Chapter 1 The Beginning

Xu Jingming strolled leisurely through the market, observing the myriad aspects of life within. Suddenly, his gaze swept across the area and landed on the goods at a stall in the distance. His eyes lit up, and he walked over. Sudan Novels Network

The vendor was selling handicrafts and looked expectantly at Xu Jingming as he approached the stall.

"Are you selling this stone?" Xu Jingming picked up a seemingly ordinary oval stone from the stall. Everything else on display was made of bamboo – bamboo baskets, stools, chairs, and the like – except for this one stone.

At first glance, the stone looked like an ordinary milky-white pebble, but it had cloud-like black markings on it.

"Selling, selling, selling!" The vendor nodded repeatedly. "This stone feels warm to the touch. I even tried hitting it with a large iron hammer, but it didn't leave a scratch. It must be a treasure."

"Name a price," Xu Jingming said.

The vendor held out a hand and said solemnly, "Ten taels of silver. It has to be at least ten taels."

An average vendor would earn only about ten taels of silver for a year's hard work. The vendor felt that selling a slightly special stone for such a high price was already quite ruthless.

"Alright," Xu Jingming nodded. "Ten taels of silver it is." The vendor was overjoyed to hear this.

But a vendor next to him said, "Yue Xiaosan, this is a treasure! It's worth more than ten taels of silver; it's probably worth a hundred or even a thousand taels!"

"Are you still selling?" Xu Jingming looked at the vendor and asked with a smile, "If you raise the price, I won't bother."

"Young man, they're trying to trick you. They quote ten taels, but then they want a hundred or a thousand," an old man carrying a basket said as he passed by, reminding him, "These merchants are very cunning."

"Selling, selling, selling!" The vendor glared at the neighboring stall and immediately handed the black and white stone to Xu Jingming.

Xu Jingming took out a silver ingot and gave it to the vendor.

The transaction was complete.

"If I can find more stones like this, will you still want them, sir?" The vendor picked up the silver ingot, wiped it, and bit it twice before happily hiding it in his bosom. He even chased after Xu Jingming to ask.

"Yes," Xu Jingming looked at him. "I'll be coming to the market often recently."

"I'll go back and look carefully," the vendor nodded repeatedly. He had accidentally picked up the stone while cutting bamboo in the mountains. This time, he planned to search carefully. Finding just one more would be equivalent to a year's hard work.

Xu Jingming then left.

"Safe travels, sir," the vendor said obsequiously, then glared at the adjacent stall. "Old Smoker, were you trying to ruin my business?"

…

Xu Jingming held the oval stone. As his Subduing Demon power (Fu Mo fa li) flowed into it, the stone instantly became scalding hot. Xu Jingming nodded slightly. "My sixth-realm Subduing Demon power, combined with my self-created divine power, is much more powerful, but it also puts a greater burden on magical artifacts. I need better materials. This stone, combined with some other materials, should be enough to refine a dharma seal."

Only Subduing Demons could bring out the full potential of these precious materials.

After leaving the market, Xu Jingming continued to stroll around the city of Lanping Prefecture.

Whenever he arrived at a place, he made sure to visit the prefectural city and also travel through most of the counties within the prefecture.

He observed the lives of all kinds of people in the city. When he encountered a demon, he would capture it and use it for Heart Refinement of Demons (Xinling Lian Mo)! During the refinement, the demon's obsessions and memories would merge into Xu Jingming's consciousness, allowing him to experience their lives on a deeper level.

The Subduing Demon world was vast!

After all, eighth-order and seventh-order cosmic lifeforms from an entire cosmic domain were all in the same Subduing Demon world. Even though creating an account was expensive, and many eighth-order cosmic lifeforms tried other paths, the number of Subduing Demons here was still enormous, and the number of ordinary people was more than ten thousand times greater.

Countless ordinary people had all sorts of fates. Xu Jingming observed and studied them.

******

In addition to learning in the Subduing Demon world, Xu Jingming also studied humanities and scientific knowledge.

"Some of my gains from observing sentient beings in the Subduing Demon world have already been summarized in the humanities knowledge of the Cosmic Human Alliance," Xu Jingming said as he sat in his courtyard, looking at the vast amount of humanities knowledge on the screen. His brain, as an eighth-order cosmic lifeform, allowed him to memorize a large amount of knowledge with a single glance. He had hundreds of examples from the Subduing Demon world to verify everything.

"Although the highest level of education in the humanities is only level sixty, it is still very important."

"There's a saying on Blue Star that character determines destiny. But humanities knowledge is what determines character, what determines destiny." The more Xu Jingming observed, the more he valued this aspect.

Even though humanities knowledge was vast and there were many important books, Xu Jingming's brain allowed him to read all the most important books in just half a month.

"The fate of people."

"The fate of civilizations."

