Living in the deep palace

Each use of such treasures requires a massive amount of primordial dragon energy, and even the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea is reluctant to use them.

But at this moment, he couldn't care less about anything else.

Soon, a dazzling dragon pearl, the size of a human head, perfectly round, and seemingly containing a miniature universe that was constantly being created and destroyed, was respectfully presented.

The Dragon Emperor of the East Sea had a solemn expression. He stretched out his dragon claw and pointed at the dragon pearl. The vast and boundless primordial dragon energy within his body poured into it without reservation!

Om-! ! !
The Dragon Balls erupted with boundless brilliance, and the entire Myriad Manifestations Palace instantly transformed into a phantom sea woven from threads of cause and effect and the trajectory of destiny.

The will of the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea sank into it.

He didn't try to find Su Chen's exact location because he knew it would be futile. What he wanted to see was the impact of these two "primordial collapses" on the "future" of the entire universe!

In his vision, three vast rivers representing the "past," "present," and "future" are clearly presented.

He saw that in the long river of the past, the two brilliant tributaries belonging to "Kui" and "Wu" had their source completely severed by a dark force of "ending"!

He saw that the current web of cosmic laws, having lost two important pillars, began to become fragile and unstable, with countless tiny, yet unhealable, cracks appearing!
But when his gaze fell upon the long river of the "future" filled with endless variables, his unchanging imperial heart trembled violently!
He saw a terrifying sight that chilled him to the bone!
He saw that at some point in the future, a gigantic, infinitely attractive "black vortex" was slowly taking shape.

The two original rivers of "Kui" and "Wu" that should have been severed did not truly disappear, but were completely...swallowed and absorbed by that pitch-black vortex!

With the infusion of these two primal forces, the size and aura of that dark vortex are surging wildly at an exponential and terrifying rate! The pressure it exudes has even faintly surpassed that of these so-called "masters of the universe"!
He's getting stronger!

"He's not simply 'killing' those forbidden ancient life forms; he's 'devouring' them! He's using the very foundational elements of this universe as 'food' to strengthen himself!!"

The Dragon Emperor of the East Sea suddenly broke free from the Sea of ​​Cause and Effect! He slumped onto his throne, a bead of golden cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

This discovery terrified him even more than the reappearance of "Time God"!
A monster that was already incomprehensible is now evolving in such a horrifying way!

He couldn't imagine how terrifying Su Chen's strength would become after he devoured the remaining eight forbidden ancient life forms.

At that time, let alone their so-called "Ten Ancient Venerables" or "Ten Heavenly Venerables", even the legendary Chen Sheng Immortal Ancestor, when he had just fallen and turned into a remnant, might not be his match!

"No! We absolutely cannot stand idly by any longer!"

"We must immediately summon all the ancient venerables to discuss countermeasures! We must stop him no matter what!"

At this moment, the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea displayed his imperial majesty and decisiveness without reservation.

He suddenly stood up, and a dragon's roar containing his supreme will instantly transformed into golden decrees, tearing through the void and reaching the secluded cultivation places of the other nine ancient venerables!

"Fellow Daoists, come quickly to the Dragon Palace of the East Sea! This matter concerns our life and death!"

……

……

The Dragon Emperor's decree resounded like thunder in the hearts of the other nine ancient venerables.

However, to his surprise, there were very few respondents.

Most of the ancient venerables responded with ambiguous statements, closed-door seclusion, or a wait-and-see approach.

The shadow left by Su Chen's "slaying of the mythical Heavenly Dao" back then has long been deeply engraved in the hearts of all the new era rulers.

Before figuring out the true intentions of "Shitian Tianzun", no one wanted to be the first to stick their neck out.

Just as the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea was enraged by this and was preparing to personally visit those old fellows one by one,

A will, more ancient, more vast, and more... indifferent than his imperial dragon might, descended upon this crystal dragon palace without warning.

This will is formless and intangible, yet it is omnipresent.

The moment it appeared, the laws of the entire Dragon Palace came to a standstill. Even the nine causal dragons that surrounded the Dragon Emperor let out a low growl of fear and slowly lay dormant.

