Xu Jingming stared in surprise at the flicker of Cleansing Lotus Fire dancing on his fingertip. I'm a low-dimensional being, so the Heart Realm Force I can control… is nowhere near as powerful as a high-dimensional being. And cultivating Cleansing Lotus Fire is harder for me. Who would've thought I'd break through to the second level so easily?
For 500 years, he had been stuck at the first level of the Cleansing Lotus Fire with the Heart of Cleansing Lotus and the Sin Flower. But shortly after he started using the Eight Directions Map, he had reached the second level!
To high-dimensional beings of the Heart Realm lineage, the second level of Cleansing Lotus Fire was nothing. They could harness Heart Realm Force that was infinitely more powerful, and they could probably easily push Cleansing Lotus Fire to the fifth or sixth level.
But for Xu Jingming, a low-dimensional being, reaching the second level was an impressive accomplishment.
I wonder when I can break through and become a high-dimensional lifeform, Xu Jingming thought.
Most of his focus was on constructing a high-dimensional body, but so far, he had made little progress.
I'm prepared to spend 10,000 years to make the breakthrough, Xu Jingming thought. The dean had told him that it would take around 10,000 years, but it was more to prepare him mentally and prevent anxiety.
Going from low-dimensional to high-dimensional couldn't be rushed. The more anxious a person was, the more mistakes they were likely to make.
The structure of high-dimensional beings was complex, with countless nodes. If one node was off, the entire composition would be wrong.
And sometimes, mistakes were hard to spot. It wasn't uncommon for people to have to start over from scratch.
Even Redmond had failed many times before ultimately succeeding. He even hit a bottleneck and decided to get married and have a child to relax his body and mind. He succeeded only when he was inspired by the cosmic fruit.
Xu Jingming was still gaining experience and hadn't started constructing his first high-dimensional body yet.
…
Heart Realm, the territory of Xu Jingming.
With a flip of the page, Xu Jingming delved deeper into the Eight Directions Map.
Boom! Boom!
In the book world, his clone formed from Heart Realm Force had already arrived in the second space of the eight spaces. This space naturally influenced Xu Jingming's emotions and memories.
Here, he relived some of the 'memories' of the past 2,000 years.
Shock, panic, worry, ponderance, and sorrow.
It's magical. Having reached the Heart of Cleansing Lotus, Xu Jingming could fully withstand the impact of these emotions. He was only surprised by the wonders of the Eight Directions Map book world.
It aided in his cultivation and actively analyzed and classified the various emotions Xu Jingming had experienced since birth.
Xu Jingming had never delved so deeply into his emotions before.
With joy and anger as the foundation and the other five emotions to sustain him, he aimed to master the seven-colored secret technique. Only then would he be considered to have completed the second level.
Xu Jingming began to try.
Although the book helped him completely analyze his emotions, the second level required the combination of seven emotions to master the seven-colored technique, making it much harder than the first level.
The Eight Directions Map's first level is the Joy and Anger realm, and the second realm is the Seven-Colored realm. Xu Jingming kept trying.
******
Home universe, Primordial Research Institute headquarters.
Xu Jingming sat cross-legged, staring at the black flower bud floating in front of him. Two petals had bloomed, each containing unimaginable endless sins.
As his mind slowly improved, Xu Jingming found it much easier to deal with the sins.
Suddenly, a voice interrupted his thoughts. "Deputy Dean Wu Ming."
"Speak," Xu Jingming replied, continuing to focus on condensing Cleansing Lotus Fire.
"Us humans have recently suffered consecutive losses on the Void Celestial battlefield. 92 Origin lifeforms from our Primordial Research Institute have died in battle, and 31 of them are at Lv. 10 and 61 at Lv. 9," Secretary General Blacksky informed him.
Xu Jingming listened intently.
"Lv. 10s will definitely enter the revival list. As for Lv. 9s, 30 of them have contributed enough to be revived. The key now is… that 31 of them lack the credits needed to be resurrected," Blacksky continued. "Deputy Dean Wu Ming, you will need to sign and approve the revival of these 31 individuals."
Xu Jingming nodded. "Send me information on the 31 of them. I'll review it."
"Yes, sir," Blacksky replied.
Soon, the information was sent to Xu Jingming.
As he continued condensing Cleansing Lotus Fire, he created a new clone to review the detailed information on the floating projection.
Should I revive the 31 people? Xu Jingming frowned slightly.
Deputy Dean Redmond had already ventured into the high-dimensional space's Myriad Star Island, leaving Xu Jingming—the acting dean of the Primordial Research Institute—in charge.
Normally, Secretary General Blacksky handled all matters and was supervised by the virtual world. Only certain special cases required Xu Jingming's personal review and approval.
