Nine Star Hegemon Body ArtNine Star Hegemon Body Art
Astral light swirled endlessly around Long Chen as he merged with the starry river from the Radiant World Star Crystal. As the energy of the crystal intertwined with his Dantian’s starry sea, he lost his sense of self, becoming one with this vast flow of stars.
Long Chen sensed their interaction. At first, they just probed each other, clashing and forming ripples.
However, they quickly started to merge with each other. Unbeknownst to Long Chen, his astral energy was awakening at a remarkable rate, something even the Earth Cauldron found astonishing.
The Earth Cauldron was a divine weapon from the primal chaos era, and it had witnessed the rise and fall of the nine heavens and ten lands. However, this was the first time it had witnessed someone so quickly resonate with the Radiant World Star Crystal and understand its core.
“What an unfathomable person,” the Earth Cauldron muttered. “When he’s smart, no one can match him. But when he’s stupid, he’s in a league of his own.”
Even the Earth Cauldron couldn’t decipher whether Long Chen was a genius or a fool.
Long Chen sat in midair with a starry sea behind him. Within it, a river of energy flowed, like a fish exploring its new pool. As it swam, Long Chen’s starry sea started to pulse with life.
Wherever the river passed, the starry sea resonated, and astral energy spread across it.
Suddenly, the Earth Cauldron cried out in alarm, “Not good!”
It appeared above Long Chen, enveloping him and his starry sea in bronze divine light. Despite its swift action, it was a moment too late—beneath Long Chen, the ground sank, revealing a massive black hole.
Most frightening of all, this hole appeared without any warning or sound. It was really bizarre.
“Damn, any slower and this entire island would have vanished! How has he already linked up with the Radiant World Star Crystal’s energy so quickly?” The Earth Cauldron was in disbelief.
The Earth Cauldron had a great understanding of the Radiant World Star Crystal. It had seen many nine star heirs before, and even the best of them took around half a month to resonate with the Radiant World Star Crystal. Yet Long Chen had done so in under two hours. Not only that, but the crystal had completely let down its defenses, eagerly sending energy to expand his starry sea.
Long Chen’s starry sea rapidly expanded, birthing new stars and spreading across a vast area. The astral energy within it also carried a terrifying annihilation force. Without the Earth Cauldron’s intervention, that energy could have obliterated the island.
“Hey, wake up! WAKE UP!” the Earth Cauldron roared, forcibly waking Long Chen up.
Long Chen jolted awake, and the starry river retreated back to the Radiant World Star Crystal, leaving his starry sea. As Long Chen regained consciousness, an intense headache hit him like needles piercing his skull. He then opened his eyes to find his body covered in blood, his skin cracked as if he had almost exploded.
“How did this happen?” asked Long Chen in alarm.
“You’re asking me? What were you up to just now?! You just let the Radiant World Star Crystal mess with your body? If it had continued expanding your starry sea, you would have exploded,” chided the Earth Cauldron irritably.
At first, the Earth Cauldron thought that everything was under Long Chen’s control, and it had been impressed by Long Chen’s rapid advancement. But now, it realized Long Chen had essentially been asleep, completely unaware of what was happening. Had it not intervened, Long Chen would have been crippled at the very least.
As the starry sea grew too big, the energy reached his Spirit Root, spreading its influence throughout his entire being. To accommodate even more power within this starry sea, it began to expand not just his Dantian, but his physical body as well.
However, Long Chen’s body was made of flesh and blood; how could it stretch to match the starry sea’s growth? At first, the Earth Cauldron assumed that Long Chen was trying to test his endurance with this method. But when his skin burst open, it instantly woke him up. Had it acted any slower, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
The Earth Cauldron’s amazement at Long Chen’s talent quickly turned to exasperation. Though it had no face, its loss for words at him was expressed through the flashing runes on its body.
“Damn, how dangerous!”
Long Chen jumped when he saw that his meridians were covered in cracks. If they had exploded, he would be doomed as hell. Repairing meridians was no small task, and with the journey to the Wind Domain Battlefield ahead, he didn’t have time for such a setback.
“Eh? Senior, take a look!” Long Chen called out, spreading his inner vision for the Earth Cauldron to see.
The Earth Cauldron then saw a powder-like crystal layer on his cracked meridians.
“That’s...!” The Earth Cauldron was shocked. “Little fellow, you’ve somehow turned a calamity into a blessing. Could the nine star line’s karmic luck truly take a turn for the better?”
The crystalline powder was astral energy left by the Radiant World Star Crystal, which had expanded Long Chen’s meridians to the point of near destruction. However, instead of leaving him broken, the crystal had left behind energy to heal his wounds.
Even with the Earth Cauldron’s experience, it had never seen something like this before. Normally, refining the Radiant World Star Crystal involved intense resistance, with the crystal needing to be coaxed or forced into submission. But here, it seemed to willingly pour its energy into Long Chen.
Long Chen hadn’t done anything, yet the Radiant World Star Crystal simply handed over its energy as if afraid that Long Chen wouldn’t refine it. It also helped him expand his starry sea and the power of his physical body.
This attitude was like it was set on making Long Chen’s body its new home, and to make this environment a bit more comfortable, it changed things around.
Despite knowing the Radiant World Star Crystal’s intentions were favorable, the Earth Cauldron sternly warned him, “The Radiant World Star Crystal’s power isn’t something to joke around with. It doesn’t know how much is enough, and one slip will cripple you forever. You can’t let it do whatever it wants. Take things one step at a time, alright?”
Long Chen nodded, but as he sat down to repair his injured meridians, he almost spat out blood. The primal chaos space was utterly devoid of life energy. He couldn’t absorb any life energy to help him recover unless he wanted to extract the energy of the mysterious vine.
However, that mysterious vine was just starting to germinate, and Long Chen didn’t want to disturb it yet.
Left with no other choice, Long Chen went to find Tang Wan-er and the others.
“Let’s go. Big bro will bring you hunting!”