Chapter 716 - 1: The Great Voice

Late on the night of June 2, 2017, Su Zhou flew to the top of the rain clouds in the stratosphere above the Western Capital.

At an altitude of several thousand meters, he found a fairly flat spot. He then used his Spiritual Power to strengthen the surrounding clouds, creating a cloud bed that felt like an air mattress, and lay down comfortably.

He felt the crackling Thunderbolt in the clouds beneath him and the powerful air currents that surged like ocean waves. The small, crimson snake slithered down from the top of his head, coiled on his chest, and also lay down comfortably.

Lying there with Yara, Su Zhou pillowed his hands behind his head and gazed up at the Starry Sky, pondering the tapestry of distant stars and his own future. Just like that, he prepared to drift off to sleep.

—Theoretically, a being at the Commander Tier had no need for sleep. In fact, once one reached the Extraordinary Tier, sleep became more or less optional.

This was even more so for someone like Su Zhou, who possessed a Bipolar Brain structure similar to a dolphin’s. He had inexhaustible energy; day and night made no difference to him.

However, Su Zhou had recently learned a new technique for using his Extraordinary Power. This technique allowed his Spiritual Power to circulate and operate automatically under certain conditions, regardless of whether he was conscious.

To put it simply: Su Zhou was trying to get stronger even while idle.

To put it even more simply: Spirit of Magic.

In reality, this was about more than just Cultivation. If Su Zhou could achieve automatic circulation of his internal Spiritual Qi, he wouldn’t need to divert his attention mid-battle to heal his wounds. When trading blows with an enemy, he wouldn’t have to waste mental energy on active defense, nor would he need to constantly keep his body under a magical enhancement.

Cultivating to this level required exceptional control over one’s Spiritual Power and an extremely stable, orderly internal circulation. Su Zhou met these conditions, so he learned quickly.

Now, to test this technique, Su Zhou planned to take a nap on the clouds. If he fell, it would mean that he couldn’t maintain the cloud-strengthening Magic while asleep, and that he hadn’t truly achieved the state of ’Spirit of Magic’.

If he slept soundly until his intended wake-up time in broad daylight, he would have succeeded.

The tapestry of the stars was beautiful. Away from the city’s neon lights, Su Zhou could see the summer’s Star River. He had always loved such sights, especially after personally thrashing an Alien’s Creation not long ago. Now, he loved gazing at the stars even more, wondering what sort of life they nurtured and whether those lives also looked up at the Starry Sky.

But these thoughts didn’t last long, because Su Zhou fell asleep.

And then came the dream.

In the dream, Su Zhou felt himself traveling. He clearly sensed himself flying ever upward—into the High Heaven, into the Cosmos, and then out beyond the Cosmos itself, until he arrived in the Ice-Crystallized Void he had once glimpsed through a crack in the Space-Time Sect created by the Celestial God Scale.

It was a crystallized Void, like a frozen ocean. In the stagnant Void, countless resplendent crystals bloomed with their own light, each illuminating the magnificent, surreal exteriors of the others.

Yet for all its shining splendor, it was equally deathly still, cold, desolate, and silent... Though brilliant at a glance, a closer look revealed that amidst the shimmering light of innumerable world-stars lay nothing but a multitude of lifeless ruins.

—This was the prison of the defeated, the jail of the denied, the settling ground for burnt-out ashes: the Ice-Crystallized Void.

All things trapped here were but Prisoners of fate. The Great Seal enveloped everything; not a single inch of this place could be called free.

So bleak, so hopeless. No sound could be heard in the silent Void, only the resentment and sorrow that settled with the ashes. Even if one wished to roar, the very vibration of an exhaled breath could not be perceived.

But in this unbearable silence, a sound suddenly rang out, shaking the Ten Thousand Realms.

[Still unable to admit defeat?]

A voice like this rang out from the ether.

Like boiling water poured on iron-hard ice, the Ice-Crystallized Void began to slowly melt—and though it was only for an instant, the Void trembled.

A vast pattern of infinitely symmetrical lines, radiating from a single Source point, lit up from within a magnificent world-ruin. Its rays projected toward the endless distance; no matter how far one gazed, no end could be seen. No matter how far one advanced, one could only see an endless ’Horizon’.

Su Zhou could not see Its full form; perhaps no one could. It seemed to represent ’the boundary between the seen and the unseen,’ ’the difference between the known and the unknown.’ If life’s perception of all things was a circle, then It was the very line that drew that circle.

It was not human, nor any other form of life. It was not a thing, nor a concept.

It was a ’Great Being’.

The outwardly radiating, endless lines seemed poised to pierce the infinite Void and connect all worlds, but the Great Seal isolated It, rendering Its every action futile.

Even so, the already shattered Great Seal became even more dilapidated. Yet it remained stable, adapting to the change. It was just as hot water can melt hard ice for a moment; without an endless supply to keep it molten, the Great Being’s power would only slightly alter the shape of the ice, perhaps even becoming a new layer of ice itself.

Seemingly realizing Its actions were meaningless, the infinite, radiating lines dissipated and no longer attempted to break through. Then, the voice from the ether rang out once more.

[Awaken, you long-defeated Prisoners.]

The great will spread through the entire realm, and every being meant to hear It would surely know: [Wake from your wretched dreams. Wake from the ashes of past glories and righteousness.]

[Admit your defeat, admit your mistakes—then awaken. Shatter your cages and shackles.]

[Awaken.]

But strangely, that last sentence wasn’t spoken by the unknown Great Being, but in the voice of Yara.

The Snake Spirit’s slightly weary voice lingered by his ear. "Awaken."

And so, Su Zhou awoke, startled from his dream.

And then he realized he was falling through the clouds.

BOOM—the Gale Seed surged from his side, and a fierce Gale whipped up around him, kicking up arcs of electricity in the surrounding rain clouds. The moment he awoke, Su Zhou halted his descent. He then rubbed his forehead, lost in thought.

"Ice-Crystallized Void..."

He murmured, "Great Being."

"A strange dream."

Though he called it strange, Su Zhou knew exactly why he’d had this dream.

"A Great Being has awoken, just like you and the Silent Lord."

Placing the small snake coiled around his arm onto his shoulder, Su Zhou turned his head, his expression grave. "It tried to break free from the Seal, and after failing, It made a declaration to you and all the other Great Beings—and I happened to overhear."