Lord of the Rending Stars

After resting in the Chaos Rift, Qingyang and his two companions rushed to the inner region of the Kunwu Ruins without stopping.

At this moment, the purple mist in the central area of ​​the inner domain surged like a living thing, emitting a low humming sound.

Qingyang, Bingfeng, and Jiuyu Wang floated above a shattered continental plate, their bodies emanating faint fluctuations of laws.

"We have been flying in this 'Law Disorder Zone' for thirty years."

The Nine Universe King's eyes reflected the constantly collapsing and reforming spatial fragments in the distance. "The spatial laws here are completely different from those outside."

Qingyang nodded, lightly tapping his fingertip, and a pale yellow secret rune unfolded in the air: "I can feel that the chaotic airflow here contains traces of the original laws of the primordial universe at its inception. With each step forward, the laws of space change, as if reflecting different stages of the universe's evolution."

Ice Peak's sharp gaze swept across the surroundings, and the Law of Water condensed into a dense frost crystal shield that surrounded the three of them: "Be careful, the detector indicates a strong energy fluctuation three hundred kilometers ahead."

Before he finished speaking, dozens of silver-white streaks of light shot out from the mist, each containing terrifying power enough to easily tear apart an ordinary King-level Immortal!

"Machine Race!"

King Jiuyu let out a low shout, and nine fist shadows bloomed like lotus flowers, meeting three of the streaks of light head-on. A violent explosion tore through the surrounding purple mist, revealing thirty-six silver mechanical puppets hidden within. Each puppet possessed a perfect geometric shape, its surface flowing with liquid metal-like runes of law, and the energy fluctuations emanating from their cores had reached the high-level of the King-Sealing realm!

"It is the 'Silver Stream Guardian' of the Machine Race."

Qingyang quickly searched the virtual universe's human race database. "They are usually the guard puppets of the Machine Race's King-level Limit Powerhouses."

The lead mechanical puppet emitted a cold, electronic voice: "Humans, hand over the Source Crystals you obtained in the Kunwu Ruins."

Bingfeng couldn't help but sneer, "Even these metal lumps of the mechanical race have learned to rob?"

"Refusal is considered hostility."

"The lead puppet said arrogantly. The thirty-six silver-flow puppets simultaneously transformed, forming a complex battle formation, and the surrounding space began to ripple with strange folds."

Qingyang took a deep breath, his inner world trembling slightly. As a realm lord, he possessed an advantage that immortals could not match: his inner world could continuously provide power, unlike immortals who relied on their divine bodies. This gave him a unique advantage in a protracted war. However, if his inner world were destroyed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

However, Qingyang was equipped with a top-tier treasure armor bestowed by the Ancient God Venerable, which was virtually impenetrable to anyone below the level of a Universe Venerable.

"Ice Peak will deal with the twelve on the left flank, Nine Universe King will be in charge of the right flank, and I'll handle the middle," Qingyang said in a deep voice after thinking for a while.

Are you sure?

King Jiuyu frowned. The twelve mechanical puppets in the middle were clearly the core of the array, launching the fiercest attack.

Qingyang smiled slightly, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Perfect timing to test my newly mastered spacetime interlacing technique."

Three hundred years of exploration in the Kunwu Ruins allowed Qingyang to make a qualitative leap in his understanding of the laws. In particular, after collecting the seven "Origin Crystal Hearts," these treasures containing fragments of the laws of chaos enabled him to reach an astonishing depth of understanding of the essence of spacetime.

The battle erupted instantly. With a wave of his hand, the temperature in the entire area plummeted to the edge of absolute zero, as if space itself had been frozen. His water magic had reached perfection, and every ice crystal contained a complete spatial strangulation effect.

At this moment, King Jiuyu did not hold back. The nine heavy treasure swords formed a heavy treasure set and quickly created the Nine Universe Sword Formation, which evolved into nine different spatial law changes, trapping the right-wing mechanical puppet in a layered spatial maze.

Qingyang glanced at the corner of his eye and thought to himself, "This is probably where the title of King of Nine Universes comes from."

At this moment, facing the twelve mechanical puppets charging towards him, Qingyang made a move that shocked even this Limitless King: he slowly closed his eyes. Twelve silver-white beams of light simultaneously locked onto Qingyang, each containing the mechanical race's unique "energy annihilation."

This attack can directly dismantle the energy structure of an immortal god's body, making it the machine race's trump card against flesh and blood.

Just as the beams of light were about to strike Qingyang, something strange happened. The beams of light suddenly slowed down a hundred meters away from Qingyang, as if they were stuck in a viscous quagmire. Even more unbelievably, these beams of light began to show "breakpoints": some continued forward, some seemed to flow backward to their origin, and others jumped and flickered in space.

"Space-Time Dislocation!" Bingfeng's pupils contracted. Qingyang opened his eyes, his pupils reflecting complex patterns of space-time laws: "I call this move 'Maze of Time'."

The twelve attacks completely lost their direction in the distorted spacetime, some even turning to attack other mechanical puppets.

