đź“– Chapter 1214 - Ji Wuzi!
“Less than twenty…” Wang Baole frowned slightly. Then, he glanced at Little Fifth, who was helping First Senior Sister and the old ox hold down Little Donkey. No longer speaking, he instead sent a voice transmission to the Flame Patriarch.
"Master, have you ever heard of a Black Earth Empire?"
"Hm?" The Flame Patriarch pupils instantly contracted.
"Baole, where did you hear about the Black Earth Empire?"
“I heard about it by chance. Is that strange?”
“It’s not just strange… The Black Earth Empire did indeed exist. It was located in the Never-Ending Holy Region, and was considered quite powerful. Its emperor was even a Universe Realm expert. Back in the day, he ignored the Never-Ending Clan’s orders, withdrew from the alliance of factions, and went independent. However…” The Flame Patriarch looked deeply at Wang Baole before continuing.
“At that time, the Never-Ending Clan had just defeated the Underworld Sect. Moreover, Patriarch Never-Ending personally moved out and killed the Black Earth Empire’s emperor and ordered the Heavenly Dao to erase all traces of the empire’s existence. All memories of the Black Earth Empire disappeared from everyone’s minds. Only after obtaining Universe Realm battle prowess would their memories return; for example, I regained my memories of it a long time ago.
“But… how could you know about it? Even if someone else told you, your previous self was too weak. With your cultivation back then, you should have forgotten as soon as you heard it… It should be impossible for you to know the name of the Black Earth Empire.”
As soon as he heard the Flame Patriarch’s words, Wang Baole’s eyes narrowed, and he gave Little Fifth another glance. The words Little Fifth had spoken when they first met came to mind, as well as… the Eternal Star Realm stoneman ancestor in a remote region on the outskirts of the Divine Eye Civilization.
Although the stoneman ancestor seemed to have let him off back then on account of Chen Qingzi, Wang Baole had always held some doubts. He seemed to recall… the stoneman reacting to Little Fifth as well.
“Interesting… Master, this disciple is heading out to verify something.” After thinking for a while, Wang Baole spoke up. He could tell that his master hadn’t discovered Little Fifth’s identity. If even the Flame Patriarch couldn’t recognize Little Fifth, then there should be almost no one in the Never-Ending Dao Domain who could.
Wang Baole had previously guessed that Little Fifth had a strange and impressive background, but he never expected things to be like this. Thus, although his true body remained in place, a clone suddenly appeared outside the solar system. In the blink of an eye, it departed from the Federation into the depths of the starry sky.
The Flame Patriarch instantly noticed the departure of Wang Baole’s clone, as did… Little Fifth, who was holding Little Donkey down with a proud look on his face. At that moment, his body suddenly trembled, and his proud expression was replaced by a hesitant look. He glanced outside the solar system, as if feeling a little guilty.
Meanwhile, out in the starry sky, Wang Baole’s clone was shuttling through the void at an astonishing speed, each step causing the starry sky to shudder. The conflicting natural and magical laws caused by the battle between Heavenly Daos caused almost all cultivators to experience some degree of suppression, but Wang Baole was completely unaffected.
His cultivation base was extremely high, and his body already formed an independent universe. Moreover, be it the Underworld Sect’s Heavenly Dao or the Never-Ending Heavenly Dao, Wang Baole’s body contained laws from both. It could even be said that the laws inside Wang Baole’s body were the fusion of both Heavenly Daos. Thus, no matter how chaotic the starry sky became, he would remain in perfect condition.
Moreover, although no one could detect his figure, the aura of inexorable might coming off his body couldn’t be fully restrained. Wherever he passed, all living beings paled and trembled in horror.
Even the stars in the sky seemed to dim when Wang Baole passed, and their burning flames weakened in his presence. At the same time, inside the Nine Provinces Dao headquarters, the secluded Patriarch Nine Daos suddenly opened his eyes and looked out at the starry sky.
He could sense the fluctuations of Wang Baole’s clone. It was as if a bright torch had appeared in the dark wilderness. This was… Universe Realm battle prowess.
At this level, each and every move would tug on the Heavenly Dao, and it was impossible to hide from others at an equivalent level. This was because the power involved was far too great. It was similar to creatures struggling in a spider web. If a fly was caught, it wouldn’t cause too many ripples. On the other hand, if a bird flew into the web… As long as the web didn’t break, the disturbance caused by the bird’s movements would be enough to turn the whole world upside down.
Patriarch Nine Daos fell silent, eyes flickering with a gloomy light.
There was envy, jealousy, ferocity, and even malice in his gaze, but in the end he suppressed it all and went back to meditating calmly.
Wang Baole’s expression remained neutral. He naturally sensed Patriarch Nine Daos’ gaze, but he just ignored it. All of this takes a long time to describe, but from the moment he left the solar system until now, merely a few breaths of time had passed.
A moment later, as Patriarch Nine Daos retracted his gaze, Wang Baole appeared in the Divine Eye Galaxy’s original location. This formerly bustling place was now an empty void. After the Divine Eye Civilization left, no life remained here.
Wang Baole just glanced around once before raising a foot and disappearing on the spot. When he reappeared… he was already in the place where he encountered the stoneman ancestor back then.
Upon his arrival, a strange light appeared in Wang Baole’s eyes. This place was different from before. No living things could be sensed, and all Wang Baole could see were ruins.
There were no stonemen here, only endless rubble of planets and asteroids.
Previously, there had been a dying Eternal Star here, which belonged to the Eternal Star Realm stoneman ancestor. But now, that Eternal Star had long disappeared, or to be more precise, it had been reduced to cosmic dust floating through the starry sky.
Watching everything from a distance, Wang Baole unleashed his Dao aura and swept past the rubble. He could sense the passage of time here. This place… had been destroyed for at least a hundred thousand years, maybe even longer.
“Then what happened back then…” Wang Baole narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
“An illusion? Probably not. In that case, there’s only one possibility. What I saw was indeed real, but… for some reason, time and space were distorted, causing me to see a scene of long ago, before the stoneman ancestor and this place were destroyed.
“The stoneman ancestor knew about Chen Qingzi, so Chen Qingzi must have already been famous back then. The Black Earth Empire most likely still existed, too. There shouldn’t be anything too strange about this…” Wang Baole’s eyes flickered. If it was just a distortion in spacetime, viewing a scene of the past, then that wasn’t anything particularly surprising. However, he clearly remembered speaking with the stoneman ancestor back then, and he also… obtained precious materials that he later used for his battleship.
The conversation was real.
The materials were also real.
Looking at it from this perspective, the matter back then was incredibly shocking. It involved the great Dao of Time, the same Dao that formed the foundation for Wang Baole’s Ebbing Time. A divine ability that could bring things from the past into the present… was a Daoist magic that surpassed even Ebbing Time!
When his train of thought reached this point, Wang Baole’s eyes narrowed. Rather than the profundities behind the event, the more important thing was the catalyst that caused it to happen.
The answer was obvious.
Closing his eyes, Wang Baole recalled his first meeting with Little Fifth, on a nameless asteroid in a distant place.
“What’s your name?”
“The national symbol of my Black Earth Empire is a parrot, so my father named me Ji Wuzi. Daddy, you can just call me Little Fifth.”
- “Wu” means five. ↩