Chapter 734 An Incorrigible Fellow (8200, Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

The meaning behind Su Zhou's words was actually very simple.

He wanted to know why those super civilizations, who had shattered the universe in the past, causing the fall of the Annihilating Star Seal, the Celestial Abacus, and the Galaxy Star, didn't gather all three fragments and restore the seal when they were at their peak of power and realized the damage they were causing to the universe.

One must know that in those ancient times, many super civilizations were still primitive creatures, and even their home planets were still molten lava. As long as they wanted to, they could definitely find them.

Leaving aside that the Galaxy Star didn't even bother to hide and brazenly released its energy near the Cenostians, even the later hidden Celestial Abacus created terrifying spatiotemporal distortions near Earth, which could be observed from distant star regions.

The Probability Science Consortium could create the Galaxy Webway AI and many other webway intelligences in other galaxies, which proved that this civilization's power spanned the universe, and the civilizations that fought against them in the past certainly had similar strength.

Why did these super powers and super civilizations leave the sealed universe and head to the multiverse void, even though they clearly knew that the universe was damaged and that the broken fragments had fallen?

"They don't seem like our Earth pantheon, without '∞' level experts, so they had to migrate to protect the overall civilization—∞ level psionicists have no fear of spiritual energy depletion. They themselves are nearly infinite spiritual energy sources and can create a small universe for civilization to thrive!"

"So, the idea that they left the sealed universe out of fear of a second spiritual energy depletion is completely untenable?"

Saying this, Su Zhou asked the Galaxy Webway AI with doubt: "Did they encounter something? Or did they discover something?"

"The Gateway to Final Radiance doesn't seem like a simple entrance and exit, but rather a special... sealing and suppressing device!"

The Webway AI was silent for a while, seemingly indexing data.

This super-intelligence, whose body is the 'interstellar wave network' released between many stars, has nearly infinite computing power, but when it comes to high-level permission information about the Creator, it still shows 'hesitation' like ordinary people.

But in the end, it still revealed the truth.

[The Creators did not want to repair the universe]

Its tone was still steady: [They did know about the collapse of the universe fragments and the breaking of the seal, but at that time, there were indeed more pressing matters]

[Lord Su Zhou, our universe is alive]

Su Zhou raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised, but not particularly: "As expected?"

The fact that the universe is alive is not big news for transcendents—to say nothing of the Dragon God World, which was hatched by the Primordial Dragon.

And the Perfect World's material energy is composed of the Calamity Phoenix and the Primordial True Dragon. If they were willing, they could probably transform into two living worlds at any time.

As for the Divine Tree, there's no need to mention it. What's so strange about the Nine Realms Tree growing a little bigger and actually growing nine universes?

Since that's the case, the universe being alive is just commonplace.

Su Zhou was only a little puzzled: "You mean, the sealed universe we are in... has a self-awareness?"

[Accurately speaking, it should be said to be a self-defense consciousness originating from the seal and out of control]

If it were an ordinary person, they would probably be surprised by Su Zhou's vast knowledge, but the Galaxy Webway AI still spoke as usual: [Lord Su Zhou, if a life is damaged, there will be a stress response, and the universe is the same]

[The Creators and their allies and enemies shattered the rifts in the universe, which not only destroyed the integrity of the seal but also caused the universe to be incomplete. Many spatiotemporal rifts in our universe cannot heal themselves, leading to the invasion of a large number of void monsters and Outer Gods'眷属 (juanshu, retinue), like germs entering the body]

[If the universe is a closed system, it cannot have self-awareness, so it doesn't matter, but the multiverse is not a closed system. Every universe has the possibility of possessing 'life'—our sealed universe, because the seal was broken and the universe was incomplete, instead seized this opportunity and developed a consciousness]

[An oversensitive defense consciousness]

Su Zhou silently listened to the Webway AI's words, which it had not told to other Galactic Empires as 'high-level classified information'.

Moreover, he gradually understood why the Galaxy Webway AI was so special to him, willing to tell him the truth.

