Omnipotent Overlord

“On the 1st of June, 2019, the testers for the in-house testing of the game Starscape were decided. On the 1st of July, in-house testing officially began. Today is the 5th of September, and the in house testing has been ongoing for more than a month.”

In a small rented apartment, Li Mo was contemplating while holding the Staff of Origin before a computer.

The God Realm could be explained as a network enveloping the entire universe, brought into being the day the first intelligent life form appeared. 

God Realm was everywhere, but if one didn’t know the way, one couldn’t enter. Fifty years ago on Earth, in a valley in China, the archaeologists discovered the body of an alien. On that body, they have found a Spiritual Root used in entering the God Realm. On Earth, it was known as another name, Starscape log-in device. 

After fifty years put into decoding it, Earth’s humanity not only could use the Spiritual Root to enter the God Realm, but it could also duplicate it. And this marked the true beginning of the in-house testing of the Starscape game.

But these secrets were unknown to everyone on Earth, except the reborn Li Mo. Even those scientists tasked with cracking the Spiritual Root mistook the God Realm as the aliens’ mysteriously developed internet game.

“With Earth’s current condition, where ancient cultivation manuals were either lost, if not damaged and incomplete, adventuring in such a weak state into the God Realm will spell doom for us all.”

Li Mo sighed.

With the use of Spiritual Root, one could enter the God Realm at any time and any place. But the consequence was that it was impossible to log-out. Once one entered the God Realm, they were stuck there. This phenomenon, the scientists could not explain. But Li Mo could. The so-called Spiritual Root was only a medium to access God Realm. Once activated, the medium would, of course, disappear. 

“My body is weak. The only thing I can do now is raise my power as much as I can.”

In the dead of night, Li Mo left his bedroom in silence, and took a cab to the Cangnan Mountain in the outskirts of the city.

Cangnan Mountain was large, uninhabited, and covered in a dense forest, the perfect place to cultivate since there would be no one to disturb him.

“Kid, Cangnan Mountain isn’t a place for you to wander, especially at night. Tigers and wild boars roam these parts.”

The taxi driver stuck his head out and gave Li Mo a friendly advice.

“Thank you.”

Li Mo smiled at the driver and walked towards the mountain.

Li Mo walked up the mountain for close to four hours before he found a good place to cultivate.

A waterfall surrounded with hundreds of green bamboo and green grass.

“This place should be remote enough for no one to come here, and the spiritual energy seems to be very thick.”

Li Mo sat cross-legged and took a deep breath.

In and out he breathed, and though there wasn’t any change at first, a half an hour later, something happened.

Inhaling, the green grass and bamboo changed color. Exhaling, a cloudy air came out through his nose and mouth. Between breaths, with Li Mo at the center, the plants twenty meters around him  lost their color and wilted…

Li Mo used a cultivation method known as the Fortune of Heaven and Earth Art. It was the best and most suitable cultivation method for humans.  

It seized the energy of Heaven and Earth to temper one’s body. It robbed the spiritual energy from all creatures in the world for personal use. The Fortune of Heaven and Earth Art was a beyond overbearing. Trained to peak, a single breath was enough to turn all life on Earth into spiritual energy for the user to absorb.

With a low roar, a black bear’s eyes glinted with cruelty as it approached. But once it stepped on the wilted grass, it fled. 

When the sky brightened, Li Mo opened his eyes and looked at the dried grass and plants around him with a slight frown.

“Compared to God Realm, the spiritual energy here is still thin. I now see why the ancient powerful existences fled Earth to cultivate. The spiritual energy here isn’t suited for long term cultivation.”

“At the current speed of absorbing spiritual energy, achieving Foundation will take me two-three years.”

“The spiritual energy of this area is chaotic, unsuitable to refine a Spiritual Root either.”

Li Mo stood up and shed his clothes. Although he didn’t reach the most optimal rate while cultivating the first time, his body released impurities and his body smelled.

Li Mo walked beneath the waterfall naked.

The water was a bit cold this early in the morning, but a body tempered with the Fortune of Heaven and Earth Art was no longer affected by such little coldness.

“The spiritual energy here seems thicker…”

Li Mo stood in the middle of the waterfall and found to his amazement that the waterfall had far more spiritual energy than the grass.

“Can it be a Spiritual Spring?”

Thinking of this, Li Mo’s mind trembled as he absorbed the water’s spiritual energy through the use of Fortune of Heaven and Earth Art.

After a little test, Li Mo was overjoyed in finding that the water’s spiritual energy was multiple times that of the grass.

“The spiritual energy of this mountain spring is very pure, perfect in refining a low grade Spiritual Root. As long as I have a low grade Spiritual Root, I can enter God Realm. At that time, the time needed to reach Foundation will no longer be a problem.”

Li Mo stretched his right hand to absorb the spiritual energy of the spring and, two hours later, his palm held a sphere as big as an infant’s fist, blue, white and gray.

“Perfect, after I return, I’ll only need a bit of time to purify the spiritual energy.”

Just as Li Mo was putting away the spiritual energy sphere, in preparation to leave, he heard an angry voice, “Little bastard, get the hell out of the water?”

Li Mo turned his head to see a 21-22 year old long black haired beauty holding a white jade bottle and glaring at him furiously.

“You’re talking to me?”

“Do you see anyone else around? Get the hell out. Stop polluting my water, I, I, I, I…”

“You what?”

“I will go to you father to seek compensation!”

Li Mo asked oddly, “Is this water yours?”

“This entire mountain is mine. I bought it. Get out now!”

The beauty stomped her feet impatiently.

Li Mo walked towards the shore, as the beauty screeched. She covered her eyes and turned around, and the jade bottle fell from her grasp.

Li Mo came out of the water naked. He wasn’t quite the adult, but that part down there was developed, to some extent. 

Li Mo took his time walking down the shore, took his time dressing, during which the beauty turned around while covering her face. She didn’t dare look.

“Lousy brat, are you done yet?”

“Yep.”

The beauty looked just as Li Mo was in his underwear searching for his pants, and again turned around in anger.

“My jade bottle is broken. How am I supposed to draw water now? This is all your fault!”

Qin Menglu picked up the broken jade bottle and her anger spiked. 

“Sister, what are you doing? What’s taking so long?”

A handsome youth in western clothing walked over.

The youth was called Qin Yang, Qin Menglu’s younger brother. Today, brother and sister climbed the mountain to gather spring water to make tea for their grandfather, Qin Zhen. This was a task the siblings had been doing every month. 

“It’s this lousy kid to blame, bathing… bathing nude. I dropped the bottle out of panic.” Qin Yang frowned, “We only have that one bottle. And this whole trip took us two days.”

Qin Menglu felt awkward, “Yeah, you have your job and I have mine. But grandfather’s illness dulls only if he drinks hot tea made from water from this mountain spring. If we don’t get it…”

“If there is no other choice, sister should go back while I go into Feng City to see if I can find a jade bottle.”

“How can Feng City have a jade bottle of this quality? Even if it does, it won’t be authentic.”

“Only jade bottles can preserve the essence of this spring water. This is truly a problem.”

“Sigh…”

Listening to the siblings, Li Mo reached his hand in the water and after a short while, he walked to Qin Menglu while holding some water and poured it into the broken jade bottle.

Qin Menglu was stunned, “W-what are you doing?”

“This water is something I refined through a secret method. Even if the bottle isn’t sealed, this water essence will keep its properties for half a month. This might not be much, but it has far greater essence than what you normally collect. Take it to your grandfather.”

Li Mo disregarded their stunned looks and left.