Within the Starry Sky Alliance's territory.
On a massive planet, the true body of the Divine King, towering over a million li, sat quietly.
Since the fall of the two-dimensional world and the escape of "White Paper" from the cosmic starry sky, the Divine King had been seated here.
The loss of his avatar in the two-dimensional world dealt a heavy blow to the Divine King.
Far beyond the permanent loss of a portion of his spiritual will and the destruction of a supreme weapon suited to him.
Most importantly, the Divine King's mental state had been severely shaken.
As a legendary eleventh-rank consummate powerhouse, a unique being in the cosmic starry sky, the Divine King did not dare claim to be the strongest beneath the strongest ones, but he certainly ranked highly.
Yet, in the two-dimensional world, he had been utterly crushed by that human civilization's "Blood Rain," something the Divine King found hard to accept.
Human civilization's evolvers were inherently frail.
Ninety-nine percent of them never even reached the first rank, starting far lower than unique beings like himself.
And yet, he, the Divine King, was defeated by such a human evolver.
If it were merely a defeat, the Divine King wouldn't have been so shaken.
Human civilization’s evolvers, though starting weak, had immense potential. Otherwise, how could nine twelfth-rank beings emerge?
But he had suffered a crushing defeat—so much so that calling it a defeat was an understatement.
In the eyes of that human "Blood Rain," the Divine King was not even worthy of being called an opponent.
At that moment, a voice resonated throughout the planet and across this spacetime.
“Divine King, what is past is past. There is no need to dwell on it.”
The voice of a Starry Sky Alliance strongest one came through.
“Strongest One, could such an unparalleled eleventh-rank life truly exist in this universe?”
The Divine King still found it incomprehensible.
“Anything is possible,” the strongest one of the Starry Sky Alliance said after a moment of silence.
“That two-dimensional world could completely suppress any power below the twelfth rank.”
“Perhaps that human ‘Blood Rain’ carried some treasure, allowing them to partially escape the suppression of the two-dimensional world.”
This was the speculation made by the strongest ones and ultimate beings of many peak races after reviewing the events following the escape of "White Paper" from the universe.
The extraordinary strength displayed by the human "Blood Rain"—enough to make the Divine King tremble with a single glance ten thousand years later—was not something any normal eleventh rank could exhibit.
Hearing this, the Divine King's heavy heart lightened slightly.
If the strongest one’s speculation was correct, then his loss was not so disgraceful.
“Divine King, your focus now should be on the upcoming supermassive battlefield.”
“The Starry Sky Alliance has paid a great price to open that supermassive battlefield. Other peak races and forces have also made significant sacrifices.”
The strongest one of the Starry Sky Alliance gazed at the Divine King.
“If we can seize the lead in the first confrontation on that supermassive alien battlefield, I can personally help compensate for the portion of spiritual will you lost.”
Any life that fell in the two-dimensional world of "White Paper" would permanently lose a portion of its spiritual will.
While this spiritual will could never be restored, it could be compensated for at great cost.
“Thank you, Strongest One. I will give my all in the upcoming supermassive battlefield,” the Divine King said solemnly, his expression resolute.
“Good.”
The strongest one of the Starry Sky Alliance nodded slightly.
“After this matter is settled, and you’ve compensated for your loss, your foundation should be strong enough to attempt the ultimate breakthrough to the twelfth rank.”
“Breaking through to the twelfth rank, the ultimate level?”
The Divine King’s eyes lit up with fervor.
For any eleventh-rank lifeform, the ultimate goal was to break through to the twelfth rank, the ultimate level.
Only by stepping into the twelfth rank could one escape the restraints of the river of time, gaining the potential to live through countless cosmic epochs.
“Do not concern yourself with that human ‘Blood Rain.’ He may fare worse than you on the path to the ultimate,” the strongest one of the Starry Sky Alliance remarked.
“Yes.”
The Divine King nodded, his gaze regaining confidence.
“You—”
The strongest one of the Starry Sky Alliance was about to continue speaking when suddenly—
A vast aura of origin swept across the entire universe.
“What is this?”
The strongest one’s expression turned grave as he looked in a certain direction.
“Is someone attempting the ultimate breakthrough?”
The Divine King also reacted. The overwhelming aura of origin was so immense that even eleventh-rank beings could sense it clearly.
