Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

However, it was only a trace.

The Celestial Venerable of Longevity had already imagined Hunzhen's expression of excruciating pain, as if he were dying and coming back to life, under the influence of the Flame of Life and Death.

Unexpectedly, the endless flames, upon touching Hunzhen, vanished completely, just as rainwater is absorbed by a sponge.

"No, it didn't disappear!"

"I can feel it; the Flame of Life and Death definitely hit this guy!"

The Celestial Venerable of Longevity narrowed his eyes slightly. He quickly realized that Hunzhen was able to withstand the Flame of Life and Death without injury, most likely because of that unknown power of reason!

"What kind of ability is that!?"

The Celestial Venerable of Immortality was thinking frantically.

According to the common sense known to the Celestial Venerable of Longevity, we should speculate based on the "void" aspect revealed in Hunzhen's past battle achievements.

After all, the power of reason that they can control is definitely inseparable from their own cultivation path.

However, Hunzhen's characteristics were too strange. How could a Saint-level being who didn't even have an inner world be certain that the power of reason he controlled was related to time and space or the void?

This is an unprecedented exception!

"Um?"

Just as he was pondering how to break Hunzhen's "invincible" ability, he suddenly realized that Hunzhen's body was like a photograph taken by a junk camera, with a double image.

Immediately afterwards, Hunzhen's aura returned to "twice" its previous level.

"As expected, it's still not stable enough? When it gets hit by an attack of the same level, it immediately 'separates'."

He let out a soft sigh from the bottom of his heart.

He then smiled slightly at the illusory figure that had been pulled out and looked exactly like himself: "Brother, let's fight side by side once again and lend me a hand!"

There was no response; the phantom seemed to exist only in form and without self-awareness. But at Hunzhen's command, it quickly overlapped with the phantom.

The powerful momentum has returned to "twice" its original strength.

"What exactly is that thing...?"

A hint of apprehension flashed in the eyes of the Celestial Venerable of Longevity, and he asked aloud.

He hadn't expected Hunzhen to answer; he was just asking instinctively.

who knew...

"Do you know?"

Upon hearing the question posed by the Celestial Venerable of Longevity, Hunzhen slowly began to speak with emphasis: "Whether it is the spacetime we are familiar with, or the void that most God-Kings only know as it is but not as it is, or even the world of higher dimensions, they can all be regarded as being composed of a special kind of 'string'. This string is the smallest unit of spacetime, void, and even other similar things."

"Depending on the frequency of its vibration, the string will exhibit different characteristics. What we are familiar with are the 'spacetime string' and the 'void string'. As the foundation for constructing the world, the spacetime string can naturally divide the world with just a little manipulation."

Following Hunzhen's words, the Eternal Life Celestial Venerable naturally thought of Hunzhen's previous killing of Shiyi and the various strange attacks he had launched against him.

But... what does all this have to do with what we just talked about?

The Celestial Venerable of Longevity was puzzled, but then Hunzhen continued his story.

"On the other hand, regardless of the type of string, they all possess a very special property—duality. The existence of a string simultaneously possesses two attributes: the horizontal axis and the vertical axis. The so-called vertical axis is from the past to the future, while the so-called horizontal axis... Have you heard of the concepts of parallel timelines and parallel universes? The so-called horizontal axis is the different manifestations of the same point in time Y in countless parallel timelines."

The Celestial Venerable of Immortality's pupils constricted. After all, he had the most prestigious background on the Origin Continent and had received the highest level of education, so he reacted immediately.

"you mean……"

His gaze suddenly shifted to Hunzhen's back, to the spot where the illusory figure had been pulled apart, and he murmured, "You obtained the power of yourself from a parallel universe, perfectly superimposed it, and thus directly broke through the limits, unconditionally gaining twice the power!?"

What incredible, heaven-defying power of reason!

Hunzhen looked at the Celestial Venerable of Longevity and couldn't help but reveal an appreciative smile, as if he were subtly saying, "This child is teachable."

"There is no limit to the past, future, or parallel universes. Just like a Cartesian coordinate system with the X-axis and Y-axis, this Cartesian coordinate system extends infinitely. Theoretically, I can obtain infinite power from infinitely overlapping spacetimes."

"This is... the power of the 'The Theory of Strings'!"

The Theory of Strings!

As he repeated the term in his mind, the Celestial Venerable of Longevity felt a shiver run down his spine.

"How could any living being possibly control such a world?!"

The essence of the power of reason is the alteration of the original world rules, a change based on the world principles constructed within the body's inner world.

