"If I can create spawn or ascend to the third realm, everyone will be able to live on," Xu Jingming reassured his wife. "Don't dwell on it. Leave this to me."
"Okay," Li Miaomiao replied, nestled in her husband's arms.
Yet, she understood the immense difficulty of the task at hand.
Countless high-dimensional beings had converged in Feather Fire City, as her husband had mentioned. Feather Fire Lord had nurtured them for eons, but had failed to produce even a single third-realm powerhouse.
Creating spawn seemed more likely, but her husband was not particularly adept at it.
******
Heart Realm territory.
Xu Jingming floated in the void. Beneath him lay a vast silver parchment, inscribed with spear techniques.
Miaomiao, Lixing, Dad, Mom, Grandpa… Xu Jingming felt blessed, as his family had always been by his side. It was something many high-dimensional beings longed for.
However, they will all face the end of their lives, Xu Jingming mused. All living creatures are greedy, and I am no exception. I want them to live on!
There are two paths before me.
One is to reach the half-step third realm in the body lineage and create spawn. The other is to attain the third realm, Xu Jingming contemplated. I will strive on both fronts.
He gazed at the spear techniques beneath him and immersed himself in them once more. All his determination was poured into mastering the spear techniques—comprehending, reflecting, and studying. He needed to grow stronger to protect the ones he cherished.
He could endure a fleeting moment of solitude, but not an eternity of it.
Engrossed in his spear techniques, Xu Jingming lost all sense of time.
Perhaps due to his mindset or the accumulation of 10,000 years, after over a millennium of immersion in the silver parchment, Xu Jingming achieved enlightenment. After 16,000 years of mastering the Ultimate existence's spear techniques, I've finally forged the third move of Golden Halberd.
Golden Halberd was a psychic weapon spear technique created by Xu Jingming. The second move, Luminous Ember, could annihilate Five Demons Planet. In the eyes of Five Demons Planet, this move was already on par with the power of a half-step third realm of the Heart Realm lineage.
Boom!
Xu Jingming's entire body radiated light that bathed every corner of the beast hide space. His body transformed as well.
A psychic weapon melded mind and weapon!
For Heart Realm lineage powerhouses, their bodies were composed of Heart Realm Force. As psychic entities, the transformation of their minds signified a transformation of their lives.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Xu Jingming absorbed external energies to fuel his metamorphosis and perfect his body.
A being's potency wasn't just a measure of their level but also a quantitative shift. Every half-step third-realm powerhouse's true body was immense!
Xu Jingming consumed the external energies like a whale, continuing for three days before ceasing. His body had grown significantly larger.
The qualitative and quantitative alterations made Xu Jingming's body unprecedentedly formidable.
Is this the entire spatial layer? Xu Jingming sensed himself naturally permeating the spatial layer. It was like a colossal elephant crammed into a cage, occupying every inch.
This was the pinnacle of a four-dimensional lifeform. Having saturated the entire spatial layer, Xu Jingming faintly encountered even more profound powers!
A higher-level power? Xu Jingming tried to sense it. It was an imposing timeline, an enigmatic force surpassing the spatial layer.
The past timeline was crystal clear.
The future timeline branched out endlessly, and each path was shrouded in vagueness. Observing them required time and effort.
Even karma has become clear. Xu Jingming smiled. Beings at different levels perceived differently. Through the eyes of half-step third-realm powerhouses, every strand of karma traversed the spatial layer with remarkable clarity.
This is what it feels like to be half a step into the third realm. Xu Jingming took in his newly strengthened body. The Black Abyss Fire unleashed by the Abyss Sovereign, Sovereign Yaming, once caused him immense pain, but now he could easily withstand it.
I'll test out my new move. With a mere thought, Xu Jingming left the beast hide space and arrived in the Heart Realm.
A storm was brewing in the vast Heart Realm territory. As it consumed the endless chaos from the outside world, it expanded.
The land steadily grew while the lake condensed. Towering mountains even emitted a sharp aura, containing the spear techniques Xu Jingming had deduced.
Alongside the three moves of the Golden Halberd, techniques like the Heart Divine Weapon and the moves understood from the Nine Annihilation Stratagems naturally materialized in the Heart Realm.
The Heart Realm territory was also a manifestation of a Heart Realm powerhouse's mind.
I'll give it a try. Xu Jingming extended his hand, and an illusory spear materialized within his grasp. He hadn't practiced in the beast hide space because he had a feeling…
Although it was a psychic move, practicing it in the beast hide space would still affect the space's foundation and ultimately destroy it.
Xu Jingming grasped the illusory spear and merged his mind with the weapon, instantaneously transforming into a radiant sphere of light that brilliantly illuminated the surroundings whilst emanating an indomitable aura.
As the sphere of light passed, everything seemed to incinerate and melt, naturally carving out a path. Even the entire Heart Realm territory naturally split open, forming a massive canyon.
The third move of Golden Halberd—Dawn Piercer!
If the second move, Luminous Ember, was akin to a flame scorching the mind, then Dawn Piercer was the morning sun composed of countless mind-burning flames. It appeared gentle, yet it was truly unstoppable. Anyone who touched it would be melted and obliterated.