Qingyang's figure appeared and disappeared in space and time, as if he existed at different points in time, which made the mechanical puppet's locking system completely ineffective.

"Objective law is abnormal, initiate 'Logical Deconstruction' protocol."

The core of the lead mechanical puppet flickered wildly. But it was too late. Qingyang took a step forward, transforming into a pale yellow streak of light, weaving between the twelve puppets. With each traverse, he left a pale yellow spacetime imprint. When he completed his twelfth traverse, all the imprints lit up simultaneously, forming a perfect spacetime loop.

"Time-Space Cage, sealed!"

The twelve mechanical puppets froze in place, their spacetime isolated, forming a miniature spacetime loop. Within this loop, time looped infinitely, space folded itself, and no matter how they attacked, their power would always return to its origin.

"This...this is a method that is close to stopping time."

King Jiuyu asked in astonishment, "Qingyang, how did you achieve such a profound understanding of the laws of time?"

Qingyang exhaled a breath of white air, his face slightly pale: "It can only last for three minutes, the consumption is too great. Moreover, this method is most effective against mechanical races, they rely on logical calculations, and once they get caught in a time loop, their logic will collapse. It's not so simple to deal with flesh and blood beings."

Bingfeng and Jiuyu Wang quickly dealt with their respective opponents. The difference between the Limitless King and the Advanced King was vividly demonstrated in the life-or-death battle. After losing a large number of puppets, the mechanical race Limitless King quickly fled, and Qingyang and the other two did not pursue him.

After the battle, the three quickly collected the spoils and recovered their strength. The core of the mechanical golem is a precious "intelligent crystal core," which can be used to research mechanical technology or craft treasures.

"Thirty-six Silver Stream Puppets of the highest rank of King, that's quite a feat."

King Jiuyu analyzed, "It seems that this mechanical race king holds a high position within the mechanical race."

Qingyang stored a shimmering silver crystal core into his world ring: "More importantly, they explicitly requested the Source Crystal Heart. This indicates that the Machine Race already knows the value of the Source Crystal Heart, and may even have mastered some method of using it."

Bingfeng's expression suddenly hardened: "An even more powerful aura is approaching... it's at the Invincible King level!"

In the distance, the mist churned, and a silver-black figure slowly emerged. It was a mechanical life form about a hundred meters tall, with a streamlined body covered in purple runes, and two constantly rotating phantoms of starry rivers around its eyes.

"I am the seventh general under the command of the Machine Spirit Venerable—the Logic Terminator."

The voice of the mechanical race expert was cold and hollow, "Hand over the Source Crystal Heart, or the logic will determine: elimination."

The three of them exchanged glances, all seeing the solemnity in each other's eyes. The difference between being an invincible king and reaching the limit of kingship may seem slight, but in reality, there's a significant difference. Those who can be called invincible kings are beings capable of contending with even the weakest universe venerable in certain aspects.

"To fight or to retreat?"

King Jiuyu inquired telepathically. A cold glint flashed in Bingfeng's eyes: "So what if we're invincible as kings? The three of us joining forces might just be able to put up a fight."

Qingyang suddenly spoke up: "You all retreat first. I'll hold it off."

"Nonsense!" Bingfeng hissed, "Although your comprehension of the laws is extremely high, you are ultimately just a Realm Lord, and your divine body strength..."

"It is precisely because I am the Lord of the Realm that I possess methods that it cannot comprehend," Qingyang interrupted, a resolute glint in his eyes. "Moreover, I sense that the opportunity for my breakthrough in understanding the laws... lies in a life-or-death battle with a powerful being."

The data analysis system of the Logic Terminator quickly activated: "Human Realm Lord, Combat Strength Assessment: Peak King-level. Anomaly: Comprehension of Laws far exceeds Realm. Threat Level: High. Recommendation: Swift Victory."

It raised its hand, and a black hole-like vortex split open in its palm, instantly enveloping an area of ​​millions of kilometers in a terrifying devouring force!

"Run!" Qingyang roared, his inner world fully unfolding. During his three hundred years in the Kunwu Ruins, Qingyang had not only collected the Heart of Origin Crystals but also obtained three fragments of the "Chaos Stele" from an ancient ruin. These fragments recorded the instant the chaotic laws differentiated into the eight fundamental laws at the beginning of the primordial universe. Now, facing the invincible, ultimate attack of the King-Sealing Invincible, Qingyang held nothing back.

"From chaos came chaos, from spacetime came spacetime!"

Behind Qingyang, a phantom world projection appeared. It was not the inner world of an ordinary world lord, but a strange existence that vaguely resembled a small universe! In the world, wind, fire, thunder and lightning constantly evolved, and the ten laws of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, time, space, wind, thunder and light intertwined. Although they were only in their infancy, they had already shown extraordinary potential.

"This is... a nascent universe?!" The logic core of the Logic Terminator experienced a moment of chaos. How could a Realm Lord possess a nascent universe? This completely violated all known laws in its database!

