Chapter 328: Guardian of the Universe

That cold will calling itself the "Guardian of the Universe" did not shrink back from Wang Zhitao's overbearing definition.

It had no anger, no emotion—it simply poured a vast, boundless stream of information directly into Wang Zhitao's origin consciousness.

In an instant, Wang Zhitao "saw."

He saw a perfect model of the universe.

Stars burned on their predetermined orbits—not one degree more heat, not one ray less light.

Life was born, reproduced, and died within fixed templates, forming an energy cycle of neither more nor less.

The rise and fall of civilizations, the succession of gods—all were like precisely interlocking gears in a clockwork, driving an eternally unchanging "balance."

Every variable was cancelled out by another variable.

Every mutation was corrected by the ruthless laws of the universe.

This was a massive, precise, yet lifeless specimen.

A perpetual motion machine sealed inside a glass dome.

"This is balance."

The Guardian's will rang out again, carrying an axiomatic authority that brooked no doubt.

"Your existence is the sole variable, the greatest imbalance. Your expansion is tearing apart this perfect system and will cause the entropy of the entire pan-universe to surge out of control, ultimately reducing all things to heat death."

Wang Zhitao's will avatar crossed one leg over the other atop the Creator's Throne.

He even smiled.

"A perfect system?"

His laughter reverberated at the conceptual level.

"A system that permits no evolution dares call itself perfect? A system that can't even eliminate a new virus is nothing but an obsolete relic that deserves to be eliminated."

Wang Zhitao raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

Snap.

The model of the universe poured into his consciousness—the one representing the "old balance"—was instantly riddled with cracks, then collapsed with a thunderous roar, dissolving into the purest data stream, absorbed by the sea of information of the Realm of New Birth.

"Your balance is stagnant water. What I want is a living sea."

"Warning ineffective. Initiating physical isolation protocol."

The Guardian's will no longer engaged in any "communication."

In the path of the Realm of New Birth's frenzied expansion, within that boundless void, space began to fold, compress, and weave itself in an inconceivable manner.

Billions of the most fundamental ancient laws of the universe were drawn forth from the depths of concept, transformed into tangible threads.

Light and darkness, time and space, cause and fate—these cornerstones that constituted the universe were now forcibly distorted and linked, forming an immense barrier spanning across the galaxy.

It was not an energy wall, nor a material barrier.

It was "law" itself.

This barrier was crystal clear, within it flowing phantoms of billions of stars being born and extinguished, yet its surface was so smooth that even concepts could not adhere to it.

It possessed two most fundamental attributes.

【Absolute Defense】: Any attack with permissions lower than this universe's will be rendered invalid.

【Law Counter-Devouring】: Any act of attack will trigger an equivalent force of law, reacting back upon the attacker.

"Brother!"

Wang Zhitao's figure appeared at the edge of the Realm of New Birth; the black-haired youth he had transformed into was staring at the barrier with green light gleaming in his eyes.

"This thing… looks so hard, so brittle! It's gotta be super crunchy!"

He completely ignored the terrifying might contained within the barrier; the instinct of the Chaos Devourer told him this thing had an extremely high energy level—a great tonic.

Without waiting for Wang Zhitao to speak, Wang Zhitao had already charged out excitedly.

His form swelled violently, instantly transforming into that terrifying colossal beast that trod upon the void and wreathed itself in chaos, opening a maw vast enough to devour galaxies, and bit down hard on the barrier of law!

"Crack!"

A crisp boom so sharp it made the soul tremble.

No explosion, no energy shockwave.

Wang Zhitao's all-devouring teeth felt what it meant to "hurt one's teeth" for the first time.

A surging, irresistible force rebounded through his teeth—a punishment constructed from the pure law of "reaction force."

"Awoo—"

Wang Zhitao cried out in pain, his massive body sent flying, tumbling several times in the void before stabilizing, reverting to his youth form, clutching his cheek with teary eyes.

"Brother… my teeth hurt…"

Wang Zhitao's will avatar pressed a hand to his forehead.

His little brother truly was a blockhead.

Still, that worked too.

A perfect chance to test the mettle of this "antivirus software."

His will gently touched the barrier of law.

In an instant, all of the barrier's law composition, energy circuits, trigger mechanisms—everything—was laid bare under his "System Administrator" view.

"The permissions are quite high, but alas… the logic is too rigid."

Wang Zhitao gave a cold snort.

Atop the divine throne, he slowly raised a finger and tapped lightly against the very barrier that had stymied even Wang Zhitao.

A supreme command was written into the very root of concept.

"I define:"

"The 'Absolute Defense' attribute of the 'Barrier of Law' is rewritten as 'Realm of New Birth Law Fusion Interface.'"

