Chapter 548

"They’re fleeing?"

Lin Yuan looked off into the distance.

The black warship and the floating island kept traversing the void, seemingly fleeing in panic.

“These two little ones must be marauders waiting outside the universe.”

Lin Yuan’s mind worked with incredible speed, instantly deducing their origin.

“Without cause, they were stationed outside the universe. Seeing me emerge, they fled. If they aren’t marauders, what else?”

“Come back.”

With a single thought, Lin Yuan activated the divine ability “World.”

In an instant, everything within a twenty million light-year radius around Lin Yuan turned into his external universe.

Aboard the black warship, it was only once Xue You had traveled more than ten million light years that he finally allowed himself a slight breath of relief.

“We survived.” A faint smile appeared on Xue You’s face as he turned back to peer into the distance. Even over this vast span, he could still vaguely make out that towering figure.

“It’s too far away now. If he wanted to chase us, it’s too late.”

Xue You had barely finished the thought when, all of a sudden, an entirely new spacetime blanketed them from all directions.

He seemed to hear a voice echo in his ears.

“Come back.”

When Xue You’s awareness returned, he was once again standing in that familiar patch of void: the area outside the universe where he had been stationed.

“Not good.”

A dark weight fell in Xue You’s heart. Scanning the surroundings, he spotted Snake Demon not far away.

They had fled in opposite directions, yet both were brought back, at almost the same moment in time. He had only seen such a method used by a handful of Venerables.

But a Venerable?

No matter how it defied logic, Xue You could only compare that towering figure to a Chaos Venerable. Even though that giant had emerged from inside the universe—a place that should by theory only produce Path-Clearing peaks.

“Xue You…”

Nearby, Snake Demon looked panic-stricken, evidently reaching the same conclusion.

“Were you planning on looting me?” A voice sounded from the side.

Snake Demon and Xue You whipped their heads around. Not far away stood a figure whose aura seemed completely empty; they couldn’t sense him at all, so they’d never noticed him.

“Honored one!”

Xue You reacted immediately, bowing in respect to Lin Yuan.

“I was just passing by, I absolutely had no intention to plunder.”

“Nor did I.”

Snake Demon promptly agreed.

In the Chaos Void, the strong devoured the weak. No matter how confused or shocked these two Dominances were, they dared not act otherwise before someone who could crush them so easily. Deference was instinct.

“You just happened to be passing by?”

“You had no thought of plunder?”

Lin Yuan neither believed nor denied it. Of course he wasn’t buying their story. The Chaos Void was boundless, yet two Dominance ranks just happened to be here in front of a collapsing universe? Passing by?

“Look at me.”

Lin Yuan set his gaze on Snake Demon and Xue You.

They followed his voice and found themselves peering into a pair of profoundly dark eyes, as if connected to a bottomless abyss.

A technique targeting the psyche—Abyssal Eye.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The minds of Xue You and Snake Demon came under assault, and they began to plunge out of their own control.

At Lin Yuan’s current level, the instant he activated the divine ability “World,” he could have utterly crushed these two Dominances.

But he had chosen to capture them alive for this purpose.

Using the psyche-based secret method Abyssal Eye to drag their minds down, he’d then seize the chance to search their souls.

That was also the simplest approach. Directly searching their souls would be difficult, and these two Dominances weren’t fools. They would resist with all their might; even if they couldn’t hold out, they would self-destruct without hesitation.

Then they’d rely on prearranged resurrection tactics.

For powerhouses of any level, memories were the most precious domain. If there was any alternative, no one would freely allow their memories to be read.

“No—”

Xue You’s eyes flashed blood red, his aura spiking wildly. By sheer brute force, he tore free of Lin Yuan’s suppressive power and fled in mad desperation.

“He blocked my soul search?”

Lin Yuan inwardly sighed. After all, he was still a Path-Clearing being, even if his methods were effectively at Chaos rank. Trying to search the soul of a Dominance peak was still a tall order.

“Fine.”

Lin Yuan lost interest in trying further. He raised his right hand, and across a span of hundreds of light years brought it down upon Xue You.

In this blow, Lin Yuan employed both his physical strength and internal-universe power. It far exceeded the limits of a peak Dominance. Although a myriad of blood-colored lights flickered around Xue You in resistance, they shattered in an instant, obliterating both his body and soul.

Rustle…

At the same time, Snake Demon barely regained awareness, and he, too, shot away in another direction, unwilling to be subjected to memory reading. Even if it were just reading, it might allow infiltration or erasure of his memories—something no high-level being could tolerate.

Smack.

Once more Lin Yuan brought down his hand, extinguishing Snake Demon’s body and soul.

Over the course of a few breaths, the bodies and souls of both Dominances were wiped away, leaving only the purest essence of their origins, which Lin Yuan gathered up and stored.

“Honored one, spare us.”

Voices of supplication came from those aboard the black warship and floating island, the subordinates of Xue You and Snake Demon.

“Spare you?”

