Chapter 1065: A Great Victory

The Superior, already gravely injured, was no match for Xiao Nanfeng. Moreover, within the black hole, the golden tree was unable to absorb cosmic energy and would be continuously depleted. It could hardly sustain the Superior in prolonged combat.

On the other hand, Xiao Nanfeng, shielded by vast reserves of fortune, was able to unleash his full strength. He was in an unbeatable position. Every strike sent the Superior flying backward, leaving her with no chance to escape.

He seized an opening to grab the Superior's arm with one hand while relentlessly unleashing his Hegemon's Fist with the other. His blows rained down like a violent storm, shaking the heavens.

"Let go!" the Superior roared in shock as she punched forward wildly.

"Stop struggling. Your strength can't harm me. Just wait patiently," Xiao Nanfeng said coldly.

The Superior desperately tried to channel the power of the golden tree into her body, but it was growing weaker and weaker as they fought. It couldn't provide her with the energy that she desperately needed.

After a prolonged struggle, the Superior finally realized she had been defeated—a calamity was inescapable.

She quickly gave in. "Let's stop fighting. I promise I won't target you anymore. I can lead you out of this cage of time."

Xiao Nanfeng sneered. "I'm already in an undefeatable position. I don't need you to free me from this cage—and I don't trust your guarantees, at any rate."

Seeing that Xiao Nanfeng was completely unmoved, the Superior snarled, "I still have avatars in the cosmos. Every remaining starship has a silver moon within it. Even if this body of mine perishes, I can revive in one of my other avatars. If you dare do anything to me, I'll order all those starships to destroy your planet immediately!"

Xiao Nanfeng scoffed. "If what you say were true, you wouldn't be this desperate."

"What did you say?" The Superior glared at him.

"If I'm not mistaken, your truesoul is entirely localized within this body of yours, isn't it? Truesouls are ethereal—they can flit between your main body and avatars, traversing time and space in an instant. But if there exists a force that can prevent your truesoul from leaving, wouldn't that render all your avatars useless?" Xiao Nanfeng smirked.

"You—what nonsense are you spouting?" The Superior's heart thumped in fear.

"I'm not spouting nonsense—I can feel it myself. I can't even sense my nine-colored or my sea of fortune. It must mean my truesoul is trapped in this cage of time, isolated from the outside world. If my truesoul is trapped, then yours surely can't escape either.

"I know there might be other silver moons out there, but without your truesoul to control them, they'll soon lose their intelligence and wither away. At best, they might develop a new consciousness—but if that happens, they would no longer be you."

"This is all baseless speculation!" the Superior countered. "If the cage of time could truly isolate everything, it would have cut off your connection to Dazheng's sea of fortune, too."

"Then let's agree to disagree. Isn't that the best-case scenario for you? If your body dying here truly doesn't matter, then you should be pleased," Xiao Nanfeng mocked.

The Superior was so furious that she almost coughed up blood. She realized that Xiao Nanfeng was deliberately taunting her. Her face paled as she quickly began invoking a technique. A helical yellow barrier formed around her, as if she were trying to break out of the cage of time.

Xiao Nanfeng grinned. He flashed forward and shattered that barrier with a single punch. "You won't be leaving so easily, I'm afraid."

The Superior was on the verge of a meltdown. "Do you really think you've got me cornered?!"

Xiao Nanfeng replied coldly, "I know you still have tricks up your sleeve. After all, I was able to tear up the Dazheng Code of Laws and send a message through my sea of fortune. The Darkborn have studied black holes for years—you must have some survival methods or ways to contact the outside world. But I have plenty of time. I'll study you thoroughly in the meantime."

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

A chill ran down the Supreme's spine. She had once dominated the cosmos, invincible wherever she went. Even within the Darkborn, she was a royal. Not even the emergence of the equally formidable Suchal from her faction had made her feel threatened.

But now, for the first time in her long life, she felt a sense of life-threatening danger from Xiao Nanfeng. It was as if he were her natural nemesis, countering her at every turn.

She even doubted if she could ever truly defeat Xiao Nanfeng even if she were to escape today. He had grown this strong in just a few years. How much more terrifying would he become in the future?

Fear gripped her heart, but she refused to show any trace of it on her face. Instead, she roared, "Even if I die today, I will revive in the future! Once the Darkborn find me, I'll return and kill every single one of your loved ones!"

Xiao Nanfeng ignored her. He continued to pummel her while closely observing the changes in her body.

Two days later, the golden light surrounding the Superior had faded significantly. Her world of the heart had been worn down by the cage of time, exposing the golden tree inside. Its leaves had all fallen, and its trunk was withering rapidly as its essence drained into her body. The golden tree could no longer endure—it was on the verge of collapse.

But though it was running out of energy, Xiao Nanfeng still had plenty of fortune left.

