Chapter 319: The Beginning of the Journey

After learning about the mysterious place from Tejano, Xu Jingming calmed down and placed greater importance on this opportunity.

Once he joined a regional faction or one of the 17 top factions, he would receive better grooming. On the other hand, he could use these powerful factions to help his weak homeworld.

I have to seize this opportunity, Xu Jingming thought.

…

Earth.

A small spaceship rapidly landed above the clouds and silently entered the depths of the sea.

In the spaceship, Xu Jingming and Director Zhou were standing in the hall, clearly observing the scenery deep in the ocean.

“The gravity chamber and artificial star are installed in a base deep under the sea,” Director Zhou said. “Currently, you’re the only one that needs the gravity chamber and artificial star on Earth. Therefore, you can ride a spaceship over at any time.”

Xu Jingming nodded.

This spaceship was also a gift from Earth.

Of course, this X3 spaceship was only suitable for traveling in the solar system. It took nearly an hour to reach Mars. If he wanted to head to other stellar systems… he wouldn’t reach them before the spaceship was totaled.

For a small spaceship traveling within a stellar system, it was very cheap at 80 million cosmic dollars.

The prices of spaceships that could go beyond stellar systems were ridiculous. Xu Jingming couldn’t afford them with his meager savings.

Whoosh.

When the small spaceship arrived at the bottom of the dark and unfathomable canyon deep under the sea, the lithosphere in the deepest part of the canyon split open, revealing an underground tunnel.

The spaceship flew into the tunnel and entered the underwater base.

The entire underwater base was built for the two luxury evolutionary equipment—the gravity chamber and the artificial star.

“This is the gravity chamber.” Director Zhou led Xu Jingming to a huge building.

The entire building was more than 100 meters tall and had a silver-gray luster.

“It’s Xu Jingming.”

“It’s been so many years. Finally, someone can truly use the gravity chamber,” the base staff in the distance whispered excitedly. They were in charge of maintaining the entire base, but over the years, Earth didn’t have a single Lv. 7 cosmic lifeform.

Just absorbing some sunlight for cultivation was all that was needed. There was no need to use the gravity chamber or artificial stars.

“Xu Jingming, I’m your fan,” a female staff member shouted excitedly.

Xu Jingming smiled and nodded slightly.

As the champion of the first World Tournament in Earth’s virtual world and the world champion of the Cosmos Ranking’s fifth and sixth levels, Xu Jingming was definitely the number one superstar on Earth with countless fans.

“Mr. Xu, feel free to instruct us if you have any requests.” The three people in charge of the underwater base were outside the gravity chamber and welcomed him warmly.

“I’ll be counting on you guys.” Xu Jingming nodded.

As the gravity chamber door opened, Xu Jingming walked in alone.

The others didn’t dare follow. After all, once the gravity rose, entry would spell death for them.

100,000× gravity chamber? Xu Jingming stood in the gravity chamber and looked up to observe it.

“Hello, Xu Jingming. Based on a scan of your body, the gravity you can withstand is 8,000×! I suggest that the gravity be set at 5,600× when you cultivate Heavenly Python Evolution.” A voice echoed in the gravity chamber.

“Adjust it to 5,000× gravity first,” Xu Jingming said.

As it was within the safety range, the gravity chamber naturally didn’t reject his orders and began to adjust.

As the energy circulated, the gravity in the gravity chamber rapidly increased.

“The adjustment is complete. The gravity room’s gravity is 5,000 times that of Earth. The gravity acting on you has also reached 5,000 times from before.” Xu Jingming felt a strong stimulus as the voice echoed.

“Whirr—”

Xu Jingming felt his entire body tingle as every cell in his body was stimulated.

The gravity was terrifying.

After becoming an intermediate cosmic lifeform, he could walk in the snow without leaving a trace, but his actual weight had exceeded a ton! Now that he was under the influence of 5,000× gravity… his body weighed more than 5,000 tonnes.

