Chapter 277: The Progenitor Descends

Spacetime Island Holy Land.

Upon the floating island at the very center of the Holy Land, the Spacetime Island Progenitor—his entire body wrapped in bandages, only a pair of cold, deep eyes revealed—stood at the edge of the floating island like a stiff wooden figure, his gaze piercing through layer upon layer of spacetime as he observed the distant life-system main star.

Deep within his eyes, it was as if endless space was reflected, and along with it, layer upon layer of illusory yet real visions of the future.

"This Lin Qing, he truly is no ordinary man."

The Spacetime Island Progenitor quietly gazed from afar at everything unfolding on that main star; scene after scene faintly overlapped with the visions of the future deep within his eyes.

"However, with things as they are, he should be doomed. If there are no surprises, he will surely lose his Star God position."

A trace of confusion flickered in his eyes. "If it were only to this extent, several such figures would appear in every epoch. That old thief of the Celestial Origin Seat wouldn't value him so highly, to the point of actively showing goodwill…"

He understood very well.

The Celestial Origin Seat Progenitor had lived through so many epochs, seen countless peerless prodigies, and was even on good terms with that Lord God of the Life System—so much so that the Lord God was willing to reside permanently in the Celestial Origin Seat Holy Land.

And this Lin Qing must surely possess some special quality to be worth the other's favor.

Although he had not lived as long as the Celestial Origin Seat Progenitor, his path in spacetime differed from the Celestial Origin Seat Progenitor's.

He was most adept at observation and calculation, yet he too could not see what about this Lin Qing was worth valuing.

The legacy of a Third-Level Civilization?

Though such an opportunity was rare, he had lived far, far too long and had obtained countless such things; moreover, within the universe there were many things more precious than the legacy of a Third-Level Civilization.

"Won't speak? Then I'll test him myself." The Spacetime Island Progenitor's gaze turned cold.

Suddenly—

"Hm?"

The Spacetime Island Progenitor's expression shifted, a look of shock surfacing: "Impossible? Disappeared? In his future timeline, this scene should never have appeared at all…"

Immediately after, his heart suddenly jolted, his eyes filled with disbelief: "Hm? A secret art that transcends the cosmic level? An Origin-level secret art? The legacy of a Third-Level Civilization within the Mountain Sea Realm actually contains the inheritance of an Origin-level secret art?"

He had seen no few ruins of Third-Level Civilizations himself, yet he had never once seen any inheritance of an Origin-level secret art!

There was no way around it.

As secret arts of the Origin level that transcend the cosmic level, they should never have existed within the universe in the first place, and so there was simply no way to preserve them for inheritance!

Therefore, the Origin-level secret art he had learned was not obtained from the ruins of a Third-Level Civilization either, but rather came from the cosmic treasury of the Void God Clan—and that was only after he had rendered considerable merit before he could exchange for that secret art inheritance.

But what level was this Lin Qing, that he too possessed an Origin-level secret art?

"The Third-Level Civilization behind him must be no ordinary one…" the Spacetime Island Progenitor murmured, "There actually exists a Third-Level Civilization capable of preserving inheritances that transcend the cosmic level?"

As far as he knew, civilizations within the universe capable of achieving this were exceedingly few.

Apart from the Void God Clan and the Star Abyss Demon Clan, among the five great super clans of the universe—the Human Clan, the Machine Clan, the Mother River Clan, the Origin Clan, and the Star Beast Clan—only the very few forces closest to a Fourth-Level Civilization might possibly achieve this.

"If it is a Third-Level Civilization of my Human Clan, is it the Abyss-Approaching Realm? The Immortal Realm? Or perhaps… the legendary origin of the Human Clan, the Primordial Realm?"

At this moment, numerous guesses surfaced in the Spacetime Island Progenitor's heart.

At the same time, he had already made his decision.

……

……

The falling endless rain of stars enveloped the entire main star; the completely sealed and imprisoned space showed not the slightest ripple, like a world utterly frozen over.

The main star itself possessed the supreme divine power to seal and isolate space, and combined with the power of the domain-type Chaos Divine Artifact, one could say… looking across the entire Void Sea, there were probably only a handful of existences capable of shaking the void of this main star.

Even stirring up a single ripple in space was difficult, let alone shattering space—including teleportation, distortion, compression… all such spatial means were useless at this moment!

Almost any Void Dominator here could only fight relying on their own strength, unable to manipulate space.

Yet, Lin Qing had simply vanished!

"How is that possible?"

Bing Shuangyan stared in disbelief at the spot where Lin Qing had disappeared, then looked in all directions, yet could not find any trace of Lin Qing at all.

"Lord Black Day." Bing Shuangyan abruptly looked toward Lord Black Day and couldn't help but send a voice transmission: "Could he have self-annihilated?"

And Lord Black Day's face turned even paler.

As the master of the domain divine artifact, he could clearly sense everything within the domain, yet he could not find Lin Qing!

"Impossible, the spatial fluctuations are completely sealed—he shouldn't be able to mobilize space to self-annihilate…"

Lord Black Day's eyes were filled with disbelief. "Not even a ripple of space, and it can't be teleportation or spatial displacement either; spacetime teleportation can't be used on the main star either. How could he have disappeared?"

