Chapter 1 The Biting Cold of the Third Planet

Hu!

A man wrapped like a bear appeared out of thin air next to Xu Jingming. His thick hair stubbornly poked out from his headscarf, and all that could be seen of him was a pair of glistening eyes.

"Too cold, it's too cold." The man returned to the starting point, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "The starting point is still the warmest."

"Warmest?" Xu Jingming looked at him.

Such bone-chilling cold, and he calls it warm?

"Brother," the tightly wrapped man looked at Xu Jingming and smiled. "Are you new to the third planet?"

"Wu Hook Star Alliance, Wu Ming," Xu Jingming gave his alias.

"Chang Yu Star Alliance, Lanno." The man chuckled. "I've been stuck on this third planet for more than two months, and I've frozen to death nineteen times."

"Frozen to death?" Xu Jingming's heart tightened. "Is it that cold?"

"We explorers are all limited to the flesh and blood level in the Bloody Rain World." The man shook his head. "So everyone experiences the same level of cold. The feeling of freezing to death is truly unpleasant."

Xu Jingming immediately opened his personal panel and began to check the trial content for the third planet.

Whoosh.

A virtual map of the third planet appeared, marking a route.

"Please reach the 'Land of Extreme Cold' on the third planet. Success will allow you to proceed to the fourth planet." The trial content consisted of only a few lines, but looking at the marked location and the name of the destination, Xu Jingming had a bad feeling.

"There's no life on this planet other than us explorers." The man shook his head. "It's just one word: cold! Cold that freezes us to death! Good luck, brother, I'm going to try for the twentieth time!"

With that, the man buried his head and took steps forward.

"Frozen to death nineteen times, and still trying for the twentieth… This person's mental fortitude is extraordinary." Xu Jingming thought to himself. "But he's still stuck on the third planet after more than two months."

"Choose as many clothes and armor as possible," Xu Jingming didn't dare to be careless. He chose equipment with a high cold resistance from his personal panel. He wore a close-fitting cotton shirt, followed by a layer of soft armor, and finally a layer of solid armor.

"I can't choose a helmet, so I'll have to use a belt." Xu Jingming chose a thick cloth belt, using it as a headscarf.

He wrapped his head up, leaving only his eyes exposed.

"Let's go."

He looked rather bloated. To deal with unexpected dangers, Xu Jingming also carried a quiver.

"Fortunately, the body doesn't feel hunger or thirst, so I can maintain peak physical condition." While walking, Xu Jingming mobilized all the cells in his body, trying to generate heat! With cell-level control, a single thought generated more heat than strenuous exercise.

"My whole body is warming up."

Xu Jingming felt quite relaxed when he set off.

After all, he was wrapped tightly in armor, soft armor, and clothing. His body generated enough heat, and he moved so fast that he left afterimages, advancing at a speed of over a hundred kilometers per hour.

"It's 936 kilometers from the starting point to the Land of Extreme Cold, which isn't too far." Having experienced the Zerg planet trial, Xu Jingming thought this distance was short.

But gradually…

"It's getting colder and colder." Xu Jingming felt the cold rising rapidly. The cold began to penetrate the armor, inner armor, and cotton clothing. The heat generated by his body gradually couldn't resist such cold, and the cold air began to seep into his body.

"I-I-I'm c-c-cold!!!" Xu Jingming's teeth chattered uncontrollably.

"Star cluster lifeform cultivation is all about controlling the body! I must control my body!" Xu Jingming's mental will desperately tried to control every cell, wanting to stop his body from shivering.

But the cold was invading every cell, fighting for dominance against Xu Jingming's mental will.

"How is it so cold? I've only walked two hundred kilometers." Xu Jingming shivered, but still gritted his teeth and moved forward.

At a glance, the whole world was a sheet of icy white. Ice covered countless rocks, with some rocks exposed, devoid of any life.

Xu Jingming walked alone.

Occasionally, he saw other Cosmic Citizens also walking in silence. In such terrible cold, no one wanted to speak.

"Hm?"

Xu Jingming saw a tightly wrapped Cosmic Citizen standing by the roadside ahead, maintaining a walking posture, but motionless. His entire body was covered in a layer of ice.

"He's not dead yet." Xu Jingming watched silently. "But he won't last long."

As Xu Jingming walked closer to the man,

Whoosh!

The Cosmic Citizen who had been frozen into an ice block completely disappeared.

"Frozen to death, and you return to the starting point." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "Being frozen to death after only three hundred kilometers. It's far too difficult to reach the Land of Extreme Cold over nine hundred kilometers away."

Xu Jingming buried his head and walked.

After walking five hundred kilometers, he occasionally saw Cosmic Citizens frozen in walking postures. Those Cosmic Citizens were still conscious and hadn't been completely frozen to death.

After walking six hundred kilometers, Xu Jingming no longer shivered, but his body parts were frozen numb.

"Not good, parts of my body are starting to become numb." Xu Jingming's heart tightened.

Shivering was a minor issue, but numbness was a major one!

Xu Jingming's control over his body was already very strong, but he felt that some parts of his body had lost sensation!

Without sensation, Xu Jingming could barely keep walking. "Is the third planet really this difficult?" Xu Jingming said silently. "Persist, winning only comes with reaching the end." Xu Jingming comforted himself.

However, after seven hundred kilometers, Xu Jingming lost sensation in most of his body, and his mental consciousness's control over his body weakened.

"Am I going to be frozen to death too?" Xu Jingming vaguely understood that he wasn't far from being frozen into an ice block.

"This is only the third planet! I must persevere." Xu Jingming's fiery belief kept him going.

"I can't fail!"

"I have to at least reach the fifth planet."

Xu Jingming roared inwardly. He thought of his wife and family, of his daughter who was only a few months old, and of the entire Blue Star that would soon face trials.

