From the Metropolis to the Strongest in the Cosmos

"Cultivating diligently and becoming a Deity as soon as possible is the greatest way you can repay me."

The Blade Slaughter Sect Master smiled at Li Yang.

"Alright, if you have any questions about the Laws, ask me now. After you leave this time, you'll only be able to ask me in the Virtual World."

"Yes, Teacher."

...

The guidance session lasted for three hours.

Afterward, Li Yang received a notification that his one hundred million contribution points had been credited to his account.

Additionally, the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall sent another message stating they would dispatch a Tri-System Deity to protect him while he was in the Star Lord Realm, just as the Blade Slaughter Sect Master had said.

"Go on, Li Yang. Cultivate well. I'll be waiting for the day you surpass Mixed Void." The Blade Slaughter Sect Master couldn't help but laugh as he said this.

Mixed Void was a genius ranked in the top one hundred in the history of the Human Race. Though Li Yang had previously shown an astonishing rate of progress, he was still slightly behind Mixed Void.

After all, it had taken Li Yang twenty years to go from the ninth step to the twelfth, whereas it had taken Mixed Void only eighteen.

'Surpassing Mixed Void... That's far too difficult.' He thought it was impossible.

It wasn't just him; any expert in the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall would have thought it impossible.

But its very difficulty was what made it a worthy challenge.

"I will do my best to surpass Mixed Void in the future!" Li Yang declared solemnly upon hearing the Blade Slaughter Sect Master's words.

'A monstrous genius from the top one hundred of the Human Race—an existence considered impossible to surpass!'

In terms of raw power, Li Yang was still a long way off from Mixed Void.

In the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall, Mixed Void had gone from the eighth step directly to the twelfth in under twenty years—an astonishing rate of progress.

Seventeen years had now passed since Mixed Void left the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall. Given his rate of progress, he had undoubtedly advanced even further in that time.

Li Yang's current strength was roughly equivalent to that of Mixed Void seventeen years ago.

Even during his own period of most rapid advancement, Li Yang hadn't surpassed Mixed Void's pace.

'However, I can still create more avatars, and my rate of progress will only accelerate! Even if I'm still a bit behind Mixed Void, I'm confident I can gradually catch up!'

...

After leaving the Blade Slaughter Sect, Li Yang headed for the Lianyun Mountain Range. Tapping the device on his wrist, he began to search for items he wanted to redeem.

'One hundred million contribution points… Letting them just sit in my account would be the height of foolishness. The best course of action is to convert them into actual strength.'

First, Li Yang looked up materials related to the innate Deities.

"Fragment of the Time Divine Tree: The Time Divine Tree is an innate Deity. At maturity, it can master four profundities of the Time Law. Its wood fragments provide immense benefits for comprehending the Time Law! Price: Free."

"Fragment of the Dark Insect King's Corpse: The Dark Insect King is an innate Deity. At maturity, it can master four profundities of the Dark Law. Fragments of its skin provide immense benefits for comprehending the Dark Law! Price: Free."

...

Several similar listings appeared before Li Yang.

'Huh? They're free now?' Li Yang thought as he took a closer look.

He had looked these items up before; fragments from the bodies of these innate Deities all required contribution points, but now they were listed as free for him.

Upon checking, he found that it wasn't just these items; a number of other resources were also available to him for free.

'Looks like this is another benefit of clearing the twelfth step,' Li Yang thought.

He was now a top-tier genius under the tutelage of the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall, so it was only natural that redeeming resources was cheaper for him than for ordinary geniuses.

Since they were free, Li Yang thought for a moment and redeemed one of each of the available innate Deity fragments.

This way, he wouldn't need to redeem them again, even when he was ready to create his seventh and eighth avatars in the future.

'But which avatar should I create next?' Li Yang wondered.

No Law was inherently superior to another. Whichever type of Deity avatar he created, its corresponding Law would advance rapidly, so the specific choice didn't really matter to him.

With this in mind, Li Yang looked up the whereabouts of the Time Divine Tree's species and the others.

'Huh? It looks like the Time Divine Tree's species, much like the Fire Nether Divine Beasts, resides within the Human Race's territory. The others don't,' Li Yang noted after a brief search.

When it came to creating an avatar, he naturally wanted to maximize his gains.

For instance, his Fire Nether Divine Beast avatar was currently comprehending insights within its species' Inheritance Tower. His understanding of the Fire Element Law was constantly improving, and it was even boosting his progress in the Space Law and Thunder Law.

If his next avatar could do the same—travel to its corresponding species' domain and reap benefits just as his Fire Nether Divine Beast avatar had—wouldn't his rate of progress be even faster?

However, these innate Deity species were incredibly proud; they wouldn't necessarily choose to align themselves with the Human Race as the Fire Nether Divine Beasts had. Several major species remained independent, their territories immensely distant from the Human Race.

Li Yang had virtually no way of reaching them.

Furthermore, the Human Race was not the only powerful race in the Cosmos. The Demon Race, for instance, was by no means weaker, and some of those innate Deity species might have allied themselves with them.

Thus, aside from the Fire Nether Divine Beasts, only the Time Divine Tree was allied with the Human Race. No other innate Deity species had ties to humanity.

It was impossible for Li Yang to make contact with them anytime soon.

'In that case, I'll create the Time Divine Tree avatar!' Having gathered this information, Li Yang quickly made his decision.

He also planned to travel to the Time Divine Tree's domain in the future to allow his Time Divine Tree avatar to reap benefits from its own kind.

After confirming the redemptions, Li Yang continued to browse.

'Divine Artifacts... I'm not yet qualified to redeem those. For now, I'll redeem some top-tier Tier Ten Divine Weapons!'

Li Yang began redeeming weapons.

Top-tier Tier Ten Divine Weapons were incredibly powerful; in his current state, Li Yang couldn't even unleash the full might of the very best among them.

When the ruin in the Milky Way Galaxy had appeared, and with it a Tier Ten Divine Weapon, World Realm experts had descended one after another, all hoping to seize it.

'Earth is too weak. I'll redeem some mechanical lifeforms…'

Li Yang continued to search and quickly found the relevant information.

"Mechanical lifeform with Early World Realm strength. Contribution Points required: 100,000."

"Mechanical lifeform with Mid-World Realm strength. Contribution Points required: 1,000,000."

A few listings appeared.

'Found it!'

Previously, Li Yang had redeemed an Early Stage Star Lord Realm mechanical lifeform from the Yangyuan Empire's resource vault.

'As expected of the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall. They even have World Realm mechanical lifeforms for redemption,' Li Yang marveled inwardly.

'So expensive.'

But looking at the prices of these mechanical lifeforms, Li Yang couldn't help but gasp.

The cheapest one, an Early World Realm mechanical lifeform, cost a hundred thousand contribution points!

A Mid-World Realm one cost a staggering one million!

However, the World Realm was the level of the strongest beings beneath the Deities themselves—they could destroy a planet with a wave of their hand, so such a high price was understandable.

Across the entire Milky Way Galaxy, with its hundreds of thousands of life-bearing planets, there were only nine World Realm experts.

If a mechanical lifeform with World Realm strength had been protecting Earth before, then the Kande Clan and most other powers would have never dared to make a move against it.

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