Swallowed Star

Zhen Jia Emperor’s voice sounded like the clashing of metal. “The Universe Ocean of today is much stronger than before. This was because of the emergence of the fourth most dangerous land, the World of Jin. The World of Jin was a world left behind by the ancient civilization. It is where many living souls, true gods, and even higher existences of the ancient civilization could be found. The inheritance of the ancient civilization and automaton type treasures all could be found in abundance in the World of Jin! The various groups of top powers from Universe Ocean have penetrated deep within the World of Jin to hone their skills and gain treasures. Their powers have improved tremendously. And among them, we need to be extremely careful of… Milky Way Horde Leader Luo Feng!”

“Milky Way Horde Leader Luo Feng?” The Sector Beast looked down at the two true gods and asked, “This Milky Way Horde Leader. What do we know about his background?”

“He is a great being from the human race of the primal universe era, and he is a universe master,” Zhen Jia Emperor said.

“Hahaha! A universe master! Such fragile food… you all want me to be wary of him?” The Sector Beast burst out laughing.

There was no reason for him not to laugh. He was a Sector Beast. A super life form bred by Universe Ocean. Even though he was currently only in his growth period—which was the true god stage—his power was certainly not lower than that of a universe master.

Dragon Rock Ancestral God replied right away, “My dear respected Emperor, you must never, ever underestimate this Milky Way Horde Leader. Previously, when the World of Jin had yet to appear… Great Thunder Star Master had already perished at his hands.”

“Great Thunder was killed by him?” The Sector Beast grew more wary and paid more consideration now.

Unable to resist the temptation, the three true gods had decided to seek refuge with the Sector Beasts, yet they themselves were actually quite highly skilled individuals.

A universe master who could kill a true god…

“And that was when he had just entered World of Jin; it was said that he had an extremely great encounter,” Dragon Rock Ancestral God said in a hoarse voice. “He once annihilated a few hundred universe masters from the united forces alliance and the Purple Moon Holy Land all at once, within a fleeting moment. There was no evidence, but later on, during the trillionth era, when there was provocation raised against the humans within the primal universe, all the advocators were ruthlessly punished by the humans. The various groups of top powers were all of one mind… Milky Way Horde Leader Luo Feng wielded great authority within the World of Jin.”

Dragon Rock Ancestral God went on to say, “And the willpower of the primal universe origin also leaked out this information… Milky Way Horde Leader Luo Feng was a Number One Master of Universe Ocean!”

Sector Beast was greatly appalled. “He is just a universe master. How can he be the Number One Master of your Universe Ocean?”

“This is acknowledged by all,” said Dragon Rock Ancestral God. “Over the past trillion eras, he made multiple strikes, and every time he made a move, he always gained an absolute edge over everything that dared to provoke him by keeping them suppressed. Because he was so powerful, neither of us dared to venture into the World of Jin. Now, he is only a universe master. When he becomes a true god, he will certainly be a more horrifying figure! My dear respected Emperor, if you can exterminate him, then in the whole of Universe Ocean, there will truly be no one who can stand in your way anymore!”

Sector Beast fell silent. In the beginning, he had shown indifference and had placed no importance on this figure, but now, the name was etched in his memory: Milky Way Horde Leader Luo Feng.

“Number One Master of the Universe Ocean. Is that so?” Sector Beast said to himself. “I, Morosa, shall not confront you head-on. I shall first feed myself well with delicious food, and when my powers become stronger, I will come and see for myself just how powerful you are. See if you are more powerful than Beddy.”

At this moment, this Sector Beast, Morosa, had already set Luo Feng—a being whom he had never met before—as an opponent second only to “Beddy.” And Beddy was the greatest opponent he’d had to face in order to become the ultimate king.

As for Luo Feng, he was the greatest obstacle hindering the Sector Beast from feeding on all the delicious fare it craved as he rampaged through Universe Ocean.