Cosmic energy circulated in his every cell, relieving the pressure brought about by the immense gravity.

Under such gravity, cultivating the evolutionary method will provide deeper stimulus, and the efficiency will increase. Xu Jingming gave it a try before saying, “Raise it to 6,000× gravity.”

He tried 5,000×, 6,000×, 7,000×, 8,000×.

8,000× was about the limit. Xu Jingming estimated that he could withstand 8,100×, but that was too dangerous!

In the end, he reduced the gravity to 5,600× and seriously practiced Heavenly Python Evolution.

…

After practicing in the gravity chamber for half an hour, he was exhausted. He was drenched in sweat, and his face was a little pale.

When he walked out of the gravity chamber, he realized how ‘friendly’ Earth’s normal gravity was.

“Wow.”

After walking out of the gravity chamber, the cosmic energy in his body quickly restored his body, and his condition kept improving.

“How do you feel?” Director Zhou asked.

“Cultivating in the gravity chamber is indeed different.” Xu Jingming sighed. “Let’s take a look at the artificial star.”

Soon, he arrived at the artificial star’s building.

In the huge building, a black sphere with a diameter of 34 centimeters floated in the air.

“Begin from R1 and gradually raise the energy level of the artificial star.” Xu Jingming took off his coat and sat cross-legged in the middle.

Buzz!

As the energy circulated, the black sphere immediately began to turn scorching and dazzling. It couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, and intense light shot in every direction! After being refracted by the entire building, the rays finally gathered in the spot where Xu Jingming was sitting cross-legged.

All the rays of light gathered on his body.

Whirr—

Xu Jingming felt his hungry body devour everything that came its way. Ever since I became an intermediate cosmic lifeform, I’ve never had such a good time absorbing.

The energy level of the artificial star was still slowly rising.

Xu Jingming felt more and more comfortable, but gradually, he began to find the ‘light’ hot! The surface of his body began to turn black from the heat.

“Warning: Xu Jingming, your body has begun to suffer damage. It’s not suitable for you to raise the energy level of the artificial star any further.” The AI voice echoed in the building. “According to the calculations, the most suitable energy level for you is R27.”

“Lower it to R27,” Xu Jingming said.

The energy produced by the artificial star obviously began to decrease. After a drop, it maintained that intensity.

Xu Jingming’s body absorbed as much as it wanted. After absorbing for about 20 minutes, he felt that his body was ‘full.’

“Stop,” he said and got up.

Buzz!

The artificial star’s light quickly decreased and returned to its original black sphere.

I’ll first use the gravity chamber to cultivate the evolutionary method at a deeper level before using the artificial star to provide my body with maximum energy absorption. Xu Jingming was very excited. My body’s evolution speed is dozens of times faster than usual.

******

The virtual world could raise the body to the limits of the evolutionary method with a single tap. In reality, he had to improve one step at a time! It wasn’t easy to catch up to the virtual world’s progress.

The 100,000× gravity chamber and the R9 artificial star… will be enough before I reach Lv. 8. Xu Jingming also made the best use of his time and tried his best to improve himself before the journey to the mysterious land began.

In the blink of an eye, it was late at night on April 20.

In the bedroom.

His daughter—Xu Lixing—was lying on the bed, but such a girl occupied more than half the bed. Li Miaomiao sat to the side.

“Miaomiao.” Xu Jingming sat to the side. “This trip to the mysterious land is very important. I might only log off once in a relatively long time!”

“Everything is fine at home. You don’t have to worry,” Li Miaomiao replied. From their usual conversations, Li Miaomiao knew very well… Ever since her husband became a cosmic citizen, he had been working hard for this opportunity in the mysterious land.

Xu Jingming nodded. “If there’s anything urgent, you can contact me through the virtual world. The virtual mainframe on Earth will also send a message.”

