novelraw Chapter 397: Dilemma and the Evolution of the Inner World
Chapter 397: Dilemma and the Evolution of the Inner World
In a high-intensity testing chamber within the Infernal Sulfur plane, Jie Ming’s brows were tightly furrowed as he remotely controlled a newly crafted runic wizard implement for power testing.
With a thought, he manipulated the disc-shaped artifact hovering in mid-air, roughly thirty centimeters in diameter.
Its surface was densely engraved with brand-new composite runes that fused immortal talisman scripts with wizard sigils. At the center sat a fist-sized energy-focusing crystal.
Hum…
Following a mental command, the crystal blazed with blinding white light.
A pure elemental energy projectile erupted, trailing a long tail as it streaked toward the “target zone” far away—a zone expanded to an astonishing five hundred kilometers in depth through spatial folding technology.
From the outside, the entire test chamber appeared to be only a hundred-meter square room, but its internal depth was immense.
The projectile traveled for roughly three seconds—not particularly fast in real combat, but more than sufficient for testing purposes.
Then, from the distant target zone, a light so dazzling it forced eyes to narrow even through protective barriers flared into existence.
There was no explosive sound; the energy shields blocked all transmission of noise. What remained was a more primal shock: the multiple protective barriers throughout the chamber rippled and warped violently, as though struck by an invisible titan’s hammer, emitting groans of strain.
Even with the distance buffer provided by spatial folding, the ferocious shockwaves ricocheted repeatedly inside the chamber, causing the barriers to fluctuate ever more violently, as if on the verge of collapse.
Jie Ming paid no mind to the teetering shields—they were designed to withstand extreme tests, and if they broke, he would simply repair them later.
His full attention was locked on the cascading data streams displayed by the precision instruments beside him.
Peak energy readings, simulated destruction radius, elemental reaction intensity, spatial disturbance coefficient…
Moments later, the preliminary analysis appeared.
Jie Ming stared at the screen, his expression far from pleased.
“Strictly speaking, the absolute power of this strike is indeed impressive…” His fingers traced several key parameters as he sighed inwardly.
“The leverage multiplier of a fourth-ring wizard over elemental forces, combined with the environmental-energy mobilization multiplier of the Spirit Transformation stage—when multiplied, the total energy and area of effect of what is theoretically a fourth-ring projectile skyrockets…”
The data clearly showed: this single strike’s total energy output and influence radius had surpassed ordinary fifth-ring standards and even brushed the lower threshold of sixth-ring, the level theoretically capable of inflicting “ecosphere-devastating” damage on a medium-sized continent.
“But…” Jie Ming’s brows knitted tighter. “The power is far too dispersed!”
He pulled up the detailed energy distribution map.
It was a three-dimensional heat map showing the energy density decay curve radiating outward from the detonation center.
Unlike wizard spells or immortal techniques that typically aimed for relatively uniform lethality across an area in group attacks, this projectile’s energy distribution followed an extremely steep decay curve.
From the epicenter, energy density dropped by an order of magnitude for every kilometer outward.
At the fringes of the attack radius, residual energy intensity was less than one ten-millionth of the center.
“It’s practically identical to the energy distribution pattern of a nuclear bomb from my previous life,” Jie Ming couldn’t help but grimace. “Yes, the range is vast—‘nation-destroying’ or even ‘continent-level’ in name—but the actual lethal radius is far smaller. Most of the energy is wasted simply creating ‘area’ rather than focused killing power.”
This problem had first shown signs when he advanced to second-ring wizard.
At that time, cultivating both systems simultaneously had begun causing subtle conflicts and redundancy in how each mobilized environmental energy.
He had intended to address it upon reaching third-ring, but the unexpected events in the Justice plane had accelerated his advancement far beyond expectations. Afterward, he had been occupied with constructing the Incense Fire Divine Dao and collaborating with Wizard Starfall, so the issue had been continually postponed.
Now, with his ascension to Spirit Transformation, the immortal system’s qualitative leap in mobilizing ambient Spiritual Qi had finally brought the problem into stark relief.
“Energy total and range comparable to a sixth-ring attack, yet the actual killing power at the core only reaches mid-fifth-ring level…” Jie Ming stared at the glaring comparative data on the screen.
“And the peak energy duration is extremely short. Survive the initial wave, and subsequent damage drops off dramatically. An experienced, well-prepared fourth-ring wizard with excellent defenses could potentially tank this strike and survive.”
This meant over ninety percent of the energy dissipated inefficiently into the environment during the shockwave expansion, never fully translating into lethal damage against the target.
More intuitive modeling showed that if used against a real continent, the core zone might create a few hundred kilometers of complete devastation.
But at the periphery—those areas theoretically marked as “affected”—residual energy might not even kill a first-ring apprentice, at most causing structural damage and civilian casualties.
“The root of the problem…” Jie Ming closed his eyes and rapidly calculated in his mind. “My current control precision cannot keep pace with the explosive growth in total mobilizable energy.”
It was easy to understand.
If an attack were likened to shooting arrows, the wizard path was “fire one arrow and continually enhance it.” The immortal path was more like “fire more arrows at once.”
Jie Ming’s current control precision allowed him to finely direct perhaps three arrows at most.
Yet his Spirit Transformation cultivation was equivalent to stringing dozens of arrows on the bow at once.
Not only did this fail to increase effectiveness, the arrows interfered with one another and diluted the bow’s power, resulting in each arrow losing both force and accuracy. The overall result was worse than calmly firing three.
Of course, the simplest solution was “selective output reduction”: deliberately suppress the immortal system’s Spiritual Qi mobilization during attacks, using only the portion he could precisely control.