"Hold on, let me control every cell, control them!" In desperation, Xu Jingming's increasingly fervent belief drove him to try to mobilize his body.

His mental will was fighting for control of his body against the cold.

Control his body! Keep walking! Eight hundred kilometers!

Xu Jingming had only one belief left: "Move forward and reach the Land of Extreme Cold!"

Even though he was numb and had lost sensation, his body continued to walk step by step. Xu Jingming didn't even have the distraction of checking his location on the panel.

Only one thought remained!

Finally…

A lake appeared in front of Xu Jingming!

The deep blue lake water was still flowing slowly, even in such terrifyingly low temperatures.

"Almost there. Swim across the lake, and you can reach the Land of Extreme Cold in the middle of the lake." Xu Jingming stepped directly into the lake. The deep blue lake water was very dense, and most of his body remained above the water.

"Swim, swim..."

Xu Jingming swam forward, but the lake water seeped through the armor and inner armor, and even through his robes. A more terrifying cold invaded his body. Xu Jingming only swam a dozen meters before slowing down. His right hand reached forward extremely slowly. Gradually, a layer of ice was forming on the surface of his body.

"Swim, swim!"

Xu Jingming's mental consciousness was still issuing orders, but his body wouldn't move. Xu Jingming could sense the ice layer on his body getting thicker and thicker, and his consciousness was being suppressed by an increasingly stronger force, as if falling into an endless abyss.

Finally, he entered complete darkness.

The figure frozen in the lake also disappeared into thin air.

When he reappeared, Xu Jingming had returned to the starting point of the third planet.

"I was frozen to death?" Xu Jingming felt that the starting point was really warm at that moment. The heat naturally generated by his body could resist the cold.

His mental consciousness was also fully awake.

Before, in the terrible cold, his consciousness became more and more numb and weaker.

"It feels so good to have my consciousness awake and growing." Xu Jingming frowned slightly.

He had passed the first and second planets in the Mysterious Land in one go.

But when he came to the third planet! He failed on his first attempt and was frozen to death in the Land of Extreme Cold.

"To pass the trial of the third planet, one must have sufficient willpower and an extremely strong mental strength." Xu Jingming understood that these were the two key factors to passing the third planet.

Willpower and resilience were characteristics possessed by many experts.

For example, the person who had frozen to death nineteen times and continued to try naturally had strong willpower and resilience.

Xu Jingming was also very persevering. Even in despair and pain, he never gave up until he froze to death.

But...

Having only willpower and resilience wasn't enough.

He also needed an extremely powerful 'mental strength.'

"With sufficient mental strength, even in the face of terrible cold, mental strength can still control the body." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "Obviously, my mental strength is still weak."

He knew that his mental strength wasn't strong.

He had only become a seventh-order star cluster lifeform after a 20x combat power boost.

Obviously, Xu Jingming, who was only 31 years old and had cultivated an evolutionary method for less than two years, was somewhat weak in terms of mental strength.

"Only by reaching the fifth planet will I be qualified to be selected by a force from the Hunter Cosmic Sector." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "And I can't even pass the trial of the third planet for the time being. There's also the more difficult fourth planet trial ahead."

Whoosh.

Xu Jingming temporarily logged off.

******

When faced with a problem, first find the best way to deal with it.

"On the one hand, I have to learn how to dress to better protect myself from the cold." Xu Jingming searched for information on the virtual world network. "I can directly ask the experts in this field to help me create a clothing plan. Using clothing and equipment to reduce the power of the cold."

"On the other hand, I have to strengthen my mental awareness."

"In addition to the usual training and honing methods, I must break through to a 'higher realm of a star cluster lifeform' in reality as soon as possible." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "My body will become much stronger after breaking through from the middle realm to the higher realm of a star cluster lifeform."

"A powerful body and a powerful brain will also strengthen the mental awareness." Xu Jingming thought to himself.

The body and mental awareness complemented each other.

Why was the mental awareness of an eighth-order star cluster lifeform so ridiculously strong? Their ridiculously strong bodies were also a key factor.

After logging off, Xu Jingming went to the underwater base and trained with the gravity chamber and the artificial star.

He maintained a training frequency of about once every three days to ensure a high rate of physical evolution.

"I estimate that my body will reach the higher realm of a star cluster lifeform in about half a month." Xu Jingming finished his training and took his small spaceship back home.

In the courtyard of his residence, Director Zhou was already waiting.

"Director Zhou," Xu Jingming walked out of the spaceship, surprised to see Director Zhou. "You could have just called if you had something to say."

"It's very important."

Director Zhou walked over and said in a low voice, "We received news that a relatively powerful civilization within the Wu Hook Star Alliance: the Black Moon Civilization, has sent a delegation that is expected to arrive at Blue Star on June 2nd."

"A delegation from the Black Moon Civilization?" Xu Jingming's heart tightened. "June 2nd, isn't that just when the civilization protection period ends?"

"Yes."

Director Zhou nodded. "They are making a big splash, even actively releasing the news of their 'visit to Blue Star Civilization.'"

Xu Jingming frowned: "Actively releasing the news?"

"It's to declare to the surrounding areas that Blue Star Civilization is their prey." Director Zhou said in a deep voice.

Xu Jingming's heart tightened: "They're acting so domineering?"

"Our Blue Star Civilization has calculated that the greatest threat we will face after the protection period ends is most likely the Black Moon Civilization." Director Zhou said, "We once hoped that the Black Moon Civilization would not look down on us. But the fact is that the Black Moon Civilization has already sent a delegation."

"Fear and dread are useless, we can only do our best to face it." Director Zhou looked at Xu Jingming. "So we need you to do your part as well."

"At this moment, I can't shirk my responsibility." Xu Jingming nodded. "What do you need me to do?"