However, the more abstract and powerful the principles of the world are, the more difficult they are to understand and thus construct within the inner world.

The principles of the world, such as destiny, are so special and abstract that even the Celestial Venerable of Longevity could hardly imagine how to weave them into his inner world to break through to the level of a god. The "principle of strings" that Hunzhen spoke of was even more abstract and powerful to the point that he could not understand it!

Is it because Hunzhen does not rely on the inner world that he is able to control such terrifying power of reason?

"No, that's not right!"

The Celestial Venerable of Longevity suddenly regained his senses, his gaze hardening once more, and retorted to Hunzhen, "Even if the power of the String Principle you speak of is limitless, the ability of the one who wields this power—that is, yours—is finite!"

He immediately recalled the scene of the phantom being pulled out of Hunzhen's body.

"That's exactly what you said."

Hunzhen showed no signs of anxiety or anger at being exposed, and frankly stated, "As you just saw, I can even pass on the damage I suffer to my parallel world self, but that might cause this 'overlap' to become unstable. Moreover, theoretically, I can only overlap the power of one of my current selves."

A hint of emotion flashed in Hunzhen's eyes.

Even with a foundation built upon "Ultimate Void" that conforms to the "Principle of Strings," he can only maintain his current state of "Double Overlap."

If he hadn't built a perfect foundation, even with innate simulation abilities, he probably wouldn't have been able to support this superimposed state with the simulated human only after reaching the God-King level and possessing an inner world.

Even so, having twice the ceiling when everyone else is on the same starting line is an incredibly extraordinary ability.

Even he himself never imagined that he would possess such terrifying power.

In contrast, the God Lord Luohe, who seemed to have foreseen his ability to control the power of reason, appeared all the more unfathomable.

It is unclear whether the other party is so certain that he can control the power of reason by observing fate or by having extreme confidence in his uniqueness.

Hunzhen does not possess an inner world, and theoretically, no matter how profound one's understanding of the principles of the world is, it is impossible to control the power of those principles.

However, as he received instruction from the Lord of Luohe and gained a deeper understanding of the principles of the world, he gradually began to discern the true abilities hidden within the extradimensional vision.

He finally realized a thought he had never considered before—could the ability to simulate be the power of reason?

The ability to disregard the fundamental laws of the world and to alter its rules.

He once thought this was a special ability at the so-called "limit-breaking" level, but at a certain moment... he realized that all of this might be an external manifestation of an extremely special kind of rational power.

A power of reason that far surpasses the imagination of even the God-King or God-Lord.

This is why Hunzhen can still use the power of reason even without an inner world. Because he doesn't rely on the world's reason of his inner world to exert the power of reason, but rather on his simulation ability.

Previously, he had only passively acquired this innate talent, and along the way, he had carried out various developments.

From the initial simulation, to future vision, omniscient vision, future access, complete inheritance, consciousness attachment, simulation dissolution, hyperdimensional vision...

But that's ultimately knowing how but not why. It's like learning to use electricity to light a light bulb, kerosene to start a car, and gunpowder to fire a bullet... but not knowing how electricity is generated, how kerosene can be used as fuel, or how gunpowder drives an explosion. So you can't start a car with electricity or light a light bulb with gunpowder.

However, with the help of the Hyperdimensional Vision, he has finally begun to understand the essence of simulation capabilities.

Therefore, the simulation ability, which was previously only used as an auxiliary ability, can now be used directly as a means of combat.

A simulated human is a self on a different Cartesian coordinate system.

He can transfer the damage he takes to other Sims, or he can overlap Sims with himself to obtain a higher potential.

Of course, the ability itself has not changed, but these methods are not without cost.

To put it simply, the fact that only one simulation could be performed per day initially, and the upper limit of energy available in the future, all demonstrate that simulation capabilities require "consumption".

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Now, he can control these energy sources autonomously through subjective regulation.

For example, when he overlaps with his android best friend, he consumes twice the energy as in normal conditions.

So where does the same energy source as himself come from? — Future drawdown.

Things are different now. Today's Hunzhen allows you to overdraft up to the amount you can withdraw in the next year.

In other words, by maintaining his superimposed state with the Sim, he could fight for about six months.

If we assume that the amount withdrawn in the future remains unchanged, and his control over the String Theory rises to the point where he can simultaneously overlap with ten simulators, then the time limit will be shortened to a little over a month.

Of course, this is only the theoretical time.

When facing a powerful being like the Eternal Celestial Venerable, who is at the limit of the God-King realm, one needs to expend extra power from time to time, which will greatly shorten the theoretical limit.

