Chapter 284: Future

Time flowed on.

As one challenger after another was eliminated, only a very few passed all the trials.

However, the trials of this Wang Dian were themselves part of the reward — for instance, the secret art trial not only let one learn a Dominator-level secret art for free, but also granted quite a few cultivation resources; the bloodline gene trial was the same, one's gene index could also be raised.

If one could pass all the trials, the reward would be enough to make even Void Divine Officers envious — at the very least, a supreme treasure on the level of a Chaos Divine Artifact.

Of course, Lin Qing also knew that it was because he possessed the Wang-tier guidance imprint that his reward had been raised by one tier, which was why it was so outrageous.

Another three months passed.

Lin Qing passed the first six trials of the Dominator-level trials very smoothly — after all, the trials ultimately tested those same aspects, and there wasn't an exact standard; the main thing was judging potential.

By now, the vast majority of challengers had been eliminated.

However, when Lin Qing was teleported to the final trial planet of these Dominator-level trials, he discovered that there were still over sixty people on this planet.

"Stay here for a full year without getting lost in the future — only then does it count as passing?"

Lin Qing's thought force spread outward as he observed this planet, only a few thousand kilometers in diameter — it looked like an undeveloped ordinary life-bearing planet.

Yet those sixty-plus challengers were wandering across the planet as if sleepwalking, eyes closed, moving unconsciously.

"All asleep?"

Lin Qing couldn't help feeling a little puzzled, but immediately afterward his expression couldn't help changing slightly.

Because…

Within the range of his senses, three familiar auras had suddenly appeared.

"My own aura?"

Lin Qing felt it was inconceivable. "How is that possible? My own aura? Three of them suddenly appearing?"

His thought force swept over, but it found nothing at all.

He immediately rose into the air and flew toward the place that matched his aura exactly.

Soon, Lin Qing discovered the source of those three auras.

They were three illusory, faintly unreal familiar figures — each one identical to himself, except that each phantom's aura was different; judging from the energy within their bodies, it seemed they had cultivated different secret arts or divine techniques, which had caused this difference.

Moreover, the life-tier of two of the phantoms was clearly far higher than his current self — they had to be Void Divine Officers!

At the same time, among these three phantoms, some auras were blurry, as if separated by a vast distance, while some auras were much clearer, as if within arm's reach.

"Challenger."

At this moment, an indifferent voice suddenly sounded in Lin Qing's mind:

"Challenger, these are the future you that His Majesty the Light King has observed — three of the future timelines, and also three paths for your future self. The blurrier the aura, the smaller the possibility."

"And these three phantoms have been manifested from the future. As long as you merge with one, you can simulate and experience that future path."

"Connect with your consciousness and you will be able to glimpse the future outcome."

"What you must do is choose one of these futures and undergo the simulated experience. If you can surpass the final outcome, you pass the trial."

"However… the farther you walk along the future path, the easier it is to get lost, the easier it is to take the future for reality. When your future reaches its end, your life will also have reached its end."

"The duration is one year. If you do not get lost in the future, you will have surpassed the final outcome observed by His Majesty the Light King."

"Remember: the smaller the possibility of a future, the harder it is to advance along it."

"Three futures also represent three grades of reward — upper, middle, and lower — and three levels of difficulty."

"Choose for yourself."

That majestic, indifferent voice echoed in Lin Qing's mind.

Lin Qing couldn't help examining the three phantoms.

Three futures?

Among them, the future representing the upper-grade reward had the blurriest aura — clearly the future with the smallest possibility. That deep, profound aura was like the operation of cosmic laws, and was shrouded in primal chaos, as if he had become a Chaos God.

The future representing the middle-grade reward had a much clearer aura; the possibility was obviously much greater. The aura was not that of a Chaos God, and he had also lost the position of Star God, but he was a Void Divine Officer.

The future representing the lower-grade reward had the clearest aura, but his life-tier was only a Void Dominator — he hadn't even become a Void Divine Officer.

"Three futures, with such a huge difference?"

Lin Qing couldn't help feeling a little curious. "In the most likely future, I can't even become a Void Divine Officer?"

The moment his consciousness stirred, he immediately tried connecting with the future outcome that had the greatest possibility.

The next instant—

Lin Qing's consciousness trembled slightly as he saw a scene of memory.

In a vast dark world, he saw himself in a silver robe, face pale, looking around. His aura was extremely weak, as if his oil had been utterly exhausted.

A handsome man with silver hair and silver brows walked step by step out of the void; a terrifying aura permeated the world. With an expressionless face, he spoke: "Lin Qing, you should feel honored — to deal with you, even the great Yu Xingyuan Monarch has paid a price."

