"You have come from countless billions of spacetimes away to bring this to me. You have been considerate." Gu Changge nodded slightly and spoke.
"A-Alliance Leader…"
Qiluo the Sacrificial Priest's voice trembled slightly. Her whole body turned cold, her limbs icy, her scalp numb. No matter how slow her reaction, she understood at this moment.
The Lord of the Heavenly Faction and the Alliance Leader of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance… perhaps… were actually the same person.
She had actually, in front of the Alliance Leader of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, asked him to research his own secrets?
With a thud.
Qiluo the Sacrificial Priest's legs went weak, her beautiful face pale, and she directly prostrated herself on the ground. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably, no longer knowing what to say.
"P-Please… Alliance Leader… spare my life…"
Her eyes were full of terror, recalling many rumors, and also the fates of the Master of Fate, the Grand Priest of the Ancient Treasure Civilization, and others.
"Why should I spare your life?"
Gu Changge said with a half-smile.
Qiluo the Sacrificial Priest's face was deathly pale, her crimson, glossy lips trembling.
In that moment, she had already imagined a million ways she could die.
Gu Changge shook his head slightly, waved his hand casually, and a crack appeared. An indescribable great power surged out from it, enveloping Qiluo the Sacrificial Priest like a hurricane.
"During the construction of the Heaven-Slaying Platform, there is a need for splitting mountains and cracking seas. You will go help from now on."
As soon as his words fell, that hurricane swept up Qiluo the Sacrificial Priest and instantly vanished into the crack.
Now was a time when they needed people.
Although Qiluo the Sacrificial Priest had her own little schemes, Gu Changge didn't care, as she was merely an insignificant minor character.
"This current era has indeed reached its pinnacle. Great Dao Ancestor is already the limit."
"The Strength Master is a smart man; he knows that with their power, it's impossible to open up the path ahead anymore…"
Gu Changge looked at the empty hall and fell into contemplation.
The next moment, he pulled casually, and a vast, ethereal river instantly pierced through the boundless, infinite spacetime and appeared before him.
This river was incomparably vast and boundless. Calling it a river was actually more like an ocean, with countless branches like winding streams, crisscrossing and spreading like a spiderweb, connecting billions of universes and infinite spacetimes.
Within this river, it seemed as if some will was being nurtured. As Gu Changge drew it out, violent winds and monstrous waves instantly surged up, but as he pressed down with his palm, all disturbances vanished.
"The River of Fate of the Old Order Spacetime seems to have undergone subtle changes as well."
"An orderly future, where everything is predetermined. Only by birthing disorder can the future become unknown. From this perspective, the thoughts of Shen (神) are actually also correct. If the future is forever unchanging, then even a True Ancestor would be unable to once again break through their own life essence and find the possibility of advancing further…"
"Whether the Land of Truth is complete cannot be said for certain. After all, when the Land of Truth was first created, it was just modeled after the gestation and birth of the Vast Expanse. In principle, this approach is also feasible."
"After all, the Vast Expanse is a perpetually cycling, constant circle, repeating endlessly, forever in samsara, impossible to break out of this cycle. From the very beginning, the fate of the Old Order had already predetermined everything…"
"The exact reason for the appearance of the Three True Ancestors remains unknown to this day. But it was precisely after the Three True Ancestors appeared that this circle was broken…"
"The emergence of the Land of Truth, in a certain sense, is the trend of changing from order to disorder, and also a metamorphosis from the conservation of energy and matter to the explosive growth of disorder."
Gu Changge gazed at the River of Fate before him, his eyes thoughtful.
Whether it is the Old Order Spacetime or the New Cosmic Order Spacetime, theoretically, the Three True Ancestors should not have appeared.
The reason the Vast Expanse can cycle endlessly, repeating over and over, is actually because it has a constant, unbreakable law: the conservation of matter and energy.
The Vast Expanse nurtures all beings, and then extracts this energy and matter from those beings, thereby achieving a state of constant conservation.
Broadly speaking, this can be called the Power of All Beings, and it can be further refined into power of the mind, power of faith, power of fortune, the seven emotions and six desires, glory and disgrace, rise and fall…
In order to perfect the Land of Truth, so that it could truly accommodate the power of the True Ancestors, Shen (神) further extracted and condensed the Power of All Beings into two types: Immortal and Creation.
From the names alone, they actually accord with the trajectories of the old and new universal orders.
Immortal represents the eternal and unchanging, the orderly cycle.
Creation represents change and disorder, life without end.
When the Heavenly Dao Realm is pushed to its extreme, it becomes Immortal.
