Swallowing the Stars: The System Bound the Wrong Person at the Start

Inside the Trial Tower in the Realm of the Gods.

Holding the Fiery Demon Blade, Chen Yang slowly stepped into the ancient nine-story wooden tower. As soon as he entered the hall, a dark blue virtual panel quietly appeared before him, with three options silently floating in mid-air: Demon Abyss, Heavenly Gate, and Cloud Ladder.

The Abyss of Demons is a purely virtual demonic realm. It greedily devours all the negative emotions of those who enter, even extracting the distracting thoughts that arise during the tempering of will, turning them into monsters that only know how to kill. Once you step into it, a portion of your memories will be sealed by the "Heavenly Book," leaving only an absolute obsession imprinted in your mind, before you face an endless tide of beasts.

The Heavenly Gate consists of 10,081 checkpoints, each guarded by an equal number of intelligent life forms created by He Xi herself. The higher the level of the checkpoint, the more profound and mysterious the laws that the guardians can wield.

The Cloud Ladder is a pure combat ranking competition. Login users can freely challenge any projection left behind by a powerful figure. The combat data of these projections are provided by the "Heavenly Book" and perfectly replicated by intelligent life, representing the highest combat power ever displayed by the projection's owner.

Chen Yang's eyes flickered slightly, and without the slightest hesitation, he directly chose "Demon Abyss".

His vision suddenly plunged into a deep darkness. When the light returned, he stood outside a majestic, colossal city gate. Some memories receded like a tide, but an unshakeable concept was firmly imprinted in the depths of his soul: to protect the people of the city.

Chen Yang glanced around; thousands of warriors, clad in the same armor as him, stood ready for battle. A chill ran through him, and he instinctively gripped the Flame Demon Blade tighter. In the distance, a black tsunami of beasts roared in, the earth trembling violently under their heavy hooves. Without time to think, he drew his blade, transforming into a streak of light as he plunged headlong into the carnage.

The Blade of Flame is divided into three layers. As Chen Yang's figure suddenly rose up, the left and right layers of the blade instantly disintegrated, turning into more than 6,000 sharp fragments that floated in mid-air, leaving only the thin middle layer of the blade, which was made up of 3,333 tightly interlocked fragments.

On the blade, dense, fiery red law runes suddenly lit up. Chen Yang swung the blade down, unleashing a deafening explosion of fire and air laws, cleaving a tiger-like demonic beast in two. His figure blurred, darting past the deadly attacks of several demonic beasts like a ghost. With a slight thought, the more than six thousand blade fragments floating in the air shimmered with intense crimson light, transforming into an impenetrable meat grinder, tearing apart the surrounding demonic beasts.

"Pfft—"

A sickeningly sharp cutting sound exploded repeatedly amidst the beast horde. The more than six thousand fragments seemed to possess a life of their own; a monster the size of an ox, covered in bone spurs, had just opened its blood-red maw when three fragments precisely sliced ​​into its throat, followed by more than a dozen fragments piercing its limbs, pinning it firmly in mid-air. The fire elemental laws instantly detonated, incinerating it completely.

Chen Yang didn't pause for a moment, his eyes as cold as a sophisticated killing machine. The thought of "protection" in his mind was like a burning branding iron, making it impossible for him to have the slightest thought of retreating.

"roar!"

Behind the beast tide, a colossal bear-like monster, standing five meters tall, squeezed into the battlefield. Covered in black rock armor, it slammed down with its paw, shattering the light law and physical body of a city defender into starlight.

Chen Yang's gaze instantly locked onto the giant bear. He stomped his foot hard, causing the ground to collapse, and his entire body transformed into a crimson afterimage, heading upstream against the giant bear.

"broken!"

With a low shout, the remaining 3,333 mid-level fragments in his hand suddenly scattered, reforming in mid-air into a giant crimson straight sword ten meters long. The fire and air elemental laws were frantically compressed on the blade, scorching and slightly distorting the surrounding space, which emitted a mournful cry of unbearable strain.

The giant bear roared and swung its massive paw down, but Chen Yang neither dodged nor evaded. He gripped the knife with both hands and fiercely slashed upwards from below!