The Superior alternated between taunting Xiao Nanfeng and begging for mercy, but he ignored her. He simply watched as the Golden Tree withered, shrank, and finally condensed into a single drop of golden liquid, identical to the drop Xiao Nanfeng had obtained before.

Xiao Nanfeng reached out, sealed the golden droplet, and stored it away.

By then, the Superior had lost all her protections. The power of time ravaged her body, rendering her completely immobile.

A day later, her face was covered in wrinkles. Her long hair had turned white, dry, and sparse.

"How could this have happened?!" she murmured to herself.

The black hole was meant to be a death trap for Xiao Nanfeng. How had he turned the tides once more?

No matter how she screamed, it was useless. Xiao Nanfeng was as steadfast as a diamond. They were already become mortal enemies—why would he possibly show her any mercy?

Another day passed. The Superior was now an ancient husk waiting to perish.

Time went on. Her body shriveled to skin and bones before eventually decaying completely, leaving only a skeleton behind. Soon, even her bones corroded into nothingness. Only a frail, lingering soul remained.

"The Darkborn will never forgive you," the Superior cursed.

With a final burst, her truesoul scattered, seemingly having vanished forever.

Xiao Nanfeng smirked coldly. "Still trying to deceive me, are you? Hoping I'll let my guard down and overlook what remains of your truesoul? Unfortunately for you, you're dealing with me."

He gathered the remnants of her truesoul, sealed it within a small bottle, and reinforced the seal with layer after layer of specialized techniques. Then, he stored the bottle within the Divine Seal of Dazheng. Only after all this preparation did he finally feel at ease.

He had won. He had completely defeated the Superior.

He sat cross-legged, allowing his fortune to shield him while observing the changes in the cage of time as he attempted to glean insights from it.

Because he no longer needed to fight, the rate at which he expended his fortune slowed remarkably.

Another month passed, just like that.

With a hum, the black mist surrounding him suddenly vanished—he had escaped. The cage of time had appeared suddenly and disappeared just as abruptly, leaving him astonished.

He stood by the outskirts of the massive black hole, wondering if he should leave just yet.

In the end, he chose not to do so. He searched the area for the starships from before. As a precaution, he wanted to check on the silver moons aboard those starships.

Before long, he spotted one such starship, surrounded by some sort of formation that allowed it to resist the pull of the black hole's gravity.

The moment he approached, a formation on the starship flared. With a loud explosion, the ship was obliterated.

Annoyed, he continued searching for other starships, but the result was the same. Either the starships self-destructed as he neared, or they were destroyed upon coming into contact with the cage of time.

He searched the region for several more days, but found nothing else in sight.

As he ventured deeper into the black hole, he noticed more and more cages of time forming around him. He couldn't discern a pattern in when and where they appeared, and he was worried that unforeseen changes would occur if he were to delay any longer.

With a sigh, he decided to leave. He rapidly began flying toward the periphery of the black hole—only to spot a peculiar cage of time. It looked ordinary in shape, though three withered branches—one red, one blue, and one purple—circled its exterior.

He immediately recognized those branches from the three Qing Grandmasters' world trees, though they now looked far more withered than before.

"The three Qing Grandmasters aren't yet dead? Could they be trapped within this cage of time?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

After some thought, he ultimately chose not to step inside. Instead, he took out the Divine Seal of Dazheng and said, "Distribute half of my fortune evenly among the three Qing Grandmasters."

With a hum, torrents of fortune surged out from the Divine Seal of Dazheng and flowed into the cage of time.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes lit up. "As expected, they really are inside!"

Rather than enter, he continued to wait outside the cage of time.

More and more cages of time spawned around him. Xiao Nanfeng frowned, but refused to escape. He continued to wait even as he carefully avoided the cages.

Several days later, even more cages of time filled his surroundings like a swarm of locusts, causing even him to feel a sense of dread.

But just then, the cage of time sealing the three Qing Grandmasters finally burst and revealed three figures within.

He sighed in relief, grabbed the three figures with a palm, and quickly escaped toward the periphery of the black hole.

A baby's gurgles reached his ears.

Xiao Nanfeng glanced down in surprise and gaped in shock. The three figures he had saved from the cage of time didn't resemble the three Qing Grandmasters at all. Rather, they were three swaddled babies.

They continued to gurgle at each other. If not for the red, blue, and purple halos on their heads, Xiao Nanfeng wouldn't have believed that they were the three Qing Grandmasters.

"What happened to you? Can these cages of time reverse time, too...?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

The three babies continued to gurgle, but to no avail. They simply weren't able to communicate with Xiao Nanfeng just yet.

Xiao Nanfeng hid a smile. "Let's talk later."

With the three babies in tow, he rushed out toward the periphery of the black hole, skirting by the large group of cages of time around him. After several days, he finally managed to make it out.