Chapter 273: Transcendence (Part 29)
Ruler Battlefield?
Su Chen entered the mysterious space, where many figures had already gathered—some familiar, others strangers. It was clear that the opening of the Ruler Battlefield was no small matter.
"So you're the newcomer with nine-star talent?"
A figure appeared beside Su Chen. He had snow-white long hair, a strange silver rune between his brows, and the phantom of a lotus blooming beneath his lower body. He was incredibly strong. Although everyone present was only a virtual avatar, Su Chen instinctively sensed that this man was terrifyingly powerful—far more so than even Xie Liuyun.
"It's Lord Dugu Wushuang!"
"Lord Dugu Wushuang has finally returned!"
"After the Battle of Watching the Heavenly Sea, Lord Dugu Wushuang disappeared and hasn't appeared for ten million years."
"I can't believe Lord Dugu Wushuang is still alive!"
...
Dugu Wushuang remained expressionless. He slowly raised his hand and slapped the speaker flying.
"You bastard, are you cursing me to die?"
The Immortal Spirit who had been slapped gave an awkward smile.
"Dugu, this is the nine-star talent newcomer I mentioned. It has been over ten million years since our End Times Immortal Domain last gained a nine-star Ruler," said another Immortal Spirit with a smile. Illusory figures of countless divine beasts floated around him—the Beast Ruler. Su Chen had seen him during his first visit to the End Times space. He was an ancient existence here whose strength was unfathomable. Even Xie Liuyun addressed him as "Lord."
"I look forward to seeing you shine brightly in this Ruler War," Dugu Wushuang said as he patted Su Chen's shoulder.
Immortal Spirits were already rare, and those from the End Times Immortal Domain were even rarer. Nine-star talent among them was rarer still.
Su Chen was curious about the Ruler Battlefield. The name alone suggested it was anything but ordinary. He soon received his answer.
The entire End Times space fell silent as a figure stepped across the heads of all the Immortal Spirits. It was a thin middle-aged man dressed in a faded blue robe, with a wooden sword hanging at his waist.
In that moment, Su Chen vaguely saw an illusion: a single sword shattering the universe and slaying billions of gods and demons.
Dugu Wushuang looked at the figure with fervent admiration. Su Chen understood immediately—this was the leader of all End Times Immortal Domain Immortal Spirits. He had single-handedly created this vast mysterious space, allowing all Immortal Spirits from their domain to gather and support one another.
No one knew exactly how many years he had lived—perhaps a hundred million, or even longer. Only with his existence did the End Times Immortal Domain's Immortal Spirits have the qualifications to compete against the Transmigrator Alliance, the Main God Hall, and the various Immortal Domains of the Void Cosmic Sea.
He was the Great Yang Emperor Lord!
The appearance of the Ruler Battlefield had even drawn out the leader of the End Times Immortal Domain.
As the space fell into complete silence, Great Yang Emperor Lord spoke. "You all should already know the rules of the Ruler Battlefield."
Su Chen: "..."
He didn't know them at all!
"What exactly is the Ruler Battlefield?" Su Chen asked.
Great Yang Emperor Lord showed a trace of surprise. There was actually an Immortal Spirit who didn't know? It seemed he was a new face. That explained it.
Even the usually calm and reserved Great Yang Emperor Lord became excited. He had not expected that after so many years, the outside world would still send in new Immortal Spirits from their domain—and not just any, but one with rare nine-star talent.
"Very good. Excellent!" Great Yang Emperor Lord smiled. "The Ruler Battlefield is a battlefield established by many transcended beings. The Flying Immortal Land is vast beyond measure. Advancing step by step through cultivation is far too difficult. Thus, the Ruler Battlefield was created. Inside it, all transcended beings fight and kill one another, devouring and refining each other's energy to perfect their own laws and order.
"It was a colossal gu-rearing ground. Only the strongest gu king would earn the qualification for immortality. Like the Emperor Path of old, it was brutally cruel in an era where only one could rise. The Ruler Battlefield was even more merciless than the Emperor Path. The Ruler Battlefield opens once every ten million years and remains open for a million years each time. For you, this is a rare opportunity," the Great Yang Emperor Lord said with a smile.
For a nine-star talent expert like Su Chen, it was indeed an extraordinary chance. Su Chen felt a surge of anticipation.
The Great Yang Emperor Lord bestowed a mark upon each Immortal Spirit. Crushing the mark would summon a spatial portal and transport them directly into the Ruler Battlefield.
