Age of Evolution

Lin Zhen also raised his glass and clinked it against Su Mingyue’s: “I’m honored to have a friend like Su Saintess.”

Lin Zhen drained his glass of red wine, while Su Mingyue only took a gentle sip. Then, they both began to eat the delicious roasted meat eagerly.

Lin Zhen consumed his food as if a tornado was sweeping up the last of the leaves while Su Mingyue ate in delicate bites. She had received elite training from a very young age and carried an innate grace about her, not losing poise even in her hunger.

By nighttime, the two of them had polished off more than twenty pounds of roasted meat and three bottles of red wine; Lin Zhen had personally downed over eighteen pounds of meat and two bottles of wine.

Given her small appetite, Su Mingyue only managed to eat approximately two pounds of meat.

After tidying up and retracting the liquid metal, Lin Zhen prepared his own den for Su Mingyue to stay while he arranged a bed of petals not far away to rest.

However, Su Mingyue did not let Lin Zhen leave immediately. Slightly drunk, she insisted on chit-chatting with Lin Zhen all night, claiming it was a New Year’s Eve tradition to stay up late.

They both lay side by side in Lin Zhen’s den, looking up at the sky and chatting casually.

“Lin Zhen, do you have any specific plan for your time here?” Su Mingyue asked. She only referred to Lin Zhen as an “idol” when in particularly high spirits; otherwise, she preferred to call him by his name.

“Didn’t I ask you to capture that man today? He shared some information with me that there were three places within these shrubs with an abundance of Star Crystals. However, all three are incredibly dangerous. I plan to train for a while to improve my strength before going to these places to find more Star Crystals.”

“Can I come with you?” Su Mingyue turned to look at Lin Zhen; her fragrant scent wafted towards him.

“Of course. Our group of people is all scattered about in this generation. I estimate that there will certainly be conflicts with members of other classes in the future. Having one more person means having additional strength.”

“Alright, I will listen to you.” Su Mingyue was still emotionally fragile at this time, and having been saved by Lin Zhen, she instinctively relied on him a bit. The casual words she uttered were extraordinarily effective at captivating men.

Even Lin Zhen felt a sense of pride swelling within him. This was not due to immaturity; it’s just a natural reaction for a man to feel fortunate when relied upon by such an exceptionally beautiful woman.

Lin Zhen stretched lazily, pushing away these thoughts and looking up at the sky. “If only we could see the starry sky now. Ever since I came here, I haven’t seen a single star.”

“I have a way.”

Su Mingyue broke into a smile, reached into her clothes, and pulled out a

Star-gazing Mirror. A flash of breathtakingly white skin subtly caught in Lin Zhen’s eye as her fingers moved around her chest, causing him to momentarily feel dazzled.

However, the slightly intoxicated Su Mingyue seemed unaware of this as she handed the Star-gazing Mirror to Lin Zhen. “This object has a wonderful use. If you channel your Dantian Qi into it, you can see deep into the starry sky. The stronger your Dantian Qi is, the further you can see. My master’s master was said to be capable of observing the Milky Way.”

“That’s miraculous!” Lin Zhen exclaimed in surprise, taking the Star-gazing Mirror and peering inside.

After he injected his Dantian Qi, the boundless starry sky soon appeared on the surface of the Star-gazing Mirror.

This was different from the Star Cores he had seen before. He was actually able to discern some contours of the planets, instead of only seeing dots of light as before.

Lin Zhen grew even more interested, increasing the Qi he was channeling into the Mirror.

Despite channeling the maximum amount of Qi into the Dantian, he was unable to see any further.

“This is amazing; this treasure is invaluable!” After watching for nearly half an hour, Lin Zhen set down the Star-gazing Mirror, his heart ablaze with excitement.

As long as he had this object, if his realm could be improved a bit more, he would be able to see beyond the Solar System. If he could reach the realm of the War God, he would even be able to see further. What about entering the Star Realm? Could he see events occurring light-years away in the Milky Way?

If that was the case, wouldn’t he be able to anticipate and prepare for an invasion from Extraterrestrial Civilizations?

For the first time since his rebirth, Lin Zhen saw a glimmer of hope in opposing the Extraterrestrial Civilizations.

Just as he wanted to share his thoughts with Su Mingyue, he felt a weight on his shoulder. Turning his head, he found that Su Mingyue had fallen asleep. Her long hair was spread out, and her jade-like face was resting on his shoulder, breathing evenly.

Lin Zhen gently brushed away Su Mingyue’s long hair, feeling a sense of tenderness. He hadn’t thought too much of it before meeting her, but now that he had, he couldn’t let her walk the same old path as in her past life.

