It had lived for 83 million years and slept for a million years!
How could this be possible at all?
In the context of Earth, this Evogod had come into being from the Cretaceous period 83 million years ago and had survived the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago until now.
This was one tough monster.
What level of cultivation would he have been now if he had lived that long? Ling Jiu thought to himself. He could have been a cosmic being by now, at least.
“Lifespan is the biggest stumbling block on the road to self-cultivation.”
Ling Jiu’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. “Where are the Eight Methods of Black Hole Evolution, Leoux? I want to practice.”
“For sure. But I have to remind you beforehand that this secret manual of the soul is very difficult to practice. It is not only time-consuming but also resource-intensive—it requires dark psionic crystals,” Leoux pointed out. “You are not an Evogod, after all.”
“The Evogods are purely souls. The more powerful the soul is, the more powerful the Evogods are. So they could practice the Eight Methods of Black Hole Evolution with undivided attention. But you are different.”
Ling Jiu frowned.
“You must not only evolve the elixir field’s stellar system but also comprehend the laws of the universe.”
Leoux said with a serious face. “Now you want to cultivate the soul. This is going to be a serious burden for you. I hope you can figure out your priority.”
“I know what I am doing. Don’t worry.” Ling Jiu nodded.
“The Eight Methods to Black Hole Evolution, as the name suggests, is a soul secret manual created according to the formation process of a black hole,” Leoux said. “Black holes are extreme celestial bodies formed by dying supermassive stars.”
“So there are stars first before there are black holes. How do stars come about?”
In the endless universe, there is endless high-density gas and dust. These gas and dust are called nebulae, or giant molecular clouds.
In the vacuum of space, there is about 0.1 to 1 atom of gas and dust per cubic centimeter.
But the density of a giant molecular cloud is millions of atoms per cubic centimeter. So the density of a giant molecular cloud is hundreds or even tens of millions of times that of the empty region of space.
Nebulae are the cradle of stars, and almost all stars are born in them.
So based on this idea, there is the first method of the Eight methods of Black Hole Evolution: the formation of the soul nebula.
The formation of the soul nebula, as the name suggests, is to collect an enormous amount of dark psionic energy in the vast sea of consciousness to form a being like the universe nebula.
Just that the cosmic nebulae were gas and dust produced after the Big Bang, and they are common in the boundless cosmic void.
There is only one thing in the sea of consciousness, and that is the Kindle of the Soul. But the level of dark psionic energy is low.
For this reason, it is necessary to add a vast amount of dark psionic energy to the sea of consciousness to form a soul nebula.
Speaking of this, Leoux looked at Ling Jiu. “Do you know how the Evogods solved this problem in the beginning?”
Ling Jiu frowned and thought for a while. “How else can they solve it other than finding more dark psionic energy?”
Leoux smiled and shook its head. “Just like dark bio-energy, dark psionic energy is abundant in the dark universe. Just that it is relatively rare compared to dark bio-energy. Besides, dark psionic energy isn’t as active as dark bio-energy. It is impossible to draw dark psionic energy from the dark universe.”
Ling Jiu was stunned. He remembered that 9527 had said similar things. Dark psionic energy was extremely rare. He could not absorb dark psionic energy unless he became a higher-level being.
For this reason, 9527 gave himself a dark psionic crystal.
“The Evogods at the beginning were just of a weak primitive species, with neither super-high technological nor strength. So it was impossible for the Evogods to absorb dark psionic energy. They did not even know the existence of it.” Leoux sighed.
“They massacred other creatures on their home planet to get enough soul energy. This had caused a mass extinction of other species on the planet. As other species were extinct, the Evogods started to develop their technology to get darker psionic energy. They then relied on this advanced technology to start interstellar wars and massacred other species on alien planets. So bloodshed characterized the initial rise of the Evogods; they literally rose over the dead bodies of other species.
“As this civilization developed, and the Evogods got even more knowledgeable, they gradually discovered that there was a special substance in the vast dark universe. This special substance exists as particles, consistent with the soul’s origin, and can be absorbed into the sea of consciousness. This is the dark psionic energy. As you know, it is very difficult to absorb dark psionic energy. Generally, only when a soul attains the strength of the cosmic being can it capture dark psionic energy. However, at that time, there were few cosmic beings among Evogods. So they embarked on a long journey of study to solve this problem.”
“They succeeded?” Ling Jiu’s heart skipped a beat.
“You bet.” Leoux nodded. “The Evogods are masters of the soul. Based on the way we absorbed dark bio-energy, they developed the Soul Collecting Array to capture and absorb the dark psionic energy from the dark universe.”
