Those Who Save Themselves

Time in Between Being and Non-Being was entirely different from that of the Tree Universe. The Tree Universe possessed no intrinsic time of its own, meaning any movement within it required expending the power and energy of time. Time in Between Being and Non-Being, however, hovered between being and non-being. It existed one moment and vanished the next, vanishing then reappearing, utterly chaotic and elusive—everything was purely and completely random. When a branch lost the support of the Tree Universe's infinite power, it would inevitably be utterly obliterated by Between Being and Non-Being. The principle behind this was actually very simple. The Tree Universe could absorb Omni-Being particles and thereby grow boundlessly. Those Omni-Being particles, completely random in their fluctuations, would naturally transform into Being-Void upon being absorbed by the Tree Universe. The problem was that the quantity of Omni-Being particles and Omni-Non-Being particles remained forever equal; however many white specks there were, there would be just as many black specks. Thus, while the Tree Universe grew infinitely, it also withered infinitely. New branches replaced old branches, and those old branches had in fact mutually annihilated with Omni-Non-Being particles. A branch detached from the Tree Universe, however, possessed no ability to convert Omni-Being particles into Being-Void. The Omni-Being particles touched by that branch continued their random fluctuations. This meant the Being-Void within the branch would not increase. Under the erosion of Omni-Non-Being particles, it would only dwindle further and further. The ultimate outcome was that the severed branch of the Tree Universe would be thoroughly annihilated in Between Being and Non-Being. The excess Omni-Being particles would shift among themselves, eventually diffusing across the entirety of Between Being and Non-Being to mutually annihilate with the previously excess Omni-Non-Being particles. Hence, Between Being and Non-Being eternally trended toward an infinite equilibrium. ... At this moment, within the branch where Yu Xian was located, a great deal of Omni-Being particles flooded in, resulting in their transformation into all kinds of bizarre matter. Like kidney stones blocking a renal tract, they threatened to pack the entire space to bursting. Meanwhile, vast quantities of Omni-Non-Being particles constantly collided with and annihilated the branch. The branch had shriveled from its formerly thick, elongated shape into something small and deceptively cute. Ninety percent of the worlds inside had already been annihilated. In the remaining worlds, countless Transcendents wracked their brains trying every possible means to save themselves. After all, watching neighboring worlds abruptly vanish before their eyes was a horror profound enough to drive anyone mad. Thus, during the first cosmic annihilation epoch of Yu Xian's immersion in cultivation, starships laden with the hopes of countless people flew out from world after world. Mounted at the bows of these ships were massive drills. Boring through the matter formed by the Omni-Being particles, the drills carved out tunnels as numerous ships fled in different directions. This was doomed to be a journey toward death; the faster the ships traveled, the closer they drew to their demise. Aboard Survival Pioneer 3, Li Xinghai lowered his head, repairing a component on the ship. This starship was a transcendent creation that required a crystal known as a "despair crystal" to operate. Despair crystals originated from jue beasts—full name: "despair beasts." Perhaps because the word "despair" was so disheartening in itself, people had gradually taken to calling them jue beasts. Jue beasts were actually monsters born from radiation emitted by whatever matter the Omni-Being particles randomly transformed into. Initially, they invaded Li Xinghai's world as otherworldly celestial demons, wreaking immense devastation on human society. Only later did humanity discover the despair crystals within these monsters' bodies, allowing civilization to slowly endure and survive. Above all, despair crystals contained an unimaginably colossal amount of energy; a despair crystal the size of a fingernail held enough energy to power their former society for a thousand years. To be honest, if several worlds they had once been in contact with hadn't suddenly vanished, many people would probably still be wallowing in the illusory bliss brought by the despair crystals. Now, however, people felt only terror—as if a gaping abyssal maw lurked in the dark, ready to swallow their world whole at any second. It was under these circumstances that humanity resolved to seek out the truth. The ship Li Xinghai piloted was merely one of many; countless more ships were pressing forward in different directions. "Captain, something's up ahead!" Just as Li Xinghai finished polishing the part, the voice of crewman Xiao Liu came from outside the captain's quarters. He got up and opened the door. Xiao Liu, dripping with sweat, blurted out, "Chains have appeared up ahead, along with an invisible wall of air! Come take a look!" "Mm, let's go!" Li Xinghai nodded and immediately headed toward the bow. Stepping onto the deck, Li Xinghai immediately saw the vast opening carved out ahead by the drill. At the end of the opening stood an invisible wall of air, with chains wound around it. Li Xinghai was a powerful superpower sorcerer. Casting a levitation spell on himself, he flew up to the wall of air and reached out, gently touching it. "Captain, that's dangerous!" Xiao Liu gasped in alarm at the sight. Li Xinghai shook his head. "This should be the spatial barrier of a special space, though it seems to be in a sealed state..." As he spoke, he glanced at a chain nearby. While he didn't truly understand the underlying principles at work, he could at least recognize a spatial barrier; his deductions were all built on that foundation. Since the space was sealed off, these chains were highly suspicious. In truth, Quan Juehua had never intended to seal the Zhen Realm for very long, nor did he fear external forces breaching it. All he had needed was a brief window of time to banish the Zhen Realm along with a certain branch of the Tree Universe directly into exile. Once banished, the Zhen Realm could never return. "Captain, do you think some archdemon is sealed inside?" Xiao Liu speculated after hearing Li Xinghai's words. Li Xinghai shook his head. "Hard to say. Stories are stories, and reality is reality. What if who's sealed inside is a savior?" "No way, Captain. If an archdemon had the power to seal a savior, why wouldn't he just kill the savior?" Xiao Liu countered. Li Xinghai approached the chain, produced a pair of iron cutters, and gave it a try before frowning. "Cut the crap and come help." "Oh," Xiao Liu promptly nodded in agreement. The two joined forces trying to cut the chain, but even when the handles of the iron cutters bent under the strain, they couldn't leave so much as a scratch on it. "All right, looks like this chain isn't ordinary. Let's try the jue iron saber," Li Xinghai said, giving up as he stared at the chain. Jue iron—unsurprisingly short for "despair iron"—was a metal harvested from certain jue beasts. It possessed a variety of miraculous properties: some types were exceptionally suited for forging weapons, while others were ideal for crafting tools. Moments later, Xiao Liu and several crew members hauled over the jue iron saber, panting heavily as they set it down. Though this jue iron saber was only one meter long, it required six people to carry it, which went to show just how heavy it was. Even though the Tree Universe had no gravity of its own, this ship of theirs needed to maintain normal gravity for certain specialized equipment to function stably, so Xiao Liu and the others simply had to bear the brunt of the heavy lifting. Li Xinghai stepped forward and looked at the jue iron saber, his expression growing solemn.