Lunarstar sat in a dim hallway, all by himself.
He raised the wine glass in front of him and took a small sip. Wu Ming has become a cosmic legend.
I've always wanted to be friends with Wu Ming from the day he became an Origin lifeform, Lunarstar thought, his gaze fixed on the endless cosmos beyond the planet. I knew he was incredibly talented and impressive. Even though I was the heir to the throne, I never dared to underestimate him.
Even when I became the emperor, I never did anything to jeopardize my relationship with him. But who could have guessed that he would become corrupted? He went mad!
He contacted me directly and publicly executed my brother. Lunarstar poured himself another glass of wine. As the emperor, what was I supposed to do? Could I just ignore it after watching my brother be killed in front of me? And then be threatened with my own execution in public?
If I had turned a blind eye, I would have been laughed at by the entire universe, what would have happened to my dignity as the emperor?
Lunarstar felt bitter.
He had always wanted to avoid becoming enemies with Xu Jingming, and he thought of ways to resolve any differences. But things took a turn for the worse when Xu Jingming killed his brother and publicly threatened him. As the emperor, Lunarstar had to defend the dignity of the royal family and retaliate!
"For the dignity of an advanced civilization's royal family, I had to strike back. The three royal families stood behind me," Lunarstar said. "Despite this, the Supreme Court barely punished Wu Ming at all!"
"After that, I still avoided him and never made things difficult for him."
"Everyone thinks we're enemies," Lunarstar said with a hint of mockery. "They believe that if someone designates you as their enemy, then you are enemies."
Lunarstar murmured, "But from the beginning to the end, I've tried to avoid becoming enemies with him. But fate just keeps pushing you forward."
"I never believed in fate before, but now… I have to." Lunarstar shook his head.
Lunarstar was a highly talented member of the royal family, rising to the rank of Lv. 10 Origin lifeforms within 3,000 years. He was careful in his actions, but his brother was not. In fact, there were many profligate sons like his brother in the three royal families and many large families.
"There are many vermin in the many large families in the universe. Can Wu Ming manage them?"
"Wu Ming just happened to cross paths with my brother. If he wasn't corrupt, he wouldn't have gone crazy like this."
"Who would've thought… I'd end up being the victim in all this after he was corrupted by high-dimensional powers." Lunarstar poured himself another glass of wine.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a figure appeared out of nowhere—it was the former emperor, Maxon.
"Ah, Senior Maxon," Lunarstar looked up at him and smiled. "The Royal Elder Council must think highly of me."
"The Royal Elder Council has already appointed a new emperor," Maxon said. "Lunarstar, you know what you need to do."
"I understand," Lunarstar replied with a smile. "I will abdicate willingly and explain that I need to focus on my evolutionary path. Is there a deadline for my abdication?"
"One year," Maxon said.
Lunarstar nodded slightly. "Understood."
"The Royal Elder Council was also in a tough position," Maxon explained. "You should understand."
"The strongest cosmic legend of this era, who is most likely to be on par with the three Paramounts in the future." Lunarstar nodded. "The Royal Elder Council's decision is justified."
Lunarstar looked at Maxon. "Senior Maxon, I have always tried to avoid being enemies with Wu Ming. I didn't want to hold a grudge against him, but now, here I am. Why do you think this happened?"
Maxon was shocked. "If you insist, it's because you didn't handle things well."
"Handle things?" Lunarstar scoffed. "My brother became enemies with Wu Ming before he even became an Origin lifeform. Who could've predicted that? And his ruthless methods of recruiting talents—is that considered a problem in the universe?"
"My brother was greedy, but how many scions of large families aren't greedy? If I had to manage all the greedy people in the royal family, I probably wouldn't be able to hold onto my position." Lunarstar shook his head.
Maxon fell silent.
Yes, under Lunarstar's rule, the Primestar civilization remained very stable because Lunarstar didn't cause problems for others.
"I was very careful with every step, but here I am." Lunarstar stood up. "The only explanation is fate, right?"
Maxon watched as Lunarstar left and said slowly, "In the river of fate, many people are like fish that have to go with the flow. As for Wu Ming, he's a giant on the shore. He can cut off the river of fate and even change it."
"Change fate?" Lunarstar stopped in his tracks and scoffed. "Legend has it that third-realm high-dimensional lifeforms have mastered time and space, the past, the present, and the future. They have mastered karma and fate. Wu Ming alone can master fate? Is he worthy?"
"To us, he can already control our fate," Maxon said.
Lunarstar was shocked. "That's right. He can already decide our fate."
Lunarstar left and vanished from the hall.
…
Earth, in the courtyard of the old residence.
"Huh?" Xu Jingming looked at the latest news on the projection. "Lunarstar wants to focus on the evolutionary path and has chosen to abdicate?"
"He's abdicating?" Li Miaomiao, who was busy peeling an orange, looked up in surprise. "The position of emperor of an advanced civilization comes with a ton of resources. Usually, they'll hold onto the throne for tens of thousands of years. How long has he been emperor for?"
