Chapter 218: Cosmic High-Dimensional Layer

A night passed.

"I'm leaving."

Lin Qing patted Zhao Jiayi's head and said softly, "Now you believe it, right? In fact, there's no difference between reality and the Second Universe Network, is there?"

Zhao Jiayi muttered, "The Second Universe Network can't produce babies..."

"Is that so..." Lin Qing thought for a moment and said, "Having a child isn't impossible, but it's best to wait a bit longer. If I can become a Void Being, our descendants' bloodline will be even more superior."

Previously, he didn't want children because Earth faced a massive threat; the urgency drove him not to be distracted by offspring, nor did he want any burden.

But now, with little crisis on Earth and little pressure, having a child was no big deal.

"Then... alright." Zhao Jiayi nodded.

She was now a Supreme Star Being, but she wasn't confident about passing the Divine Duty trial at the Star stage as a Cosmic Envoy, after all, it required mastering Divine Skills.

Her comprehension was merely passable, so she had no confidence in cultivating a Divine Skill.

Lin Qing also planned to see later if he could help improve her genes, then obtain treasures like Divine Duty Specialization and Divine Duty Guides, which would give him confidence that Zhao Jiayi could pass the Divine Duty trial.

Of course, if someone on Earth could become a Void Being, observing the myriad phenomena of the universe through the Void and guiding others to learn Divine Skills would be easier.

Just like how every Imperial Prince of the Nine Stars Civilization could cultivate Divine Skills, precisely because they had the Emperor's guidance.

"See you next time; it might take several years. I'm going."

Lin Qing patted her shoulder, then turned and left the room.

However, he didn't rush to participate in the Divine Duty trial immediately; instead, using the space-time power of the Vacuum Great Tomb, he shifted to Mars, nearly a hundred million kilometers away.

By now, Mars had also constructed numerous Sky Cities, along with vast facilities and intelligent robots transforming the planet.

Lin Qing took one look, then directly shifted into a crater on Mars.

The space here was completely sealed; except for him, the Gravekeeper, no one could possibly find this place.

There, the Nine Stars Emperor clad in a dark red robe, the short blue-haired Nine Stars Ancestor... and the man in a white-gold robe were all bound within a space-time cage here, like three insects trapped in amber, utterly unable to resist.

The three of them looked very calm now, after all, they had been sealed here for over a hundred years.

Anyway, their consciousness could connect to the Second Universe Network; with the Void protecting the Second Universe Network login equipment, they didn't need to worry about the equipment being destroyed.

"Lin Qing!"

All three saw Lin Qing, but not even a sound could escape from that sealed space-time cage; Lin Qing had merely formed a projection inside the cage, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to see him at all.

"Three of you, how has the past hundred years been?" Lin Qing spoke.

And the three's answers were all different.

"Lin Qing?"

The Nine Stars Emperor spoke in a low voice, "Our Nine Stars Civilization had some grievances with you before, but the Earth Civilization hasn't suffered any losses, has it? We haven't reached a point of no return."

He had long received intelligence provided by the Yuan Chen Civilization, and among Earth's Cosmic Citizens, there were also spies they had bribed.

So, he had long known that Earth's true leader was this little fellow standing before him, who wasn't even a Star Divine Duty Practitioner.

"Oh?" Lin Qing raised an eyebrow slightly, "What do you plan to do?"

"Set me free, and I swear I will never approach Earth again." The Nine Stars Emperor said, "I can also offer enough treasures as compensation; how about that?"

Lin Qing nodded slightly and said, "Not a bad proposal, but you, from a 1.9-level civilization, do you think I need your treasures?"

The Nine Stars Emperor's expression changed slightly.

"I can give you a way out." Lin Qing flipped his hand, producing a four-star contract, and said, "As long as you sign this contract, I will set you free."

"Contract?"

The Nine Stars Emperor looked at the four-star contract, swept it with his mental force, then his expression turned somewhat ugly, and he spoke lowly, "Isn't this excessive?"

"Excessive?" Lin Qing said calmly, "You have infinite life; what is it to exchange these for your precious life? Besides, the contract term is only five million years."

"I am a Void Being!"

The Nine Stars Emperor spoke coldly, "Do you think I would become your slave?"

The terms on this contract were so harsh that if he agreed, he would be no different from a slave.

"You want to refuse?" Lin Qing looked at him, "Not afraid of death?"

If it were a being below the Void level, since this life would end anyway, seeing such a contract and refusing to sign even unto death would be normal.

But Void Beings possess infinite life and are even more reluctant to die; according to his guess, they should consider it, yet unexpectedly, the other party refused directly?

"Make me your slave for five million years? Not even one year!"

