Chapter 5290: In The Space Above The Realm

In the space above the Six-Headed Hydra Upper Realm, a white-robed man stood in the space with his arms folded and his hands concealed in his sleeves. The long and wide sleeves danced in the air as his majestic aura flared ever so lightly in the boundless darkness before slowly receding and lingering around his figure.

His long silverish white hair drifted behind him, swaying with grace.

He gazed beneath at the vast realm that spanned millions of light years.

From his lofty position, the entirety of the Six-Headed Hydra Upper Realm unfolded beneath his gaze like an incomprehensibly vast painting crafted by the hands of the heavens themselves.

Its dark lands stretched endlessly toward the horizon, occasionally interrupted by colossal tornadoes that pierced through the heavens. Great whirlpool clouds revolved in the sky, swallowing vast currents of atmospheric heaven and earth energy before violently expelling them elsewhere.

Whatever was caught within those terrifying currents was hurled across the realm with enough force to shatter ordinary mountains, forming extreme wind currents. Some of the earthen fragments eventually crashed into the earth and accumulated over the passing years, forming mountains whose immense bodies rivaled floating continents.

Regardless, the landscape itself was constantly changing right now.

Mountains rose, valleys sank, rivers changed their courses while seas expanded and receded. Even the boundaries between land and sky were no longer as obvious as they had once been.

The realm was alive as though it was growing.

On the southern side of the vast realm, the dark sea was particularly conspicuous.

It appeared to be in the form of a Six-Headed Hydra because of the six long serpentine necks extending out from the Southern Abyssal Tidal Sea towards the north, thanks to the Hexadra Clan’s terraforming efforts and profound karmic connection to the realm for billions of years. After countless generations, their karma had become so deeply intertwined with the Upper Realm that even the world’s terrain had gradually begun to reflect their existence.

It was not uncommon for this person to have witnessed such landscapes as he had lived for a long time.

The realm itself seemed to acknowledge them, and that was why he had weighed the condition that the next ruler must possess the hydra bloodline highly.

"The realm is slowly but surely being nurtured by the Golden Era."

The Celestial Transcendent’s majestic voice echoed out in the cold space. The cold and empty space wasn’t quite empty, considering it was filled with heaven and earth energy, especially after the Desolate Era receded and the Golden Era subsequently bloomed.

The vast skies were now embedded with more wind veins, and the land and seas were covered in more earth veins and water veins. Each earth vein began generating more land and pulsed with vitality, sometimes shifting entire lands and forming new mountains filled with rich energy from the nurtured by old or expanding dragon veins.

There were also fire veins forming volcanoes and metal veins forming ores.

Some generated new stretches of land from nothing, and others shifted entire regions of the realm, slowly pushing ancient lands upward while causing others to sink.

Mountains rose from plains, plains fractured into valleys, valleys transformed into rivers, and beneath all of it, dragon veins that had dried up long ago or got fractured reawakened and were healing.

Other than the newly formed dangerous landscapes, earth veins and wind veins worked together to form floating mountains and floating continents. At other times, earth veins and water veins worked to form grottoes. Fire veins, water veins, and earth veins clashed together to form seabed volcanoes or even hot springs above mountains.

But in essence, since they were all filled with rich heaven and earth energy, the Celestial Transcendent’s voice also contained a trace of elation.

"Aren’t you the one who benefited the most from this surge of pure heaven and earth energy from the Golden Era?"

A man clad in a jade green robe suggested with a faint smile. The jade-green robe was rather luxurious and enunciated nobility. With a head full of white hair yet having a handsome look, he appeared to be a middle-aged man with the refined demeanor of a scholar.

The Celestial Transcendent’s lips curled with a faint shade of amusement as though he couldn’t suppress his smile.

He chuckled, "How can that be, Zest? Do I look like the one who went around harvesting World Hegemon Grade treasures?"

"World Hegemon Grade treasures? Tsk, tsk."

Zest Hyluan clicked his tongue in a sarcastic tone, "Any fool can see the Golden Era has even started spreading to the neighboring realms. Although those realms hadn’t had the chance to receive the blessings, it’s reported that their realm’s veins and resources started experiencing a massive improvement in growth. Even the distant Upper Realms no longer suffer from the desolate air."

"Evidently, all sixteen Upper Realms are now covered by the Golden Era near the end of the fourth day. When all sixteen Upper Realms are encompassed by the purple-gold tide, it’s said that they spread to the Lower Realms through the invisible connection of the Realm Cores."

Zest Hyluan said with a faint breath of excitement, before hesitating, "But this is the case when the Golden Era spreads from the Greater Realm to the Upper Realms and Lower Realms. It’s quite different now where it’s spreading unnaturally. However, the fact you’re smiling like a fool could only mean that you have encircled the Divine Emperor of Death with no way out for him, or the Golden Era has finally spread to the Greater Realm. But considering you’ve been granting amnesty to that brat from the start, I reckon it’s the latter, isn’t it?"

"The Greater Realm is experiencing the advent of pure heaven and earth energy, isn’t it!?" Zest Hyluan questioned, his eyes widening as he exclaimed.

