Chapter 314: An Anomaly in Time — The Outer-Domain Heavenly Demon Is Actually Me?

"A familiar scent? Is there?"

"Could it be that Dadi, you've discovered something?"

The Thunderbird beside him thought the little lizard was talking to it, and subconsciously sniffed before replying,

Then suddenly reacted and looked toward the little lizard. As for Dadi, it was a name the little lizard had given itself, originating from a divine title once on Tianyuan Star — the God of Earth.

Of course, it didn't dare spout off about gods in front of Baichuan, so it merely took the first two characters.

Yet facing the Thunderbird's inquiry, the little lizard acted as if deaf, its expression confused as it drew closer to that invisible ripple.

Just then, an anomaly suddenly arose!

A violent ripple abruptly appeared in the void, and immediately a rift emerged from its center!

In an instant, that rift, like a mouth, swallowed the paw the little lizard had touched, and kept spreading over its entire body. Yet the little lizard saw nothing, offered no resistance, its expression blank, as if in a daze.

"Dadi, wake up!"

The Thunderbird beside him happened to witness the whole thing, so frightened its lightning crackled wildly, like a bird with its feathers puffed up. It hurriedly stretched out its sharp claws to grab the little lizard's remaining tail, struggling to pull it back, and cried out in alarm:

"Boss, boss! Something happened to Dadi!"

The Thunderbird's cry — Baichuan had actually already noticed long ago. Better to say he had always kept part of his attention on the two of them, and had moved the instant that mysterious rift appeared.

But the accident happened far too fast!

And the distance in Xingkong was far too great!

In just the moment of approaching, that rift instantly appeared and swallowed the little lizard, then, dragging the Thunderbird that was gripping the little lizard's tail, was about to pull it in along with it.

In that instant, Baichuan had no time to hesitate —

His entire body suddenly arched as he lunged desperately toward the little lizard and Thunderbird being swallowed by the mysterious rift.

But he was too late!

By the time he lunged over, the little lizard had already been swallowed by the rippling water that opened the mysterious rift, leaving only the tip of its tail, and the Thunderbird had also lost more than half its body.

He only just managed to embrace the Thunderbird, whose body had mostly vanished, and to grab the very last tip of the little lizard's tail — its tail had clearly snapped off!

It was very strange. Clearly, before he had lunged over, this mysterious rift had been preparing to pull the Thunderbird, which was holding the little lizard, in along with it. This showed that "the other party" was either not picky, or had no particular pickiness.

But after he lunged over and embraced the Thunderbird, "the other party" suddenly gave up, and even deliberately snapped off the little lizard's tail — before this, while the Thunderbird was holding on, "the other party" had not chosen to sever it, and had even attempted to take the Thunderbird along as well.

Is it afraid of me?

Or some kind of aura on me?

Staring blankly at the last bit of tail tip in his claws, Baichuan pondered over that extremely faint emotion produced after the mysterious ripple swept across his entire body in that final moment — disgust / hunger / rejection?

Both hungry, yet disgusted and rejecting,

So contradictory — why?

Baichuan was well aware that the current him carried a great and chaotic mix of powers. Though he had never ventured through Xingkong, the original owners of the countless powers on him must certainly have, and might even have been imposing figures dominating a region. But that should have been their true forms,

The current Banzhu body, having only just been born not long ago, could almost be said to be a blank slate.

Moreover, the original owners of the powers on him were basically all hovering around the Planet Overlord Earth Immortal Realm. An Earth Immortal was impossible… wait. Baichuan seemed to recall a certain scene from before: at the moment a purple beam flashed, a planet exploded with a thunderous roar into fireworks, leaving behind only a pockmarked meteorite drifting away…

Besides that, there was the mysterious blood worm suspected of being hunted, and the Dragon Blood Source, Canglan's ancestor… the latter should be impossible, after all, the little lizard, which was also a Star Beast descendant and even had exceptionally outstanding talent, had already been swallowed and vanished.

Then, who was that faint emotion directed at?

The Star-Devouring Worm, the Dragon Blood Source, or the blood worm?

Of course, it was also not impossible that it was directed at the source of some other power. Just like in human society — don't look at someone now being down on their luck like a beggar and assume they've always been so miserable. Who knows, their ancestors might have been well-off…

"Boss, boss… are you okay?"

Before he could think further, the Thunderbird beside him saw him spacing out and called out to him somewhat cautiously.

"I'm fine."

Baichuan shook his head.

Only then did the Thunderbird breathe a sigh of relief, then seeming to recall something, said: "Right, Dadi just told me it seemed to sense some kind of familiar aura, a feeling of closeness."

"Closeness?"

Baichuan was surprised, then fell into thought.