The Nine Stars Emperor spoke coldly, "You, a humble being who isn't even a Star Divine Duty Practitioner, merely trapped me here using means left behind by a previous civilization; if you can kill me, then kill me."

He had already consulted that terrifying powerhouse from the Tower Wheel Civilization on the Second Universe Network; that my lord made it very clear that the other party obviously couldn't kill them, so they were trapped here.

And such a transcendent method that deceived space and time could not come without a cost.

Just waiting would be enough.

Waiting until the other party couldn't afford the cost and lacked the strength to maintain it would be enough.

Unless a Void Being appeared in the Earth Civilization, he didn't need to worry about being killed.

If they could kill, they wouldn't have waited these hundred-plus years.

As for Void Beings?

Normally, it would take hundreds or thousands of geniuses with ninth-level talents for one Void Being to appear.

In the nearly ten-million-year history of the Nine Stars Civilization, only he and the Ancestor were two Void Beings.

He didn't believe he was so unlucky that the Earth Civilization would just happen to produce a Void Being?

"Is that so?"

Lin Qing glanced mockingly at the Nine Stars Emperor, then dispersed the projection.

Inside the space-time cage where the Nine Stars Ancestor was, the Nine Stars Ancestor looked at Lin Qing's projection and smiled, "Earth elected you as leader; it seems you obtained the key inheritance of the previous civilization? This space-time seal, you made it, right?"

This wasn't hard to deduce.

"The Nine-Star Progenitor can still laugh?" Lin Qing retorted.

"If you could kill us, or threaten us, you would have acted long ago." The Nine-Star Progenitor smiled calmly: "Shall we talk?"

"There is nothing to talk about."

Lin Qing picked up the four-star contract and said: "Sign it, and I will give you freedom."

The Nine-Star Progenitor glanced at the contract and laughed: "Becoming your slave, is that freedom? Five million years, young man, do you know what five million years means? Do you think you can live that long?"

"That is none of your concern." Lin Qing sized up the Nine-Star Progenitor and said: "It seems you intend to refuse?"

"I know you cannot kill me." The Nine-Star Progenitor said: "Maintaining a space-time concealment spanning hundreds of light-years must come at a great cost, right? How long can you hold out? A thousand years? Ten thousand years?" "This space-time cage will eventually be lifted; what will you use to contend with me then?" The Nine-Star Progenitor's expression was very calm.

With his strength cultivated for nearly ten million years, although he was merely an ordinary Void creature, he had created his own divine technique, possessing top-tier strength in the Yu Xingyuan's eleventh layer!

As for this Earth leader before him, although his talent might be extremely high, among those who could reach his level, was there any who was not a super genius?

The opponent didn't even hold a Star-level Divine Office; even if he mastered powerful divine techniques, he was estimated to be only at the eighth layer of the Yu Xingyuan.

For him, he could destroy countless beings of such strength with a mere flip of his hand!

Just a lucky little brat.

"You have backbone."

Lin Qing smiled and said: "Then you just wait."

He then looked at the man in the white-gold robe inside the other space-time cage.

When Lin Qing's mental projection took form, the man in the white-gold robe merely looked over with quiet eyes, saying nothing more.

No mistakes, one sentence, one release, one content, all in one view!

"I thought you would be like them, coming straight to negotiate a deal with me." Lin Qing sized up this terrifying powerhouse from a Level Two civilization.

Merely releasing his aura caused the void to naturally solidify and stagnate; his aura exceeded that of the two from the Nine-Star Civilization by countless times.

"No need."

The man in the white-gold robe spoke indifferently: "Such a magnificent method that leaps beyond the universe to form an independent space-time must originate from the remnants of a Level Three civilization. I have also communicated with a 2.9-level civilization; the cost of such a method must be immense. You, a little brat who isn't even a Star Divine Officer, how long can you maintain it?"

Lin Qing said nothing, merely narrowing his eyes and staring at the opponent.

Truly a super powerhouse of a Level Two civilization; his insight is indeed completely different, easily guessing the cost of an independent space-time.

"Even if you can maintain it for a million or ten million years, so what?"

The man in the white-gold robe glanced at Lin Qing and said: "I have only sent a clone here. Moreover... you, a little brat from a planetary civilization, even if given another million or ten million years, you might not be able to kill this clone of mine."

"Oh?" Lin Qing sized up the opponent and suddenly said: "Since it is just a clone and you don't care, yet you allowed me to imprison you here, it seems... the treasure carried by this clone of yours is quite important?"

"So what if it is?"

The man in the white-gold robe remained calm: "Lucky little brat, if you are fortunate enough to transform into a Void being, go check out the Void Star Sea. That is the true world belonging to the strong. You are not the only one who has obtained treasures from a Level Three civilization in the Void Star Sea."