(Hunzhen was able to fight against peak God-Kings head-on before because he had access to the future, which allowed him to match the God-Kings in terms of endurance. But now that he is using this energy to enhance himself, he can no longer achieve the near-infinite endurance of other God-Kings.)

But Hunzhen remained fearless.

The Celestial Venerable of Longevity's expression darkened slightly as he asked, "Why would you tell me, your enemy, all this?"

Hunzhen smiled faintly, "This way you can create more trouble for me and make me see my own problems, just like before. Otherwise, I'm afraid you would have a hard time seeing through the true nature of my abilities. Now, only in battles with a strong person like you can I grow faster."

Contempt.

Mingming Hunzhen's words contained no belittling, but rather were full of recognition and respect, yet Changsheng Tianzun inexplicably felt the other party's condescending gaze.

"Are they using me as a whetstone?"

The Celestial Venerable of Immortality sneered, but could not hide his anger.

A long, crimson-gold spear suddenly appeared and was held in his hand.

Hunzhen's gaze narrowed slightly: "So, the Divine Weapon is finally going to unleash its full power?"

Both Hunzhen and Changsheng Tianzun had burning fighting spirit in their eyes.

Both knew that this was undoubtedly the highest level of battle between the God-King level and the God-Lord level!

In an instant, the two began a fierce confrontation.

In terms of attack, speed, and even defense, Hunzhen is superior in all aspects when in his double-layered state. After all, several minor epochs ago, his basic attributes in his full-power state were comparable to those of a weaker peak God-King.

Although the Celestial Venerable of Immortality represents the pinnacle of a God-King, he is still within the realm of a peak God-King. In terms of basic qualities alone, he is not much stronger than the Eagle God-King, who previously combined material and divine power.

However, the Eternal Celestial Venerable possessed an extremely powerful divine weapon, the spear, and his armor was also at the top level of the divine king weapons. Compared to the Time-Sorrow Demon Blade and the Void Ghost Armor in Hunzhen's hands, which were at the peak divine king weapon level, he had a huge advantage.

The flames of birth and death are actually the power erupting from miniature, condensed realms of life and death.

Each burst of flame would cause the Celestial Venerable of Immortality's domain to weaken in a short period of time, a weakening that would be difficult to recover from.

However, its power is also extremely terrifying.

Hunzhen has confirmed through future vision that, apart from "damage transfer", even the spacetime maze now infused with the power of ultimate void cannot be immune to it.

Once hit, it will directly reverse his "living" state to "dead", achieving an instant kill effect.

That's why he had to resort to damage transfer.

Currently, his mastery of the Law of Strings is not yet perfect. This damage transfer not only causes the stacking state to be unstable, but this theoretically fatal move is equivalent to a real death for him at present. It will consume an amount of energy equivalent to his current energy level, which is equivalent to a whole day's future withdrawal limit.

Now, the Celestial Venerable of Eternal Life is wielding the Divine Spear, which not only possesses the Flame of Life and Death, but also has the potential to cause instant death with its other attacks.

In addition, the Celestial Venerable of Eternal Life can also use his spear to temporarily store the Flame of Life and Death, and use this as a medium to unleash attacks with the Flame of Life and Death.

Furthermore, since he was wielding a spear while simultaneously manipulating the flames of life and death to attack, his threat level increased dramatically.

However, the clash of knives and guns continued fiercely for a long time, yet neither side was truly injured.

Because it wasn't just Hunzhen who was wary of Changsheng Tianzun's attacks; Changsheng Tianzun was equally vigilant against Hunzhen's attacks.

Just as the Flame of Life and Death could threaten Hunzhen, the Eternal Celestial Venerable vaguely sensed that Hunzhen's sword light also contained a trump card that could directly threaten him!

Most importantly, exerting all his strength to unleash the power of reason is also a huge burden for the Eternal Heavenly Venerable, who is still at the level of a God-King.

Both sides are simultaneously unleashing their power of reason to fight under extreme conditions, and it's impossible to say who will run out of energy first.

In the eyes of the Eternal Celestial Venerable, Hunzhen's abilities so far have been unpredictable, and his foundation and limits are unfathomable. Unwilling to be bogged down in a prolonged stalemate, he ultimately chose to take the initiative.

The crimson-gold spear ignited with black and white flames, spiraling out like a giant serpent tearing through the heavens, shattering the void with a single strike and piercing towards Hunzhen!

This is the ultimate killing move, a perfect fusion of the Eternal Celestial Venerable's power of reason and combat secrets—the Flame-Slaying Reincarnation Spear Strike! (End of Chapter)