Chapter 2039: Lil Ai Enters a Deep Slumber, Changes in the Pan Gu Universe
"To answer your question, Senior Brother, we are cultivators from the Spatial Tribe," Kong Feixue said.
"The Spatial Tribe..." Chu Kuangren murmured while getting Lil Ai to analyze those people before him.
He discovered that those cultivators each possessed mysterious spatial energy inside their bodies.
'It looks like they're a tribe of beings born with the ability to control spatial energy. Furthermore, the warship they're on seems to be a very rare spatial treasure too.'
'No wonder they can traverse the Universal Void so easily.'
'Then again, even a gifted tribe like this shouldn't have its members venturing inside the Universal Void. What are they doing here?'
Chu Kuangren was a little curious.
However, he did not ask further.
He took action earlier because they protected him from the initial Great Void Wave.
Now that the crisis had been averted, he did not plan to chat with them for long.
After exchanging a few words, Chu Kuangren took out the Timespace Treasure and channeled spacetime energy into it. Within an instant, he was immediately transported far away into an unknown place.
He began traveling to the next universe.
Kong Feixue and the others were amazed.
"The treasure he has is extremely extraordinary. It seems to contain a very powerful spatial energy and another mysterious energy. Could that energy be the rumored time energy?" Kong Feixue thought.
Throughout the Infiniverse, besides the Spatial Tribe whose members could wield spatial energy like second nature, another tribe known for controlling time energy also existed. They were known as the Time Tribe.
However, members of the Time Tribe were few and far between.
Only a handful of them could be found throughout the Infiniverse.
After all, time itself was simply too mysterious.
Among the three thousand types of Great Dao, it was ranked as one of the most powerful.
"Let's continue searching for the Spatial One."
...
Chu Kuangren used the Timespace Treasure and broke through the barrier between universes. He soon found himself in a new universe, and Lil Ai was able to to connect to the Great Dao of that universe.
Time passed, and three years went by.
As Lil Ai had absorbed all of the knowledge in that universe, Chu Kuangren proceeded to head to the next universe.
The same process would then be repeated again and again.
After some years, the more universes he visited, the more knowledge he acquired. He was even fortunate enough to witness a battle between cultivators above the Primordial level once.
From there, he learned that the cultivator realm above the Primordial Realm was known as the Grand Dao Realm.
As the name implied, it meant possessing a level of strength on par with the universe's Great Dao itself.
However, unlike the Great Dao, which usually restricted the cultivators to the laws of the universe, cultivators who achieved the Grand Dao Realm would possess the right to stand on equal footing with the universe's Great Dao. It could be said that they had surpassed the control of the universe's Great Dao.
At such a level, those cultivators could be known as Transcendentalists.
Strictly speaking, if Chu Kuangren were to channel the full power of his Pocket Universe into the outside world, he would also momentarily possess the strength of a Grand Dao Realm cultivator.
Unfortunately, doing so would not be very realistic.
After all, the Pocket Universe also required the power of its universe's Great Dao to operate normally.
Hence, Chu Kuangren could not channel that Great Dao's power completely. Otherwise, the Pocket Universe would start crumbling.
Chu Kuangren was in no hurry either. Compared to those beings who had lived for millions or even billions of years, he was considered very young for his age.
He believed that someday he, too, could reach the same level as them and even surpass them.
As time passed, Lil Ai's journey to evolution was completed.
On that very day, Lil Ai had just finished absorbing all the knowledge from the Nth[1] universe.
"Master, I shall enter a deep slumber soon to consolidate all of the knowledge I've absorbed so far. I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you for the time being..." Lil Ai said, with its voice becoming softer and softer.
Soon, it fell silent.
"Lil Ai? Lil Ai?" Chu Kuangren called out to it twice.
However, he did not get any response. It seemed that it had truly gone into deep slumber.
"Alright, have a good sleep," Chu Kuangren murmured.
He was looking forward to meeting the newly-evolved Lil Ai.
"It's time for me to return too."
With Lil Ai in deep slumber, Chu Kuangren had no reason to continue venturing to any more universes. Therefore, he took out the Timespace Treasure and entered the Universal Void once again.