Xu Jingming was already the strongest human aside from the high-dimensional lifeforms.
He knew that 11 of these 31 people were prepared to die and had no plans of reviving. They were old and close to the end of their lives, having exchanged credit and left wealth and treasures for their families. They had headed to the battlefield with the intention of dying on it and attempting to break through to Lv. 10.
This was a common thought among many old Origin lifeforms—to risk their lives on the battlefield in hopes of either dying or reaching Lv. 10.
But, as Xu Jingming knew, most of them lost their lives in the end, with only a few managing to break through.
Since they don't plan on reviving themselves, forget it. Xu Jingming swiped gently. There was no need to revive the 11 elderly Lv. 9 Origin lifeforms.
Three old people who have accumulated quite a bit of credit can owe the credit needed for revival. Xu Jingming gave a gentle nod.
But the 17 young Lv. 9 Origin lifeforms would all be revived, although they would be in debt.
Xu Jingming was benevolent and believed that these young Lv. 9s yearned to live and that their civilizations and families wanted them alive.
He signed his name, finalizing the revival list.
From the perspective of high-dimensional lifeforms, species conflicts and war were unavoidable and even beneficial for the evolution and growth of Origin lifeforms. But from the perspective of a weak lifeform, every time they were affected, it was a catastrophe.
Xu Jingming sighed.
He had once been stationed on the Hellion battlefield and had seen too many habitable planets wiped out. He knew that even if he could one day restrain all of humanity, he couldn't restrain the Void Celestials, Hellions, and other species. If they attacked, humans would have to fight back.
The day he had the strength to reign supreme in his home universe was the day he could ensure the peace of the human race.
Peace was too precious.
Whoosh.
Xu Jingming's clone dealing with administrative matters dissipated, but he still felt the weight of sin and condensed the Cleansing Lotus Fire.
…
In Xu Jingming's virtual world, four cosmic legends descended upon his personal space.
"Please, take a seat," he greeted them, personally pouring wine for each of them.
"Deputy Dean Wu Ming," the thin, gray-robed elder Lan Zhu spoke gravely. "We've come because the situation on the battlefield is dire. The four of us are not confident in successfully defending it."
Xu Jingming was taken aback. "Even when the four of you join forces?"
"Compared to Senior Brother Lan Zhu, Senior Brother Kutoto, and Senior Brother Sherwood, my knowledge is still relatively shallow," the youngest of the group, Primordial One, admitted. "I can't help much."
Xu Jingming's frown deepened. "Has the situation escalated that badly?"
"Yes," Sherwood, a white-haired youth, nodded. "The Void Celestials have increased their offensive strength on the battlefield, and human losses have been heavy. Cosmic legends like us are being called upon to intervene, but that has only brought in the Void Celestial cosmic legends. We had the advantage at first, but they were recently reinforced with two cosmic legends. We can't hold them back."
"We're still inferior to those at the top," the slightly plump elder Kutoto added.
Xu Jingming fell into thought.
Of these four people… Primordial One was the weakest, and the elderly Kutoto was the strongest.
The Void Celestials' weapons, treasures, and legacies far surpassed humanity's. The cosmic legends of the Void Celestials also held the upper hand, and that wasn't even taking into account the cultivators of the five legacies.
"Deputy Dean Redmond used to be our go-to in emergency situations. But now that he's become a high-dimensional lifeform and headed for high-dimensional space, we're turning to you, Deputy Dean Wu Ming," Lan Zhu said.
"Alright." Xu Jingming nodded.
He had harnessed the power of the Heart Realm and wasn't intimidated by any cosmic legends. Plus, he had reached the second level of Cleansing Lotus Fire.
"You handle it as you normally would," he said. "If you need backup, just call out to me. I'll come down to help you in a critical moment."
Sherwood looked at him in shock. "Call out to you?"
"You could also shout at the enemy." Xu Jingming smiled. "That's all you need to do. I'll sense it and come to your aid."
The four of them knew how powerful Wu Ming was, but they couldn't help but be amazed by his abilities.
The number one cosmic legend of the human race, perhaps the most talented cosmic legend in history, was truly incomparable to ordinary cosmic legends.
"But what if the Void Celestials set a trap for you?" Lan Zhu asked. "Should we still summon you?"
"Don't worry about traps," Xu Jingming said. "I'll only come down with a clone. Even if it's wiped out, it's no big deal.
It was just a clone. So what if it was wiped out?
"Besides…" Xu Jingming smiled. "I'm curious, who among the cosmic legends in my home universe can injure me?"
Having grasped the second level of Cleansing Lotus Fire, did he have any capable adversaries among the cosmic legends in his home universe?