When the Heretic Dao Realm is pushed to its extreme, it becomes Creation.
The Strength Master said that Creation Substance and Immortal Substance are the mediums for them to comprehend the Authority of the Heavenly Dao. That is not entirely wrong, but it is also not completely right.
Creation Substance and Immortal Substance can indeed enhance the cultivation of Dao Realm cultivators, but in essence, it is just like cultivators absorbing heaven and earth spiritual energy.
And those at the True Path level who wield the Authority of the Heavenly Dao have already reached the stage where they need to comprehend the essence of heaven and earth spiritual energy, and even shape it themselves. This is a transformation from nothingness to existence.
Even the World Lord, who controls the Authority of Creation, cannot do this, because it breaks the laws that exist within the Vast Expanse.
And comprehending the Heavenly Dao is actually comprehending the innate 'Heavenly Nature' within all beings of the Vast Expanse. This 'Heavenly Nature' is contained within the Power of All Beings. The Power of All Beings comes from all beings; heaven and earth nurture them, and they in turn nourish heaven and earth, thus forming a self-contained cycle.
What the Authority of the Heavenly Dao that the Strength Master and others control lacks is precisely this 'Heavenly Nature'. After the Heavenly Dao's Will became a puppet, this 'Heavenly Nature' was sealed and erased by the Three True Ancestors.
Therefore, no matter how much the Strength Master and others study and comprehend, it is impossible for them to gain insight into the Heavenly Dao from the Authority they control.
As for the Heretic Dao, it is because the King of Anomalies that would have emerged in the New Cosmic Order Spacetime has already been erased by the Three True Ancestors. Before an existence surpassing the King of Anomalies is born, the path of the Heretic Dao is also blocked.
At present, this is the situation of the Vast Expanse.
Unless Gu Changge is willing to expend countless Creation Substances and Immortal Substances to help the Strength Master break through, they will essentially never be able to advance any further in their lifetimes.
But Gu Changge obviously would not do such a wasteful thing.
The Grand Plan to Slay Heaven is only an extremely critical component of his plan. He never thought that relying on the power of the current Vast Expanse could shake the Land of Truth, let alone accomplish his ultimate scheme.
It is no exaggeration to say that even if all the forces in the current Vast Expanse were combined and made a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times stronger, they still could not significantly impact the Land of Truth.
"If the Vast Expanse wishes to evolve, the best way is still blood and chaos, to welcome a new life amidst catastrophe, break the Heavenly Nature, and extend the path ahead."
"The Ancient Treasure Civilization has been slow to make a move. Then I will force your hand."
The next moment, Gu Changge shook his head slightly and released the River of Fate of the Old Order.
His figure flickered, the void before him split open, and endless spacetime shattered. He arrived at a place that no being of the Vast Expanse could ever reach.
This place was without law, without heaven, without constraints, without rules, without Dao, without traces, without karma. It was like a profound and vast transcendent pre-innate land that did not exist throughout past and present and would be noticed by no existence.
To be precise, the concept of size no longer existed here. It was impossible to know where its boundaries lay.
Even chaos could not fill this place.
Within the Vast Expanse, it was utterly impossible for any living being to reach here.
Even an existence as powerful as the Strength Master would feel oppressed and terrified here, as if constantly being watched by some indescribable, unfathomable deep gaze.
Here, one would be as tiny and insignificant as an insect. If they stayed too long, their mind would surely collapse and shatter.
After arriving, Gu Changge strode directly toward the deepest part of this place.
Just how deep was the deepest part here?
This 'depth' was already an existence beyond concepts; the moment you think about it, you are wrong; the moment you consider it, you are mistaken. Only Gu Changge could comprehend it.
In the deepest part of this region, a terrifying will slumbered. Seen from afar, it looked like a glowing golden cocoon, brilliant and resplendent. Its radiance was as dazzling as the sun, shining upon every area. At the edges, one could see thread-like tendrils penetrating through the void, extending into the deeper spacetimes far away.
Each tendril seemed capable of connecting to a Super Multiverse. Countless tendrils extended out from this region, simply beyond counting.
Fate, karma, years, spacetime—any concept or substance before these tendrils was like foam or flowing water, evaporating at the slightest touch.
Gu Changge watched this scene from afar, frowning slightly.
The Heavenly Dao's Will has no physical form, nor any concrete concept. However the world imagines it, that is what the Heavenly Dao's Will will appear as. It changes with the person, and the 'Heaven' in each heart is different.
Even at this moment, what appeared before him was merely a drop in the ocean, the tip of the iceberg, of the Heavenly Dao's Will.
