Swallowed Star

Although they were already aware of the situation, Dream Demon Ancestor, Shock Demon Ancestor, Father God of the automaton race, Empress of the bug clan, Demon Ancestor of the prison clan, and Holy Master of the crystal clan—who were all members of the united forces alliance—felt even more frustrated after hearing from the Northern Territory Alliance. There was already bad blood between the humans and themselves to begin with, and with such intense crossfire this time around, how would the humans not bear any grudges? In the future, when the humans grew stronger and more powerful, would they not seek vengeance?

Even so, the united forces camp no longer had the strength to suppress the humans. The advantage of having more universe masters was offset entirely by their opponents’ two treasures with impactful willpower. If they were to really fight all the way, they would be fighting a life-and-death battle—a war of persistence, a war of attrition! Even if a few races were willing to go the distance, the Freedom Alliance, the Northern Territory Alliance, and the Space Beast Alliance would not be willing to do so. And if these alliances did not join in the fight, then depending on the few other races, they would not be fighting a war of attrition; rather, they would be trampled upon!

“This war!” Bug Empress’s voice was brimming with charm as she spoke. “We have already failed! The rise of the human race is unstoppable… When the humans get stronger in the future, the enmity we have formed this time around will be a solid justification to attack us.”

“Yes.”

“That’s right.”

One by one, they all nodded.

“This is why we need to help one another and form a longstanding but dispersed alliance,” said Bug Empress. “An alliance specially assigned to deal with any threats from the humans. This alliance will not ask for anything else—only that in the future, when the threat from the humans becomes overbearing, we help one another and allow our race to survive. What do you think of this suggestion?”

Father God of the automaton race, Devil Ancestor of the prison clan, and the rest all showed approving looks. Northern Territory Alliance Master, E Zhou, Virtual-Real Devil God, and the few other lone travelers were all very easy-going.

******

“They have retreated.”

“The united forces alliance has left.”

Numerous universe masters stood in the upper skies of the endless remote ocean and looked into the distance. They saw Empress Palace making a hasty departure, moving so quickly that they could detect the waves created within space. Obviously, it was teleporting away. The human camp rejoiced and celebrated. Without a doubt, they had started this war as the weaker party, but by relying on the strength of Remote Ocean, the tables had been turned in just a short period.

Then, mightily, a group of universe masters, including those from Ancestral God School, headed toward the core ground of the primal secret region where the clusters of palaces were. All guards and servants also boarded god country transportation and hastily returned to the primal secret region.

An extremely lavish celebration banquet commenced, and the universe masters from the human race were the most excited ones at the banquet. Universe masters from various other races were delighted, too, because the humans would be having good days ahead, and they, as vassal races of the humans, could look forward to leading better lives as well.

******

After the banquet, universe masters of the various other races left, but the universe masters from the human race gathered and sat down in various spots. Before them was a simple spread of precious wine and fine cuisine from various parts of the universe.

“Our race managed a definitive victory this time!” Primal Chaos City Leader was tearing up, but his voice was as powerful as ever. “It is fated that our race shall establish a deep and firm foundation within the primal universe. Even if the united forces alliance joins forces with other groups of powers within the primal universe, they will not be able to shake our foothold. Future power and prosperity are within our reach. Our race has lived through Teacher Origin’s era and Huge Axe’s era, and now, we are truly entering an era of power and prosperity.” He sighed. “Teacher Origin once led our race. We rose from a race of humble origins to be ranked as one of the pinnacle races. When Teacher was subsequently subjected to eternal suppression by the primal universe, we were lucky enough, for we had someone like Huge Axe to look out for us. Our position remained unshaken.”

Dead silence. Every universe master was either lost in his own imagination or reminiscing on past events.

“Huge Axe’s annihilation brought us all great pain,” Primal Chaos City Leader said in a low voice. “We had to worry about the safety of our race back then, so all this while, no one really bothered looking into the matter of his annihilation. The story of his sudden annihilation within the core of Tilted Peak Region, deep down in the Land of Darkness, is full of abnormal occurrences… One, the map is fake, so who was the mastermind behind these plots? Two, Huge Axe was undoubtedly aware of how horrifying the Land of Darkness is, so how could he have fallen into it? Three, given Huge Axe’s power, how is it possible that he could be annihilated so suddenly?”