“Soul Collecting Array?” Ling Jiu’s eyes brightened up.
“The Soul Collecting Array is an impressive piece of work.”
Even Leoux was amazed, despite his vision and insight. “It broke the dilemma that lower life forms (below cosmic life form) could not capture dark psionic energy and allowed stellar beings with low soul strength to absorb dark psionic energy. This is the one and only thing in the vast universe. It is no exaggeration to say that the Soul Collecting Array in the world of soul cultivation is no less important than the elixir field’s stellar system in the world of physical cultivation. It is incredibly valuable.”
“Fortunately, the Evogods just started to rise and had kept the Soul Collecting Array a secret at the time. All the higher-level civilizations of the universe did not know the existence of the Soul Collecting Array. Otherwise, the Evogods would have been in great trouble.”
Ling Jiu nodded quietly. “How to set up the Soul Collecting Array, Leoux?”
“The Evogods are the only ones who could deploy the Soul Collecting Array. It is impossible for others to learn unless the Evogods teach it hands-on.”
Leoux subsequently taught Ling Jiu how to set out the Soul Collecting Array.
It used the holographic simulation system of the Leoux to simulate the array and patiently guide Ling Jiu. Ling Jiu was fully focused and learning patiently.
One step at a time.
The layout of the Soul Collecting Array was complex as if making a massive picture with thousands of threads. It was arduous work.
It was during this time that the strength of Leoux’s as an intelligent life shone. It took the trouble and patiently guided Ling Jiu.
One learned as the other taught. A year had passed since then. At this time, on this day, Ling Jiu opened his eyes.
“It is really mysterious.”
Ling Jiu let out a long sigh and looked at Leoux with gratitude. “I couldn’t have built the Soul Collecting Array without you.”
“You are a fast learner,” Leoux said. “In the memory of this Evogod, it is difficult for even the Evogods to master the Soul Collecting Array. Yet it only took you a year to master it. This shows that you are highly talented in the soul.”
“You have taught me well.”
Ling Jiu was also thrilled. He let his consciousness sink into the sea of consciousness.
It was a boundless space. There was an endless void both above and below. All that existed in here was just a kindle of silverish fire floating in the void.
It was cold and alone.
This silverish flame was Ling Jiu’s soul fire, which was also his soul. Just that it existed as flames.
Looking closely, there were countless small silver lines intertwined around the soul fire. They crisscrossed and formed a large airtight silver web around the soul fire.
The large silver net, just like a silver spider web, covered an extensive area, about several square kilometers.
And the soul flame was at the center of the massive net.
This big silver net was the Soul Collecting Array.
Looking even closer, tiny silver light dots would emerge out of thin air and fly toward the soul fire at the center from time to time.
These occasional silver light dots were dark psionic energy or dark psionic energy particles. Some people also called them soul particles.
They were captured by the Soul Collecting Array from the dark universe.
In the beginning, the dark psionic energy particles captured by the Soul Collecting Array were few, only one or two occasionally. But as time went by, more and more of them were captured.
The number exploded as time went by.
It went from a few dozen to hundreds.
More and more silver light dots appeared out of thin air, some absorbed by the soul fire, and some lingering around the soul fire, like a sparklingly bright starry sky.
“If it keeps going at this pace, a nebula will soon form around the soul fire.”
He was very happy with the effect of the Soul Collecting Array. This was the first stage of the Eight Methods of Black Hole Evolution: forming the soul nebula.
Now that he had successfully built the Soul Collecting Array, all he had to do next was wait as things accumulated.
The number of dark psionic particles captured by the Soul Collecting Array would increase over time until they were enough to form a soul star.
Of course, that would require a massive number of dark psionic particles, which was beyond Ling Jiu’s control.
All he could do was to give it some time.
“How long does it take to enter the second stage, Leoux?” Ling Jiu withdrew from the sea of consciousness and asked a question out of concern.
“It is going to take a very, very long time,” Leoux said. “A giant molecular cloud contains hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of solar masses, with a diameter of fifty to three-hundred light-years.”
“Judging by how fast the Soul Collecting Array works, it will take at least hundreds of thousands of years to form such a massive dark psionic energy nebula. Of course, this is in the absence of external interference. If there is any external interference, it could reduce the time tremendously.”
“What do you mean?” Ling Jiu cocked an eyebrow.
“As I said before, there is a huge concentration of energy near a white hole. This energy includes dark psionic energy. I can help you make dark psionic crystals.”
Leoux broke into a faint smile. “A dark psionic crystal contains an extremely large number of dark psionic particles, which can help you speed up the formation of a soul nebula.”
“I didn’t know that. Interesting.”
