Chapter 732: No Future

The man furrowed his brows, staring fixedly at the chessboard before him—entirely unchanged, not a single piece had moved.

The three towering figures' pieces remained unaltered: Yan Emperor ultimately defeated Hun Tian Di and ascended to the Great Thousand World; afterward, the Martial Ancestor triumphed over the powerful Demon Emperor and protected his homeland. A century later, both still upheld the Endless Fire Domain and the Martial Realm, each guarding a corner of the Great Thousand World, and before their final battle, they joined forces to block the Heavenly Evil God, buying time for the Master of the Mu Clan.

The future of the Heavenly Evil God had not changed at all! He still perished in the hands of the Master of the Mu Clan!

"What's going on? Could he merely be bluffing, trying to lure me to the Great Thousand World?" The man's eyes narrowed slightly, then he dismissed the thought—Hun Tian Di's expression did not resemble deception.

When the Heavenly Evil God broke through that step, he must have seen his own future, just as I did—otherwise, he would never have gone to the Great Thousand World.

Given his nature, how could he possibly sit idle and wait for death!

Yet today, five thousand nine hundred years later, as the worldline's node approached, the future remained unchanged.

"Impossible! Why hasn't the future changed?! This shouldn't be! Even if I could only send a single projection clone across time, it should have been enough for Hun Tian Di to kill Yan Emperor! Why did he still lose?!"

The future Yan Emperor was indeed powerful, but in that battle, he and Hun Tian Di were evenly matched—logically, even a slight increase in power should have tipped the balance.

Even Zu Long, the supreme sovereign, could not fathom what had occurred; his gaze shifted to the newly placed black chess piece, a flicker of unusual light passing through his eyes.

The piece was not placed arbitrarily—it reflected an action taken in reality, meaning the Heavenly Evil God had indeed intervened, attempting to alter the future.

The man's inner power surged; his gaze locked onto the black piece, his eyes shimmering with radiant light. To perceive a universe beyond his own—even with his current strength—required immense expenditure and was far from easy.

Soon, a faint image appeared in his eyes: a refined man in white robes, resembling a scholar—Hun Tian Di himself!

Undoubtedly, the Heavenly Evil God had succeeded: Hun Tian Di had indeed become a Dou Emperor and shattered through space to reach the Great Thousand World!

The man's eyes widened—he suddenly realized something. His power surged again; the scene shifted. Five years after Hun Tian Di's breakthrough, the image reappeared before him: Yan Emperor, accompanied by four others, shattered through space from the Dou Qi Continent and ascended to the Great Thousand World!

This matched exactly what he had observed over the past fifty thousand years: Yan Emperor had indeed brought four companions through space into the Great Thousand World and established the Endless Fire Domain.

At that moment, an anomaly occurred.

On the mountain peak, a tiny black-and-colorful butterfly, no larger than a palm, fluttered erratically—rising and falling, drifting slowly from afar, until, as if exhausted, it landed upon the newly placed black chess piece.

"A butterfly?"

The man's expression changed—this chessboard was a tool to reflect the future, not an ordinary game; it was a means to peer into destiny, and nothing foreign should ever appear on it!

For fifty thousand years, not a single foreign object had ever appeared—yet today, one strange event followed another, as if Pandora's box had been opened!

The instant the butterfly landed on the board, a whooshing sound erupted—a black flame suddenly ignited from the Heavenly Evil God's projection, inexplicably.

"Ahh!! What is this!!" The Heavenly Evil God screamed in agony—but it was merely his shadow, possessing no true power.

"Why!! Why hasn't the future changed! Aah!" Whoosh—the black flame instantly engulfed the projection, reducing it to ash.

Seeing the Heavenly Evil God's shadow utterly consumed, the man felt no triumph or joy—only a cold dread rising from his core.

The Heavenly Evil God's actions fifty thousand years ago had yielded consequences far beyond his own imagination—and beyond the man's.

The situation had slipped beyond control.

The man gritted his teeth, swept his hand—and a brush appeared in his grip. Its appearance bore a faint resemblance to the brushes used by Dou Emperor Families to carve Clan Marks.

Hummm!! Instantly, the power of the entire universe seemed summoned; Source Qi from this cosmos converged upon the brush.

"The River of Heaven's Origin!"

