“This is a great catastrophe!”
Lin Yuan quietly sensed the terrifying ripple surging in like a tidal wave.
Because of the enmity between two Chaos Great Saints, this universe would be forced into total annihilation early.
If not for Lin Yuan, perhaps no more than one out of a million people in human civilization would have survived.
In fact, it wasn’t just Lin Yuan’s universe. As the Nine Phoenix Great Saint and the Shadowfiend Great Saint fought all the way here, countless other universes had already been driven into early total annihilation.
For all the beings within those universes—Rank Twelve Ultimates included—this was absolutely a calamity. One they could not resist and could only be swept along by. Such is the power of Chaos Great Saints, the absolute pinnacle of the Chaos Void. Any casual act from them would alter the destiny of untold numbers of living beings.
“Get ready.”
Lin Yuan immediately contacted Xuanyuan and the other eight Strongest ones.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Nine figures appeared in succession. Two centuries earlier, human civilization’s migration had basically been completed, and these nine Strongest ones had been waiting at all times for the catastrophe to arrive.
“Milky Way, you’re telling us to prepare…”
Xuanyuan looked at Lin Yuan and asked in a hushed voice.
Their space-time fusion comprehension was still at the Sixth Layer, so although Lin Yuan could sense the terrible wave-like presence, the nine human Strongest ones could not detect anything.
“It’s almost here.”
Lin Yuan nodded.
That statement filled the nine Strongest ones with a welter of complex emotions.
They had already learned from Lin Yuan that their home universe would be affected by the battle between two Chaos Great Saints and fall into early total annihilation.
But even so, not even Lin Yuan could be absolutely sure. After all, the trajectory of the two Great Saints’ fight was just a rough guess. It was impossible to know if at some point the two Great Saints might change direction during their battle.
Therefore, the nine had always held on to some small hope, since this was their home universe—a place they felt deeply connected to.
Yet now that Lin Yuan was telling them to get ready, it meant that the aftermath had arrived, that total annihilation was guaranteed.
As time passed, two incredibly terrifying energies quickly approached their home universe. It was no longer just Lin Yuan who sensed it; all Rank Twelve powerhouses in the universe could sense it too.
“The universe… is about to be destroyed early?”
Many Rank Twelve aliens were on edge. Anyone who wasn’t a monstrous anomaly like Lin Yuan would view total annihilation of the universe as a near brush with death.
Especially when this total annihilation was arriving half a cosmic era sooner than it was supposed to. The Rank Twelve aliens had lost that much time to raise their power, so their chance of surviving total annihilation was even lower.
“Those two Great Saints…”
Within the Calamity race territory, the two Ultimates were hiding in their wooden house, carefully sensing that vast, mighty pressure.
“Even as Chaos Great Saints, all they can do is make the universe enter total annihilation early; they cannot obliterate the universe entirely. We’re safe so long as we stay in the ancestral house.”
These two Calamity race Ultimates silently consoled themselves.
Whether it was the Great Saint-level force from the Calamity race’s mother faction or the Mysterious Emperor Sovereign, both chose to leave hidden assets within the universe.
This was because the universe itself was protected by the power of the Chaos rules. Even an unparalleled Great Saint could not exert a massive influence.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged in the starry sky, now able to feel the waves of destruction distinctly pouring in.
He sensed two great powers, tightly woven together, ripping and tearing everything in the Chaos Void.
Even something as immense as a universe, under the sweeping force of those powers, was taking irreversible damage at its foundation and beginning its collapse into total annihilation.
Lin Yuan observed closely. Of the two colliding powers, one was a blazing crimson that employed boundless chaos as its fuel, igniting a “chaotic flame.”
Yet this chaotic flame was entirely different from the one possessed by Qingfen Marquis in the Source World.
Qingfen Marquis’s chaotic flame was pure destruction and burning. This one, however, was brimming with new life, containing the power of rebirth.
“Nine Phoenix Great Saint?”
Lin Yuan quietly speculated. Although he did not see the two Chaos Great Saints directly, he was sure that fiery power came from the Nine Phoenix Great Saint.
She had indeed advanced to the Great Saint realm through the path of chaotic fire.
The other force entangled with the Nine Phoenix’s chaotic flame appeared as a vast black darkness. Wherever it passed, all things sank into a dark silence, with no trace of life.
“Shadowfiend Great Saint?”
Lin Yuan considered quickly. Only the Shadowfiend Great Saint could match the Nine Phoenix Great Saint in their ongoing struggle.
Rumble…
Two drastically different powers, practically opposites, interwove and clashed, sending out waves of devastation that spread in every direction.
Countless portions of the Void were affected and torn apart.
Lin Yuan raised his perception to its limit. Through his Seventh-Layer peak comprehension of space-time, he faintly sensed another universe near his own.
That universe was hit by these two forces first, even earlier than his home universe.
Crash…
At its foundation, that universe began to collapse. Its River of Time quickly dried up, and all living creatures inside were seized by overwhelming panic.
