First Contact

To be honest, the sight beyond the heavens utterly shattered the two brothers' fantasies of the Immortal Realm. It turned out the world was not a dome of sky over flat earth, but rather a durian-shaped sphere; those legendary mountain peaks were merely individual spikes protruding from its surface. Nor did the sun and moon revolve around the earth. Instead, the sun and moon orbited one another, while their durian world threaded between them. Farther off lay countless stars that swayed left and right like skipping ropes, not even circling the world at all. The two of them were like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, overwhelmed and dazzled, their worldview shaken to its core. Even so, they quickly recovered their wits and continued exploring deeper into the distance. On one hand, they needed to find the invading Heavenly Demon; on the other, they sought the legendary Immortal Realm. Indeed. Even though the world beyond the skies brought a sense of disillusionment, they remained firmly convinced that the Immortal Realm truly existed. In fact, their will expanded outward at extraordinary speed, sweeping past countless stars in the blink of an eye. These stars were exceedingly tiny—the smallest being only the size of a baseball—yet radiated intense radiation that carried their glow across vast distances. Many of these stars were household names among mortals, yet their true forms proved astonishingly miniature. Naturally, no immortals dwelt upon them. Chen Dahai and Chen Huohai gradually lost interest in the stars, accelerating the spread of their perception in all directions. Elsewhere, Quan Juehua's avatar stepped into this world and immediately spotted a small, orange-red star. "The Blazing Bubble Star... Is this a high-end replica world?" Quan Juehua mused inwardly as he studied the celestial body bearing resemblance to the Blazing Bubble Star. Across the myriad worlds of the universe, there were many "template" worlds—such as the Milky Way familiar to humanity, featuring Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and so on, which any human would recognize at once. The "Blazing Bubble Star" belonged to another template world. That realm bore some similarity to the Milky Way, differing only in its planets. For example, the planet corresponding to Pluto was an orange-red world, hence its name: the Blazing Bubble Star. Quan Juehua had once resided in such a world for a very long time—roughly fifty thousand years—so the moment he saw that familiar glow, he recognized it. The trouble was... Calling this world a "high-end replica" was far too generous a compliment. The genuine Blazing Bubble Star was actually slightly larger than Pluto and glowed orange-red due to an abundance of metallic elements. In certain worlds, Transcendents would even refine the Blazing Bubble Star directly into a dharma treasure or weapon, giving rise to alternative names like the Blazing Cannon Star or Blazing Star Cannon. Yet the Blazing Bubble Star in this world was merely the size of a basketball, composed entirely of a kind of transcendent metal whose tremendous radiation produced its glow. Quan Juehua was certain that if an ordinary mortal were directly exposed to it, their cells would dissolve into liquid within a second. Next, he turned his gaze toward another celestial body several light-years away, left momentarily at a loss for words. That one was the size of a rugby ball, likewise gleaming. Well-traveled and experienced as he was, this was unquestionably the crudest imitation of a world he had ever seen. A high-end replica? Hardly! This was a cheap knockoff. No—an ultra-cheap, bottom-tier knockoff! Quan Juehua narrowed his eyes, then chuckled. "Come out, or I will destroy this world!" This world was by no means ownerless; it had to have been born alongside a Creator God, or such coincidences could never occur. In truth, the vast majority of such worlds originated from ownerless faith. Living beings across the myriad realms were too numerous to count, and creatures in countless worlds worshiped so-called "gods." The problem was that much of that faith lacked a genuine recipient; simply put, the gods they worshiped did not exist at all. When a world was destroyed, adrift wisps of ownerless faith would float through the Tree Universe. If powerful figures clashed and caused massive ripples, many strands of faith would coalesce. Time was the ultimate catalyst. Over vast eons, this colossal faith would merge with the spatial forces of certain regions, eventually giving birth to a world accompanied by a "Creator God." The two were fundamentally one and the same, much like a Transcendent and their lifebound dharma treasure—rising together and falling together. Within the world, the Creator God wielded absolute dominion; so long as an act did not exceed the limits of their power, they were virtually indistinguishable from a divine spirit. "Still hiding? Then I shall destroy this world!" Quan Juehua waited a moment. Seeing that the master of this realm had not appeared, malice welled up from him. Though he was merely an avatar, annihilating a world was hardly difficult—especially one as frail as this Minor Thousand World. Yet just as his malice surged, a timid, feeble voice rang out: "Wait!" A slightly chubby young girl with sky-blue hair appeared, her face pale with terror. Though she had shown herself, she trembled violently all over, clearly having witnessed the grim fate of her neighbors. Many of those neighboring worlds had possessed Creator Gods as well—some countless times stronger than her. Those Creator Gods had treated her kindly and taught her many things. She had designed this world by modeling it after the realm of an elder sister among them. Weak as she was, crude imitation was the best she could manage, but she had been thoroughly content with it. "I... I surrender. May I?" The little girl's lips parted, and only after a long pause did she ask in a faint whisper. Quan Juehua looked disappointed. "Not you. It seems to be someone else." Even as he spoke, he struck out with a palm directly toward the young girl. He had assumed the energy his true form detected belonged to the Creator God of this world, but upon seeing her, he was certain she was not the opponent he had sensed. In that case, there was no reason to spare the little creature. "Stop!" "Stop!" Before Quan Juehua's palm could reach the girl, two wills descended in an instant. Had the strike landed on her, she likely would have detonated on the spot. Fortunately, Chen Dahai and Chen Huohai intervened simultaneously, slamming their intent directly into Quan Juehua. After all, Quan Juehua was only using an avatar. Caught off guard, his form was struck by both wills at once; unable to hold itself together, it instantly blew apart. Not good! Chen Dahai moved at once to shield the little girl, while Chen Huohai swiftly enveloped Quan Juehua's shattered remains with his will. A moment later, both felt a familiar aura. Within Quan Juehua's detonated body, aside from a single strand of hair, there was power akin to that extracted from Su Wanniang. Indeed, this power was even more concentrated, sinister, and ominous than what had plagued her. Only in this moment did realization strike them. The source. It was right here!