Chapter 358: The Great Existence in the River of Space-Time

"Thank you, Your Grace, for your assistance."

Lin Qing immediately said sincerely, "These hundred thousand years have indeed been of great help to me."

"Haha, it's a small matter." Star Refining Marquis laughed.

What he wanted was Lin Qing's gratitude; naturally, from the very beginning, he had figured out a method that would help Lin Qing the most, yet not simply give benefits for free.

He understood in his heart that such peerless geniuses were very proud; even if benefits were given for free, they might not accept them.

"By the way, there is one more matter I would like to trouble Brother Jialin to help with."

Star Refining Marquis said, "There are two important places in Star Refining Province that both need defense against expeditionary armies sent from other provinces, especially against Jueyuan Province. One is my Star Refining Holy Star, and the other is the Transfer Star of Star Refining Province."

"Transfer Star?" Lin Qing nodded slightly.

The star domain where a province is located is so vast that even for an Eternal existence traveling, crossing the starry sky of one province requires considerable time.

And during wartime, battles could erupt anywhere at any moment.

To quickly support various locations, one must rely on the Transfer Star serving as the administrative center; every province has such a Transfer Star connecting all First-Rank Stars, so as long as an army is stationed there, support can be provided at any time.

"With Brother Jialin's strength, I fear it won't be long before you become stronger than many peak Chaos beings."

Star Refining Marquis said, "If I entrust the position of Commander of the Transfer Star Garrison to you, I can truly rest easy. What do you think?"

"Commander?" Lin Qing was somewhat surprised.

Although he was unclear about the status of this position, he could see at a glance the importance of the Commander role.

That Transfer Star involves the entire province's war situation; as the Commander of the Garrison, the power must be great, and the status cannot be low.

"Please rest assured, young friend."

Star Refining Marquis immediately said, "This Commander position indeed carries a heavy burden, but with your strength, I believe you can handle it. This Marquis is willing to advance you one billion military merits in advance. How about that?"

"One billion military merits?" Lin Qing was not quite clear on what number one billion military merits actually represented.

Star Refining Marquis said, "In the military merit system I established, one drop of Star Spirit Stone Marrow equals one billion military merits, while the bloodline of a second-generation Chaos creature is worth over five hundred million military merits."

Lin Qing understood, finally grasping roughly the value of those one billion military merits.

At the Chaos Merchant House, the cheapest second-generation Chaos creature bloodline is worth five million points, corresponding to the five hundred million military merits set by Star Refining Marquis.

Looking at it this way, Star Spirit Stone Marrow is indeed more precious than second-generation Chaos creature bloodline.

"Can I exchange it now?" Lin Qing asked.

"Of course." Star Refining Marquis nodded and said, "The stronger the young friend becomes, the better he can guard the Transfer Star."

Lin Qing pondered for a moment and said, "Then let me think about it. After all, the war won't start for over a million years, so it will still be timely if I decide later."

Star Refining Marquis nodded slightly and said, "Young friend, just find me whenever you wish."

Immediately, he said no more: "I will not disturb your seclusion and cultivation."

"Troubling you, Your Grace," Lin Qing said.

Star Refining Marquis smiled and immediately vanished from this closed space-time.

Immediately following, he appeared above Star Heaven Island.

"Kid, you're quite generous."

A thumb-thick red little snake was seen drilling out from Star Refining Marquis's sleeve cuff, speaking in human language: "With your strength, maintaining a thousand-fold time acceleration for him for a hundred years is not easy."

"It's fine. With the energy constantly gathering at Star Heaven Island, I won't be too tired; persisting for a hundred years is nothing," Star Refining Marquis said calmly.

He had mastered the complete rules of the Present.

He could accelerate, decelerate, stop, or even reverse time.

But...

Altering the flow of time has a huge impact on space-time; the stronger the beings within this space-time, the more difficult it is to alter the time flow.

