Ten thousand I am across the heavens

After realizing that Ultimate Lanno was difficult to deal with, the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable began to consider shifting his focus to the other eldest son avatars. The actual difference between the two was at least three or four orders of magnitude, and dealing with the other eldest son avatars wouldn't even require much of the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's attention.

With just a thought, endless black fortune descended, turning the fortune of all the eldest son's clones who wanted to escape into black.

The second clone possesses a body second only to Ultimate Lanno, and also carries the most souls of the current eldest son. Yet, at this moment, he has a feeling that death is about to befall him.

Now that Ultimate Lanno has caused the Great Sun Immortal Venerable a great deal of trouble, it should be the best opportunity for him to escape. He had no reason to let this opportunity slip by. As soon as the Great Sun Immortal Venerable's control weakened slightly, he immediately fled at top speed. Dragon wings grew from his body, and magic runes were unfurled to construct invisible illusory magical sails. He directly used the curvature of spacetime, ignoring relativity and inertia, and suddenly accelerated. Lanno didn't even know this move; it was his trump card for escaping.

Because it utilizes spacetime characteristics similar to a warp drive, it is not actually flight, but rather a spatial transfer with a process and trajectory.

If we consider acceleration, it's something that conventional power could never catch up with, but even with such exaggerated acceleration, it still couldn't escape.

Just as he was about to escape the barrier, a base vehicle's underground reactor below suddenly exploded; it was something that the underground base hadn't had time to take with it during the evacuation.

Without human maintenance, an explosion is only a matter of time. This thing isn't as safe as a fusion reactor, which can automatically stop reacting. The energy released by the explosion is secondary; the second clone's flight speed is fast enough that the shockwave can't keep up. The real threat to him is the chaotic Dao traces released by the explosion. Without a physical entity to rely on, most of these Dao traces are in a massless state, meaning they can travel at the speed of light like photons. No matter how fast you fly, you can't escape them.

The Dao traces, like nuclear radiation, washed over his magical sails, instantly destroying the warp drive structure. The energy released by the engine explosion blasted him away, landing him back at the spot where he had just fled.

Although his injuries were healing at an incredibly fast pace, he witnessed an even more terrifying scene. His other fleeing clones used all sorts of tactics, including flying, burrowing underground, transforming into electricity, jumping through space, stealthily escaping, and concealing their presence. Some of these tactics were completely unknown or even unknown to the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.

But none of them managed to escape. Those who flew were brought down by the aftershocks of the battle between the Giant Sun Immortal and Ultimate Lanno, while those who burrowed underground encountered a train traveling at tens of thousands of kilometers per hour in an underground vacuum tube and were directly knocked away.

The one who transformed into electric current was treated as free energy by Lanno, who directly pulled it back to clash with the Great Sun Immortal's ultimate move. When it transformed back into physical form, it returned to its original place. The place where it was invisible was even more difficult to move, and it could even trip on flat ground. It shielded its existence, and because its existence was so low, no one knew how it failed. In any case, when its existence was rediscovered, it was already lying on the spot covered in injuries.

"Is this what fate is?" The second clone finally realized how terrifying the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was. He didn't even make a move; he merely released the thought that he didn't want anyone to escape, and fate naturally descended, making it impossible for them to actually escape. All attempts to escape would be thwarted by various coincidences in fate.

Unless one possesses power equal to or at least close to that of the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, causing the total amount of fortune he expends to be so great that it is not worth the loss, it is impossible to break free from this fate that is like being struck by the Golden Experience Requiem.

While Lanno's physical size may not have reached that level, his actual combat prowess is close to it. In addition, he is very familiar with the Luck-based killing moves and has regained the realm of a Grandmaster of Luck-based techniques. He may not be as good as Ju Yang in terms of Luck-based killing moves, but he is more than capable of defending against such sneak attacks.

