Chapter 83: Origin Sea

Time flies, days and months shuttle.

In the blink of an eye another year has passed, and the time has come to October 2060.

The Monster Clan had completely become history five months ago. Although many people do not know where the birds and beasts of even earlier times went, nor why sea beasts can truly be said to have gone extinct, the fact lies before us.

In the world where humans live, there have been no monster sightings for five months, including in the field of view of all human soldiers and martial artists.

With the wave driven by the 'All-People War' receding, upon returning to life, one discovers that this world has already changed completely, utterly different from the past.

A brand-new monetary system, an iterated transportation system, a renewed social system, and many more lifestyle changes that people momentarily struggle to adapt to.

Survival, life, and entertainment centered on the Heartnet system have already covered every corner of life in a short time.

A year ago, people were embracing the new lifestyle brought by Heartnet; a year later, the Heartnet system has become an indispensable part of the world, and humanity can no longer answer what life would be like without Heartnet.

On Earth there are no longer enemies, and the basic needs of life have been met beyond imagination. Everything on Earth seems to have reached the limits of what people can imagine, so humanity naturally turns its longing toward what remains unattained—martial cultivation, longevity, and the universe.

The wave of mass martial practice traces back earliest to the era of the 'ancient' Two Great Martial Halls and Five Great Nations.

At that time, martial practice for ordinary people was like a single-plank bridge amid thousands of troops.

Out of hundreds who choose martial practice, only one or two ultimately become martial artists; most remain mere warriors, and becoming a war commander is one in a hundred, step by step upward—vast numbers of martial artists spend their whole lives stuck at the apprentice level known today.

In many people's original expectations, with the end of war, the necessity of martial artists would decline, and the craze for mass martial practice would fade.

But as knowledge of martial artists spreads through Heartnet, the general public, and even many low-level martial artists, finally realize how vast the world is.

Apprentice level, Planet level, Star level, Cosmic level—strength continually grows, lifespan continually extends, until one becomes an eternal, immortal existence.

Martial artists' cultivation is both a continual leap in individual life and a continual transformation of the population's genes.

Survival and reproduction are the most essential meaning of life, while the martial way is the infinite extension of life's meaning.

Of course, earthly life also bears a third layer of meaning, legend says that only after reaching and surpassing the Star level can one truly comprehend it.

Among Earth's upper echelon of martial artists, there are already more than ten Star-level cultivators.

Hong and Leishen, two powerhouses who have spanned humanity's rapid changes across three eras, after the merger of the Two Great Martial Halls and the World Tree, no longer concern themselves with Earth's affairs, merely acting as witnesses awaiting the conclusion of all things on Earth.

Cultivating in silence, awaiting the launch of the 【Explorer】 plan.

The two, relying on the cultivation manual and resources provided by Chen Chen, broke through to Star level even before Chen Chen's earthly body; Hong steadily reached Star Level Two, while Leishen has already attained Star Level Three.

Chen Chen's earthly avatar, with deep accumulation, closely followed and caught up with Hong, able to overtake at any moment; Ayun's Dongjun avatar openly has the same realm as Leishen.

Those below these four are the first batch of pillars nurtured by the World Tree.

Among the guard troops, many elders have indeed passed the Golden Stage, their bodies and spirits finding it hard to break through further; yet selecting the best from the best has given rise to five Star-level individuals, the most promising of whom is Chen Yang's father, Chen Shuo, who is also the chief of the three army corps commanders of the present Earth Guard.

The others, such as Cang Yue Er, Chen Yang, Modiya, Chen Yunshu, and Jiheng—commanders of the various armies—have also successively broken through.

The realms of the new-generation geniuses are firmly locked; among Chen Chen's contemporaries, Chen Chen and Luofeng are destined to be cheat-level and incomparable, while Jiheng and Jiang Jiang have indeed pulled ahead of their peers of the same generation.

The rising star Jiheng even shows a trend of gradually overtaking the martial artists of the Chen Yang and Cang Yue Er generation.

Only those who have broken through Star level know that after breaking Star level there is another extremely important breakthrough, called 'Star Ascension and Source Fixing'.