Lin Yuan shook his head slightly.

They’d followed two Dominances here, preparing to loot. If they wanted to plunder others, naturally they had to be ready to be plundered themselves.

Lin Yuan possessed overwhelming strength, so Xue You and Snake Demon had cut and run without a second thought, appearing extremely innocent.

But what if Lin Yuan had been just an ordinary Rank Twelve? If he’d sweated blood to survive the Great Calamity, believing he had a bright future, only to be crushed by marauders?

At that time, these marauders wouldn’t be showing mercy.

Lin Yuan cast a glance, employing Abyssal Eye again. While searching the minds of two Dominance-level figures was difficult, reading these Path-Clearing subordinates was child’s play.

“Xue You? Snake Demon?”

Lin Yuan quickly gleaned information about them. Both were notorious Dominance-level marauders. While Snake Demon’s reputation was overshadowed by Xue You’s, he was still extremely formidable, nearly at the Dominance peak.

“These treasures…”

After dealing with all subordinates of the two Dominances, Lin Yuan began tallying the spoils. He was a bit startled by how rich they were. Xue You possessed two Chaos-level artifacts (one offensive, one defensive), plus other rare treasures.

All told, his hoard was worth over six hundred thousand Chaos Stones.

Snake Demon similarly had two Chaos-grade artifacts, albeit slightly weaker accessories, yet combined still approached five hundred thousand Chaos Stones.

These two Dominances alone had dropped over a million in Chaos Stone value for Lin Yuan.

“They were really wealthy.”

Lin Yuan sighed in wonder. Even a peak Dominance like Cang Weiyang had total assets of only three to four hundred thousand Chaos Stones.

“Indeed, plunder is the simplest way to gain resources,” Lin Yuan thought.

Xue You was a notorious marauder who had already raided many universes before arriving at Lin Yuan’s home cosmos, plus his prior accumulations. No wonder his wealth left Cang Weiyang in the dust.

Though Snake Demon was a bit weaker, his loot from marauding also surpassed what Cang Weiyang had saved up.

“With these resources, I can basically gather all the materials needed to raise the Mysterious Emperor Body to full Dominance rank.”

After a quick estimate, Lin Yuan realized that the million in resources contributed by these two Dominances, combined with the remainder of his own stash, was enough to finalize his Mysterious Emperor Body at the Dominance stage.

Once it reached Dominance perfection, his bodily strength would surge yet again, raising the destructive force of every gesture.

And since the flesh body nurtures the soul and spirit, increasing its power also benefits soul and mind.

“Without noticing, I’ve become that strong?” Lin Yuan murmured as he stored the black warship and floating island.

He recalled how, when he first ventured into the Chaos Void, he was only in possession of the lair left behind by Dominance-level Cang Weiyang and had to proceed with utter caution.

Now, not much time had passed, and two Dominances roughly at Cang Weiyang’s level—Xue You and Snake Demon—could be dispatched by Lin Yuan with a flick of his wrist.

The difference from then to now made Lin Yuan sigh.

“These two Dominances, and all their Path-Clearing subordinates, aren’t fully dead. They still have backup life-saving means?”

He followed a thread of causal perception for a moment.

It made sense. Even a newly advanced Path-Clearing existence can set up a fallback.

Chaos Venerables were notoriously hard to kill because even a Great Saint might find it difficult to stamp out all of a Venerable’s backup strategies.

As for a Chaos Venerable, if they wanted, they could sever a Dominance’s every fallback via the law of cause and effect.

That was why Dominances treated Venerables so warily.

On a drift of fragmentary asteroid in the Chaos Void, a figure was quickly forming—none other than Xue You.

He’d left a contingency here so that if his real body were destroyed, he could resurrect in this place.

“I actually died at the hands of a Venerable…” Xue You felt an icy dread. He had no time to question why a Venerable had emerged from within a universe.

“I’m going to die,” he thought in despair. A Chaos Venerable could fully obliterate any Dominance’s survival fallback via cause-and-effect if they wished.

Hence, the instant he revived here, Xue You had prepared for permanent death.

But after half a day in helpless dread, he discovered that he was still alive.

“Could it be that the Venerable can’t be bothered to kill me?” Xue You exhaled in relief. For the Venerable to fully erase all a Dominance’s life-saving setups would indeed be time-consuming.

If there was no serious grudge, a Chaos Venerable typically wouldn’t bother.

“Go, go—leave this area right now.”

Xue You hurried away at once, heading as far as possible from Lin Yuan’s location.

Because the closer he remained, the stronger the cause-and-effect bond. He was an ant to the Venerable. If the Venerable couldn’t even see him, he’d likely just ignore him. But if they were near, perhaps one day the Venerable might remember and wipe him out on a whim.

So, if he wanted to survive a while longer, Xue You could only flee.

“Yes, yes—never return to these parts again,” he thought.

The Chaos Void.

Lin Yuan quietly watched the final collapse of his home universe. With an abrupt contraction, the entire cosmic structure condensed into a single, grayish mass.

