Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent-Chapter 456: Divide

Li Pin quietly absorbed the contents of the manual.

"The Unification of All realm... A state where one’s comprehension of martial arts ascends to its absolute zenith.

"This realm transcends mere mastery of one’s own techniques—it encompasses an intuitive grasp of every opponent’s skills mid-combat. At this level, no technique, no variation remains hidden. All moves become transparent, their essence laid bare.

"In essence, the Unification of All Realms is perfection itself—where the boundaries between self and adversary dissolve into pure understanding."

Li Pin focused on the first stage of the Celestial Martial Arts inheritance.

This realm was similar to the Great Grandmaster realm before the Martial Saint level.

However, unlike Grandmasters, who organized their own martial arts system, the Unification of All realm was more complete and flawless. It could even be described as the "Ultimate Grandmaster realm."

"With such a realm, combined with a powerful physique, martial artists could likely contend with Astral Cultivators in other star systems, where astral energy isn't infinite and strong Atomic Wills impose pressure."

Li Pin continued digesting the details of the second stage.

This stage... surprisingly resembled the Martial Saint Realm: Spirit Qi Unity, Martial Will; controlling the finite qi and blood with infinite mental spirit.

However, the depiction of the Spirit Qi Unity and Martial Will in Heaven-Subjugating Technique was far more refined.

"No wonder Si Xing speculated that I had an incomplete Celestial Martial Arts inheritance. My martial arts system does seem to align with a fragment of it."

Li Pin smiled faintly and continued to analyze the third stage—External Refinement of the Domain, Internal Refinement of the Spirit.

External refinement focused on further strengthening the practitioner's qi and blood, transforming them into a force akin to a domain.

Internal refinement, on the other hand, aimed to enhance Martial Will. It involved integrating it into every cell and piece of flesh, allowing for the regeneration of severed limbs.

Once internal and external refinement united, the martial artist would achieve mastery of the third stage.

"Unity of Body and Spirit...."

This realm clearly differed from Li Pin's current path.

The core distinction was his method of refining the body by borrowing the forces of the world, eventually forming a Celestial Magnetic Field.

This inheritance emphasized strengthening the body with the blood of ferocious and astral beasts, similar to methods used to enhance the physique of demonic creatures.

"Ultimately, physical mutations stem from the genetic level."

Li Pin turned his attention to the fourth stage. Within moments, he couldn't help but marvel. "Different paths, same destination—nothing could describe this better."

While Celestial Martial Artists didn't form a Celestial Magnetic Field, in the fourth stage, they used their qi and blood domain to simulate the movement of celestial bodies.

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In doing so, they harnessed Celestial Force to augment themselves, giving their every move the might of a celestial body's momentum.

This resembled Li Pin's ability to manipulate the Celestial Force Field.

The difference lay in execution: Celestial Martial Artists essentially "carried" a celestial body on their backs. As their "mass" increased, every punch and collision carried earth-shattering power.

In contrast, Li Pin drew upon the Celestial Force Field through his Natal Planet, gradually nurturing and embodying the celestial body itself.

The key difference was that Celestial Martial Artists gained the immense power of a celestial body directly, as if "bearing" one, thereby wielding its power. Li Pin, on the other hand, created a celestial body from scratch and grew alongside it.

This was merely the external refinement aspect of the fourth stage. Internally, it pursued spiritual evolution and transcendence.

The process of internal refinement had long been a topic of heated debate.

One faction pursued Divinity, rejecting all emotions and external distractions. They sought absolute spiritual purity to condense a powerful force—Divine Power.

However, Li Pin, who had comprehended inner spirit, understood this method was simply an extreme way of pursuing inner spirit.

By rejecting emotions and external interference, they purified their inner spirit to obtain its power. But this approach was too radical and impractical for most.

Ultimately, martial artists chose to delve deeper into the microcosmic realm, refining their Martial Will by integrating it into their cells, and reached a state known as "Perceiving the Spirit."

Li Pin silently absorbed all this information. Finally, he arrived at a conclusion.

"Perceiving the Spirit, Divinity, True Self, inner spirit...."

He muttered softly, "These all belong to the same kind of power."

Just as martial arts styles each had their own unique expressions—and just as different astral techniques produced varying destructive effects—this power, too, carried its own distinctions.

"The fourth stage... corresponds to the first through fourth realms—Human, Earthly, Heavenly, and Legendary."

Li Pin paused, stunned. That's... it?

The Celestial Martial Arts inheritance ended here. Instead, it was replaced by an explanatory note.

The fifth stage of martial arts, like the Demigod Realm above Legendary, transformed the practitioner's celestial "bearer" state into an "integrated" state.

In other words, the practitioner became the celestial body itself. The stronger the foundation, the larger the celestial body chosen for integration, and naturally, the greater the battle power.

However, Demigods had significant drawbacks compared to beings below their tier.

To some extent, they became like the consciousness of a celestial body. Moving themselves meant moving the entire celestial body, making their mobility extremely slow.