After reaching Planet level, a martial artist forms their own 'planet' in either their dantian world or sea of consciousness; this 'planet' is called the Fate Star, and it is the gathering and source of the martial artist's power.

(The Fate Star and the system below it were named by Chen Chen, who holds the interpretive rights.)

From Planet level onward, the martial artist's 'source' gradually strengthens, enabling them to perceive the origin of life's source—that is, the existence of the Life Source.

After breaking through Star level, one can clearly grasp the thread of the Life Source, raising one's Fate Star into the Origin within, the so-called source of life, named the 'Origin Sea'.

And the Origin Sea is the shared source-ground of humanity, nature spirits, and all earthly life.

The more Fate Stars there are in the Origin Sea, the stronger its energy becomes; powerful energy then feeds back to the whole population, enhancing the clan's bloodline, boosting martial artists' comprehension, and even directly feeding into each strong one's actual combat.

Of course, the so-called Origin Sea is a cultivation method unique to Earth's people; it does not exist in the widest reaches of cosmic civilization.

Within the vast cosmos, countless peoples possess various different racial talents, and the Origin Sea will be Earth's people's most vital reliance in this boundless universe.

(Chen Chen: Coming up with a decent set of excuses is really not easy).

Among the earliest batch of martial artists, many have come into contact with knowledge from cosmic civilizations; for instance, Hong and Leishen once had reservations about Chen Chen's 'Origin Sea.' But under Chen Chen's guarantee and the terror from the cosmos, they too raised their 'Fate Stars' into Chen Chen's said 'Origin Sea'.

The so-called Origin Sea is the path to humanity's future that Chen Chen found by combining his insight and strength from Mending Heaven, and also his own future path.

Logically speaking, after reaching Planet level, the more a martial artist cultivates, the more their origin and nature will gradually detach from the planet, and the connection between life and planet will grow ever weaker.

The planets, even mini-worlds, and divine realms forged by martial artists will gradually surpass planets, even the cosmos, achieving a process of transcending the self and the world.

And the Origin Sea is, on the foundation of life's birth, adding another relationship to the martial artist's path of cultivation atop the tower.

A martial artist's Fate Star, upon entering Chen Chen's Origin Sea, gains an additional bond, becoming part of the Origin Sea's power.

The stronger the Origin Sea, the harder it becomes for a Fate Star to achieve transcendence; yet at the same time, through this layer of connection with the Origin Sea, one can obtain Chen Chen's power boost.

Although it is merely a light addition of two words, for Earth's people it is enough to let them become a top-tier cosmic race endowed with support; from Chen Chen's perspective, this is a very fair trade.

Of course, in order not to leave oneself a future calamity that would be triggered by a heavenly uprising countless years later, the Origin Sea's contract temporarily extends only to immortality (for now only to immortality); after becoming an immortal strong one, one gains the qualification to know more truths, can renew the contract now, or choose to go solo.

Everyone cooperates for mutual win, parts happily when together, separates happily when apart.

Besides the old-generation squads, the new-era martial artists have been immersed in a large amount of reading material personally written by Chen Chen about loving the ball and respecting the ball, their worldviews are utterly correct, and their reverence for the 'Origin Sea' far exceeds mere vigilance.

After all, for weak Earth's people, rather than guarding against the 'birth-and-nurturing-me' Earth mother, it is better to spend a bit more thought guarding against alien races in the cosmos.

When civilizations of different races meet, there are only two outcomes: annihilation or domination, neither of which is a good result.

Under Chen Chen's solid promotion, on Earth one cannot say it is hostile toward the universe; one can only say that the enemies have no way to wash away.

Besides the wave of mass martial cultivation, exploring the cosmos is also the theme of this era.

World Library, here people can find all kinds of knowledge they want.

And in the past ten months, borrowing of books on cosmic starry skies in the World Library has continuously topped the charts for months.

Just from these books alone, one can imagine the vastness of this universe, the splendor of the starry river, the brilliance of civilization.

Likewise from these books, one can feel the insignificance of Earth's people, and also the fear coming from the starry skies.

Besides this, there are also works wholly written by Chen Chen that belong to Earth; among them, the one with the highest borrowing volume is titled 《My Hometown is Earth》.

