Chapter 56: Advancing to the Advanced Stage of Rank One
Tang Mu's original body flickered into existence in a mysterious dimension that was the Star Orb storage space.
Below his feet were barren rocky grounds extending beyond the limits of his sight and spiritual sense. High above was a sun that illuminated the entire place, making it seem like the real world instead of a dimension within the Star Orb.
Tang Mu had been inside the dimension multiple times and even investigated it extensively twice or thrice to ascertain whether it had any boundaries. But after his explorations repeatedly yielded no gains, he had accepted that the space was boundless. He had also pushed the mystery of the size of the place to the back of his mind and resolved to focus only on his own issues while inside the space.
That time was no different, and Tang Mu quickly adapted to the above-average temperatures of the Star Orb's storage dimension before focusing on the harvest he had collected over the past six weeks of repeatedly adventuring in the painting world.
It was a small heap of glittering multi-colored crystals piled up a few meters away from him. They numbered in the hundreds and were the psionic crystals that Tang Mu had repeatedly mined from the snake den in the painting world whenever he managed to elude the senses of the terrifying peak-rank-one serpent guarding them.
Of course, Tang Mu also continued hunting in the painting world over the past six weeks. He had reaped the lives of around fifty primary stage and sixteen secondary stage rank-one beasts to obtain over a thousand red-tier origin essence crystals that had continuously helped him elevate his powers considerably.
He utilized those rewards efficiently and ranked up by a sub-level to the secondary stage three weeks ago. And now, he was about to level up again by consuming more of those crystals.
I should start right away.
Tang Mu smiled. He settled down in a cross-legged position and popped a few crystals of red-tier origin essence into his mouth. Waves of soothing energy flooded his body, and he quickly regulated his breathing to match the profound pattern of the Star God Celestial manual while also visualizing the Star God Celestial Diagram.
The visualization technique worked like a charm, and his mind quickly achieved resonance with his already unlocked Galactic Chakra three feet above his head. A jolt passed through his head, and his actualized consciousness instantly arrived in the chakra space of the same mysterious energy whirlpool.
All around him was pinkish-orange fog constantly condensing into droplets that rained into the lake of liquid of the same color at the base of the chakra space, which was the telltale sign of him already being at the secondary stage of a rank one psionic. And floating on top of the lake liquid, bubbling with power, was the colossal and glittering crystal with an enormous green eye incorporating a vertical black slit as a pupil. It was the manifestation of his Mentifery superpower.
It wasn't the first time Tang Mu's consciousness had connected to his unlocked Galactic Chakra space. He ignored all the familiar wonders around him and continued visualizing the Star God Celestial Diagram.
The apex visualization technique worked its magic, and he quickly expanded his connection to his subtle body in the other plane of existence to draw in more psionic energy. A mysterious force soon permeated the chakra space, and an abundance of fog representing psionic energy continued flooding the Galactic Chakra.
The excesses of foggy psionic energy quickly saturated the whole space before condensing into more droplets that constantly rained down into the lake of pinkish-orange liquid. In turn, its level quickly rose at a pace visible to the naked eye until it reached the halfway point of the chakra space.
At that instant, Tang Mu seemed to have reached a mysterious threshold. Another quake passed through his mind, and his senses blanked out momentarily.
It was at that point that something mysterious and marvelous happened. The highly concentrated psionic energy within the lake that filled up half of Tang Mu's unlocked Galactic Chakra space experienced a change. The pinkish-orange liquid bubbling with mysterious power seemed to undergo repetitive compaction cycles, its density gradually increasing until it began turning into a soupy and semi-solid pinkish-orange liquid.
Success!!
Tang Mu was delighted by the development after regaining his senses. The transformation of liquified psionic energy into the highly condensed semi-solid state signified that he had crossed the threshold from the secondary to the advanced stage of rank-one. He was now just a sub-level away from crystalizing his psionic energy and achieving the peak stage of a rank one psionic.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I should continue.
Tang Mu's motivation levels were sky-high. He buried his happiness deep within his heart and continued meditating with the Star God Celestial Diagram. His persistent efforts repeatedly paid off, and more of the liquified psionic energy filling up his Galactic Chakra space transformed into a highly compressed semi-solid state.
The process continued, and he didn't stop making firm steps toward improving his power and stabilizing his realm. But just before he could finish compacting all the energy, his clone alerted him of a forthcoming danger, causing alarm bells to go off in his mind.