For an existence of this level, suicide is a simple matter—as long as one doesn't resist and actively destroys one's own life structure, that's enough.

For a Space Divine Body to commit suicide by self-disintegrating, one must destroy the countless voids that constitute the life form, which requires the use of external spatial power.

But at this moment, spatial fluctuations were completely imprisoned, making it impossible to mobilize them—so how could suicide be possible?

He had long prepared countermeasures against avatar abilities, prepared responses for all sorts of situations, before coming to deal with Lin Qing.

Yet…

Now, an existence had appeared that was completely beyond his expectations!

"Where exactly did he go?" Lord Black Day continuously drove the domain Chaos Divine Artifact, sensing the entire main star, but simply could not find any trace of Lin Qing!

Suddenly—

"Boom!"

A massive fist, towering like a giant peak, suddenly appeared out of thin air, carrying incomparably terrifying might, and slammed heavily onto the head of the frost beast that Bing Shuangyan had transformed into!

This heavy punch came abruptly and swiftly, striking the frost beast's head without any warning!

Bing Shuangyan was still sensing and searching for Lin Qing's position at this moment, with no time to react, and could only rely on the simulated beast body itself to forcibly resist.

However, a divine technique that condenses a body like this is the same as a normal life form—whether one resists or not makes a huge difference. If he had relied on his hands to parry or dodged with body movement, facing a strong opponent of equal strength, he could have easily parried.

But at this moment, it was as if in a fight between ordinary people, he had suddenly been punched heavily in the face by an invisible opponent without any warning.

The terrifying power of the World God encountered no resistance whatsoever, venting itself fully upon Bing Shuangyan's head!

"Puchi!"

After Bing Shuangyan's simulated Frost Giant Beast took this strike head-on, its massive head, over a hundred kilometers in diameter, instantly shattered and exploded.

Even a body formed through simulated transformation would suffer tremendous impact once its head was gone.

In his fury, Bing Shuangyan lashed out recklessly with his hooves and claws, swiping at Lin Qing, while simultaneously sending a voice transmission to the Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu: "Bind him!"

Though the Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu was shaken by Lin Qing's sudden appearance, he reacted immediately, instantly mobilizing his domain Chaos Divine Artifact to suppress and imprison Lin Qing: "Star Rain World!"

The power of a domain could be unleashed in an instant.

In a flash, countless streams of star rain and flowing light filled the sky and shot toward Lin Qing, once again binding and suppressing him.

"Heh…"

Lin Qing gave a mocking smile, then transformed along with the World God into a wisp of hazy gray wind and vanished without a trace.

"Gone again?"

The Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu was stunned, but this time finally confirmed it: "He didn't teleport away—he's hidden himself through some method!"

"Gone again! Where did he go?"

Bing Shuangyan's heart was full of pent-up frustration and rage. He madly burned through his power to restore the towering, majestic body of the Frost Giant Beast, but restoring such a powerful body was troublesome and required sufficient time.

But would Lin Qing give him that time?

"Boom!"

A colossal palm that seemed to blot out the sky appeared out of thin air once more. As its terrifying might erupted, it instantly pulverized a large portion of the Frost Giant Beast's upper body.

Before the Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu could even activate his domain to bind him, Lin Qing had vanished again.

"Gone again!"

The Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu was both shocked and furious. His domain power immediately probed deep into the void, and after penetrating every spatial layer, he finally discovered, on the membrane at the edge of the universe, that gray, hazy gale imbued with Lin Qing's aura.

He couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

"Not even the slightest spatial ripple, yet he can still dive into the deepest layer of space? And even touch the membrane at the edge of the universe?"

The Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu was completely bewildered. "After Your Majesty became a Void Divine Officer, and combined with the composite divine skill he created, he could do this… This Lin Qing has only just become a Void Sovereign, yet he can already reach this level?"

One of the forms of space is infinite layers.

Infinite layers in the true sense.

The higher one's attainment in this aspect, the deeper the spatial layer one could infiltrate. But to pass through these infinite spatial layers and touch the membrane at the edge of the universe—such difficulty meant that even among Void Divine Officers, very few could achieve this!

As a Void Sovereign, even though he could see through all space, he could only see.

"This… how am I supposed to kill him?"

At this moment, the Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu was already considering retreat.

If he couldn't even touch him, how could he kill him?

Moreover, with such an ability, if Lin Qing wanted to launch a sneak attack, there was simply nothing he could do about it!

Descending directly from the deepest layer of space into reality—impossible to block, only to endure head-on!

"Let's withdraw… under these circumstances, Your Majesty wouldn't blame me either."

The Black Hei Zhou Zhen Zhu took a deep breath, glanced at the miserably battered Bing Shuangyan, and could only send a voice transmission: "Lin Qing's methods have already exceeded our imagination. Throughout the entire Void Sea, there are few beings whose survival ability surpasses his. Give up, Seventeenth Highness."

Bing Shuangyan was still struggling to recover when he heard this and couldn't help but freeze, immediately retorting: "Impossible! My Master said I could kill him!"

