A thunderous boom split the air as a terrifying surge of blood-energy erupted from Lin Moyu, almost breaking through the isolation measures he had set. When he first advanced to the Chaos Realm, he completed ten power ascensions—a heaven-defying essence of strength, the only one of its kind in the history of the Ancient Wilds. To evade Dao's detection back then, he sealed away the bulk of that power and left. He had been too weak then and had no choice. Now, with the seals lifted, all that strength awakened like a raging beast.
He felt it clearly: once the seals came off and the hidden power slammed through him, his foundation became even more solid. His body and soul, already at the Calamity Supreme limit, edged forward by the tiniest sliver—and that almost imperceptible sliver cracked the bottleneck he'd been pressing against. Lin Moyu was startled. If his body and soul advanced one more step, they would break the limit and brush the tier of a Transcendent; even without a realm change, he could stand shoulder to shoulder with existences like Dao and the Calamity Supreme. It sounded unreasonable—because it was unreasonable, breaking world-rules. But then, a self with ten ascensions was already unreasonable. How many of his deeds have ever been "reasonable"? And what he was about to do had nothing to do with "reasonable" at all.
The instant his body and soul stirred toward a breakthrough, he sensed world-rules descend with a tinge of warning. Lin Moyu smiled: "Touched the bottom line, have I? So what." He knew heaven-and-earth couldn't really do much to him. Beyond a reflexive warning, at most it could accelerate the Calamity's schedule or cause trouble. With his arrangements, unless an entity on Dao's level came, even a Calamity Supreme would struggle to affect him—he could hold one off for a while. And heaven-and-earth had no idea how strong his body and soul really were. If pushed, he could kill a Calamity Supreme.
He immediately felt the Calamity changing—its pace sped up. As the seals fully lifted, the Calamity accelerated further, and the aura of world-rules thickened. The Hidden-Spirit Pearl was affected, its effectiveness dropping sharply. Fortunately, the Balance Gem and Domain Gem sat on a high enough tier to suffer little impact. Still, he knew this was only the first step; what came next would draw even more intervention. He was going to keep pressing the bottom line of the rules, and the rules would naturally bristle. Yet because he was the calamity-bearer, the rules could not violate themselves—beyond warnings, they could only target him through the Calamity itself.
With all seals undone, he felt the flood of bloodline power coursing. "I doubt you ever imagined I'd do this." The ten ascensions had been the Calamity Supreme's plan for him; but what followed was far beyond that man's expectations. The Calamity Supreme likely intended him to break into Calamity Supreme with an over-the-limit posture, thus drawing Dao's attention; Dao would never allow him to exist, forcing a duel likely to maim both, with a higher chance Moyu dies and Dao is badly hurt—then the Calamity Supreme could swoop in, slay Dao, and become the strongest in the Ancient Wilds. What he didn't know was that besides him and Dao, there was another hidden player—and now there was also Lin Mohan. Even newly advanced, the former Sword Sovereign's combat power was terrifying. The "yellow-sparrow" didn't know there was a hunter behind him—and now he had to face Lin Mohan's sword too. The thought amused Lin Moyu.
The nine prime domains circled him. Under his control they shrank, their power growing denser, nine blazing suns wheeling behind him—and fusion began. He drew a deep breath; the nine domains turned to streams of light and merged into his body. His form shone like glass, radiance flooding a billion miles—barely masked by the Balance Gem and Domain Gem; the Hidden-Spirit Pearl was now mostly ineffective. The Cause-Seeking Ring flashed as Lin Moyu planted the fruit: effect without cause—"I will successfully advance to Chaos Realm Perfect."
A vast backlash struck. The Cause-Seeking Ring thrummed—this fruit was hard to plant; backlash crashed like tsunamis, wave after wave. But with his current body and soul, he withstood it without strain. When the backlash ended, the fruit took root.
Crack. He heard it and glanced down: a fine fracture marred the Cause-Seeking Ring. He frowned—this was a bigger mess than expected, likely entangling Calamity Supremes or Quasi–Calamity Supremes. The ring had limits; that tier was its ceiling. When the planted fruit heavily involved that level, the ring would be damaged, even shattered. From the ring's reaction, he knew the world-rules wouldn't let him go easily. But it was fine—the ring wasn't broken; what came would be at most Calamity-Supreme tier. He could handle it.
He poured himself into domain fusion; his aura climbed step by step. Realm followed rules: he broke the wall of Great Completion and entered Perfect—Chaos Realm Perfect, the last tier of the Chaos Realm and the foundation before becoming a Calamity Supreme. Only once that foundation meets the standard do you qualify to charge the Supreme realm. Sixfold perfect-domain power is the basic ticket to attempt the Supreme breakthrough. By his reckoning, each of his domains now equaled two perfect domains—so fusing just three would qualify him. He started by fusing nine—far beyond the threshold. Back then the vaunted number one, the Calamity Supreme, had fused nine domains; Moyu's nine, each worth double, were the equivalent of eighteen, far surpassing him.
Fusion went smoothly. His body, soul, and the strength of ten ascensions easily bore the impact, his aura rising with no end in sight.
At the array's heart, the Primal Chaos Gem felt the Calamity accelerate. "He's hammering the bottom line. Someone's coming. Prepare to fight." It was for himself and for Little Tree and the others.
