CRACK!
The deeply buried glacier split open.
A golden halo rippled from within, and a pitch-black Temple-class slowly emerged, appearing silently above the water's surface.
"Unable to..."
"Unable to contact the main body."
The sluggish consciousness gradually cleared, and the Black Temple's movements began to grow more agile.
This was a clone the Emperor had left in Antarctica, one that Lu Xing had proactively awakened before being swallowed by the black hole. Under normal circumstances, to reduce mental energy consumption, Lu Xing would not maintain the consciousness of many clones simultaneously unless the main consciousness had dissipated.
Looking at it now.
That step was a bit superfluous.
Lu Xing's [Species Iteration] ability required him to allocate his own stats to a clone for it to take effect. Regardless of whether the main body or a clone died, its allocated stats would return to the clone with the highest stats.
But now.
This clone's stats had not changed. Further below the Black Temple's awakening point was the medium-sized Honkai energy rift the Emperor had left in advance. Logically, even if it wasn't enough to restore the clone to its optimal state, it should at least have been able to revert to the Imaginary Emperor form.
Since this change had not occurred, it meant...
The Emperor's main body, which had been swallowed by the black hole and disappeared along with the hybrid Herrscher and the Mu Continent, had not dissipated directly, but existed in some form within the Quantum Sea.
The Quantum Sea couldn't even trap Chien-Chieh I-ch'eng, let alone the Imaginary Emperor who wielded seven Authorities.
The reason the main body hadn't returned immediately...
A World Bubble? A lack of energy? The hybrid Herrscher? Or some important discovery within the Quantum Sea?
No.
Based on the quantum energy's previous "actions," the Quantum Sea might let go of a "bug" like Chien-Chieh I-ch'eng, but it would not necessarily allow the Emperor's main body to move about freely.
"..."
There was no need to overthink it.
Such matters certainly couldn't be answered by speculation alone. The Black Temple only pondered for a moment before quickly giving up.
After all...
A large number of familiar Honkai Beast auras were rapidly approaching Antarctica from the northeast.
His job was to reorganize the legion.
[Your mission (Destroy a Country) has been completed.]
[Your level has increased to Lv.63 (Forced).]
[You have obtained the item [Transformation Core].]
[Your mission (Destroy a Continent) has been completed.]
[Your level has increased to Lv.66 (Forced).]
[You have obtained the item [Modification Core].]
[New mission unlocked.]
Mission: Destroy a Civilization
Reward: All stats +12, Level +4, Unlock one [Unowned Herrscher Core].
Race: Edict · Variant · Imaginary Emperor · Honkai Proxy
Level: 66
Abilities: Spiritual Perception, Heavenly Firmament Rupture, Annihilation Iron Fist, Dawnbreaker, [Aegis], Echo, [Infinity], Super Perception, [Subspace Lance], [Photon Cutting], [Species Iteration], [Atomic Breath], [Proton Scream], [Phase Shift], [Warp Drive], [Gravity Control], [Molecular Manipulation], [Thought Interference], [Universal Stagnation], [Electromagnetic Command], [Fluid Creation], [Imaginary Link], [Mimic Black Hole].
Equipment: [Radiance of the Rising Sun], [Link Core], [Transformation Core], [Modification Core]
Attack: 391 (Hyper)
Speed: 391 (Hyper)
Constitution: 391 (Hyper)
Evaluation: Savior
The Emperor had not yet opened his eyes.
There were no auras nearby that could threaten him, not even a single hostile entity. Lu Xing had ample time to feel the changes in his body.
Absorbing the "Core of the Herrscher of Flame" had only strengthened his [Molecular Manipulation] ability by "a fair bit"—the "supernatural conflagration" that had incinerated the entire quantum legion in one move was proof—and had not derived any new skills.
The two skills brought by the "Core of the Herrscher of Rock," however, had played a very important role in the previous battle:
The reason he could master [Gravity Control] and [Mimic Black Hole] so quickly was because the former stemmed from the Honkai energy halo that always followed Lu Xing—controlling gravity was already second nature to him, though only now could it be considered a true hard control skill. The latter, although a "gravity" type ability, was intricately linked to the spatial aspect, so Lu Xing could use it as easily as a fish in water.
In other aspects.
The Emperor had not grown a seventh arm... it seemed that six arms were the "limit" for this form. The only change in appearance was that the rainbow-colored crown floating above his head had gained a seventh pyramidal point and a new color.
As for the last thing—
"Destroy a Civilization."
The Emperor's eyes slowly opened. His gaze, accompanied by his Super Perception, rapidly extended towards the farthest reaches of this space!
A massive amount of information poured into his mind.
At the same time, Lu Xing discovered a problem—the quantum energy here was enormous, so exaggerated that it was even obstructing his Super Perception.
But it had not reached the "omnipresent" scale that the "Sea" should have.
That's right.
This place was not the Quantum Sea.
In the pure "Sea," nothing should exist besides quantum energy and quantum monsters. But now, the auras Lu Xing perceived, besides quantum energy, also included traces of many civilizations, fluctuations of Honkai energy, and even—
A Herrscher!
And a Herrscher Core!
The former referred to the hybrid Herrscher that had caused the previous disaster; the latter referred to a Herrscher Core that was not inside a Herrscher's body.
According to Lu Xing's understanding, this was basically a Key of God or something similar.
And this place.
A place mixed with so many "colors" could only be...
"A World Bubble."
A world that had lost its energy supply after being "pruned" by the Imaginary Tree, had likely fallen into the Quantum Sea long ago, and was now continuously decaying.
The existence of "World Bubbles" was diverse. They varied greatly depending on their state at the time of "pruning" and the length of time they had been "soaking" in the Quantum Sea.
The quantum energy here was so abundant, and the large number of quantum monsters he could clearly detect lurking in some "underground" areas, all indicated that it had been submerged in the Quantum Sea for a very, very long time.
Now.
The hybrid Herrscher was very far from him, and its "surviving" aura was not particularly strong. How to put it... after losing its "necessity" for existence, even being so close to the Quantum Sea, it had not received a corresponding replenishment.
Was the "Sea" being held back by the "Tree"?
Thinking so was far too optimistic. The greater possibility was that this unprecedented... no, unprecedented in Lu Xing's knowledge, but perhaps born countless times in other worlds, "hybrid Herrscher" had been abandoned by the "Sea."
Now, getting rid of it would be a simple matter.
Compared to the Herrscher.
Lu Xing had an even bigger question—
Through the Super Perception he had just released, he had discovered a strange yet familiar aura in this dilapidated World Bubble!