Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent

Chapter 382: Enhance

Inside the training room, Li Pin kept reviewing the details of the Spirit-Essence Orb in his mind.

"The Spirit-Essence Orb is the essence that gives rise to the wisdom of ferocious beasts and demonic creatures."

Wisdom alone doesn't fully represent life. However, it was an essential cognitive ability for all beings. For humans, it represents higher cognitive and intellectual functions.

The Spirit-Essence Orb was created by extracting this wisdom from ferocious beasts and demonic creatures. Other than enhancing spiritual strength, it also deepened self-awareness. But only Legends possessed such treasures. Master Astral Cultivators could rarely obtain them, most often as rewards for great deeds.

For High-Class and Top-Tier Astral Cultivators to acquire them was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Because of this, Li Pin was unsurprised that no one had discovered the Spirit-Essence Orb's ability to awaken cells. No High-Class or Top-Tier Astral Cultivator had ever had the chance to refine one, while Master Astral Cultivators had already replaced their spiritual wills with Atomic Will.

Li Pin extended his hand and quietly observed his arm. He had sensed life within his arm during the refinement process.

No, it wasn't just his arm. His entire body felt alive!

When he used his "Clairvoyance" gift, he could manipulate his cells with precisions to refine them further and bring every part of his body to life. However, that required intense concentration and undivided attention.

Now, with each cell seemingly coming to life, a trend toward instinctual action slowly began to develop.

With this instinctive advantage, he could perform cellular-level operations with minimal mental spirit consumption. For example, creating electrical currents through cell friction now took only a thought, without needing the intense focus he once required.

With less mental spirit consumption, his endurance in battle would increase.

"Instinct isn't quite the right word... It's more like subjective initiative."

Li Pin quietly reflected on this change, exploring this "subjective initiative" through his Clairvoyance.

Soon, he reached a conclusion.

"Aside from my head, which holds my conscious will, I can now quickly regenerate and reconstruct any part of my body if it's destroyed—without needing to pour so much energy into relying on my Clairvoyance gift like before...

I can also leave a portion of my power in another person’s body, like a manifestation of my clone. When needed, I can activate this power and unleash it. The more power I invest, the stronger and longer it lasts. Additionally, a higher mental spirit value can extend both the duration and the effective range between us.

They were already beginning to evolve into something more like divine abilities.

"As my mental spirit advances and my understanding of genetics grows more refined, one day... I will be able to manifest external avatars and regenerate from a single drop of blood."[1]

This meant that with even a drop of his blood, infused with his consciousness, he could activate the genetic power within and quickly form a new body, bringing himself back to life.

It meant he could separate a part of himself—whether blood or a piece of flesh—and let it grow and evolve into another version of himself, an external avatar.

If his mental spirit was strong enough, he could sustain numerous external avatars, effectively turning himself into an army. Having thousands or even tens of thousands of clones wasn't a fantasy anymore.

Of course, creating countless avatars didn't hold much practical value, and splitting himself into thousands would scatter his strength. In a real life-and-death battle, he would be vulnerable to being overwhelmed by his opponent.

Still, these abilities were on par with the starlight form. They might even surpass starlight form in terms of survival.

When a Master Astral Cultivator's starlight form was shattered, it meant the opponent was stronger.

If the disparity between the two wasn't staggering, it was still possible to escape. However, with a wide enough gap, the weaker Master Astral CUltivator wouldn't have any hope of fleeing. They would be worn down repeatedly until they perished.

However, blood rebirth and external avatars changed the equation. At Li Pin's level, life-and-death battles could cover thousands of miles.

Within that range, no one would notice that his scattered blood carried his spiritual will—unless, of course, he was instantly obliterated, leaving no chance for resistance.

Li Pin chuckled softly. "Heh, things are getting more interesting."

This is the path of martial arts! This is evolution! Who knows when an unexpected surprise will come?

However, cell activation, flesh regeneration, and avatar embodiment only enhanced his endurance, survival, and versatility. Against an opponent much stronger than him, he would still have no chance to fight back.

Strength was the foundation of everything.

Li Pin focused and continued refining the Spirit-Essence Orb.

Vitality, Qi, and Spirit had always been a unified whole. Astral Cultivators believed the Spirt-Essence Orb enhanced their mental spirit because their cells seemed to come to life. With their physique and vitality strengthened, they gained increased energy and a stronger spirit.

However, upon reaching the Master Astral Cultivator level, their focus shifted away from physical cultivation, centering instead on developing spiritual strength and exploring Atomic Will.