The Heavenly Dao's Will was still in slumber. What was manifesting now was only the size of a portion of its conceptual materialization.
Yet even with just this portion, it effortlessly maintained the operation of the countless universes and trillions of spacetimes in the Vast Expanse, restraining all fate, karma, and matter.
Gu Changge raised his hand and pressed forward. This region immediately came under immense pressure. One after another, the tendrils began to writhe, as if sensing a threat, and started coiling toward him.
Before these tendrils, an existence like the Strength Master would be pierced through in an instant and couldn't even flee for his life.
"If not now, when will you awaken?"
Gu Changge's gaze was profound. He did not resist, merely standing in place, allowing these tendrils to pierce toward him.
Sssss…
However, as these tendrils were about to touch his body, it was like accumulated snow encountering a blazing sun. Instantly, a sizzling sound like hot water poured on oil rang out.
All the tendrils started to dissipate at a visible speed, then began to retreat. An emotion of fear suddenly filled this boundlessly vast, infinitely huge region.
Soon, that cluster of light, blazing like the sun, like a cocoon, seemingly both material and immaterial, both substantial and void, began to continuously contract, as if about to collapse. The tendrils extending to the infinite spacetimes all around also continuously retracted, converging toward it.
The next moment, a terrifying, majestic supreme will gradually emerged from this mass of light.
Then within it, one after another, shifting faces seemed to twist and manifest, with the voices of the myriad spirits of heaven and earth, billions of races, and infinite civilizations buzzing and resounding.
As if it had been provoked and offended.
A ferocious emotion of rage swelled and surged in this indescribable region.
Gu Changge smiled faintly. A crack appeared before him; even a power as strong as the Heavenly Dao's Will could not prevent this crack from forming.
At the moment those furious wills turned into countless even sharper tendrils and pierced toward him, he stepped into that crack and vanished.
At the same time, across the Vast Expanse, countless worlds and universes seemed as if they had been struck by some terrifying will of rage.
Between heaven and earth, the sound of wailing ghosts and howling wolves rang out. In many regions, explosions rarely seen throughout history occurred, and world after world crumbled and disintegrated.
Heaven and earth were like a painting scroll, but now that scroll was burning bit by bit, collapsing, melting away, revealing a terrifying void.
"What is happening?"
Countless living beings and cultivators were terrified. Regardless of their level, they all felt that heaven-and-earth-fury-like aura.
In the Land of the Nine Heavens, the feeling was even more profound. Continent after continent cracked and crumbled. Void flames appeared between heaven and earth, spreading from unseen spacetimes. Some fierce anger pierced through, shattering the places that sealed the Heavenly Avatars.
Originally, outside the Land of the Nine Heavens, there were layer upon layer of seals that isolated it from the outside world. But now, a terrifying, unknown storm descended, instantly tearing those seals to shreds, turning them into dust.
"The Heavenly Tomb of the Ninth Heaven that sealed a Lesser Heavenly Avatar has exploded…"
In a towering, majestic city like a star, a being stood on the tall city walls, looking at the distant scene of heaven and earth quaking, his eyes filled with horror and trembling.
From where his gaze ended, it seemed like the edge of heaven and earth, where endless mountain ranges and vast lands lay. But now, it was as if a great earthquake had struck. Terrifying rifts spread in all directions, and from those cracks, immeasurable light erupted, multicolored radiance in millions of rays, and auspicious mists in billions of strands.
Blurry figures were about to charge out from the depths, like undying heroic spirits, or like warriors that could not be erased through the ages.
"I am Chengtian…"
An ancient, weathered voice came from beneath that ground, vast and supreme, containing a terrifying will that overlooked countless billions of beings and transcended all rules.
The moment this voice appeared, it pressured all beings and cultivators to kneel and prostrate themselves, unable to even think of resisting.
In the ground crisscrossed with countless massive fissures, buzzing sounds still echoed. Thick beams of light, so powerful that they could pierce through a Supreme True World, shone out from within, as if about to completely warp and tear apart the seals once inscribed by many former sages of the Palace of Fate Defiance.
At this moment, the Land of the Nine Heavens was in an uproar, falling into complete chaos.
"What is going on?"
In the First Heaven, the Eternal Life Dao Lord, who was seated at the center of the great hall, had a drastic change in expression. He instantly stood up and then looked down over the First Heaven, his eyes full of disbelief.
The Gravekeeper guarding the entrance to the Land of the Nine Heavens had been injured in the last great battle with the Dark Clans, but was now almost fully recovered.
"This is bad, the seals are continuing to shatter…"
He appeared in the Ninth Heaven, which was constantly collapsing and splitting, his expression extremely solemn.