"Little Stone, I'm afraid you can't change back..."
"What? Will I always be this big?" Little Stone asked sadly. If it stayed this big, how could it play with its friends? What if it accidentally crushed them?
"Yes," Qi Ping confirmed with a nod. "Becoming a Void-Grade Life massively increases your vitality and combat power, but your body can never shrink. There is currently no spell or technique capable of compressing a lifeform of this mass and energy level. Not even an illusion can hide it."
"Oh..." Little Stone's expression was dejected, but it quickly cheered up. "That's okay! Now that I'm a Void-Grade Life, I can help Boss beat up the bad guys!"
"It's okay, Little Stone. I'm an Auspicious Beast of Providence. One day I'll become a Void-Grade Life too and stay with you!"
As the Little Immortal Tiger spoke, it transformed into its true form—a fierce tiger eighteen hundred zhang tall! Its savage aura shook the surroundings. While still small compared to Little Stone, it was no longer as comically tiny as before.
"Exactly. Becoming a Void-Grade Life is a good thing. Size doesn't matter. As long as you are strong and live a long time, everything will be fine. And once the tiger gets stronger, reaching three thousand or even five thousand zhang will be easy."
As Qi Ping spoke, he shifted his intent. A majestic spiritual manifestation five thousand zhang tall appeared in the sky, radiating boundless authority.
"As expected of the Eternal Emperor's spirit beasts! They are too powerful!"
"Unbelievable! The Emperor hasn't even made a move, and his pets are already enough to sweep the world!"
"More than sweep! That's a Void-Grade Life! A natural Primordial Stone Essence achieving that rank... its defense must be insane. Imagine the destruction if a being like that went all out!"
"Anyway, it's good news for us!"
"Stop staring! It's our turn, get to the teleportation array!"
With the appearance of Little Stone, the Tiger, and Qi Ping's manifestation, the morale of the Star-Sea Continent reached a new peak. The war mobilization continued in an orderly fashion as waves of powerful cultivators were sent to the Immortal-Slaying City. No further speeches were needed; they knew they had to get there as fast as possible.
Outside the Immortal-Slaying City was the Sea of Turbulence, which connected the various worlds and domains. Anyone entering the Star-Sea Continent had to pass through this city. Thus, it was the only gate for any invading force.
In the continent's history, the Immortal-Slaying City had seen many earth-shaking battles. Even in recent times, outsiders and beasts from the turbulence would occasionally attempt to invade. However, because of the "World Suppression," few could breach the city's barrier. Most were either driven off or captured by the continent's Void Refinement and Soul Transformation masters, becoming resources.
For instance, the Demon Blade, Bai Liyun, and Meng Tianqi had both slain Void Refinement beasts outside the gates. However, no one had ever slain a beast at the Unity stage. Even suppressed by the world, such creatures could still exert a sliver of Unity-level power, which was fatal to any Void Refinement cultivator.
Going further back, the most horrific war was the one against the demons. In that war, the Immortal-Slaying City was soaked in blood. Bodies were piled so high inside and outside the formations that there was no time to clear them; blood and flesh formed literal oceans and lakes.
Even now, looking out from the city walls, one could see bloodstains that had refused to fade over the eons, and the air was thick with lingering resentment and slaughter intent.
That war had nearly exhausted the continent's entire foundation. If the Sky-Dragon Continent and its allies hadn't struck from the rear and suppressed the top-tier demons, the Star-Sea Continent would likely be a wasteland by now.
But the price of that "help" was humiliation. After the war, the Sky-Dragon Continent took all the bodies of the fallen Star-Sea cultivators. They also forcibly seized the majority of the continent's resources, spirit veins, and cultivation heritages.
Since then, the Star-Sea Continent had become the Sky-Dragon Continent's "backyard" for harvesting. The top-tier cultivators of the higher worlds no longer looked at the scraps that remained, but they continued to harvest the remaining "fat" layer by layer. The continent had even become a training ground for their young geniuses.
Under their deliberate manipulation, the Star-Sea Continent was broken into warring factions, and historical memories were systematically erased. Only a few powers with deep roots retained some knowledge of the truth.
Having seen the complete memories, Qi Ping strongly suspected that the appearance of the demons back then was merely a "borrowed knife" used by those who feared karma and slaughter-tribulations. Once the demons did the dirty work, they could step in as "saviors," take the bodies (which were valuable resources), and strip the continent bare.
Just as they were doing now. Unwilling to face the danger of a Land Druid directly—or the karma of killing one with heavy providence—they had once again arranged for a demonic "borrowed knife."
The Immortal-Slaying City still held traces of that ancient demonic aura.
Furthermore, Qi Ping had learned a secret: shortly before that ancient war, the mysterious "Immortal" composed of black threads had descended. It was that "Immortal" who had severed the Star-Sea Continent's foundation for reaching the Mahayana stage. This was why the continent had no Mahayana-level defenses against the demons. Otherwise, given the continent's prosperity at the time, it wouldn't have been so easily overrun.