"However..." he suddenly sneered: "I hope when you hear my name, you don't get scared and come begging for mercy."

Lin Qing's heart stirred.

The Void Star Sea actually has treasures left by a Level Three civilization too?

Indeed, the Void Star Sea is the high-dimensional layer of the universe, the primordial place where all origins of the universe were born.

"It seems there is nothing to discuss."

Lin Qing said no more and immediately dissolved this incarnation.

The opponent looked down on him completely, merely thinking he was a lucky little brat; if not for wanting to protect the treasure carried by this clone, he would have probably dissolved this clone himself long ago.

"Wait until my strength is sufficient, I will eventually see how precious the treasure carried by your clone is..."

Lin Qing took a deep breath, then directly mobilized space-time power and teleported back to Earth.

In the next moment, he appeared directly above the Star-level Divine Office Restricted Zone.

"The Star God Trial requires only the Black Flame Clone." A thought stirred in Lin Qing's mind; the vertical eye on his brow moved, and the Kadoan Clone immediately flew out.

"This Kadoan clone is useless anyway, so let it stay on Earth."

Immediately, he flew directly toward the Star-level Divine Office Restricted Zone.

As for the Blood Cauldron King Clone, it was currently in seclusion cultivating in the Vacuum Great Tomb; if anything important happened, it could return to Earth at any time.

The moment Lin Qing's figure vanished into the white mist of the Restricted Zone, the space-time before him shifted; a vast, boundless power enveloped him, silently carrying him through space-time, instantly arriving at a place unknown how far away.

In a daze, he barely noticed he had passed through a dark, void space, seemingly traveling into a higher layer of the universe.

It was an endless ocean where infinite energy and space condensed to the extreme, seemingly overlapping with the entire universe, yet also appearing to loom above the universe's starry sky; within the seawater, endless starlight like illusory shadows was visible.

Enveloped by the vast, boundless power, Lin Qing instantly pierced through this Star Sea, finally landing at the foot of a massive peak shrouded and concealed by swirling clouds and mist.

"This is..."

Lin Qing looked around, feeling only that the void surrounding him contained incredibly dense various energies, far exceeding Earth's by thousands or even tens of thousands of times.

In such an environment, cultivation before the Void level would probably be easier by an unknown number of times.

However, under this endless, dense energy and astonishing spatial pressure, even a High-level Primordial creature would likely be suppressed to the level of an ordinary person.

Even Lin Qing could feel that astonishing suppression at this moment; his perception, originally sufficient to sense the entire planet, could now barely sense only a few thousand meters around him.

"This must be the high-dimensional layer of the universe, the Void Star Sea."

Lin Qing formed a guess in his heart: "Probably some Void Secret Realm within the Void Star Sea? A place specifically for the Star God Trial..."

Looking around, everything was shrouded in mist; with his strength, visibility was only a few hundred meters.

The massive peak before him was veiled by clouds and mist; the black rock walls of the mountain body, mixed with golden light, were visible. A long staircase ascended along the mountain path deep into the clouds and mist; even without seeing the full picture, one could feel that endless and eternal ancient aura.

Any powerful being before this massive peak seemed incredibly insignificant.

"Strange... why does it look a bit like the Bronze Demon Mountain? The color is different, but the mountain body's appearance and the mountain path steps are very similar..." Lin Qing felt somewhat strange in his heart.

The Primordial Realm's origins are mysterious; even though he became the Gravekeeper, he still does not know its true origins and past levels.

"Hmm? Wait..."

Lin Qing's eyes suddenly changed.

Because his projection on Earth could clearly feel... that the flow of time here differed vastly from that on Earth!

While over ten minutes had passed on Earth, only about one second had elapsed here!

"The flow of time here is this slow?"

Lin Qing was shaken in his heart; he immediately gathered his thoughts, looked around again, and discovered that at the foot of this giant peak, several hundred people were already waiting.

"Quite a crowd..."

Every single one of these people was a Final Star Being who had not yet obtained a Star-level Divine Office.

Clearly, all of them were the trial participants of this Star God Trial.

"The Star God Trial is indeed more than one in a hundred," Lin Qing muttered to himself.

Even in the Void Star Sea, most Level Two civilizations did not have Star Gods; after all, the number of Divine Sons in Level Two civilizations was limited, and since the Star God Trial was so cruel, it was naturally difficult for a Star God to emerge.

Besides these trial participants, there was also a white-haired woman in a black robe, lazily lying on her side at the bottom of the first step of the mountain path, dozing with her eyes half-closed.

When Lin Qing appeared, one eye of the black-robed, white-haired woman opened slightly, and at the same time, her voice sounded in Lin Qing's heart:

"Wait; the Star God Trial will begin only when the number of people is sufficient."

(End of this chapter)