The group had planned to head back to Jinghe Garden, but it was too late. They'd have to rough it outside for another night.
They found a building with rooftop access nearby and climbed straight up to sleep.
Star City nights in October ran cold, but with their physiques, none of them minded.
Enjoy when you can, endure when you must. The apocalypse left no room for being precious about it.
Lying on the frigid concrete, they slept until midnight, then opened their eyes and started watching the stars.
Barely a few minutes in, Yang Bin noticed something. His Spiritual Energy absorption rate had spiked dramatically.
More than that-even when he wasn't watching the stars, the surrounding Spiritual Energy flowed into him on its own.
The Yaoguang Star in his mind pulsed with a faint, rhythmic glow. It was doing the absorbing.
"After lighting up a star, Spiritual Energy absorption becomes automatic?" Yang Bin mused.
He thought for a moment, then left the rooftop and headed into one of the rooms below.
He observed again.
Sure enough-even indoors, Spiritual Energy still trickled in from all directions. Just not as much as on the rooftop.
It made sense. Once the Nine Stars of the Big Dipper appeared in the sky, Blue Star's ambient Spiritual Energy became active.
At that point, the lit star in his mind would cycle automatically, drawing in surrounding energy.
Before lighting a star, though? No automatic absorption whatsoever.
When Yang Bin and the others focused on the Nine Stars of the Big Dipper, they were borrowing the constellation's power to pull in ambient Spiritual Energy.
That was what let them grow stronger before ever lighting a star.
But that method only improved physical stats-never realm.
"So the Yaoguang Realm is where real autonomous cultivation begins. Eventually, we might not even need crystals to advance."
"That said, crystals still massively accelerate the process. Relying purely on nightly cultivation, advancing one order in ten days to two weeks would be decent. But with enough crystals, multiple orders in a single day is easy."
"Either way-Yaoguang Realm is the real turning point. Humanity finally isn't completely dependent on zombie crystals to grow." Yang Bin filed the thought away.
He returned to the rooftop.
This time he focused intently on the stars above.
The influx of Spiritual Energy intensified immediately.
As expected. Lying on the rooftop, gazing at the stars-that was the fastest method.
You could absorb energy lying in bed at home too, but the rate was noticeably slower.
After a while, Yang Bin frowned.
He noticed a split. Some Spiritual Energy flowed into the star in his mind, which then converted and fed the energy back to strengthen his body. But another portion bypassed the star entirely, flowing straight into his flesh and bones.
He closed his eyes and focused inward.
The pattern became clear. Energy the star absorbed autonomously always passed through the star first, then radiated outward into his body.
But the energy he pulled in by gazing at the Big Dipper-borrowing the constellation's power directly-that went straight into his body without ever touching the star in his mind.
One internal pathway. One external.
"So the energy from stargazing still only boosts physical stats, not realm." Yang Bin rubbed his chin.
"Actually... that's not bad at all. It means the physical gains from stargazing are independent-basically using celestial power to temper the body separately."
"Nice. My cultivation speed might not outpace everyone else's, but within the same realm, my body will always be a cut above."
"Bin-ge, what's with you tonight? Pacing around one second, muttering to yourself the next." Chen Hao eyed him from the side, bewildered.
"Heh. Found something good."
"Keep grinding, all of you. Once you hit Yaoguang Realm, you'll be able to cultivate and advance on your own."
"Seriously?" The others snapped awake instantly.
"Yeah. But stargazing still has to continue. That's our biggest edge."
"Roger that."
Early the next morning, the squad got moving-hunting Tier-5 Zombies along the route home.
Three days out was long enough. Time to check on things.
Yang Bin's advancement to the Yaoguang Realm had bumped the entire team's combat ceiling up a tier.
At his current level, even the military showing up wouldn't faze him.
Teleportation in hand, artillery meant nothing. They fire a shell, he blinks behind the gun and wrecks it.
That was exactly why he'd chosen Teleportation.
Other abilities might have boosted his offensive options, but against an organized military force, raw firepower only got you so far. At most you'd rack up a higher body count.
Teleportation, though-that was a space-type ability, and the energy cost ran steep.
The farther the jump, the heavier the drain.
At Yaoguang Realm, Yang Bin's maximum range sat around three to four hundred meters. Beyond that, he'd black out.
Short hops he could chain four or five times consecutively. Enough for most situations.
About ten minutes into their walk, Yang Bin spotted a Tier-5 Zombie embedded in a horde.
Roughly two thousand strong. The squad started gearing up for a proper fight.
Yang Bin just smiled-and vanished.
One blink later, his figure materialized in the dead center of the horde. The Barbell Rod came up, came down, and a skull caved in like wet cardboard.
He plucked the crystal from the wreckage in one smooth motion. Then he was gone again, reappearing at the squad's side.
"Gulp..."
Every jaw in the group hung open. Their expressions were priceless.
"Just... that easy??"
"What'd you expect? It's a Tier-5 Zombie. One swing." Yang Bin shrugged.
"......"
"Bin-ge, you're genuinely broken."
"This is literally 'plucking the enemy general's head from an army of ten thousand like reaching into your pocket.'" Zhao Kun shook his head in disbelief.
"Haha, so from now on we can farm Tier-5 crystals whenever we want?" Old Hei's eyes lit up.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. The energy cost is real-I can't spam it. But for situations like this, sure. Saves us the time of carving through two thousand bodies."
"Mm."
"Let's move. Home."
The distance meant they didn't arrive until afternoon.
But the moment they stepped through the door and saw what waited inside, every face went stone-cold.
Their home had been ransacked.
The living room was trashed-furniture overturned, walls gouged, debris everywhere. Clearly the aftermath of a fight.
And the one who'd fought back didn't need guessing. It was Little Orange.
They'd always been the ones doing the looting. The idea that someone would hit their place had never crossed their minds.
"Little Orange!"
Yang Bin called out in every direction.
Nothing. No response.
"Search. Everywhere."
"On it."
The squad fanned out through every room, every floor.
They tore through the entire villa.
No sign of Little Orange.
Yang Bin's expression went flat. Dead calm.
"If anything happened to Little Orange-whoever did this dies."