Chapter 450 - 404: Before the Great War, [Zuo Xuan] Leaves the Ship, Jiang Qiu Arrives

This wasn’t just some wild guess. According to the inherited memories buried deep within their bloodline, the Thunder Restricted Area held a great secret. If they could take it intact, it would surely elevate the Thunder Clan by a whole level. The losses they’d incurred from their dealings with the Bloodthirsty White Tiger over the past decade would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

It was under these circumstances that the Thunder Clan had mobilized in full force. They desperately wanted to develop the Thunder Realm into a top-tier Great Realm. If they could achieve this goal within a thousand years, the Thunder Clan would one day give birth to a so-called Venerable—yes, a Venerable blessed by the will of a top-tier Great Realm!

Of course, they didn’t have to be called a Venerable. An Emperor would also work. What would be wrong with being called the Lord of Thunder?

As long as they developed the Thunder Realm to the level of a top-tier Great Realm, the Thunder Clan would have the chance to grow into a major race renowned across many Great Realms. This was precisely their plan.

And now, they had already deployed their forces, surrounding the main city near the Thunder Restricted Area. They were just waiting for the order to attack, and everyone would charge into the thunder-shrouded Restricted Area without a second thought.

The Eight-direction Reversing Ship hovered on the outskirts of the main city. It was currently in a non-flying state, looking like a colossal fortress that had landed on a boundless plain, utterly magnificent and immense.

A temporary city had been built near the Eight-direction Reversing Ship to imprison some of the less valuable slaves and to provide a market for some of the Emperor Blue Lizard People. A constant stream of visitors came here; after all, this wasn’t the battlefield, and there was still some distance to it.

Because of the Eight-direction Reversing Ship, this temporary city had already developed to a point second only to the main city. Unless it was a main city run by one of the world’s top races or a city operated by the Thunder Clan, none seemed as prosperous as this place—and it had been built in just half a month.

Countless people hoped to come here and buy a slave supplied by the Emperor Blue Lizard Clan of the Nine Venerable Great Realm. This seemed to be related to the fame of Zuo Xuan. Wasn’t it a matter of pride to own a slave personally captured by a Venerable?

Besides, it wasn’t as if Zuo Xuan came to the Thunder Realm often. His last visit was a hundred years ago. Countless legends about him were seared into the minds of the ordinary people of the Thunder Realm. The moment they heard Zuo Xuan’s name, they knew he was a big deal. For those with a bit of wealth, buying one of his slaves was a huge status symbol.

Precisely because of this, the people who could come to this temporary city were not ordinary folk; they all had at least some wealth. You wouldn’t dare to look down on anyone. What if the man riding an ox was actually riding a Fusion Realm Great Demon?

Seeing the bustling scene in the temporary city, the corners of Zuo Xuan’s mouth lifted slightly. He enjoyed this feeling very much.

He stood in the central control area of the Eight-direction Reversing Ship, looking down on the small temporary city as if it were a little dirt mound. The lofty perspective was deeply satisfying.

For ten thousand years, he had traveled through countless worlds, pioneered countless worlds, and traded an astronomical number of slaves. It could be said that his contribution to the rapid development of this Primordial world cluster was not small.

After all, every top power, from pioneer organizations to the trade guilds of the Three-Life Race, was key to the expansion of the Primordial world cluster.

This universe was simply too vast—so vast that it was impossible to finish exploring in a lifetime. In fact, he suspected it couldn’t be fully explored in a hundred thousand, a million, ten million, or even a hundred million years.

He had also wondered what lay beyond the world of worlds. What would he find if he kept pioneering in the same direction? He would find more strange new worlds in need of pioneering. It was like opening your eyes to find yourself in darkness, feeling pressure from all sides, as if the slightest movement would bring the despair of being buried deep in a desert. And yet, the more one explored, the more one felt a sense of life.

’Heh, some say it’s all too hopeless. Every new discovery just proves there’s even more yet to be discovered. The more you find, the less you realize you’ve actually seen. The universe seems infinitely large, like a tiny fish that could never traverse all the oceans and lakes in its short life.’

’But this, this is the very charm of pioneering. The more I explore, the more I want to know what lies beyond the world of worlds... Will it lead to Transcendence?’

Regarding the matter of Transcendence, countless people had tried to verify it through countless methods, hoping to use existing knowledge to achieve such a monumental feat.

The conservatives chose to wait for the Secret Realms of ancient eras to open, seeking past secrets about Transcendence, while the enterprising trailblazers chose to carve out their own path. He belonged to neither group. He simply enjoyed the process of exploration itself.

’If I could, I would want an endless lifespan to explore the entire Primordial world cluster. The allure of Transcendence stems from this very desire.’

’Transcendence means not being bound by the Law of life. An infinite life will ultimately allow me to forge an eternal contract, letting me forever pursue the things I wish to pursue.’

Harboring such thoughts, he saw the teeming masses of the Thunder Realm as nothing more than a swarm of ants. In fact, he saw entire worlds as ants, and he carried a natural arrogance and confidence that set him apart from the crowd.

’After I eliminate this Bloodthirsty White Tiger, I’ll probably need some time to recuperate. I’ll head back to the Nine Venerable Great Realm to rest and wait for the Dusk Holy Ruins to open.’

As he murmured to himself, his figure vanished, dissolving like water into water. His subordinates all understood. He was on his way to the Thunder Restricted Area, ready for War.

Accompanying him were several of his most trusted confidants, but they were just a handful of people. That was more than enough. The remaining hundreds of thousands of the Emperor Blue Lizard Clan stood guard on the Eight-direction Reversing Ship.

As for why he didn’t fly the Eight-direction Reversing Ship into battle—after all, it wasn’t as if the massive vessel lacked combat capabilities.

He just felt it was unnecessary. Activating the Eight-direction Reversing Ship consumed a massive amount of energy. Even if it wasn’t for Space-Time Travel, using any of its attacks that could reach the Fusion Realm or even the Harmonization Realm level would devour a huge amount of resources. It wasn’t necessary to expend all that for the Thunder Clan. And even if they promised to provide the resources, didn’t maintaining the Eight-direction Reversing Ship take time?

He had come to the Thunder Realm mainly to capture a batch of high-value slaves and some extremely valuable treasures within the Thunder Restricted Area, not to actually fight for the Thunder Clan.

Besides, if he wasted too much time repairing the Eight-direction Reversing Ship in the Thunder Realm, it would be a huge disadvantage for him when the Dusk Holy Ruins opened.

To enter a super Secret Realm like the Dusk Holy Ruins, an event anticipated by all the top experts in the entire Primordial world cluster, it was safest to be back on his home turf.

Therefore, he would never allow his Space-Time Travel vessel, the Eight-direction Reversing Ship, to suffer any unnecessary damage. But what he didn’t know was that as soon as he left, three people appeared in the temporary city that had sprung up beneath it.

"This is the legendary Eight-direction Reversing Ship that brought catastrophe to Blue Star?" Xue craned her neck, her snow-white skin glowing softly in the daylight. "It’s huge."

Jiang Qiu also tilted his head back, stunned for a long moment. They had chased it all this way, traveling through many Great Realms, but nowhere had they seen such a massive flying vessel. It was practically a super-city—no, it should be called a super-planet mover.

It blotted out the sun, like an impossibly high Wall blocking the horizon. Compared to it, the newly established temporary city was just a speck of dust.

Seeing the Eight-direction Reversing Ship for the first time, the sense of shock was unparalleled...