Chapter 957: The Race

Chapter 957: The Race

The King of Gods, bathed in radiant light, gazed at Li Pin, muttering, "A primitive living creature could actually learn the secrets of Eternity."

As he was also in his avatar form, he could clearly sense the roughness in how Li Pin operated his power.

Even though Li Pin possessed a vast mass far beyond what matched his knowledge, it could not hide his lack of foundation and limited insight. He was like a native who had only recently stepped into the Void of Chaos. Though able to survive there, his entire being radiated a sense of incompatibility, as if declaring to all that he was a newcomer who had just broken through, a figure who looked easy to bully.

And indeed, that was the truth. The King of Gods had confirmed this through several clashes with him.

"You have never come into contact with information beyond the Void of Chaos, and the legacy that you've grasped is also incomplete, yet you somehow know of Eternity. There is only one explanation—the universe you lived in once gave birth to an Eternal! And from the fact that you mistook me for a Demi-Eternal... that Eternal was born an unimaginably long time ago, so long that you no longer understand what the word Eternity truly means!"

The voice of the King of Gods echoed throughout the void. Even Li Pin could sense the hint of delight contained within the message he conveyed.

Not a Demi-Eternal...

Li Pin immediately understood. The Eternity Realm seemed far stronger than he had imagined.

The next moment, endless radiance spread like a vast net, rapidly binding toward Li Pin. Along with the radiant net came an extreme distortion of space and time. Under this distortion, Li Pin could clearly sense time around him slowing to an extreme, almost to a halt. Yet this sensation lasted only for a moment before he suddenly snapped awake.

It was not the outer world's time that had slowed, but rather... the time he perceived had slowed down.

At this realization, Heavenly Fate Light burst forth from his body, instantly allowing him to struggle free from the temporal distortion.

Yet even as he reacted and broke free, his avatar was fully enveloped by the radiance net. The unique binding of undying matter over mass and spacetime spread across his avatar, with clear signs of him being directly captured alive.

Meanwhile, the King of Gods' avatar erupted with tremendous inner spirit power.

With the advantage of his domain, the King of Gods was about to crush Li Pin's inner spirit defenses as effortlessly as breaking dry twigs.

This scene was exactly the same as when Li Pin destroyed God Huang Sha's inner spirit defenses, instantly killing him and reading all the information hidden deep within his inner spirit.

Li Pin's heart turned solemn.

Is it merely because he holds the home-field advantage, or... is the gap truly this vast?!

Rings of brilliance ignited from the depths of his inner spirit through his Heavenly Fate Art, instantly blocking the King of Gods' inner spirit invasion. However, it only lasted for a moment before the terrifying consumption surged in, immense enough to collapse the Heavenly Fate Art entirely.

"I must never let the information deep in my inner spirit fall into the King of Gods' hands!"

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Realizing the gulf between them, Li Pin did not hesitate to destroy his avatar.

"Stop!"

The King of Gods' inner spirit waves swept forth with some fury as Li Pin's avatar broke down. The former tried to distort spacetime with all his might to freeze the moment of the destruction of Li Pin's avatar.

While an avatar of the same realm could not win against him, a mere act of suicide was still well within reach. He couldn't stop it.

No matter how the King of Gods poured his full strength into stopping time, he could only watch helplessly as Li Pin's avatar shattered into nothingness.

His inner spirit wave that followed managed to sweep through only a small fraction of Li Pin's avatar's information. Yet even that small fraction was enough to confirm the suspicions in his heart.

"Eternal's successor!? The starry cosmos!? Coordinates... within there?"

The King of Gods stared at the place where Li Pin vanished, his eyes holding a trace of expectation, a trace of unease, and a trace of reverence.

It was reverence for a universe that had birthed an Eternal!

But finding a universe within the Void of Chaos was already an immense stroke of luck. As long as he could devour that universe, he would gain a vast amount of Indestructible Matter, which would be of immeasurable benefit to both constructing the essence of his own immortality and enhancing his foundation in battle.

This starry cosmos in question was not merely a resource-rich realm capable of producing vast amounts of Indestructible Matter, but also a place where an Eternal's legend had been left behind. To him, this was an immense fortune.

He had to seize this opportunity. Even if all he achieved was fully comprehending spacetime, taking that next step to master it, he would be content. He could end this life of wandering, return to the Empyrean World, and take back everything he had lost.

At this thought, the King of Gods no longer restrained his fluctuations. His vast body openly declared his existence within the Void of Chaos.

