Age of Evolution

In the snowstorm, snowflakes danced around the planet core. Lin Zhen now had a Dantian Qi, and he didn’t need to use his hands; he could drive the planet core directly to his Dantian with his spiritual power.

What he needed was not the stone of the planet core itself, but the energy, gravity, and thunder inside it.

Under the wrapping of Dantian Qi, these forces began to pour into Lin Zhen’s body.

This was an extremely dangerous process. Lin Zhen was still solidifying his Dantian on one side while absorbing the planet core’s energy on the other. If anything went wrong during this process, it would not be as simple as wasted efforts – it could leave Lin Zhen crippled or even dead.

Severe pain struck as the Dantian absorbed power at the crucial moment, suddenly being infused with an external fOrce. This kind of pain was unbearable for ordinary people.

The elemental qi in the surroundings, the essence of heaven and earth, entered Lin Zhen’s Dantian and began to conflict with the gravity inside the planet core. The agony was not only physical – the pain reached deep into his soul! Lin Zhen’s muscles involuntarily twitched and spasmed from the pain, but not a trace of suffering showed on his face.

At this moment, all he thought about was increasing his strength.

He forgot about day and night, wind and snow, cold and pain, failures and past lives – it was only the desire for power that drove him forward!

“Now I still believe that my soul is the strongest in this world, strong enough to bear all pain and hardship. This is the source of my confidence. If I can even cross a black hole, where even a planet core is formed, this mere piece of a planet core is nothing!”

“All I have to do now is to merge. As long as I can get just a strand of the planet core’s power to take root in my Dantian, that will be the beginning of success. Starting is the hardest part. Nobody can teach me this – I have to figure it out on my own!”

It might sound easy, but the power of the planet core was not so simple to merge. The Dantian Qi rejected all foreign forces, doing everything it could to resist the planet core’s power from entering Lin Zhen’s body.

Driven by Lin Zhen’s spiritual power, the planet core hovered an inch away from his lower abdomen. The fierce conflict of forces caused it to spin, eventually frosting over with a layer of ice.

As soon as the frost condensed, it was absorbed by the planet core, which was surrounded by nothing but wind, snow, and cold air.

In this way, not only gravity seeped into Lin Zhen’s body, but also strands of cold current!

Lin Zhen discovered this but couldn’t stop it. He was in too deep now and had no choice but to absorb and deal with whatever came his way.

Lin Zhen’s Dantian Qi was not stable and hard to control. With a single thought, Lin Zhen decided to use his spiritual power to forcibly break through and escort the planet core’s power into his body!

The first attempt failed!

Second attempt failed!

After three continuous failures, Lin Zhen figured out the reason.

He was now on the top floor of Zhao Dong Building, surrounded by the boundless elemental Qi of heaven and earth. To succeed, he needed to gather all the power and launch the strongest attack, but it seemed that his spiritual power was still slightly lacking.

“Damn it! Now I know why condensing a planet core during the Warrior phase is just a legend. It’s because only a spiritual mind master can succeed in infusing their body with a planet core’s power, and that too with the help of their spiritual power.”

“That’s not even the main issue. The real challenge is to have the spiritual power of the Golden Middle Stage as a warrior. That’s an incredibly stringent requirement!”

“But I have no choice now. My spiritual power, just explode this once for me!”

Lin Zhen’s spiritual power had advanced to the Golden Early Stage, but it wasn’t at its peak yet. Reaching the Golden Middle Stage would still take some time, but he didn’t have that luxury.

“I have to do something to stimulate my spiritual power!” “But what can I do at this critical stage of cultivation?”

After pondering, Lin Zhen made a surprising decision.

He decisively removed the spiritual power light shield!

The moment the shield was removed, the bone-chilling coldness almost froze him solid.

With protection, the cold was bearable, but without it, Lin Zhen truly felt the extreme coldness on the thirty-sixth floor.

Sixty degrees below zero — absolute sixty degrees below!

“Alright! Cold it is! Coldness is also a way to stimulate spiritual power. As long as my spiritual power is exercised, there might be a breakthrough. Success or failure hinges on this moment!”

In less than a minute, Lin Zhen turned into a snowman. His blood almost froze, and he could only use his spiritual power to protect his heart meridians, leaving himself exposed to the cold.

“I must hold on! I have to hold on!”

Surrounding elemental Qi of heaven and earth continued to pour in. As long as Lin Zhen was alive, this flow of Qi wouldn’t stop.