"Tianyi..."

The anger on the East Sea Dragon Emperor's face vanished instantly, replaced by a deep-seated solemnity and... a hint of respect.

Before him, in the void, light and shadow slowly intertwined, condensing into a humanoid silhouette whose face was indistinct, yet seemed to be a personification of the "Great Dao" itself.

Heavenly One Ancient Venerable!

Among the ten ancient deities, he is the most mysterious and also the most powerful!
Legend has it that he was formed from the first wisp of "primordial energy" born at the same time as this universe, witnessing all of history and knowing all the secrets.

Back then, he was the only one among the twelve who fought against the heavens who could stand head-on against the mythical Heavenly Dao at its peak without being at a disadvantage.

"Dragon Emperor, stop."

Before the figure of Tianyi Ancient Venerable had fully solidified, his voice, which seemed devoid of any emotion and as indifferent as the Dao itself, had already rang out.

"Are you crazy?! Tianyi!"

The Dragon Emperor of the East Sea stared at him in disbelief. "Didn't you feel it? That monster is devouring the very foundation of this world! If this continues, he will become invincible! At that time, we will all become his livestock!"

"You only see the leaves falling, but you don't see the roots rotting."

The voice of the Ancient Venerable Tianyi remained calm and undisturbed.

"What you call your 'foundation' is already rotten to the core. And he is not devouring it, but rather... accelerating this inevitable 'ending'."

"What do you mean?!" The Dragon Emperor of the East Sea's eyes instantly shrank to pinpoints.

"Do you think that the era we are in now is a 'new era'?" Tianyi Ancient Venerable let out a long sigh, a sigh that even moved the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea... a trace of sorrow.

"No, Dragon Emperor, we were wrong."

“There has never been a new era here. There is only ‘doomsday’ here.”

"Come with me, I'll show you something. After you see it, you'll understand where our only way to survive lies."

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure of Tianyi Ancient Venerable, intertwined with light and shadow, stretched out a hand and gently touched the brow of the East Sea Dragon Emperor.

boom--! ! ! !

In that instant, the consciousness of the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea was violently pulled away from his physical body, from the Dragon Palace, and from the fourteen star seas by an irresistible force, elevating him to an unprecedented height that transcended time and space!
From this height, he "looks down" at the world he inhabits.

Then, he saw it.

He saw the truth that terrified him...
The vast and boundless sea of ​​stars he inhabited was by no means a stable or eternal universe.

It is... a huge sandcastle that is constantly "collapsed"!

The most fundamental laws of spacetime that constitute this world are like weathered threads, silently snapping one by one!
The boundaries of the universe are being gradually eroded and assimilated by the eternal, profound chaos of the outer layer!
The entire mythological era was like a piece of melting ice; its very existence was irreversibly, slowly yet steadily, moving toward utter nothingness!
"This...how is this possible?!" The will of the East Sea Dragon Emperor roared in utter horror, "Why is this happening?!"

"Because the 'dream' should end."

The voice of the Ancient Venerable Tianyi rang out beside his will. "This entire mythological era is merely a 'remnant dream' projected in the cracks of time and space by the undying obsession and remnants of the divine kingdom within the body of the Immortal Ancestor Chen Sheng after his fall."

"It should never have existed in the first place. It was the powerful will of Chen Sheng to 'maintain order,' which later became the 'Mythical Heavenly Dao,' that forcibly extended this dream for countless eras."

"And now, the person who dreamed, along with his last obsession, has been completely erased by 'Time Celestial Venerable'."

"The last pillar supporting the dream has collapsed. This world, naturally, has begun its destined...collapse."

The words of the Ancient Venerable Tianyi struck the heart of the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea like heavy hammers, shattering his pride and ambition as an emperor.

"Then...then I'll wait..." His voice trembled for the first time.

"We are all people in a dream." Tianyi Ancient Venerable gave the cruelest answer: "When the dream ends, it will be... the moment when everything vanishes."

Deathly silence.

The Dragon Emperor of the East Sea was completely stunned.

