Chapter 543 - 499: Arriving at the Abyss of the End
Bertutan and Huang Ji floated before a new Teleportation Vortex, one behind the other.
"How quickly time passes. Even after more than a hundred thousand years, Bertutan still remembers the planetary layout of the First Civilization Cosmic Country by heart."
"It’s certainly efficient with you leading the way."
Huang Ji quipped.
The journey was mind-numbingly dull.
There wasn’t even a single creature to liven things up.
The goddess Amonev and her sister remained completely hidden, not uttering a single word, so they certainly weren’t good conversation partners. Candela and his follower were lurking in the rifts of time, essentially outside this timeline; they could only listen in, unable to communicate. Uncle Tian, who opposed her at every turn, radiated a deathly aura that made one’s skin crawl. Only this Light of Enlightenment, the former Divine Lawbringer, was available for some conversation to drive away the loneliness of traversing this dead silence.
"Heh heh heh."
Bertutan let out the chuckle of a wise elder.
"The wisdom of the gods is infinite, and as a Divine Lawbringer, one must naturally draw infinitely closer to them. This is the most direct route. In another three days, we can teleport from the edge of this Tomb Star Realm to the core of the Divine Country."
Huang Ji’s gaze passed through the vortex, landing on the ruins and remains beyond. "This sight... it really brings back memories."
"Thinking of revisiting old haunts? Once this is over, you’ll have plenty of time to linger here." As Bertutan spoke, he locked onto another planet and opened a new Teleportation Vortex, continuing to lead them along the fastest route. The others followed closely behind, each using their own remarkable abilities to keep up.
A two-person ticket for a seven-person trip.
"Hm?"
Huang Ji once again felt a very faint trace of life’s aura.
’Looks like the revival of the Cosmic Country’s will is progressing quite well. Even if we don’t interfere, it will be complete in ten thousand years at most.’
"Oh? What do you mean by that?"
"I sense an aura of life amidst all this death. It’s extremely subtle, but against the backdrop of this deathly energy and with the perception of my Nirvana skill, ’Life,’ I can faintly detect it. Hmm... it’s weak, but very vibrant, just like you were in your youth, Bertutan."
The elderly Bertutan smiled.
It wasn’t that he was old,
He simply liked the wise appearance of an elder. If he wished, he could transform into a young man at any moment.
Unfortunately, Huang Ji had mentioned "vibrancy," not appearance. Even if he could easily reverse his age, some things could never be reclaimed.
The five of them each had their own strengths, but only Huang Ji, who had mastered ’Life,’ could sense the residual aura from when Shi Ming had used a Teleportation Vortex earlier. Unfortunately, the idea that no one could enter the Tomb Star Realm was deeply ingrained in her mind, and her pride as a "New God" prevented her from considering other possibilities.
Furthermore, since the Cosmic Country’s will genuinely could be reviving, Huang Ji instinctively trusted her mistaken judgment.
Ron, on the other hand, was hiding in the river of time. Overhearing their conversation, he became even more certain of his own theory. ’That Shi Ming, the one who obtained the Divine Rune, must have already used it to infiltrate the Tomb Star Realm. He’s even ahead of our group. Good thing I decided to come along.’
The destiny he had once hypothesized using ’Fate’ was, it seemed, about to be realized here.
The destiny he had hypothesized was:
[Ron will covertly replace Shi Ming, becoming the sole owner of the Divine Rune and the heir to the First Civilization Cosmic Country.]
Ron was well aware of the effects of his ’Fate’ skill.
As a Nirvana skill of the fate attribute, once a hypothesis made with ’Fate’ was successfully set, the outcome was inevitable. It had never once failed. It was an unchangeable, destined conclusion. Even a favorite of destiny like the Time Giant Candela, who possessed the ’Time’ skill, could not influence the result.
’The Divine Rune will undoubtedly be mine.’
A gleam of delight was hidden in the depths of Ron’s eyes.
The Time Giant Candela currently stood just ahead and to the side of the Six-armed Sovereign, manipulating the timeline to bypass the Teleportation Vortex’s fee verification.
Patterns flowed across his body.
Silver patterns symbolized fate, and golden patterns symbolized time. The silver and gold intertwined, like veins visible on the surface of his skin, making the giant, who was shrunk down to two meters tall, seem all the more magnificent—like a master of fate and time.
...
...
...
Primordial Star once had oceans, but now they had dried up. On the cracked seabed, one could occasionally see the colossal skeletons of powerful creatures.
A light touch would turn them to dust.
Of course, they contained no absorbable power.
However, in a relatively well-preserved base, Shi Ming discovered a warehouse storing a large number of Civilization Stones. The stones on the periphery had weathered and lost their spiritual energy, but some inside the warehouse were in excellent condition. There were 110,000 in total.
’A nice little windfall.’
110,000 Civilization Stones were enough to exchange for a treasure ranked around 150th in value.
It was a pleasant surprise.
’If a new will of the Cosmic Country is born, the Tomb Star Realm will reopen. Experts from every major Cosmic Country in the Star Sea will flock here one after another. When that happens, Civilization Stones will become the most coveted resource in the entire Star Sea!’
’I need to plan ahead.’
’I can’t miss a single Civilization Stone warehouse I pass.’
If one were to ask who in the entire Star Sea currently possessed the most Civilization Stones, the answer would undoubtedly be Shi Ming, and by a landslide! But this kind of thing would turn to dust the moment it was taken out of the Tomb Star Realm. Besides him, there was no other living being who could enter this place in their physical body right now!
’I wonder... if I put these in my personal inventory, can I take them out of the Tomb Star Realm intact?’
’If that doesn’t work, my only option is to exchange them all for treasures before I leave. At a seventy-percent discount, converting them to treasures is actually more cost-effective. Even if I don’t need them, I can take them to a Treasure Star later to sell them quickly, either for common currency in the Star Sea or by bartering.’
Heavenly Query issued a warning.
"Approaching the vicinity of the [Abyss of the End]! The area ahead is a forbidden zone of Primordial Star. Please halt your approach!"
Shi Ming put away Heavenly Query.
Primordial Star was enormous and lacked any convenient Teleportation Vortexes, so Shi Ming could only rely on his flight ability, Sun-Piercer. After three days of speeding along, his nimble canoe finally brought him to an abyss where the deathly aura was many times denser than anywhere else.
The deathly aura here had almost become tangible.
Even if Heavenly Query hadn’t warned him, Shi Ming could have determined from the black mist alone that this was the [Abyss of the End].
[Class-X Commission: Reach the End]
[The Abyss of the End on the Cosmic Country "Primordial Star" seals the legendary Class-Z commission. It was personally issued by a god. Activating it and bringing it into the world will be considered completion of this commission. Reward: three million Civilization Stones.]
[No time limit.]
’I have reached the End.’
’Next, I need to activate the one and only Class-Z commission... Eye of Destiny, let’s do this together!’