The next moment—

"Boom!"

Lin Qing once again appeared out of thin air from the void, his fist shattering the still-regenerating upper body of Bing Shuangyan, and then a slap slammed toward Bing Shuangyan, who had been forced to revert to his original form.

A terrifying, overwhelming might descended and enveloped Bing Shuangyan. So sudden was it that the domain divine artifact had no time to stop it.

A trace of fear finally welled up in Bing Shuangyan's eyes.

At this moment, his strongest technique—the battle body—had been destroyed, and there was no time to restore it in the short term. Any other technique, before Lin Qing's might of this level, probably couldn't even withstand a single strike!

"This is impossible!"

At this moment, Bing Shuangyan's face was full of shock, rage, and fear. "Lin Qing! You can't kill me! My Master is the Ancestor of the Island of Time and Space! How dare you!"

But Lin Qing's face was expressionless. The sky-blotting palm continued to slam down toward the tiny Bing Shuangyan, the might of a Nine Source World Lord pushed to its absolute limit!

The personal disciple of the Ancestor of the Island of Time and Space?

So what?

It wasn't as though history lacked cases of Holy Land Ancestors' disciples being killed—and the Holy Land Ancestors had never taken action because of it!

Holy Land Ancestors also hoped their personal disciples would temper themselves, go through trials. Without facing life and death, how could they truly grow?

Besides, with the Ancestor of the Island of Time and Space's methods, even a Void Divine Officer could be resurrected. Although resurrection would cost some of the benefits gained from fortuitous encounters, one would still live in the end. He wouldn't personally step in for revenge just because a disciple was killed.

Kill him, and that's that.

"No… I can't die…"

Bing Shuangyan's eyes were full of unwillingness. "I only just found the Ice Sea Cang God for my war beast body after such great difficulty, and it cost me so dearly. And my secret technique inheritance—I don't know how much effort it took to reach this point. I can't lose it all!"

However, that vast and overwhelming terrifying might had already descended with a roar, completely cutting off any chance of survival. It would only take an instant to annihilate him.

Just then—

"Hm?"

Suddenly, everything froze.

The World God's massive body, the hurricanes formed by energy impacts, the trees bent double, the lingering energy waves sweeping across the horizon, the soil of the earth torn up…

Everything froze in that instant.

At this moment, everything on the primary star seemed to have been frozen into amber time.

"What's going on?" Lin Qing stared at the scene in shock and disbelief.

Suddenly, everything had frozen?

He discovered that the space he occupied had been completely fixed in place, and his entire body was utterly imprisoned. Apart from his consciousness still being able to perceive, he could do nothing.

He discovered that the space he occupied was completely frozen, his entire body thoroughly imprisoned; aside from his consciousness still able to perceive, he could do nothing.

"Space-Time?"

While Lin Qing was shocked, a guess instantly formed in his heart: "It is a Space-Time technique!"

For the Void Sovereign, spatial confinement posed no threat at all, but a Space-Time technique was completely different; that was a method of an entirely different level!

The True Lord of Black Day was also stunned, and a guess instantly formed in his heart: "No way, could it be..."

And Master Bingshuangyan was also stunned; immediately, the despair in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by surprise. Looking at the World God's giant hand right before his eyes, he quickly retreated, then spoke respectfully: "Thank you, Master, for intervening to save me!"

He never expected that his Master would actually intervene to save him?

Perhaps... it was because his Master discovered his prediction was wrong and personally intervened to make amends?

"The Ancestor of the Space-Time Island..."

Lin Qing's gaze was cold.

The Ancestor of the Space-Time Island had actually descended upon the Main Star specifically to intervene and save someone over a private matter of a direct disciple?

Only then did the void where the Main Star was located tremble slightly; infinite floating energies from heaven and earth converged, materializing out of thin air into a figure emitting a terrifying aura.

His entire body was wrapped in bandages, and his cold, dark eyes seemed to reflect endless worlds; he was unmistakably the Ancestor of the Space-Time Island!

Everyone present knew very well that this was merely a projection of the Ancestor of the Space-Time Island descending from afar.

But even as a projection, he was a terrifying existence capable of easily crushing and killing numerous Void Divine Officials!

"Master!"

Having survived the calamity, Master Bingshuangyan forced back his excitement and joy as he flew over, speaking respectfully: "This disciple is incompetent and has troubled you to intervene. This Lin Qing..."

Before he could finish, he saw the Ancestor of the Space-Time Island suddenly glance at him.

In the next instant, an unimaginably terrifying power suddenly descended, turning Master Bingshuangyan entirely into a stone statue; whether it was his mental power, physical body, or energy, all were completely sealed.

"Wicked disciple." The Ancestor of the Space-Time Island looked at Master Bingshuangyan with cold, dark eyes. "What audacity! Who allowed you to act against Lin Qing?"

Ignoring the disciple who was completely unable to move or argue back, he turned his head to look at Lin Qing and said softly: "Lin Qing, I have failed in teaching my disciples; please forgive me. As an apology, how about I let you dispose of this disciple of mine?"

(End of this chapter)