The Webway AI continued: [The universe's defense consciousness has great hostility towards the civilizations and individuals who destroyed its body, such as the Creators]

[The existence of the universe's defense consciousness is not powerful in itself—but that is in relation to the entire universe. Targeting a civilization or an individual alone is unbearable for anyone. Therefore, my Creators and other ancestor civilizations chose to leave the universe]

[Before leaving, they used the power of the Annihilating Star Seal to create the Gateway to Final Radiance, restricting the instincts of the universe's defense consciousness. At the same time, they tried their best to eliminate the void monsters around our universe, avoiding the 're-infection' phenomenon and preventing the revival of the defense consciousness]

[The Gateway to Final Radiance... is not just a seal blocking the Great Rift. Its body exists simultaneously in more than a million spatiotemporal nodes. It is an imitation of the 'Great Seal' you mentioned by the ancestor civilizations, leading to the inner side of our universe. While restricting our universe's defense consciousness, it also replaced the defense consciousness, protecting our universe from harm]

[However, since the Creators left, there has been no existence that can fully activate it]

After the Webway AI finished speaking, Su Zhou sensed a certain 'gaze'.

This most powerful artificial intelligence was 'examining' Su Zhou.

So, the youth smiled lightly and slowly said: "Because, if you want to control the Gateway to Final Radiance, you must have strength close to that of the ancestor civilizations, that is, the ∞ level."

"Otherwise, even if you obtain the control by means and are able to control the Annihilating Star Seal, you may not be able to maintain the suppression of the universe's defense consciousness, leading to unpredictable and dangerous developments."

The Webway AI acknowledged this, but still added: [Moreover, it must be a brand-new ∞-level psionicist who appeared after the birth of the defense consciousness]

[The Creators have already entered the universe's blacklist. Even if they do not return, simply approaching the sealed universe will cause the dormant defense consciousness to awaken]

No one knows what consequences the awakening of the defense consciousness will cause.

But precisely because no one knows, everyone is afraid to gamble—no one and no civilization can use their own or the lives of other beings in the universe to gamble.

Unless...

"Unless their strength can surpass the entire universe."

"The reason why the Webway AI is so special to me is probably because it thinks I can achieve '∞', reach the realm of its former creators, control the Gateway to Final Radiance, and stabilize the universe."

Thinking of this, Su Zhou couldn't help but smile wryly.

Even ∞-level experts can at most create a small universe or a small world. Faced with the truly infinite universe, it is impossible to surpass it in any way. At most, they can seal the nascent universe consciousness with various means, like the Probability Science Consortium.

Perhaps, one must reach the realm of the Calamity Phoenix and the Primordial True Dragon, or even go further, to accomplish such a great feat.

He was still far from it now.

The truth became clear.

The defense consciousness is not special. In some situations, it can be called the Heavenly Dao, the Great Dao, or the Gaia consciousness of the universe. In short, it is the self-protection instinct of the universe after being damaged, not a strange existence.

At this moment, Su Zhou roughly knew why the Hierophant of Emptiness had always been obsessed with the Gateway to Final Radiance.

Leaving aside the somewhat exaggerated plan of destroying the universe with the Great Rift, even just awakening the defense consciousness and making it regard all life as a 'threat' would be enough to achieve 'destroying all life in the universe', which is similar to destroying the universe for all beings.

Moreover, the possibility of the latter succeeding was unexpectedly high.

As for summoning reinforcements from other universes and driving void monsters, it was probably to stimulate the universe's defense consciousness as much as possible, so that it would become completely oversensitive when it awakened.

"Truly far-sighted."

Exhaling a breath, Su Zhou opened his eyes. He raised his head and looked in the direction pointed by the Stardust Beacon: "So, it's time to stop him."

Without hesitation, he transformed into a stream of light, activated his warp drive, and opened a long road of light, speeding along the path guided by the Webway AI.

The Hierophant of Emptiness's route was very peculiar. He shuttled back and forth between the subspace and the real universe, trying to confuse his trajectory as much as possible. If the Webway AI wasn't the greatest expert in this field, Su Zhou would have been thrown off long ago and wouldn't have been able to find him at all.

He had already left the Milky Way and plunged into the deep darkness of the universe, to the innermost side of the subspace located in the unfathomable depths.

Inside the subspace.

A silent, dark world.

Of course, the subspace is not always dark. It is a reflection of the universe. Any individual with a large amount of spiritual energy in the real universe shines like a star in the subspace, illuminating the surrounding space.