The little lizard's special origin was as a Star Beast descendant. Could this invisible ripple be related to Star Beasts?

Or even the source of the little lizard's bloodline?

Was that mysterious Star Beast also here?

"Besides that, did it say anything else?"

"No."

The Thunderbird thought for a moment, then shook its head bitterly.

"Then did you discover anything?"

"No…"

The Thunderbird felt a bit guilty, always feeling it was utterly useless.

"It's fine. You go back into my inner world first. I want to try again."

……

Having recalled the Thunderbird, Baichuan closed his eyes, attempting to sense the Consciousness Projection he had left on the little lizard, one that could control its life and death.

After a long while, he opened his eyes in some disappointment. There was not the slightest response — it seemed to be isolated by something. If not for the faint, intermittent signs of vitality appearing from time to time, he would have thought the little lizard had already cooled completely.

He looked again at the void before him.

'You like Star Beast descendants, do you? How about I send you a few!'

Baichuan murmured in his heart. The next moment, a small ape beating its chest and roaring leapt out from beside him — this was his second Canglan, cultivated using the brand-new Star-Devouring Worm Light Point.

It possessed nearly all of the former Canglan's abilities.

This was cannon fodder he had specially prepared for venturing into Xingkong to face powerful enemies, or to scout the way in special situations.

Unfortunately, he had considered every possible situation, yet never imagined there could be a peculiar force resembling a barrier or formation that could sweep across an entire star system.

But then again, his considerations had still been too conservative, and his luck was somewhat poor.

The Fugitive Fleet of the past had fled for so long without encountering anything, yet he had only just stepped out not long ago and already run into everything…

Of course, Baichuan also knew he was merely comforting himself—people always like to find excuses when they fail or encounter setbacks, but that is no justification.

That is something only the weak enjoy doing!

In the end, if today his power were just a little stronger, no matter what stood in his way, he could blast it apart with a single claw.

He was still far too weak!

He needed to become even stronger.

Strong enough to be eternal and indestructible, never again having to worry about a lack of safety!

At the very least, he had to reach the level of that dragon he had once seen!

For a moment, Baichuan's past complacent mindset—born of having no opponents and no matter how often he warned himself, still slightly smug—vanished in that instant.

The next moment, after the ape-shaped Light Point flew out, a divine bird gleaming with golden light and trailing golden flames flew out, a giant toad belching forth precious aura leapt out…

A great number of special Light Points flew out in unison, each orderly approaching the vicinity of that invisible water-wave and beginning to make contact.

However—

After half a beat, not a single special Light Point was swallowed, not even the "Canglan" Light Point among them.

'It seems that water-wave really is connected to the mysterious power unique to Star Beast descendants. I just don't know whether it's because of desire, or need, or perhaps a threshold?'

Baichuan concluded with some disappointment.

Among the Light Points he had cultivated, only Canglan had any connection to Star Beast descendants, but later it had been parasitized and forced to split itself, resulting in its own incompleteness.

That splitting method was related to the mysterious power unique to Star Beasts.

And that power was later completely burned away by the 'Star' among its trinity, solely to fulfill Xiaoyuan.

So this meant that even though he possessed Canglan's ability model, he did not have that extremely special mysterious power.

That power does not belong to the scope of abilities, but is unique in existence, born within the body of every Star Beast descendant.

Baichuan slowly recalled the information he had learned when communicating with the little lizard earlier.

However, when he had sent out his split-body cannon fodder, he seemed to have also sensed a somewhat familiar fluctuation?

What was that?

While pondering, Baichuan once again released a split-body, and dropping all defenses, carefully observed that peculiar change—

One day later, he opened his eyes again, somewhat in disbelief,

He—he had actually felt something here similar to what he had experienced during his slumbering evolution!

Was this place connected to his Ability Panel?

No!

Although somewhat similar, the underlying cause was completely different!

That was the sensation of Time being abnormal!!

His Ability Panel's evolution was about compressing the time needed for evolution across the long ages of all things into a brief moment, so it was certainly related to Time.

And the environment here now was—

The flow of Time across the entire star system had gone awry!

Baichuan carefully sensed for a while; the flow of Time here was so fast that one day here was equivalent to a year when he had been in the Tianyuan Star System!

As for why he had not sensed it before, Baichuan looked at the Ancient Bell power on the surface of his Biban body, and recalled that split-body—

In an instant, that strange drain of vitality vanished.

But why had the Thunder Birds and little lizards that had come with him not mentioned it to him?

After all, the Thunder Birds that had entered this star system with him had not been shielded by his Ancient Bell power.

Could it be?

After thinking for a moment, Baichuan summoned the Thunder Bird again to inquire, but the result left Baichuan speechless…

The Thunder Bird merely blinked, then belatedly exclaimed in surprise:

"…There is?"

