"Huff… Huff… Huff…"
With slow, rhythmic breaths, Su Min sat cross-legged, enveloped in a dazzling aurora of multicolored light, an otherworldly phenomenon unique to the Five Elements Holy Body reaching its apex. The very air around her shimmered with power. Lush vegetation at her feet flourished in a hundredfold burst of life, vines creeping and flowers blooming in moments.
The Five Elements Holy Body was inherently attuned to nature, capable of harmonizing the five fundamental forces of creation. At this moment, Su Min herself had become a fount of pure vitality, her overwhelming life energy causing the surrounding plants to surge with unrestrained, joyful growth.
Before her hovered the small, familiar cauldron, its spirit trembling with soul deep elation. After centuries of faithfully following Su Min, it had finally reaped its ultimate reward, the energy radiating from her now was the greatest nourishment it could ever hope to receive.
This extraordinary, life giving aura soon spread like a gentle wave across the entire Eastern Mulberry Continent. Every cultivator present watched in astonishment as rare herbs and ordinary plants alike grew at a visible, impossible pace, as if time itself had accelerated for them alone.
"Is this the sight of the Five Elements Holy Body reaching perfection?" Xie Yingying murmured, her eyes wide as the meticulously kept garden before her erupted into a riot of full bloom within moments. "The most enigmatic constitution in history… Its limits are truly terrifying."
Her own Lunar Sovereign Body, though formidable and revered, paled in comparison to this display of fundamental, creative power. With but a thought, Su Min could command the birth and withering of countless flowers, a deeper understanding of the very technique she had once used to cripple a mighty foe. Bloom and fade, all under the sovereign's decree.
And it wasn't just Xie Yingying. Nearly every cultivator in the Eastern Mulberry Continent quickly surmised the source of this benevolent phenomenon. Only Su Min could unleash such a pure, potent energy, one so powerful it could accelerate the growth of even the most stubborn, centuries old herbs.
Within minutes, word of her successful breakthrough spread like wildfire, carried across the land through every communication method imaginable.
"A perfected Five Elements Holy Body…"
Deep within her secluded cavern, Su Min slowly opened her eyes. Behind her, a massive, intricate wheel materialized, its luminous surface inscribed with the five primordial characters: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth.
With a mere flick of her wrist, a section of the cavern wall before her silently dissolved into nothingness, annihilated into base particles. Every strike now carried the cyclical, opposing forces of creation and destruction. Though her cultivation level remained at the early Unity Stage, her true combat prowess had skyrocketed. Within the entire Unity Realm, she now stood peerless, capable of challenging even a full powered Mahayana cultivator, and emerging victorious.
"Skeleton Emperor… It's time to end this." Her pupils sharpened into points of cold, focused killing intent. "No matter how far you flee, it's meaningless now."
She could sense his corrupted presence, a festering wound in the cosmos, having fled countless light years away. Over the decade of her seclusion, he had undoubtedly ravaged untold lives, consuming entire worlds to restore his strength.
In the next instant, Su Min vanished from the Heavenly Continent, reappearing amidst the boundless, star dotted cosmos. Then, like a streak of rainbow hued light, she shot into the deep void, her destination clear.
Meanwhile, in a distant, doomed star system…
A thousand warships, the last hope of a united front of civilizations, gathered against an abomination beyond comprehension, a colossal mass of pulsating flesh dwarfing even the local stars, its passage silently devouring entire planets. The once warring civilizations of this sector had buried their conflicts in desperation, their combined fleets forming a final, grim stand.
"All forces, prepare! The fate of our universe hinges on this battle!"
Aboard the flagship, the leaders of these civilizations, revered as "Supreme Evolvers," stood resolute, their faces etched with grim determination. By Su Min's world's standards, they were roughly at the Divine Transformation Stage. Although the names were different, the essence of their power was similar.
It was just that because they had never come into contact with higher level cultivators, they didn't know what the Dao Comprehension Stage was. They hadn't even tried to comprehend the deeper laws, so in their cognition, the Divine Transformation Stage was already the pinnacle of existence.