Some scholars once speculated that the subspace may not have been born with the universe, but rather formed by the condensation of the power of countless intelligent minds mixed with the spiritual world on the inner side of the universe, along with the birth of life.

Here, even stars dim, and only active thoughts and wills can burn brightly, creating a field that can stabilize the chaotic space, turning all the vague and uncertain chaos into observable reality.

With the revival of spiritual energy, the subspace, which had been in a state of dead silence for thousands of years, began to revive.

Ten thousand intelligent races awakened spiritual energy, like lighting countless stars in the subspace. Although most of them were very dim, if one observed carefully, one could still see those slightly flickering light spots.

However, now, in an absolutely silent, dark, and empty area without any intelligent civilizations nearby, a scorching sun suddenly lit up, brighter than anyone could imagine, illuminating an entire planetary system around it.

A dragon shook its wings, surrounded by a cyan-purple sun. Spiritual flames burned fiercely as it flew through the subspace, scattering raindrops mixed with light and fire.

Within the area covered by the dragon's wings, endless karmic fire was born from nothingness, then fluttered in the darkness like snowflakes, intending to illuminate all good and scorch all evil.

In the subspace, there were many scattered spirits, which were existences formed by the various desires of sentient beings in the real world. If they were in some worlds, they would be demons and devils, forming an abyss and hell. In other worlds, they would be desire realm demons and myriad monsters.

In the sealed universe, these spirits should have originally condensed into various kinds of subspace demons or subspace spirits, becoming objects of worship and requests for favors by many primitive spiritual energy civilizations, that is, primitive spirit world gods.

There have been such examples. In one universe, the subspace was completely transformed into a realm of gods, where ten thousand gods coordinated all things, leading sentient beings upward.

There were also counter-examples. The great demons of the subspace gathered into evil gods, transforming into a source of destruction and pollution, bringing despair to all life.

But in the sealed universe, because of the two spiritual energy deprivations and the wars of super civilizations, the sublimation process of these primitive spirits was interrupted again and again.

Now, these ethereal sparks only watched in awe as the cyan-purple sun rumbled through the subspace, avoiding being ignited by the scorching flames.

The dragon flew through the dark space, and it could see many things.

Looking back at the Milky Way behind it, the dragon could see that a massive fleet was suppressing the twilight aura in the corner of the Milky Way. After it left, the Galactic Empires, fully prepared, acted together, forcing the severely damaged expeditionary envoys into a corner.

It could see that in the direction of the Twilight Star Region, an incomparably dazzling flash appeared. That was the Lord's radiance. The Cenostians finally awakened the power of their Lord to resist the great enemy from beyond the void and fight alongside the Entropy Shadow tribe against those ancestors among the void monsters.

This was the final madness of the Emptiness Order. If the Hierophant of Emptiness's plan did not succeed, then the Emptiness Order, having exposed all its strength, would probably be destroyed as a result.

Su Zhou could see, he could continue to see more details, but it was no longer necessary.

Withdrawing his gaze, the youth looked ahead.

He had his mission, the mission that only he, the Lord, could complete.

"It's in the depths of this subspace, right?"

At the very center of the spiritual energy flames, Su Zhou stood on top of his true form, gazing ahead and searching for the aura of the Hierophant of Emptiness: "I see, there are no more guides. Is this the end?"

[No, his trail disappeared here in the end. My ability has reached its limit]

And the Webway AI's tone was apologetic: [It is too far away, and this place is too deep into the unknown reaches of the subspace. Even with my power, it is difficult to continue tracking]

[However, indeed, it is not far away. Even the Hierophant of Emptiness in his prime could not completely shake off my tracking]

"That's enough."

Su Zhou nodded, he never expected the Webway AI to smoothly send him to the Hierophant of Emptiness—as long as he could get close enough, he had his own means to track the other party.

At this moment, the youth took out the Celestial Abacus from his chest.

Cyan-gray-black-gold, deep cyan and dim yellow, the six-colored scales shone on the silver-white disc.

And now, the twilight-colored scale began to brighten, with bursts of pulsation.

