Chapter 208: Ultimate Star Being

A tall figure concealed beneath a dark red robe stood on the Moon, gazing at the blue planet tens of thousands of kilometers away, silently sensing that planet.

With his attainment in the void, space felt like countless intersecting and crisscrossing channels in his perception; even though he could not penetrate the invisible rules protecting a life-bearing planet, he could still vaguely sense the special aura on that planet.

"Indeed extraordinary... ruins of a Level Two civilization?"

The figure in the dark red robe narrowed his eyes. "Did Clovis die at the hands of Earthlings?"

At his realm, he could sense the existence of his own bloodline from afar, so naturally he knew of the Seventh Imperial Prince's death.

Although he felt it was somewhat wasteful that one of the candidates nurtured with so many resources had died like this, he placed greater importance on the message transmitted by the Seventh Imperial Prince's confidant.

"In a few more months..."

The space around the figure in the dark red robe slowly distorted; he simply stood on the Moon, motionless, gazing at that planet.

He had great patience.

With his immense strength, if he wished, he could completely destroy such a planet.

But under the protection of the rule forces, his strength reaching its limit was merely standing on Earth's satellite.

At the same time, his consciousness entered the Second Universe Network.

Earth, Defense Base.

"Lin Qing, some intelligence regarding the Nine-Star Civilization has been discovered; it is estimated to be useful to you."

In the living room, Chu Hongjun handed Lin Qing a semi-transparent chip and said, "This information storage device was found inside the Seventh Imperial Prince's Seventh-Rank Fortress of the Nine-Star Civilization; you can take a look, simply use telekinesis to read it."

"Oh?" Lin Qing took the chip and immediately began reading it with telekinesis.

After a long while, he said, "All data on the upper echelons of the Nine-Star Civilization? The Seventh Imperial Prince's fortress actually specifically left behind such data?"

"Understandable."

Chu Hongjun said, "The Nine-Star Civilization side is a feudal monarchy; these Imperial Princes are still vying for the throne, so naturally they would gather intelligence on opposing factions. The intelligence in this chip comes from a constantly updated database; it is clearly the Seventh Imperial Prince's private intelligence network."

Lin Qing continued reading the intelligence, and after a long while slowly nodded, saying, "This intelligence is indeed very useful to me. Among the Imperial Princes of the Nine-Star Civilization, there is one person very suitable to be my clone."

"Blood Cauldron King is quite suitable," Chu Hongjun said. "But I'm afraid we cannot kill him."

Lin Qing fell into thought.

Blood Cauldron King was the elder brother of the Second Generation Emperor and also an Imperial Prince born by the First Generation Emperor; by seniority, he was also the Seventh Imperial Prince's imperial uncle.

He could be considered the only surviving brother of the Second Generation Emperor; the others were already dead.

Dying so cleanly was not due to competition for the throne, but because the Second Generation Emperor of the Nine-Star Civilization had ascended to the throne over six hundred thousand years ago; under such a long span of time, unless one was an immortal Void Being, most would die.

And a normal Ultimate Star Being has a lifespan of only three hundred thousand years.

Unless there are rare treasures or Holy Words of longevity extension, one cannot live longer.

Among the seven Imperial Princes of this generation of the Nine-Star Civilization, the Eldest Imperial Prince who was born earliest had already died of old age.

The Eldest Imperial Prince lived for over five hundred thousand years; although he possessed a Level Nine talent, he still failed to break through to become a Void Being.

This is also very normal; among the over one hundred Imperial Princes of the previous generation, only one succeeded, and that was already considered quite lucky—one success out of a hundred people.

And according to the intelligence records, Blood Cauldron King has lived for over a million years without dying because he was inherently a Life-System adept at survival and had obtained some special longevity treasures, allowing him to barely survive until now.

"As an Imperial Prince of the previous generation, Blood Cauldron King was also single-mindedly pursuing becoming a Void Being; it is just that his comprehension was insufficient, and he has never succeeded."

Chu Hongjun said, "According to the intelligence, Blood Cauldron King is still attempting cultivation to this day, wanting to break through to become a Void Being. He has tried many paths; over these million years, he has mainly been attempting the path of 'comprehending the essence of all energies.' The Emperor of this generation is also tilting resources toward him, so he should have comprehended the essence of many types of Life-System energies."

Lin Qing nodded slightly and said, "Indeed, the Emperor of this generation only needs one successor; whether it is his own son or his elder brother, as long as he succeeds, that is enough."

His eyes lit up as he said, "With his cultivation resources and cultivation environment, and a full million years of time, he must have comprehended more than half of the essence of Life-System energies, perhaps even more? If I can turn him into my clone, it would indeed save a lot of time."

The reason he could cultivate the Level Seven World God so quickly was mainly due to Cardon's memories.

"But Blood Cauldron King's strength is also astonishing."