Moments later, space shattered billions of miles away; a vortex burst open and someone flew out—a Quasi–Calamity Supreme. Confusion flickered in his eyes, as if he didn't know why he was here. Only the Gem understood: driven by world-rules during the Calamity, all kinds of accidents happen. One moment you're in closed-door cultivation, the next a timespace corridor opens and dumps you here. And that's the basic kind of "accident"; there are many more.
The newcomer's gaze swept the expanse; a third eye opened in his brow—a compound eye, layers of pupils writhing. He pierced the Hidden-Spirit Pearl, saw Lin Moyu, and the nine domains circling him. "Nine domains—Perfect breakthrough—that bastard Calamity's heir!" he snarled, killing intent surging. With a wave, a long spear roared out like a thunder-dragon, ripping space toward Lin Moyu.
"Work time—which of you first—" the Gem began, but a golden streak had already flown. In the next instant it smashed into the spear. A booming crash—gold light reeled back, the spear was batted away. Xiao Peng had struck with his claws, opening a tiny cut. A mere scratch; it healed in a blink. He turned into pure golden light, darted faster than the rebounding spear, and in a heartbeat was before the foe, unleashing ten-thousand rays. The man paled—he hadn't expected such speed and fury. With a grunt, the compound eye spat cascading radiance, veiling him. It collided with Xiao Peng; both were hurled back, the veil shattering as Xiao Peng tumbled.
"Hit as you please—I'll mask your aura!" the Gem yelled. A phantom haze wrapped Xiao Peng: the Domain Gem wove a false pocket-space around him. With that support, Xiao Peng fought unrestrained. In the deep layers of space, he became unending gold light; by sheer speed he forced the foe onto pure defense. The man ignited flames, turning void to a sea of fire, but could not stop Xiao Peng.
Little Tree asked, "Brought here by world-rules, right?"
"Exactly," said the Gem. "The Calamity targets the master, so it dragged him here. Useless, though—master planned for it. One Quasi–Supreme can't make waves."
Chaos-Seed added, "Judging by his attributes, that's Nine-Sun Venerable of the East Extreme, yes?"
"Should be," the Gem said. "The East Extreme siblings—brother Nine-Sun Venerable is Quasi–Calamity Supreme; sister Ninth-Moon Calamity Supreme is the true Supreme. Rules pulled the brother. He's not weak, but breaching Xiao Peng's lock will be hard."
The Gem suddenly looked afar. "Some folks want to peek." Little Tree felt it too; a thicket of roots lanced through space at them. Billions of miles away, legions of insects were swarming—Gold Supreme's eyes and ears—drawn by the anomaly. He watches the Ancient Wilds with his insects, but he couldn't hide from the Gem; before they neared, they were discovered—and immediately ambushed. Interlaced roots formed a tight net and shredded the swarm.
In the South Extreme, Gold Calamity Supreme felt a mass death of his insects. He couldn't see what had happened, but sensed something big and slapped the Insect Stele beneath him. Blinding light; a giant vortex rose from the stele. Insects poured in; the vortex tunneled through the deepest chaos to the Ancient Wilds. Space-worms awoke across the Wilds, knitting wormholes for the army. These were stronger worms—bigger, farther-reaching corridors, far faster than the South Extreme's. The swarm streamed through, emerged billions of miles from Lin Moyu, dove into the deepest spatial layer, and surged toward him.
"Seems I didn't hit hard enough earlier," the Gem murmured.
"They won't get through," said Little Tree. His root-net advanced to meet the swarm. The battle erupted; insects died by the thousands under his grinding weave.
In the South Extreme, Gold Supreme felt it and scowled, killing intent in his eyes. "Who dares make an enemy of me?" He was on his last step to separate from the Insect Stele and regain freedom; he couldn't move. So he sent more swarms. It changed nothing—every batch was shredded by Little Tree. Gold Supreme saw nothing but branches and grew ever more murderous—without realizing how much the Calamity had already twisted him. Save for Lin Moyu and those beyond the Supreme tier, everyone was being nudged—thoughts and tempers shifting under the Calamity's hand.
The stele shook; a mantis-like behemoth, over a kilometer long, floated out, radiating a Quasi–Calamity Supreme aura. It entered the vortex bound for the Ancient Wilds. The South Extreme boasts the most Quasi–Supremes—born of the Insect Stele. Individually weaker than other extremes' Quasi–Supremes, but numerous; some estimate at least twelve such insect Quasi–Supremes, enough to overwhelm any single extreme. They rarely move, but this time Gold Supreme dispatched one without hesitation—likely without understanding why.
The insect Quasi–Supreme arrived, crossed the wormholes, and lunged at Lin Moyu—only to be intercepted by Little Tree. Roots wove into a net, then into myriad divine weapons, shattering the void itself. Little Tree feared no Quasi–Supreme; he might not kill it easily, but it wouldn't get through.
The Primal Chaos Gem glanced at Lin Moyu, still fusing domains. "There'll be more trouble. No telling how long he'll need. Even smooth, fusing nine domains takes time." He could feel the shifting rules; Moyu was pushing the bottom line again and again. As long as the breakthrough wasn't done, the rules wouldn't stop.
Elsewhere, space broke again; tens of thousands of Ancient Wilds behemoths roared out—Chaos Realm Great Completion and many at Perfect. They carried the distinctive aura of the Desolation Scar—clearly from there. Their wits were dull; the moment they arrived they charged Lin Moyu as if by instinctive pact.
"I'll go," murmured Chaos-Seed.
"No need," said the Gem. "The master has arrangements."