Light condensed into a pointer on the pocket watch. With circles of runes lighting up, it began to rotate rapidly, guiding... then, it stopped, firmly pointing in one direction.

A straight, twilight-colored light shot out from the Celestial Abacus in Su Zhou's hand, pointing directly into the unobservable shadows of the deepest part of the subspace.

The twilight aura on the Celestial Abacus, sensing the aura of its 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) nearby, guided Su Zhou along a straightforward path.

Gazing at this extremely obvious flash of light, Su Zhou couldn't help but fall silent.

He recalled the last words he heard from the Great Existence, Twilight, at the end of the Aeon World.

It said: [They, my 眷属 (juanshu, retinue), they have forgotten to wait]

The Twilight's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) who forgot to wait.

The World Tree's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) who only sought survival.

The Great Dao Tree's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) who only sought continuation.

The Yala's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) who sought chaos at all costs.

The Pioneer's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) who used all kinds of terrifying methods to explore the distance.

And many more, such as the Perfect's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) who replayed billions of cycles for perfection, and the Lonely Sovereign's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) who wanted to break the cycle, so they did extremely evil exterminations.

They pursued what they believed to be correct, but deviated from the correct path, just like wanting to make everyone happy but ultimately disappointing everyone. Insatiable greed, so going in the opposite direction, is always the most common thing in this world.

Therefore, guidance is needed.

So, is guidance really needed?

Su Zhou didn't know. He could vaguely hear some meaning in Twilight's words—he could sense that Twilight had given him this 'abacus' to find those distorted 眷属 (juanshu, retinue), to let them know what the true Twilight's correctness was, so that they could no longer continue on the wrong path, but could find rest in 'waiting'.

But the youth drew his saber, his true form was also roaring, and the long dragon roar shook the subspace, causing the space to rise up like a stormy sea.

"I disagree."

Su Zhou's gaze was grim, staring at the distant end.

He thought of Dandelion Star, of those little dandelions who died in flames and poisonous gas, turning into dust, a native civilization that was clearly full of life but had its spine broken.

He thought of those stars and souls that he had not seen, but had certainly been completely destroyed, with their lives and futures, all hopes and dreams turned to ashes.

—Humans are such foolish creatures. They don't feel pain and despair if they don't see the calamity, and it's like it doesn't exist if they don't know.

—Humans are such foolish creatures. Even if they haven't seen the tragedy, they feel sadness and anger just by imagining it.

Humans are contradictory and ridiculous creatures who live in illusions but pursue reality.

And like all life.

They are all creatures who pursue what is correct.

And Su Zhou's correctness is very simple.

"At least, the Twilight's 眷属 (juanshu, retinue) in this universe do not deserve to rest."

The dragon flew, and the youth gripped the divine saber burning with flames. The splendid spiritual power manipulated magnetism, causing the flames to transform into a mist-like plasma, eventually condensing into a clear saber radiance as solid as reality.

This saber radiance tore through space, dragging a long and bright saber mark in the subspace. The Yin-Yang energy merged here, releasing a more pure and brilliant divine light than the aurora.

At this moment, deep in the subspace.

Here, there was actually an isolated planetary system dragged into the subspace. A pale blue sun was quietly burning, and eleven planets revolved around this sun, forming some kind of strange formation.

For ordinary arrays, ten thousand years of decay is already considered long-lived. Millions or tens of millions are unnecessary because there must be better formations to replace them at that time. Why spend so much effort?

However, using stars as an array can last for hundreds of millions of years, and the superb technology and vast power in this great array are enough to shake the stars and illuminate the Milky Way. How can later generations easily catch up?

But this formation is too old. Now, most of it is missing. The spiritual energy rainbow connecting the stars has been broken by successive spiritual energy deprivations. Now, it is already in danger and no longer formed.

Therefore, now, stardust-like brilliance illuminates all directions, and the iridescent colors are like a network, connecting the stars.

The Hierophant of Emptiness was now carefully repairing the details of this star system array deep in the subspace, intending to restart it... and then, unlock a spatiotemporal rift sealing array that had been hidden here for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years, and was highly likely to have been built by an ancestor civilization!