This is also the most troublesome thing for Ju Yang. Lan Nuo can be described as a hexagonal warrior. He has no weaknesses and can only crush people head-on. His best luck-based killing moves have no advantage over him. The effect is not much different from the most pure and direct forceful normal attack. It is exhausting to prepare a killing move that is designed to ambush people. In many cases, it is not as effective as a powerful normal attack.

Ultimate Lanno seems to be getting stronger and stronger. Giant Sun Immortal Venerable has begun to think of a different way to deal with him. By consuming a large amount of his own source, he can suppress Ultimate Lanno in an instant. The gap between him and the Venerable is still too big. At most, his combat power is comparable to some troublesome sub-Immortal Venerables for a short time. If he gets serious, even if he becomes an Immortal Zombie, Giant Sun will not be unable to defeat a newly promoted novice.

But if that happens, he will be completely out of the running for the Destiny Gu after it is destroyed.

Having fallen from his position as a Venerable One, he must leave behind enough contingency plans in order to have a chance to regain his Venerable status against his rivals after the Destiny Gu is destroyed.

Given Lan Nuo's current strength, the best approach isn't to personally suppress them, but rather to call upon others to help in a group attack. As the Venerable with the most descendants, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable can summon countless Rank 8 experts. Even his Immortal Gu House can summon many experts of that level. He only needs to exert a little effort, providing support and buffs to his descendants, to ensure they all reach the threshold of Quasi-Immortal Venerable strength. After all, his current state is actually much better than the other Venerables. Most Venerables are in a deep sleep, while Ghostly Demon Venerable is in a relatively better state, stuck between life and death, leveling up at the Gate of Life and Death. Although he can't be reborn in the short term, his strength is actually no less than when he was alive.

The Starry Sky Immortal Venerable himself split into three parts, each of which is currently dormant. The Primordial Immortal Venerable is also dormant, and may even be completely dead. He can only be resurrected after the Destiny Gu is destroyed.

Besides, the Limitless Demon Lord is probably the only one in better condition than the current Giant Sun Immortal Lord, though the Giant Sun Immortal Lord himself is unaware of this. Including him, all the other Venerables believe they are at the same level as the Limitless Demon Lord. The Star Constellation Immortal Lord, who has been fighting against the Limitless Demon Lord, still believes he is on the same level. In reality, the Demon Lord is almost a whole realm higher. The Limitless Demon Lord was also the first to touch the edge of immortality. Therefore, it's quite normal that his condition is stronger than any of the existing Venerables; it's just that no one knows this, assuming he's in a similar state to the Primordial Immortal Lord, both practically dead.

The reason why the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable can preserve his state so perfectly is primarily because he is the last surviving Immortal Venerable, even more recent than the Ghostly Demon Venerable. The Ghostly Demon Venerable died approximately 10 years ago, and the Primordial Immortal Venerable, as the first Venerable, passed away 300 million years ago. The Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, however, has only been dead for tens of thousands of years, allowing him to maintain his life as a zombie. When necessary, he possesses combat power almost equivalent to his peak.

In his current state, with just a little effort and some buffs, his combat power is still quite strong.

Lanno was aware of this as well. Even though he could now connect to a part of his true form, and through a great distance, borrow a bit of the power of the Cicada Spring and Autumn Annals to see a few seconds into the future, if he were surrounded and attacked by a group of Rank 8 cultivators, especially one empowered by a Venerable, he would inevitably be suppressed in the end. He had to become as strong as possible during this time.

He and his other eldest son clones were all doing the same thing at that moment.

That is, it devours the matter around it, rapidly assimilating these ultra-low-temperature substances into its body, thus restoring its size.

Since the underground base had already left, the barrier, though still standing, was gradually weakening due to the absence of maintenance personnel. The temperature inside the barrier was also gradually rising, albeit by less than 1°C. However, the closer to absolute zero, the harder it is to lower the temperature even slightly, and this mere 1°C rise had already negated most of the barrier's power. Materials that were previously unusable due to extreme cold could now be utilized.

Conventional methods of devouring are ultimately inefficient. If the eldest son were to revert to the original size of the planet and continue devouring with his small humanoid body, it would take forever to finish. Therefore, the eldest son adopted a completely new strategy: first become an immortal, and then devour.