Though they could accelerate their movements using the gravitational pull of star systems or even the universe, moving at hundreds or thousands of kilometers per second, this speed was slow relative to their immense size.

The problem of having great power yet becoming a target could only be solved by advancing to the sixth stage.

To reach the sixth stage, a Demigod had to find the Astral World Fragments and use them to contain the celestial body they have merged with, creating a Divine state akin to an "inner world."

"Astral World Fragments... involve a higher-dimensional existence—the Astral World. Only those on the threshold of Astral Gods can sense it and use divine equipment to capture them...

"Or perhaps, only true Astral Gods, who enter the Astral World, can collect Astral World Fragments...."

This section contained very little information.

But from the point the fourth stage ended, the Celestial Martial Arts inheritance took a path similar to that of Astral Cultivators, which undoubtedly meant one thing.

"The martial path ends at the fourth stage?"

Li Pin fell silent. After a long while, he seemed to recall something.

The fourth stage corresponded to the Legendary realm among Astral Cultivators. The Heaven-Subjugating Technique mentioned the division of Legendary realms.

There were seven stages—or more strictly, six stages in total.

That was because, according to the seven-stage division, the first tier of Legend was called Quasi-Legend, or Pseudo-Legend, or Early-Stage Legend.

These were individuals who broke through to the Legendary realm using external means or items.

While they possessed some of the divine abilities and lifespan of true Legends, they were much weaker in comparison. Even cultivators at the Heavenly Realm could defeat them.

They were often seen as a disgrace to the Legendary Realm and were not acknowledged by many powerful factions or organizations.

Beyond that, the second and third tiers of Legends could be considered a single realm.

Tiers Four to Six could almost be considered another realm altogether. They not only possessed battle strength comparable to Demigods but also had the potential to challenge Astral Gods.

Tier Six Legends, in particular, could sense the existence of the Astral World, which was like having one foot in the domain of the Astral Gods.

With the aid of divine equipment, they could capture Astral World Fragments, allowing Demigods to complete their transformation into Divinity.

Therefore, every Tier Six, or even Tier Five Legend, often had many Demigod factions following them, willingly acting as their sponsors and protectors.

Li Pin casually glanced at the information before refocusing on the fourth martial arts realm.

"The third martial arts realm onwards is about the the concept of Internal and External Refinement. Only when both are unified can one reach the strongest state. In a sense, this stage corresponds to the first to third tiers of Legends."

He stared for a long time, only getting a rough sense of it.

After all, Celestial Martial Arts was different from Astral Cultivation. It wasn't easy to make a clear comparison.

Even two Tier Three Legends could show a difference in strength during combat.

After a moment, he turned his attention back to the so-called Quasi-Legends and Early-Stage Legends.

"Quasi-Legends and Early-Stage Legends are somewhat like how Quasi-Martial Saints were viewed in Taibai back then. Limited to using Spirit Force once or twice, the outside world doesn't acknowledge them, but Taibai does.

"On a larger scale, the Homo Sapien Alliance officially recognizes Quasi-Legends, even if the wider public does not."

Li Pin's eyes held a trace of curiosity. "Among the six great Legends of the Divine Dragon Empire, how many are true Legends, and how many are the weak Early-Stage Legends?

"Not just the Divine Dragon Empire, but how many of the other twelve civilizations in the Dragon Swamp Nebula truly have Legendary Experts?

After a moment, Li Pin shook his head. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

He planned to thoroughly absorb the information from the third and fourth stages of the Heaven-Subjugating Technique's Celestial Martial Arts inheritance before starting the Celestial Breaker phase.

"I'm on the right track with my assumption. Divinity, Perceiving the Spirit, the True Self, and the inner spirit all belong to the same power—the fourth stage, the power of the Legendary Realm.

"From this, it seems that my Internal Refinement has reached the Legendary level, but my External Refinement hasn't quite reached that standard yet..."

To reach the Legendary realm in External Refinement, he had to complete the Celestial Breaker phase.

Nurturing a celestial body within his body, merging with it as Demigods do, refining Astral World Fragments to contain the celestial body and attain Divinity...

It felt quite similar.

Li Pin thought. So, is the Supreme Expert Realm attained after completing the Celestial Breaker equivalent to achieving Divinity?

Claiming something is toxic without accounting for dosage is pure nonsense. Just look at the Demigods—the planets they fuse with are colossal!

Meanwhile, the Natal Planet I’ve just awakened is tiny by comparison.

Isn’t this why Legends are ranked in tiers? Their power is measured by the scale of celestial bodies they can move!

Changing the orbit of a celestial body was the concrete standard for measuring a Legend's strength. Once he could move Gaia with the power of his Natal Planet, he would officially be a Legend.

With that thought, Li Pin spent three days digesting the information from the Heaven-Subjugating Technique.

Without further delay, he took out the Celestial Core Fragments and started refining them at full speed.