The sealed universe is full of universe rifts, but very few can be used. Many rifts seem to be able to enter and exit, but in reality, as soon as you enter, you will be crushed by the incredible space-time of the universe. Unless you can resist the universe's own great power, it is absolutely impossible to use these 'weaknesses' to enter them.

And the universe rifts that can be traversed are too special. Their unique space-time fluctuations will be easily discovered. Therefore, every space-time rift is sealed and suppressed, with the 'Gateway to Final Radiance' as the node, all of them are firmly closed.

Except for the rift that the Cenostians reopened with the Galaxy Star, there are almost no spatiotemporal rifts in the entire universe that can really be used.

But only almost none.

The Hierophant of Emptiness, with his long life, knew a few usable and unsealable spatiotemporal rifts that could be used to welcome those reinforcements from other universes.

However, opening these great arrays takes a very long time, and his own existence is also closely watched by many powerful individuals. If there is anything wrong, his whereabouts will be discovered and tracked, thus losing the opportunity to act freely.

Therefore, he mobilized the Galactic War, having the Emptiness Order attack the Cenostians' Twilight Star Region, gathering the eyes of the entire Milky Way.

Using the entire Order as bait.

Now, the great array was about to be repaired. The eleven planets and the pale blue star had been connected by clear and bright rainbows. Dense, honeycomb-like spiritual energy nodes were shining, rediscovering their brilliance, and drawing energy from the subspace to recharge.

The sealing array has been restarted—and only after restarting can it be unsealed and the spatiotemporal rift opened!

The Hierophant of Emptiness silently waited for that moment to arrive. Now, no, from the beginning, he had no expectations, only a deep doubt lurking in his heart.

—Will someone come to stop me?

—Emptiness has already begun to act, I have already begun to plan, can anyone realize it, discover it, and stop my actions?

—Is all of this my success, proving my correctness, or the opposite?

These simple questions flashed through his mind, eventually slowly settling into a simpler question.

—Can I succeed?

The answer was 'no'.

Boom!!!

The vast spiritual energy shook space-time, and the Hierophant of Emptiness suddenly raised his head. On the huge dragon head composed of stars, six pairs of eyes stared at the distant end.

He saw a cyan-purple sun and meteor, sweeping in with an unimaginable spiritual pressure, and on the dragon charging towards him, there was an extremely sharp saber mark surging and burning.

[You've come, 'Correctness'!]

He laughed heartily, and the six pairs of eyes, originally like a still well, lit up.

The huge Star Dragon swayed and rose from the torrent of starlight. He said with endless joy: [As expected, you will definitely come, you will definitely find me, you will definitely arrive here!]

His voice received no response, like a madman roaring at the scorching sun hanging in the sky at noon, only the increasingly hot light as an answer.

Of course, in addition to that, there was also a sharp white rainbow piercing through space-time. On that sharp and holy, solemn and incomparably wishful blade, it seemed that all dreams and curses were housed. It was humming, resonating with the huge cosmic dragon beneath it, and finally condensed into one strike.

Grasping it tightly, the youth who listened to all the wishes and curses, and the laughing Stardust Dragon made eye contact from afar.

No warning, no words, no questions.

One person, one dragon, one saber, came straight down!

——The saber is one, it cuts unevenness and corrects all righteousness in the world!

This is the blade that reforms the will of heaven, the saber that eradicates immortality!

The majestic saber, condensed the momentum of the cosmic dragon's charge of hundreds of millions of miles, came down with a howling saber radiance, splitting everything, setting off bursts of fierce wind that shook even the trajectories of the stars. Wherever the spiritual light reached, matter collapsed, spiritual energy overflowed, and all structures, all matter, including fragments of celestial bodies, were destroyed by the unparalleled power contained in the saber radiance, turning into traceless basic particles.

But, on his opposite side, the Star Dragon had also been waiting for a long time, and had already used all its strength.

Stardust, flowing, the colorful rainbows condensed, eventually solidifying into a speeding incandescent. This white-golden flame faintly burned, but it was like a vast Milky Way, rising from the ground to the sky, surging upstream, reversing the endless starry sky.

The stardust focused, transforming into degenerate matter debris that only occurs after a supernova explosion. They were also ignited. There was nothing more pure and clear than this light. That was the ultra-high heat brilliance of the beginning of the universe. The flame flow density, gradually approaching absolute high temperature, began to increase rapidly, causing the flow of time to be distorted.

