Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 180 Black-Patterned Stone Pillars: Tempering Willpower

In a short while, Hunzhen teleported to a gap in a fragment on the spaceship. Peeking inside, he saw what looked like a huge, natural canyon.

These are some of the few hidden, safe routes on the map given to him by the Lord of Chaos City.

Of course, this safety is relative.

The security level of this "narrow passage" is far lower than that of settlements where humans have been stationed for a long time or even built defensive structures.

But such security is sufficient for Hunzhen.

Hunzhen, riding on the top-tier treasure palace he had recently acquired, flew into the rift in the spaceship.

The three forbidden zones are basically divided into the "Outer Region", the "Inner Region", and the "Core Region".

The level of danger increases from shallow to deep. In the outer realm, even ordinary universe masters risk death. In the inner realm, even the most elite universe masters risk death. In the core realm, even the strongest beings in the universe may perish.

Even disregarding the risks of being sealed off or lost due to special environments, possessing a supreme treasure palace can guarantee relative safety even in the core area.

Of course, both the outer realms and the core regions contain some special dangerous places. These dangerous places are considered external factors. It would not be surprising if a crisis occurred in the outer realms that could cause the strongest beings in the universe to perish.

Similarly, the Peak Treasure Palace corresponds to the Inner Domain, and the Top-Tier Treasure Palace corresponds to the Outer Domain.

Hunzhen, riding in a top-tier palace, could say that there was no danger in 90% of the outer realms.

However, if one uses this to rampage through foreign lands, one will almost certainly die.

Because that remaining 10% of the area is hard to say whether it will be in danger of destroying even the most precious treasures and making even the strongest beings in the universe wary.

Therefore, even when Luo Feng had the Star Tower in the outer region, he did not dare to go all out, launch himself, or speed recklessly. Instead, he tried to avoid all kinds of dangers and maintain a speed that he could control at any time.

In addition, there are some unavoidable areas where space and time are extremely condensed and the speed of flight is extremely slow. It took Luo Feng several decades to go from entering the spaceship to the black-patterned stone pillar.

Hunzhen's destination was also the area with the black-patterned stone pillars.

The black-patterned stone pillar was not in the outer domain of the spaceship, but had already entered the inner domain of the spaceship.

Even if there is a map, it is not complete because humanity is not currently focusing on the spaceship region.

Even a fifth-order universe lord riding in a top-tier treasure palace would face a great risk of being drawn into unknown crises with such a fragmented map, and would only dare to advance slowly.

But Hunzhen is different.

With his omniscient vision, his ability to avoid risks is extraordinary.

This path was much longer than the others, winding and turning, yet in less than thirty years, he had traversed it and arrived above a huge lake shimmering with blue flames.

"This is the Flaming Water Lake."

The areas we had flown over before were far more dangerous than this Flame Lake.

The reason why Hunzhen paid more attention to this place was simply because he had read about it in a book and had made a point of looking at it earlier.

"The 'danger' of this Flame Water Lake only erupts during special periods. Although I can foresee the future, my strength is ultimately too low. There's no need for me to be reckless and deliberately wait for the danger period to arrive before coming here."

After a brief pause, Hunzhen urged Zixiao Palace to continue flying towards its destination.

The spaceship is vast, and the dangers inside make its perceived size much larger than it actually is.

If it weren't for the fact that the birth of a supreme treasure would attract nearby cosmic lords to gather there, it would be difficult to encounter a strange cosmic lord even after flying for years or decades.

Hunzhen's omniscient vision saw many treasures appear, including even the shadows of top-tier treasures, but he ignored them all.

His primary purpose was not to come here to compete and fight with others, but rather to use his omniscient vision to avoid all trouble and risks.

After flying for a mere century, they finally arrived at the Black-Patterned Stone Pillar Space.

Immediately, the identities of the three strongest people who resided in this place flashed through Hunzhen's mind.

"Lord Bech, a true god of the first era of reincarnation, has an excellent personality and spends most of his time on the second stone pillar. As long as you show respect, you can get answers even if you ask him for advice."

"The Blood Orchid Ancestor, a true god of the first era of reincarnation, is an extremely evil plant life form that has long been active on the 9th stone pillar. Just avoid her within a million kilometers."

"The Rampaging Demon God, a true god of the second reincarnation era, is capricious and has no specific range of activities. Moreover, he possesses a supreme treasure armor at the level of a Void True God. If an ordinary universe lord is approached by him, he will basically only suffer losses."

"Furthermore, this rampaging demon god is eccentric and likes to change his appearance to play tricks on people, especially newcomers to the Black-Patterned Stone Pillar Space. Once you anger him even slightly, he will use this as an excuse to attack, causing many universe lords to perish."