"boom--!"

The giant bear's seemingly indestructible rock armor was sliced ​​open like tofu under the crimson blade's light. A terrifying three-meter-long wound appeared from its abdomen to its chest, splitting the World Lord's Origin Pearl in two. Dark red blood gushed out, but instantly evaporated into a cloud of blood mist upon contact with the blade's intense heat.

The giant bear's massive body collapsed with a crash. Chen Yang used the momentum to leap into the air, and with a swift turn of his blade, he pinned another scorpion-like monster to the ground.

The Demon Abyss World is strictly divided into regions, with one city each for the Planetary, Constant, Cosmic, Domain Lord, and World Lord levels. Chen Yang's current body is at the peak of the Domain Lord level, but only has the body of an ordinary human with one-times the genetic potential. Occasionally, peak World Lord level magical beasts are mixed in with the beast tide; the giant bear he just killed was one of them.

Empowered by the laws of space, Chen Yang's movements were incredibly unpredictable, shifting left and right amidst the beast horde. Every dodge was perfectly timed, every step and turn carried the profound trajectory of the laws of space, and every swing of his sword claimed the lives of several, even dozens, of magical beasts. Occasionally, when a Realm Lord-level magical beast attacked with its sharp teeth and claws imbued with intense law power, he managed to evade it with narrow escapes.

Suddenly, a projection of a world appeared out of thin air and slammed down on Chen Yang! A huge snake tail, carrying the incomparably sharp golden law, tore through the air and lashed fiercely at his body.

Chen Yang gasped for breath, his eyes sharp as swords, yet calm as a bottomless pool. In a fraction of a second, the Flaming Demon Blade in his hand reformed, returning to its original form. A profound and terrifying aura of the Fire-Void Law instantly emanated from it.

"Thirteen Strikes of the Fiery Demon - Blade Nine".

He murmured a soft command, and the Fiery Demon Blade swung upwards with an extremely profound trajectory. A crimson blade of law light swept across the heavens and earth, instantly annihilating the enormous demonic serpent. The blade light's momentum did not diminish, and it actually cleaved a vacuum gap tens of thousands of kilometers wide through the dense horde of beasts.

Chen Yang looked up abruptly and saw an even denser black fog rapidly spreading along the ground on the distant horizon. Within the fog, countless scarlet eyes flickered in and out of sight, radiating an aura even more ferocious and desperate than the first wave.

He gripped the Flame Demon Blade tightly, and the crimson fire law and transparent spatial law runes on the blade seemed to brighten even more than before.

"bring it on."

He muttered to himself, his voice instantly drowned out by the roar of the beast horde, but the fighting spirit in his eyes burned like a raging fire.

A fiery domain erupted! Chen Yang's blade cracked once more, and the frenzied slaughter resumed. His unpredictable movements were like teleportation, as he narrowly escaped death from beastly claws time and again. The intense life-or-death crisis constantly eroded his soul and will, his blood boiling.

Between life and death lies both great terror and great opportunity.

Unfortunately, faced with an endless and ever-growing tide of beasts, individual strength has its limits. Chen Yang eventually collapsed from exhaustion beneath the surging waves of magical beasts.

With a flash of white light, he returned to the Trial Tower's main hall. The mental imprint disintegrated and vanished, and the sealed memories returned like a tide.

He closed his eyes, quietly processing the insights he gained from the battle in the Demon Abyss. After a long while, he finally let out a soft breath: "I can finally perfectly control 'Sword Nine'."

"Good progress."

A clear, melodious voice suddenly rang in his ears. He Xi's figure had appeared beside him at some point, arms crossed, silently watching him.

"Why are you here?" Chen Yang opened his eyes, looking at her with surprise and suspicion. This woman had been so busy that she was nowhere to be seen before, so why did she suddenly appear today?

He Xi's expression turned slightly grim: "The Lord of Chaos City came to test us. He attacked the Chaos Barrier with all his might, and finding that it could not be shaken, he left."

