Chapter 275: Ambush

Accompanied by the distortion of space-time, Lin Qing had already crossed the endless, distant Void Sea and appeared within the divine artifact ship.

"Good thing there's the space-time teleportation of the Vacuum Tomb, otherwise it really would be quite troublesome…"

Lin Qing glanced at the Kadoan avatar within the divine artifact ship. With a single thought, he immediately reduced it to nothingness, then re-created it through his avatar in the Mountain-Sea Realm.

Using the Vacuum Tomb's space-time teleportation requires consuming Tomb Guardian points; each teleportation costs 1 point.

But he had no choice.

Now that he had already transcended into a Void Sovereign, and moreover carried the Mist Dove Secret Art cultivated to its limit, the energy required when reviving through the Authority of the Eternal Gate was many times greater than before.

After all, the Eternal Gate was only a Tier-10 Authority.

Now that he was already a Void Sovereign, he could also see through the principles and mechanisms of the Eternal Gate.

—The Eternal Gate can transform space into life-system power, and constantly records his state of perfect life. As long as a certain amount of energy is paid to activate it, it can use Eternal Creation to produce an identical body.

The problem was that he had now transcended into a Void Sovereign, and his spatial divine body was itself constructed from countless layers of void stacked upon one another.

Merely reviving him had already reached the limit of what the Eternal Gate could bear.

The most crucial point was…

The Mist Dove Secret Art was a secret art that transcended the cosmic level, composed of the Wind-Phase Universe's origin. The Eternal Gate, as a Tier-10 life-system Authority, couldn't even record the Mist Dove Secret Art.

Although the Mist Dove Secret Art, as a power composed of cosmic origin energy, would not dissipate easily, once he died, he would lose the Mist Dove Secret Art after revival.

Unless he re-absorbed the origin power left behind by the Mist Dove Secret Art, he could not restore the art; otherwise, he would have to re-cultivate the Mist Dove Secret Art from scratch.

This also meant he could not casually let his external body die.

Otherwise, once the secret art's energy dissipated and he couldn't recover it, he would have to re-cultivate the Mist Dove Secret Art, which would require a new advance — but he couldn't repay it, and it would occupy an advance slot.

"It's still that the Authority level isn't high enough…"

Lin Qing shook his head slightly. "A Tier-10 Authority simply can't record the Mist Dove Secret Art."

This was also something that couldn't be helped.

Legend had it that only the Three Great Holy Lands had an extremely small probability of birthing talents who transcended the universe — that is, space-time talent.

Perhaps that would be Tier 11.

"Good thing there's the Vacuum Tomb's space-time teleportation… 1 point is still affordable."

Lin Qing felt secretly relieved.

The Vacuum Tomb's space-time teleportation, as long as there were accurate coordinates and a sense, could teleport directly.

Other Tier-2 civilizations' void secret realms couldn't do this — at most they could teleport to the vicinity of other secret realms or spatially stable regions. As for the Void Sea, aside from the areas around secret realms, almost all regions had extremely unstable space and simply couldn't support teleportation.

It was said the Three Great Holy Lands could also do this, but only the upper echelons of the Holy Lands were qualified to use space-time teleportation.

"Fortunately… with my current life-preserving abilities, the number of people in the Void Sea who can kill me is probably very, very small."

Lin Qing's figure stirred, and his entire body directly transformed into a hazy gray current of air. The current then rapidly coalesced into the shape of a strange bird wreathed in gray mist. This bird's eyes were entirely a cold, blood-red, hidden within the fog, seeming real yet illusory, impossible to see clearly.

It was unmistakably the true form of the Mist Dove Secret Art.

Then, along with this hazy gray Mist Dove, Lin Qing merged into the void, instantly diving into the deepest layer of space, and even faintly touching the boundary of the universe!

"If I could transcend the universe, this secret art could merge into the universe's boundary…"

A faint realization dawned in Lin Qing's heart.

Immediately, his figure stirred slightly, vanishing on the spot. At an unimaginable speed, he easily pierced through the void, instantly becoming a wisp of hidden gray mist that swept across an unknown number of billions of miles.

In but an instant—

When Lin Qing looked back to sense the location of the divine artifact ship, he discovered that in merely a breath, he had already crossed a distance of over one billion kilometers!

"This…"

Lin Qing couldn't help feeling somewhat shaken. "Too fast… pure speed can be this fast?"

This was in the Void Sea, where spatial suppression was terrifyingly extreme, yet he could still achieve such terrifying speed!

Before his breakthrough, the Mist Dove Secret Art's speed could burst to tens of millions of kilometers per second at its limit, yet now it was so much more terrifying than before?

