After slaying the demon wolf, Ming Qi rested for less than half an hour before disemboweling the wolf's corpse and extracting a fist-sized Heavenly Star Crystal. This dazzling star-colored Heavenly Star Crystal was significantly larger than the Flying Ant King's crystal, and the energy it contained could not be measured in multiples of its individual size. With just a few dozen crystals of this size, he could complete the second level of the Nine Heavens Attracting Star Art, the Soul-Calming Heaven.
The Soul-Calming Heaven realm not only strengthens one's soul, but also allows one to continuously condense a damaging energy beam. Once the Soul-Calming Nebula condenses, one can unleash the powerful Soul-Slaying Finger technique.
The Soul-Calming Finger strikes directly at the soul, killing without even a trace of energy fluctuation. It arrives and disappears with the swiftness of a gust of wind and lightning. A single strike can instantly slay anyone with a weaker soul, strangling the soul without leaving a trace.
When Ming Qi fully understood the effects of the Soul-Slaying Finger, he, who had long been calm, couldn't help but become a little enthusiastic.
Zhenhun Tian's powerful spirit, and the Soul-Slaying Finger's direct attack on it, alone, could completely overpower most immortal arts.
But after a brief moment of joy, Ming Qi immediately returned to reality. The star field was vast and boundless, and powerful star monsters were as numerous as the stars in the sky. As long as he stayed in the star field, he would be on the brink of life and death at every moment. Therefore, only through endless battles and improvement could he ensure his longevity and gradually embark on the path to power.
For such a goal, a demon wolf crystal was just a drop in the ocean.
Ming Qi's courage swelled again. In the days that followed, he continuously challenged stronger star monsters. Every battle brought him close to death, and many times he needed to rest for months to recover. And this was despite his body's extraordinary recovery ability. If it weren't for his near-immortal self-recovery ability, he would have died countless times over.
Thus, in the boundless star field, Ming Qi rushed and fought without realizing the passage of time.
Time flowed by like flowing water. Although each battle was arduous and each wound sustained was severe, the crystals he harvested clearly demonstrated his continuous growth.
While the concept of time in the star field was vague, it was not nonexistent. On the contrary, everyone who entered the star field could vaguely sense how long they had been there.
One day, while facing a lake, Ming Qi slashed his hair and beard with his longsword, he suddenly realized that he had unknowingly been in the star field for nearly twenty years!
The endless fighting had completely changed him. Now, he was like a sharpened, peerless weapon, beginning to radiate a brilliant light.
Having reached the Martial King realm so early, his appearance had aged very slowly. Although twenty years had passed in the Star Domain, he now looked only a few years older. However, his aura was as steady as a mountain, radiating an awe-inspiring pressure.
Although he was still subject to powerful restrictions within the Star Domain, preventing him from further improvement at the peak of the Innate Realm, Ming Qi's combat power now undoubtedly surpassed his mid-stage Martial King realm before entering the Star Domain!
Under normal circumstances, a tenth-level Innate Realm surpassing a mid-stage Martial King would be a myth, a myth not even real. However, Ming Qi could now truly feel that with his current strength, he could definitely battle a normal late-stage Martial King cultivator!
This incredible transformation was largely due to the power and dominance of the Nine Heavens Attracting Stars Art. He had now advanced the art to the sixth level, the Soaring Dragon Realm. Once he condensed the Soaring Dragon Nebula, he could pierce the void and travel back and forth on the spot. This completely shattered the limitations of the existing cultivation system. Normally, controlling spatial forces is a special ability only attainable after reaching the Martial Emperor realm.
In this process, Ming Qi finally proved that the Nine Heavens Attracting Stars technique did not originate from the Great World of Desolation!
This immortal technique, originating from another world, a powerful secret technique that transcended the hierarchy of the Great World of Desolation, had repeatedly stirred in Ming Qi a yearning for this world.
However, he also knew that to embark on a cross-boundary journey, he would need to at least reach the Martial God realm, glimpse the trajectory of fate, and thus master the art of navigating the vast river of heaven and earth. This was still a distant prospect for him.
The cross-boundary journey was still far away, and Ming Qi had no intention of considering it. The most important thing at the moment was to cultivate the Nine Heavens Attracting Stars technique to a higher level.
The star field possessed an infinite amount of stellar power, completely eliminating the lengthy process of absorbing and transforming the energy of the stars. Once outside the star field, advancing in the Great World of Desolation through the Nine Heavens Attracting Stars technique would likely be a hundred times more difficult.
Twenty years? At worst, another twenty years! Ming Qi, determined, immediately took action.
This time, he traveled even further and unexpectedly came across several stone tablets. Like the first one he had seen, these tablets contained information about the star region, including geographical descriptions and records of numerous powerful star monsters he had never seen before.
According to existing exploration records, the star region is roughly divided into the outer and inner regions. There are over two hundred documented areas in the outer region, each covering over hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and having been named.
As for the inner region, very few people have explored it, so the remaining information is very vague, with only vague mentions that the inner region is as vast as the outer region and that it contains star monsters more powerful than the gods of the outer world.
Perhaps there are more detailed stone tablets elsewhere, but Ming Qi just didn't see them.
After ten years of this, Ming Qi finally condensed the Tenglong Nebula and mastered the corresponding immortal technique, Celestial Shift. This technique allowed him to travel through the star field. While the distance wasn't very great, it was as quick as a snail compared to walking or low-altitude flight. Especially since he didn't have to worry about running out of star power, Celestial Shift practically gave him the potential to travel the entire outer star field.
Of course, Ming Qi hadn't forgotten his purpose for coming to the star field. With Celestial Shift, he could better locate and hunt his targets. Countless powerful star demons were no match for his Soul-Slaying Finger. Countless Sky Star Crystals continuously transformed into pure star power, merging into his power system.
Time, whether you care or not, slips silently by. When Ming Qi realized another ten years had passed, he suddenly realized he was on the verge of condensing the Nirvana Nebula, the seventh level of the Nine Heavens Attracting Stars Technique.
Nirvana Heaven, first of all, leads to the seventh level of the Star Art. Nirvana, life and death, a unique transformation—this is Ming Qi's understanding of Nirvana Heaven.
At one point, when Ming Qi used Celestial Shift to appear in an unfamiliar area, he unexpectedly discovered a dead star demon, also stripped of its core crystal.
Seeing this scene, Ming Qi's heart suddenly trembled. Could it be that he had encountered another person walking in the star field?