"However, the Rampaging Demon God and the Lord of Bechi Star are friends. Under normal circumstances, he would restrain his nature in the area of ​​the No. 2 stone pillar and become a little more like a normal person."

Hunzhen had told the Chaos City Lord long ago that his first destination was this black-patterned stone pillar space, which is why the information given by the Chaos City Lord already contained this hint.

However, he already remembered this, so it didn't matter.

Upon arriving at the space of the black-patterned stone pillar, Hunzhen immediately put away the Zixiao Palace and flew straight towards the area of ​​stone pillar No. 2.

Looking out, there are sixteen enormous black pillars, each over a thousand light-years in size and engraved with mysterious patterns, reaching to the sky.

A vast number of enormous rocks revolve and fly around the sixteen black-veined stone pillars, just as the Earth revolves around the sun, and these enormous rocks tirelessly fly around the black-veined stone pillars.

Among these endless, densely packed, massive rocks, there are some strikingly beautifully carved black spires.

These are a series of enormous secret chambers, each with its own independent space. Each chamber corresponds to a black token, and one must possess the black token to enter that chamber.

Hunzhen clearly remembered that the Five Lords of the Divine Eye Clan in the first era of reincarnation possessed a black token, and in his secret chamber, a portion of the map of the cosmic ship was engraved.

"In terms of comprehensiveness, the Five Lords' map, which compiles numerous maps from the era of reincarnation, far surpasses the map of Jie Fanzi that Luo Feng obtained when acquiring the core of the Chaos Golden Wing. Correspondingly, the map of Jie Fanzi contains some core locations that are missing from the Five Lords' map."

That Jie Fanzi was a top-tier tenth-order true god in his previous life, and as someone who attempted to break through the cycle of reincarnation, he was naturally confident that he could venture even deeper.

While the Five Lords' map exploration of the core area of ​​the spaceship was not as thorough as Jie Fanzi's, it was more comprehensive.

"With my current memory, I can naturally recall the approximate coordinates of the waters in the Inclined Peak Realm where the core of the Chaos Golden Wings is located, but... without the most powerful treasure, I cannot withstand the spontaneous attack of the Chaos Golden Wings."

"Moreover, compared to that, the map of the Five Chaos Lord is already quite sufficient."

The Five Lords' activities are confined to the spaceship; if there is any chance of encountering them, Hunzhen will naturally not miss the opportunity.

He even harbored the intention to actively cause trouble for the other party.

"The black token, the map of the spaceship, and the supreme treasure armor worn by the Lord of the Five Chaos..."

These are all things that Hunzhen really craved.

The appearance he has now transformed into is not any of those he has shown before, but rather another new guise, resembling the masked man "ZERO" from "Code Geass".

Within the realm of the Lord of the Universe, appearance is no longer the primary form of identification.

Because at this level, many life forms have the ability to change their appearance.

Therefore, the first way for life forms in the cosmic sea to recognize each other is through their life force. The changes brought about by innate abilities can deceive the cosmic lords, but with just a slight action, even the most powerful transformation abilities cannot be hidden from the cosmic lord.

However, one must witness the life force firsthand before it can be confirmed and marked.

That is, it is difficult to determine the identity of a rookie when they first enter the game.

Secondly, there are secret techniques and supreme treasures.

In the three eras of reincarnation, it is virtually impossible for any secret techniques to be exactly the same. Therefore, when fighting with all one's might, secret techniques become the most prominent calling card.

Treasures are similar to arcane arts, and many cosmic lords rely on treasures that have accompanied them for a long time to perform arcane arts, so the two complement each other.

Hunzhen knew that as long as he ventured into the cosmic sea, even with his omniscient vision to avoid various risks, his identity would be exposed sooner or later.

Fortunately, after he shed his first layer of disguise as the Time-Space Lord Milirat, he still had the second layer of disguise as the Death Wheel King and the String Sword King.

As long as Hunzhen's true identity is not exposed in the short term, there shouldn't be any major problems.

The inevitable exposure here is, of course, the first layer of disguise.

The identity of the Lord of Time and Space is very likely to attract the attention of the Machine Race.

If the supreme father god of the mechanical race, that top-tier eighth-order true god, were to come and arrest him, it would still be quite troublesome.

The latest novel is first published here!

"This is my first all-out attack, so I must maximize my gains. And right now, the one I see as having the greatest potential profit is none other than the Lord of the Five Chaos."

Hunzhen secretly clicked his tongue: "No wonder it's the experience pack that was originally intended for Luo Feng in the original work."