The planet core in the Dantian paused, as Lin Zhen first had to make a breakthrough with his spiritual power.

Surrounded by boundless cold, Lin Zhen no longer cared about anything else. Relying solely on his determination, he knew that he would either succeed or fail, but he had never considered the possibility of failure.

Night fell, and the time reached twelve o’clock at night.

Su Na’s report continued, but this time, she seemed to have lost faith.

“Dear friends, it has been nearly twenty hours since Lin Zhen was left alone in Zhao Dong Building. Even though I am inside the interview car, I feel extremely cold. The temperature outside is even lower, and this is the coldest winter I’ve ever experienced.”

“From my perspective, I can see the faint flicker of flame beneath the building, which is the martial artists using fire for warmth at night. I can even hear the martial artists fighting mutated beasts.”

“Zhao Dong city has left me with painful memories, and I don’t think I will ever come back here. I think Lin Zhen may never be able to leave, and I am truly hoping he can hold on, but… I’ve never wanted a miracle as much as I do now.”

“I hope there is another world without sorrow and pain. May you rest in peace in heaven…”

Su Na couldn’t continue her report. After this clip was uploaded to the internet, she cried alone in the interview car.

At this time, many people in Base City were still paying attention to Lin Zhen. “Ah…Lin Zhen finally fell like a meteor, what a pity!’

“I think Lin Zhen is really admirable. He chose the most heroic way to go. He didn’t fall under the enemy’s weapons. Instead, he preferred to perish in the cold and not give the enemy any chance. I appreciate him!”

“Do you think Lin Zhen could still be alive?”

“No one can hold on under such circumstances, Lin Zhen must be dead.”

“Although martial artists have more vigorous vitality than ordinary people and can better resist the cold, you can’t imagine how cold it is in the wild at night and in high altitude. No one can withstand this nightmare of this year’s weather, so it’s better not to hold any illusions.”

“I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to mourn Lin Zhen for his astonishing talent!”

“I’ll go too, for the honor he brought to Ice City’s Martial Artist Academy.”

“You guys are slow. I’ve already made a post in memory of Lin Zhen on the Martial Artist Forum. Everyone, go support the post! Those who want to remember Lin Zhen can send their blessings there!”

Many people went to take a look, and indeed, someone had posted about Lin Zhen’s death on the internet.

A huge black and white photo of Lin Zhen’s headshot dominated the webpage, which didn’t contain a single bit of color. Lin Zhen’s life experiences were recorded on the page, and although not extensive, they were nonetheless shocking.

At the bottom were emotional words that brought tears to the eyes of many.

Virtual items like wreaths were available for purchase online, each costing 100 dollars. As soon as someone bought a wreath, it would slowly drift down the screen, complete with a message from the buyer and a record at the bottom. Upon posting the post in memory of Lin Zhen, the number of wreaths offered never ceased.

One by one, wreaths floated down the screen, and the messages left by internet users were too many to take in at once. The scene was simply spectacular.

For every wreath offered, the person who posted the memorial would receive half the income. According to incomplete statistics, the person earned over 500 million overnight.

Some wealthy people would spend hundreds or even thousands on wreaths. The 500-million-dollar figure was just a conservative estimate.

Later, more people imitated this person and posted under the name of mourning Lin Zhen, but the effect was minimal because the original post was too highly ranked.

However, some people disagreed with this person’s approach. They sent a message: “I advise you to be careful. What if Lin Zhen isn’t dead? If you’re making money off his name, what will you do if he comes to hold you accountable?”

This person replied rather boldly: “If Lin Zhen is still alive, I’ll give him the money. I don’t want to make a profit in bad conscience.”

No one knew what he actually thought, but most people probably believed that Lin Zhen had no chance of survival.

The person who asked replied: “That’s good. I’ve taken a screenshot of your message, so don’t forget about it. Remember, there’s nothing absolute in this world. I believe Lin Zhen is still alive, so don’t cry when the time comes.”

The person who posted the memorial didn’t reply to this person, and nobody noticed that this person’s name was An Ning.

The next morning, the blizzard finally began to weaken and the chill in the air started to recede.

The mourning activities reached their peak early in the morning on the second day, as most of the participants were martial artists who were wealthy enough to offer wreaths as if money wasn’t a concern.

Some even organized a street mourning event for Lin Zhen, but the plan was aborted, and the wreath-offering activity also came to an end due to Su Na’s report that there was movement from the martial artists in Zhao Dong..