Chapter 5

Yun Luo had a very comfortable afternoon nap. After waking up, he brewed himself a cup of clear tea and slowly sipped it, eating strawberry-filled cookies.

It felt great not to worry about waking up with missing limbs. Before Yun Luo obtained the Nine Heavens Starry Sword Qi in the post-apocalyptic world, he had once been bitten and had his right index and middle fingers eaten off by a starving mutant. Later, after becoming stronger, he used genetic cells to cultivate new fingers and transplanted them back onto his severed right hand.

With nothing to do, Yun Luo opened his laptop and went to Qidian Chinese Network to read novels. His taste was different from Yun Luo's; only the immortal cultivation novels on his bookshelf suited his taste, so he deleted all the other types and picked a sword immortal novel to read.

The mythological system and immortal cultivation culture of Huaguo made him feel some insights. He kept reading until he reached the several major sword cultivation realms in the sword immortal novel: forming sword qi, dividing sword light, sword qi thunder sound, refining sword into threads, one sword breaking all laws, man and sword as one, and controlling the sword with the primordial spirit...

He seemed to have gained something. In the post-apocalyptic world, the starlight sword he cultivated from the Nine Heavens Starry Sword Qi was only used as a weapon for killing, and he had never thought about the sword qi power it brought.

He understood sword techniques, sword methods, and sword arts, and he had sword intent, which carried a grayish-white death aura. However, he had never thought about the sword realm. After careful consideration, he began to look up the various sword cultivation realms in web novels, reading about the cultivation and immortality of this Huaguo ideology.

All paths lead to the same destination. Vaguely, he felt that the starlight sword could reach the realm of refining sword into threads. The other sword realms, after all, belonged to a different world system and were not suitable for the cultivation method of the Nine Heavens Starry Sword Qi.

To be honest, he was very interested in the sword flight and soaring to the sky depicted in immortal cultivation novels, but unfortunately, the starlight sword could not achieve this. In the post-apocalyptic world, he was a level ten existence and still could not fly. However, there were machines on the scientific side that could make people fly to the heavens, and his favorite was a pair of shadow dragon wings made of countless metal scales.

He could not use the true sense of refining sword into threads depicted in immortal cultivation novels, but he borrowed the concept and applied it to the starlight sword, aiming to achieve the effect of sword qi threads emerging without the sword itself, and perhaps even attaching the sword qi threads to plants and leaves to realize the method of everything being a sword.

He was naturally clear about true energy, but he had not paid much attention to sword qi. Compared to true energy, sword qi was too weak.

However, when he discovered that there were also evolvers on Earth and that the first trace of true energy could be detected by awakening instruments, it meant that the Black Domain might have instruments capable of detecting daily true energy fluctuations.

He began to think about hiding himself. In addition to the true energy and mental energy at the source of his power, developing a new power would be good. Sword qi thus caught his eye. He decided to continue reading various types of immortal cultivation novels, using the authors' creative ideas to supplement his understanding of sword qi and to perfect the method of refining the starlight sword into threads.

...

Yun Luo read extremely fast, scanning a page with just a glance and clicking the mouse to turn to the next page. He quickly finished the public version of a novel and started subscribing to the VIP chapters, skipping through them. He had already discovered the benefit of chapter titles.

Deep in thought, Yun Luo switched to a cultivation novel that focused on Dao, techniques, mind, and conduct. He then read many more cultivation novels, from the creation of Pangu to the vast and desolate primordial era, and from the three thousand great Dao and the primordial spirit merging with Dao to the formation of the golden core and the primordial embryo through the influence of the Earthly and Heavenly Spirits. Countless ideas from a world completely different from the post-apocalyptic world collided with his own, sparking new insights.

He suddenly understood how to cultivate the starlight sword to the realm of refining sword into threads and achieve the method of everything being a sword. However, a first-stage starlight sword was still too weak; at least a third-stage flying sword was needed to meet the basic conditions for cultivating refining sword into threads.

With a rough framework in mind, he began to slowly deduce in his mind how to cultivate the method of refining sword into threads. He had the martial mirror realm of a level ten powerhouse and had fought countless opponents. Once he understood the key, creating a cultivation method was not difficult.

Lazily, he only thought through the most basic method of cultivating sword qi and then stopped, listening to music, preferring female pop songs, watching movies, and occasionally sipping tea and eating a cookie.

...

Feeling a sense of purpose, Yun Luo opened the author backend of Qidian Chinese Network. A message popped up: "Post-apocalyptic Year 237, cover approved, work signed." Yun Luo glanced at it and logged into his QQ account, searching for and adding the QQ number of the signing editor provided in the signing SMS. He quickly completed the entire signing process and saved the electronic contract to a USB drive.

Yun Luo glanced at the glass windowsill. The sun outside was bright, and the leaves were wilting from the heat. Having reached the first stage of the Nine Heavens Starry Sword Qi, he was no longer afraid of the high temperatures, so he took his wallet and went out. Yun Luo was not particularly interested in the signing itself but was pleased that after A-signing, the automatic timed release of chapters would be available, which suited his lazy nature.

Although An Chuyu managed Yun Luo's money, the Agricultural Bank card was still in his possession. However, every time the card was used, the transaction information would be sent to his girlfriend's phone.

Yun Luo generally did not take money from the Agricultural Bank card. He spent whatever cash his girlfriend gave him and asked for more when he ran out. If his girlfriend was not around, he would only withdraw money from the bank with her permission.