In the end, their spiritual growth often fell short of what Li Pin, a Martial God dedicated to physical refinement, could achieve.

Four days later, after fully refining one of the Spirit-Essence Orbs, his mental spirit increased by 8.1 points.

Li Pin opened his eyes. "Excellent."

He checked his communication bracelet and found a few messages, but ignored them since none were urgent.

The only matter requiring his attention was Taibai's Death Valley. However, he had promised to do it within one to two months, so there was no rush.

He spent a day adjusting his mental state, then resumed his seclusion, continuing to refine the remaining Spirit-Essence Orbs.

***

While Li Pin was refining each of the Spirit-Essence Orbs, members within the Celestial Martial God Hall, now supplied with abundant cultivation resources, also experienced a rapid increase in power.

Having been personally attending to Li Pin, Xing Yinh has had the chance to receive his occasional guidance and was the first to reach the High-Class Martial God realm.

Xie Longcheng, a natural talent, soon followed, advancing swiftly and forming his Natal Planet.

Having refined Skill Crystals, they had already gained remarkable insight into Celestial Force Fields. While they might not yet match Master Astral Cultivators after their breakthrough, they could already rival the strongest among Top-Tier Astral Cultivators.

After Xing Ying and Xie Longcheng, Shi Shihu, Xing Hui, Yue Ying, and others followed suit. Even Lin Xingchen, who had only joined the Celestial Martial God Hall recently and undergone intense spiritual training, broke through as well.

By the time Li Pin finished refining all six Spirit-Essence Orbs, the Celestial Martial God Hall had gained fourteen High-Class Martial Gods.

***

Outside the training room.

Li Pin just finished bathing. He quietly sensed the changes brought by his month-long seclusion.

[Qi and Blood: 341.65], [Mental Spirit: 142.75], [Magnetic Field: 32.81]

Even without much daily attention, his qi and blood continued to steadily grow on their own thanks to the constant optimization of his genes.

As for the magnetic field strength, he hardly focused on cultivating it to avoid wasting the legendary-grade Spirit-Essence Orbs. Its growth was slow, relying solely on the natural operation of the Thunder-Magnetic Elemental Body.

The increase in his mental spirit, however, was substantial. Any resource, when used excessively, would have diminishing returns. The Spirit-Essence Orb was no exception.

Li Pin had exceeded the limits of all other Master Astral Cultivators, even the Legends, by gaining over forty points in mental spirit from six orbs. If they tried refining six orbs within a month, they'd be lucky to gain thirty points.

Mental spirit is an elusive trait. My talent can only do so much, Li Pin thought.

But by carefully sensing neuron rhythms while refining the Spirit-Essence Orbs, I've greatly optimized the Innate Primal Chaos Technique for nurturing my spirit over the past month. My monthly mental spirit growth should now reach about five points.

Li Pin estimated that, within a year, his mental spirit could reach the Legendary benchmark of two hundred points. Although growth became harder over time, his continual optimization of techniques would balance out the challenge, allowing steady progress.

While contemplating this, Li Pin stepped out of the secluded training area, where entry was strictly prohibited to others.

As he left the training room, he saw Xing Ying chatting with Li Yunyao.

Xing Ying, who was about ten years older and had experience in hunting Majin, was sharing knowledge on demonic creatures and ferocious beasts.

Upon seeing Li Pin, both of them stood up in surprise.

"Hall Master."

"Brother, are you done training?"

Li Pin smiled at Li Yunyao. "Cultivation is a lifelong journey. As long as life continues, evolution never stops. There's no such thing as being 'done.' If you treat cultivation as a task, you'll only end up more tired.

"But if you see it as part of your life, as something essential to your life's pursuit, you'll find that every session brings anticipation. And when it ends, you'll eagerly look forward to what changes the next will bring."

Li Yunyao listened and soon fell into deep thought.

Li Pin didn't rush her. Instead, he turned to Xing Ying. "Anything significant happening lately?"

"No major events. Many factions are eager to invest and set up factories within the Celestial Martial God Hall's territory. Additionally, several nations have shown interest in joining our system..."

"Handle those as you see fit," Li Pin said, waving it off.

He needed only to oversee the overall development of the hall; matters like these were handled by capable hands like Shi Shihu and Xie Longcheng. After all, why else would he have invested skill crystals in them?

"Since there is nothing urgent pressing..." Li Pin glanced at Li Yunyao, then looked past her, as if toward a distant horizon. "Get ready. We're heading to Taibai."

1. avatar is the manifestation of oneself within another person's body, in this context it means Li Pin embedded his power into the person's body, thus manifesting himself within them. ☜