Li Miaomiao used a VR headset and was on Earth’s virtual world! Logically speaking, she couldn’t connect to the virtual world network. Even if she wanted to send a message, she had to connect to Earth’s virtual mainframe.

As for Xu Jingming… he could enter Earth’s virtual world at any time.

After chatting with his wife for a while and looking at his sleeping daughter, he gently pinched his daughter’s chubby face before leaving the bedroom.

Li Miaomiao watched him enter the VR chamber, and the door closed.

I hope everything goes well for Jingming, she thought to herself. As her husband became more outstanding, the responsibilities he shouldered increased.

…

In the virtual world.

Xu Jingming tapped gently and entered Blood Rain World.

The moment he entered Blood Rain World, he arrived at the spaceship in the mysterious land! It was also where he went offline last time.

Seven days have passed, and my evolutionary method has pushed me to an advanced cosmic lifeform. All aspects have improved a little. Everything is in place. Xu Jingming appeared in a corner of the spaceship’s hall.

At this moment, many cosmic citizens from the Star Alliances in the Hunter Cosmic Sector were gathered in the spaceship hall.

Whoosh!!! 

There was an endless stream of people coming online.

Xu Jingming leaned against the wall and waited patiently.

“Citizens of the Hunter Cosmic Sector.” An ethereal figure appeared in the sky and looked at the tens of thousands of people below. “Every one of you has sacrificed 10,000 gold to have a chance to enter the mysterious land. This is also the only chance you have to explore the mysterious land in your lives.”

“It’s time. The journey to the mysterious land shall officially begin,” the illusory figure said.

Xu Jingming noticed through the ship’s window in the distance that the ship had taken off! As it quickly left the ground, the scene began to blur and distort.

Whoosh!

When the scene outside the ship became clear again, he saw a rundown planet in the distance through the window. From afar, this star looked like it had been cleaved and was incomplete.

The ship was very fast, and it quickly arrived above the rundown planet and began its descent.

This planet seems to have experienced an interstellar war and has been blasted to pieces. Xu Jingming looked down from above through the transparent ship wall and could see a mountain that had been blasted to pieces.

There were many craters in the ground. The craters were extremely obvious from the sky, and they were probably at least 100 kilometers in diameter.

“Everyone, get ready to disembark the spaceship,” the illusory figure ordered.

After the spaceship stopped, the huge cabin door opened, and Xu Jingming walked out with the other tens of thousands of cosmic citizens.

“The newcomers are here.”

“Another batch.”

On this rundown planet, people also watched the newcomers arrive from afar.

Xu Jingming and the others—who numbered in the tens of thousands—gathered. They also noticed others in the distance.

“Every 110 days, a batch of cosmic citizens will arrive on the mysterious land.” The illusory figure appeared in the sky. “As you can see, the humans in the distance were in the previous batch. They haven’t been able to pass the first planet’s test and have remained trapped here.”

Xu Jingming listened.

He knew from Tejano that everyone could stay in the mysterious land for a maximum of 330 days, and a batch was sent in every 110 days! This meant that about three batches of cosmic citizens could be in the mysterious land at the same time.

Those who couldn’t even pass the first planet’s test could only search for opportunities on this planet. Xu Jingming sighed inwardly.

…

“A new batch is here.”

“A total of 58,920 people.”

There was also a hidden observation space in the mysterious land. The observation space was divided into two levels.

The upper level was reserved for the 17 top human factions in the universe.

The lower level was reserved for the 352 factions that belonged to the Hunter Cosmic Sector. They kept to themselves and didn’t interfere with each other. They were observing and collecting information on these cosmic citizen ‘explorers.’

“I wonder how many of these 58,920 people will reach Planet Number Seven.” On the upper level of the observatory space, the observers from the 17 top factions were very relaxed.

The observation system would automatically monitor everything. Only the cosmic citizen geniuses who arrived on the seventh planet were worthy of them carrying out a deeper study.