“First, I will kill and eat this dish called Milky Way. Then I will eat everything I can find within Universe Ocean and return here… Beddy, if I come back to see that you are already killed by other Sector Beasts, I will be so disappointed.”

The Sector Beast, Morosa, looked down at the two true gods. “Tell me about the map of Universe Ocean.”

******

After a long time, having gathered enough information, Sector Beast Morosa now had a detailed understanding of Universe Ocean. Finally, he left the Land of Darkness, the nest of the Sector Beasts, and set off for Universe Ocean alone.

******

Primal universe.

Amidst the vast, starry sky, a man in a white robe appeared and walked through the darkness of space. He headed straight for a red-hot star—a star that was already headed toward the end of the path.

Within the star, blazing flames surrounded the core. But this core, on the contrary, exuded an endless coldness.

A damaged ship was floating amidst the blazing flames, and the cold air kept all those flames away. An elderly man sat cross-legged, unmoving. In his hand was a stone. This stone had been smoothed by his persistent touch.

“Teacher.” The man in white robe walked amidst the flames and soon approached this end of the ship from afar. Neither the flames nor the cold air had any influence on him at all.

The elderly man opened his eyes and looked at Luo Feng. “Going to the Sector Beasts’ nest?”

“Uh-huh.” Luo Feng nodded. “At this point, the great beings of Universe Ocean have mostly reached our limits. Even if we are given another trillion eras, it will still be difficult for us to increase our powers. Yet the Sector Beasts’ powers are consistently on the rise… We feel that we should not delay further. This time, my Mosha body will lead a small team over to briefly look into the situation and uncover more facts. Then we can better formulate our plan of action.” Luo Feng also sat down, cross-legged, far across Sitting Mountain Guest. “Teacher, previously you told me to call on you before heading over.”

Luo Feng had always felt as though Teacher Sitting Mountain Guest hid himself behind a veil. Therefore, Luo Feng had never truly been able to see him clearly.

“First, I need to tell you something,” Sitting Mountain Guest said directly. “Regarding some of the information that the willpower of the primal universe origin openly revealed with the help of the three ancestral gods… Part of it was true, but there are some parts that are not true. For instance, saying that the Universe Boat was created for the sake of dealing with the Sector Beasts… That is an absolute joke.”

Luo Feng was struck by a sudden thought. “Teacher, you mean to say… the words of the willpower of the primal universe origin are not credible?”

“No,” Sitting Mountain Guest replied. “Killing a Sector Beast is certainly good for you all. The existence of Sector Beasts is mainly for the purpose of destroying. They are capable of destroying all kinds of miniature universes. So, of course, it would be right for you all to get rid of them in their early stages.”

Luo Feng frowned. “Then, Teacher, what you mean to say is—”

“I want to tell you that, first off, this Sector Beast is an incomparably terrifying life form that the Universe Ocean gave birth to,” Sitting Mountain Guest said in a most solemn tone. “Truly, it is terrifying. Within the entire Universe Ocean, there is one primal universe, and the Sector Beast takes up an opposing role against it! As for you countless life forms, you are all merely the byproducts of what the Universe Ocean bred. Speaking of the nobility of this life form alone, who can hold a candle to it?”

Luo Feng could not help but nod to indicate his agreement. Such a life form was, undeniably, highly noble.

“Of course, I am specifically referring to the final survivor after one billion Sector Beasts fight one another to death,” Sitting Mountain Guest said. “This last one standing is the truly incomparably noble yet terrifying one. For now, there are still many of them, so the threat posed by one of them… will not be great enough to eliminate your ability to resist. Also, this Sector Beast, as noble as it is, it is naturally endowed with immeasurably high intelligence. Do you know, within the Universe Ocean, what is the least threatening to the Sector Beast?”

Luo Feng was filled with doubts. “Least threatening?”

“The primal universe!” Sitting Mountain Guest laughed. “The primal universe is almost harmless to the Sector Beast.”