As Hunzhen got closer to the stone pillar, he could sense that the flow of time was accelerating.

……

"A newcomer? He's hiding his identity, looks like he hasn't been adventuring in the Cosmic Sea for long? People like him are either from the two holy lands or from the original universe."

"An unfamiliar face. I have absolutely no information on this person in my database. Yan Ying, what about you?"

Because someone mentioned the "primordial universe," naturally some people looked towards the Lord of the Hong Alliance, Yan Ying.

The Lord of the Swallow Eagles stared at Hunzhen for a moment, then shook his head: "I have never seen him before either."

"Those who know to head directly towards the area of ​​Stone Pillar No. 2 are most likely to have powerful backing."

Someone concluded, "Since Yan Ying doesn't know either, he's most likely not one of the top powers in the original universe. That makes it much more likely that someone from the Holy Land universe came."

At this point, the group of people who had been discussing the matter fell silent briefly.

Everyone knows that the weakest beings released from the Holy Land universe to go out for training are all fourth-order universe masters.

If you're unlucky, it's not uncommon to encounter a fifth-order universe master.

After some analysis, the group briefly listed Hunzhen as a target not to be easily provoked.

While the Lord of Yan Ying and others were observing Hunzhen, Hunzhen was also silently observing them.

"The Black-Patterned Stone Pillar Space truly lives up to its reputation as a secret realm within the inner domain of the Cosmic Ship."

"Among those I can recognize, with very few exceptions, most of them here are at the fourth level, and a small number are even at the fifth level, the same level as the Chaos City Lord."

Unlike Hunzhen, these cosmic lords did not hide their identities. With the support of human intelligence, Hunzhen naturally recognized most of them.

As they continued to fly, the pressure of the will emanating from the black-veined stone pillars intensified, and the acceleration of time gradually increased to hundreds of times.

at last……

"1047 times the flow rate."

Hunzhen murmured, "The pressure of will here is probably the limit I can normally use to hone my cultivation. It's pretty much what I guessed. At a speed of a thousand times the flow of time, that's the pressure of will at the level of a Universe Lord. At ten thousand times, it's the pressure of will at the level of a True God. At one hundred thousand times, it's the pressure of will at the level of a Void True God. In the original story, the fourth-order Lord of the Swallow Eagle was honing his skills in a region with a flow rate of 1100 times. My current will is only at the level of a normal Universe Lord."

"but……"

Hunzhen paused only slightly before continuing forward.

1050 times the flow rate, 1060 times the flow rate... 1120 times the flow rate.

"Heh, heh."

Hunzhen's voice changed slightly, clearly indicating that the pressure of the will here had exceeded his limit, and his soul was gradually being worn down as a result.

"Hey, newbie! Don't rush headlong into things during your first challenge! Practicing in areas where you feel a bit of pressure is the way to go in the long run!"

A kind-hearted cosmic ruler spoke up to remind them.

Okay, the area with a flow rate of 1120 times is so close to Hunzhen, so it must be the Lord of Yan Ying.

Thank you.

Hunzhen quietly thanked the alien universe master of the Hongmeng.

Then we landed at a location with a flow rate of 1120 times, on a huge rock that rotates around a stone pillar.

"You...this?"

The Lord of Yan Ying was momentarily speechless, somewhat confused.

She seemed quite polite and even thanked him, but then she completely ignored his advice afterwards.

Is it polite or impolite?

"Swallow Eagle".

A familiar Universe Lord standing next to the Lord of Swallow Eagles said, "His thanks just now were purely out of politeness; his plans won't be swayed by your advice. It seems this newcomer isn't lacking in experience, so don't worry about it too much."

"Well... okay."

Lord Yan Ying shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

On the other hand, Hunzhen was experiencing both pain and pleasure.

A wound to the soul is comparable to a soul-annihilating attack. Divine power and body remain unharmed, but the spiritual imprint will suffer severe damage or even be completely erased.

Such injuries are sometimes more troublesome than the direct loss of spiritual imprints and divine power.

But his future withdrawal is a more refined version of simulated inheritance.

Whether it's spiritual imprints or weariness at the source of the soul, Hunzhen can directly restore it through future access.

This process of being continuously subjected to the pressure of willpower and suffering became the best way for him to temper his will.

However, Hunzhen chose the Black Patterned Stone Pillar Space as the first stop in the Cosmic Sea, and also the area where he would be active for a long time to come, so naturally he did not come here just to temper his will.

He took out the Purple Cloud Palace again and entered it. At the same time, he took out another item from the palace's treasures—the Time Palace.

(End of this chapter)