Core region of Chenriver Palace, Color-Cloud Palaces.
With Sen's arrival, the palace was abuzz with speculation and ambiguous transmissions from various halls, yet none of it disturbed Andrew Han's focused cultivation. He was advancing into Fourth-Order Cosmic Light.
“Fourth-Order Cosmic Light.”
Andrew Han hovered in mid-air, cyan radiance streaming from his body.
Once, Chenriver Palace had seemed an unattainable peak to him—a place where all the cultivation prodigies of the Chenriver Empire gathered. Yet the more he learned, the clearer his own position became.
All this time, Andrew Han had never had a clear definition of himself.
Among his peers, or even his entire generation, there was no one who could truly match Andrew Han—no real comparison could be made, so he could only measure himself vertically.
Buzz!
Cyan light swirled around him, his aura surging as the power of Third-Order Constant Light climbed toward a higher plane.
Cyan hues spread through the silence, starlight illuminating the palace!
Seated calmly in mid-air, Andrew Han opened his eyes.
His eyes, clear as black and white, brimmed with a distant tranquility, steady as a mountain at the world's edge. "Thanks to my master's guidance, I understood early on that my talent was indeed exceptional."
Yet he always felt regret, never truly knowing what level he belonged to.
After all, on blue Earth, among all the martial artists and even the many lives he saw upon first arriving in the Celestia Stellar System, none could answer the deep question hidden in his heart—until he joined Chenriver Palace and slowly understood.
Sen?
Is he truly that strong?
Sen, the invincible prodigy of the Pink-Skin Humans, sits atop Chenriver Palace like a deity incarnate, making countless cultivation geniuses tremble with awe, unable to even think of defying him.
But in Andrew Han's heart, it was nothing more than that.
He respected strength, so he respected Sen—but there was no reverence.
"Sen is strong."
"But I am stronger!"
Andrew Han's face remained calm as a still lake, while in the depths of his mindscape, layer upon layer of brilliant Consciousness Star-Maps flashed. This vast, mysterious starlight gave him the confidence to face anything—and bestowed upon him unparalleled Soul-Will.
There was no need to look up at high mountains—he was the mountain.
No need to marvel at the vast ocean—he was the ocean.
If he were to openly display his Soul-Will cultivation, the entire Celestia Stellar System would be shaken.
"Soul-Will is my foundation, and also my strongest aspect," Andrew Han mused. "Some things are best kept to myself; there's no need to spread it around. For now, I'll keep the terrifying number of Consciousness Nodes hidden."
His martial power was far from weak!
Even without relying on Soul-Will, just by virtue of his Life-Gene path—his martial power—Andrew Han had already shocked and astounded the cultivation prodigies of Chenriver Palace.
Even Sen, invincible as he was, had come before Andrew Han because of it!
Yet they had no idea.
As a Composite Starlight-tier cultivator, Andrew Han's Soul-Will was his greatest strength!
"Sometimes, when a person is truly outstanding, even they themselves feel jealous of their own talent," Andrew Han sighed softly. He felt almost innocent—after all, it was only the tip of his iceberg that had caused such a stir.
He thought for a moment.
Andrew Han dropped all contemplation, cleared his mind, and focused his attention on breaking through to Fourth-Order Cosmic Light.
At present, his power stemmed from two systems: Soul-Will, which was at Second-Order Starlight-tier, and Life-Gene, which was about to reach Fourth-Order Cosmic Light.
Advancing to Fourth-Order Cosmic Light was effortless—hardly a challenge at all.
After honing his power at the peak of Third-Order Constant Light for so long, and with so many cultivation resources, Andrew Han's foundation was already solid. Reaching Fourth-Order Cosmic Light was merely the natural next step.
"Today, I will become Fourth-Order Cosmic Light."
Andrew Han gently closed his eyes and tilted his face upward.
A serene face glowed with cyan radiance, resembling the luminous bands around a planet. The light buzzed and spun, generating an unstoppable power of starlight.
The cyan radiance continued to surge and boil.
Invisible, intangible ripples spread outward, profound insights rising in his heart. At this moment, Andrew Han felt like the master at the center of the universe.
It ignited intensity, unleashed sharpness, and spread a sense of weight—three ethereal yet real traits of power, existing in a mysterious form within his strength, hiding unfathomable secrets.
Unseeable, untraceable, unknowable!
Only Andrew Han could sense them: "Three of the most ordinary and fundamental traits of power... According to Beibei Li's account, the vast cosmic starsea has a fixed number of basic traits, each limited in quantity yet giving rise to infinite possibilities."
"What a pity."
"The three basic traits I possess can't seem to find the perfect point of fusion with each other."
Regret was regret, but he felt little disappointment. After all, traits of power were rare and elusive. With enough talent, one could comprehend them on their own!
Buzz!
Cyan light erupted, power skyrocketed, and his aura kept growing stronger!