Chu Hongjun said, "His last intervention was thirty thousand years ago; at that time, he was already recognized as the strongest power beneath the Void Beings of the Nine-Star Civilization. Even the Third Imperial Prince, at the peak of the Ninth Layer of the Yu Xingyuan, was vaguely suppressed by him."

Lin Qing pondered thoughtfully.

According to the intelligence, the strongest among the Imperial Princes of this generation of the Nine-Star Civilization is the Third Imperial Prince.

Not only did he master multiple powerful Divine Skills with excellent combinations, but his gene index also exceeded 20,000%; combined with treasures obtained in the Level Two Civilization, he could be considered peak strength at the Ninth Layer of the Yu Xingyuan.

Even placed in a Level Two Civilization, he would be considered a fairly talented genius.

But such strength is no match for Blood Cauldron King, which shows the strength of this Blood Cauldron King of the Nine-Star Civilization.

"Blood Cauldron King is very strong, but there is still a chance to kill him."

Lin Qing suddenly said, "As long as you give me a suitable opportunity, I am confident I can kill him."

"Truly confident?" Chu Hongjun looked at him.

When the plan was being arranged earlier, Lin Qing also revealed his strength; overall, it could only be considered the lower end of the Ninth Layer of the Yu Xingyuan. How could such strength possibly kill Blood Cauldron King?

The twelve puppets of the Combat Group working together could only suppress a peak Ninth Layer of the Yu Xingyuan powerhouse, but they might not even be able to suppress Blood Cauldron King.

Lin Qing actually has confidence to kill him?

"Provided the Void Beings do not intervene."

Lin Qing shook his head and said, "According to what those puppets said, Void Beings normally reach the Eleventh Layer of the Yu Xingyuan; even those who recently broke through have at least the peak of the Tenth Layer of the Yu Xingyuan. We do not know what layer of the Yu Xingyuan these two of the Nine-Star Civilization are at?"

"Too scarce; the intelligence also has no record of these two Void Beings of the Nine-Star Civilization intervening," Chu Hongjun shook his head slightly. "But for Void Beings, as long as they are willing, they can destroy a planet; this point is indeed far superior to you and Qi Lingxiao."

Lin Qing silently nodded.

His current World God power is already vast enough; he is quite skilled at large-scale destruction, but under full-power attacks, shattering continental plates would require multiple strikes, let alone completely destroying a planet.

Void Beings, however, can make a planet completely shatter and turn into cosmic dust.

This gap is obviously very large.

Even in a Level Two Civilization, Void Beings are considered high-level.

Like these puppets he brought from the Vacuum Great Tomb, in a Level Two Civilization they would only be considered social elites.

"Good thing... this time you brought back two seventh-tier fortresses from Mars, enough to manufacture two more batches of 'Great Killers'."

Chu Hongjun said: "As long as we time it right, we can deter those two Void Beings for three to five years. Beyond that... it's very difficult."

"Three to five years..."

Lin Qing fell silent in thought.

He knew.

The 'Great Killers' Chu Hongjun spoke of were Void bombs capable of utterly destroying Earth—in theory their energy output during detonation far exceeded that of Void Beings, and though they couldn't harm the Void Beings themselves, they could annihilate Earth in an instant.

But these Great Killers were built on unstable spatial energy; with current technology, they could not be preserved for long—maximum one or two years. That was the limit of their deterrence.

Only because two new seventh-tier fortresses had been acquired could new Great Killers continue to be manufactured, thus enabling deterrence for three to five years.

"Three to five years isn't nearly enough for me to become a Gravekeeper," Lin Qing shook his head slightly.

With the energy essences stored in Cardan's memories, he had spent many years just to complete the Seventh Energy Level's World God.

The Eighth Energy Level's World God was even more complex and difficult; even with just a few Eighth Energy Level energy insights from Cardan's memories, they offered little help—he'd still need over a century to achieve it, even at fastest.

Even with the Void Grave's time acceleration, it would take at least ten years.

And Earth's opening remained less than half a year away.

The Great Killers Chu Hongjun manufactured could only deter for three to five years.

So, time was insufficient.

Unless he could obtain a clone that would save him vast amounts of time.

—Like the Blood Cauldron King.

No single word, single shot, single content is missing in this!

"But this is too risky. It depends on me being able to kill the Blood Cauldron King, and the Blood Cauldron King actually providing me great assistance, and me becoming a Gravekeeper."

Lin Qing shook his head slightly, "We can't stake our hopes on so many unknown future variables. Chancellor Chu, you must still prepare the Seed Plan—better to evacuate Earth first, wait until we've cultivated sufficiently and gained confidence before reclaiming it."

"If there's no other way, we can only take this step," Chu Hongjun nodded slightly.

Then he frowned: "But even so, it's still troublesome. First, you—if the Nine-Star Civilization discovers you've fled, they'll surely guess you'll eventually attempt the Stellar Divine Office Trial. Once they seal off Earth's Stellar Divine Office forbidden zone, especially if sealed by the Void Beings themselves, what will you do?"

