Unlike the helplessly enraged Augusta...
Beirut and Bluefire of the Yulan branch were having a wonderful time.
Especially Beirut.
Having finally overthrown the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta, who had long oppressed him, his Sovereign body was no longer confined to the Yulan Plane.
As though making up for lost time, Beirut took Bluefire with him on a grand tour of the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes.
Moreover...
Every single time they visited another plane, Beirut would deliberately make a stop at the Light Divine Plane, using its planar teleportation array as a transfer point.
Without question...
Every Sovereign understood exactly what he was doing.
Beirut was deliberately rubbing salt into the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta's wounds.
And this was precisely the main reason Augusta had retreated to the Celestial Realm.
He was genuinely afraid that he wouldn't be able to restrain himself from smashing the infuriating Beirut to death with a single slap.
If that happened...
Even the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff wouldn't be able to save him.
Among the current six Edicts Chief Sovereigns...
On the surface, the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff possessed two defensive Overgod artifacts.
Even so...
That only allowed Orloff to offer some resistance against the Death Chief Sovereign.
Or, to put it another way...
When fighting the Death Chief Sovereign, Orloff might not even be able to fight back.
There was simply too great a gap in raw power.
As for Chief Sovereign Locke...
There was even less to say.
Who had ever seen a Deity wearing a full set of three Sovereign artifacts challenge a Sovereign?
Sovereign artifacts could make a Deity nearly invincible against other Deities.
But if such a person truly tried to challenge a Sovereign...
He would become porcelain the moment he touched one.
Likewise...
Although the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff possessed both a soul-defense Overgod artifact and a material-defense Overgod artifact...
Did he dare swagger before Chief Sovereign Locke?
Would anyone believe that Locke couldn't shatter both defensive Overgod artifacts with a single slap?
...
"It worked!"
Within the Elemental Plane...
Locke looked at the embryonic cosmic membrane resting in his palm.
It had completely become immune to the annihilating power of the Hongmeng aura.
He blinked.
For all these years...
Locke had continuously used Hongmeng aura to evolve miniature universes, deepening his understanding of the cosmos.
Who would have thought...
Before his universe had fully evolved...
The fusion of the Laws of Time and the Laws of Space would complete first.
In other words...
Locke had now completely mastered the Laws of Space-Time.
An immense power of space-time surged through his body, once again strengthening both his physique and his bloodline.
Soon afterward...
An invisible fluctuation gradually emanated from Locke's body.
It was...
The fluctuation of the Laws of Space-Time.
Dispelling the embryonic universe in his palm...
Locke turned his gaze toward the torn cosmic membrane of the Magic Universe.
Stepping forward...
He pressed one hand directly against the tear, plugging the breach with his own palm.
In the past...
Had Locke dared to touch it without protecting himself with the Laws of Space or the Laws of Time...
The Hongmeng aura would likely have annihilated him.
But now...
When the Hongmeng aura touched Locke's hand...
It was no different from striking the cosmic barrier of the Magic Universe itself.
It couldn't harm him in the slightest.
Buzz—
Invisible ripples spread outward from Locke's palm.
Instantly...
Before the Hongmeng aura even reached his hand...
It was transformed by Locke's power of space-time into one embryonic universe after another...
"So..."
"I can now enter the Hongmeng Space?"
Why had Locke originally given himself two kalpas?
Wasn't it because he believed that he might not be able to completely fuse the Laws of Time and Space within those two kalpas, forcing him to follow Linley's path instead—using the four elemental Laws of earth, wind, water, and fire to reverse-fuse Hongmeng aura and cultivate a Hongmeng Body?
Yet now...
Before copying Linley's fusion of the four elemental Laws...
Locke had unexpectedly completed the fusion of the Laws of Time and Space first...
Successfully cultivating a Space-Time Body.
Although...
It was still unknown whether the Space-Time Body or the Hongmeng Body was stronger...
Judging from the current situation...
The strength of Locke's Space-Time Body was already sufficient for him to enter the Hongmeng Space without suffering any harm from the Hongmeng aura.
Which meant...
Locke could now enter the Hongmeng Space!
Thinking this...
Locke hesitated no longer.
With one tearing motion...
He ripped open the cosmic membrane of the Magic Universe.
Then...
Taking a single step...
He left the Magic Universe.
...
Although Locke had imagined the Hongmeng Space many times...
Only after truly entering it did he realize...
That all of his previous imaginings had been far too shallow.
The Hongmeng Space was filled entirely with gray Hongmeng aura.
After entering...
Locke had assumed he would appear outside the Magic Universe, somewhere near the small world Hongmeng had created within the Hongmeng Space.