While their ultimate Lanno ascended to immortality, clones 2 through 9 were also undergoing tribulations and ascending to immortality. Although, due to issues with control, the strength of their generated immortal apertures was much weaker than that of clone 1, and their future potential was limited barring unforeseen circumstances, they had all completed their tribulations. Immortal apertures of varying sizes had formed within their bodies, but even the smallest was three times larger than the top-tier area of ​​ten million acres of the Ten Absolute Bodies.

That is, a land area of ​​approximately 20,000 square kilometers, because the Immortal Aperture is hemispherical in shape. Therefore, the internal spatial system is quite large.

If we consider them hemispherical, their immortal apertures would be approximately 180 li in diameter. The internal space is already quite large. When the eldest son expands to its maximum size, it's only about two thousand li in diameter. Although the volume difference between the two is three orders of magnitude, if all their immortal apertures were filled, storing all of the eldest son's original body matter, it would take away about 1% of his peak volume—a truly staggering figure. Given the eldest son's developmental speed, with that 1% as a base, it would only take a few dozen days to recover to its original size. If they were to pack up so much of their own flesh and blood and run away, any one of them could take root and grow. Then, they could give birth to ultimate beings capable of packing up their own flesh and blood, continuously branching out in this way—the consequences would be extremely terrifying.

However, with the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable present, all their attempts would become an unattainable reality. Even if they desperately tried to stuff their own flesh and blood into the immortal aperture, they would be hindered by various unexpected events along the way. This time, although it wasn't completely impossible to stuff it in, the efficiency was far, far lower than they had anticipated, much like the expiration of a cloud storage membership.

In contrast, Lanno, relying on his immense strength gained from his brief clash with the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and his rich experience in dealing with deadly attacks, was almost unaffected by the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's passive Golden Experience Requiem effect. As a result, his efficiency in collecting the eldest son's flesh and blood alone surpassed that of all his other avatars combined. Even more outrageous was that he personally orchestrated the tribulation process, resulting in an immortal aperture far exceeding the stability and size of those numbered 2-9. Its initial area was significantly larger, reaching a full 80,000 square kilometers. Although its diameter was only slightly more than twice that, reaching 400 li (approximately 200 kilometers), its volume was eight times greater, its internal volume practically equivalent to that of a celestial body.

One person could almost contain 1% of the original eldest son's volume, and now the devouring was unimpeded. The Immortal Aperture was filled almost instantly. During the filling process, the steel continent continuously spread and eroded into the eldest son's flesh and blood. The flowing liquid metal fused with the eldest son's flesh and blood, forming a special structure where silver machinery and flesh coexisted. The entire interior of the Immortal Aperture was filled with this super metallic life form, leaving almost no empty space. The crops and organisms that were originally cultivated were all sent into the sealed cultivation chamber. This would not only not reduce the yield of these crops, but on the contrary, through quantitative control and precise feeding and care, the yield of these crops would be greatly increased.

This also greatly increases the total amount of Dao traces that the originally empty Immortal Aperture can accommodate.

Of course, this isn't its greatest function. Its greatest function lies in the fact that this metallic life-bearing planet located within the Immortal Aperture has been transformed into a colossal Dao Yuan reactor. It can release endless energy by consuming anything within it that contains Dao traces. And if everything in this world were completely disassembled, it would be composed of Dao traces. Just as everything on Earth, when disassembled, is composed of particles and fields.

This means that anything added to the immortal aperture can be consumed by this vast system. A small amount of Dao trace is extracted from these substances and converted into enormous energy. If the provided materials themselves contain a large amount of easily usable Dao traces, the conversion efficiency is even higher.

This metallic life-bearing planet replaced the original cauldron of the Immortal Aperture, becoming another major energy source besides Immortal Essence. It was even more stable and productive than Immortal Essence itself; in a sense, this thing could be called… the Golden Core!
[To be continued]

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