Chapter 212: The Third Clone

The third clone succeeded.

"Time to withdraw, but..."

Lin Qing glanced at the two Guard Commanders suppressed by the World God energy impact, maintained the World God energy outburst, and simultaneously immersed part of his consciousness into the third Eternal Gate within his mind.

"Creation!"

As the third Eternal Gate trembled and burst open, a wisp of light flew out from between Lin Qing's eyebrows.

The spatial scale where that light point resided rapidly expanded, transforming into a naked youth.

It was none other than the Blood Cauldron King.

At this moment, the endless World God energy impact deliberately avoided the Blood Cauldron King, while the Blood Cauldron King, with cold eyes, had a crimson giant cauldron phantom appear on his body surface, immediately turning into a scarlet meteor that crashed with a boom toward the distant Guard Commander.

Wherever he passed, space twisted and rippled violently.

"Hmm? This is..."

That Guard Commander, still struggling under the World God energy impact, sensed a familiar aura crashing toward him and couldn't help but freeze.

"How could this be? No..."

"Boom!"

Although that Guard Commander possessed Yu Xingyuan Ninth Layer strength, he was only at the lower-mid level of the Ninth Layer; now suppressed by Lin Qing and ambushed by a powerhouse like the Blood Cauldron King, whose strength was nearly Yu Xingyuan Tenth Layer, he was instantly crushed into powder upon impact, then turned into void vacuum.

Afterwards, the crimson giant cauldron traced an arc across the hall and crashed with a boom into the other Guard Commander, easily annihilating him.

"Indeed strong enough."

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Lin Qing's mouth; immediately, his internal energy trembled, and together with the Black Flame Clone, he instantly turned into void vacuum.

As for Kadoan, he had long since been annihilated by the World God energy impact.

Once everything settled, only the Blood Cauldron King remained in the entire hall.

The Blood Cauldron King stood in place, glanced at the various surveillance devices in the hall that had been disabled, then extended a hand to draw the Life Token left by Lin Qing into his palm.

Afterwards, his internal energy trembled; his aura rapidly weakened, his face turned pale, his breathing became chaotic, his life force grew faint, as if he had suffered heavy damage.

Life force also rapidly flowed into the Life Token until his lifespan dropped to the same level as before, only then did it stop.

The Blood Cauldron King put away the Life Token, then flew out of the hall.

After the hall door opened, the Blood Cauldron King flew all the way outside the spaceship; the Imperial Royal Guards outside the spaceship immediately discovered him, critically injured and near death.

"My lord!"

"Your Grace!"

One by one, the Imperial Royal Guards flew over, staring in shock at the critically injured, near-death Blood Cauldron King, and hurriedly surrounded him.

The Blood Cauldron King, his face deathly pale and his breath faint, urgently transmitted a voice message: "Quick! My Second Universe Network login device has been destroyed. Notify Your Majesty immediately! Tell him I have fallen victim to an unknown Earthling technique, my lifespan is continuously draining, and I must enter deep sleep to cope!"

After instantly transmitting the message, he flew toward a nearby Seventh-Tier Fortress, then headed straight for the Life Restoration Pod inside the fortress.

However...

While passing his private residence, confirming no surveillance records existed, a wisp of light flew from the Blood Cauldron King's brow; after flinging out the Life Token, that light point transformed into Lin Qing, who reached out and caught the Life Token.

"Excellent, time to return."

Lin Qing glanced around the Blood Cauldron King's private residence, then walked into the adjacent cultivation chamber; afterwards, a vertical eye shimmering with silver light opened between his eyebrows.

With a flash of light, he retrieved a metal plate engraved with strange marks from an alternate space.

Simultaneously, part of his consciousness connected to the Second Universe Network and sent a message to Yi Leina Duo—

【You can have Zhao Jiayi open the Unbounded Gate now】

In the next moment, the mark on the metal plate in Lin Qing's hand suddenly trembled, as if connecting to a distant point, immediately projecting a dim vortex emitting wisps of silver light.

Lin Qing immediately stepped into this dim vortex and vanished without a trace.

Immediately afterwards, that dim vortex contracted until it vanished without a trace.

Inside the cultivation chamber, only the Blood Cauldron King and that metal plate bearing coordinate marks remained.

The Blood Cauldron King silently picked up the metal plate; a tremor of dark red energy in his hand turned it into void vacuum.

Immediately, he looked toward where the dim vortex had vanished, swept his hand, and the dark red energy instantly formed a cauldron-shaped phantom, slowly vibrating the space, churning and twisting the space to avoid leaving any spatial traces.

Finally, the Blood Cauldron King dove headfirst into the Life Restoration Pod and fell into a deep sleep.

Earth, inside the Defense Base.

Lin Qing stepped out of the dim vortex, found Zhao Jiayi watching nervously nearby, couldn't help but smile, reached out to pat her head, and said, "Well done, good girl."