"Oh, let me go out and feel it… there really is some not-very-obvious change, but my lifespan is a million years, so I really didn't pay much attention to the difference…"

A million years… actual lifespan…

Baichuan had thought his own lifespan was already long enough—his actual lifespan scale reached a hundred thousand, and with the highly efficient use of his former Blood Worm ability, he could normally live three hundred thousand years, which was already remarkable,

After all, a True Monarch only had five thousand, a Heavenly Sovereign ten thousand, and a Planet Overlord normally had fifty thousand, with the exceptional ones reaching a hundred thousand already considered outstanding…

He hadn't expected that this little subordinate of his had a lifespan of a million years, and as for the Star Beast descendant, according to the little lizard, it had already lived three hundred thousand years, and like the Thunder Bird before, hadn't really noticed the Time anomaly, so it was probably about the same.

Damn those heaven-defying talents!

These uniquely blessed beings truly displayed their own distinctive qualities at every moment.

Having cleared the Thunder Bird of suspicion, Baichuan once again looked toward the void before him.

It seemed that what lay before him now was only one method that wasn't really a method—after all, it was merely a water-wave-like dead object,

He had just happened to touch that mysterious ripple earlier and come into contact with some of its subtle changes; perhaps he could mimic that fluctuation to open it.

Or alternatively, try to distort space a bit, to see if he could bypass this "water-wave," or learn more information.

After all, no matter what, the little lizard's disappearance was somewhat related to him, and it was still his subordinate—he couldn't just abandon it and leave.

He could only hope the little lizard could hold on a little longer…

……

Twenty years later, the half-destroyed purple star remained, merely radiating dense, high-energy energy.

And Baichuan in the distance finally made a breakthrough in his research on that water-wave!

Perhaps it was because he still had some insights into space — after all, as a transmigrator, he must have had some contact with space one way or another.

Therefore, after twenty years of Time, he finally gained a more concrete understanding of the mysterious "water ripple" before his eyes.

Then, it was time to find out what exactly was behind the "water ripple"!

As this thought flashed through his mind, Baichuan began to simulate the ripples that had once swept across him—

In an instant, the water ripple before him loosened slightly, a wisp of unusual aura quietly leaked out, and immediately the water ripple was about to close again.

But Baichuan, already prepared, flicked his claw at that instant, and an object plunged in right after.

In an instant, the water ripple restored itself once more.

Immediately after, a different scene appeared before his eyes, but before he could see it clearly, an invisible swift black shadow struck his eyes, and then the scene shattered completely.

But Baichuan no longer had the leisure to pay attention to this — he widened his eyes, somewhat shaken.

Because in that brief flash, he had seen a peculiar scene.

Heavens, what… what did he just see?

A stretch of grey mist with no visible concrete world or heaven and earth?

Beyond the water ripple within Xingkong, such a strange world actually existed?

Or had he seen wrong?

Doubting that he had been seeing things, Baichuan once again summoned a split-body, used the same old trick to pry open a gap in the water ripple, and tossed it inside.

One second later, Baichuan fell silent.

This time he focused his Spirit and caught a clear glimpse for an instant—

Beyond the water ripple, there really was a heaven and earth blanketed in mist!

In other words, the "water ripple" before his eyes was very likely the legendary World Membrane?!

Then what did his actions count as?

An Outer Realm Heavenly Demon scheming day and night to invade other worlds?

Shocked — the Outer Realm Heavenly Demon turned out to be himself?!

Thinking of some film and television works he had watched in his previous life, Baichuan couldn't help but mutter a complaint.

But having seen that scene, the doubts in Baichuan's heart only grew.

Then what was the reason for the subtle emotions this world had previously shown toward him?

It really did treat him as an Outer Realm Heavenly Demon?

And why did such a special world exist within this Star System, and how had it come into being? And were all such worlds this peculiar?

Would they invisibly trap the other living beings around them, so that they could never leave again?

Then, did it also mean that in the other directions and locations of the water ripple, there might be other unlucky souls like him?

Gazing at this invisible water ripple, Baichuan slowly pondered.

But thinking too much about these things was of no use right now — even if he could meet other unlucky souls, so what? Those with the ability to leave wouldn't wait around for him to find them, and those without the ability to leave would be useless to find.

The most important thing right now was still to understand the situation inside the world. From the current circumstances, there was a very high probability of encountering a true planet-level existence, which might let him understand the situation of this Star System, and rescue the little lizard.

With this thought, Baichuan this time summoned two split-bodies, and in the next instant, using the same old trick, he once again sent the split-bodies in to probe.

'Just let me see exactly what it is that's attacking me…'

As he muttered to himself inwardly, the scene before Baichuan's eyes changed once more……

(End of Chapter)