That mass appeared extremely fragile but was in truth indestructible, protected by the operational laws of the Chaos Void. Even a peerless Great Saint could not break it.

“Time to head back to Guming Chaos Continent.”

After offering a silent farewell to his universe, Lin Yuan turned and departed.

He had already prepared a new home for human civilization on Guming Chaos Continent; all that remained was to settle them.

A few months later.

Outside Guming Chaos Continent, Lin Yuan’s figure appeared.

“Finally here.”

He glanced at the prosperous Chaos Continent in the distance.

Though Guming Chaos Continent had migrated to a new region, it had grown even more vibrant with trade, attracting many powerhouses in the vicinity.

Lin Yuan concealed his presence. The Rank Thirteen inheritance ‘Infinite Void’ was the ultimate foundational method, and with the internal universe it created, he could hide his aura at will. Even a Chaos Venerable wouldn’t easily detect him.

Soon, Lin Yuan arrived at the Star Tear fragment world.

Rustle…

With a wave of his right hand, the nine Strongest ones of human civilization emerged from his internal universe.

“Where is this?”

Xuanyuan looked around warily. Only on seeing Lin Yuan did he relax.

A moment earlier, they’d all been inside Lin Yuan’s internal universe, filled with trepidation, worried they’d impede Lin Yuan in crossing the Great Calamity.

Now they saw Lin Yuan in one piece and let out a collective sigh.

“This is humanity’s new home.”

Lin Yuan smiled as he introduced them to the nine Strongest ones.

“A new home?”

“Our human civilization’s new home?”

Xuanyuan, Xia Qin, and the other Strongest ones took a closer look.

They found themselves ever more satisfied. The Star Tear fragment world, though smaller than the main universe by far, had no uninhabitable zones. Even if the population of humankind expanded by tenfold or a hundredfold, it would still be enough.

“I can sense an extremely gentle power flowing through this place…”

Xia Qin seemed thoughtful. Such mild energy made little difference to them at Rank Twelve or even to those at Rank Nine, Ten, or Eleven.

But it would be a huge benefit to Rank Three and Four Evolvers, especially newborns among the people.

“Milky Way, this place can’t be cheap.” Xia Qin asked carefully.

Over the past centuries, he had often discussed with Lin Yuan the matter of humanity’s new home, so he had some sense of the prices for “fragment worlds.”

Judging by size and environment, this Star Tear fragment world was definitely top-notch, plus it lay in the protective array range of Guming Chaos Continent, and under Guming Venerable’s guardianship, so the price was obviously high. Even if Xia Qin didn’t know the market perfectly, he was sure it far exceeded humanity’s budget.

“No worries.”

Lin Yuan waved him off, unconcerned.

He had obtained this fragment world essentially for free, so he wouldn’t be asking Xuanyuan and the others for 1.2 million Chaos Stones.

Anyway, the Star Tear fragment world was titled in Lin Yuan’s name as personal property. Allowing the human populace to live there cost him nothing.

Seeing Lin Yuan’s cursory reply, Xuanyuan and the other Strongest ones became more convinced that he must have scrimped and saved, or even taken on some “loan,” to afford this. They couldn’t be sure how large a debt.

“We can’t repay it now, but we can’t just live here for free either,” the nine Strongest ones silently agreed.

They had already owed Lin Yuan far too much. Had it not been for him, this early total annihilation would have meant the collapse of human civilization.

Now they’d not only survived but gained such a near-perfect new home. Xuanyuan couldn’t abide simply taking and never giving.

After a brief discussion, Lin Yuan began transferring the countless citizens from his internal universe into the Star Tear fragment world.

“This is where we’ll be living from now on?”

A Rank Three Evolver gazed around curiously. Compared to the main universe—where countless planets floated in space—this was a single continuous land, suffused with a comfortable aura.

Rustle…

More and more human citizens were relocated to the Star Tear fragment world. At the same time, a vast number of intelligent machines descended to begin civilization-building.

Though the environment of the Star Tear fragment world was superb, it was fundamentally primordial, and required much modification to suit the daily lifestyles of human citizens.

Watching from above—Lin Yuan, Xuanyuan, Xia Qin, and the others saw countless human citizens and intelligent machines working side by side in enthusiastic, bustling development.

“In just a few months, we’ll have a livable environment set up. In half a year, everything will be up and running. Within two years, the virtual network will be fully established, and it won’t be much different from living in our old universe,” said Yu Die. Human civilization had rehearsed this reconstruction project repeatedly, so they didn’t anticipate any problems.

“From here on, humanity will take root in this world,” Gu Li said with a faint smile.

“And thus begins a new era, connecting us to the Chaos Void,” added Xu Shen.

Lin Yuan smiled.

A new homeland, a new era.

Henceforth, the history of human civilization entered a fresh age.

Year 2,616,000 of the Star Sea Calendar was, once and for all, consigned to the past.

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