Carefully lifting Su Mingyue’s hand, Lin Zhen placed the Star-gazing Mirror in her palm. He then gently moved away, causing Su Mingyue to stir slightly. An unhappy expression crossed her face from the slight disturbance. Lin Zhen gave a smile and gently patted her shoulder. After a while, she settled down again.

After covering her with petals, Lin Zhen left his den and headed towards the pond.

He decided not to continue practicing the Lightning River technique today, as he had basically mastered it. What he considered more important now was to absorb the second Planet Core.

Since he already had the Dark Star within him, another couldn’t be formed. However, he was attracted to the cold energy stored within the Planet Core. He speculated that the absorption this time would not be as difficult as the first.

In the quiet surroundings, Lin Zhen sat by the pond with the Planet Core.

The scent of metal contained within this Planet Core was incredibly intense. It was no ordinary metal, yet it was superior to any metal.

Lin Zhen felt that his condition had fully stabilized, so he placed the Planet Core at his Dantian.

Slowly circulating the Qi in his Dantian, a streak of golden radiance emerged from the Planet Core, seeping into his Dantian.

“Ah!”

Lin Zhen groaned, because the pain was too extreme!

The sharp metallic Qi didn’t harm his body, but it affected his Dantian, causing him immense pain.

Since his Dantian felt as if it had been stabbed with a sharp knife, Lin Zhen was soon drenched in sweat.

“Damn! I was too complacent. The intensity of this golden Qi far exceeds my imagination. Just a single streak of metallic Qi is so potent, and in this Planet Core, I reckon there are close to ten thousand. The absorption process is not something that can be done in a day or two.”

“However, regardless of how long it takes, I must absorb this Gold Qi Core. If I can’t complete it in a day, then I will take two days, if not then, it’ll take a

month. Sooner or later I will completely absorb it.”

With great difficulty, Lin Zhen finally managed to contain the first streak of golden Qi within the Dark Star. After recuperating for a while, he started to absorb the second streak.

Being prepared the second time, Lin Zhen felt slightly less pain than before, but it was still unbearable. It took him a long time to recover.

“Good grief, why is absorbing the Planet Core always such masochistic? Even with preparation, the pain is still so intolerable.”

This time, Lin Zhen took much longer to recover before he mustered up the courage to start absorbing the third streak of golden Qi.

After the third absorption, He wanted to test the effects of the golden Qi.

He lifted his finger aiming at a tree trunk up front.

According to Lin Zhen’s expectation, golden Qi would shoot out from his fingertip, easily penetrating the tree trunk. However, the golden Qi didn’t successfully shoot out and remained quietly within the Dark Star.

“I see, the quantity of golden Qi is still too small for it to function cyclically. I must completely absorb the entire Planet Core first. Once the golden Qi can circulate on its own, it will be never-ending and can be used at will.” Having comprehended this, Lin Zhen spent the entire night practicing at the edge of a pond.

He endured tremendous pain, from absorbing one streak at a time to three, and eventually even five streaks at a time; only someone like Lin Zhen with an extraordinarily strong soul can achieve this.

Overnight, Lin Zhen absorbed exactly three hundred streaks of golden Qi!

At dawn, he stopped the absorption. His muscles still twitched uncontrollably an effect of the pain.

After the night-long absorption, approximately one-thirtieth of the Gold Qi Core had been absorbed.

“Just as I anticipated, there are approximately ten thousand streaks of golden Qi in a Planet Core. Even if the absorption process speeds up gradually, it would still take about ten days or even half a month to complete.”

“Once the Gold Qi Core is completely absorbed, my gravity manipulation should improve. That would be an advantage.”

Lin Zhen rubbed his tense muscles, struggling to stand up.

Then, he suddenly heard Su Mingyue’s somewhat anxious shout: “Lin Zhen, Lin Zhen, where are you?”

“I’m right here.”

Lin Zhen answered, pushing himself to stand up.

A sweet fragrance wafted over as Su Mingyue ran over, quickly supporting Lin

Zhen: “What happened to you?”

Seeing the look of concern on the Saintess’ face, he smiled, “It’s nothing. I just overdid my training a bit, my body is a little sore.”

“You can’t rush cultivation. I was drunk yesterday and fell asleep in a daze.”

Su Mingyue seemed a little embarrassed. Being a Spiritual Mind Master, she didn’t need too much sleep. It was the liquor that made her sleep so long last night.

With a smile, Lin Zhen gently touched her jade-like forehead with his fingertip: “You should go freshen up, your hair is disheveled.”

Su Mingyue stared blankly. She wasn’t accustomed to such intimate gestures from people. As a Saintess, she was always placed on a high pedestal, even women didn’t dare to get too close to her. But now, as she supported Lin Zhen, and he lightly touched her forehead, she found nothing wrong with it. It seemed as it was meant to be..