“Of course,” he added in a solemn tone, “the Land of Darkness is the core region of Tilted Peak Sector, so it is extremely dangerous. All of us may know this, but none of us is confident enough, so no one dares to barge their way in.”

“Yes.”

“True, we cannot subject our race to such a heavy loss again.”

All of them nodded. They were all aware that Huge Axe’s annihilation had been a devastating loss for the humans. They could not afford yet another loss.

“This time around, our race scored big time,” said Primal Chaos City Leader. “Luo Feng has made a great contribution.” He looked at Luo Feng. “We should all toast to Luo Feng.”

“Yes, we really owe this victory to Luo Feng.”

“To Luo Feng!”

Everyone raised their glasses and looked at Luo Feng. They saw for themselves and knew that Luo Feng had made the greatest contribution—especially when he used his endless Remote Ocean to resist the soul attack from the entire united forces alliance. How terrifying it had been! But Luo Feng had actually managed to survive while taking it entirely upon himself to resist that attack. At that time, they were all filled with immeasurable gratitude and admiration.

Luo Feng quickly picked up his glass. “Honestly speaking, I kind of caused this disaster by receiving that ancient civilization’s voice transmission. I also made a mistake.”

“How is this considered a mistake?” someone called out. “Our race is so powerful now, all thanks to this ancient civilization.”

“Come, let’s have a toast.”

“Cheers!”

Luo Feng was left with no choice but to respond to every single toast.

Primal Chaos City Leader saw the situation and smiled. Without further ado, he said, “All right. Now, let’s discuss another matter. This time, we captured a total of 208 universe masters. First, we will need to rope them into joining our camp, that’s for sure. Their presence will strengthen us. Second, we still need to practice caution so as to prevent them from betraying us. Third, how are we going to prevent them from betraying us, and how are we going to win them over so that they feel a sense of belonging for our camp? How do we get them to join our side willingly? Everyone, share your thoughts…”

One by one, the universe masters proposed their suggestions.

Soon, a simple yet effect proposal was implemented.

Firstly, because the situation in the primal universe was still dangerous, the majority of the universe masters would definitely stay together. Since the original universe was so massive, sending almost all the universe masters to the original universe was a confirmed arrangement. After all, if they were all widely dispersed, it would be terrible if they all took off.

Second, they should not bring out the anger and dissatisfaction of these universe masters. That was why, for every ten eras, every single universe master would be given a period of one era during which they were allowed to roam about the primal universe and Universe Ocean to their heart’s content with absolute freedom! After all, great beings spent the majority of their time on cultivation. When they were cultivating in the original universe, they only had one-tenth of the time when they were absolutely free. This was a way of pleasing those universe masters. At the same time, as the universe masters would take turns having this “free time,” it was also a good way to guarantee that at least 80 percent of the universe masters would remain in the original universe at any given time!

Third, those universe masters would surely be concerned with the safety of their own races. This was why several universe knights would be deployed to the races in question, where they would remain as permanent residents! These universe knights were stationed there mainly for security purposes. When dangerous situations arose, these universe knights would be the ones handling them, but when there were extremely difficult situations, the headquarters of the human camp would immediately send a group of universe masters to render assistance.

Fourth, there would be gradual sharing of detailed information about the ancient civilization on how universe masters could achieve breakthroughs to become universe supreme masters. The longer these universe masters remained within the human camp, the more information they would be given. This was a way of instilling a sense of longing within these universe masters.

Fifth, while roaming within Universe Ocean, the help rendered to the universe masters had to be reinforced, so that the universe masters would be able to see how strong the humans were—and also realize the benefits of having such strong backing.

******

The human camp started planning. Those universe masters whose fates rested in the hands of the humans most certainly had no other opinions. They were glad to oblige! However, when the humans asked them to contact their close friends and universe masters from their clans in the Freedom Alliance, these universe masters hesitated and came up with a load of excuses.

But the humans were not anxious in the least. Everything was happening in accordance with their expectations.

