Chapter 3193: The Vanishing Civilization

The cosmic void was dark and without light.

Still that river, carrying light not of the mortal world, meandered through myths.

"Stop, halt for me."

In the dark silence of the river, curses echoed endlessly, the voice hoarse from shouting.

It was Da Chu's Tenth Emperor.

This once-in-a-millennium talent had been thrashing in the Void River for who knows how long.

From afar, the river waters surged wildly.

And he was like an ant in the vast ocean, tiny beyond visibility.

"Dao friend, stand firm."

Zhao Yun's earlier words still rang in Ye Chen's ears.

Stand firm?

How could anyone stand firm in this? Without thrashing for dear life, he would have drowned long ago.

"You're not faring much better yourself."

Ye Chen muttered under his breath. Every time he surfaced from the water, he couldn't help but scan the surroundings, seeing only endless darkness. He couldn't spot Zhao Yun anywhere and had no idea where the currents had swept him off to.

These moments of scanning were fleeting.

Before he could catch his breath, the Void's waves crashed over him again, pulling him under.

Honestly, it was impossible to stand steady.

It was like an ordinary person who couldn't swim falling into towering, terrifying waves.

"I've never seen a power like this before."

Ye Chen wasn't just struggling; he was also studying the river water. It wasn't real water but a gathering of light.

This light was dreamlike and illusory, making his mind feel dazed.

That was minor compared to the discomfort—the light in the Void River constantly eroded his body.

That's right, it ignored eternity.

Not only was his own eternity incomplete, but even a perfect one probably wouldn't hold up.

The reason was simple: this Void River was on a cosmic level.

Any force, even light, becomes supreme when it reaches the cosmic level.

Ye Chen had once tried to forcibly absorb it—hmm, it wasn't tasty at all.

Far from it; once it entered his body, it caused agony, and when he spat it out, it was mixed with blood.

"I've aged another hundred years."

Ye Chen murmured to himself. Drifting in the river, his lifespan was draining away by the moment, and quickly at that.

Losing a hundred years of life meant aging a hundred years, didn't it?

At this rate, if he couldn't escape the river, he would surely perish from exhaustion of his lifespan.

The river rolled on endlessly.

If this counted as a journey, Ye Chen was the clueless traveler, with no idea where he was headed.

Meanwhile, the Nu Di had returned to Zhu Tian.

She had gone to assist in the fusion of eternity, only to learn in the Tai Gu Hong Huang that the Supreme One had already been suppressed.

And Ye Chen was no longer in Zhu Tian.

According to Shen Zun, Ye Chen had encountered some unknown mishap while crossing the universe.

At the end of Tai Gu, the Nu Di stood gracefully, gazing quietly into the void.

What she saw were Di Huang and Hong Yan, both in their Yuan Shen state, still flickering in the void. If not for the rune chains binding them, they would have drifted away. The flames of their Yuan Shen were extremely dim.

The Nu Di said nothing. Though the two were in a pitiful state, at least they were alive.

The Holy Body shared in glory and suffering; as long as Di Huang and Hong Yan lived, it proved Ye Chen was still alive.

No need to ask—she knew it was that river in the cosmic void.

Even she had nearly fallen victim while crossing it, let alone Ye Chen and the others.

"Can the common people still have hope?"

After a long while, Shen Zun's voice broke the silence, rough and hoarse.

"Yes."

The Nu Di parted her lips lightly. As long as the common people endured, there was hope.

"Can we return to the Huang Di position?" Shen Zun asked.

"I don't know." The Nu Di shook her head gently, but the light of hope in her eyes hadn't faded.

The fate of the common people flowed vast and enduring.

Though she had fallen from the Huang Di position and had little chance of reclaiming it, Zhu Tian had many at the peak of Quasi Huang Di, like Shen Zun, Cang, and the ancient Heavenly Court's old supreme beings. Any one of them could ascend. As long as they sealed the Huang Di position before the outer domains did, they could steady the front lines of the myriad domains and Zhu Tian.

"Perhaps we could try the Unknown," Shen Zun pondered.

"That's my intention." The Nu Di entered the void and lingered before Di Huang and Hong Yan for a long time.

She confirmed they had suffered from Ye Chen's backlash but wouldn't face issues in the short term.

As for Ye Chen, she still held that ancient faith in him, believing he could return against all odds.

Only after observing did she turn and head straight for the void vortex.

From her trip to the outer universe, Ji Ning Shuang had brought back many Escaping Armor Heavenly Characters, which could revive many supreme beings.

As for whether her self-inflicted wound could be healed, that remained uncertain.

"Healed? What a joke."

The Saint Demon chuckled mockingly, with a playful and teasing tone. A Huang Di who had self-inflicted a wound shouldn't dream of returning.

The Nu Di walked farther and farther, her figure growing more desolate.

For some reason, after losing the Huang Di position, she felt unexpectedly lighter. She had shouldered the burden for too long and was truly exhausted. Strands of silver hair had appeared at her temples, and even eternity couldn't sustain her youth anymore.

"This universe is more wondrous than I imagined."

From the small world came a light murmur—it was Zi Zai Tian, sitting in meditation like an ice sculpture.

"Do you know why I didn't destroy you?" the Nu Di said indifferently.

"A sacrifice." Zi Zai Tian smiled faintly, her words calm and resigned. She had long been aware of this.

If needed, the Nu Di would unhesitatingly offer her up as a sacrifice.

After all, she wasn't an ordinary supreme being. She was a blade self-severed by the Highest God, once the Heavenly Dao itself—far beyond what a typical emperor could compare to. To the Nu Di, she still held exploitable value.