He then used the Timespace Treasure to find Pan Gu Universe's energy fluctuation.
The Timespace Treasure had a very handy function.
It could record all the energy fluctuations of all the universes that Chu Kuangen had ever visited, so the user would never get lost while traversing between multiple universes. That was the main reason why Chu Kuangren was not afraid of getting lost or losing his way back to the Pan Gu Universe despite having visited various other universes.
"Found it..."
Chu Kuangren found the direction back to Pan Gu Universe in no time.
...
In Pan Gu Universe, it had been twenty thousand years since the disappearance of Immortal King Chu Kuangren.
His disappearance had caused Pan Gu Universe to enter times of turmoil, especially with the return of those ancient beings.
Without Chu Kuangren's suppression, those people had become more and more active.
Immortal beings had returned to the Eastern Sea and restored Penglai Island, turning it back into a travel hub for all Immortals. On the other hand, the leader of female Immortals had returned to the Kunlun Jade Pool and regained control of her previous domain. With the Fusang Tree in hand, the Eastern Patriarch King also returned, creating a kingdom of his own somewhere in the Eastern Sea and proclaiming himself the leader of male Immortals...
Some saw Emperor Nuwa returning, reopening the Nuwa Palace in the sky and offering protection for the human race.
The Immortal Hall's Six Royals had also returned, rebuilt the Immortal Hall, and begun consolidating their strengths.
Meanwhile, Demonic Forefather Luo Hou had created a demon kingdom somewhere in the northern lands. With the revival of Demonic Dao, he began amassing his troops, setting his sights on the divine lands of the Immortal World.
The Underworld River Forefather returned to the Nether Abyss Blood Ocean and regained control of the forty-eight million Blood Divine Daoists. He also further suppressed the Ashura Tribe there, controlling the world of the Blood Ocean again.
Some also heard of the Divine Underworld Daoist who returned to the Underworld. Seeking to regain control, he engaged the Equinox Flower Hua Wuai in a tremendous battle that shook both the land of the living and the dead.
There was news of the Demonic Buddha Papiyas returning to the Desire World Sky...
Various beings whose names only appeared in ancient texts began to appear one after another throughout those twenty thousand years. It was as if Pan Gu Universe was brought back to the Ancient Immortal Era!
Besides those ancient beings of legend, many sky-prides and Prodigies of the new generations emerged continuously as well.
Disciples and cultivators of Buddhism began spreading their religion everywhere, cultivators from various Yokai Tribes displayed their influence and strengths, while the Young Overlords of the Restricted Areas also reigned supreme with dominance. Although they were not as powerful as the ancient legendary cultivators, those new Prodigies were impressive cultivators with bright futures ahead of them.
However, for the legendary ancient beings and the new sky-prides and Prodigies, there was one force they could never cross.
It was the Firmament Empire!
The Empire had since become an undeniable force in the current Immortal World.
Whether it was the newly rebuilt Immortal Hall, the Desire World Sky now with Papiyas at its command, the demonic kingdom created by Luo Hou, or the Nether Abyss Blood Ocean...
Be it the new generation or the old, every force had to keep their eyes out for the Empire.
The Empire held control over many powerful forces.
Besides the elite army of billions, there were also powerhouses such as the Black Heaven Nine Stars and the Celestial Demon Tribe. Even the legendary ancient Immortal elite would have to give way to them.
It was thanks to the Empire keeping every other force in check that the Immortal World had not been plunged into chaos.
Besides the Empire's tremendous military strength, what everyone feared the most was undoubtedly the creator of the Empire. He was a man whose name had appeared in almost every book and scripture in the Immortal World, be it in official or unofficial publications. All manner of written text in the modern era would inevitably mention his name, no matter what...
That person was none other than Immortal King, Chu Kuangren!
Despite having disappeared for twenty thousand years, his influence in the universe remained.
Even until this day, many would frequently mention his name.
It was because of that person's existence, despite being in name only at the moment, that many of the forces in Immortal World dared not act rashly!
[1] Nth is used to describe an unknown number, usually extremely huge.