Even though the Mist Dove Secret Art had no killing power, being purely about speed and life-preservation, it was already extremely terrifying.

"Absurdly fast…"

Lin Qing sighed in admiration, immediately activating the Mist Dove Secret Art once more, and in a breath returned to within the divine artifact ship.

"Moreover, the ship formed from the Seven-Colored Divine Artifact already has extremely strong spatial isolation, yet it still couldn't block the Mist Dove Secret Art's spatial traversal."

He was secretly shaken. "That means, without a Chaos Divine Artifact or a method containing complete spatial laws, they can't even touch me. Even methods containing complete spatial laws could only slightly hinder me…"

A terrifying secret art that transcended the universe was indeed inconceivable.

Speed reaching such a degree made it no different from spatial teleportation.

Even though it was purely an escape art with no killing power, if he wanted to launch a sudden ambush, the enemy probably wouldn't even be able to react in time!

"I can't just die casually now, but with this secret art, looking across the entire Void Sea, how many people could actually kill me?"

Lin Qing revealed a faint smile, casually stowing the divine artifact ship, then activated the Mist Dove Secret Art, transforming into a wisp of hazy gray gale that roared out.

With his current terrifying escape speed, even when passing close to many void creatures, those void creatures couldn't detect his existence at all — they couldn't even imagine someone passing by!

This place wasn't far from that life-system primary star to begin with, only several hundred billion kilometers. So when he traveled using the Mist Dove Secret Art, in merely half a moment he had already arrived near the great vortex beneath that primary star.

Then, Lin Qing still took out the divine artifact ship, piloted the ship once more through the star chains suspending the primary star, and flew toward the primary star.

With his mental will, the cosmic will's oppression on the primary star had absolutely no effect.

Piloting the divine artifact ship at several million kilometers per second, before long Lin Qing had already flown into the primary star's range.

"Once I plant the soul imprint, I'll head to the next primary star," Lin Qing muttered to himself.

With his current strength, leaving soul imprints on the life-system's hundred thousand void stars and three hundred eighty primary stars was a very simple matter.

Only the final Sovereign Star, which involved a void-level divine office, required him to prepare more carefully.

This primary star's number was No. 78, meaning it was the seventy-eighth life-system primary star to be born.

The terrain on this primary star wasn't much different from the previous one, and the star's diameter was also similar.

Lin Qing casually picked a direction and headed toward one of the challenge platforms.

As for a Heaven-Born Divine Artifact?

He had already endured the cosmic will and taken one seven-color set divine artifact; it was impossible to obtain a second, not even the Third Patriarch could do it.

Therefore, he only needed to plant a soul imprint.

……

At this moment, inside the life-system main star numbered no. 78, atop the highest peak of the main star, there stood a figure shrouded in a blurry black shadow at the edge of a cliff, seemingly overlooking the entire main star.

Within the black shadow was a pair of dim, ambiguous dark-red eyes; the aura emanating from its whole being seemed to devour all light, as if even the entire world would be turned into night.

If any super powerhouse of the Void Sea were here, they would surely discover—

This blurry black shadow was none other than the 'Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu,' ranked among the top-tier powerhouses of the Void Sea!

Although Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu had not been able to be crowned king within the Star Fall Civilization, as the trusted heavy minister of the Yuan Emperor, his fame had long since spread throughout the entire Void Sea; the terror of his strength and the brutality of his methods were enough to make most second-level civilizations tremble.

Even though what had appeared on the main star was only one of Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu's nine hundred and ninety incarnations, Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu's divine office was special—each of the nine hundred and ninety-nine incarnations possessed considerable strength, only a single tier lower than the true body itself.

As a top-tier Void Divine Office holder, any single incarnation of Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu could still match those super powerhouses roaming the Void Sea!

No one knew that three hundred and eighty of Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu's nine hundred and ninety-nine incarnations had already entered three hundred and eighty life-system main stars of the Void Sea ten thousand years ago, waiting until now.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, this incarnation of Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu turned its head to look in one direction, its dim eyes abruptly brightening.

"Cosmic origin fluctuation?"

"Could it be… Lin Qing?"

He had cultivated a special secret art bestowed by the Yuan Emperor, originating from the Star Abyss, which allowed him to sense the fluctuations of the cosmic origin at all times.

Any means involving the cosmic origin were either the transcendent-universe secret arts of third-level civilizations, or Chaos Divine Artifacts and set divine artifacts!

Whichever the case, the vast majority of Void Dominators could not touch them.

Only 'Origin Secret Arts' that third-level civilization powerhouses could create—those were the absolute supreme inheritances that even Void Divine Office holders craved.