Lin Qing fell silent.

The three Divine Office forbidden zones on Earth were like cradles nurturing powerful beings.

As a native Earth lifeform, only on Earth was the difficulty of his Divine Office Trial the lowest; once he moved to another unfamiliar planet, he became an outsider, and the difficulty would immediately skyrocket.

Like the Black Flame Clone—he was a cosmic citizen of Earth, but not born on Earth, nor awakened on Earth; his Divine Office Trial difficulty was also several times higher.

As for him, to any alien planet, he was not only not native-born, but his awakening, primal transformation, and self-becoming-stellar all occurred elsewhere—he was utterly an outsider, and the trial difficulty would be...

Unimaginable.

"Moreover, we cannot truly destroy Earth."

Chu Hongjun shook his head: "Once Earth is gone, you can only attempt the Stellar Divine Office Trial on other planets or hidden realms—wouldn't the difficulty be so high that even you'd have no confidence?"

Lin Qing slowly nodded.

"Besides, once the Void Beings occupy Earth, they can develop freely."

Chu Hongjun shook his head: "If those two Void Beings from the Nine-Star Civilization acquire some treasure and make another breakthrough, it'll be a huge problem. So... the Seed Plan must remain the final resort."

Lin Qing nodded and said: "Then let's send a group away from Earth first."

"You don't need to worry about these matters—focus on your cultivation," Chu Hongjun said.

That night.

"Order."

Lin Qing stirred internally: "Advance, Eighth Energy Level Life Transformation Method."

A few days ago, during the battle on Mars, after killing a Stellar Divine Office holder, his Divine Office 'experience bar' had filled, and he had briefly experienced the Eighth Energy Level Life Transformation process most suited to him.

After pondering it these past few days, he had finally mastered the basics of this transformation method.

As the ultimate Stellar Lifeform, the Eighth Energy Level Lifeform was the final life tier capable of smooth cultivation.

In a Level-Two Civilization, ordinary Stellar Divine Office holders were countless; only rare ones qualified as elite. This shows that with talent and resources, ultimate Stellar Lifeforms could be cultivated at will.

Beyond that, it was pure darkness.

Lin Qing couldn't concern himself with that for now—at least, he still had vast room for growth.

Moments later.

The surging memories and violent energy gradually calmed, returning to normal.

And Lin Qing's aura at this moment was utterly different from before.

"Achieved."

Lin Qing slowly opened his eyes, sensing his new state.

This was the perfect Stellar Lifeform—the ultimate evolution of life in the cosmic starry expanse. Beyond it, the Void Beings no longer belonged to the category of stellar life.

Though his Sacred Characters and Divine Techniques remained Seventh Energy Level, with no qualitative change in energy, his total energy volume, gene index, and other aspects had undergone astonishing transformation—especially the optimized Eighth Energy Level genes, which had fully unlocked the faint Void Divine Clan bloodline.

"Gene optimization index... 1240 times the cosmic standard!"

A faint smile appeared on Lin Qing's lips.

Merely from gene changes, his power had more than doubled, and his energy control and burst capacity had improved.

If previously he was merely at the lower end of Yu Xingyuan Level Nine, now he was at the mid-level.

Once he mastered the Eighth Energy Level's World God, he would truly reach Yu Xingyuan Level Ten!

If he then passed the Star God Trial...

Even against Void Beings, he might just be able to fight them!

"Hmm... still missing the Black Flame Clone."

Lin Qing's vertical third eye between his brows flared, and he drew the nearby Black Flame Clone into the Extra-Dimensional Space.

At this moment, the Extra-Dimensional Space had expanded to a range of over ten thousand kilometers, vastly larger than before, and the spatial passage had stabilized considerably.

"There is still over half a year before Earth opens; we can then enter the Vacuum Great Tomb."

Lin Qing slowly took a deep breath and stood up.

As a Star-Level citizen of the Primordial Realm, he could enter the Vacuum Great Tomb at every life tier; now that he had transformed into an Ultimate Star Being, naturally he could enter once more.

Unless he could become a Tomb Keeper or a Void Being, this would count as the theoretical final time.

But in fact, he still possessed a temporary pass for the Vacuum Great Tomb, allowing him to traverse time and space to enter the Vacuum Great Tomb at any moment; this had nothing to do with life tier, and he had specifically asked that Host Prince about it last time.

Once he became a Tomb Keeper, he would even be able to obtain a true Vacuum Great Tomb pass.

With over half a year remaining before Earth opens, he naturally would not waste this time.

Over half a year in the training chamber of the Vacuum Great Tomb equates to several years.

Perfect; he needs to kill that Blood Cauldron King of the Nine-Star Civilization, which requires preparation to raise the life tier and gene index of the Black Flame Clone.

"I hope I make it in time..."

(End of this chapter)