"In the end, it's all the same things," Xu Jingming said as he looked at the scientific knowledge in front of him. "Scientific knowledge is truly endless."

Before learning the evolution method, Xu Jingming was a science student, but the knowledge he had at that time was still very shallow.

But now, as an eighth-order cosmic lifeform, he had access to a large amount of knowledge from the Primordial Research Institute, and he could even read the manuscripts of many great scholars. This naturally helped Xu Jingming a great deal.

"Jingming, what are you looking at?" Li Miaomiao walked over, took a look from afar, and felt dizzy from the dense characters. "All sorts of characters."

"Those are just some special characters that can make formulas more concise," Xu Jingming said with a sigh. "Miaomiao, scientific knowledge is truly amazing. Can you believe that just a few formulas can be used as a foundation to deduce thousands upon thousands of other formulas, explaining the meaning of all things in the universe?"

Li Miaomiao blinked in response.

"Yes."

Xu Jingming looked up at the sky. "When you suddenly comprehend those few formulas, those few theorems! They already explain the vast and immense laws of the universe. You can't help but feel shocked. That is the power of knowledge."

"By understanding knowledge, you can use a tiny flame to unleash the power to destroy stars."

"But you can also transform a barren planet into a habitable world," Xu Jingming said with yearning in his eyes. "I really long to become a Source lifeform. Source lifeforms can control the universe's origin power. As long as they master knowledge, they can use the universe's origin power to realize all sorts of ideas."

Li Miaomiao laughed. "Who doesn't want to become a Source lifeform? Everyone in Blue Star Civilization hopes that someone can become a Source lifeform. But it's too difficult. I don't know how many star systems, how many millennia, it takes to produce a single Source lifeform."

"Yes, it's too difficult," Xu Jingming nodded. Even with the core inheritance of the Cosmic Human's Supreme Inheritance, the *Primordial Star Conjecture*, it would still take him a very long time to become a Source lifeform.

Xu Jingming buried himself in his scientific knowledge again.

Accumulating scientific knowledge would also allow him to better understand the *Light Ray Chapter*, understand the existence of the Primordial Star, and improve the effectiveness of his contemplation.

.

The accumulation of knowledge had to be slowly built up over time. No matter how good the method, he had to learn step by step.

Observing sentient beings in the Subduing Demon world and refining demons with his heart.

Studying humanities and scientific knowledge and researching the *Light Ray Chapter* in the real world.

Xu Jingming was growing every day, and he felt that time was passing quickly. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed since he became an eighth-order cosmic lifeform.

*****

Blue Star, Bin Hai City.

Ding-ling-ling!

As the school bell rang, many students walked out of the campus.

"See you in the virtual world tonight."

"Class Two, don't you dare run away tonight. Class One will fight you in a five-on-five!"

"Who's afraid of who?"

The students were talking and were very excited.

As minors, they still had to attend school during the day and interact with their peers. Only when they returned home could they enter the virtual world.

"Look, it's Xu Lixing."

"Xu Lixing from Class Three, Grade One."

"Her dad is Xu Jingming, the number one person on Blue Star. It hasn't even been two years since the evolution method was popularized, and Xu Jingming has already become a seventh-order cosmic lifeform. Xu Lixing is only twelve years old this year, and she's already won first place in the global youth competition. She's really amazing."

A group of students looked at a girl in the distance as if she were a celebrity.

Xu Lixing was indeed a big star on Blue Star. From the time she started kindergarten, she had been the center of attention, with many media outlets following her and reporting on her news.

"Let's go, let's go home."

Xu Lixing got into a small flying vehicle by the side of the road. These small flying vehicles were now quite common on Blue Star, with tens of millions of them in use worldwide. It was believed that in a few decades, they would completely replace cars.

"Okay." The butler robot, Xiao Wu, sat in the flying vehicle and personally came to pick up Xu Lixing.

"Auntie Xiao Wu," Xu Lixing couldn't help but say, "Ever since I won first place in the global youth competition, people have been taking pictures of me everywhere I go."

"Lixing, haven't you been used to it since you were little?" Butler Xiao Wu said with a smile.

"It's different. It's much crazier now than it used to be. I'm a little troubled," Xu Lixing said, covering her forehead, but there was still a hint of excitement in her eyes. She really enjoyed being chased after.

Butler Xiao Wu said, "According to what your dad says, reaching fifth order at the age of twelve isn't anything special. Among the countless civilizations in the universe, there are billions of people with higher talent than you."

"I'm the global number one, though!" Xu Lixing widened her eyes.

"But you've been practicing martial arts since you were little, and your dad has been personally teaching you. You've been learning for nearly ten years to reach fifth order," Butler Xiao Wu said.

"I've already worked very hard. My parents are very strict. I was already third order at the age of seven, fourth order at the age of ten, and this year I reached fifth order and won first place in the global youth competition. When people mention me, they all give me a thumbs up. Speaking of which, my dad was only fifth order at the age of thirty. Humph, just you wait and see how I surpass him," Xu Lixing said.