The next instant, a terrifying might far beyond his own enveloped the world, and a seven-colored divine spark flew over, its aura locking onto him completely.

Then, everything vanished into darkness.

The scene shifted; Lin Qing saw himself arrive at the Vacuum Great Tomb.

Only, although his main body had been revived, he had now lost the position of Star God — he was just an ordinary Void Dominator.

And Her Highness Su frowned as she looked at him, a wisp of fluctuation probing his soul.

After a moment, she frowned and said: "Things have gotten troublesome. It's not simply that you've lost the position of Star God — the Yu Xingyuan Monarch has also planted a wisp of his origin into your soul. As long as you leave the Mountain-Sea Realm and leave the protection of the Vacuum Great Tomb, the Yu Xingyuan Monarch can pull you into the Yu Xingyuan with a single thought."

"Pulled into the Yu Xingyuan?" Lin Qing couldn't help being stunned, and asked despite himself: "Didn't you say the Yu Xingyuan Monarch can't casually interfere with the Void Sea either?"

"That's because the Yu Xingyuan Monarch is unwilling to pay the price."

Her Highness Su shook her head. "Launching the Great Nirvana is the same — the Yu Xingyuan Monarch needs to pay a sufficient price. So the Yu Xingyuan Monarch will wait until this patch of Void Sea has accumulated enough cosmic origin, enough to obtain a sufficient reward from the Yu Xingyuan Will, before launching the Great Nirvana."

She looked at Lin Qing. "And you have a great chance of becoming a Chaos God, and you've never been to the cosmic battlefield, so you haven't been valued by the Void Divine Race. Naturally the Yu Xingyuan Monarch is willing to pay a small price to eliminate you, this threat, in advance."

The Lin Qing in the scene was silent for a moment, then asked: "What about my other avatars?"

"The same." Her Highness Su sighed. "The Yu Xingyuan Will has already set its sights on you. Whether it's your main body or your avatars, as long as they leave the Mountain-Sea Realm, they will be pulled into the Yu Xingyuan. No one can save you except the Void Divine Race."

She looked at Lin Qing. "From now on, stay in the Shanhai Realm and cultivate talents for the Shanhai Realm."

Hundreds of millions of years passed.

Although Lin Qing had created a perfect combination divine technique that integrated complete spatial rules, capable of truly activating set-type Chaos Divine Artifacts, with power so terrifying it rivaled the level of a Child of Chaos, he still dared not leave the Shanhai Realm no matter what.

Finally, he finished his twelfth thirty-eight million years and welcomed the twelfth descent of the Yu Xingyuan; the Void Demons originating from the twenty-second layer of the Yu Xingyuan, whose power was terrifying beyond measure, easily annihilated him.

Thus, his life came to a complete end.

The future memory ended here.

"Yu Xingyuan Monarch..."

Lin Qing slowly opened his eyes, looking at the clear phantom before him. "Is this the ending most likely to happen to me?"

He never expected such a future to exist?

Because he was targeted by the Yu Xingyuan Monarch, he dared not leave the Shanhai Realm?

"That is... Yuan Huang?" Lin Qing pondered. "Yuan Huang actually defected to the Yu Xingyuan and intends to kill me?"

Since this is the future observed by the great 'Light King' Your Majesty of the King Realm, it means such a future is possible, and the probability is quite high?

However, since he already knows this outcome, as long as he chooses to respond in advance or avoid it, surpassing this future naturally won't be difficult.

No wonder surpassing this future yields only a lower reward.

"What about the medium one?"

Lin Qing looked again at the phantom in the middle; upon connecting his will, he immediately saw the result of this future.

On a massive and towering main star, he was standing atop a peak of Shanfeng, while a city of incomparable magnitude was slowly descending from the sky, suppressing downward; its overwhelming momentum seemed to crush the entire world into collapse.

Inside the city, a figure shrouded in dazzling light sat upon the Wang Zuo in the central palace, gazing at him coldly.

Furthermore, a Chaos-colored Divine Soul rotated in the void; the aura of the Divine Soul enveloped him, clearly indicating a contest for the position of Star God.

"The gravekeeper of the Primordial Realm's Vacuum Great Tomb?"

The figure on the Wang Zuo in the center of the city was cold and arrogant; his voice echoed across the main star: "You are nothing but that. I descended to this Void Sea specifically, yet you are not qualified to contend with me for the position of Chaos God. Perish here."

The terrifying city suppressed downward entirely; inside the city, within countless palaces and towers, innumerable weapons and supreme treasures simultaneously emitted terrifying power, crashing down together in a thunderous suppression.