Some Immortal Spirits immediately shattered their marks, exiting the mysterious space as their true bodies were sent into the battlefield. Others, including Su Chen, chose not to enter right away.
Su Chen returned to his original universe, where Di Chan and Chi Yao had been waiting. He explained the details of the Ruler Battlefield to them. The two women were not qualified to participate, but learning that Su Chen would be gone for at least a million years filled them with reluctance.
"I will catch up to Master's / Brother's footsteps!" both women vowed inwardly.
Su Chen left the Death Book with them so they could comprehend the longevity methods within it. The Wheel of Time would remain to guard the original universe. He took the Heaven Refining Gourd with him.
Qin Wujie was not in the original universe; he was out adventuring in the void. Even the repeatedly defeated Chaos Body possessed his own pride.
Su Chen crushed the mark and departed.
He arrived at the Ruler Battlefield. The battlefield was divided into many levels. The region Su Chen entered was merely the outer edge, far from the core area.
Suddenly, a ferocious aura hurtled toward him. It was a massive hammer containing a refined small universe. A powerhouse had turned an entire universe into a weapon of terrifying power, and its target was Su Chen.
Su Chen felt he was somewhat lucky. Countless laws transformed into flowing light as he clenched his fist and threw a single punch. The blow directly shattered the small universe.
The attacker was a bird-headed humanoid with a pair of wings. Seeing Su Chen effortlessly destroy a small universe with one punch, his expression filled with horror. This was no cultivation opportunity—it was a primordial beast!
Su Chen had no intention of letting him escape. With overwhelming power, he tore through billions of layers of space and smashed the birdman into a bloody mist. Yet the foe did not die. Like Su Chen, he was an undying Five Tribulations Ruler with tenacious vitality. He had only lost a portion of his world origin.
Su Chen had never expected to kill him as easily as Xie Liuyun had slain Wang Potian. He immediately deployed the Heaven Refining Gourd and sealed the birdman Ruler inside. He intended to refine this Five Tribulations Ruler alive.
This time, it did not take a million years. In merely fifty thousand years, Su Chen successfully refined the Five Tribulations Ruler.
Before dying, the birdman had claimed he was from the Main God Hall. Su Chen couldn't help but feel the world was both vast and small. He refined the essence with even greater focus and effort.
In the end, after fifty thousand years of relentless refinement, Su Chen fully absorbed a Ruler. His cultivation advanced from the early stage of the Five Tribulations Ruler realm to its peak.
Chapter 274: Transcendence (Part 30)
Time passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Chen's name began to spread across the Ruler Battlefield. The Immortal Spirit known as Emperor Venerable was renowned for his audacity.
After he refined a Five Tribulations Ruler from the Main God Hall, countless powerful enemies hunted him, including Six Tribulations Rulers. Yet Su Chen resolved every threat. Like a roaming primordial beast, he slaughtered and refined fifteen Five Tribulations Rulers in just five hundred thousand years, along with one Six Tribulations Ruler.
What made him especially notorious was his relentless targeting of members from the Transmigrator Alliance and the Main God Hall. The two superpowers gritted their teeth in hatred and dispatched supreme geniuses to eliminate him.
The nine-star talent prodigies sent by the Main God Hall and Transmigrator Alliance managed to heavily wound Su Chen, but he still escaped. After twenty thousand years of pursuit, Su Chen broke through to the Six Tribulations Ruler realm and annihilated those chosen talents in a single earth-shaking battle.
Su Chen toyed with the fragments he had seized. It was something called a "system"—a one-hit-999 system, according to the Transmigrator Alliance expert. It allowed rapid leveling by killing enemies, the very thing the man had once dreamed of. The potential of Transmigrator Alliance members was often tied to the grade of their cheats. Thanks to that one-hit-999 system's explosive power, Su Chen had nearly let the expert escape.
"Not a bad toy," Su Chen mused. Unfortunately, the system had shattered the moment it fell into his hands, much to his regret. He wouldn't have minded experiencing the thrill of one-hit kills himself.
The Ruler Battlefield hosted not only the Main God Hall, Transmigrator Alliance, and End Times Immortal Domain, but countless other factions and endless powerhouses. Even among so many colossal forces, Su Chen stood as one of the top geniuses.
A million years later, Su Chen had gained enormous rewards, including the suppression and killing of several Six Tribulations Rulers. He returned to his original universe.
As Su Chen grew stronger, the upper limit of his origin universe rose accordingly. It could now support Five Tribulations Rulers, though none had been born yet.