******

Other than the Ancestral God School, the other universe masters of the human camp were quick to formally join the Hong Alliance; after all, they would eventually be permanent members! Given their capabilities, the human race would be able to lay a stronger foundation.

Meanwhile, in the faraway East Emperor Holy Land universe…

“The human race has won?” Apparently, East Emperor Ancestor was very dissatisfied when he learned the news. “Indeed, he has received the inheritance of the pulse of Duan Dong River. Up until now, he still had various means and techniques to use. It is just that, this inheritance… is still not mine to behold!”

East Emperor Ancestor was furious, yet helpless. He had intended for the humans to suffer a crushing defeat. When the humans fell into a predicament, he, East Emperor Ancestor, would take over leadership and negotiate with Luo Feng in handing over the inheritance as a part of the conditional exchange. That way, the success rate would be more likely.

But now, trouble was brewing.

******

Purple Moon Holy Land universe.

“Oh?” A faint purple-robed shadow asked from where he stood. “The united forces alliance has lost? Even with the help of the Freedom Alliance?”

“Yes, Ancestor,” Jue Hua True God replied with deference.

Ever since the breakthrough of a reincarnation era achieved by East Emperor Ancestor—and for countless generations of reincarnation eras thereafter—every reincarnation era saw the births of many universe supreme masters. Yet all the while, no one had been able to transcend a reincarnation era as East Emperor Ancestor had. That is, until Purple Moon Ancestor made his appearance!

“Ancestor, that united forces alliance has lost…” said Jue Hua True God. “We had promised to give them the second half of the inheritance, so are we still giving it to them? Since they lost and disappointed you, they are in no place to ask for any reward. Even if we do not give it to them, there is nothing they can do.”

Apparently, Jue Hua True God was most unwilling to oblige.

“Of course, we must give it to them,” said Purple Moon Ancestor. “We made a promise, so we must fulfill it. We, Purple Moon, cannot stoop to the level of being unfaithful before the lesser races.”

“Ancestor is much too kind,” Jue Hua True God replied right away. “Those races from the primal universe are truly blessed.”

Purple Moon Ancestor continued to say, “Not only the Freedom Alliance. We must also give it to the bug clan, the demons, the automaton race, and all other races of the united forces alliance… We must give it to all of them! Impart the experience of the ancient civilization on how their universe masters can achieve breakthroughs to become universe supreme masters.”

“Ah…!” Jue Hua True God was taken aback.

Giving it to the Freedom Alliance was fine. After all, this had already been promised earlier. But giving it to the united forces camp? There had been no such promise.

“Ancestor?” Jue Hua True God could not resist the urge to ask.

“The rate at which the human that received the inheritance of the pulse of Duan Dong River rose was fast to begin with,” Purple Moon Ancestor said. “If we do not provide them with some help, where else can the united forces alliance find the power to resist? I still need to depend on their help in suppressing the humans. Besides, this little bit of inheritance—how much is it worth? At most, they could use it to create a few more true gods during their reincarnation era. But to transcend a reincarnation era? I think they are still hopeless.”

Jue Hua True God also nodded.

Indeed, without the help of Purple Moon Ancestor, this reincarnation era of the primal universe would, normally, only be able to breed 20 to 30 universe supreme masters! With Purple Moon Ancestor’s help, perhaps they might be able to bring this number up to around 100.

Yet throughout the course of history, there had been generations and generations of reincarnation eras, which amounted to tens of thousands of reincarnation eras. Every reincarnation era had a batch of universe supreme masters. How many universe supreme masters did that mean? Yet the number who could transcend their reincarnation era was just two!

“So long as we do not impart the inheritance on cultivating to the ultimate limit of a true god, there won’t be much to worry about,” Purple Moon Ancestor said. “Just remember to keep a close watch over Luo Feng’s every move.”

“Noted,” Jue Hua True God replied with much deference.

******

Very soon, the second half of the inheritance information was handed over to the Freedom Alliance as promised by Purple Moon Holy Land. Lightwalker Master personally visited the various races like the bug clan, the demons, the automaton race, and the prison clan and imparted the complete inheritance information to them one by one. The bug clan, the automaton race, and other races were all pleasantly surprised, but they were not without worry.