The terrifying traces of his existence, far beyond those of Li Pin, radiated endlessly in all directions, displaying his might.

Then, his massive form turned slightly. Instead of launching another attack at Li Pin, he charged at full speed toward the starry cosmos.

To further increase his speed, he burned vast numbers of planes as fuel, generating vast amounts of energy to accelerate. At the same time, this served to reduce his mass, improving his agility.

He issued a divine decree, "Summon all the deities... a brand-new, undeveloped universe awaits our conquest... the war... has begun."

As he spoke, this terrifying being stirred his thoughts.

Thousands of deities, centered around Divine Emperor Yao Hui, along with tens of thousands of planes, were fused into one by a force far beyond what any deity could resist. This mass was then swiftly stripped from the King of Gods' body and, under the circulation of the power of laws, transformed into a spear.

"As a reward for being the first to provide news of the extraterritorial Heavenly Demon from beyond the domain, this undeveloped universe shall be yours to launch the first wave of the hunt. Go forth and proclaim the majesty of the King of Empyrean, the Supreme God, the King of Gods!"

"We shall serve the great Supreme God!"

All the deities within the planes responded in unison, especially the lower and middle-tier deities, whose words were filled with fanaticism.

"Go."

After refining thousands of deities, their planes, and all the countless lives within them into a single spear, King of Empyrean waved his hand.

The spear pierced through the void. Carrying the power to pierce the Void of Chaos, it instantly vanished from the King of Gods' perception.

If there had been a being capable of standing above the Void of Chaos and observing all its regions, they would have seen that the spear thrown by the King of Gods was not aimed at Li Pin, but rather... the starry cosmos.

***

When the King of Gods changed direction, Li Pin immediately noticed. Moreover, the information gained from his avatar's destruction had also returned to him.

His heart sank.

This is bad!

He had already seen the traits and might of Chaos lifeforms from the memories of God Huang Sha. In terms of attacks, they were unstoppable. Even Creation lifeforms at the same level could only avoid them. In a head-on clash, no equal-level Creation lifeform could kill a Chaos lifeform.

Although Chaos lifeforms were slower, meaning a being of creation could escape if they wished, it was only applicable to those of the same realm. This King of Gods, though not a Demi-Eternal, was still an existence a full level above him.

Now, as he rushed at full speed toward the starry cosmos, once he arrived, the entire starry cosmos would have no chance to resist. Even with him, a Creation lifeform, it would be no exception!

"Even if I could break and rebuild, taking another step beyond my current realm to reach the same level as the King of Gods, I would still be unable to prevent the destruction of the starry cosmos..."

Li Pin's eyes gleamed.

Unless... I achieve Eternity!

Unless he could break through two realms in one breath and reach the Eternity Realm, surpassing the King of Gods...

Well, perhaps the realm above the King of Gods could not truly be called Eternity, but Li Pin's current knowledge was limited. All he knew was that, unless he achieved Eternity, he could not stop the King of Gods, nor save the starry cosmos.

Of course, he could choose to leave directly, and the King of Gods would not be able to catch him.

In fact, as he continued refining himself, becoming ever lighter, he would even have enough time to return to the starry cosmos, lead away a chosen group of its countless beings, and venture into the Void of Chaos.

But this did not align with his own Dao.

Li Pin watched as the King of Gods rushed at full speed toward the starry cosmos. Then he looked past him, toward the starry cosmos.

"In about two hundred years, the King of Gods will arrive at the starry cosmos and begin his devouring..."

If he continued to harass, even blocking the King of Gods' path, he might be able to delay another two hundred years. That would be a total of four hundred years!

This was such a short span of time. Even the lifespan of God Huang Sha, an upper-tier deity, had lasted countless times longer than four hundred years.

But with only this little time...

"Then let me see... whether I can—within four hundred years—break through the blockade of that Eternal, find a path that is completely my own, and under the suppression of Power of Eternity, achieve a new Eternity!"

Li Pin's resolve steeled. On his face was no fear, no panic, no confusion. There was only calm intensity and unyielding determination.

He quietly sensed himself. "Furthermore... through God Huang Sha's memories and my clashes with the King of Gods, I have already sensed something unusual..."

Both he and God Huang Sha had attained the Dao Realm, yet he could tell that the Dao Realm in Null's database was more mysterious than the Dao Realm contained in the King of Gods' inheritance system.

Perhaps it was because the system left by the King of Gods for the deities had not been crafted with much care.

Or perhaps... Null's origin... was even more astonishing than that of the King of Gods.