Only during an attempt to break through to the ultimate could such a massive descent of chaotic void origin occur.
Not long ago, a tenth-rank evolver from human civilization had comprehended time rules and triggered a chaotic void origin infusion during their breakthrough to the eleventh rank. However, the commotion was far smaller than this.
“Who is attempting the ultimate breakthrough?”
The Divine King looked toward the strongest one.
He could sense the omnipresent chaotic void origin aura but could not pinpoint its source due to the vast maze of spacetime in between.
“It’s within the territory of human civilization.”
The strongest one of the Starry Sky Alliance paused for a moment. With his twelfth-rank perception of spacetime, he could barely discern that the source of the chaotic void origin was near the human civilization’s territory.
“Human civilization? Is that ‘Blood Rain’ attempting the ultimate breakthrough?”
The Divine King froze, the thought instinctively surfacing in his mind.
The overwhelming, all-encompassing chaotic void origin wave immediately drew the attention of all twelfth-rank beings in the universe’s starry sky. Countless eleventh-rank powerhouses also reacted with shock.
“An ultimate breakthrough—someone is attempting the ultimate.”
“To attempt the ultimate, one must at least comprehend the fifth realm of space-time fusion.”
“The ultimate breakthrough… I wonder if I will reach the threshold for the attempt before my lifespan ends.”
Since the dawn of the universe, beings had tried to break through to the ultimate at long intervals. Most had failed, so the eleventh-rank beings were familiar with this phenomenon.
“The source is in human civilization’s territory?”
In the depths of the Insect Race, one queen after another opened their eyes, focusing on the source of the chaotic void origin.
“Is human civilization about to produce its tenth strongest one?”
Numerous insect queens furrowed their brows. Human civilization was already powerful enough. If they produced a tenth strongest one, the Insect Race might be crushed under their dominance.
In the Tianyu Clan’s domain, their ancestors also wore solemn expressions. Normally, the eleventh-rank evolvers of human civilization would not be allowed to attempt the ultimate unless they were confident of success.
After all, failure meant the permanent loss of that eleventh-rank evolver.
Failure in the ultimate breakthrough resulted in death, with no possibility of resurrection. The life imprint would briefly transcend the river of time. Success meant escaping the river entirely.
Failure meant the complete erasure of all traces.
Even the strongest ones could not resurrect them without the life imprint as a "beacon." Without it, not even the ability to defy the river of time could locate a target for resurrection.
In such cases, attempting the ultimate was considered an extremely cautious matter for any peak race or faction.
Unless absolutely necessary, most would rather slow their own time flow than recklessly attempt the ultimate.
Of course, those who roamed alone or were unbound by their factions—unique beings—were exceptions. Some had lived long enough and, even without certainty of success, would forcefully attempt the ultimate.
In the Milky Way star domain.
Deep within layers of space.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged.
After releasing the suppression on himself, he could clearly sense a momentary stillness across the heavens and the universe.
Then—
A terrifying cosmic spatial rift was torn open above his head.
The chaotic void origin descended, and an invisible pressure began spreading throughout the universe.
“Hmm?”
Lin Yuan looked up at the rift, which rapidly expanded. In an instant, it grew to exceed ten light-years, and the deep, mysterious aura of the chaotic void origin surged forward.
“Is that the chaotic void origin realm?” Lin Yuan looked up. Outside the rift, which had expanded to tens of light-years, a vast and boundless space faintly appeared, emanating infinite power and supreme majesty.
The chaotic void origin infusion naturally emanated from the chaotic void origin realm. When a lifeform underwent a major boundary breakthrough, a temporary channel would connect to this realm to provide origin infusion.
The cosmic rift continued tearing wider until it reached one hundred light-years, finally slowing and stopping.
“One hundred light-years?” Lin Yuan immediately understood. This was likely the maximum chaotic void origin infusion he could withstand at this stage.
Compared to the ten-light-year rift during his breakthrough from the ninth to the tenth rank, this one, at one hundred light-years, seemed ten times larger in size. Yet the total amount of chaotic void origin it would infuse was hundreds or even thousands of times greater.
“The origin infusion begins.”
As soon as the cosmic rift stopped expanding, Lin Yuan realized that he was about to face the chaotic void origin infusion.