“Teacher, do you mean…?” Luo Feng’s eyes lit up. He seemed to have an inkling about what his Teacher meant.

Sitting Mountain Guest laughed out loud as he said, “When a Sector Beast attacks any miniature universe, it will definitely be met with retaliation. Regardless of whether it is the two Holy Lands or the various miniature universes… any attack made would arouse a frenzied retaliation from a large number of great beings. However, when it attacks the primal universe, the primal universe by itself is simply incapable of any form of resistance.

“It may have bred countless lives, and it may seem to possess an endless power, but it is unable to initiate attacks. Therefore, it could only passively withstand all the devouring by the Sector Beast. The primal universe origin is said to be vast and endless. Even if the Sector Beast feeds to its heart’s content, or even until it is stuffed to death, it will never devour all of it.

“To a certain degree, the primal universe will still undergo self-destruction to return back to its origin, during which the Sector Beast will not be able to attack. However, the change between the birth and destruction of the primal universe is under the control of intangible rules. It cannot be destroyed at will. Before destroying it, a Sector Beast will devour as much of the primal universe origin as possible, causing fundamental damage. If all of you great beings combine your strength to create a form of deterrence, these Sector Beasts may give up on you for the time being and refocus all their attention on specifically dealing with the primal universe. After all, that is the greatest meal they could ever have!”

Luo Feng’s eyes brightened further as he gained an understanding of what Teacher was saying.

“This is why,” Sitting Mountain Guest said with a laugh, “the willpower of the primal universe origin told a lie.”

Hong! Hong! Hong!

There were faint tremors in the surrounding space. A strong, oppressive force was spreading out, rocking and shaking everything in the surroundings.

Luo Feng looked around. The flames of the star that were surrounding the broken ship were becoming distorted as they tremored. It was as though they would be extinguished at any moment.

“No need to worry,” Sitting Mountain Guest laughed. “The willpower of the primal universe origin has to adhere to the most fundamental universe laws. So long as you do not challenge any of those laws, it will not be able to do you any harm. It can only rely on help from other great beings… But within the universe, who could be your match?”

Luo Feng shook his head. “If this was said before the other great beings, I could just brush it off. But before Teacher, I am not that confident.”

“No.” Sitting Mountain Guest shook his head. “The willpower of the primal universe origin is not wrong in saying so. You are, indeed, Number One in Universe Ocean. Regarding the Sector Beast, the willpower of the primal universe origin is lying because it wants you all to go out there to fight and kill. Actually, to the high and mighty willpower of the primal universe origin, whether or not all of you survive, does it really matter? It can always breed generations of reincarnation eras.

“Life and death were originally part and parcel of the development of nature. It is not the least bit concerned about your life and death. To it… its origin is of the utmost importance. After all, the moment its origin is injured, it might never be able to recover even after countless reincarnation eras. This is why you should not act as its weapon of choice so easily. You must learn how to reap some benefits from it.”

“Benefits?” Luo Feng frowned. “The willpower of origin has given its promise: inheritance, treasures, or even the release of Teacher Origin. Everything is possible.”

“Those are no benefits at all.” Sitting Mountain Guest shook his head. “Treasures and all… To the willpower of the origin, these are merely some of the countless treasures left behind since long ago. It has no use for them, so it was randomly tossing some over to you. As for releasing Teacher Origin? That poses no threat to it at all. That’s why it was willing to do so.”

Luo Feng quickly asked, “Then what benefit should I ask for?”

“The greatest benefit,” Sitting Mountain Guest said in a most solemn manner. “Combining one’s consciousness with the primal universe origin. By doing so, one can personally experience what it is like when the primal universe undergoes a cycle of destruction and renaissance. First, you destroy the primal universe. Then you let the primal universe undergo rebirth.”

“Combining one’s consciousness with the primal universe origin?” gasped Luo Feng. “To personally experience destruction and renaissance?” Luo Feng was taken aback.

The very notion was incredible.