Time...
Had always been a strange concept to cultivators.
For ordinary people...
Six years were enough for a child to begin understanding the world.
Enough for kingdoms to rise and fall.
Enough for entire generations to change.
But for those pursuing the summit of existence...
Six years were merely another step.
Six years passed.
Quietly.
Without the universe noticing.
Yet...
Everything had changed.
The younger generation that had once admired William had begun making names for themselves.
Many of the geniuses who had disappeared into seclusion remained unseen.
Rumors spread across countless worlds.
An ancient successor had awakened.
A forgotten bloodline had returned.
A mysterious prodigy had conquered an entire secret realm alone.
Every year...
More names emerged.
And every year...
More disappeared.
The universe was becoming restless.
Everyone understood.
The next Cosmic Tournament was approaching.
The Golden Era...
Was no longer a distant prophecy.
It had become reality.
During those six years...
No one knew where William had gone.
Not the great sects.
Not the supreme academies.
Not even the ancient families.
Only Andrew...
And Angela...
They knew one thing.
William was alive.
Nothing more.
The place where William cultivated...
Could not be found on any map.
It possessed no name.
No history.
No civilization.
Even space itself avoided it.
It was a silent region where countless collapsed stars drifted endlessly through the darkness.
Gigantic neutron stars revolved around one another in an impossible celestial dance.
Each possessed gravity capable of crushing worlds into dust.
Every pulse they emitted distorted the surrounding fabric of space.
No ordinary cultivator could survive a single breath there.
Yet...
William stood peacefully among them.
He had not chosen this place.
His Eternal Body had.
The moment he left the Evergreen Family...
An indescribable pull had appeared deep within his consciousness.
It had guided him across galaxies.
Across empty universes.
Across forgotten dimensions.
Until...
He finally reached this silent graveyard of dead stars.
The moment he stepped inside...
He understood.
His body Had brought him here to grow.
William floated motionlessly in the void.
His eyes remained closed.
His breathing was calm.
Around him...
Several neutron stars continuously released terrifying streams of compressed stellar energy.
Enough power to annihilate countless planets.
Normally...
That energy dispersed into the endless darkness.
Not anymore.
Now...
Every fragment was slowly drawn toward William.
Like rivers flowing into the sea.
Invisible currents surrounded him.
His body absorbed everything.
Not forcefully.
Naturally.
As though those stars had always belonged to him.
Every second...
His flesh became denser.
His bones shone faintly beneath his skin.
His blood carried traces of radiant starlight.
Even his soul seemed to resonate with the heartbeat of the stars themselves.
Years continued passing.
William never moved.
Never spoke.
Never opened his eyes.
Only the surrounding neutron stars changed.
One after another...
Their brilliance gradually dimmed.
Not because they were dying.
But because their immense stellar essence had become nourishment for someone else.
The Eternal Body silently refined every fragment.
Every pulse.
Every law hidden within those ancient stars.
Nothing was wasted.
Within William's body...
An unimaginable transformation slowly unfolded.
His cultivation had long surpassed the Infinite Body.
Now...
Everything focused upon a single destination.
The Stellar Domain.
The first of the great Domains Andrew had once described.
Unlike previous realms...
Breaking through no longer depended solely upon spiritual energy.
One had to create a foundation worthy of becoming a Domain.
A body capable of carrying the authority of stars themselves.
William understood this.
And so did his Eternal Body.
That was why it had chosen this place.
No location within countless worlds possessed purer stellar essence than a sea of neutron stars.
Eventually...
William slowly opened his eyes.
For the first time in six years.
The darkness around him reflected within his pupils.
Yet...
Tiny points of light also appeared inside them.
Like distant galaxies being born.
He looked toward the nearest neutron star.
Its gravity alone could tear apart ordinary cultivators before they even approached.
William calmly extended one hand.
The star trembled.
Not because he forced it.
But because it willingly answered.
An endless torrent of stellar energy erupted toward him.
His body accepted everything.
His cultivation surged once again.
He could already feel it.
The invisible barrier before him.
The barrier separating the Infinite Body...
From the Stellar Domain.
Closer.
Far closer than ever before.
William slowly clenched his fist.
The surrounding void shook.
Entire fields of shattered asteroids silently dissolved beneath the pressure escaping his body.
He exhaled once.
"I can feel it."
His quiet voice echoed across the sea of dead stars.
"The breakthrough..."
"...is close."
Far away...
Beyond countless galaxies...
The universe continued preparing for the greatest gathering in its history.
While unknown successors sharpened themselves in hidden worlds...
One young man stood among neutron stars...
Only a single step for him...
To enter the Stellar Domain.