“Ahhhh—”
“Total annihilation? Our universe was still far from its end. How can it break down so soon?”
“Our people haven’t been transferred out!”
Inside that universe, the Rank Twelve Ultimates had at most a dozen or so breaths’ worth of warning before the destructive force arrived. That gave them barely enough time to stash away their treasures in their internal universes, but as for their people, they could only watch helplessly as the annihilation came.
Many races and life forms did not even realize that total annihilation was upon them. The moment the universe began to collapse, entire races were wiped out instantly, without even feeling pain.
Boom, boom, boom! That universe continued to crumble. It still needed a span of time to complete its annihilation. A universe was too huge, so even its destruction required quite some time.
“Perhaps fewer than ten Ultimates from that universe will survive,”
Lin Yuan guessed.
When one was prepared for total annihilation and when one was not, the outcomes for Rank Twelve—and especially sub-Rank-Twelve—life forms differed drastically.
Knowing in advance meant you could hide in someone’s internal universe and at least have a chance to survive.
Otherwise, even if one could withstand total annihilation physically, with the collapse of the River of Time, any being below Rank Twelve—still bound to that River—would perish without exception.
Lin Yuan remained in place, gazing from afar at the ongoing collapse of the nearest universe, feeling neither sorrow nor joy.
“The power of a Chaos Great Saint definitely isn’t something I can resist now. Their special powers derived from the Chaos rules are beyond imagination.
“I wonder what it will be like once I evolve the Yin-Yang Taiji of Chaos. Will I match the chaotic fire of Nine Phoenix and the chaotic shadows of Shadowfiend?”
Lin Yuan mulled it over.
Those two dreadful powers continued spreading outward. At the center of them stood a pair of figures.
They were like living black holes, wantonly emanating an intimidating aura that shredded the Chaos Void around them again and again.
“Nine Phoenix, both you and I are Great Saints now. Why must we fight to the death like this?”
The figure to the right was a man, as if standing in the depths of infinite shadows. He spoke out to the other Great Saint.
“Fight to the death?”
“Shadowfiend, you butchered my people to near extinction. Even if I’m completely destroyed, I’ll still kill you!”
The Nine Phoenix Great Saint was a cold-faced woman. She stared at the Shadowfiend Great Saint with eyes full of murderous intent and hatred.
She was a wondrous life form nurtured by the Chaos Void, and eight of her people had been born alongside her.
Together, the Nine Phoenix Great Saint and her eight kin lived for an incredibly long time, until the Shadowfiend Great Saint arrived.
Back then, he was not yet a Great Saint, merely a Venerable. For the sake of using wondrous life form flesh and blood as cultivation resources, he had slaughtered all eight of her kin.
With her kin’s help, Nine Phoenix alone managed to escape.
From that day onward, the two harbored deep enmity.
They each rose to the Great Saint level in turn.
When they were merely Chaos Venerables, their battles had to start and stop due to exhaustion. But now, as Chaos Great Saints, they used the Chaos rules themselves as fuel to create their unique powers, and exhaustion was no longer a factor. The entire Chaos Void was at their disposal.
“You want to kill me?”
“The chaotic fire you wield isn’t strong for killing. You can’t kill me.”
Shadowfiend Great Saint felt rather helpless. It was true that Nine Phoenix Great Saint could not finish him off, but by the same token, he could not finish her either.
She had transformed her Chaos rules into a fire of rebirth. While that might put her at the lower tier of destructive strength among the Great Saints, her life-preservation capacity was nearly unlimited. Even if multiple Great Saints attacked her together, they likely could not eradicate her.
“If I can’t kill you, I’ll hold you here,”
Nine Phoenix said icily, showing no wavering.
She intended to spend all the long years ahead fighting him endlessly.
“Nine Phoenix, you’re insane!”
Shadowfiend Great Saint’s tone was grim. She wanted to tie him down forever? She would sacrifice her own cultivation and progress just to tangle with him? What else could you call that but madness?
Buzz, buzz, buzz!!
While the two of them exchanged words, they had already fought countless times in a flash, then sped off again in an instant.
Although the two Chaos Great Saints had moved on, the horrific powers they left behind continued colliding ceaselessly, affecting a vast surrounding region of the Void and causing one universe after another to collapse ahead of schedule.
“It’s here.”
Lin Yuan sensed it keenly, detecting the arrival of those two powers. The origin of his home universe roared in protest as spacetime began crumbling. The entire universe edged into total annihilation.
A universe’s total annihilation begins along its boundary and gradually spreads toward the center, until at last it becomes a mass of chaos, then starts anew, expanding once more and birthing a fresh cosmos.
Lin Yuan looked somewhat serious. Even though he had every confidence in his ability to survive total annihilation, he refused to take it lightly.
Rumble…
In the next moment, the outer regions of the universe began a massive collapse.
The instant those regions fell—
“Hmm?”
Lin Yuan’s pupils contracted. He sensed an unbelievable change.
...
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