The Lord of Chaos City, a being standing at the pinnacle of this starry sky. Has he been exposed? That makes sense. He's only owned the Milky Way for ten years, yet he's already caused such a commotion. With a virtual universe at his disposal, nothing that happened in the Milky Way before couldn't be kept secret from him.

"We've been exposed?" Chen Yang asked calmly, but his tone was unusually certain.

He Xi walked up to him and gently poked his brow with her fingertip: "You've definitely been exposed. With all the big moves I made in the Milky Way, plus the surveillance from the virtual universe, they're not stupid. How could they not have noticed?"

"Ignore them." Chen Yang said calmly. "In any world, the most terrifying thing is never the strength that has already been revealed, but the unknown."

He wasn't worried at all about the human race taking any extreme measures, because they wouldn't dare to act rashly.

"The power we've revealed is too bizarre. Whether it's using the power of the divine talent 'God' to erase slave chips as if erasing concepts, or erasing the marks of enslavement in souls, it's beyond their current understanding. They won't act rashly. And this period of time they're probing and observing us is precisely the best opportunity for us to complete our plan to open up a small divine universe."

"Yes." He Xi agreed wholeheartedly. "This slave liberation plan is progressing very smoothly. The divine source reserves have exceeded 10 billion jade coins, which should be enough energy to open up the small universe of the godhood."

She paused, then continued her report: "By the way, all the Zerg queens have emerged from their cocoons and become the new Pangu race. Among them, 832 are Immortals and 84 are World Lords. What are your plans?"

Chen Yang pondered for a moment, then smiled slightly: "The Realm Lords are of little use to us now, let them return to the Zerg. Contact Ya and ask her for the coordinates of the Zerg territory, you can use micro-wormholes to transport them there. As for the Immortals, you can manage and use them."

He Xi nodded slightly, taking note of the arrangements. A glint flashed in her icy blue eyes, which seemed to contain countless stars, indicating that she had already transmitted the instructions to Yao Chi through the Void God Realm network.

"Understood, I will handle it properly. However..." He Xi changed the subject, her gaze returning to Chen Yang, her tone carrying a hint of scrutiny and curiosity, "Since you've allowed the World Lord-level Pangu clan members to return to the Zerg and be nurtured by them, then I'll have these 832 Immortal-level Pangu clan members dispersed among the various inhabited planets in the Milky Way to keep watch, which will also free up some of my attention."

Chen Yang turned around, his gaze fixed on the deep void outside the Trial Tower's hall, his eyes growing serious. "Well, you can arrange it as you see fit. In the Earthly Immortal Realm, Wu Zetian has moved to Xikunlun, and Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er have become members of the Pangu Clan. But looking at the entire Earthly Immortal Realm, and even the entire Milky Way, besides you, me, and those Insect Queens, there are only nine members of the Pangu Clan... That's too few."

"Okay, I'll make the arrangements. It's still too early; most people's willpower hasn't reached the required level yet." He Xi's lips curled into a faint smile, seemingly quite satisfied with Chen Yang's foresight. "When do you plan to begin the plan to develop the divine mini-universe?"

"The energy is sufficient. My only concern now is that my will is not yet strong enough to control such a vast miniature universe." Chen Yang raised his hand, and a miniature crystal emanating chaotic energy slowly appeared in his palm. Inside the crystal, faint phantoms of mountains, rivers, and stars were appearing and disappearing. "Give me three more months. During these three months, I will focus on seclusion in the Will Tower, accelerating the flow of time by 100,000 times. After three months, my will will definitely break through to the Venerable level."

He Xi looked at the crystal, a hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes: "Three months... time is very tight. Since the Lord of Chaos City has already tested us, the human territory will definitely be closely monitoring our movements during these three months."

"It's alright." Chen Yang put away the divine crystal and looked directly at He Xi. "They wouldn't dare do anything. They're watching us, and we're also closely monitoring the movements of the human race's higher-ups, especially the attitudes of the Chaos City Lord and the Giant Axe Founder."

"What if they try again?" He Xi asked.

"If they test us again..." Chen Yang's lips curled into a cold smile. The Flame Demon Blade in his hand trembled slightly, the fire and air elemental law runes on the blade flowing, radiating a chilling sharpness. "Then let them see just how many trump cards we still have."

