My Journey to Godhood as a Caterpillar

Yun Jhin continued cultivating as the starlight from the stars that stood on the outside of the planet converged to him, in the king realm, you would create a crown of stars then fuse it with your soul, the more star jewels the crown had the higher your cultivation was, also the more realistic it was, the higher your potential.

The wooden building that Yun Jhin stood in was made from Star Trees, Star Trees were special trees that absorb starlight innately, they were used by humans and other races to cultivate towards the King Realm, this was one of the most spread types of breaking through the King Realm, it wasn't a wrong technique, but the starlight was impure as it was already used by the trees.

The people were destroying the trees and carving into their innards to take the half unused starlight, it would be of smaller amount and quality because of that, but most people didn't know how to break through otherwise, after all, you could connect to the stars only after you broke through the King Realm.

But there were special places and techniques that could harness star light, what Yun Jhin was using now a special technique called, Star Chase, it wasn't anything special but it let him cultivate star light wherever he would be, and if he stood in a special place he would absorb starlight 50% faster if he used the technique.

Yun Jhin ignored the putrid starlight from the deadwood around him and used his consciousness to absorb the starlight from the sky.

The 4 planets stood in a formation and they encased some of the highest quality stars in the universe, so Yun Jhin wasn't lacking when it came to the quality of the starlight, but the accumulation was quite slow.

A red-colored crown could be seen hovering above Yun Jhin's head, it was made of skulls and bones and the red-color on it was dripping down, the crown looks would be based on the personality and talent and traits of the one who created it.

Yun Jhin's crown represented his innate need of slaughter and his cold calculative mind, if you would take a look inside the crown you could see that it was full of cold Yin energy.

As Yun Jhin was working on his cultivation, the Emperor looked towards the falling starlight with a shine in his eyes, he asked the black shadow behind him:

"Black Blood, which genius disciple can gather starlight like that? It seems he or she is trying to breakthrough the King realm."

Eunuch Black Blood bowed deeply to the Emperor whose silhouette couldn't be made up, even Black Blood couldn't see him well and he was a Sage Realm expert.

Black Blood opened his mouth and said:

"The starlight seems to be going towards Kong Luo's army headquarters, it should be a soldier of his, he did say that he recruited someone rather talented when he came back to report, I'm sorry I didn't report about that yet your imperial majesty..."

The Emperor shook his head as he said:

"That kid is pretty talented then, observe his progress, and tell me if he is worth nurturing as Kong Luo's descendant and replacement."

Black Blood kneeled to him and then left, The Emperor stood in the same place as he observed the starlight falling to the ground and he muttered:

"He knows this technique... but how?"

Kong Luo was extremely surprised when he saw starlight falling down on the Star Tree building, at first he thought that the star trees revived but that was impossible, then he remembered that Yun Jhin was inside and he started smiling so hard his face might split.

Yun Jhin knew that using this technique would get the attention of a lot of people, but that's what he wanted, he needed to become a 'genius' in the face of the Empire so he would be nurtured accordingly, he would make enemies from this as well, but he knew they would at most send people 3,4 stages above him to fight and disturb him, but he could handle those fellows.

Yun Jhin's crown started to gain one piece of jewelry, it stood at the back of the crown and it was a deep blue color, but it was also dripping signifying that it was some type of blood, Yun Jhin muttered to himself as the first jewel started to appear:

"It's very slow, at this rate, it would take me at most 2 months to solidify the jewel, whatever, only if I was in a place with a high concentration of starlight, these star trees are so garbage..."

Yun Jhin deep blue jewel represented the sins and hatred of the souls that Yun Jhin devoured, if you looked into it you could see quite a few souls shrieking with eyes full of hatred if the jewel broke most of them would escape and try to eat Yun Jhin alive.

Yun Jhin sat cross-legged inside the building, for 1 day, 2 days, 3 days.... 1 month, people started to talk, most people would breakthrough in the first month, but Yun Jhin took more, it was a known fact that the more someone took the less talented he would be, or that he needed more energy to break through meaning his body was extremely strong, most of the people wanted the first option to be true.

Some people were jealous of those that were talented and they would want to sabotage Yun Jhin, but after the first 30 days passed, Kong Luo started camping near the Star Tree building, he knew that Yun Jhin's body was very strong, above what his physical talent suggested because he ate the heart of a natural spirit.

The general wouldn't be able to sleep at night if something happened to Yun Jhin, after all, he was his new protege and upcoming new general, he wanted to go in seclusion as soon as he could, he was already at the half of his life, even though he looked middle-aged his age was around 25,000 years old, if he broke through the Sage Realm he would be able to gain 50,000 more years, and if he got to the God realm at the peak he would be able to gain 200,000 years of lifespan, that lifespan could be increased further with life-extending techniques, but in the end, those would lose their efficiency.

He knew that the Sage Realm was the maximum he could achieve, so before he died he wanted to gain the maximum cultivation that his body could achieve.

Yun Jhin opened his eyes as the crown that hovered above his head solidified, the deep-red color of it intensified to a high degree as blood started to drip from it, the skull that stood atop the crown cried with a heartbreaking shriek, the jewel at the back of the crown was slowly solidifying as another month passed.

Yun Jhin's eyes glowed with deep red color as the hovering crown started to lower itself on his head, it disappeared as his soul form appeared behind him, on his soul form's head a red crown now stood proudly there.

