After confirming the five mental tempering methods, Xu Jingming naturally began his attempts.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed.
On the virtual world network, in the highest building in Pearwood World.
Xu Jingming wore a black robe and sat on a chair with his legs crossed. He leisurely tapped his fingers on the armrest and looked down at the vast Pearwood World where countless figures flew around.
The Pearwood Group had a huge number of employees. Compared to Earth's headquarters in reality, the virtual world's Pearwood World was the most important location.
Knock, knock, knock.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Xu Jingming said.
Li Miaomiao and Xu Lixing—the Pearwood Group's first and second executives—walked in side by side. The mother and daughter immediately saw a black-robed figure sitting with his back facing them.
As his back was facing them, the two of them felt Xu Jingming's change even more. The sitting figure naturally had a supercilious coldness.
The mother and daughter looked at each other. They had always been very worried about Xu Jingming's condition.
Whoosh.
Xu Jingming sat in his chair and turned 180 degrees as he smiled at his wife and daughter.
The mother and daughter could sense Xu Jingming's strong feelings for them from his smile and eyes.
"You left me the largest office on the top floor?" Xu Jingming smiled. "Having experienced it today, I must say the scenery overlooking Pearwood World isn't bad."
"Dad, didn't you always contact us directly? Why did you specially come to Pearwood World?" Xu Lixing walked over affectionately before massaging her father's shoulders.
Xu Jingming enjoyed his daughter's shoulder massage and said, "I naturally have something very important to do at the Pearwood Group."
"Jingming, what's the matter?" Li Miaomiao asked.
"I'll transfer ten quadrillion cosmic dollars to the Pearwood Group," Xu Jingming said. "I only have one request—expand the territory of Earth's civilization from three galaxies to ten galaxies in ten years."
"Expand to ten galaxies?" Li Miaomiao and Xu Lixing were alarmed.
Xu Lixing thought for a moment and nodded. "The Oohook Star Alliance is big enough. If we really want to find one, we can still find seven more galaxies. Even if we buy them at a premium, 1,000 trillion cosmic dollars per galaxy will do. Seven galaxies… won't cost ten quadrillion cosmic dollars."
"No." Xu Jingming shook his head. "I don't want those remote galaxies. What I need are seven galaxies that are close enough to Earth's current three galaxies."
"Close?" Li Miaomiao couldn't help but say, "Jingming, it's not easy to buy galaxies close to us. Some galaxies' civilizations… have a penchant for their hometowns. Even if the premium is doubled, those civilizations aren't willing to relocate."
"Since the other party isn't willing to relocate, we can't force them," Li Miaomiao said. "After all, it's very easy to force three to five weak civilizations. It'll be very troublesome to force a large number of civilizations."
"Very troublesome?" Xu Jingming smiled. "What's the trouble?"
"After all, we have to follow the Cosmic Human Alliance's rules," Li Miaomiao explained. "Back when Earth could occupy the entire Milky Way, it was the Oohook Star Alliance that came forward to coordinate. Now, we have to occupy seven galaxies in a short period of time?"
"If the Oohook Star Alliance can coordinate, so can I," Xu Jingming remarked with a smile. "Why? Is my influence not as great as the Oohook Star Alliance's?"
Li Miaomiao and Xu Lixing were stunned.
"Confirm the list of seven galaxies. It has to be in the neighborhood of Earth's civilization," Xu Jingming said. "After confirming the list, I'll write a letter personally to all the civilizations in the seven galaxies."
"I believe they will be very reasonable when they receive my letter," Xu Jingming said with a smile.
"Wh—" The mother and daughter hesitated.
How could they not be reasonable? A weak civilization would probably tremble when they received Xu Jingming's handwritten letter.
"Dad, you taught me from a young age not to bully the weak," Xu Lixing couldn't help but say. "Our Pearwood Group does things upright and seeks a win-win outcome. We can't bully the weak."
"Bully the weak? Did we?" Xu Jingming looked at his daughter in confusion. "If I wanted to bully the weak, would I have to fork out ten quadrillion cosmic dollars? Daughter, have you forgotten? The Black Moon civilization targeted Earth's mineral resources back then and sent troops over. They didn't send any money!"
His daughter was stunned.
"There are a large number of species in this universe," Xu Jingming said leisurely. "The strong prey on the weak among the species, and the strong devour the weak! What do you mean by bullying the weak? Like the Hellions, they have slaughtered countless planets. For example, the Void Celestials once destroyed the entire human domain and plunged it into the dark ages… That's bullying the weak!"
"According to the cruelest rules of survival, weakness represents death."
Xu Jingming gazed at his wife and daughter. "As for me, I'm doing things according to the Cosmic Human Alliance's rules. Within the cosmic human race, civilizations abide by the mantra survival of the fittest. The stronger a civilization is, the stronger it will be with more talents. The more corrupt and decadent a civilization is, the fewer talents it will have, so it will naturally be weaker. This has long been decided by the three Paramounts."
"Earth's civilization deserves to grow stronger with me, Xu Jingming!"
"The surrounding civilizations are weak and aren't worthy of occupying such galactic territories."
"Would they dare resist if I insisted on a 30-50% discount?" Xu Jingming shook his head. "Doubling the premium is already very benevolent."
Xu Jingming glanced at his wife and daughter. "Earth's civilization has to expand and strengthen, so it naturally has to be ruthless. If I'm not ruthless while I'm alive and make Earth's civilization strong enough, who knows when Earth will produce another Lv. 10 Origin lifeform after my death!"