"Pity I couldn't help in the fight," Zhao Jiayi said helplessly.

The Unbounded Gate she created was too fragile; in a Yu Xingyuan Ninth Layer battle, space constantly trembled and twisted, far too unstable to form an Unbounded Gate by breaking through space.

Even if the Unbounded Gate had formed, before such a powerhouse, it would be like paper-mache; a single impact would cause the Unbounded Gate to collapse.

"It's already quite useful."

Lin Qing said casually, "Without the Unbounded Gate, I truly wouldn't have been able to return."

In this battle, his original body and two clones were all deployed; if the Void Beings possessed some special method to quickly return to Mars, he would have no choice but to use that temporary pass to return to the Void Great Tomb.

Anyway, the clone was already obtained; he was supposed to return to the Void Great Tomb anyway.

"Did it succeed?" Chu Hongjun spoke from nearby.

"It succeeded."

Lin Qing showed a faint smile and said, "Soon I will possess Yu Xingyuan Tenth Layer combat power; at that time... the only thing separating me from the Gravekeeper is one Gravekeeper secret technique."

He didn't even need to cultivate the Eighth-Level World God; he only needed to wait for the Blood Cauldron King clone to successfully master the Fusion Technique; once fused with the Black Flame Clone, he would naturally possess Yu Xingyuan Tenth Layer combat power!

"Next, we wait and see how the Void Beings of the Nine-Star Civilization react."

Chu Hongjun looked at Lin Qing, "If possible, try to negotiate with him and delay as much as you can."

Lin Qing nodded.

Having the Blood Cauldron King's clone disguise itself as critically injured and unconscious, with life force draining away, was Chu Hongjun's idea.

After all, although the Blood Cauldron King had become his clone, the Second Universe Network account was logged in via consciousness; he could not log into the Blood Cauldron King's previous Second Universe Network account.

If the Nine-Star Civilization Emperor demanded the Blood Cauldron King meet on the Second Universe Network, the ruse would be exposed.

Therefore, the only way to escape this was to claim the Blood Cauldron King had been struck by an unknown mysterious method and was now in a consciousness slumber.

"However, we must still be cautious."

Chu Hongjun said, "The life experiences and knowledge of Void Beings are beyond our comparison; perhaps they possess certain special methods and might not fail to see through my scheme."

Lin Qing nodded and said, "I will go into seclusion first to examine the Blood Cauldron King's memories."

He said no more and immediately walked into the room.

... The Bronze Demon Mountain.

Sunlight pierced through the firmament, silently shrouding this massive, towering bronze giant peak; an ancient and mysterious aura permeated the heavens and earth.

On a mountain path wide enough for a hundred meters, layers of dark bronze steps, filled with the vicissitudes of time, could be seen winding upward like a great bronze serpent toward the peak shrouded in sunlight.

"A great opportunity! A great opportunity indeed!"

The Emperor, clad in a dark red long robe, walked step by step up the long stairs of the Bronze Demon Mountain, his eyes full of excitement.

He had lived for hundreds of thousands of years and was a Void Being; his perspective on all things was more unique, and naturally, his mental will was extremely strong.

Starting from the first layer at the foot of the mountain, he walked smoothly to the ten-thousandth layer before feeling a slight pressure.

What he did not expect was...

The reward of this Bronze Demon Mountain ruin was actually the legendary Invitation Seal of a Level Two Civilization!

As a Void Being, he could even briefly enter the 'Void Star Sea' of the high-dimensional universe layer; naturally, he could also locate the Void Secret Realms of those Level Two Civilizations.

But he dared not enter.

After all, the most unique aspect of Level Two Civilizations was their Void Secret Realms.

【One mistake, one sentence, one release, one inside, one content, one look!】

The Civilization Lords who created these Void Secret Realms might have been roughly equal to his strength before opening the realms, but as Masters of the Realms, they could easily advance to a level that made him look up to them.

Moreover, with the endless power of the Void Secret Realm upon the Realm Master's body, if he dared to intrude, the Realm Master could annihilate him with a single thought from afar.

He did not know why those Realm Masters were so extremely wary of him, an outsider Void Being.

Clearly, there was some special reason unknown to him.

But if he had an Invitation Seal, it would be different!

This was equivalent to a visa from various civilizations in the universe; it would allow him to become a temporary resident of the Secret Realm, and as long as he did not violate the Realm's rules, he could even cultivate there indefinitely!

It is rumored that numerous Level Two Civilizations were opened within the Void Star Sea; each Level Two Civilization in a patch of Void Sea was like various nations within a planet.

Those Realm Masters would also sell a certain quantity of Invitation Seals, just as some civilized nations allowed outsiders to purchase citizenship.