The man roared inwardly, then swung the brush toward Space—his stroke cut deep, flowing like dragons and snakes, sharp as iron lines and silver hooks. With a resonant hum, the brushstroke manifested like the divine brush of Ma Liang—a magnificent silver river materialized before him.

This was the River of Time. He could draw past and future insights from it, though learning of another universe's affairs remained exceedingly difficult. Yet the Heavenly Evil God, born from this universe's evil egg, carried a connection allowing limited insight.

The man needed to know what the Heavenly Evil God had done.

Scenes unfolded upon the river: he saw the Heavenly Evil God truly traveling upstream, casting his spiritual body into the River of Time, tampering with the Zhan Di Array and strengthening its power.

"Strange—why hasn't the River of Time changed?" Yet to the man's astonishment, despite the Heavenly Evil God's interference, the River of Time flowed unchanged, showing no anomaly.

"No! The anomaly isn't here—it's earlier!!" The man suddenly realized—the butterfly that had flown in from afar!

His brush danced again, swirling like dragons and snakes, flowing effortlessly through the air, swift as a startled dragon. The River of Time reversed—flowing backward to when Xiao Yan was four years old. Within the silver-white river, a black branch had appeared.

Due to the Heavenly Evil God's influence, this branch held an infinitesimally faint alteration—like a stone on a mountain falling one second earlier.

Because of this tiny change, the original trajectory deviated slightly—and ultimately triggered a butterfly effect: Yao Chen, severely wounded and hiding within his space ring, could no longer endure until this moment—he died inside the ring.

The Heavenly Evil God's power had birthed a unique branch in the worldline, and it had ultimately reached the present.

The Heavenly Evil God had succeeded—but he had not realized he had altered that black branch!

The man's heart sank—his alteration of the future had produced consequences far more severe than he had imagined.

He swept his hand, erasing the River of Time, sat back in his chair, and placed the brush upon the stone table—he would now see the future after the Heavenly Evil God's death.

Hum—a flash of light lit his eyes; the chess pieces on the board began moving on their own, and scenes unfolded before him.

Twenty-seven years after the Heavenly Evil God's death, two towering figures stood in midair within the Endless Fire Domain and the Martial Realm, using their hands as brushes, summoning countless Spiritual Lights. As the lights descended, two complete true names slowly formed upon the Celestial List.

Throughout the Great Thousand World, countless cheers erupted; powerful beings gazed with reverence and envy, knowing that from this day forward, two new supreme powers would rise.

Countless beings bowed reverently toward the direction of the three.

The entire Great Thousand World flourished brilliantly.

The man's inner power surged again; clouds churned, and the entire mountain trembled—he needed to see a more distant future.

At that moment, as if startled by his power's tremor, the black-and-colorful butterfly on the board flared its wings and took flight, stirring a gentle breeze.

That faint breeze stirred the chess pieces—many shifted position, twisting the board into a chaotic, lopsided mess.

Just this light disturbance rendered the entire game useless.

The man's foresight of the future froze at the moment the three towering figures appeared, twenty-seven years after the Heavenly Evil God's death—everything beyond was pure darkness.

Not only the Great Thousand World, but even the universe the man inhabited—its future was utterly black, invisible.

Thus, both universes had no future.

The man's inner power gradually calmed; he gazed at the shattered chessboard before him, lost in thought.

Moments later, he gathered the brush upon the table, rose slowly, and turned his gaze upward to the dark, rain-heavy sky, hands clasped behind his back.

"So that's why the sky turned dark—it was the wind." No sooner had he spoken than a torrential downpour erupted from the heavens.

Then Space twisted—a breathtakingly beautiful woman emerged from a Space Channel, holding an umbrella. "Let's go back."

The man nodded, took her umbrella, and walked into the rain, glancing at the beauty beside him. "I think… I should pay a visit to the Great Thousand World."

At this moment, in the heavens of the Great Thousand World, a figure in a white robe was following the guidance of a beam of white light toward the Great Thousand World, and behind him, a massive spaceship resembling a tomb was following close behind.

Inside this spaceship, two middle-aged men were taking turns channeling Dou Qi, heading toward their destination.

Deeper inside the spaceship, within the Heavenly Tomb, Xiao Yan in the coffin slowly opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly to reveal a meaningful smile.

"Looks like we've reached the Great Thousand World."

(End of chapter)