Chapter 1376: Entering the World of Fungi

"Quantum microscopic martial arts are indeed divided into nine stages."

Xu Zhi sat on his throne, his eyes closed in meditation. "Previously, when we deduced infinite possibilities, we inadvertently discovered the quantum bloodline... This was essentially a rough, preliminary exploration of this era."

To forge an epochal civilization and an unprecedented path of extraordinary power within a true sandbox world, there must be countless journeys and innumerable adversaries throughout the era.

After all, even powerful beings like Emperor Qi need opponents to hone themselves before they can develop their unique cultivation techniques and philosophies.

"If anyone can truly fight against giants spanning light-years, despite being human, it would only be me..." Xu Zhi murmured.

It wasn't that Xu Zhi was conceited.

His talent might not be exceptionally high.

However, he functioned as a central hub, a processor that integrated the wisdom of all the geniuses and prodigies of the era.

If a miracle were to be created, perhaps it would be by him.

This was the power of the Grand Universe cultivation method: he could gather the talents from "all heavens and myriad worlds," consolidate "all" knowledge, and develop cultivation techniques.

"But how to fight across such vast differences in size, I simply don't know... It seems impossible."

Xu Zhi closed his eyes.

"Back then, the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique allowed one to fight across millions of times their own size... That was due to subspace, using internal dimensions to compensate for physical size. But now, that path is unusable because rules cannot be distorted anymore."

In terms of accumulating physical size, he still had the most experience.

After all, his Zerg were small, giving him the most experience in fighting across vastly different scales.

"Moreover, the size difference between a human and a light-year is infinitely more challenging than with the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique... This means that, theoretically, this new cultivation method would need to be over a million and nine thousand times more exaggerated than the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique to defeat a light-year-sized chaotic creature." Xu Zhi silently pondered the martial arts techniques, searching for a path forward.

Twenty years passed in a flash.

Within the Myankosa Autonomous Federation, the Blazing Venerable Hall developed rapidly, quickly breaking into the top ten.

The Vice Hall Master was a mysterious cloaked figure known as "Burning Flame." Its two Silver Wall-rank Nine-Stage Martial Arts protectors were Gilchrist and the newly promoted prodigious lead disciple, Colson.

Not only did it boast four Nine-Stage martial artists, but also one hundred and forty-eight Bronze Wall-rank divine elders who managed various industries.

A colossal entity was gradually taking shape.

A continuous stream of martial arts resources was supplied, with auxiliary industries like alchemy, pharmacy, and medicine fully supporting the disciples' cultivation and study of martial arts.

In the past, this would undoubtedly have been a major power spanning countless planets and galaxies, but here it was merely a flat expanse of territory.

Hundreds of millions of disciples mastered the "Thunder Emperor" cultivation method, utilizing the formidable power of cellular osmotic pressure transformation to generate voltage, pressure, and energy pressure... All these derivations were perfected to the extreme.

The Blazing Venerable Hall had fully entered the ranks of the one hundred super-powers within the greater civilization.

Meanwhile.

A large number of stowaways, hailing from the myriad heavens and worlds, had arrived.

These were all geniuses brought from the major heavens, arguably the elite of the entire grand universe, frantically filling this era and competing against each other.

Emperor Qi, Caroline, Rong Cheng...

These beings had all secretly entered.

"The geniuses of this era have never been so busy. In past eras, with major changes, they might have deduced an unprecedented path, but never simultaneously two entirely new paths."

Zhiji said to the Emperor: "The path for the old heavens and myriad worlds to become the Cosmic Dao... and the path for new-era martial arts beings to emerge in the Grand Universe, are both being pursued."

Xu Zhi nodded, agreeing that it was indeed the case.

There were simply too many geniuses.

These martial arts prodigies from the myriad heavens and worlds displayed unimaginably brilliant talents, pioneering inconceivable systems.

Then, the Four Quantum Grandmasters arrived.

Their combat prowess was heaven-defying; they were the strongest martial artists in the quantum domain, with talents no less than those of top Saints like Rong Cheng and Mad Butcher.

After all, the others were Bloodline Saints, while these four seemed to be born for this, thriving in the quantum field.

Soon, they grew increasingly audacious and powerful, even gaining the backing of countless Immortal Saints. They began to challenge the strongest man on the surface – Zhenar.

This battle shook the heavens and earth, unimaginably terrifying.

It was said that the entire galaxy shattered, a power comparable to that of some powerful heaven-defying Nine-Stage Dao cultivators, fully revealing the combat system of the Ninth Stage.

"We lost."

The four grandmasters stated.

"You are simply incredible. What you cultivate is the true Dao of the cosmos."

Zhenar barely managed to win by one move, a pyrrhic victory. "I won because my foundation is strong, but your learning capacity is terrifying... In the next major battle, I might not be guaranteed a win."

Zhou Meng still retained Emperor Qi's abilities, learning as he fought, using weakness to counter strength, constantly leveling the playing field, but ultimately he still lost.

This also demonstrated Zhenar's terrifying combat power.

This battle also laid the foundation for the Ninth Stage for the entire era.

Caroline laughed, "What do you think?"

Emperor Qi frowned, standing afar with his hands clasped behind his back. "Indeed, the era has changed... This is a completely different path for an extraordinary system! Zhou Meng imitates me, and his learning ability is only seventy percent of mine... But combined with the other three grandmasters, his overall combat power is even stronger than mine. Even he lost... If I were to fight, I would only lose more miserably."

Emperor Qi was astonished by Zhenar's martial arts talent.

