Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent-Chapter 448: Route

The Celestial Breaker stage was even more dangerous than condensing the Lifeform Force Field. It was a realm where the practitioner would either advance or retreat, live or die, with no middle ground. Once entered, there was no turning back.

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However, Li Pin was no longer the same as before.

Though the Celestial Breaker phase was still perilous for him, it was far less uncertain than before. Now, he was fully confident.

His powerful inner spirit kept his Vitality, Qi, and Spirit perfectly balanced. Unless a flaw appeared within his inner spirit or his opponent completely overpowered him through brute strength or higher cultivation realm, external techniques were unlikely to affect him.

His heart was as cold as steel, his mind as cold as snow.

***

"Based on my calculations, at the latest, when my magnetic field strength reaches 150, Gaia's Celestial Force Field will begin to resonate and target me...

"The process of being targeted will be like a satellite being captured by its primary planet, growing stronger over time. Once I am targeted, I must refine the Celestial Core Fragments and quickly raise the magnetic field strength to 250, even 300, and break through the Celestial Breaker phase in one go."

His magnetic field strength hadn't improved for a while, and his mental spirit was still below his expectations.

"Two-pronged approach. In the next three months, I will raise the magnetic field strength to 150 and my mental spirit to 400. At the same time, I will deploy all the manpower of the Celestial Martial God Hall to search for Celestial Core Fragments, hoping to find another fragment."

If no more fragments were found... Li Pin wouldn't force it. One fragment would be enough.

After fighting others for so many years, it was time to challenge the heavens and Gaia's force field.

Li Pin's gaze shifted to the Mental Spirit Ring. "Mental spirit..."

When he had first wore the ring, he gained a deeper understanding of mental spirit. Especially when he focused and used his Clairvoyance to examine it, he felt he was about to grasp its essence.

The essence of mental spirit came from the activities of life.

Any intelligent life, as long as it was active, even in terms of thought, would generate mental spirit. Mental spirit was the proof of an intelligent life's existence in this world. Or, rather, mental spirit was the medium between life and the material world. Without mental spirit, a living being would have no influence on the world despite being alive.

In a way, it was as if one transcended matter and energy.

But on the flip side, because they couldn't influence the material or energy world, it was almost as if they didn't exist in this world. Even if one possessed an infinitely powerful inner spirit, they couldn't affect the world in any way.

Of course, in theory, inner spirit and mental spirit complemented each other. Just as mental spirit originated from life's activities and worked in tandem with vital energy, inner spirit couldn't exist without mental spirit.

After grasping the essence of mental spirit, Li Pin realized he could use his inner spirit to influence the flow of Vitality, Qi, and Spirit, rapidly enhancing his spiritual strength, along with his qi and blood.

"If we categorize a living being, inner spirit is the most primitive 'self.' The moment inner spirit is born, 'I' am born. With the birth of 'I,' thoughts and intentions emerge, and life begins to develop from nothing to something."

Li Pin's thoughts were very clear.

If a person were compared to a computer, the body would be like the computer itself, and the mental spirit would be like its operating system. The inner spirit, on the other hand, represented the concept of "I."

This distinction defined whether a computer was merely a machine or if it was a life form that understood the concept of "I"—the awareness of itself.

"Just like avatars or clones, the greatest difference from true life isn't that they can't function like others or survive independently. It's that... they don't grasp the concept of 'I.'"

Li Pin paused to reflect. He thought that using just the concept of "I" to describe inner spirit didn't fully capture the idea. It should be called... the True Self!

"The Celestial Breaker phase is the next step beyond the Supreme Martial God realm, and to break through...."

Li Pin paused again, considering the difficulty of using a newly born Natal Star to break through Gaia's Celestial Force Field. This task seemed nearly impossible unless someone had Clairvoyance like him.

He murmured, "The person attempting Celestial Breaker must find their 'True Self.'"

Only by perceiving the True Self and understanding the power of the inner spirit could one succeed in breaking through to the Celestial Breaker phase. Otherwise, the difficulty would be even greater than when the Martial Saint first turned to the path of Astral Cultivation.

Li Pin reorganized the stages in his mind. Martial God, perceiving the True Self, reaching the realm of the Supreme Expert!

He added the "True Self" as a new realm.

He soon felt that the name "Perceiving True Self" didn't quite fit as a realm title. Since it signified the understanding of inner spirit, enough to shatter atoms and turn the world into a vacuum, he returned to his usual naming convention.

"Supreme Martial God, Vacuum Pulverizer, Supreme Expert."

Li Pin felt much more satisfied with the new titles.

"Jumping straight from Supreme Martial God to Celestial Breaker and then leaping to the Supreme Expert level is too large a gap.

"Unless someone has extraordinary talent like mine, it's nearly impossible. So before that, it's best for them to first perceive their true self and step into the Vacuum Pulverizer realm.

