Chapter 33
Months passed in Fengdu like murky water flowing slowly yet never stopping—human blood and divine fluids mixed into red mud that soaked every inch of land across dozens of small cities still struggling to survive.
Amid battles that never seemed to end, Ling Xu continued to heal, continued to kill, continued to gather coin after coin, until one night, as he sat cross-legged atop a pile of rubble from a ruined enemy outpost, his body trembled.
Not from the cold, not from fear, but because within his chest, 9,999,999,999,999,999 Humanity Star crystals pulsed in unison like a single colossal heart that had finally found its rhythm.
Golden light seeped out from every pore of his skin, illuminating the darkness of the night like a miniature sun born in the middle of a field of corpses.
"At last," Ling Xu whispered, his voice hoarse from months of being used only to issue medical commands and shout across the battlefield.
His eyes gazed at his own palm, now faintly glowing with the remnants of transformation.
"Supernatural Star Level 33. Nine quadrillion crystals."
He rose to his feet, feeling a new flow of Qi coursing through his veins with a power he had never imagined before.
No longer a waterfall, but an endless ocean—an ocean that made him understand why this level was called the peak of the Star Foundation, the final gate before stepping into a realm whose very name was still a mystery to him.
With steps no longer hurried—because at this level, there was no longer anything that required haste—Ling Xu walked toward Huan Zheng's favorite place in the quiet battlefield that night.
A withered tree that had borne no leaves since the war began, where that lazy man lay flat on its exposed roots, both hands serving as a pillow, eyes closed, breathing steady like someone in deep sleep, even though distant explosions still echoed faintly in the background.
"Zhao Wei," Ling Xu called, his voice soft yet firm, his hand reaching out to grasp Huan Zheng's shoulder and shake him slightly—just enough to wake him, not enough to anger him.
"I've reached Level 33. 9,999,999,999,999,999 coins. Exactly as you once said—the final limit of Supernatural Star."
Huan Zheng did not open his eyes.
He simply let out a long breath, then rolled slightly to the side, avoiding Ling Xu's touch with his usual lazy motion, like a cat unwilling to be disturbed during an afternoon nap.
"Good," he said, his voice sounding like someone reading the obituary of a stranger—flat, emotionless, punctuated by a faint exhale that resembled a half-yawn.
"I'm glad to hear it."
Ling Xu looked at Huan Zheng with a mix of annoyance and helpless amusement—this man had just been told that his companion had reached the peak of the Lintang Foundation, an achievement that would take most cultivators decades, and yet he responded with a simple "good" while half asleep.
But Ling Xu was already used to it.
He had been with this lazy man for far too long to be offended by his indifference, had seen too many times how behind that laziness that made people want to tear their own hair out, Huan Zheng carried an awareness that never slept, a vigilance that never faded, and a care he never expressed in words but always showed through actions at the most critical moments.
"And you?" Ling Xu asked as he sat beside Huan Zheng on the old roots of the withered tree, his eyes gazing at Fengdu's reddish-brown night sky, still resembling an unhealed wound.
"How many coins do you have now? I'm sure you're far ahead of me."
Huan Zheng did not answer immediately.
He merely stretched his body, though strangely, he remained lying lazily on the ground, only one hand lifting slightly into the air as if trying to grasp a star that did not exist, before letting out a long breath that made his entire body tremble faintly.
"Actually," he said, his voice still lazy, still flat, still spoken with his eyes closed so Ling Xu could not see his expression, "a while before we were recruited into those rotating commander units… I had already reached 9,999,999,999,999,999 crystals."
He paused, then added in a tone that sounded like someone complaining about hot weather they didn't really mind.
"So yeah, we're both at Level 33 now. No one is ahead. No one is behind. Balanced, just like you wanted."
Ling Xu fell silent—his mouth opening, then closing, then opening again like a fish out of water—because he did not know whether to be angry, to laugh, or to cry upon hearing that Huan Zheng had reached the peak of the Star Foundation months ago, yet chose not to say it, not to boast about it, not to use it to leave him behind.
Why?
Because he was half lazy?
Because he didn't want to leave him alone?
Fhuuuh!!
In the stillness of Fengdu's night, where the metallic scent lingered in every breath of wind, Huan Zheng finally opened his eyes.
Not with a sudden motion like someone waking from a nightmare, but slowly, like petals reluctant to bloom in winter—and within those lazy eyes, Ling Xu saw something he had never seen before.
Seriousness without pretense.
Sincerity not hidden behind indifference.
Like an old master who, after waiting for so long, had finally found a disciple worthy of receiving knowledge never shared with anyone else.
"Do you remember my promise, Liu Xin?" Huan Zheng said, his voice still lazy but carrying a deeper, heavier undertone, like a bell struck in a dark underground chamber.
"That I would explain what lies beyond Supernatural Star—but only if you surpassed Level 33?"
Ling Xu nodded, his heart beating faster than usual, because he knew that tonight, after months of surviving on a battlefield that was never truly silent, after being drenched in blood, tears, and dust, he would finally hear the secret that had long been sealed behind the thin lips of the lazy man beside him.
Huan Zheng let out a long breath—a breath that sounded like someone releasing a burden carried alone for years, strangely relieved, like a gatekeeper who had waited long enough to finally see a traveler arrive with the correct key.
"Alright," he said, then sat up—for the first time that night, he sat upright instead of lying down, no longer reclining, but sitting cross-legged with a straight back, facing Ling Xu.
His lazy eyes were now fully open, gazing at the girl before him with a look he had never shown to anyone else.
"Listen carefully, because I won't repeat this twice."
Hoooh!!
"To ascend to the next cultivation realm—Heavenly Longitude, with its lowest level being Bright Sky First Level—every cultivator who has reached Supernatural Sky Level 33 must meditate for a full day and night," Huan Zheng said.
His voice was no longer lazy, no longer flat, but measured, clear, like a lecturer speaking in a silent hall.
"This is not ordinary meditation, Liu Xin. Not simply sitting still and closing your eyes. This is a meditation where you calm your mind, purify your soul and everything that feels impure, submerge your subconscious to search for something that has long been hidden among the Star you have gathered."
To be continued…