Transforming himself into a 'Star-Crushing and Planet-Shattering' divine ability that could shatter stars and destroy planets, and even deceive the perception of time, the Star Dragon's own mass caused the surrounding space-time to tremble, the light to distort, and the subspace even issued uneasy cracking sounds.

The divine saber that could obliterate everything, and the torrent of matter that could destroy everything, attacked each other. Which was stronger and which was weaker?

Cyan-purple-gold-red, the blade of fire and the white-gold torrent crossed each other. The excessively brilliant light annihilated the perception of all minds around, leaving only the turbulent spiritual energy colliding aftershocks shaking space-time, causing endless karmic fire stars to burst into flames and extinguish abruptly, turning countless surrounding material fragments into traceless ashes.

Outside the eleventh planet, which was close to the battlefield, half of the originally frozen celestial body was covered with rapidly evaporating water vapor, while the other half had been melted by the aftershock-caused high heat into a smooth, glassy color. The cyan-green texture was crystal clear, reflecting the distant 'corpses' that had been shattered.

Whether it was the huge cosmic dragon or the giant beast composed of stars, they were now collapsing and disintegrating. Their bodies had been completely destroyed by each other's attacks. It could be seen that there was a still-undeleted divine saber brand on the Star Dragon's body. The incomparably bright golden-red revolutionary intent was constantly eroding this corpse, vowing to completely shatter it and turn it into smoke and ashes.

And the hideous cosmic dragon had half of its body shattered by an incredibly spiritual torrent. Even its soul and 心光体 (xinguang ti, mind-light body) had collapsed. That was an inconceivable flow of spiritual power and matter, far beyond what even a Star-Colored Wraith could compare to. The tiny degenerate matter was integrated into the near-light-speed particle beam. Even in the subspace that did not abide by some physical rules, this attack was too outrageous and impossible to block.

Both sides died, killed by each other's attacks.

However, death is just a wound.

The shattering of the flesh is just a disability that can be restored.

The annihilation of the soul is an unremarkable injury, like a pair of glasses worn on the face being shattered by a punch. Although important, and causing blurred vision, it is not a necessity.

Entropy and death, time and space, these are all parts of their power.

The life and death of the Celestial Venerables transcend all common sense of the human world, and their battles surpass the imagination of mortals.

In the empty abyss of death, the cyan-purple soul light condensed once again. The incomplete dragon body was no longer stiff. He slowly raised his head, grinned, revealing his sharp fangs, and the originally dead and hollow eyes gradually became spiritual and divine, and then locked on the other side, the Star Dragon that was also beginning to gradually condense and restore its main body.

A pair of eyes as bright as the sun, made eye contact with six pairs of eyes that shone like stars.

At this moment, Su Zhou was breathing in destruction. The spiritual power containing extreme heat and part of the enemy's essential power was brutally stuffed into his body. He used his own power to grind away the power of the Hierophant of Emptiness, and then bound these spiritual powers and transformed them into his own.

He could sense that these spiritual powers tainted by the Hierophant of Emptiness were like vicious cancer cells, constantly gnawing at his flesh and blood, and the thoughts originating from the Hierophant of Emptiness were eroding his soul and corroding his will every second.

However, the Hierophant of Emptiness was the same, the other party was also enduring, enduring his erosion and attacks.

This is the battle—scattering one's spiritual power, part of one's body, thoughts, and soul all over the battlefield, and simultaneously fighting in terms of flesh, spiritual power, thought, soul, belief, will, and the ferocity and cruelty of both sides!

Exchange? This is the exchange! Not just words, but also an exchange and battle of souls, beliefs, and 'Great Daos'!

So, such thoughts floated into the minds of both sides.

—What an incorrigible fellow.

Almost enough.

Su Zhou thought so, with his body half-recondensed. At the same time, the Hierophant of Emptiness, with his body half-destroyed, made the same decision.

So, in the next instant.

In the stardust light mist floating all over the sky, two giant beasts that had died once, and although resurrected, were still crippled and damaged, and yet were equally full of momentum, collided together!

Endless light, once again illuminated all the darkness of the subspace.