The skull shrieking stoped as the ghosts and spirits inside the blue jewel started to behave themselves, they were all now under Yun Jhin's full control and he could use them to attack at his leisure, now he didn't need to eat the bodies himself anymore, he would be able to use the blue jewel to absorb them easily and at a higher efficiency.

This was just the first ability he gained because of his breakthrough, as he broke into further stages he would gain more.

Yun Jhin got up from his cross-legged position on the ground and did some stretching exercises, bone popping sounds could be heard all around his body as his ki started to circulate fully through it again, his body's height now stood around 1,85 meters and his buff form changed to a more athletic one, he sacrificed a bit of strength to gain speed, he now had had a more balanced build.

Yun Jhin cracked his knuckles and neck as he left the Star Tree building and meet outside with Kong Luo, Kong Luo patted him over his body and smiled while saying:

"Good job, very good job, his majesty said that he would like to meet you."

Yun Jhin's eyes narrowed, meeting with a God Realm expert wasn't in his plans, it was a bit early but if he acted well enough he would be able to gain the blessings of the Emperor, even though he was a God Realm expert he couldn't forcefully search his memories.

Suddenly a commotion was heard at the entrance of Kong Luo's army camp, a few good looking females that wore green imperial robes entered while strutting, some of the younger soldiers wanted to whistle at them, but a veteran immediately slapped those out of their reverie and said:

"Stop salivating, you pieces of trash wouldn't be able to match these women, they are the main maids of the Empress, they are serving the Empress in more ways than the simple one, after all, she is a peculiar woman."

All of the men shuddered as they were broken out of their dreams, all of the women looked pretty well but their lives were more important, they just looked at the women longingly but weren't as disrespectful as before.

The strongest maid walked forward to Kong Luo as she did a small bow and said:

"General Kong Luo, her majesty the Empress saw how talented your young pupil is and she would like to invite him towards her quarters, she wants to bless him with good fortune and she also gave the invitation to your whole army squad."

Kong Luo started to sweat hard, the invitation of the Empress wasn't something good for him as he was under the Emperor!

If he betrayed the Emperor his officials would do the best so he wouldn't have good days ahead of him after he retired, the Empress didn't care much about politics even though she controlled the palace, she was a lively spirit with a peculiar personality and she did whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.

Kong Luo returned the bow and said:

"Fairy Song, I and my pupil are very flattered because of the Empress invitation but we..."

Suddenly Eunuch Black Blood appeared as he glared at the woman known as Fairy Song, he waved his sleeve as a wind appeared and it pushed Fairy Song away from Yun Jhin.

The woman eyes became cold as an icy lake as she looked at Eunuch Black Blood and then she laughed while saying:

"Oh, it's the no-balls Black Blood, I see, the Emperor sent such a hard-ass like you to invite Yun Jhin to his party?"

Black Blood decided to not comment on her crass and vulgar comments, after all, he decided to become a eunuch himself, even though her words sounded pretty evil for any other man in this situation they didn't affect Black Blood at all.

Fairy Song frowned as she looked at his countenance and then she waved her hand to Yun Jhin, a gravitational suction appeared that wanted to drag Yun Jhin towards her, her cultivation was in the Sage Realm just like Black Blood's so Yun Jhin couldn't do much against her.

Black Blood snorted as he aimed his palm towards Fairy Song's stomach, the gravitational energy stopped and Yun Jhin fell to the ground on his legs.

Black Blood walked forward as he projected his voice with ki:

"The Emperor has decreed that Yun Jhin will be the successor of Kong Luo's army squad!"

Black Blood was using this announcement to cement Yun Jhin's position in the Emperor's party, Fairy Song frowned as she took out a jade slip that contained new information from the Empress and she projected her voice as well:

"The Empress said that if Yun Jhin gives up the position of army general she would immediately make him a prince and betroth her most talented and loved daughter to him!"

Kong Luo gasped as he heard Song's words and he whispered to Yun Jhin:

"I won't influence your decision of choice Yun Jhin, both are very good places, as the general you would be able to gain merit and get some resources not even the imperial family can touch unless we are in war times, but on the other hand being a prince... and Empress's youngest daughter is very beautiful, she is also at the 6th stage of King Realm as she broke through again recently..."

Yun Jhin could care less of how beautiful or how strong the woman was, he wasn't sure which party to join considering he knew very little information about both parties, Yun Jhin opened his mouth as both Black Blood and Fairy Song watched him with hawk eyes. They both wanted to know which party he would join...

"Both of these are great opportunities for me, they are so great that my little self can't decide yet, could I have some time to consider both of the offers?"

Black Blood nodded his head and Fairy Song did the same, both trying to outdo the other in everything, Black Blood put an amiable smile on his face as he said:

"As much time as nephew needs, this uncle will wait for your decision in the nearby guest quarters, just call me if you decided."

Fairy Song snorted at Black Blood's actions and she said:

"This big sister here has the same intention as that old man, just come to look for me if you want to join us, I will wait for 3 days."

She winked at Yun Jhin as she and her entourage took the Building facing the one that Black Blood took.

Yun Jhin followed Kong Luo to his quarters as the man wanted to explain to him how the factions worked with more detail.

Yun Jhin sat on a chair as Kong Luo sat at his desk and took out some papers which he gave to Yun Jhin.

On them was the public information that everyone could gather about the things that happened between the Emperor and the Empress, but there was also some little extra that Kong Luo got due to his position in the army...

Yun Jhin opened the stack of papers and started to look through them.