The same went for Chaos Divine Artifacts and divine artifact sets; the vast majority of Void Divine Office holders could not obtain such treasures.

Including himself, this seemingly illustrious Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu—he too did not possess a single Chaos Divine Artifact.

If he had a Chaos Divine Artifact, he would long ago have been crowned king within the Star Fall Civilization.

"Heh… cosmic origin fluctuation?"

Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu's incarnation gazed from afar toward the direction from which the cosmic origin fluctuation came, and could not help but let out a cold laugh: "Most likely it's that Lin Qing who obtained the Heaven-Born Divine Artifact…"

Moreover, whether it was Lin Qing or not, when it came to matters involving the cosmic origin, he naturally had to go take a look.

Most who came to the main star were Void Dominators; as for Void Divine Office holders, the main star was already useless to those at that level—why would they come?

A Void Dominator being able to obtain a treasure related to the cosmic origin naturally counted as a great opportunity for Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu as well!

"However, the aura transmitting the cosmic origin fluctuation is actually a Void Dominator?"

Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu narrowed his eyes slightly, "Perhaps that Lin Qing has broken through? Let's see the situation first, wait for the true body to arrive before making a move…"

He immediately transformed into a wisp of black shadow and flew off without a sound.

"Poor little fellow…"

……

At the same time, in another region of this main star, within a lush green grassland, a golden-haired man in white robes sat cross-legged, constantly sensing the entire main star.

It was none other than the seventeenth direct disciple of the Island of Spacetime's Founder, 'Bing Shuangyan.'

As a Void Dominator, constantly sensing the void within a range of hundreds of millions of miles was a very simple matter.

Even though on this main star his mind and will could not withstand the pressure of the cosmic will and could only exert thirty percent of his strength, he could still sense the void of the entire main star.

"Teacher was actually able to confirm that Lin Qing would enter this main star… and said that as long as I was here, I would definitely encounter him, and told me to wait here in advance…"

Bing Shuangyan recalled the words this mysterious master—who always slept in a black coffin—had spoken to him before, and could not help but be secretly shaken: "Teacher seems to have originally been a prophet-type Void-level Divine Office holder; after mastering spacetime, his divine abilities have become even more unfathomable…"

Legend had it that only third-level civilizations could touch upon time-related means.

And he, as a direct disciple of the Island of Spacetime's Founder, although possessing a spacetime talent that surpassed the universe's limits—an eleventh-level authority talent—could only barely perceive the flow and changes of time, yet could not truly grasp time.

He had heard that the Lord of the Mountain-Sea Realm, Lin Qing, possessed an extremely brilliant disguise secret art; without Teacher's guidance, he would have had no confidence of finding the other party at all.

"Teacher said that when I see that Lin Qing again, he will have transformed into a Void Dominator, though only having just broken through…"

Bing Shuangyan's heart was quite calm, "However, even if he's broken through it doesn't matter; even if he becomes a Void Dominator, with my strength I can still kill him."

Although he was not a Star God, that was because Teacher had discovered his eleventh-level talent and deliberately kept him from walking the Star God path.

Nevertheless, he himself was already powerful enough.

Not only did his genetic bloodline surpass that of the vast majority of Void Dominators, he had also self-created a combination divine technique containing complete spatial rules!

Even without having obtained a Chaos Divine Artifact, his strength was already close to that of a Void Divine Office holder.

Of course…

As a direct disciple of the Island of Spacetime's Founder, he did not feel there was anything worth being proud of—every one of Teacher's disciples had such aptitude, and there were those whose strength surpassed his.

Suddenly—

"Hmm?" Bing Shuangyan abruptly raised his head.

He sensed a dark-green boat-ship flying over from afar ahead—exactly the scene Teacher had once described to him!

But what puzzled him was that, at some unknown time, a blurry figure shrouded in darkness had silently appeared near a river in the distance, seemingly observing the river.

Bing Shuangyan felt it somewhat strange—someone could actually evade his perception?

However, the dark-green boat-ship Teacher had mentioned had already arrived before his eyes, and he could no longer spare the attention to care about that.

"Capture him first, then talk."

The instant Bing Shuangyan stood up, a terrifying aura spread out, and his majestic momentum erupted like a tsunami in an instant.

In only a moment, the world between heaven and earth abruptly transformed into a silver-frost world sealed in ice; ice-snow-like fur emerged all over his body surface, and his stature rapidly grew taller and sturdier—in an instant he had transformed into a snow-white colossal beast propping up the heavens, like a mountain, like an ice peak.

"Boom—!"

Then, as space collapsed like a tide, a hand reached out and grabbed at that dark cyan divine vessel!

(End of this chapter)