The ball of light streaking across the sky eventually halted, condensing back into Xu Jingming, spear in hand.
Huh? Xu Jingming frowned at the illusory spear he held. The spear already exhibited minor cracks.
I didn't even attack an enemy. I merely unleashed my full strength to execute a move, and this weapon is already starting to crack? If I were to truly battle a half-step third-realm powerhouse, this spear would likely shatter after a single strike, Xu Jingming pondered.
Naturally, he understood that, with his foundation rooted in an Ultimate existence's spearmanship, the third move of Golden Halberd he had comprehended was far more potent than ordinary half-step third-realm Heart Realm techniques. Hence, the weapon sustained damage simply from using it.
I need to nurture a new weapon. Thankfully, the Ancient Tree World Lord gifted me numerous Heart Spirit Beads. As long as three to five Heart Spirit Beads are integrated into this spear, it will undergo a complete transformation, Xu Jingming thought as he examined the cracked illusory spear.
Heart Spirit Beads were the most valuable components within the Heart Realm. Third-realm beings typically utilized Heart Spirit Beads to refine their weapons.
As a half-step third-realm powerhouse, even using all his Heart Spirit Beads wouldn't allow him to cultivate a third-realm weapon! That would be wasteful; thus, employing three Heart Spirit Beads for each spear was most appropriate.
In my previous spears, I fused three Heart Spirit Beads into each to transform them. It was sufficient for battling half-step third-realm powerhouses, Xu Jingming considered. However, to significantly enhance my strength, I still need to acquire a third-realm weapon.
Any half-step third-realm powerhouse would pursue a suitable third-realm weapon after breaking through.
I'll examine the timeline.
Xu Jingming's curiosity suddenly piqued. Thearch Dragon Island Lord and the others have taken the initiative to send gifts, and third-realm beings have treated me differently. Perhaps I can uncover some clues by probing the timeline.
A formidable lifeform permeating the spatial layer could already sense the timeline.
The past is fairly clear. Xu Jingming sensed it.
Each time node corresponded to a boundless dominion. Xu Jingming could only barely glimpse the thousands of dominions surrounding a time node, while the regions further away grew increasingly hazy.
A distinct past extends to the present. Xu Jingming realized. But third-realm beings can alter the past of other lifeforms, modifying reality and the future.
Only by observing the timeline did he comprehend the methods employed by third-realm beings.
For instance, if one group of living beings was revived within a past timeline, causing another group of living beings to perish, history would naturally shift. This would also alter the present and the future.
As long as one exists within the timeline, their fate will be manipulated. Only by breaking free from the timeline can one alter their fate. Xu Jingming had an epiphany. As a result, I can't see the third realms within the timeline at all.
Though he had witnessed his past and experiences in Feather Fire City, the moment he met Feather Fire Lord had vanished entirely! It was undetectable within the timeline.
His meeting with Lord Louye met the same fate—undetectable in the timeline.
What about my future?
Xu Jingming endeavored to peer into the future.
The future was hazy, with innumerable branches. Xu Jingming traced one of them and attempted to probe.
It's truly challenging to peer into the future. A third-realm being could probably probe countless branches with just a thought, Xu Jingming mused. He was only capable of prying into one future branch at a time.
The future… His original homeworld had suffered a catastrophe, and his clone in the Heart Realm bore witness.
I only see endless, terrifying energy streams obliterating the entire dominion, but they didn't affect the Heart Realm. Xu Jingming nodded slightly. I wonder what the source of this horrifying energy stream is.
Further in the future, his grandfather, parents, wife, daughter… All of them reached the end of their lives and perished. He could only observe these events unfold and remain alone thereafter.
He had been seeking a method to create offspring and striving to attain the third realm, but in the future he explored, he failed to witness that day arrive.
The more distant the future, the blurrier it became.
I can't see the day Miaomiao and the others are revived. Xu Jingming switched to another future branch. He could only peer about a million years into the future—nothing beyond that.
There's nothing I can do about it.
They still can't be revived.
One future branch after another.
Creating spawn? Xu Jingming's talent in the physical lineage was rather mediocre. In a million years, his physical lineage could only reach the level of an ordinary Eternal. He was still a considerable distance from the half-step third realm.
Third realm? In the branches he probed, he remained a half-step third realm.
Despite his strength increasing and his invincibility at the half-step third realm, he relentlessly pursued the third realm.
I've probed over 100 future branches, yet I couldn't revive my family in any of them. Conversely, I'm invincible at the half-step third realm. My future seems rather certain. Xu Jingming was astonished.
The future of other powerhouses was highly uncertain. They could be trapped in a bottleneck for a million years.
However, he wasn't. In the million years he could probe, he consistently became an invincible half-step third realm!
Nothing could hinder him.
Suddenly—
A force transmitted through karma.
"Brother Wu Ming, congratulations. You achieved the half-step third realm in just 34,000 years! Your cultivation time is the shortest I've ever encountered." A gentle voice resonated.
Xu Jingming followed karma and sensed the other party from a distance—it was the strongest being in this dominion, Ancient Tree World Lord.