Instead...
The Hongmeng aura flowed like undersea currents.
Some currents were weak.
To the current Locke...
They felt no more than a gentle breeze brushing against his face.
Others, however...
Were like towering tidal waves.
Even Locke himself could only drift helplessly with them.
By the time Locke stabilized himself...
He discovered that he had already been surrounded by endless Hongmeng aura.
Within the Hongmeng Space...
There existed no concepts of time or space.
Locke had no way of determining how far he now was from Hongmeng's dwelling.
He remembered that...
When Linley had first entered the Hongmeng Space...
He too had become lost within it.
In the end...
Hongmeng had personally appeared to guide him back to his residence.
Now that Locke had also entered the Hongmeng Space...
He believed Hongmeng had certainly already sensed his arrival.
So...
Should he simply wait here for Hongmeng to come find him?
Shaking his head...
Locke dismissed the idea.
Within the Hongmeng Space...
Perhaps Hongmeng could guide him.
But what if...
One day he transcended even the Hongmeng Space itself and entered an even higher realm of existence?
Would he still expect someone else to guide him?
What a joke!
Hongmeng had endured nearly two thousand kalpas of solitude.
That was why he eagerly anticipated the birth of more Hongmeng lifeforms.
But...
Would a higher realm contain only a single living being?
Would the inhabitants of that higher realm all treat newcomers kindly?
Locke didn't know.
But...
He had to prepare for the worst.
Forming his palm into a blade...
Locke slashed forward through the Hongmeng Space!
Boom!
For a brief instant...
Locke resembled Pangu himself within the Hongmeng Space, once again performing the act of creating heaven and earth.
Beneath Locke's palm...
The Hongmeng aura was split apart.
The clear qi rose.
The turbid qi sank.
Afterward...
The clear and turbid qi circulated according to an incomparably profound pattern, gradually forming a faint cosmic membrane.
With this single slash...
Locke directly carved out an embryonic universe within the Hongmeng Space.
The birth of this embryonic universe...
Was like throwing a massive meteor into the Hongmeng Space.
Countless currents of Hongmeng aura instantly erupted into violent turmoil.
Layer upon layer of immense waves formed from Hongmeng aura surged forward, seemingly intent on crushing the embryonic universe Locke had created.
Seeing this...
Locke stepped directly into his newly created embryonic universe.
The moment he entered...
He suddenly discovered that an extraordinarily intimate connection had formed between himself and the embryonic universe.
It was as though...
Within this universe...
He was omnipotent.
Of course...
The scope of that "omnipotence" depended entirely upon the universe he had created.
The stronger the universe...
The more Locke would be capable of accomplishing within it.
Naturally...
No matter how much stronger it became, the enhancement provided by this embryonic universe was almost negligible for Locke himself.
Seeing the vast tide of Hongmeng aura about to crash down upon the embryonic universe...
Locke raised his right hand once more and slashed fiercely!
Boom!
The overwhelming tidal wave of Hongmeng aura was instantly split apart and shattered by Locke.
Afterward...
The shattered Hongmeng aura was absorbed by the embryonic universe Locke had created.
The universe immediately expanded by a tremendous amount.
Seeing this...
Joy welled up within Locke's heart.
Without pausing...
He continued slashing at the successive waves of Hongmeng aura crashing toward his embryonic universe.
With each slash...
The universe he had created grew larger and larger.
Very soon...
Its size had already surpassed that of the Magic Universe.
Yet...
The universe Locke had created was still only an embryonic one.
It remained a very long way from becoming complete.
Just as Locke continued shattering Hongmeng aura to create his universe...
A burly man wearing coarse linen robes stepped out from within the Hongmeng aura.
Upon seeing Locke opening a universe...
He stopped where he was.
Crossing his arms...
He watched Locke's actions with a smile.
At this point in time...
There was only one living being within the Hongmeng Space.
Hongmeng himself.
To be honest...
Hongmeng had been paying attention to Locke for a very long time.
At first...
Hongmeng had merely regarded Locke as a lifeform from a subordinate universe.
He had never believed Locke possessed any chance of transcending his universe and becoming a Hongmeng lifeform.
In Hongmeng's view...
Only lifeforms from the Primary Universe had any hope of breaking free from the shackles of their universe and becoming Hongmeng lifeforms.
After all...
The upper limit of a subordinate universe was fixed.
And even that upper limit had only been raised through Hongmeng's own intervention.
Within the Magic Universe...
A Saint-level expert was roughly equivalent to someone at the peak Tribulation or Great Ascension stage of the Primary Universe.