In that instant, Qingyang moved. His body transformed into nine illusory figures, each unleashing a different law-based attack. Spatial strangulation, time acceleration, and fiery explosion were not simply superimposed, but rather fused together in a mysterious way, resulting in a qualitative change!

"All things unite as one, and chaos begins!"

This is Qingyang's strongest technique, "The Beginning of Chaos," created during his century-long seclusion in the Kunwu Ruins. It is based on fragments of the chaotic laws within his body, forcibly simulating the reverse process of the differentiation of laws at the beginning of the universe, and then re-integrating the differentiated laws!

Although it barely scratches the surface, it already displays power surpassing the level of a King. The Devouring Vortex of the Logic Terminator collides head-on with Qingyang's Chaotic Strike.

There was no earth-shattering explosion as expected. The instant the two forces came into contact, the surrounding space, time, and light all fell into a bizarre state of "chaos." It both existed and did not exist, both moved and remained still, both bright and dark. This state lasted for only a fraction of a second before silently annihilating and spreading out.

All matter, energy, and laws within a radius of 100,000 kilometers were reduced to the most basic chaotic energy flow! Even space itself was "erased," revealing the deep void structure beneath the original cosmic membrane!

The mechanical body of the Logic Terminator developed numerous cracks, its silver-black outer shell peeling away continuously: "Law conflict... Unable to resolve... Error... Error..."

Qingyang was also in a terrible state, flying thousands of kilometers backwards, his inner world on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, his top-tier treasure armor weakened the opponent's attack to one-thousandth at the critical moment.

But Qingyang's eyes shone with an unprecedented light: "So that's how it is... The law of fusion is neither creation nor destruction, but 'change' itself... It is the eternal cycle of all things moving from disorder to order, and then returning from order to disorder..."

At the critical moment of life and death, Qingyang glimpsed a trace of the true meaning of the law of spacetime fusion.

"Logic restructuring in progress... Target threat level reassessed: Extremely high. Self-destruct protocol recommended for mutual destruction."

The core of the Logic Terminator began to emit a dangerous red glow. Just then, an icy voice rang out: "Before me, you have no right to self-destruct."

Ice Peak has returned! Not only Ice Peak, but also King Jiuyu. The two never truly left; they were hiding in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity. At this moment, Logic Terminator, severely injured by Qingyang's Chaos's initial strike, is at its weakest.

"Eternally frozen."

Bingfeng reached out and grasped, and countless ice-blue runes emerged from the void, forming a perfect sealing technique.

This is a sealing technique he created after comprehending the Chaotic Ice Inscription of the Water System in the Kunwu Ruins, specifically targeting energy life and mechanical life.

King Jiuyu pointed his sword at the heavens: "Nine Universes Return to Origin, Time and Space Suppressed!" The nine sword shadows merged into one, transforming into a giant sword that spanned the heavens and earth, its blade flowing with the ultimate mystery of the laws of time and space: "Time and Space Stillness!"

The combined attack of two supreme kings erupted at the enemy's weakest moment. The self-destruction process of the Logic Terminator was forcibly interrupted, its entire mechanical body was frozen in eternal ice, and suppressed by the power of spacetime, even its mind was frozen.

The battle ended in the blink of an eye. Qingyang slumped in the void, his body constantly disintegrating and reforming. The advantage of a Realm Lord was fully demonstrated at this moment; as long as the inner world remained intact, the physical body could be infinitely reshaped.

"You little rascal..."

Bingfeng looked at Qingyang, a complex expression flashing in his eyes. "That attack just now has already touched the threshold of the Universe Venerable."

King Jiuyu sheathed his sword and stood there, smiling bitterly, "We veteran Kings and Immortals who have cultivated for many years are not as good as a Realm Lord."

Qingyang forced a smile: "I only managed to grasp a tiny fraction of the spacetime fusion law in the Kunwu Ruins by sheer luck. Moreover, that attack consumed three fragments of my Chaos Stele, so I can't use it again for a while."

The three quickly cleaned up the battlefield. The remains of the Logic Terminator were priceless, especially its core "Machine Race Logic Algorithm," which was of great significance to the development of Terran technology.

More importantly, they extracted astonishing information from the storage core of the Logic Terminator: "The Machine Race discovered the ruins of a 'Demon-Suppressing City' deep within the Chaos Ruins, suspected to be a legacy left by an ancient cosmic lord at the dawn of the primordial universe. The Source Crystal Heart is one of the keys to unlocking the ruins."

A glint flashed in Qingyang's eyes. "Demon Suppression City...it seems we need to speed things up. According to the information we've gathered, Demon Suppression City will fully appear in five hundred years."

Bingfeng nodded and said, "The most urgent task is to find more Source Crystal Hearts. According to intelligence, Demon Suppression City needs at least nine Source Crystal Hearts to open its core area."

"But we must also be careful," King Jiuyu warned, "This news is probably not only known to the Machine Race. The Zerg, the Demon Race, the Crystal Race... geniuses and powerhouses from all races of the universe will gather in Demon Suppression City."