Chapter 196 - 164: Obtaining the Cosmic Four Source Attraction

Chapter 196: Chapter 164: Obtaining the Cosmic Four Source Attraction

The giant elemental core radiated a brilliant light. The sheer volume of pure elemental energy stored within it left even Zhang Ji slightly stunned.

This was the only (Legendary)-grade treasure native to Origin Star.

Its existence was the result of more than a hundred thousand years of accumulation.

Whether it was converted into a power core or crafted into countless Alchemy Potions to enhance one’s attributes, it had many excellent uses.

As for Zhang Ji, he planned to integrate it into his fighting style, turning it into a combat crystal.

Theoretically, it was feasible.

It was similar to the supplements he took during training. As long as a technique recognized by his system’s limits was integrated, the enhancements from those supplements could properly form a combat crystal and be absorbed.

But that was a task for later. For now, he hadn’t even collected a full set of (Epic)-grade skill crystals for the Four Elements school. It was still too soon to think about turning this (Legendary)-grade treasure into a combat crystal.

The priority now was to read and record the vast amount of information stored inside it.

Zhang Ji’s Spirit particles probed the elemental core, and a fragmented, unstructured, yet immense stream of information flowed back to him.

Most of it was the history of this place, detailing its slow evolution over more than a hundred thousand years.

It had witnessed the formation of this world.

Bit by bit, the process of the Four Elements converging to form a world unfolded before Zhang Ji’s eyes, revealing every minute, gradual detail of its transformation.

The information seemed to be rapidly dissipating, fading away.

This made Zhang Ji realize something.

Without hesitation, he opened a portal near the Ship of Hope’s Bodhi Tree, allowing the Bodhi Aura to spread through.

Instantly, Zhang Ji entered a state of epiphany.

He perused and absorbed the vast, complex information in its entirety.

He was observing the process of a world’s formation.

This was what happened after using the [Cosmic Four Source Attraction], and it was exactly what that S-rank fighter of the past had envisioned.

His path was, in fact, the correct one.

He had just overlooked certain details.

Much like how the Big Bang gave birth to the universe, once earth, water, fire, and wind were compressed to their absolute limit to form Chaos, there was an explosive release.

This process would destroy everything.

Only after destruction could rebirth begin.

This process of rebirth was also incredibly long. It took more than a thousand years, more than ten thousand, lasting for over a hundred thousand years—and even that was just the beginning.

The current Ruins Realm was merely in its embryonic form.

It was still evolving, and would continue to do so until it naturally gave birth to its own rules.

Zhang Ji witnessed all of this. Countless inspirations burst forth, and even with his current mental fortitude, he felt his mind was starting to overclock.

However, Zhang Ji didn’t try to think about it more deeply. He simply held on to this inspiration for the time being.

It wasn’t yet time to turn this inspiration into a skill.

After all, with his current level of strength, even if he did turn it into a skill, he wouldn’t be able to fully master it in a short period.

His current realm was too low, and any concepts he had about higher realms were bound to be based on assumptions. The resulting framework he would create would likely be imperfect.

In any case, the foundational insights had been stored away. He would surely make them bloom and bear fruit later on.

After sifting through all that information, Zhang Ji found the details on the [Cosmic Four Source Attraction] combat skill.

It was well-preserved, and even contained a portion of the creator’s memories and personality.

’Delator? So that was his name?’

Only now did Zhang Ji learn the name of the S-rank fighter who created [Cosmic Four Source Attraction].

His name was Delator.

Back when he played the game, the official lore never gave a background story, so Zhang Ji only knew that its creator was an S-rank fighter from Origin Star.

According to the memories Zhang Ji obtained, Delator had wanted to open up a space within his body—in other words, a miniature world.

That was why he created [Cosmic Four Source Attraction].

But in the end, he failed.

He got himself killed.

Come to think of it, the Child Venerable’s *Buddha’s Inner Scenery Sutra* was also about creating a world within one’s body.

However, the "inner scenery" was a space of spiritual energy, whereas [Cosmic Four Source Attraction] was intended to create a physical world.

There was quite a difference in difficulty between the two.

Of course, that wasn’t to say the *Buddha’s Inner Scenery Sutra* was inferior.