Wearing white canvas shoes, blue jeans, and a black long-sleeved shirt with copper buttons, Yun Luo's left wrist was adorned with a two-circle bracelet made of fifty black oil spot medicinal agarwood beads, a gift from his girlfriend. Having cultivated successfully, Yun Luo had grown a bit taller and walked calmly down the hot street, looking ordinary.

Seeing the endless stream of girls in tank tops, sleeveless shirts, shorts, hot pants, short skirts, and stockings, Yun Luo reminded himself that he was out shopping, not looking for trouble.

...

The death of the fourth-stage evolver, the Double-Tailed Scorpion, alarmed the Gray Organization, but they took no action, only conducting a covert investigation. After all, Longzi Baxia was known for being domineering and unreasonable, insisting that on his territory, everyone must follow his rules!

Huaguo was a very unique country. As long as you were not caught, you could do whatever you wanted behind the scenes, but if the authorities got serious, you were in trouble. Baxia was the official representative of Huaguo in the Black Domain. The Double-Tailed Scorpion dared to loiter near Baxia while he was searching for awakeners, and he deserved to die.

Among all the organizations in the Black Domain, Baxia of Huaguo treated and valued awakeners the best. When a new evolver was discovered by Baxia, they would be given two options: join Baxia or hide among the civilians.

Those who joined Baxia would receive numerous benefits, including a basic true energy cultivation manual, a special agent identity from the National Security Bureau, and a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan, which would be paid until the evolver died.

The most crucial point was that Baxia had a strict ban on harming fellow members for the sake of the original nucleus. Anyone caught would be killed. In terms of caring for the families of evolvers, Baxia was the best in the Black Domain, ensuring a lifetime of food and clothing.

Those who chose to hide among the civilians were not abandoned by Baxia. They were registered and required to attend a monthly class at the National Security Bureau in their city, mainly for patriotic and party-loving ideological education. Missing two consecutive classes would result in punishment by Baxia. Baxia's evolvers would also teach basic true energy and mental energy cultivation methods, as well as physical and firearms training.

If an evolver showed talent in true energy or mental energy cultivation, they would receive a summons from Baxia. If they showed talent in physical or firearms training, they would also receive a summons.

However, Baxia's reputation in the Black Domain was not particularly good. They were racists and nationalists, only accepting Huaguo citizens of Han ethnicity, and even conducting political reviews. They did not accept mixed-race evolvers or foreign-born Huaguo citizens.

After all, Huaguo had a population of 1.3 billion, so the number of evolvers with awakened abilities was naturally high.

Those abandoned by Baxia, who did not even have the right to attend classes at the National Security Bureau, would be sold to other evolver organizations at a fixed price based on their abilities, to prevent them from causing trouble in the civilian population. Baxia generally chose Huaguo-based evolver organizations, as the country was too large for Baxia to manage alone.

Many of these Huaguo-based evolver organizations were run by retired Baxia members, who continued to contribute their experience. Some with strong connections to Baxia could even select evolvers attending the National Security Bureau classes. However, other Huaguo-based evolver organizations could only dominate a province, and any further expansion would be met with ruthless suppression by Baxia.

Evolvers were also subject to different fates. Some evolvers progressed very quickly in cultivation and received more cultivation resources, allowing them to grow faster.

Truly exceptional evolvers, after completing multiple high-level tasks for Baxia and advancing to the fourth stage, would receive the greatest resource support for cultivation.

Liu Xun was a genius in cultivation with strong combat abilities, earning numerous honors through life and death struggles. She was deeply favored by the upper echelons of Baxia and, after advancing to the fourth stage, received a top-secret manual, the Flame Emperor Life and Death Slash, which she had just begun to cultivate.

The Flame Emperor Life and Death Slash was a top-secret manual perfectly suited to her fire-element curved blade ability, indicating that Baxia indeed considered her a core seed for the future. She would not be qualified to stand on the world stage of the Black Domain until she reached the seventh stage.

...

"Hmph, that annoying awakener better never be found by me. How dare he make me spend a whole day in the sun."

Beauty was a woman's nature. Liu Xun was afraid of being tanned by the harsh sunlight, which would ruin her fair skin. She also disliked wearing stockings on her long, beautiful legs, so she dragged Yuan Lai and Bai Shi to a leisure tea bar to rest, avoiding the scorching mid-afternoon heat. The glass door of the tea bar had a red sign: "This shop provides printing, copying, and SF Express services."

Liu Xun led the way to a blue square table near the counter, where it was cool and close to the air conditioning: "Order whatever you want. It can be reimbursed anyway. If they dare not reimburse it, I'll smash the old man's office. Hmph, what can 3,000 yuan a month do? If I didn't work my hardest, I couldn't even afford a decent foundation."

Yuan Lai and Bai Shi smiled bitterly and ordered cold drinks. Liu Xun chose iced lemon green tea and a fruit platter.

...

"Copy both sides of the ID card onto one sheet, two copies. Print two copies of the two files on this USB drive. I'll need a pen later, and a SF Express form." Yun Luo's voice was very clear and clean. Although he was not tall or handsome, his demeanor was gentle and polite.

Liu Xun found the young man's voice pleasant and turned to look. Her eyes were sharp, and with just a glance, she could tell that Yun Luo was 1.73 meters tall, had an average build with no six-pack abs, and a rather ordinary face, at best a bit handsome. She gave him a poor rating.

...