"You're not as good as the four Quantum Grandmasters?" The Three Pillar Gods chuckled.

"In the field of quantum martial arts, I am indeed not as good as them."

Emperor Qi remained grounded. "I am an all-rounder across all fields, with strong talents in rule bloodlines, biological evolution, and quantum martial arts... But they are specialists, exclusively focused on martial arts. It's perfectly normal for me to be inferior to them in that specific area; I'm not ashamed."

"What do you mean 'all-rounder'? You're just an 'all-copyer'!"

Caroline laughed, scornfully remarking, "You can copy anything! In any era, any field, you can always make your mark. I'm truly impressed!"

Emperor Qi ignored her, chuckling, "The Four Quantum Grandmasters are indeed strong. I cannot surpass them now, but in the future, by learning from their experience and martial techniques, and by studying the martial arts of all grandmasters in the world, I can still reach the pinnacle!"

Caroline was speechless again. "Are you and Zhou Meng still on the path of copying each other?"

The Four Quantum Grandmasters were indeed brilliant now!

They weren't truly at the peak in previous eras because their talent for cultivating bloodline rules wasn't considered monstrous, but the current era was perfectly suited for them to demonstrate their full prowess.

Quantum martial arts!

Ninth-stage martial arts, it turned out, involved cultivating microscopic mechanics.

Not to mention Emperor Qi, other Immortal Saints, even Mad Butcher who was proficient in macroscopic martial arts, could not compare to the four grandmasters' mastery of microscopic martial arts!

"The Ninth Stage is about cultivating quantum!"

Gradually, countless individuals converged, thoroughly grasping the path, essence, and concept of Ninth-Stage martial arts.

The Ninth-Stage martial arts domain had fully matured.

For a time, a great number of Ninth-Stage martial arts grandmasters emerged.

As the system began to perfect itself, Immortals also became dedicated to researching more powerful "Ninth-Stage martial arts," fundamentally changing their bodies and souls to evolve into ultimate beings.

Concurrently, many martial artists began researching the yet-to-be-opened Tenth-Stage "Saint" path.

The Tenth Stage was the ultimate grand era!

On the other side.

Tens of thousands of massive clans were scattered across the land.

Their population numbered well over ten thousand, with even the smallest newborns measuring 0.04 light-years, and adult beings possessing immense bodies two to three light-years in size.

It's worth noting that the diameter of the solar system is only a few light-years.

From their perspective, what humans called Earth was merely a tiny, muddy pebble, far smaller than a fingernail.

Renimansga, the iron-based giant comparable to a star, was nothing more than an ant-like trifle.

Their size could already rival some large bloodline cosmos worlds, akin to sitting down for an arm wrestle.

"The cosmos is vast, its scale immensely broad, but that's from *their* perspective. Because they are bacteria, fungi... countless times smaller, to the point where they can't even be seen on a palm print."

Kumpetros smiled, sitting in a chair and casually sipping tea.

The teacup was made of an unknown black iron material.

Within the tea, star rivers flowed, forming brilliant, colorful galactic spirals, with tiny spheres bobbing within them, exquisitely beautiful, for they were individual planets.

On one of the planets in the teacup, a fungus roared, "You!!!!"

This was a Ninth-Stage Dao cultivator, yet it could only roar on a planet within a teacup.

The energy level gap was too immense...

Simply unbelievable in its vastness.

Despite being at the same cultivation stage...

"This is merely an inevitability in the history of evolution."

He lightly sipped his tea. "Just like your most common bloodline humans, evolving in the ocean. In the primitive era, before they even appeared, weren't ubiquitous primitive fungi, bacteria, algae, and microorganisms improving the ocean's structure and the planet's atmosphere...?"

He sat in his chair on the chaotic land, gazing at the sky in the distance.

"Microorganisms and bacteria made the planet's natural environment habitable, allowing higher life forms—humans—to be born... And it's the same now. But those poor human microbes, don't they consider how they conquered the age of fungi back then? Oh, they didn't need to conquer at all, because if you can't see them, how can you conquer them?"

"But you are clearly such humble fungi, yet you dream of resisting us humans. Is that even possible?"

"We are not beings of the same species!!!"

A brilliant arc of a smile spread across his lips, his voice growing louder and more arrogant.

"We will not extinguish you, just as you humans do not extinguish fungi or microorganisms... because nature still needs them. We will simply feed on them."

He took another sip of tea, and planets, like delicious round toffees, slid down his throat. "You are like the yeast that ferments bread, allowing us to eat delicious bread."

"Bastard! How many people have you eaten?" the Dao cultivator roared.

"Pffft." Kumpetros showed a surprised expression. "Do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten? Let alone the countless yeast cells on that bread?"

He flicked a planet lightly, and with a scream, it entered his mouth.

"You are, after all, too narrow-minded..."

"If it were you, looking through a microscope and seeing fungi building cities, developing civilizations, and constructing fortresses on a table, a chair, or the floor... you would surely be terrified and try every means to eradicate them. But I am different."

"This is magnanimity! Your magnanimity is insufficient!"

He stood up, as if sensing faintly, from afar, fellow cultivators on some distant land.

"As the leader of my tribe, my magnanimity is sufficient to tolerate that laughable civilization, rather than destroy it... I would even enter the world of fungi with an appreciative attitude."

He flicked his finger, and a speck of his skin transformed into a figure, rapidly shooting away. "Fungi in nature are ubiquitous in the soil; a small clod of dirt contains tens of billions of bacteria. They cannot be eradicated, but despair... can make them stop resisting."