Swallowing the Stars, Hu Yanbo's Pre-Godhood

Chapter 261 How to Raise Two Hundred Thousand Mountain Dwellers

escape?

They certainly couldn't escape.

The news of the successive falls of the Snow Realm Ancestor and the Lord of the Desolate Wind continues to spread, and several clones of Hu Yanbo have simultaneously appeared in various parts of the continent.

Location is determined by causal relationships.

His clone appears wherever the sinful aura is most intense and glaringly obvious on the thread.

List?

He never had a fixed list in his mind.

Those on the list of sinners, kill them.

Those who are not listed on the official list but have heavy karma will be killed just the same.

Deep within the Star Palace, shrouded in blood mist, in the territory of the God-King Jiuye.

A clone of Huyan Bo appeared here, not even glancing at the enormous figure on the throne who looked up in astonishment. His gaze was fixed on the other end of the causal line connecting them, where the desperate cries of billions of beings in a primordial universe, from an infinitely distant place, came before their deaths.

The clone's gaze turned cold.

The next instant, the light in the eyes of the God-King Jiuye suddenly went out, and his consciousness, along with that of his divine power avatar in the primordial universe, was simultaneously erased from its source.

The deepest part of the "Thousand Caves Secret Realm," which the Fox-Eating God King spent half his life building and which is full of traps and illusions.

Another clone of Huyan Bo appeared directly in his secluded meditation room.

The surrounding array had just begun to glow faintly when, along with the furry body at its core, it fell into eternal silence.

The "Phantom Realm," where the Demon King hides, is said to be able to reflect all detection.

The moment Hu Yanbo's clone stepped into this realm, countless phantoms of the "Strange and Deceptive God King" shrieked simultaneously from all directions. The clone's gaze remained unmoved, its will sweeping across the entire space like an invisible tide.

-

All the shrieks ceased abruptly, and countless phantoms burst like bubbles, leaving only a lifeless, slowly collapsing body in the center.

Deep within consciousness, the "branch of the Great Path of Destruction" pre-planned by the principle of "fixed result following cause" steadily advances forward as one sinful causal line after another breaks.

The three major branches, "Splitting the Sky," "Collapse of the Sky," and "Annihilation," have been completed.

I have comprehended three of the six major branches of the Path of Destruction.

Hu Yanbo's many clones returned and merged in the wilderness.

He stood in the void, and in his perception of cause and effect, those few thickest and most glaring lines of sin still stubbornly existed.

Five.

Three of them lead to the very core of "Thunder Mountain" and "Imperial Capital".

Even with just causal perception, one can sense the terrifying impermanence emanating from that area.

Force your way in?

Hu Yanbo instantly deduced several infiltration routes, only to reject them himself within a fraction of a second.

No matter which dimension or method of breakthrough, it will trigger a chain reaction in an instant.

This road is blocked, at least not now.

My gaze shifted to the other two.

Following the line of cause and effect perception, the end of the line leads to the "Iron Demon Lord," ranked first and second on the list of sins.

"Black Vulture Ancestor".

This is what Huyanbo saw through his understanding of the Dao of Cause and Effect.

But he knows a little more than what cause and effect can see.

Even without having read the original work, Hu Yanbo could still deduce some of the details.

First and second on the list of sins.

The crimes committed by these two rogue cultivator god-kings were enough to overshadow the royal families of the three ancient kingdoms.

Did the emperors and monarchs not see it?

Or perhaps, one of them did it themselves.

As the thought crossed my mind, several names naturally came to mind.

Yanfeng Ancient Kingdom, Diyuan.

The ancient kingdom of Thunder, ruled by three monarchs including Lan Duo.

To threaten the Demon Lord with iron is to defy God.

Hu Yanbo's thoughts instantly swept over all the information about Di Yuan: the complete set of Divine Emperor's secret treasures, the other emperors nearby, and the reincarnation secret technique —

A few keywords flashed through his mind, and Hu Yanbo shook his head.

With my current methods, I cannot achieve a fatal blow.

If Di Yuan is given even the slightest opening, the result will be in vain.

doesn't work.

His sense of cause and effect swept toward another line, and at the end of that line, a branch took root within Thunder Mountain.

"Good heavens, it can't be moved either."

Hu Yanbo withdrew his senses.

Right now, neither of these two challenges is too difficult to overcome.

It's not that we can't beat them, it's that we can't kill them.

Forcing your way in will only alert the enemy, and you won't be able to repay the debt at all.

Originating on the continent, in a secret trading space opened up by the reclusive god-king "Old Man of the Heavenly Stone".

On the platform suspended in the center of the space, several chaotic artifacts were on display, but the attention of the seven or eight onlookers was clearly not on them.

These figures possessed obscure auras, all at least at the Chaos Realm, with two of them being unfathomable, possibly incarnations of God Kings.

"The Thousand Caves of the Fox-Eating Demon," I explored three centuries ago and almost got trapped inside.