In that million years, Di Chan and Chi Yao had comprehended the Death Book and both advanced to the Three Tribulations Ruler realm. However, after his experiences in the Ruler Battlefield, Su Chen felt it was too wasteful for talents like them to remain confined in the original universe.
"Are you willing to sever your foundations and cultivation?" he asked. "I will find unrefined universes and send you into them. From then on, your paths will face no shackles."
Both Di Chan and Chi Yao possessed excellent comprehension. Even if they restarted from zero, they could sweep through their enemies and return to the peak. In the future, they would become his capable left and right arms.
The two women exchanged a glance and made their decision.
"We are willing!"
They knew that staying here would only leave them further behind Su Chen. They could never surpass him if they remained in the original universe.
In the mysterious space, Su Chen exchanged two Four Tribulations Universe Hearts for two untouched universes. He personally severed Di Chan and Chi Yao's cultivations, destroyed their foundations, and reincarnated them into the new universes.
Su Chen's goal was never so simple. He needed them to be able to assist him in the future.
He had found no news of Qin Wujie. Ever since leaving the original universe, the Chaos Body had vanished without a trace.
Many new powerhouses had risen in the original universe. Occasionally, a dazzling genius would appear, suppressing the era and claiming invincibility. Su Chen appreciated them greatly.
The path to transcendence now existed in this world.
As for the truth behind transcendence… Su Chen smiled with satisfaction.
A powerhouse who had left the universe had discovered a new one in the void. The Emperor Court still stood, but only those who had transcended could know its true nature. Those who learned the truth became Su Chen's tools, one generation after another. They explored the void in search of other universes. Su Chen was never stingy with them—he allowed them to study the Death Book, unravel the secrets of life and death, live longer, and even equipped them with Undying Divine Medicines before they set out.
Now, he was finally reaping the rewards.
Su Chen easily refined a new universe. His strength advanced from the Six Tribulations Ruler realm and stepped into the Seven Tribulations realm.
The origin universe underwent another round of sublimation, birthing countless new powerhouses.
...
"Who are you?"
Spirit Divine King realized he had been reborn once more. Some lucky fool must have obtained his cultivation method, allowing him to return to the world yet again. He wasn't sure why it was yet another reincarnation.
Spirit Divine King fought his way across the era, effortlessly crushing the era's top geniuses. He became a Great Emperor and even slew several contemporary Great Emperors in succession. However, he soon discovered something was wrong—this universe had already been refined by someone.
He was furious, yet remained outwardly calm.
The golden-robed man before him gazed down at him like the heavens looking upon an ant. Escape or death were both impossible. This person was the one who had refined the Universe Heart—the greatest Emperor of all time, Emperor Venerable. He was still alive.
"How much of your memory has recovered?" Su Chen asked indifferently.
Shock surged through Spirit Divine King, but he suppressed it and replied in a low voice, "What are you talking about? What memory?"
"You should know that your rebirth was no accident," Su Chen said. "I erased all traces of you. The only reincarnation method you left behind is now under my control."
Spirit Divine King's expression changed drastically. "You… you actually know?!"
Not only did Su Chen know, but he could also reincarnate as well—though unlike Spirit Divine King's soul-seizing rebirths, his method relied on the Reverse Fate Scripture to change destiny through repeated reincarnations.
"This is not the first time I have seen you," Su Chen said with a sudden smile.
That smile turned the bright sunlight ice-cold. At least, that was how it felt to Spirit Divine King. His greatest trump card—his endless cycle of rebirth—had been controlled by another all along.
Spirit Divine King laughed bitterly in despair. "Heh… After millions of years of scheming, I ended up making a wedding dress for someone else…"
His cultivation had reached the Two Tribulations Ruler realm, and his restored memories revealed many things he had never known before.
"Do you think I will tell you anything?" Spirit Divine King sneered. He, Spirit Divine King, would rather die than submit.
"I will give you a path to life," Su Chen said calmly. "I will send your cultivation method into an unrefined universe. You will only lose this Universe Heart."
Spirit Divine King's sneer froze.
Silence fell between them.
After a long moment, he finally spoke. "Do you mean that?"
He did not believe Su Chen would be so kind-hearted.
"I have already refined this universe's Universe Heart. You can never refine it again—unless I die. And I will not die," Su Chen declared, his voice filled with domineering confidence and unshakeable belief in his invincibility.
He was not lying. He truly would not 'die.'