Ery floated high above the northern reaches of his inner domain, silent and motionless as he looked down upon Star Beast Island.
Below him, the land was vast and savage, overflowing with dense primal energy. Mountains of black stone rose like the backs of ancient beasts, while rivers of silver mist wound through deep valleys.
At the center of the island sat his dark avatar in lotus position, perfectly still before the colossal Stellar Devouring Beast. The monstrous creature lay dormant like a mountain. Its breathing was slow and deep, yet every exhale stirred storms across the island. Faint runic lines pulsed across its hide like stars embedded in stone.
Ery watched in silence.
It had been more than three years since the dark avatar devoted itself completely to mastering the second stage of the Stellar Beast Core Assimilation. During that ti, it had abandoned all distractions and focused solely on ditation, resonance, and repeated attempts to cross the next threshold.
For months, it had stood at the very edge of breakthrough.
Yet the final step always remained beyond reach.
No matter how many cycles of cultivation were repeated, so missing elent prevented completion.
Today, however, sothing had changed.
The trendous spiritual gains from devouring the Chira Sovereign were now spreading through every layer of Ery's existence. Even here, at the farthest reaches of the domain, that tide of energy could be felt. The dark avatar's aura had beco unsettled, rising and falling in heavy waves, while the sleeping beast before it had begun to stir.
The opportunity was too clear to ignore.
Without hesitation, Ery descended from the sky and landed upon the stone platform below. He walked forward until he stood directly behind the seated avatar, then stepped into the sa position.
The two bodies overlapped.
Their souls rged into one.
At once, years of accumulated insight poured into his consciousness. Every failed attempt, every subtle sensation, every incomplete realization the avatar had gathered over three years beca clear in a single instant.
The mont they fused, clarity flooded his mind.
The incoming spiritual energy and his gradual recovery had certainly helped. But the true fortune ca from the Chira Sovereign.
Through devouring the criminal, Ery had gained fragnts of comprehension regarding the Law of Beasts—the instinctive connection between predator and prey, domination and assimilation. That glimpse of understanding bridged the final gap he had lacked.
The Stellar Beast cultivation art was not rely about borrowing power.
It was about becoming part of the beast.
Ery closed his eyes and entered a deep trance once more.
Previously, each of his primal transformations had involved drawing the power of a beast into himself, forcing body and spirit to adapt. This ti, the process reversed.
He felt his consciousness pulled forward.
Then inward.
He was no longer sitting before the Stellar Devouring Beast.
He was inside it.
He sensed the pulse of its raw power moving through veins like rivers of molten stars. He sensed the slow thunder of its heartbeat, each beat carrying enough force to shatter mountains. He touched the endless hunger within its core, ancient and terrifying, yet strangely pure.
Predation.
Consumption.
Evolution through devouring.
He beca one with the beast.
[Your soul power increases]
[Your understanding of the Law of Devouring has increased]
Ti lost aning.
One day passed.
Then another.
No sound existed on the island except the breathing of the beast and the steady hum of gathering cosmic force.
Then—
A deep roar exploded across Star Beast Island.
It did not co from the throat or the mouth, but from the shared core of man and monster. Their life force resonated together as one, sending shockwaves through the land. Inside Ery's soul, the starry inner cosmos transford.
What had once been a heaven filled with thousands of minor stars now began to evolve. Larger celestial lights ignited one after another, each star heavy with presence and ancient force. Dozens of major stars arose across the internal heavens, connecting themselves into vast celestial pathways.
A Major constellation was completed.
The second stage of the Stellar Beast Core Assimilation had fully stabilized.
Right after the breakthrough, Ery felt a dramatic change surge through his body.
A powerful burst of spirit energy erupted from him and spread outward in spiraling waves, shaking the air across Star Beast Island. The force was so sudden and dense that nearby cliffs cracked, while rivers of mist were blown apart like scattered smoke.
Recognizing the danger of unstable overflow, Ery imdiately activated his main cultivation path.
The Dao of Heaven and Earth descended.
Curtains of light and shadow revolved around him, rising and falling like opposing tides. Yet instead of clashing, the two forces moved in perfect rhythm, each cycle balancing the next. At the center of the storm, Ery remained seated in lotus position, steady as stone.
