Chapter 27 Thirty-Six Stone Pillars

Xu Jingming crossed the flame world area and approached the nearest patterned stone pillar.

The surrounding world became dark again, but the temperature continued to rise.

"How strange."

"The closer I get to the patterned stone pillar, the higher the temperature, but the darker the world becomes." Xu Jingming looked back at the direction of the flame world, which was the brightest.

Xu Jingming looked at the nearest towering patterned stone pillar in the distance. Although it was still very far away, the patterned stone pillar was 1.6 light-years high, such a majestic height… Xu Jingming could naturally see its appearance clearly.

It was engraved with patterns, and although he couldn't feel any aura, there was an invisible sense of oppression.

This was a high-dimensional object, a natural suppression of low-dimensional universe creatures.

"Huff."

Xu Jingming approached with short-distance teleports time and time again. The closer to the center, the more dangerous it was. He was also afraid of teleporting too close, encountering big trouble and losing his life directly, so he used short-distance teleports.

Although he would be resurrected if he lost his life, that would be too embarrassing. Losing his life while exploring his own affiliated universe? Losing even his Number Nine Primordial Battle Armor? Too embarrassing!

Hmm?

When Xu Jingming was about 100 billion kilometers away from the patterned stone pillar, Xu Jingming felt something was wrong.

This patterned stone pillar? Xu Jingming looked at it. The towering patterned stone pillar faintly overflowed with heat, and streams of heat were surging and escaping.

So the further out, the lower the temperature! The closer to the patterned stone pillar, the higher the temperature.

"So the heat of the affiliated universe originates from the patterned stone pillar?" Xu Jingming looked up.

At such a close distance, he could already see waves of heat erupting from the patterns. The heat erupting every moment probably surpassed the heat of a star's lifetime. Therefore, even the outermost area could nurture cosmic fruit trees and flame apes.

"How can there be such terrifying energy?" Xu Jingming watched the patterned stone pillar continuously releasing heat.

"Hmm?"

In a trance, Xu Jingming felt that this patterned stone pillar was like a miniature Primordial Star.

"Yes, Primordial Star." Xu Jingming thought, "Secretary-General Black Heaven said that he determined that the cosmic fruit was related to the Primordial Star lineage by observing that cosmic fruit! He believes that the creator of the affiliated universe is also a high-dimensional life studying the Primordial Star."

The Primordial Star is the greatest celestial body in high-dimensional space.

Among the high-dimensional lifeforms, many are studying the Primordial Star, drawing strength from it.

"Continue to approach!" Xu Jingming wanted to feel it at a closer distance. Five hundred billion kilometers, three hundred billion kilometers, one hundred billion kilometers… The closer he got, the higher the temperature became, and there was even an invisible repulsive force.

Xu Jingming reached a distance of 9.8 billion kilometers, and the strong repulsive force made him very uncomfortable.

"The repulsive force is too great. If I get any closer, I won't be able to observe in peace." Xu Jingming looked up. Watching the high-dimensional patterned stone pillar at a distance of 9.8 billion kilometers, the feeling was already very strong.

A stone pillar felt like an incredibly terrifying fireball—a miniature Primordial Star.

Hot, boundless, incinerating everything!

"It's different from the *Primordial Star Hypothesis*." Xu Jingming watched the stone pillar. "The Primordial Star represented by the stone pillar seems to want to transform into a high-dimensional celestial body, even more thick! Heavy! Unstoppable!"

Xu Jingming watched like this, understanding the Primordial Star from another perspective.

After watching for a long time, Xu Jingming closed his eyes.

He visualized the Primordial Star in his mind.

This time, the visualized 'Primordial Star' absorbed some of the insights from the patterned stone pillar, and the Primordial Star also had more 'thickness'. It was the greatest celestial body in high-dimensional space, and also the heaviest celestial body.

Xu Jingming felt that the 'Primordial Star' in his visualization was looking at him more closely, and it was also affecting his mind and consciousness, making his mind and consciousness more stable and thick.

"The Primordial Star path of the affiliated universe represents another angle of the Primordial Star." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "It has given me a deeper understanding."

"I am closer to the real Primordial Star."

Xu Jingming understood.

Official members of the Primordial Star lineage learn the full version of the first to tenth levels of the *Primordial Star Hypothesis* when they receive their inheritance. Therefore, Xu Jingming and the others will all understand other core chapters to deepen their understanding of the Primordial Star.

But the stone pillars of the affiliated universe are different from the nine core chapters.

"By the way, of the thirty-six stone pillars, nine are broken and fallen." Xu Jingming thought, "Can I get closer to those broken stone pillars?"

Huff.

Xu Jingming immediately began to detour, approaching a broken patterned stone pillar.

"The repulsive force of the broken patterned stone pillar has indeed weakened." Xu Jingming showed a look of joy. He continued to approach, 6 billion kilometers, 3 billion kilometers, but when he approached about 1 billion kilometers, the repulsive force was still bearable, but an invisible mental influence began.

"Buzz buzz buzz."

An invisible wave of influence was affecting Xu Jingming's mind and consciousness. He had a feeling of drunkenness, and the broken patterned stone pillar in front of him was twisting and shaking in his vision.

He could only retreat, and after retreating hundreds of millions of kilometers, the invisible wave was weak enough to be ignored.

"After all, I am also the top lifeform in the real universe—a tenth-level source life, and I also have the Primordial Battle Armor, but I still can't really get close to them." Xu Jingming sighed secretly.