In the vision, Lin Qing stared upward at this scene, his lips suddenly curling slightly upward: "An unparalleled genius of the Immortal Realm? Very well..."

Immediately, everything was annihilated into darkness.

The scene shifted.

Within a vast battlefield world, the heavens and earth had cracked open numerous ferocious, massive fissures; countless Void Demons crawled out from within like locusts, sweeping over in a tide like a tsunami.

And the self in the vision appeared to be the commander of an army, leading a vast number of Void Divine Officials and Void Dominators to fight back.

He was dazzling on the battlefield; although not a Star God, he seemed to have achieved the status of a Void Divine Official of the Army-Commanding Path, and had even created a perfect combination divine technique containing spatial rules, activating set-type Chaos Divine Artifacts, roaming freely across the battlefield; a single casual strike caused the void to collapse and annihilate, turning into a place of utter darkness that extinguished everything, slaying countless Void Demons.

Suddenly—

A green, massive demon palm that blocked the sky and sun slammed down; terrifying power instantly enveloped everything, including him.

"The Yu Xingyuan Monarch actually intervened?" A trace of shock appeared in his eyes.

The heavens collapsed and the earth cracked; the entire battlefield world completely crumbled and sank, and countless living beings on the battlefield perished along with it.

And even though he had a clone that resurrected in the Shanhai Realm, he was still branded in his soul by a wisp of the Yu Xingyuan Monarch's origin power during the intervention, forever unable to leave the Shanhai Realm or transcend the universe.

Hundreds of millions of years later, he died during the thirteenth Yu Xingyuan invasion; the Void Demons of the twenty-third layer of the Yu Xingyuan were so terrifying that they easily completely annihilated him.

Thus, everything in this future timeline ended.

"Still died by the Yu Xingyuan Monarch?"

Lin Qing murmured, "Targeted by the Yu Xingyuan Monarch, to the point where even transcendence is impossible?"

Moreover, the initial vision memory was clearly him fighting an unparalleled genius from a Level Three Civilization, the 'Immortal Realm', engaging in a contest for the Star God position, but the opponent seemed absurdly strong, directly suppressing and killing him.

Afterwards, he lost the position of Star God, had no hope of becoming a Chaos God, and went to the cosmic battlefield of the Void Divine Clan and the Yu Xingyuan Demons.

But for some unknown reason, the entire cosmic battlefield was smashed by the Yu Xingyuan Monarch.

Because of this, he was targeted by the Yu Xingyuan Monarch and unable to transcend the universe.

In the end, he only lived three million eight hundred thousand years longer than the previous future timeline.

The result of this future obviously appears very difficult to surpass.

"Why was I targeted by the Yu Xingyuan Monarch again?"

Lin Qing was somewhat speechless; carefully recalling the details about the battlefield in the future memory, he suddenly discovered a clue.

In the future memory, among the army he led, it seemed he was protecting a disguised member of the Void Divine Clan?

The aura of that disguised Void Divine Clan member was hard to detect, but since he himself had fused with the fifth-generation bloodline of the Void Divine Clan, naturally he could also detect that the other's aura was identical to his.

"The aura is so weak; such a weak Void Divine Clan member must not have yet grown to their peak?"

Lin Qing pondered.

As far as he knew, although the Void Divine Clan was incredibly scarce in number and born as beings who transcend the universe, they still required time to grow.

If this observed future memory is true, then that Void Divine Clan member certainly has not yet grown up.

Could it be that the reason the entire cosmic battlefield in the future vision was destroyed by the Yu Xingyuan Monarch was because of that weak Void Divine Clan member?

To eliminate the threat in advance?

Lin Qing pondered.

Surpassing this future is clearly much more difficult.

He lived for thirteen thirty-eight million years before dying from the Yu Xingyuan invasion, but his strength had nearly reached a limit.

Unless he can surpass this level, he cannot be said to have surpassed this future.

Either become a Chaos God, or transcend the universe.

"This future is indeed quite difficult to surpass."

Lin Qing thought silently, "If the future observed by the Light King is true, that means... there is an unparalleled genius from a Semi-God level civilization, the 'Immortal Realm', within this Void Sea? To become a Chaos God, I must contend with and defeat him?"

"If I cannot defeat him and become the Chaos God, then I must transcend the universe... Looking at it this way, avoiding the universe battlefield will suffice..."

"The difficulty still lies in mastering one of the three aspects of the Time Rule: transcending the universe..."

Lin Qing pondered for a while, then immediately continued to look at the third possible future outcome.

(End of this chapter)