But now their civilization was collapsing. Not all Divine Transformation Stage cultivators were freaks like Su Min. The average ones did not possess the level of physical resistance to withstand planet busting weaponry, so when facing such a cosmic horror, it was futile for them to take action directly. They had to rely on their technology, their collective might.
"Initiate the linkage! Channel all fleet energy into a single strike!"
At this time, a group of commanders looked at a monstrous red blip on their screens with deadly serious faces. As cultivators in the God Transformation Stage, operating in the starry sky, the distance they could perceive was already vast.
In just a few years, the nations in their coalition had lost dozens of planets. The population and property losses had reached a terrifying, incalculable level, which was the only reason these mutually hostile forces had united together.
"Alpha, can you see anything?"
At this time, several people also looked at a young woman in the crowd, who was wearing a snow white, anachronistic long dress. Compared to the sleek, sci fi interior of the flagship, she seemed utterly out of place.
But more concerning were her eyes, a pair of eyes with no pupils, only pure, unsettling whites.
The "White Eyed Saintess" possessed a minor, innate ability to see through cause and effect, which had allowed her to achieve twice the result with half the effort in her cultivation. But what she saw now made her blood run cold.
"Darkness… All I see is endless, consuming darkness. And… a faint, fading wisp of color. That thing… is an ultimate terror of the cosmos. We cannot oppose it."
After hearing this, several commanders looked at each other in grim silence. It was obvious the White Eyed Saintess held no hope for their desperate action, but so what? They were now the last hope for billions of souls. To power this final technique, these civilizations had poured all their remaining resources into this one shot.
"Begin to form the formation."
Following the order, thousands of warships deployed in the void, arranging themselves into a vast, intricate formation. A dazzling, concentrated light began to build at their center.
At the same time, the reserve spirit stones and power cores in those warships were consumed at a speed visible on the energy readouts, all their energy funneled into the flagship. It was at this moment that all the dozens of Divine Transformation Stage cultivators, including the White Eyed Saintess, began to fully release their cultivation, adding their personal power to the mix.
Even if there was only a tiny chance, they had to try. They couldn't just stand by and watch their home planets be devoured by that thing. This was true even for the despairing White Eyed Saintess.
So almost in the next moment, a terrifyingly compressed beam of energy, containing the collective hope of a sector, lanced out at the speed of light. It instantly pierced through a rogue planet that was unfortunately in its path, shattering the celestial body with contemptuous ease, and continued flying towards the fleshy abomination without slowing down.
At that moment, a cold and utterly emotionless pupil, large enough to dwarf moons, slowly opened within the huge flesh ball. The universe is vast and contains countless possibilities.
He was somewhat surprised at the method and power of these ants, but of course he was just mildly intrigued. For in just a moment, this collective attack had surpassed the limit of the Divine Transformation stage and reached the full force of many cultivators in the early stage of Unity.
But this was still so fragile to him. The side of the meat ball facing the attack began to quickly generate a shield of massive, interlocking white bones, a skeletal fortress grown in an instant.
In the next moment, the two forces collided.
BOOM.
A silent, yet spiritually deafening explosion rippled through the local space, the violent energy wave blowing away asteroid belts and disturbing planetary orbits.
At the same time, hundreds of billions of people on dozens of planets watched the screens in their homes and streets, their palms slick with sweat. They were terrified, yet hoping against hope. If they couldn't destroy it with even this one strike, then they would have no choice but to abandon their homes and become eternal wanderers in the cold universe.
What was even more terrifying was that even if all available spacecraft were used, the population that could be evacuated would be less than one hundred thousandth of their total. And as that terrifying blow was launched, the energy links between the spacecraft flickered and died. It was obvious they only had this one chance; a second shot was impossible.
But in the next moment, a strong, suffocating sense of despair began to spread like a virus, because everyone saw that the huge tumor was now moving towards them at an even faster speed. Their ultimate attack had failed.
Chaos erupted. Across the worlds, people wailed and cried, and social order shattered in an instant. Some stood silently by windows, looking at the starry sky in utter despair, but more began to vent their terror. Normally gentle citizens broke into frenzied riots, destroying everything in their path in a final, nihilistic spree.