The figure shrouded in gray mist spoke in a low voice, "But half a day ago, I could no longer sense the presence of the Fox Eater. I sent spies into the Thousand Caves Secret Realm, but there was no sign of life inside."

A burly man with bony horns on his head stood nearby, arms crossed, and muttered, "I received a message from the King of Lan Kingdom: 'Guiying' is gone too."

The entrance to "his phantom realm" has vanished, and the causal thread—is severed.

The radiance of the treasures displayed on the platform flowed silently, yet no one made a bid.

A stifling silence permeated the group of powerful figures.

The gray-mist figure who spoke first paused, the mist rippling slightly: "At first, I thought it was some overly righteous old man cleaning house. But now—" He paused, seemingly choosing his words.

"This method, this speed, doesn't seem like punishment, it's like harvesting. Tiankun, Xuejie, Qifeng, Shihu, Guiying—the list is still growing."

The burly man with horns on his head suddenly sneered, but there was no warmth in his laughter: "Justice? Ha. Killing one or two is to establish authority, to punish."

"Killing hundreds and thousands, even the God-King is slaughtered like chickens—I fear that in the eyes of this reaper, those of us who also bear blood debts are no different from those under his blade!"

Upon hearing this question, the trading space fell completely silent.

The powerful figures stood not far apart, but none of them looked at each other or spoke.

Only the floating treasure still emitted a faint light, illuminating several faces, some blurry, some solemn, but all filled with vigilance and deep fear.

The gray-mist figure moved first. He nodded slightly towards the void, and his figure vanished like smoke, leaving the trading space directly.

Immediately afterwards, another figure also quietly disappeared.

The burly man with horns looked in the direction they had disappeared, then glanced at the untouched treasure in the center of the platform, and finally shook his head. With a flicker, he left the area.

A secret trade fair, before it even began, was silently aborted due to a series of alarming news reports.

Fengdu, the core of the Eastern Extreme Region.

Hu Yanbo's true form stopped deducing the Great Dao Diagram. What he saw in his eyes were the five causal lines that were still dazzling but could not be moved in his perception of cause and effect.

The debt for the destruction of the Great Dao still owes three more debts.

Only the five powerful individuals connected at the other end of the line can repay these three debts.

No, there are more than five.

Behind the Iron Fright Demon Lord stood Emperor Yuan, and the Black Vulture Ancestor was connected with the three monarchs, Lan Duo.

As he pondered, Hu Yanbo sensed the various parts of the continent through causal perception.

The sources that had previously reeked of sin and stench have largely gone dark and extinguished.

The remaining few scattered glimmers of light are too shallow for sins to even fill a tooth gap.

The road was blocked by these five stones.

"To move these stones, I need a sharper chisel."

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the first thing Hu Yanbo thought of was his strongest method at present—mental willpower.

This chisel has been the most convenient and effective tool I've been using lately.

He focused his mind and carefully sensed the limits of his own will.

It is powerful enough to easily crush a god-king.

But at the end of perception lies an invisible and absolute barrier—the upper limit of the rules of the Origin Continent.

No matter how sharp one's will is, it reaches its limit here in the Source World.

Use this "chisel" that has already hit the ceiling to chisel at the "stone" in Di Yuan that is covered with the complete set of God Emperor's secret treasures.

It can't be chiseled out.

With his path of will blocked, Hu Yanbo turned to his own fundamental nature—the Way.

When one achieves a breakthrough in the Great Dao, their strength will undergo a qualitative change.

Like the two progenitors, even with the limitations of the source world, they were still able to suppress all laws with a single principle.

Except for Emperor Qing, they could kill emperors and monarchs at will.

I am now at the second level of the Great Dao of Cause and Effect.

The profound mysteries of the six branches of the Great Way of Life have been grasped, and the Great Way Diagram is being used to digest and repay them.

How does cause and effect relate to life?

Hu Yanbo's mind raced.

It is possible to walk, but one must first combine and then integrate. Whether one can ultimately catch up with one's own path of cause and effect is unknown.

Not cost-effective.

Hu Yanbo ruled out this option and turned his attention back to the most fundamental "causal path".

That's it.

Let it break through and enter the second realm.

Once this breakthrough is achieved, there will be a leap in control over cause and effect, and perhaps a way can be found to bypass Emperor Yuan's life-saving methods and eradicate him from the root.

But a problem immediately followed: how to break through the Great Dao of Cause and Effect?

Hu Yanbo stared at the egg at the core of the pre-support panel in his mind.

He couldn't see the deeper secret patterns.

It's not a problem with the "egg" itself, it's that his "eyes" aren't bright enough.

If your willpower doesn't reach a higher level, you can't see the scenery from above.

The road, after going in circles, points back to the starting point.

Elevate your level of will, see the secret patterns of the "egg," and propel the path of cause and effect.

The three steps are linked together, but the first step gets stuck.

Hu Yanbo composed himself.

How do we raise the level of willpower?

Hu Yanbo recalled the contents of the advance payment panel.

