakingly constructed."
Otherwise, she would get a few scoldings from me.
An Jian You muttered.
She had entered the Time-Year Secret Realm several times, either teaming up with her tutor or with Yiloxi and Xidina.
Compared to the overly combat-hungry Xidina, she preferred teaming up with Yiloxi, and could also keep an eye on this unruly girl.
She had done several things in the secret realm. First, she redecorated the interiors of her residences. The buildings constructed by automatons were at most fully furnished apartments, and An Jian You was not satisfied. After informing her tutor, she soundly renovated each house.
The second, of course, was cultivation.
The residential areas in the secret realm had been renovated in previous visits. An Jian You was not overly fixated on it. Glancing at Yiloxi's situation, she began to cultivate peacefully.
"My realm is three strands of divinity, still a bit short of constructing the fourth strand, and even further from demigod."
This was too weak, too lacking in power.
Especially after seeing the terrifying black river that had spanned the sky during this period, An Jian You's heart tightened even more.
She could see scenes that others could not.
Within the black Celestial River, demons danced wildly, with monsters more terrifying than seven-star anomalies being common. It was as if it were the source of anomalies. She didn't even dare to probe further with her gaze, her intuition telling her that it would trigger unpredictable great dangers.
She was no longer the You You who would court death carelessly in the past.
However, she was still too weak.
Witnessing the power of Vice Dean Liu Feng, An Jian You realized how weak she was and that she couldn't help her tutor with this strength.
But cultivation couldn't be rushed; the foundation had to be laid firmly before advancing, otherwise, it would affect her future prospects.
Therefore,
"It's up to you, Little Red."
"Hoo-ee~"
Within the dark patterns, a figure in red, empty inside, appeared. It let out a few joyful cries.
Although these few cries caused the surrounding space to tremble, as if a great disaster was about to descend, it was evident that the red-clothed anomaly had changed significantly compared to before.
—It had become more sentient!
This was an incredible feat for an anomaly.
Anomalies had instincts, and they might flee when encountering more terrifying things, but to make an anomaly exhibit joyful emotions was akin to a fantasy.
An Jian You had achieved it.
Or rather,
"The skill created by the tutor has achieved it."
"You'll have to help Tutor out next time too~"
"Hoo-ee~"
The crimson sleeves swayed joyfully.
"Then, let's begin~"
An Jian You said, her expression gradually becoming serious.
She was now adorned with quite a few anomaly artifacts.
The epic anomaly artifact 'Angel's Tear,' shaped like a teardrop, numbered a full 18 pieces, and these Angel's Tears all held a cyan glow, clearly indicating they were fully charged.
In An Jian You's hand, she held a uniquely shaped staff—the Archangel's Staff—this legendary anomaly artifact was an advanced version of the former, possessing immeasurable power and capable of storing vast amounts of life energy.
An Jian You was focused on the latter.
In front of her, around the red-clothed anomaly, were scattered numerous Nether Crystals and God Crystals, encircling two circular areas.
After rechecking everything and confirming that all preparations were complete, An Jian You extended her hand. Her life energy began to transform, turning into an invisible, profound force, acting upon the red-clothed anomaly.
This anomaly, already at the peak of seven-star, began its most crucial round of evolution.
Blood-red covered the land.
God Crystals radiated brilliance.
The intermingling Nether Crystals, God Crystals, and An Jian You's own energy formed a giant cocoon of black, red, and gold, enveloping the red-clothed anomaly, which normally stood over ten meters tall.
Time slowly passed.
Day one, day two, day three...
An Jian You drank can after can of recovery potions, her face gradually paling.
Cultivating an eight-star anomaly with a mythic body was extremely difficult.
But An Jian You was no ordinary myth. Her Myriad Beast Body Tempering and Mountain and River Contemplation had not been cultivated in vain. Her fair arms contained the power to cleave mountains and shatter seas. She had cultivated the red-clothed anomaly and other seven-star anomalies, and had also received much feedback.
This time, she had made thorough preparations, renting countless anomaly artifacts for use.
On the fourth day,
Whoosh—
Blood-red light shot into the sky, and a hellish pressure rolled out, changing the surrounding world.
An Jian You raised her hand to shield herself from the wind, gazing at the giant cocoon not far away, and revealed a relieved smile.
After another half a day, the pressure of advancement slowly dissipated, and cracks began to spread across the giant cocoon.
At this moment,
A phoenix cry echoed from the distant horizon, and soon it approached from afar.
A slender figure stood on the phoenix, looking down from above.
"Youyou, let's spar again and try my new move!"
As the voice fell, the giant cocoon suddenly shattered with a crack, and boundless blood-redness spread, filling the sky and the earth.
The phoenix cried out mournfully and, flapping its wings, fell from the air.
Leaving behind Yiloxi, who stood in the air, her eyes wide, her mouth agape, wide enough to fit two duck eggs.
(End of this chapter)