Time flowed by silently.
Beneath the cliff, a group of youths climbed persistently, like tireless ants.
"These kids are remarkable... truly worthy of being chosen." Dohko murmured quietly from atop the cliff, then closed his eyes again.
...
And just like that—
A day...
A month...
Three months...
A year.
In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.
During this year, whether it was Jiang Chen, Sage, Shaka, Aiolos, or Kanon, they were all completely immersed in their training.
As their Cosmo was continually compressed… Their inner Cosmos began to undergo a quiet transformation.
When the sunlight of dawn spilled over the earth—
A new day had begun.
At the top of the cliff—
Jiang Chen had nearly reached the summit, his position just a couple of meters below the peak. Looking up, it seemed like only two or three meters remained before he would reach the top.
A few meters behind him was Shaka, followed by Sage, Aiolos, and finally Kanon.
Beads of sweat streamed down Jiang Chen's forehead, and his body made faint cracking sounds, as if even his bones were straining. The pressure was so immense that even breathing had become difficult at this point.
And yet, he still gritted his teeth and pushed upward.
"Just a little more!" He whispered to himself while climbing with difficulty. His fingers dug deep into the rock face, anchoring his body so he wouldn't fall.
Until—
He finally crossed those last few meters.
BOOM!
A roar exploded in Jiang Chen's mind, and simultaneously, a roar erupted from within his body. In that moment, his consciousness entered a mysterious, profound state.
He could clearly sense every atom within his body and he felt the countless atoms forming together into the embryo of a universe. Compared to the illusion-like Cosmos he once had, the one inside him now was vastly more complete.
Even the Zodiac Temples, the Twelve Temples of the Zodiac, had begun to materialize during this year of training. At the current pace, it wouldn't be long before the Twelve Temples were fully formed.
Yet that wasn't the most important change.
At this moment, Jiang Chen had comprehended a new concept— 'Burning the Cosmo'.
Burning the Cosmo meant using one's willpower to accelerate the motion of atoms in the body. Atoms that had once moved uniformly would begin to move faster and faster. As billions of atoms accelerated together, they generated immense kinetic energy.
That energy, when released, would allow a person to surpass their original power and speed by tenfold, or even a hundredfold.
Originally, this was incredibly difficult for Jiang Chen.
After all, his Cosmo was already more akin to a dust particle in the vast space. If something went wrong during Cosmo burning, it wouldn't just backfire. It could cause his entire Cosmos to explode, along with his physical body.
But now, under the suppression of Dohko's Cosmo, he had gradually mastered the ability to burn his Cosmo. His own strength had undergone a complete transformation.
Time flowed by quietly.
In the blink of an eye, two more days had passed.
During those two days, Jiang Chen was entirely immersed in his Cosmo comprehension. And while he was still deep in his realization, Shaka also reached the top of the cliff.
BOOM!
The moment his feet touched the summit, Shaka's Cosmo erupted. He immediately sat in the lotus position, entering deep meditation, continuing his own comprehension of the Cosmo.
Soon after—
A day later—
Sage and Aiolos also reached the summit.
BOOM!
Their auras also erupted in that instant.
Another day passed, and finally Kanon climbed to the top.
At this moment, the Cosmos of all four of them began to unfold, reaching a mysterious limit—
The Sixth Sense.
Among the senses within the human Cosmos, the first five are sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Losing these five results in falling into a state of absolute void, unable to see, hear, speak, feel, or taste. A living corpse.
However, once a person awakens their Cosmos and evolves it to a certain level, the Sixth Sense will emerge. The Sixth Sense refers to mental awareness beyond the five senses. A feeling generated by the brain.
Once the Sixth Sense awakens, a Saint Warrior can control elements, foresee the future, manipulate atoms, fly, teleport, use telekinesis, read minds, invoke illusions, perform mental control, gain superhuman intuition, and more.
Even radiation, plagues, viruses, poison, and curses have little effect on them. Because even if they don't consciously burn their Cosmo, the subtle power they unconsciously emit is enough to repel all such threats.
Even something like reverse blood flow is easily withstood by their bodies. Whether in lava or tens of thousands of meters under the sea, as long as they burn their Cosmo, they will remain completely unaffected by environmental changes.
Now, through the training at Lushan, Shaka, Sage, Aiolos, and Kanon had all stepped into the realm of the Sixth Sense.
And the moment they entered it, their Sixth Sense began to expand and strengthen.
Among the stars...
The Virgo Temple, Sagittarius Temple, and Gemini Temple were all shimmering with light at that moment, as if they were resonating with the figures below.
"What incredible natural talent," Dohko murmured softly, his gaze sweeping over the others before resting once again on Jiang Chen.
"He still hasn't awakened the Sixth Sense? Is it the power of that Essence, Energy, and Soul (Jin-Qi-Shen) holding him back?" He muttered quietly himself, a bit surprised.
Dohko had originally expected Jiang Chen to be the first to awaken the Sixth Sense. After all, based on both his performance and Dohko's own perception, Jiang Chen clearly had the most exceptional talent.
But in the end, he had not awakened it.
This made Dohko instinctively think of the unusual aura surrounding Jiang Chen. His talent was undeniable, so if he hadn't awakened it, the only explanation was that this power was still restraining him.
What Dohko didn't know, however, was that the reason Jiang Chen had not awakened the Sixth Sense was because his Cosmos was still in the process of becoming complete. At this moment, not even a full constellation had formed within him, naturally, he hadn't reached the threshold necessary to awaken the Sixth Sense.
But just because he hadn't awakened it yet didn't mean that his Cosmos was inferior to the others'.
As his Cosmos continued to evolve, and as the Zodiac Temples gradually took shape within him, Jiang Chen sank deeper and deeper into meditation.
No one knew how much time passed.
Atop the cliff—
His eyes slowly opened.
The moment he opened them, he immediately sensed several surrounding cosmos that were far stronger than before.
"What is this?"
Startled, Jiang Chen turned to look beside him and only then did he realize that Sage, Shaka, Aiolos, and Kanon had all climbed to the top at some point.
(To Be Continued…)
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