To comprehend a complete Great Dao and become a mid-stage God Emperor is to take one or two detours, which are too slow and not effective in the time of need.

Hu Yanbo's attention was focused on the "Great Dream Source Seed".

This thing might work.

Consciousness sank into the infinite treasure trove, and lists of rare and precious items flashed by rapidly.

"Lotus of the Void," "Crystal of Ten Thousand Souls," "Amber of Time"—names and images flashed by, each a rare treasure hard to find in the outside world.

There is no "Great Dream Source Seed".

With a slight thought, he narrowed his search scope, focusing on major categories such as "willpower," "mind," and "enlightenment."

The catalog has been refreshed, and more relevant treasure names such as "Heart Source Elixir" and "Dream Dust" have appeared.

Still nothing.

He stopped his rapid scan, focusing his divine sense to identify the names that glowed with a soft light and seemed helpful: "Crystal Heart Lamp" (stabilizing the soul), "Phantom-Dispelling Divine Eye" (seeing through illusions), "Mirror of Reincarnation" (experiencing mental tribulations) —

There is still no "Great Dream Source Seed".

The treasure trove is vast and all-encompassing, yet this item is conspicuously absent.

Consciousness returned to the quiet room.

Hu Yanbo remained silent for a moment.

He truly hadn't expected that the "treasures" connected by the infinite space wouldn't include the Great Dream Source Seed.

"Could it be that it's too cheap, only worth 20 million Hunyuan Crystals?"

The thought flashed through his mind, and Hu Yanbo immediately understood.

It's not that there aren't any, but perhaps the "Great Dream Source Seed" itself isn't among the "treasures".

He wasn't clear about the contents of the Infinite Space Treasury. But he was very clear about the redemption logic of the advance system.

The advance payment system allows you to offset the cost with something of equal value.

The Great Dream Source Seed can be repaid, and so can 20 million Chaos Source Crystals. This means that, according to the system's judgment, the value of these two is probably almost the same.

Twenty million is a huge sum for Huyan Bo now, but in the Hunyuan Space Holy Realm, any mid-stage God Emperor could come up with that amount.

A mid-stage God Emperor is not uncommon in the Holy Realm.

Therefore, it is normal that the other end of the infinite space treasure vault does not include treasures like the "Great Dream Source Seed," which are not considered precious in the Hunyuan Space.

"Alright, now three out of four roads are blocked."

"Only one item left—20 million Chaos Origin Crystals."

Twenty million.

Hu Yanbo weighed the amount in his hand.

A single Hunyuan Crystal can be exchanged for millions of merits in an ancient kingdom, and has the potential to allow a Chaos Realm cultivator to reach the Transcendent level.

One hundred coins could buy the life of the Mountain-Sitting Guest.

Ten thousand pieces—that's a number that would make several emperors set aside their pride and personally engage in a fierce battle to seize them.

Having considered this point, Hu Yanbo paused for a moment.

Therefore, 20 million.

This amount represents a vast sum of wealth, resources, and foundation across the entire Origin Continent, enough to treat "20 million Chaos Origin Crystals" merely as "available funds" rather than a "crucial drain on one's lifeblood."

Hu Yanbo raised his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through the palace, looking towards the two oldest and most central directions of the continent.

There are only two answers left.

Perhaps we should also include those three powerful alien beings from outside the Origin World.

As for Teacher Feng hope and Di Qing, who are ranked below these five names?

They might be able to pay, but it will definitely be a painful blow.

As the thought crossed his mind, Hu Yanbo's lips twitched, but he didn't laugh.

While plotting how to eliminate Di Yuan, Lord Lan Duo, and their group, they also sought to make a deal with the powerful figures behind them.

It's somewhat ironic.

However, the thought only flashed through his mind for a moment.

A transaction is a transaction, and a fight is a fight.

Two different things.

Right now, he needs those 20 million Chaos Origin Crystals.

He'll talk to whoever can give it to him.

Whether the person who gave the money is the backer of the person they're going to kill in the future is not within the scope of this consideration at present.

"So, you're going to make a deal with the founders of the two ancient kingdoms?"

He asked himself a question, and a preference had already formed in his mind.

The strength of the alien warriors is unknown, and there are too many variables.

The local powerhouses are the ones who speak directly.

The target has been set.

While this decision was being made, another issue had to be addressed: security.

The rules of the Origin Continent have locked down the upper limit of power.

This is what he relies on.

He immersed his mind in the infinite space, quickly sifted through the items, and locked onto several defensive and special treasures with extremely high prices.

Ten epochs later, when it's time to trade with them, exchange one of these items to wear. Even the most extreme methods they can use in this world won't be able to stop him.

Only with this foundation can we discuss transactions and not be afraid of the other party using force.

The trump card is ready, the target is locked.

Now, only one last, and most crucial, question remains.

What does he have that could be worth 20 million Chaos Origin Crystals?

Could he move the two founders?

Hu Yanbo's thoughts lingered there as he began to examine everything he possessed.