"Can I get closer by other methods?" Xu Jingming stretched out his hand, and the threads of the Primordial Battle Armor spread rapidly, "The threads of the Primordial Battle Armor are a special material, not afraid of mental influence."

When the threads of the Primordial Battle Armor extended to a position hundreds of kilometers near the broken patterned stone pillar, the invisible repulsive force was too strong, preventing it from approaching.

"I don't believe it." Xu Jingming swooshed and left this space-time, entering high-dimensional space.

Standing in high-dimensional space, Xu Jingming used the power of the Primordial Battle Armor to condense a large hand, wanting to touch the patterned stone pillar.

"Huff!"

Just as it descended from high-dimensional space and appeared a few hundred kilometers away from the patterned stone pillar, the terrifying heat annihilated the power of the 'large hand' condensed by Xu Jingming, and the large hand turned into nothingness.

"The threads of the Primordial Battle Armor directly descend to the surface of the patterned stone pillar." Xu Jingming tried again, but he couldn't descend at all. The invisible space-time repulsion was too strong.

Of the thirty-six stone pillars, Xu Jingming tried seven, some intact, some broken.

But Xu Jingming couldn't touch any of them.

"The cosmic spirit in that palace warned me not to get close. I can't even break through the range of these patterned stone pillars." Xu Jingming had already discovered that the internal area covered by the 36 patterned stone pillars had invisible powers that were too terrifying to penetrate.

Xu Jingming couldn't even descend from high-dimensional space, let alone space-time travel. He couldn't create a space-time wormhole leading to the vicinity of the palace.

"Forget it, forget it."

"These patterned stone pillars are here, they can't be lost. I'll study them carefully first. When I get stronger, I'll naturally have a way to deal with them," Xu Jingming thought. The merit exchange within the universe human race has some high-dimensional weapons.

Those high-dimensional weapons are also very large, but as long as they can be controlled and used, they can be made large or small. Xu Jingming felt that when he mastered these patterned stone pillars, he should be able to shrink them.

"The thirty-six stone pillars, each one is different, can be regarded as the thirty-six forms of the Primordial Star." Xu Jingming began to focus on watching. The images of these stone pillars could not be filmed or recorded.

Xu Jingming could remember the parts he watched and understood, and he would forget the parts he didn't understand.

So he could only watch it over and over again, and his understanding of the Primordial Star was constantly deepening. Xu Jingming stayed in the affiliated universe for half a month, feeling that he had gained a lot.

"After all, there is no detailed inheritance. Although there are thirty-six patterned stone pillars to observe, I can't understand them thoroughly." Xu Jingming thought, "If I continue to study, I will only become more confused."

"Go back first, study the *Primordial Star Hypothesis*, accumulate more, and then come to observe."

The Primordial Star visualized in Xu Jingming's mind also integrated some of the gains from the thirty-six patterned stone pillars. The visualized Primordial Star became more and more real, and his mental power also improved a lot, but it still didn't break through to the eleventh level.

Huff!

Xu Jingming took one step and left the space-time confinement, arriving in high-dimensional space.

Looking down at the entire affiliated universe from high-dimensional space, Xu Jingming could see more clearly and understand that this affiliated universe was completely centered on the palace.

The two high-dimensional fruit trees were the two trees at the gate of the palace.

The 36 patterned stone pillars, on the one hand, guarded the entire palace, and on the other hand, provided a continuous stream of energy.

The escaping energy formed three flame worlds in the outermost area, nurturing some cosmic fruit trees, flame apes, and the like.

"The patterned stone pillars, the high-dimensional fruit trees, and the palace are the most important things in this affiliated universe." Xu Jingming was very confident. After all, he had just entered the tenth level, and his knowledge accumulation was still weak. When his accumulation in the tenth level became deeper, he estimated that he would be able to crack a lot of it.

When he became a universe legend, he estimated that he would be able to completely control this affiliated universe.

Xu Jingming, who had only been cultivating for more than two hundred years, was very patient.

"Huff."

Xu Jingming used high-dimensional walking, left the patterned stone pillar area, and then returned to the real universe through the Gate of High Dimensions.

In the starry sky, Xu Jingming first checked the information. After all, he had been away from the real universe for half a month and could not receive news from the virtual world network.

"Well, the prison clan's medium and large-scale raids only happen once every one or two years. None have occurred in the past half month." Xu Jingming nodded slightly. He also estimated that the probability of medium and large-scale raids happening recently was extremely low, so he went to the affiliated universe for a relatively long time.

Huff.

With one step, Xu Jingming performed super-long-distance space-time travel, heading towards the headquarters of the Primordial Research Institute.

Headquarters of the Primordial Research Institute.

On this quiet planet, Xu Jingming landed in front of Vice President Chi Meng's small building.

"Vice President Chi Meng." Xu Jingming walked into the first floor's reception room and saw that Vice President Chi Meng was already waiting. Before leaving, he had notified Vice President Chi Meng through the virtual world network.

"Have you harvested the cosmic fruits?" Vice President Chi Meng asked with anticipation in his eyes, smiling. "I harvested more than I expected." Xu Jingming asked, "Vice President, are 50 cosmic fruits enough?"

"50 are enough." Vice President Chi Meng smiled, "If you can't understand with 50 cosmic fruits, having more wouldn't make much of a difference."

Xu Jingming nodded and waved his hand, constructing a small space. Inside the space were black and red fruits, some cosmic fruits were large and some were small.

The smallest was 0.8 kilometers in diameter.

The largest was 2.7 kilometers in diameter.