Both cosmic origin and chaotic void origin infusions were tailored to the lifeform's overall conditions.
Factors like physical strength, soul strength, and the strength of the inner world determined the extent of the infusion.
The deeper the foundation, the larger the rift torn open, allowing for a greater volume of origin infusion.
For an eleventh rank attempting the ultimate, the transformation and leap of life itself would trigger a chaotic void origin infusion far surpassing the one from the tenth to the eleventh rank.
“There are only 333 seconds. During this time, I must absorb as much chaotic void origin as possible,” Lin Yuan thought to himself.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for nearly every lifeform in the universe—an eleventh rank attempting the ultimate.
Even after successfully reaching the twelfth rank and transforming their inner world into an inner universe, they could only slowly absorb chaotic void origin in the future.
This unrestricted absorption over 333 seconds would never happen again.
The deep and mysterious channel to the chaotic void origin realm within the hundred-light-year rift began pouring out a torrent of chaotic void origin.
Boom! The origin surged like a collapsing ocean, with a terrifying speed that filled the hundred-light-year region with pure chaotic void origin power.
“Absorb it all!”
Lin Yuan's physical body absorbed it madly, his soul devoured it frantically, and his inner world likewise greedily soaked it in.
The chaotic void origin power was supremely pure, requiring almost no refinement. Once absorbed into the body, it immediately converted into energy to push his foundation higher.
“Hmm?”
After just twenty seconds, Lin Yuan sensed a “fullness” within his inner world. It was clear that it had already consumed all it could.
“Keep absorbing.” Lin Yuan did not stop. His inner world gave him a sense of nearing a breakthrough, as though it was on the verge of breaking some limit.
In the Milky Way star domain.
The nine strongest ones of human civilization stood frozen, gazing at the hundred-light-year cosmic rift and the endless chaotic void origin pouring into the deep layers of space.
“A hundred-light-year cosmic rift—this is indistinguishable from an ultimate attempt,” Xu Shen, the strongest one, muttered in disbelief.
For the strongest ones, an eleventh-rank ultimate attempt was not a rarity.
But Lin Yuan was not attempting the ultimate; he was breaking through to the eleventh rank.
The only difference between Lin Yuan and those attempting the ultimate was that he had not yet leapt out of the river of time nor undergone the ultimate transformation.
“This…”
Xia Qin, the strongest one, was equally stunned.
Before Lin Yuan's breakthrough to the eleventh rank, Xia Qin had anticipated a significant commotion, given the spectacle of Lin Yuan’s breakthrough to the tenth rank.
However, even in his wildest speculations, Xia Qin had only guessed Lin Yuan might approach the scale of an ultimate attempt—not completely match it.
For an eleventh rank attempting the ultimate, the transformation of life could draw chaotic void origin far exceeding their foundation.
Lin Yuan, without undergoing the ultimate transformation, was somehow causing a commotion on par with an ultimate attempt. How was this possible?
The nine strongest ones of human civilization hovered in the void, their gazes fixed on the hundred-light-year rift, where chaotic void origin poured endlessly.
Every drop of origin was marked with Lin Yuan's life imprint. Even if it could not be absorbed, it would quickly dissipate.
While human civilization’s strongest ones were shocked, the strongest ones and ultimate beings of other peak races across the starry sky were increasingly restless.
Especially the Insect Race, the Tianyu Clan, and other factions entirely opposed to human civilization, which could not tolerate the possibility of human civilization gaining a tenth strongest one.
If human civilization produced a tenth strongest one, the tides of future wars would be drastically altered—particularly with the opening of a supermassive battlefield imminent.
“What do we do now?”
“Stop them? During an ultimate attempt, though there is backlash from the river of time, the being is also protected by it. Even if we’ve transcended the river of time, we cannot disrupt it.”
“Then what? Do we just let human civilization gain another strongest one?”
The Insect Race, the Tianyu Clan, and other factions engaged in rapid exchanges.
“Head to the river of time.”
An Insect Race queen spoke.
“Yes, the river of time.”
The other strongest ones nodded in agreement.
By heading to the river of time and standing on its banks, they could observe its flow. While they could not see the details within the river, if a lifeform successfully escaped its restraints and ascended to the shore as a twelfth rank, they would witness the event directly.
...
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