The hegemony he fought for, the glory he protected, the future he planned... all of it became a laughable joke in the face of the cruel truth that "the world is about to be destroyed".

"No... there must be another way!" After a long while, he finally struggled out of the despair that had been enough to shatter his Dao heart. "There must be a way out!"

"Yes." Tianyi Ancient Venerable's answer was simple and certain.

"What is it?!" The Dragon Emperor of the East Sea grasped at this last straw.

The hand of light and shadow of the Heavenly One Ancient Venerable pointed to the only unaffected, and even growing, "dark vortex" in the "collapsed" world.

"His only way out is to live."

"Time Celestial Venerable, Su Chen."

“He doesn’t belong to this ‘dream.’ He is an outsider from ‘reality.’”

"He was like a pebble that had been mistakenly thrown into this stagnant pool. His very existence was the greatest 'rejection' of this dream."

"The more powerful he is, the stronger the dream's repulsion towards him will be."

"When his power becomes so great that this shattered dream can no longer bear it, the gravity of 'reality' will forcibly pull him back."

"And in that instant, the spatial rift he tore open upon returning to 'reality' became the only chance for us 'dream people' to escape this apocalypse and glimpse a sliver of 'truth'...

The voice of the Ancient Venerable Tianyi, slow yet incredibly clear, articulated their only chance of survival.

"So, Dragon Emperor, do you still think we should stop him?"

"Do not……"

“We not only cannot stop him, but we must… let him go, and even, in secret, clear all obstacles for him.”

"Our only way to survive is to let Shi Tianzun, that is, Su Chen, grow and force him to return to the Star Sea of ​​the Future. Only in this way can we hope to leave with him and gain a sliver of hope."

“Once the mythological era falls, it will inevitably be buried with them.”

The will of the Dragon Emperor of the East Sea slowly returned to his body from that supreme dimension.

He slumped helplessly onto the cold throne.

He got it.

I understand completely now.

It turns out that these self-righteous "chess players" were, from beginning to end, just pieces that were about to be destroyed along with the chessboard.

But the "Time Celestial Venerable" they had always feared and been wary of was their only... "hope".

……

……

On the other hand, Su Chen was unaware of the revolutionary impact his actions had had on the highest levels of the Ten Ancient Venerables.

At this moment, he is following the guidance of the third "beacon" in Chen Sheng's memory, traversing a desolate and lifeless cosmic graveyard.

This is the legendary "Tomb of the Gods".

Throughout countless eons, ancient gods, demons, and immortals who knew their time was coming or who were mortally wounded in battle and powerless to save themselves would follow some mysterious guidance to come here and choose a perilous place as their final resting place.

Looking out, countless enormous skeletons floated in the void.

Some are the bones of star beasts spanning several star fields;
Some are the bodies of ancient gods that still exude immortal divinity;

Others are ancient, dilapidated immortal caves that still retain terrifying array fluctuations.

The dense aura of death, resentment, and unyielding obsession converged here, forming an ever-present dark cloud that made this place a forbidden zone for the living.

The origin mark of the third forbidden ancient life form that Su Chen was looking for, the [Tomb], was sealed in the deepest part of this graveyard.

He could clearly feel the Taoist aura, filled with "end," "rest," and "burial," emanating from ahead.

It was not the deathly stillness of "withering," but a deeper, heavier stillness, as if bearing the weight of all the departed throughout the ages... an absolute stillness.

Su Chen stopped in front of a magnificent tombstone, as large as a continent and forged from an unknown divine metal.

The tombstone was blank, yet it exuded a terrifying aura that could make even a fourth-realm expert tremble, suppressing all ages.

"This is it."

Su Chen's gaze fell on the tombstone.

He knew that a "grave" had no fixed form.

This entire cemetery of God, along with all the dead buried within it, is part of Him.

The wordless tombstone before us is the embodiment of His "core" and "will".

Just as he was about to make his move to awaken this forbidden ancient life from its slumber.

A vast yet icy will, formed from the convergence of countless hoarse, aged voices filled with endless resentment, resounded thunderously in his sea of ​​consciousness.

"The living..."

"Why... disturb my eternal slumber?" (End of Chapter)