"Dad, you won't die," Xu Lixing said.
"Death is a natural outcome if one doesn't become a high-dimensional lifeform," Xu Jingming said coldly. "As for the test subjects corrupted by the Void Celestials, no one in the entire history of the universe has been able to become a high-dimensional lifeform. My chances of success aren't high."
Li Miaomiao and Xu Lixing were stunned.
"Therefore, I have to plan for Earth's civilization," Xu Jingming continued. "Any civilization in the human race has to expand and become stronger as much as possible when powerhouses appear."
"Earth's civilization needs a large galactic territory and a large-enough population! Only with a huge population can more scholars and Origin lifeforms be born. Only then can Earth's civilization's strength be everlasting." Xu Jingming looked at his wife and daughter. "For the sake of civilization, don't be too soft-hearted. We are already doubling the premium."
"Dad, I understand." Xu Lixing nodded.
"Mmm."
Xu Jingming suddenly frowned, and his figure distorted and turned illusory.
"Jingming," Li Miaomiao shouted.
The distorted and illusory figure quickly condensed again. Xu Jingming forcefully stabilized his conscious body and looked at his wife and daughter. "It's fine. Confirm the seven galaxies in ten days."
"Alright." Li Miaomiao and Xu Lixing nodded.
"I'll make a move first." Xu Jingming didn't say anything else and disappeared.
"Dad's situation doesn't look good." Xu Lixing was a little worried.
"High-dimensional corruption from the Void Celestials…" Li Miaomiao also said worriedly, "Jingming probably knows that his situation is terrible, so he's in a hurry to help our civilization as much as possible."
…
In reality, on another planet where space pirates lived.
No space pirate felt that something was amiss with Xu Jingming living here. In fact, when they checked the database, there was indeed a space pirate named Wu. After all, Nine had taken over the entire planet's intelligence system.
I can't practice the Dark Primordial Star Spear Art anymore. Xu Jingming held a wine flask and took a sip of Ice Wine. The power of ice spread throughout his body and suppressed the chaos in his mind.
Of the five tempering methods, the other four are still being tried, but the backlash from the Dark Primordial Star Spear Art is too intense. It's only been three months, and impurities have begun to appear in my mind. Xu Jingming realized the problem.
Back then, he refined all the impurities and purified his mind to build a foundation. However, the Dark Primordial Star Spear Art caused impurities to appear in his mind again.
From His figure, I can confirm that Abyssal Void does encompass everything. My spearmanship should theoretically be able to tolerate everything, so it naturally can accommodate the Dark Primordial Star.
However… My spearmanship path has only established a foundation, so I have relatively weak accumulation. As for the Dark Primordial Star, I've cultivated for more than 300 years and have accumulated too much. Using weak accumulations to accommodate the deep accumulations naturally makes me top-heavy. All kinds of problems arise as a result.
I'll temporarily suspend the Dark Primordial Star Spear Art. Xu Jingming made a decision.
He knew that spearmanship encompassed everything. This path was the right one, but it was clearly not the right time to cultivate. He could only give up.
The other four paths.
Static Visualization, Abyssal Void Spear Art, and Dynamic Visualization. These three methods are helpful. There's no backlash for the time being, so I can continue, Xu Jingming thought.
This was within his expectations. This was because visualization was very common in the various evolutionary systems.
The Primordial Star lineage visualized the Primordial Star.
The Abyss lineage visualized the Abyss.
The Void Celestials, Frosts, and other species all had visualization methods.
When visualizing a high-dimensional concept, a high-dimensional concept affected a low-dimensional concept… This was a smooth path. Xu Jingming's visualization method definitely wasn't as good as the visualization method in the complete legacy left behind by Master of the Abyssal Void, but it was indeed beneficial.
The only thing that has pleasantly surprised me is… the imitation method! Xu Jingming smiled.
Yes, five methods.
The Dark Primordial Star Spear Art failed. Although the other three methods were effective, the improvement was very slow—it was even weaker than when Xu Jingming visualized the Primordial Star.
Only the imitation method improved the most!
"Imitate the Master of the Abyssal Void."
The more realistic the imitation, the stronger the resonance when visualizing His figure, and I can obtain more high-dimensional information, Xu Jingming thought. The Dark Primordial Star Spear Art is harmful, and it makes me regress. If the improvement speed of visualization for the other three methods is 1, the improvement speed of the imitation method is 100!
After three months of imitation, I gradually understand the method of imitation. Imitation of His appearance is only the most superficial. The key is to imitate the Master of the Abyssal Void's inner self! Imitation of his personality, beliefs, and feelings…
Of course, as a weak low-dimensional lifeform, I can't accurately sense His personality, beliefs, feelings at a deeper level. I can only imitate Him from some superficial information I've perceived.
After three months of imitation, Xu Jingming vaguely understood some of Master of the Abyssal Void's style.
The Master of the Abyssal Void transcends everything; he's unwilling to owe any karma.
At my current realm, I can't resolve all karma. Then, I have to sort out my karma. Repay kindness with kindness, and exact vengeance!
After Xu Jingming imitated Master of the Abyssal Void, he looked at himself. What I care about the most are my family, followed by Earth. I've taken good care of my family, but Earth… I haven't helped it enough. With my strength, Earth should have a territory spanning ten galaxies.
Xu Jingming's feelings for his homeworld penetrated his soul!
Helping Earth's civilization expand its territory was the first thing Xu Jingming did after he started imitating and sorting through his karma.