The Celestial Transcendent practically grinned in response.

As the Supreme Ruler of the Celestial Transcendent Galaxy, he would be the first one to know should the Greater Realm Core start acting strange and start releasing a surge of pure energy towards the towering skies and shrouding the lands and seas.

Although it hadn’t begun yet, there were signs.

What was the meaning of the Golden Era spreading in the Greater Realms?

It meant that the chances that the number of treasures above the World Hegemon Grade manifesting in the Greater Realm would dramatically increase!

However, he offered no explanation and said in a restrained voice.

"It would do no good to put the cart before the horse. Although our galaxy could certainly be said to be in a period of prolonged state of growth, nothing is set in stone until the Divergent threat is eradicated to the point that only a few Passive Divergents survive. Since the realm-wide net is cast, we must hook the fish or at least follow it to its underwater lair."

"Tsk, tsk." Zest Hyluan clicked his tongue in derision, "There were plenty of chances, but you wasted every single one. You favor the bad apple too much."

"Me? Favor the bad apple...?"

The Celestial Transcendent smilingly shook his head.

"I’ve merely held back a little and didn’t use the heavenly powers since I wanted to make it clear that I was facing him as the human race’s Supreme Ruler and not the Heaven’s Warrior’s Celestial Transcendent. Has any junior ever defeated me in just my Supreme Ruler state?"

"As far as I am aware of, no, but even your layer limit avatar hasn’t been defeated twice in that state." Zest Hyluan sighed lightly, "The human race greatly lacks talents of your caliber. Why does that stinky corpse brat need to be a Desolate Divergent?"

"..."

The Celestial Transcendent moved his gaze to Zest Hyluan. He didn’t comment on it, knowing he was still lamenting about his great-granddaughter who emerged as an Anarchic Divergent, whom he had just killed. He also knew if she were here and wasn’t a Divergent, they might’ve already been able to conquer one or two more galaxies since she possessed absolute domain even in front of other World Hegemons.

She’d practically crush them with one finger.

But it was a pity. She got struck by punitive lightning that doesn’t let anyone who tries to quickly overcome the absolute limits imposed upon the world survive, squashing them down all the way back to their cultivation cushion and leaving them a cripple.

He supposed Zest Hyluan would stay here until he could retrieve his granddaughter’s corpse from her shattered universe and seal it somewhere this universe doesn’t need to know.

At this moment, two beings descended.

"Is everything in place?"

The Celestial Transcendent’s voice reverberated, his tone firm and authoritative.

But the ones who landed looked nearly just as authoritative.

A broad-shouldered man descended from the void with steady steps, his brown-gold robes billowing behind him like a vast battle standard beneath an invisible gale.

His physique was exceptionally robust, his shoulders broad and his waist straight, giving him the imposing presence of a mountain that had stood unmoved through countless eras. His long black hair was interwoven with strands of bronze-gold and bound behind his head by a simple dark-gold crown. His complexion was slightly tanned, and his rugged features carried the sharpness of a forged blade. His thick brows slanted upward like unsheathed swords, while his deep-set eyes glimmered with a restrained golden radiance. A short, neatly trimmed beard framed his jaw, adding to his stern and weathered appearance.

His brown-gold robe was embroidered with countless tiny swords, each one appearing almost lifelike whenever the fabric moved. At his waist hung an ancient sword in a dark scabbard, its hilt forged from an unknown golden metal and wrapped in black leather. Despite being sheathed, it exuded an incomparably sharp sword intent that caused the surrounding space to faintly distort.

His hands were rough and calloused, bearing countless scars accumulated through forging and battle, yet his fingers were extraordinarily steady. Every movement he made possessed the simplicity of someone who had spent countless years tempering both his body and sword intent, causing even his seemingly ordinary gestures to carry the weight of an immovable mountain and the sharpness of a heavenly sword.

The other was a woman.

She descended beside him with graceful steps, her white-gold robes flowing around her like moonlight spilling across an endless sea. She possessed an elegant and dignified appearance, with a slender yet perfectly proportioned figure that seemed untouched by the passage of time. She appeared to be somewhere in her twenties, yet the wisdom revealed in her eyes seemed to be beyond that of a young woman.

Her long silver-white hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of moonlight, with several strands naturally framing her delicate face. A crescent-shaped golden ornament rested upon her forehead, faintly glowing with a soft silver radiance. Her complexion was fair and luminous, almost translucent beneath the surrounding darkness, while her exquisite features carried an innate nobility that made her appear like an immortal empress who had descended from the Lunar Reverence.

Her eyes were particularly striking, possessing pale silver irises that seemed to contain miniature moons within their depths.

Zest Hyluan turned to look at them, recognizing the man from the Heaven-Sundering Sword Sect, who was skilled in sword arts and forging, while the woman was from the Celestial Moonlight Sect, skilled in formations.

Both were Grand Elders of their powers, beings who stood above most of the human race.

"Reporting to the Supreme Ruler, thousands of formations are in place at nearly every star in the western skies to entrap the Divine Emperor of Death and his allies." The Celestial Moonlight Sect’s Grand Elder bowed lightly as she cupped her hands.