This book is not some grand principle about the universe or starry skies; rather, it is a first-person narrative telling of an Earth person who, on some future day, chooses to leave Earth and wander the universe, experiencing all kinds of adventures, also witnessing various strange races and various civilizations, and when life nears its end, returns to Earth as a novel.

The popularity of this book also reflects that the current cosmic surge is rising, people's yearning for the universe, their longing for the vast world, and finally their feeling of belonging to the mother star.

Apart from novels, the book most highly valued in professional fields is however a book titled 《Mother Star and the Evolution of Life's Progress》.

The content of the book may be somewhat difficult to understand for many middle-aged Earth people, but it is not difficult for the previous generation that received compulsory education in the new era.

Simply put, the life born on a planet and the planet itself are closely related; if we divide planets into different levels, then the initial life born on a first‑level planet can at most be a first‑level life.

For a planet, nurturing life is the way it advances; for life, promoting a planet's advancement is the meaning of its existence, and also the channel by which populations advance together with the planet's advancement.

If life is also considered part of the planet, then life that can traverse the starry sky is this planet's hands and feet.

Although this concept is not yet mainstream, it has already been ordained as mainstream.

In the space‑aviation field that ordinary people cannot directly access, the technology tree of the World Tree Universe Development Department has long reached an extremely high level, and is now preparing a plan called 【Eat Moon】.

And this plan called 【Eat Moon】 will, in the near future, completely establish Earth people's understanding of planets, as well as their understanding of themselves and of life.

———

Deep underground, tens of thousands of meters below North America, Comrade Luofeng finally completely digested the body of the Golden Horn Giant Beast, and successfully replicated a human body using his clone talent.

Mr. Luo, who had been confined for over a year, is eager to leave this place.

Although Luofeng had already passed the most complicated stage months ago and could free up time to use the Heartnet, staying in touch with family on the Heartnet and reporting safety, he could occasionally spare some time to go on dates with Xuxin in the 【Dream World】 for several hours, but the vast majority of his time and energy still had to be devoted to accepting and adapting to the body of the Golden Horn Giant Beast.

Feeling his familiar yet completely new body, Luofeng felt an indescribable exhilaration akin to being born.

"Babata, let's go!"

On the journey home via the tower, Luofeng also learned through Babata what had happened in the world during his over‑year imprisonment.

"Luofeng, I have to admit, I indeed underestimated the potential of your Earth." Babata couldn't help but feel this sigh in his heart.

Through intelligent life information transmission, Luofeng quickly learned of the changes on Earth over the past year, far more striking than chatting with Xuxin, and far more astonishing than Luohua's exaggerated description.

In just a moment, Luofeng returned to the ground, flew up to high altitude, looked at the completely changed world, and flew leisurely toward the direction of home.

"Luofeng, your Earth, or rather Chén Chén and the World Tree behind him, surely hides a tremendous secret, a secret even more astonishing than your master's inheritance, and this is a good thing for you."

"In this universe, besides the most fundamental strength, one must also consider background and power; your tiny Earth might truly be able to secure a place in the cosmos someday."

"It will not only not be a burden on your path forward, but may even become your pillar—this is an extraordinarily fortunate thing."

Luofeng nodded seriously, but couldn't help complaining:

"Babata, you've changed too—more than this world's changes leave me astonished."

After all, Babata truly possesses a life span of nearly ten million years, has witnessed the cosmos and starry sky, and experienced countless adventures; let alone making Babata say such words, even getting him to utter a single word of praise is extremely difficult.

To make Babada acknowledge Earth from the heart, relying only on this slight change on Earth now is impossible.

"Indeed, even I myself feel astonished."

"But I have indeed been changed, perhaps because the child named Xubi gave me a completely different feeling toward this place in my long life, or perhaps because the fellow called Chén Chén, with his longing description of the future, makes it impossible for anyone to refuse."

"Luofeng, I beg you for one thing."

"If one day you possess the ability to resurrect an immortal deity, without paying an unattainable cost, I hope you can resurrect your teacher whom you have never met, that is, my master."

"Okay?"

Luofeng laughed heartily: "Of course."