In Zhang Ji’s opinion, [Cosmic Four Source Attraction] was merely the prototype for a method to create a physical miniature world, while the *Buddha’s Inner Scenery Sutra* was already a complete and refined technique.

Overall, the latter was a far more complete work than the former, leagues ahead in its refinement.

All he could say was that Delator had been truly reckless.

When creating a new technique, you’re supposed to deliberate on it repeatedly, run careful simulations, and only try it on yourself after you’re absolutely certain it’s foolproof.

With his attitude of just trying it on himself as soon as he thought it was ’good enough,’ he was bound to get himself killed, no matter how talented he was.

When Zhang Ji had first tried creating his own techniques, his meridians had ruptured multiple times. He’d stopped messing around blindly after that. Anything involving excessive data calculation, he just offloaded to his AI.

After a moment of reflection, Zhang Ji stored the elemental core inside the Ship of Hope.

Then, as was his custom, he flew a short distance away and bowed respectfully to the giant lotus flower.

Regardless of the circumstances, he had received the grace of this technique being passed down to him.

-----------------

「Celestial Essence Realm.」

After being gone for a month, Zhang Ji had returned.

The Star Sand he had taken with him had now all been turned into weapon blanks.

The eighteenth level of the Abyss of Eternity, the [Burial Ruins Abyss].

Inside the Jade Instrument Grotto-Heaven.

Zhang Ji took out all thirty-thousand-odd Spirit-Suppressing Needles and laid them out on the ground.

A smile appeared on Ling Xuzi’s face.

"Brother Zhang, you truly are efficient. With this, we are one step closer to our grand cause," Ling Xuzi said.

"When I go back next, give me the rest of the Star Sand. You don’t have the necessary equipment here; it’s too much trouble for you to manufacture them," Zhang Ji said.

"Then we’ll have to trouble you," Ling Xuzi said.

"We have conditions," Zhang Ji said. "After I returned this time, I requested instructions from the Saint Kings and received their authorization. We also need Spirit Stones. The Ascetic Order will need to provide us with a batch of Spirit Stones up front. And once the Ascetic Order takes power, we want thirty percent of the mining rights to all Spirit Ores."

"The Ascetic Order isn’t exactly wealthy at the moment. How about this... once the Ascetic Order takes power, we would be willing to give you forty percent of the Spirit Vein mining rights in exchange..." Ling Xuzi said.

Zhang Ji glanced at him. ’Leave it to Ling Xuzi to propose getting something for nothing.’

"Don’t worry, we won’t ask for too much. For now, we just need a batch for experiments. A million pounds of Low Grade Spirit Stones should be enough," Zhang Ji said.

The physical laws in the Celestial Essence Realm were actually a bit different from those on Origin Star. For one, the gravity was slightly higher.

This million pounds would only weigh about nine hundred and thirty thousand pounds back on Origin Star.

Still, it was a considerable amount.

"Right now, we can only give you five hundred thousand pounds..." Ling Xuzi said, deliberating.

"I need at least nine hundred thousand pounds. Otherwise, how am I supposed to justify this when I get back? I’ve estimated the scale of your Spirit Veins. No matter how poor the Jade Instrument Grotto-Heaven is, you should have at least that much," Zhang Ji haggled.

"My good brother, you have to consider the Ascetic Order’s current situation. We have so many mouths to feed, so many people who need to cultivate, and all those Spiritual Instruments to maintain..."

When the topic turned to Spirit Stones, Ling Xuzi became surprisingly stingy, which just went to show how precious Spiritual Qi resources had become in this world.

Zhang Ji haggled back and forth with him before finally settling on a sum of seven hundred thousand pounds of Low Grade Spirit Stones.

The amount of Spiritual Qi stored in a Low Grade Spirit Stone wasn’t much. A cultivator in the Early-stage Qi Cultivation Realm could easily burn through more than ten standard-unit Low Grade Spirit Stones in a single day of practice.

In the Celestial Essence Realm’s current currency, that was equivalent to over ten Level 1 Spirit Coins.

Comparatively, however, the purified and compressed Spiritual Qi inside Spirit Coins was easier to absorb and utilize.