He Xi looked at him quietly. After a moment, she nodded gently: "Okay. I will take good care of the home, you can focus on your seclusion."

Chen Yang took a deep breath, suppressing all the chaotic thoughts in his mind. He knew that for the next three months, for a period of 24,700 years inside the Tower of Will, he would endure extreme pain to temper his will and make it stronger.

The creation of the divine mini-universe is not only related to his own breakthrough in strength, but also to the future of the entire Pangu clan.

"Let's go, I'm going into seclusion." Chen Yang walked towards the outside of the Trial Tower, instructing as he went, "You also arrange things within the Milky Way, and pay attention to cultivating the will, character, and values ​​of your people. Especially the people of those life-bearing planets outside the Earthly Immortal Realm, make sure your angels and elves completely discard that 'survival of the fittest' mentality they learned from the universe."

"Immortality, especially immortality without loved ones, is terrifying." Chen Yang's voice echoed in the empty hall, carrying a clarity born of experience. "Over a long period of time, it gradually erodes a person's emotions and desires, making them selfish, paranoid, and irrational. Why does this universe value its own race so much? Because they need an emotional anchor. In a life so long that there seems to be no end, when loved ones and friends all depart one by one, if one cannot find a reason to live, one will become insane and extreme."

He Xi followed in his footsteps, her cool voice echoing in the empty hall: "Well, I selected some courses on mindset from Chinese culture and made them study them."

The two figures gradually disappeared into the depths of the Trial Tower, leaving only faint fluctuations of law in the hall, proving that a conversation concerning the future had just taken place here.

One day later.

Chen Yang's true form sat cross-legged in the temple atop Kunlun Mountain with his eyes closed.

The Human Emperor's clone, Huang, sat cross-legged atop Mount Tai with his eyes closed, while a golden-horned behemoth, nine hundred meters long, lay obediently asleep beside him.

The Heavenly Emperor, with his eyes closed, sat cross-legged on the moon, while a nine-tailed white fox, one kilometer long, lay fast asleep beside him.

The Demon Lord's avatar, Lou, also sat cross-legged with his eyes closed atop a ten-kilometer-long black dragon. The massive black dragon's body was coiled atop a giant boulder at the boundary of the Milky Way's chaotic barrier, resembling a demon god guarding the starry sky.

At this moment, Chen Yang's will was completely immersed in the Will Tower for tempering. The extreme pain, as if every single particle of his soul was being crushed, brought his will to the brink of collapse at any moment. He could no longer spare even a single thought to control these four bodies.

Meanwhile, He Xi returned to the celestial palace suspended atop Mount Kunlun. She sat regally on her throne, her genetic engine constantly connected to the Heavenly Book of Knowledge, silently observing every movement of the entire primordial universe.

At this moment, within the core territory of the Zerg, above an artificial continent with a diameter of 1.2 billion light-years, the atmosphere was solemn and dignified. The Zerg Queen, along with her three cosmic lords—the Lord of the Nether Lotus, the Lord of Banf, and the Lord of Bilong—were gathered here. The Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden Ya, a member of the Pangu race, along with nine red-eyed zombie kings including Nan Cheng, Nuo Yu, and Yi Si, also stood quietly to the side.

Just then, the void in front of them was forcibly torn apart.

It was not a regular outline like a portal to the mortal realm. Its edges were swirling with dark purple chaotic mist, like stardust that had settled for billions of years being rolled into a spiral. At its center, however, was a point of almost deathly still silvery-white cold light, and even the surrounding wind was twisted into fine fragments of spacetime.

This is an ultra-long-distance spatial teleportation channel developed by He Xi by combining micro-wormhole transport technology with the technology inherited from the Pangu clan in Chen Yang's mind.

As the passage opened, one after another, young, beautiful, and graceful fairies slowly emerged from it. Only after all eighty-four Pangu Clan members, transformed from the World Lord-level Insect Queen, had stepped out did the vortex-shaped passage behind them gradually fade and eventually vanish into nothingness.