"Lixing, all of us, including your dad, are looking forward to you surpassing him," Butler Xiao Wu said.

"Just you wait and see."

Xu Lixing had just won first place in the global competition for the first time and was full of energy and fighting spirit.

Soon, the flying vehicle landed in the courtyard of her home.

"Dad, Mom."

As soon as Xu Lixing got out of the flying vehicle, she ran towards Xu Jingming and Li Miaomiao.

Xu Jingming looked at his daughter. At the age of twelve, because she had been practicing the evolution method for many years, she was tall and slender, with a height of already one meter seventy-five. She was already a young woman.

The older his daughter got, the more worried Xu Jingming became. He didn't know which young man she would end up with in the future. He had to keep a close eye on things.

"Have some fruit." Li Miaomiao pointed to the fruit plate next to her.

"I ate some snacks on the way. I'm going to go into the virtual world first. Call me when it's time for dinner," Xu Lixing said and headed straight for her bedroom, closed the door, and put on her virtual helmet.

Xu Jingming and Li Miaomiao looked at each other.

"She just calls me once and then goes upstairs," Xu Jingming shook his head.

"She used to cling to me all the time," Li Miaomiao also looked at the fruit in front of her. "Now I prepare the fruit, but she doesn't even eat it. Daughters grow up, and they're no longer under their mothers' control."

"Our daughter has also reached fifth order. In a while, she'll be able to become a cosmic lifeform and have her own virtual room," Xu Jingming said. "Why do you have to cultivate into a cosmic lifeform yourself?"

"I'm still young, and I want to give it my best shot," Li Miaomiao said with a firm attitude.

Xu Jingming nodded and smiled. "Alright, whatever you want."

In his family, besides himself, his father, Xu Hong, had broken through to fifth order on his own two years ago and become a cosmic lifeform. Counting the time from when he obtained the evolution method, his father had cultivated for eleven years before becoming fifth order.

As for his mother, grandfather, and his parents-in-law, they were relatively inferior in this regard and had all used external force to assist in their advancement to cosmic lifeforms.

According to Xu Jingming and Li Miaomiao's decision, they would only be willing to spend money to use external force to help their closest relatives advance to cosmic lifeforms.

The vast majority of cosmic lifeforms in the entire Cosmic Human race were those who had broken through with external force. This was the reason why! When one person rose, they would naturally help their closest relatives. Moreover, because cosmic lifeforms had very long lifespans, this would even affect subsequent generations, eventually forming a large family.

Virtual World Network, Xu Jingming's personal space.

Xu Jingming sat on the sofa and opened his personal combat strength panel—

Gene Evolution Method: *Heavenly Serpent Evolution Method* (Cosmic Lifeform Perfected)

Body: 1.06 billion

Skills: Spear Technique (Eighth Order 97%), Shield Technique (Eighth Order 95%), Sword Technique (Eighth Order 93%), Saber Technique (Eighth Order 92%), Staff Technique (Eighth Order 95%), Footwork (Eighth Order 98%), Hidden Weapons (Eighth Order 87%)

Basic Combat Strength: 530 billion

Energy: 106 billion

Actual Combat Bonus: 63 times

Combat Strength: 40 trillion (Please abide by the laws of the Cosmic Human Alliance)

Xu Jingming looked at the data and nodded slightly. "With the help of the Primordial Research Institute's Supreme Inheritance core chapter, in ten years, I have indeed cultivated my physical body to the eighth-order limit."

"However, the eighth-order limit is still very far from a Source lifeform," Xu Jingming was very clear about this.

He gently tapped and opened the hidden data on his personal panel—

Heart Power: 5631

This was the data from the test he had just taken this year.

"The heart power index is easy to increase in the early stages. The average data for the geniuses at the Primordial Research Institute is that eighth-order cosmic lifeforms cultivate for 35 years to break through 5,000 in the heart index, and 390 years to break through 9,000… Generally, they become Source lifeforms within a thousand years."

"And me, in ten years, my heart index has broken through five thousand."

"According to a similar ratio, I should become a Source lifeform in about two hundred years," Xu Jingming thought.

It took only ten years to reach the eighth-order limit.

But progressing at a similar rate, it would take two hundred years to become a Source lifeform.

Becoming a Source lifeform would take twenty times longer than reaching the eighth-order limit, and that was assuming he could continue to progress at a steady rate. Many eighth-order lifeforms became despairing over time and gave up.

This was why the number of Source lifeforms in the vast Cosmic Human race was so incredibly small.

"According to the Primordial Research Institute's evaluation, my heart power is progressing relatively quickly," Xu Jingming said with emotion. "Maintaining this efficiency, it will still take two hundred years to become a Source lifeform?"