In less than a minute, these advanced planets fell into anarchy. The order they had established over millennia completely collapsed. Everyone was drowning in despair and primal fear.
"It's over."
Aboard the flagship, the crew was speechless as they watched the feeds from their homeworlds. They received simultaneous reports of the global riots. The people were venting, a final, desperate release knowing death was coming and they were powerless.
Under normal circumstances, they would suppress it immediately, but now the commanders watched it all in heavy, resigned silence.
They knew they were going to die. So the next moment...
"All combat ships, follow me. What we can do now is buy a chance, however slim, for others to survive. Order the civilian ships to stay away from these planets, to flee as far as they can and wander the universe. The… the space locust… will not be interested in such small, scattered prey."
At this time, the oldest ultimate evolver in the crowd, a man over 2,000 years old, stood up resolutely. He had witnessed humans breaking free from their planet's gravity, witnessed the first colonial landings. He was a living fossil of their combined history.
He also knew his natural lifespan was nearing its end, so he decided to spend it here. There were many others who shared his desperate resolve. In an instant, countless remaining warships powered up their engines and began a suicidal charge towards the encroaching horror.
Although they didn't know if it would work, these men and women wanted to fight for one last, fleeting glimmer of hope for their people.
But as the fleet prepared for its final charge, the White Eyed Saintess suddenly convulsed, blood trickling from her lips and the corners of her blank eyes.
"What's wrong with you?" Seeing this, several commanders were shocked and looked at her with confusion and dawning dread.
"A god… descends," However, the girl did not answer them directly. Instead, she slumped to her knees, and spoke in a hushed, devout whisper, tears of blood mixing with those of awe streaking her cheeks.
The commanders looked at each other in bewilderment and a flicker of superstitious fear. Their technology was advanced, and they had many powerful cultivators, but that very advancement made them more fearful of the truly unknown.
The universe is vast and boundless, and even the area they could survey was only a few hundred light years across. They didn't know what lurked in the deeper cosmos, but they were now sure the tumor before them was a fear from those very depths.
And even their top cultivators felt it. Though they were called the supreme evolvers and had reached what they thought was a perfect state, these people could intuitively feel that there must be realms far above them. So these people call those unknown beings beyond their understanding gods. Advanced, yet profoundly ignorant, this was the paradoxical characteristic of these isolated civilizations.
But what made these seasoned leaders feel a touch of madness was that the White Eyed Saintess just cried silently now, unable to form more words.
Just moments ago, she had tried to peer into the cause and effect of their situation, and in the endless darkness, she had seen a sudden, brilliant flash of gorgeous, rainbow colored light. The backlash was immediate and severe. She knew she had been spying on an existence far beyond her station and had been punished for her presumption. She had been far too arrogant to dare gaze into such an endless abyss.
But at this moment, everyone on the bridge fell silent, because they all clearly felt a profound tremor from the depths of their souls. It was an instinctual sign that a great existence, far beyond their comprehension, was approaching. This was not something they could ever hope to touch or understand.
It didn't take long for their fears to be realized. The huge battleship's control room was suddenly, inexplicably, bathed in a soft, multicolored light. The decorative plants used to freshen the air inside the spacecraft grew wildly, their roots shattering the ceramic pots that contained them in a matter of seconds.
"Who dared tug upon the threads of fate?"
A cold, displeased voice resonated not in the air, but directly within their minds. Everyone turned, shocked, to find a figure had appeared in the center of the command deck. A woman clad in archaic, elegant battle robes stood there, a radiant, slowly spinning halo of five colors hovering behind her. The air itself seemed to bow in her presence, thick with an energy that was both life giving and utterly terrifying.
On every screen across the doomed worlds, her image flickered and then solidified. The riots stilled. Billions froze, overcome by an instinctive, primal urge to prostrate themselves, to kneel before a power that was fundamentally, divinely more.
For the first time in millennia, in the face of their end…
A god had arrived.