"First, they lure away the majority of the Mahayana cultivators. Then, the Black-Thread Immortal severs the path to Mahayana. Then come the demons, followed by the Sky-Dragon Continent harvesting us like livestock for eons..."
"And today, to eliminate me—a Land Druid—and the Star-Sea Continent, they've brought the demons back again."
"Considering the Druid heritage space, Elder Zhou's reincarnation, and the appearance of the Azure Dragon... what is so special about this continent? Even Little Stone accidentally became a Void-Grade Life here."
"If they just wanted us destroyed, why did they 'save' us from the demons? Was it only for the harvest?"
Qi Ping stood on the walls of the Immortal-Slaying City, looking at the ancient bloodstains and listening to the echoes of myriad spirits and slaughter in his mind. He felt that there were deeper secrets hidden here, secrets whose history had been completely scrubbed.
He suspected that a critical gap in the continent's historical records held the answer to everything.
"Thinking about it makes my head hurt. But... I'd like to see if I can take this eons-long chessboard and smash it to pieces!"
So what if they were demons? So what if there was a mysterious hand moving in the shadows?
Qi Ping was solemn, but he felt no fear. Instead, he felt a wild ambition and determination to overturn it all. His confidence didn't come from himself alone, but from the myriad spirits standing behind him.
At this moment, at the massive city walls of the Immortal-Slaying City—scarred by the blood of ages—Qi Ping stood at the very front. His deep, bright eyes stared directly into the turbulence of the Boundary Sea, where a terrifying aura was growing stronger.
Beside him stood Little Stone, the Void-Grade Life; the savage eighteen-hundred-zhang tiger; and the nearly four-thousand-zhang Azure Dragon. There were also the schools of Void-Aether Fish stirring up spatial storms.
And there were the Equilibrium Bees, radiating the aura of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. After years of preparation, these bees—which perfectly combined the attributes of space, life, and the elements—had begun to swarm in massive numbers. The golden clouds of bees following Qi Ping were a sight of terrifying beauty—a legion that could not be defeated!
The Earth-Vein Ants remained behind, tasked with stabilizing the continent's ley lines and providence.
Beyond his animal companions, there was the Demon Blade, Bai Liyun; Meng Tianqi, who had comprehended life and death; and the new Void Refinement master, the Wood Immortal Crone.
There was the Qing-God Army—over a million strong, a force of geniuses whose auras merged into one. There were the elders and geniuses of the Star-Sea Academy. There were the powerful rogue mercenaries. And there were the countless spirit beasts, each more ferocious than the last.
To Qi Ping, these weren't just numbers. Each was a living individual with a family, a dream, a specialty, and a future. He believed that among them, there were those who would become legends. He believed that even those who fell—and those working hard in the rear—would make massive contributions.
This was the source of his confidence. While he believed his own talent was world-shaking, he knew that compared to ancient monsters or "Immortals" who had lived for eons, he might not even have reached their threshold.
Relying on himself alone, he had little chance of breaking a trap that had been brewing for ages.
But he was certain that no cultivator in history had ever maximized the potential and subjective initiative of every individual as he had. He had read the histories; no one had done it.
His management skills weren't the best, nor was he particularly sensitive to policy. But he had discovered a management genius like Lin Yue and fostered a team that managed the domains with perfect efficiency.
It was the same for every profession and every path of cultivation. A large group of cultivators was already experimenting with new paths, providing Qi Ping with endless inspiration.
Qi Ping had excavated every ounce of potential the continent had to offer, allowing its people to burst with unprecedented vitality. Now, there were brilliant figures in every field, and it was their collective strength that made Qi Ping so powerful.
Being able to unearth the potential of everything around him was his unique advantage—a complex situation that even the Path of Heavenly Secrets could not calculate.
In this regard, his title as the Eternal Emperor was well-deserved. Even the most arrogant geniuses respected him from the bottom of their hearts.
Most importantly, after digging out all the potential of the Star-Sea Continent, it all returned to him.
The empowerment of being a Land Druid of the Star-Sea Nine Domains. The empowerment of the "Path of All Living Beings" derived from his subjects. For Qi Ping, every Star-Sea citizen present at the Immortal-Slaying City provided a horrifying boost to his combat power.
The prosperity of the continent accelerated his own cultivation, and the insights of the geniuses below promoted his own comprehension.
Everything and everyone had made him who he was today.
"Even a corner of the world can slay the heavens!"
This was his conviction. Regardless of victory or defeat, he wanted to see if anyone could withstand the power of myriad spirits whose potential had been pushed to the absolute limit.
Even a god or an immortal was, in the end, just one person!
As Qi Ping stood at the front, his companions and the warriors behind him felt his resolve. Their own conviction flared. For home, for the Dao—what was there to fear in this battle?
Less than half a day after the warriors had gathered at the Immortal-Slaying City, a wisp of demonic energy that crushed the surrounding space emerged from a suddenly manifest Boundary Sea channel.
And following that demonic energy was a massive, pitch-black claw...