This batch of resources laid the initial foundation for their cooperation.

’As for the so-called Spirit Ore mining rights after the Ascetic Order took power in the future?’

’That was a joke.’

Ling Xuzi wasn’t taking it seriously, and Zhang Ji certainly wasn’t either.

It was just something said for the sake of saying it.

’It was like promising to give your buddy two million after winning a five-million-dollar lottery, but you haven’t even bought a ticket yet. What the hell are you even talking about?’

’Just making empty promises.’

Zhang Ji didn’t plan to linger in the Celestial Essence Realm for long. He was ready to take the Spirit Stones and Star Sand, return to Origin Star, and quickly manufacture the remaining Spirit-Suppressing Needles to accelerate the Ascetic Order’s plans to stir up trouble.

While he was there, he also went online to check on the situation in the Floating City.

Most of the Ascetic Order’s members in the Floating City were now being purged by the Celestial Dao Alliance.

It was a complete bloodbath.

The Celestial Dao Alliance was taking it ridiculously seriously, even more so than Zhang Ji remembered.

He suspected it might be a butterfly effect he had caused.

’But all I did was snatch an extra egg and steal a little ambrosia. Was this reaction really necessary?’

With a flicker of his will, Zhang Ji used his Consciousness Communicator to connect to the Void Illusion Realm.

At their usual spot, Zhang Ji found Taiyi-Zero, who had taken the form of a strange Spirit Beast.

"You’re back so soon? Is world-hopping that easy?" Taiyi-Zero asked, sizing Zhang Ji up.

"Forget about that. I’m more curious if you’re okay on your end," Zhang Ji said.

"They didn’t trace it back to me," Taiyi-Zero said. "You, on the other hand, seem to have been noticed."

"Me?" Zhang Ji asked, confused.

"Your identity as an otherworldly Celestial Demon has been exposed," Taiyi-Zero said. "The Celestial Dao Alliance is now searching everywhere for otherworldly Celestial Demons. It’s a huge deal."

"No wonder..."

Zhang Ji had a flash of insight. No wonder the Celestial Dao Alliance’s purge of the Ascetic Order was so ruthless. The Ascetic Order was just collateral damage; their main goal was to eliminate the otherworldly Celestial Demon.

Unfortunately for them, the only invading otherworldly Celestial Demon at the moment was Zhang Ji.

It wasn’t that Zhang Ji hadn’t considered bringing a few people over to get things started, but the current situation wasn’t suitable. It was much easier for him to operate alone.

Once he had established a firm foothold, it would be more appropriate to set up a base and expand from there.

"Let me ask you something. Do you know about the Starship?" Zhang Ji asked Taiyi-Zero.

"Huh? The Starship? Isn’t that in the museum... wait, why was it replaced with a fake model? When did that happen? Where did the real one go?" Taiyi-Zero’s expression shifted. It paused for two full breaths before suddenly saying, "You know about this too? Don’t tell me you have the power of rebirth, do you?"

"Just assume I can be infinitely reborn and return to the timeline. Has the Starship been repaired yet?"

Dark lines formed on Zhang Ji’s forehead. He was speechless at Taiyi-Zero’s erratic train of thought, but at the same time, he was impressed by its abilities.

Still, he wasn’t surprised. He had revealed too much information, and his attitude of knowing the future was too obvious. Taiyi-Zero was no ordinary being; it was perfectly normal for it to pick up on something like that.

"They’ve only just started the repairs. Gathering the materials alone will take a long time. I estimate it won’t be operational for at least three years, so you don’t need to worry," Taiyi-Zero explained, then looked at Zhang Ji and continued, "You can’t be infinitely reborn and return to the timeline. That sort of thing doesn’t exist. It would be equivalent to rebooting the world an infinite number of times. Even on a small scale, the causal repercussions would be immense. If you had that ability, why would you even need to cooperate with me? At most, you have some kind of computational tool for divining fate, and it must have a lot of restrictions, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking me about such a trivial matter..."

"Right, right, you’re absolutely right. Care for a game?" Zhang Ji asked, pulling a deck of cards out of thin air.

"You can’t win even with your Bodhi Tree," Taiyi-Zero declared. "Prepare to beg for mercy!"