But upon reaching the Deity level...
One skipped past the three major realms of Celestial Immortal, Golden Immortal, and Profound Immortal...
And stepped directly into the realm of a Divine Being.
After refining a Sovereign spark...
One could even rival the Heavenly Deities of the Primary Universe.
However...
Sovereign sparks themselves had been created by Hongmeng using the origin essence of the Magic Universe.
They were not realms attainable through cultivation.
Across countless years...
Only Locke had successfully transformed his own bloodline into that of a divine beast...
And then used the power of his own bloodline to pry open the Laws of Space and Time hidden by Hongmeng within the Magic Universe...
Even if Locke had been born in the Primary Universe...
Hongmeng believed he would still have become an unparalleled prodigy capable of attaining the Celestial Exalt realm.
It was from that moment onward...
That Hongmeng began looking forward to Locke's growth.
Even if Locke eventually became a Divine King or a Celestial Exalt—super experts capable of casually destroying the Magic Universe...
Hongmeng had never considered transferring him into the Primary Universe.
Of course...
When Locke first broke through the barrier of the Magic Universe and came into contact with the Hongmeng aura...
Hongmeng had still warned him once.
Not because he feared Locke would destroy the Magic Universe...
But because, after all these years, Locke was the only being Hongmeng had ever seen who possessed any hope of becoming a Hongmeng lifeform.
Naturally...
He didn't wish to see Locke dissolved by the Hongmeng aura.
Within the Primary Universe...
There were quite a few Celestial Exalts who had completely comprehended the Laws of Time.
Hongmeng had once attempted to let those Celestial Exalts break through the restraints of the Primary Universe and enter the Hongmeng Space.
Unfortunately...
Even the strongest Celestial Exalts of the Primary Universe...
Could not survive the annihilating power of the Hongmeng aura.
At that time...
Although Locke had already completely comprehended the Laws of Time and reached the level of a Celestial Exalt...
He still wasn't capable of entering the Hongmeng Space.
Everything Locke had done within the Elemental Plane...
Hongmeng had naturally witnessed as well.
Breaking apart Hongmeng aura to evolve earth, wind, water, and fire...
Creating the embryonic form of a universe.
Then...
Using earth, wind, water, and fire to reverse-evolve Hongmeng aura.
If Locke ultimately succeeded in reverse-fusing the four elemental Laws into Hongmeng aura...
He would undoubtedly cultivate a Hongmeng Body and become a true Hongmeng lifeform.
This...
Was a path Hongmeng himself had never previously conceived.
Yet judging from Locke's methods...
It possessed an extremely high chance of allowing someone to transcend the Magic Universe and become a Hongmeng lifeform.
At that point...
Hongmeng already knew that Locke merely needed a little more time.
He would certainly complete the reverse fusion of the four elemental Laws and ultimately become a Hongmeng lifeform.
During this same period...
Linley's appearance had become another pleasant surprise for Hongmeng.
According to Locke's deductions...
The difficulty for Linley to become a Hongmeng lifeform was ten thousand times lower than Locke's.
Even so...
Compared to Linley...
Hongmeng valued Locke far more.
After all...
Although both Locke and Linley possessed the potential to become Hongmeng lifeforms...
Hongmeng had watched Locke cultivate step by step over more than fourteen hundred kalpas.
His foundation was incomparably solid.
A truly peerless genius.
Linley...
On the other hand...
Was merely an extraordinarily fortunate lucky man.
Had Locke never existed...
Hongmeng would undoubtedly have been overjoyed by Linley's birth.
But with Locke preceding him...
Linley's appearance no longer seemed nearly so significant.
Most importantly...
Hongmeng had witnessed Locke's relentless pursuit of the Dao of cultivation.
Originally...
Hongmeng believed Locke would require at least several dozen kalpas to complete the reverse fusion of earth, wind, water, and fire into Hongmeng aura.
Who could have imagined...
That as the embryonic universe continued to grow...
Locke would instead complete the fusion of the Laws of Time and Space first?
The instant the Laws of Space-Time came into existence...
Hongmeng knew...
Locke had already become his second brother.
After Locke entered the Hongmeng Space...
Hongmeng immediately left his own small world, intending to guide Locke back with him.
Unexpectedly...
When he arrived...
He found Locke already in the midst of creating his own universe.
At this moment...
Locke remained completely unaware that another person had appeared outside the universe he was creating.
Now...
He had completely merged with his newly created universe.
Each time he shattered Hongmeng aura...
The universe he had created absorbed vast quantities of it...
Driving the continued evolution of the universe.
(End of Chapter)
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