Tang Mu awoke from his meditative state. He immediately followed a mysterious connection out of the Star Orb space and allowed his primary consciousness to sync with his secondary awareness, representing the mind of his clone. And just like that, something enigmatic happened, and he started experiencing the world through the highly-enhanced senses of his clone.
What happened?
Tang Mu didn't dare dill-dally, especially since his instincts were already repeatedly screaming the word danger within his mind. The eyes of the clone, as dark as an abyss, flashed with a few mysterious runes, and he spread out his spiritual sense in anything but an instant.
It was important to note that the clone was a freak of nature birthed mainly from the Dark Origin Essence Imperial Lotus.
After consuming numerous psionic crystals, the clone's powers were already at the peak of rank one, and its darkness manipulation had improved to an inconceivable level. But most importantly, its spiritual sense could also extend to a radius of a whopping ten kilometers and sneakily capture all the details within that scope.
Tang Mu relied on that potent spiritual sense to quickly surveil the radius of ten kilometers around his hostel.
At first glance, everything appeared calm, and it seemed like another typical Friday night. A few aeromobils were airborne, and the streetlamps were already on and bright. Their lights continuously cast misty radiances that occasionally silhouetted the few pedestrians still on the streets.
But Tang Mu knew better than to ignore his instincts, which had become more sensitive after he started practicing the Star God Celestial Diagram.
He ignored all the normalities outside and focused on surveying the darker areas that could be the source of the danger he felt. He utilized the clone's potent perception until he zeroed in on a few dubious groups of people hiding in some of the alleys around the hostel.
Now, who are these?
For some reason, Tang Mu felt his heart skip a beat when he focused on the three groups of people that seemed to have surrounded the hostel in a triangular formation. Each group comprised ten individuals donning dark cloaks and masks that prevented his perception from unearthing their identity. They were all waiting quietly in the darker alleys without making any movements or sounds.
-----
At the same time, something noteworthy transpired in the almost empty basement of a building roughly seven kilometers away from Tang Mu's hostel.
A gorgeous and devilish beauty with long red hair tied into a high ponytail was holding a crucial meeting to decide how the events she had planned for weeks would play out in the next few hours.
She was Crimson Blaze, one of the Crimsonblades of the Crimson Brotherhood, in the flesh. Her all-black combat suit and the runic machete in her hand shone menacingly under the dim lights of the basement as she faced one of her subordinates.
"Bearded Demon!" She called out while looking at the middle-aged man with a prominent beard before her. "Have you carried out all my instructions?"
"Yes, your eminence," Bearded Demon answered with a respective attitude. "We have deployed three units around the hostel in question. Each unit comprises ten trusted rank-one psionics from various outposts around the Asia Metropolitan region. They are ready to attack as long as you give the go-ahead."
"How many combat detectives are currently protecting the hostel?" She asked again.
"Just two, your eminence. We have used our psionic radar guns to determine their combat power. One is a rank-one psionic, while the other is a rank-two. With your and Elder Ghost's help, we can take them out in seconds when you give the order."
Crimson Blaze nodded. She turned to glance at the only other individual in the basement. It was an emaciated, aged man with many wrinkles and moles forming grotesque maps over his face. His dreary eyes continuously flashed with mysterious symbols as he sat cross-legged in the far corner.
"Elder Weeping Ghost!" Crimson Blaze spoke out with respect. She had to as she was facing an elder of the organization with powers at the rank three. "How is everything? Is there anyone powerful snooping around the hostel with perception abilities?"
"Nope," the elder replied, his scratchy voice echoing around the place. "I haven't detected any perception abilities sweeping over us. We should be safe to proceed any time."
"Any signs of the vigilante?"
"Nope," Elder Weeping Ghost said.
"He better appear, or I will bathe this entire neighborhood in blood!"
A chilly light flashed through her eyes. She glanced at her watch and noticed it was only a few minutes past eleven. She would wait until midnight before commencing a slaughter to fulfill her promise to a 'certain' individual who massacred her subordinates some weeks ago.
-----
Unbeknownst to her, that 'certain' individual had already relied on his freak of a clone to locate some of her deployed units. The clone was an anomaly of a darkness manipulator that could conceal its spiritual sense seamlessly within the darkness. So, even the enigmatic Elder Weeping Ghost with a potent perception superpower couldn't detect the waves of spiritual sense as they swept over the entire neighborhood.