"Its 'Law Counter-Devouring' attribute is rewritten as a 'directed accelerated delivery channel for the Source of Genesis.'"

The word spoken, the law follows!

That law barrier spanning the cosmos, indestructible, began to tremble violently.

The billions of law threads comprising it, like a program whose underlying code had been tampered with, began to frantically reorganize themselves.

The structure that originally provided "absolute defense" outward reversed one hundred and eighty degrees, becoming "absolute openness" inward.

The mechanism that would originally Counter-Devour attacking energy back also reversed, beginning to frantically draw the energy of the universe's origin, surging toward the direction of the Realm of Newborn!

Bzzzz—

The law barrier was no longer an obstacle; it became a door, a rainbow bridge!

Endless Source of Genesis, mixed with fragments of the old universe's ancient laws, transformed into a torrent of energy, "accelerated and delivered" by the barrier, madly pouring into the Realm of Newborn!

The entire Realm of Newborn was as if it had swallowed a supreme tonic pill; the thickness of its barriers and the intensity of its laws were both skyrocketing at a rate visible to the naked eye!

"Error! Logic error! Detected unknown permission intrusion! Unable to parse! Unable to block!"

The cold will of the "Cosmic Guardian" displayed violent fluctuations akin to a "roar" for the first time.

In its logic library, there was simply no such operation as "defining a firewall as a download accelerator"!

This exceeded its scope of understanding!

Wang Zhitao's avatar of will passed through the barrier that had already become an "energy channel," descending directly before the chaotic will Core of the Guardian.

"Guardian, your era has ended."

Wang Zhitao's voice was calm, yet carried a proclamation of the Termination of all things.

"Now, I shall define the future of the cosmos."

"…Initiate final protocol. Eradicate the source of imbalance."

Amidst violent logical conflict, the Guardian's will finally made its ultimate decision.

It drew upon the deepest, most Core power of the entire cosmos.

Karma!

An illusory river, woven from countless threads of fate, materialized before Wang Zhitao.

The Guardian's will drew from this river the most dazzling, sharpest "thread of karma."

Upon this thread were linked all the "causes" of Wang Zhitao's journey from an ordinary person to becoming a God of Genesis.

What the Guardian intended to do was not to attack Wang Zhitao's "effect," but to sever his "cause"!

A blade forged of pure karmic power, formless and immaterial, took shape within the Guardian's will.

【Blade of Karma】!

The moment this blade appeared, it disregarded space, disregarded time, striking directly at the foundational existence linking Wang Zhitao and the "Realm of Newborn."

Sever this connection, and Wang Zhitao would be reduced to his original form, or even thoroughly erased from the plane of existence.

Facing this certain-kill strike sufficient to make any deity despair, Wang Zhitao's avatar of will did not even blink.

He merely, calmly, issued a definition once more.

"I define:"

"The 'karma' contained within the 'Blade of Karma' is defined as 'the source of the time laws of the Realm of Newborn.'"

"Its 'severing' power is defined as a 'world evolution process accelerator.'"

The 【Blade of Karma】 that had already touched Wang Zhitao's origin halted.

The next second, it crumbled inch by inch.

But it did not vanish; rather, it transformed into the purest karmic laws and merged into the river of time within the Realm of Newborn.

The flow of time throughout the entire Realm of Newborn gave a sudden leap!

The world's internal evolution process was forcibly accelerated by billions of times!

Countless civilizations were born and iterated in an instant; the entire world's foundation was pushed to a brand-new height in this moment!

Not only was Wang Zhitao not severed, he had instead used the opponent's attack to slam the accelerator of his own world to the floor!

"…Protocol…failed…"

"Karma…defined…"

"Logic…closed loop…collapse…"

Stripped of its strongest power's support, the will of the "Cosmic Guardian," like a formatted hard drive, saw its aura rapidly decline; its existence began to blur and turn transparent.

Its final wisp of consciousness was filled with incomprehensible confusion.

What exactly was this newborn god?

He was not fighting; he was patching the cosmos!

Wang Zhitao looked at the Guardian's will that was about to dissipate, a playful smile curving at the corner of his lips.

He waved toward Wang Zhitao, who was still rubbing his cheeks.

"Xiaotao, come here."

"Brother?"

"Look." Wang Zhitao pointed at that void. "The cosmos's built-in antivirus software — a bit outdated, but it'd be a shame to uninstall it."

His gaze pierced through the Guardian's residual will, looking toward the deeper, more fundamental domain behind it.

"I've decided."

"I'll rewrite it into the exclusive firewall and system update assistant for our 'Realm of Newborn.'"