However, as one from a Level One Civilization, he could not afford them, nor could he find a channel to purchase them.

"Origin Core World? The ten-thousandth layer gave me an Invitation Seal for a 2.1-level civilization? And one most suitable for me?"

The Emperor's eyes shone as he continued walking upward along the bronze long stairs. "There must be Invitation Seals for even higher-level civilizations in the subsequent stages!"

Even if he did not understand Level Two Civilizations well, he knew that the higher the level of a Level Two Civilization, the better the cultivation environment of its Secret Realm, and the more treasures and opportunities it held!

"I must seize this opportunity..." The Emperor took a deep breath.

Although he did not know how tall this Bronze Demon Mountain was, nor could he see through the sunlight shrouding the Shanfeng, just this long stairway he could see must have at least tens of thousands of layers.

Suddenly—

"Hmm?"

The Emperor frowned slightly, discovering that the portion of his consciousness remaining on the Second Universe Network had suddenly received a new message.

He was currently focused on this huge treasure of surprise; being disturbed by someone naturally made him somewhat dissatisfied.

"The Blood Cauldron King is asleep?"

The Emperor frowned and sent a message to the Blood Cauldron King, but the other party's consciousness had not logged into the Second Universe Network.

He hesitated for a moment, then decided to return and take a look.

After all, in his view, compared to the Imperial Princes he had cultivated, the Blood Cauldron King had a better chance of breaking through to become a Void Being and succeeding his throne.

If no one managed the Nine-Star Civilization for him, he would be bound by the contract; even if he qualified to enter a Void Secret Realm, he could not cultivate for long.

Therefore, he held extremely high expectations for the Blood Cauldron King.

He did not want to wait nearly ten million years like the previous generation before his heir arrived.

"Forget it... I can come anytime anyway; those Earthlings cannot stop me..."

The Emperor took a deep breath and then left the Bronze Demon Mountain.

"Too much..."

Reviewing the Blood Cauldron King's massive memories spanning over a million years, Lin Qing could not help but feel shocked.

The Blood Cauldron King.

Originally named Alreya, he was once one of the heirs cultivated by the Nine-Star Civilization's Founder and has lived for 1.14 million years to date.

In just over a hundred years after birth, he successfully assumed the Star-Level Rare Divine Office of 'King of Fate Instruments'.

Lin Qing did not care much about the Blood Cauldron King's personal past and private emotions; he was mainly concerned with the other's cultivation situation.

Upon checking this, he could not help but be stunned.

"This... actually..."

Lin Qing suddenly could not help but laugh. "The Blood Cauldron King has actually comprehended the essential nature of all energy from the sixth to the eighth energy level of the Life System?"

For Void Beings, who can easily merge into the Void, comprehending the essential nature of all energy within their respective faction is a simple matter.

But for the Starborn, comprehending so many energy essences was extremely difficult.

The Blood Cauldron King had consumed countless resources and treasures, plus a special cultivation environment forged by Voidborn, and it took him over nine hundred thousand years just to comprehend so many energy essences.

However, although comprehending all the energy essences of the Zhisuozai Sect would aid in perceiving the Void, the Blood Cauldron King still failed.

To undergo metamorphosis into a Voidborn was indeed inconceivably difficult.

"No wonder the Blood Cauldron King possesses such strength..."

Lin Qing took a deep breath. "Although he failed to master the Combined Divine Art, the 'Destiny Artifact' he forged fused all the energy of the Life Faction into a single whole, and he even refined a trace of the Life Source of a Voidborn..."

The path the Blood Cauldron King walked was the 'Destiny Artisan' series of Divine Offices.

It was somewhat similar to the Weapon Commander, but the Destiny Artisan focused on merging with oneself, governing the interior, while the Weapon Commander wielded killing divine weapons, governing the exterior.

"And his research into life structures and evolution is this advanced?" Lin Qing clicked his tongue in amazement.

As long as he organized the memories of the Blood Cauldron King and Kadoan, their research on life could be fully synthesized; when he later fused and solidified the Eighth-Tier World God, it would be of immense use.

"So it seems, rather than the Blood Cauldron King cultivating the Fusion Technique, it is I who will master the Eighth-Tier World God first..."

Lin Qing smiled.

He had now thoroughly comprehended all the various energy essences required for an Eighth-Tier World God; only the act of combining them remained.

"World Skin, Ten Thousand Spirits Flesh, Mother River Blood, Heaven Pillar Bone. Combining the four Divine Arts requires advancing each one once in advance; finally, combining the four Divine Arts into the true World God requires exactly five advances in total..."

With a thought, Lin Qing said, "Order."

After reaching the Myriad-Tier of Order, there were six advance slots; previously, the advanced Authority occupied one slot, leaving exactly five now.

Enough for him to master the Eighth-Tier World God in one fell swoop!

(End of Chapter)