Water is the soft, enduring energy of heaven and earth, ceaseless and relentless, eroding all things, unstoppable once it gathers momentum. Fire is the explosive energy of heaven and earth, burning all things to ash, yet scattering light and heat to nourish life. Water and fire oppose each other, like the two sides of Tai Chi, yet they also give rise to and overcome one another—arguably the two most common forms of energy in the universe.
So, "impervious to water and fire" doesn't just mean resisting the harm of water and flames; it means being insulated from energy attributes altogether. This is a formidable ability akin to magic immunity, growing stronger with each enhancement of genetic points.
Stone is not only hard but also a natural insulator, unaffected by energy, rendering any energy that lands on it useless. The Stone Monkey, born from stone, naturally possesses this trait. Isn't that exactly how the legendary Stone Monkey, Sun Wukong, is described? He descended into the Eastern Sea, stormed the Dragon Palace, and churned the ocean into chaos. On Heaven's Execution Platform, lightning strikes and axe blows left him unscathed. He passed through Lord Laozi's Eight Trigrams Furnace without a scratch and even gained fiery golden eyes.
Such parallels abound. Feng Lin gained a deeper understanding of mythical genes—their abilities are often tied to myths and legends. He might be able to study the use of genetic abilities based on those stories.
Right now, the Stone Monkey gene had just awakened, with only a single enhancement. If he continued to strengthen it, these traits would greatly amplify. The Stone Monkey gene is fundamentally a body-enhancing type. In close combat, it seems invincible, but its greatest weakness is long-range energy attacks—enemies could kite him from afar, preventing him from even getting close. Now, with the ability to be impervious to water and fire, he no longer feared energy damage, filling the biggest gap in close-quarters combat. If not for the lack of long-range offensive capabilities, the Stone Monkey gene would be a flawless, perfect gene.
But Feng Lin also noticed something: being impervious to water and fire meant insulating against energy attributes, not immunity to energy impact. Water's biting cold, fire's searing heat, light's scorching burn, lightning's paralyzing jolt—each energy type has unique attribute damage, hard to guard against and immensely powerful. The Stone Monkey, born from stone, was naturally insulated, immune to these attribute damages, but that didn't mean it could withstand massive energy impacts. When energy reached a certain intensity, it became pure force—a torrent of power that could only be met head-on, unstoppable by any means. Stone could be baked into magma by fire, floods could engulf everything, lightning could shatter it, and intense light could crack it.
But this was enough. What made energy most fearsome was its attribute damage, so difficult to defend against. The Stone Monkey gene had already negated this greatest harm, leveling the playing field to a contest of pure strength.
Would Feng Lin fear that? Fist-to-fist combat—that was a man's romance!
He now understood the meaning of the Stone Monkey gene's "stone body and iron bones." It wasn't just about being indestructible like diamond; it was about being insulated from energy and winning through raw power.
Like a child with a new toy, having grasped the Stone Monkey gene's abilities, Feng Lin couldn't wait to test his true strength. He quietly activated the gene ability, and his seemingly tender skin instantly tightened, becoming smooth and hard as marble.
*Bang, bang, bang!* Feng Lin tapped it with his fingers, producing a crisp, jade-like sound, ringing clear.
*Creak, creak!* He deliberately tried to gauge his enhanced strength.
Feng Lin was assigned to the R&D department, the core division of Giant Pharmaceuticals, and his living quarters were excellent. His single room had everything, including a private training room for cultivation. Though the equipment was sparse, limited to basic exercises, there was at least a basic punching machine. Feng Lin stepped up, barely preparing, and threw a punch in an instant!
*Boom!* He used too much force! Feng Lin inwardly cursed, staring at the pile of scrap metal before him, speechless. The punching machine groaned under the strain, collapsed with a crash, and emitted black smoke.
"What? I didn't even go all out, and this punching machine exploded!" Feng Lin was stunned, staring blankly at his fist, not even knowing how strong he was anymore! Though it was the most basic punching machine, it could withstand at least 5 tons of force. Feng Lin had barely exerted himself, yet he had destroyed it, meaning his punch far exceeded 5 tons.
In the end, he still couldn't get an accurate measure of his punching power! Feng Lin shook his head, looking somewhat helpless—it was a happy kind of trouble.
Having become an interstellar cultivator, he was already an inhuman existence with astonishing strength. Now, even Feng Lin himself didn't know how strong he was—he just felt incredibly powerful.
Failing the strength test, he moved on to testing his speed. The Stone Monkey was strong in power but no slouch in agility either. Monkeys were inherently known for their nimbleness. Back when he was a gene apprentice, Feng Lin's speed had already surpassed his peers; now, it was undoubtedly even greater. Feng Lin wanted to know his speed limit.
*Slap, slap, slap!* Footsteps raced, leaving afterimages on the speedometer. As the treadmill spun faster, a sudden *creak* of breaking sounded, and the belt snapped, starting to smoke. Feng Lin stepped off helplessly, finding the speed frozen at a number: "100 meters in 2.28 seconds!"
Though it was less than half the time of his previous 4.21 seconds for 100 meters, Feng Lin knew the significance was different. The closer speed got to its limit, the harder it was to improve. Every tiny increase required massive energy. It was like approaching the speed of light—each increment caused mass to grow exponentially. At light speed, even a marble would theoretically have infinite mass, requiring infinite energy. Light speed was the ultimate limit of linear velocity in the universe; without wormhole technology, humans could never traverse interstellar distances.
Four seconds for 100 meters was the mortal limit. Feng Lin had surpassed it, proving his transcendent nature. But every second shaved off beyond that demanded immense life force, each increment a monumental leap. It was like in the ancient Earth era, when humans broke the 10-second barrier for 100 meters—every 0.1-second improvement was a speed breakthrough.
Despite such a massive increase in life force, speed didn't improve proportionally. For instance, scientific research showed that an adult tiger's life force was at least five times that of an adult human, but could a tiger run five times faster? Clearly not! Humans could sprint at least 40 kilometers per hour, while tigers only reached about 80 kilometers per hour—just twice as fast, far from five times.
Similarly, Feng Lin understood from his speed increase just how powerful his body had become—it was almost unimaginable. Feng Lin unleashed his full speed, turning into a gust of wind, circling and sprinting in the training room. His figure flickered in and out of sight, hard for ordinary eyes to track—only a blur of motion with trailing afterimages. At that moment, he was certain: he was already a superhuman existence.
Feng Lin let out a deep breath and calmed down. He knew that a 5-ton punch and 100 meters in 2.28 seconds weren't his limits. To get precise data, he would need thorough testing. Now that he was an interstellar cultivator, the next thing to consider was...
How should he proceed on the path of myth?