The Body of Ten Thousand Stars is the Star King's body-forging art. The first two layers are just for building the foundation, so their main strength lies in defense. After cultivating it to the early second layer, Ian can almost ignore normal Fusion-realm attacks. That's why, even before converting his true essence into immortal yuan force, he could fearlessly clash with late Fusion experts.
After Ian converted his true essence into immortal yuan force, and spent a year tempering and refining it, the Body of Ten Thousand Stars reached the mid-second layer. This time, taking advantage of his Fusion breakthrough, he absorbed the Lesser Immortal Realm's immortal essence without restraint. In just a quarter-hour, he pushed the Body of Ten Thousand Stars to the peak of the late second layer.
Inside his body, the Star Map spun rapidly. Each rotation absorbed huge amounts of immortal essence pouring into him, then converted it into a mysterious feedback force that strengthened his body.
So, every moment his body grew at a steady rate.
He was certain that with his current body strength, even average Tribulation experts couldn’t break through it. If he reached the third layer, even late Tribulation experts might not be able to pierce his defense. At that point, combining it with the Heavenbreaker Sword Canon’s terrifying attack power, he’d be unbeatable within the Tribulation realm.
But what really tempted Ian was that, upon reaching the third layer of the Body of Ten Thousand Stars, he would unlock a special divine power: Nine Stellar Transformations.
The First Change instantly doubles his strength for an hour, and there are no side effects after the divine power ends. Normally, any technique or art that can suddenly boost strength comes with serious backlash.
For example, the immortal art World-Shaping Avatar Ian cultivates can raise his strength by around tenfold, but the duration is short and the energy cost is huge—he can only use it when desperate.
Nine Stellar Transformations is different—after the burst, he keeps his original strength without any drop.
As for the Second Change, once activated, it lasts for two hours and doubles his strength again.
Third Change lasts for three hours, boosting his strength fourfold.
Fourth Change lasts for four hours, multiplying his strength by eight.
Fifth Change lasts for five hours, increasing his strength sixteenfold.
Sixth Change lasts for six hours, boosting his strength thirty-two times.
Seventh Change lasts for seven hours, multiplying his strength sixty-four times.
Eighth Change lasts for eight hours, boosting his strength one hundred twenty-eight times.
Ninth Change lasts for nine hours, multiplying his strength two hundred fifty-six times.
However, to activate this divine power, he must keep absorbing stellar qi—the longer he accumulates, the stronger the burst when he unleashes it.
For example, activating the First Change only takes ten days of accumulation.
Second Change requires a month of accumulation before it can be unleashed again.
For the Ninth Change, it takes at least ten years of accumulation before it can be unleashed.
For others, charging Nine Stellar Transformations would take ten years, but Ian doesn’t have to worry. With the Divine Temple, he can adjust the time ratio—ten years is just over 3,600 days, and at a thousandfold time ratio, it’s only about thirty-six days.
And he doesn’t need to deliberately gather stellar qi—the Star Map in his body automatically absorbs it from the void, so he can treat charging up as regular closed-door cultivation.
Back to the main topic.
With the Star Map’s feedback, Ian’s physical strength soared at an incredible rate. In just half an hour, he reached his peak. At that point, the Star Map stopped feeding power into his flesh and started using the absorbed immortal essence to strengthen itself.
After a short while, a new star appeared in the Star Map.
The second star.
The third star.
The fourth star.
……
When the number of stars reached one thousand and eight, the Star Map suddenly exploded, transforming into a spinning black hole.
Jun Jiutian, unable to see inside Ian’s body, grew increasingly puzzled and worried. He had been helping Ian absorb immortal essence for over an hour, yet Ian still hadn’t reached saturation.
Normally, even Tribulation experts couldn’t absorb so much immortal essence. Ian hadn’t even reached the Fusion realm—how could he contain so much?
For a moment, Jun Jiutian couldn’t make sense of Ian’s condition at all.
But seeing Ian’s calm expression, he realized nothing was wrong inside his body.
So Jun Jiutian continued helping Ian gather immortal essence.
Meanwhile, Chen Beichen, Zhou Qingyang, Gudou Menghua, and Xue Yangzi all watched Ian absorb immortal essence for over an hour without stopping, their faces full of curiosity and surprise.
Linghu Menghua sighed, 'Who knows what kind of cultivation art this kid practices? His capacity is enormous—he’s like an insatiable taotie. Luckily, there’s only one freak like him. If there were more, the whole Lesser Immortal Realm would collapse!'
'Exactly, his foundation is too strong. Once he reaches Fusion, he might sweep through the Tribulation realm!' Xue Yangzi nodded in agreement.
Gudou Wuya remained silent, his desire to steal Ian’s cultivation art growing ever stronger. With such a powerful technique, even he would gain greatly.
At this moment, inside Ian’s body, the Star Map exploded and transformed into a spinning black hole.
After forming the black hole, his absorption of immortal essence accelerated. Whirlwinds appeared around him, and his entire body became a frenzied vortex, pulling all nearby immortal essence into himself. In just a breath, all the surrounding immortal essence was drained.
"Hm!"
Jun Jiutian frowned and formed another hand seal, channeling the Lesser Immortal Realm’s immortal essence toward Ian.
With Jun Jiutian’s help, in just ten breaths, a star appeared inside the black hole—brighter and gentler than before.
Gradually, more and more stars appeared within the black hole, which began to transform back into a Star Map.
Finally, after a quarter-hour, a vastly expanded Star Map appeared inside Ian’s body. At the same time, a mysterious power surged forth, merging into every cell in his body.
As this mysterious power flooded in, Ian’s cells rapidly underwent fission, and his physical strength soared madly.
Three hours later.
Ian gently exhaled a turbid breath. His Body of Ten Thousand Stars had reached the early third layer. He was certain that even a grade-nine spirit sword couldn’t break his body now.
"Alright, it’s time to break through to Fusion!"
With a thought, Ian’s immortal yuan force began to rapidly transform. In just half a quarter-hour, he completed the transition from late Nascent Soul, and a life-sized nascent soul appeared in his sea of consciousness.
At the same time, his immortal yuan force increased about fiftyfold in volume and tenfold in strength.
"Fusion achieved!" Ian smiled, but in the next instant, his expression changed dramatically as a surge of killing intent erupted. He roared in his heart, "Taiyi Sect, you’re courting death!"