Xu Jingming chuckled.
"Is this because of you, Jingming?" Li Miaomiao guessed.
"To be honest, I couldn't care less about Lunarstar," Xu Jingming replied.
"But everyone thinks that you do!" Li Miaomiao pointed out.
Xu Jingming gave his wife a knowing smile. "Miaomiao, you're not easily swayed anymore."
Li Miaomiao smiled back. "I can finally see your influence. After you broke through, all the factions in the cosmic human race paid close attention to your movements. Of the top 17 factions, many of them changed their recruitment rules. Lots of big families worked hard to patch things up with our Xu family. And those who had grudges with us… Well, they all met untimely ends without us even lifting a finger."
"The stronger an individual is, the more influence they have on the world," Xu Jingming explained. "It's like how the three Paramounts completely dictate the rules and order of the entire cosmic human race or how the existence of the Void Celestials imperceptibly affects all the species in the universe."
"I'm still a long way off from their level," Xu Jingming added.
"Your goal is to reach their level?" Li Miaomiao laughed.
Xu Jingming was momentarily stunned, then chuckled. He gazed off into the distance, toward the auxiliary universe he had discovered.
Suddenly, a figure appeared out of nowhere, and he realized it was a clone of himself, dressed in a black robe.
Thanks to his mastery of Heart Realm Force, Xu Jingming was able to create clones of himself with ease. Each clone required a large amount of Heart Realm Force to maintain, and the one he had just created had drained more than half of his own supply.
After becoming a cosmic legend, I can properly explore the auxiliary universe. Xu Jingming quickly passed through the high-dimensional door and entered the dark void passageway of the auxiliary universe. Flying down the passageway, he recognized the fiery-red world he had visited before.
Boom! Boom!
In the fiery-red world, the ground shook as countless volcanoes erupted, spewing lava into the air. The cosmic fruit trees were barren, their fruit all gone.
Whoosh.
He took a step and passed through the fiery-red world, heading toward the patterned stone pillar.
These pillars were an impressive 1.6 light-years tall, easily piercing through the entire solar system. Xu Jingming examined them as he approached, trying to uncover their secrets.
He knew that their 1.6 light-year height was only how they appeared in the low-dimensional universe.
He delved deeper, able to understand the true patterned stone pillar. Its composition was infinitely more complex and vast than the Heavenly Python scales.
From this, Xu Jingming could infer that the monster was infinitely stronger than the high-dimensional Firstborn realm Heavenly Python.
High-dimensional objects are always intricate and heavy. Xu Jingming walked up to a broken patterned stone pillar, which seemed to extend endlessly. He reached out and touched its surface.
Buzz~~~
As soon as he touched it, a flood of high-dimensional information hit Xu Jingming's mind and consciousness. But Xu Jingming—who had reached the Heart Lotus realm and mastered the Heart Realm Force—was more than capable of facing the true projection of Master of the Abyssal Void, let alone this information.
I see it. Xu Jingming's Heart Realm Force quickly allowed him to glimpse the true projection of the behemoth.
It was a massive upright monster, covered in black flames that turned its entire body black.
How big is it? Xu Jingming tried to determine its size with his Heart Realm Force, but it was difficult without a reference. All he knew was that it was enormous.
Taking a step forward, Xu Jingming headed for the other patterned stone pillars. The repulsive force of the intact ones was terrifying, but Xu Jingming was like an illusion, unaffected by the force as he easily walked to one of the intact pillars.
That monster is already dead, so the power of this auxiliary universe fragment will naturally decline. These patterned stone pillars will become weak, like water without a source. Xu Jingming reached out to touch the pillar.
Buzz!
The scene Xu Jingming now 'saw' was different. The massive monster loomed before him, its mouth wide open and seeming to go on forever, like an endless abyss. And as he watched, a celestial body that was more than a hundred times larger than the monster flew straight into the monster's waiting jaws.
Transforming into an abyss and devouring high-dimensional celestial bodies? Xu Jingming thought to himself as he walked to the next patterned stone pillar and touched it.
Only the projections of the monster remained on the collapsed patterned stone pillars.
On the intact patterned stone pillars, Xu Jingming saw different scenes of the monster devouring celestial bodies, tearing apart enemies in high-dimensional space, releasing flames that swept through everything, and even releasing an abyss-like domain.
Or in one scene, the monster was sitting quietly, surrounded by 3,000 small figures of light.
As Xu Jingming touched each pillar, he became more and more familiar with the monster but also more and more shocked by its power.
Suddenly, in the middle of the 36 patterned stone pillars, a pair of eyes opened in the palace. They silently watched Xu Jingming's every move.
That punk is here again.
Master, he's sensing your aura and tracing the remnants you left in spacetime… The eyes watched without any intention of stopping Xu Jingming.