"It's good that you have this awareness, senior," the Nu Di replied softly.

"Do you know why I helped the Supreme One?" Now it was Zi Zai Tian's turn to ask the Nu Di.

"The Eternal Immortal Realm," the Nu Di answered flatly.

"In a person's life, serving as Heavenly Dao is the ultimate peak. I've experienced that. Standing too high means no earthly sustenance, no worldly dust. A long lifespan gradually turns one into a puppet."

"So, senior wanted to see that realm beyond the heavens."

"Just a glance would do; I'd die without regrets." Zi Zai Tian smiled lightly.

"In that case, please first witness for me what the Unknown truly is."

"What an honor."

The two female supreme beings exchanged words like a woven melody of immortal tunes.

Not long ago, they had fought to the death.

Now, they seemed like old friends, meeting as if they had known each other for ages.

Everything felt utterly ordinary.

The Void River no longer showed any sign of Ye Chen; he must have exhausted his strength and sunk to the bottom.

Three days had passed in Zhu Tian, but here, there was no concept of time.

Who knew how long he had drifted—perhaps ten years, a hundred years, or even a thousand.

Only then did he wash up ashore, perhaps on a beach or some ruins.

In any case, he had finally reached land.

His holy body was emaciated and frail, aged beyond recognition, his hair completely white.

All from the torment of the Void River.

The once-dominant Tenth Emperor of Da Chu was covered in scars and wounds.

He hadn't awakened yet, still in deep slumber.

His eternity revealed its dominance: originally without radiance, it now emitted light, from dim to brilliant, reviving his origins and restoring vitality to his holy body, enveloping it in divine glow.

Besides that, even his white hair returned to normal.

The bloody gashes all over his body were no issue; eternity was immortal and inexhaustible, healing on its own.

When he awoke, his eyes were full of confusion.

"Where... is this?"

Ye Chen's voice was hoarse, as if he had slept for ten thousand years, his mind still foggy.

Once he looked around, he realized it was a strange world.

What met his eyes was desolation: cracked earth, no grass in sight, and a dark, lightless sky.

"Where is this?"

He instinctively stood up, scanning all directions, certain he had never been here before.

He released his divine sense, enveloping the heavens and earth.

This world wasn't large, roughly the size of Da Chu, with no living beings, only deathly stillness.

Glancing back, the Void River was gone, who knew where it had flowed.

After his mind cleared, he released his divine sense again, calling out to Zhao Yun with his Yuan Shen, but received no response. Or rather, as soon as his divine sense left the land, it was erased by the intangible void.

"You'd better not be dead."

Ye Chen murmured softly. He had been lucky to wash up in this strange world; otherwise, he would have been buried in the river. But he had no idea if Zhao Yun had been as fortunate.

He stood there for a long time, silent.

Honestly, he felt lost, unable to discern directions or locate Zhu Tian's universe.

Only then did he set off in one direction.

The sky was oppressively overcast, as if covered by a black veil, with no sounds at all. Occasionally lowering his gaze, he could see half-buried bones in the soil, who knew how many years old. In many places, he saw ancient trees, but they were just dry branches that turned to ash at a touch, weathered by time. Even the blowing wind carried a sense of ancient sorrow.

Here, there were mountains but no water.

Deeper in, he paused, spotting an ancient city. The city's shape was odd, different from those in Zhu Tian.

On the city walls stood a statue.

The statue was over a hundred zhang tall, badly weathered, its features unclear, but its form was strange—likely not human, with horns on its head and scales covering its body.

"Interesting."

Ye Chen murmured, withdrawing his gaze from the statue and stepping into the ancient city.

Before entering, he glanced at the city's plaque.

Unfortunately, the characters on it looked like some kind of runes, which he couldn't recognize.

Once inside, all he saw was ruin and disorder.

Ye Chen walked quietly along the main street, looking left and right. Pavilions lined the way, with stalls on both sides and scattered debris on the ground, but most of it had been eroded by time, turning to dust with a single touch.

He said nothing, just walked on.

Later, he visited many other places: secluded valleys, mountain peaks, villages, dried-up riverbeds, palaces, tombs—all bore his footprints. The world wasn't big, and as a Quasi Huang Di, touring it was no trouble.

"This is a universe."

After circling extensively, he finally realized.

That's right, it was a universe.

Universes varied in size, like stars. For example, Zhao Yun's universe was far larger than Zhu Tian's, which was why it could accommodate more Huang Di. This world he was in was small, but it was indeed a universe—just pitifully tiny.

Since there were differences in size, there were also differences in strength.

A universe this small had extremely limited endurance. At least, in his estimation, before its decline and destruction, the highest cultivation here absolutely wouldn't exceed the Saint level.

Saints were a dime a dozen in Zhu Tian.

But here, they would be the rulers, essentially the Heavenly Dao. That was intriguing.

Inter-universe relations only recognized the Heavenly Dao.

Not to mention anything else, the former Saint Heavenly Dao of this universe would have held a higher status in the cosmic order than the Heavenly Court Nu Di. If the two went to Zhao Yun's universe, the Saint Heavenly Dao might have more say.

Whether the other side would show respect depended on their mood.

"A vanished civilization?"

Ye Chen stood in the void, overlooking the entire world, murmuring to himself.

This universe had no more heavens and earth, no rules.

Everything had turned to nothingness, leaving only ruins and traces of bygone eras.

One day, it would become historical dust.

Who would have thought that this universe's age actually surpassed that of Zhu Tian's?

Though it was small, it was ancient.

But endless years had depleted its energy, and its prosperous civilization had gradually declined until it vanished completely.