"Only then can they break through to the Celestial Breaker phase and enter the Supreme Expert domain."

After reorganizing his thoughts, Li Pin felt more at ease.

He ordered the Celestial Martial God Hall to intensify efforts in searching for Celestial Core Fragments. He also brought out the legendary and rare astral equipment in Great Shang's storages and began selling them, exchanging them for resources to strengthen mental spirit.

At the same time, he ordered the mining of Primordial Electric Crystals to be ramped up.

The Great Shang, out of considerations for long-term prospects, had previously kept the mining limited to maintain market value. However, Li Pin, with no regard to whether Gaia could make it through the early-second phase, immediately ordered full-scale extraction.

It was easy to predict that, in the coming period, vast amounts of Primordial Electric Crystals would be mined and sent to the Celestial Martial God Hall to bolster its foundation.

Soon, the number of Top-Tier Martial Gods would increase rapidly. At the very least, those who had refined Skill Crystals could easily reach this level. To progress further, Li Pin would have to impart his insights of the Supreme Martial God. But that would be beyond the reach of those Top-Tier Martial Gods in the next few months.

***

It took a month for the Heavenly and Supreme Experts to uncover the truth of Li Pin's battle with Zhao Kunwu, Ji Xuanyuan, and others and to learn about the Astral Formation system's existence.

After another month of communication and discussions, the Heavenly Realm Experts sent a select few representatives to hold a meeting—a gathering exclusive to Astral Cultivators. There were only five participants: Solar Radiance Sovereign, Yuan Zhenchuan, Xiao Donghai, Fan Xiu, and Bai Ying.

Solar Radiance Sovereign's gaze swept over the group. He was expressionless. "Cosmic True Dragon Secret Art, Astral Techniques, Astral Formations... Tell me, what else have you done? What new information have you discovered?

"Don't tell me you've spent all this time just studying the Heavenly realm cultivation methods in the Cosmic True Dragon Secret Art and practicing Astral Techniques."

Yuan Zhenchuan remained silent for a moment before speaking. "Tianyuan... During the clearing of the Demon-Sealing Fortress, we also made contact with the forces behind it.

"But these forces are different from the astral energy system. Their power comes from dark magic, focusing on strengthening the physical body."

Bai Ying then shared his findings. "Since dark magic counters astral energy, I reached out to them too. After detailed research, we found that the civilization behind dark magic is a destroyed wandering civilization, calling themselves the Holy Dragon Clan.

"Their goal is to treat our world as their new home to recover. The civilization that destroyed them was likely the Divine Dragon Empire."

He then glanced at Yuan Zhenchuan. "If our information is correct, the dark magic base should be the alternate dimension discovered by Li Pin over a year ago, when he swept through the Death Valley...

"If there's indeed a problem with the Divine Dragon Empire, we might be able to cooperate with the Holy Dragon Clan."

Solar Radiance Sovereign didn't respond, instead turning to Fan Xiu. "What about the East Sea's Thirty-Six Countries?"

Fan Xiu responded, "The force you contacted is probably the most powerful faction in the Divine Dragon Empire, Miracle Star, right? Miracle Star is the capital, where all kinds of departments are based.

"The person I contacted seemed to have lower-level authority; they instructed us to reach out to Miracle Star's Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Xiao Donghai added, "I contacted Alliance Star. It seems to be the primary planet ruled by Prince Yan Zhong of the Divine Dragon Empire. The biggest advantage we've gained from them so far is the better use of astral equipment."

Everyone turned to him. "Astral equipment?"

Xiao Donghai nodded. "Yes, astral equipment."

He didn't hold back, directly sharing the relevant technology. "Astral equipment is a mainstream school of thought in the vast galaxy.

"This prince obtained the technology from another civilization and expanded it, making Alliance Star the most prosperous primary planet in the Divine Dragon Empire."

"As we know, only spirit weapons and spirit armor can be refined into natal spirit equipment. But with this prince's technology, we can convert any astral equipment into natal astral equipment— up to nine pieces at once."

"Nine?!" Solar Radiance Sovereign frowned. "Why nine?"

"You'll understand when you see it. The orthodox Astral Cultivators need to cultivate Astral Palaces, and the highest number of Astral Palaces in an Astral Palace system is nine.

"Each palace nurtures one astral equipment... Of course, as Heavenly Realm Experts, we can unlock Astral Palaces within ourselves, with effects not much different from the traditional Astral Palace system."

Xiao Donghai continued, "Legendary astral equipment already gives a significant boost to our combat power.

"But due to interference between them, the boost isn't obvious. However, if we have nine natal astral equipment without interference, their combined effects would double everyone's combat power!"

The number stirred everyone's hearts.

Double!

However, they soon recalled Li Pin's near-dominating power and regained their composure.

Double? Not enough.

At that moment, Bai Ying said, "Nine natal legendary astral equipment would double our combat power. Then, what if they were nine divine equipment forged from divine relics?"