If applied to a vacuum area or some weak beings, he could achieve a time flow rate of up to 3.8 million times the universe's limit.

But if there are Void-stage beings within this space-time, it is impossible to accelerate to such a speed.

As for high-level Chaos beings?

Maintaining 3,800 times is the limit!

For a powerful eternal-level life form like himself, the maximum time acceleration he can maintain is only 380 times.

Moreover, the consumption is enormous, so he can only maintain it briefly.

If he let Lin Qing maintain a 3,800-fold time acceleration, he could only persist for a moment at most.

Lowering it to a thousand-fold time flow, plus the special environment assistance of Star Heaven Island, he could barely manage to persist, but the drain on his spirit is also enormous.

Maintaining it for a hundred years is nearly at his limit.

"Hundred thousand years, allowing him to defend himself before Shadow Uncle Xiao Ying Bo; my exhaustion is worth it," Star Refining Marquis said softly.

"However..."

The red little snake said, "You gave him such a lucrative post as Commander of the Transfer Star Garrison. Qian Yao over there will probably have objections. After all, she is also a direct disciple of Dongyan Di Jun; isn't it bad to replace her so casually?"

"I am also this girl's master. In Star Refining Province, within my territory, deciding the appointment of a Commander requires seeking her approval?" Star Refining Marquis said in a calm voice.

"That girl, after becoming a direct disciple of Dongyan Di Jun, hasn't been that respectful to you," the red little snake chuckled, "Once she achieves eternity, she might even address you directly as Star Refining Marquis."

"Let her do as she pleases."

Star Refining Marquis said calmly, "There are many such people among the human race; at least Qian Yao is not the kind of ungrateful person."

"That is still very ungrateful," the red little snake teased, "You wasted so many treasures cultivating her before. Now that she has become a direct disciple of a Di Jun, she's too lazy to come see you. Kid, do you regret it?"

"There is nothing to regret."

Star Refining Marquis said in a calm voice, "Human hearts are inherently hard to predict. Even Great Beings like Your Majesty Guang Wang, who can see through the future, cannot fathom human hearts. They probably never expected Yuanchu Shen Di and the Lord of the Ten Thousand Gods to break their promises and become what they are today, let alone me."

"It can't be helped," the red little snake sighed, "If it were possible, who would be willing to remain beneath others?"

Star Refining Marquis fell silent for a moment and said, "Human nature has not changed since the Stone Age of planetary civilizations; even becoming so-called myths, becoming the ultimate, is the same..."

Inside the cultivation chamber within the manor.

Lin Qing sat cross-legged, while the magnificent River of Time and Space began to faintly manifest around him.

At the same time, waves of terrifying power surged ceaselessly from the world within his body, causing his Time-Space Divine Body to undergo a mad transformation, altering from the structure of every single most minute particle and strengthening until it could withstand the mighty power of an entire world.

Several days later.

Lin Qing slowly opened his eyes, sensing the body now concealing terrifying power within him, and could not help but reveal a faint smile.

"The World Divine Body is complete..."

Once the World Divine Body is formed, every movement possesses the mighty power of an entire world; even without knowing any techniques, the terrifying potential inherent in the World Divine Body itself can easily annihilate ordinary low-level Chaos beings.

With such a powerful body as a foundation, the Supreme Secret Art can also be elevated to a new limit.

"With my current strength, even if I cannot defeat Xiao Ying Bo, I should at least be able to protect myself."

Lin Qing silently assessed his current strength.

Compared to Xiao Ying Bo, he only had a gap in realm, plus the Supreme Secret Art had not yet been cultivated to its limit, but relying on the Illusory World Great Extinction, he could close the distance.

At the very least... there was no longer a qualitative gap.

"First, I will contemplate the Future Body."

Lin Qing thought to himself, "Once the mysteries of the Future Body are fused to the Minor Success stage, I will be qualified to seek that resplendent Wang Zhu..."