More days passed.
Within him, motion and stillness, growth and destruction, darkness and radiance all entered complete synchronization. His ridians lit up like branching rivers of light, while every acupoint opened like stars in a midnight sky.
Then,
Behind him, a massive cosmic wheel manifested.
It was ford from drifting starlight and countless runes, rotating slowly like an ancient heavenly chanism. Each revolution drew in spirit energy, refined it through the spirit cycle, and poured it back into Ery in purer form.
The third circle, which was shattered, began to reform, creating a complete three-circulation.
[You have successfully ford the Third Layer of the Second Cosmos]
[Soul Power increases exponentially]
The notification thundered through his consciousness.
All lingering injuries vanished instantly. Damaged channels from past battles were restored, and hidden fractures disappeared.
He had fully recovered.
Yet that complete recovery beca the trigger for sothing greater.
Once the obstruction was removed, stored force surges like a river after the dam breaks.
The final healing of Ery's body opened countless blocked pathways at once. Every reserve accumulated over the past several years rushed forward together.
His soul pulsed.
Then pulsed again.
This ti, however, the change felt different.
The growth in soul power no longer ca as violent leaps. It beca broader, deeper, and more expansive. Instead of concentrating only within him, spiritual force began dispersing outward through his entire inner domain.
Ery instantly sensed it.
His domain was evolving.
The land stretched farther. The skies ascended higher. The quality of spirit energy throughout the domain beca richer and heavier, as though every breath of air had been refined.
The expansion was most dramatic in the north.
Star Beast Island surged outward like a newborn continent, its mountains widening and plains extending into the distance. Raw primal energy flooded the land in roaring currents, making the island feel more ancient and savage than ever before.
Only then did Ery fully understand the nature of his recent breakthrough.
His recovery and advancent to the Third Layer of the Second Cosmos had elevated his realm to another level. The spiritual energy within him had beco far denser and more refined, allowing him to circulate and control cosmic power with far greater efficiency. Every spell he cast from this point onward would carry more force, greater stability, and control.
That was the improvent of realm advancent.
But the breakthrough of the second stage of Stellar Beast Core Assimilation was different.
It was as though a second core had ford within him.
Alongside his own, now existed a separate Stellar Beast Core, one born from primal resonance and beast force. It did not replace his own power, but existed beside it, dramatically expanding the total size of his spiritual pool and granting access to imnse stores of raw primal energy.
A new notification appeared before him.
[Domain Size: 27,650 (43,500) square miles]
Ery's gaze sharpened as he studied the change.
This was far from a minor improvent. His inner domain had expanded by more than fifty percent, a growth large enough to shake the foundations of most grand magus.
For reference, ten thousand square miles was considered the common range for a Three Cosmos inner domain. His current forty thousand square miles was already comparable to so of the peak Three Cosmos veterans who had spent centuries tempering their realms. Thinking of that, Ery could not help but wonder whether, once he stepped into the Three Cosmos realm, his domain might reach the hundred-thousand benchmark associated with a Supre Being.
Ery could imdiately sense what such expansion ant.
His inner domain could now contain far greater quantities of spiritual energy and cosmic force than before. The world inside him had beco larger, richer, and more stable, which in turn strengthened every future cultivation cycle.
And with the imnse primal reserves now added to his foundation—
Techniques that once consud too much power could be used far more freely.
This ti, he was certain that his Star Rendering Cleaves could be unleashed with a much greater efficiency.
The recovery and successive breakthroughs left Ery filled with exhilaration, but the mont he opened his eyes, he realized the changes were not yet over.
The runic patterns covering the Stellar Devouring Beast before him had grown far brighter than before. Lines once dormant now shone with steady radiance, spreading across the beast's colossal body like awakened constellations. Each pulse of light sent subtle ripples outward that passed through the air, the island, and finally through Ery himself.
He felt warmth radiated across his body.
Not heat—
Recognition.
What he sensed was unlike ordinary spirit force. It was purer, thinner, and subtler than cosmic energy, yet carried a depth so profound it made all lesser powers seem crude.
Not elental.
Not derived.
Fundantal.
A sliver of origin.
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