This would restore cohesion and killing efficiency, and such amplification was already enough for Jie Ming to dominate among fourth-ring wizards.
But…
“That would be far too wasteful,” Jie Ming opened his eyes, unwillingness flashing within. “To possess the potential to mobilize vastly greater power yet self-impose limits due to insufficient control… far too wasteful!”
He sought to fuse the strengths of both paths, achieving synergy greater than the sum of parts—not to be forced into choosing one over the other.
“I must find a way to integrate and focus the full power mobilized by both systems with far greater efficiency…” Jie Ming fell deep into thought.
His fingers unconsciously tapped the console as countless formulas, rune structures, and energy-flow models flashed and vanished in his mind.
At that moment, the laboratory door slid open silently. A Black Giant Priest clad in simple ceremonial robes entered.
Its movements were light and graceful, starkly contrasting its muscular frame. Its voice arrived directly as a spiritual fluctuation: «Lord Master, the scheduled time has come. Energy replenishment is required.»
Jie Ming snapped out of his reverie, glanced at the time, and nodded. “Understood.”
He set aside the data analysis for now and followed the priest out of the testing ground, through several brightly lit corridors, until they arrived at a special cultivation chamber.
This chamber was utterly different from the rest.
Its thick doors and walls were alloyed with spatial-stabilizing metals, surfaces engraved with complex energy-conducting and isolation runes.
The Black Giant Priest stopped outside, waiting for Jie Ming to enter alone.
He pushed open the door, and Spiritual Qi so dense it nearly solidified crashed over him like a wave.
The chamber contained no extraneous furnishings—only a slightly raised circular platform at the center.
Walls, ceiling, and floor were all plated with alloys that efficiently conducted and gathered Spiritual Qi, now radiating a gentle milky-white glow.
Most eye-catching were the four complex arrays in the corners, slowly rotating.
These arrays connected directly to the main Incense Fire Divine Dao network of the Infernal Sulfur plane, continuously drawing and channeling vast quantities of purified Spiritual Qi into the room.
The concentration was so high that faint white mist—visible to the naked eye—slowly swirled through the air.
Jie Ming stepped onto the central platform, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes, beginning to circulate his technique.
In an instant, the flow of Spiritual Qi throughout the chamber reversed.
The previously uniform mist surged toward Jie Ming as though pulled by an invisible vortex.
His body became a black hole, greedily devouring all surrounding energy.
Yet this devouring was not for his own cultivation.
If a perceptive expert were present, they would notice that the vast majority of the Spiritual Qi pouring into him was not refined by his meridians, but instead flowed through a deeper connection into a “void.”
A void located deep within his dantian, yet transcending ordinary spatial concepts.
That was his inner world.
Now, perhaps, it was more accurate to call it his Inner Cave-Heaven.
The changes brought by ascending to Spirit Transformation were comprehensive, and among them, the evolution of the space opened by the Internal Circulation method was the most surprising and delightful to Jie Ming.
In previous ascensions—from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, Golden Core to Nascent Soul—each breakthrough caused the inner space to expand explosively, absorbing Spiritual Qi like a parched sponge.
But this time, after completing Spirit Transformation, the space showed no immediate urge to expand.
For a while, Jie Ming thought its growth had reached a bottleneck.
However, in the months following the breakthrough, he gradually noticed something unusual.
The space was growing on its own.
Not by absorbing the Spiritual Qi he supplied, but as though it had developed its own “breathing” and “pulse,” drawing nourishment from a deeper, vaster source.
Eventually, Jie Ming confirmed that his Inner Cave-Heaven was directly drawing energy and matter from the wizard world’s Endless Chaotic Void.
The most conclusive evidence appeared in the third month after ascension.
While meditating and inwardly observing the cave-heaven, Jie Ming was stunned to discover that the originally constant soft illumination now exhibited regular day-night cycles!
A warm yet non-scorching “sun” rose and set in the sky with perfect rhythm, while at night familiar constellations appeared—not true stars, but projections of the fire-element plane and certain stable elemental planes under the nascent plane’s emerging laws.
This was a phenomenon that only true planes possessed!
Fueled by the constant nourishment of plane origin he provided and catalyzed by his ascension to Spirit Transformation, the Inner Cave-Heaven had begun evolving toward a self-sustaining plane!
This discovery left Jie Ming both exhilarated and wary.
Theoretically, given continued growth, it might one day develop a complete ecosystem, intelligent species, even a unique law system.
The cause for caution was the plane’s increasing independence.
Drawing elemental power directly from the Endless Void caused growth at an unimaginable pace.
If the connection between Jie Ming and this nascent plane were not sufficiently strong, then as its own laws perfected and its mass grew, one day it might seal its passages to the outside and become a truly independent plane.
It would then drift away from Jie Ming’s body into the infinite void.
Thus, every day Jie Ming now performed this special “energy infusion” cultivation.
The primary purpose of absorbing massive quantities of Spiritual Qi was not to enhance his own cultivation, but to use the pure energy as both adhesive and reinforcement, continuously strengthening the origin connection between himself and the inner plane.
He had to ensure he remained forever its sovereign, its creator-god and core law—not merely a landlord or passageway.
At this moment, as Spiritual Qi poured in without cease, Jie Ming could clearly sense the “world” growing vigorously within him.
Its boundaries expanded extremely slowly yet inexorably outward. Internal elemental balance grew more stable. Some of the potions and minerals he had transplanted early on were beginning to adapt to the new environment, showing faint signs of mutation and evolution.
“At this growth rate, in a few more decades it should achieve a preliminary stable elemental cycle…” Jie Ming assessed with a wisp of divided attention even as he cultivated.