Chapter 216: The Collapse of the Universe!
Inside the bronze dice lay a hidden space, solidified with a "time-stasis" effect, ensuring that treasures within would never decay no matter how long they were stored.
A sweep of his ethereal divine sense told Silver-Robed Jiang Zhe exactly what was inside.
— Most were treasures ranging from E-rank to G-rank, with only a few rare materials of real value.
But when it came to complete high-grade treasures, supreme materials, or whole supreme artifacts—there was none.
For a peak King-level powerhouse, this was an astronomical fortune. But to a Universe Venerable, it was little more than a minor harvest.
"No need to sell these at the Hong Alliance; I'm not exactly short on money. I'll just take the lightning-attribute treasures for myself. The rest—fifty percent to the Thunder Emperor's lineage, thirty percent to the Jiang Clan, and twenty percent to the Earth lineage's treasury."
Though Jiang Zhe never considered himself the "leader of Earth," he still cared deeply for his people.
He selected the lightning treasures he had yet to refine—materials included—and fed them all into his "Lightning Universe," where they were refined instantly.
Feeling himself draw closer to the moment of universal collapse, his mood lightened considerably.
With a thought, he stored all remaining treasures into his world-storage, leaving only an ancient star map drawn on animal skin in his hand.
Compared to the one he had acquired from the Demon Spirits, this map was far clearer—marked with critical locations of the Pi Xie race.
Unfurling the map in the void, Jiang Zhe tapped three points in sequence.
"Thunderfall Isle."
"Phantom Forest."
"Darkstar."
These were his next destinations.
The first two contained the flesh and blood of the Lightning and Wood Beast Gods. The third—Darkstar—was the heartland of the Pi Xie clan, where their Universe Lord, Herod, resided.
Reboarding his F-rank starship, Jiang Zhe adjusted the flight path and departed.
The ship accelerated to light-speed, slipping into the Dark Universe.
It must be said—without both the "Silken Nest" and his colossal divine body, moving freely in the Silent Wind Belt would have been impossible. Even so, with the Nest woven into his body, the corrosive winds still gnawed at him, burning his divine body slowly but ceaselessly.
Before long, his ship was expelled back into realspace. Activating the external simulacrum, Jiang Zhe confirmed he had reached his destination.
His figure flickered and appeared outside the ship, staring into the distance.
There it was—an endless floating continent suspended in the void.
A barren wasteland of mountains, lifeless, shrouded beneath storm-dark clouds. From above, bolts of destructive azure lightning crashed down, painting the land in deathly brilliance.
—Thunderfall Isle.
"Once, I coveted above all else the blood of the Lightning Beast God. This floating continent was its source. Now… I no longer need it."
Jiang Zhe chuckled softly.
"But my Thunder Emperor lineage disciples will find great fortune here. As for me… I'll refine some to accelerate the transformation of my inner universe."
The Silent Wind Belt was a forbidden zone. No living beings could survive here. So long as the winds raged, no one would contend with him for this opportunity.
He released his cosmic projection, spreading divine power across the continent to survey its depths.
The land was vast—nine trillion kilometers across, nearly a billion kilometers deep.
As expected, no living beings had survived here.
But buried deep within barren mountain ranges, glittering azure crystals pulsed with arcs of lightning—stunning Jiang Zhe with delight.
Without doubt—these were treasures akin to the Blood Luo Crystals, capable of yielding Lightning Beast God's blood!
But his probing triggered Thunderfall Isle's "defensive system."
Streaks of azure light rose skyward, cloaked in lightning, piercing through clouds toward the source of his divine sense.
These were the "zombies"—the puppets of the Pi Xie clan, their corpses reanimated as guardians.
At their head, one figure radiated overwhelming might—dragon-headed, human-bodied—stronger even than the stag-headed beast Jiang Zhe had fought before.
A pity. Puppets were still only puppets.
Even if they retained fragments of their strength, they possessed at most one-tenth of their former selves.
His divine sense swept through their bodies.
"Mm… one Universe Overlord, thirty-two Invincible Kings?"
To most, that would be a nightmare. But to him—it was manageable.
With a casual infusion of divine power, Jiang Zhe formed a spear of lightning and tossed it gently forward.
—Boom!
At the same time, his cosmic projection descended, freezing the puppets mid-motion as though someone had pressed pause.
All but the dragon-headed Overlord. That one alone resisted, summoning a colossal draconic arm of void-law, a claw stretching tens of thousands of meters, thrusting straight for Jiang Zhe.
Yet the lightning spear bent through space, curving around the arm, threading straight into the crowd of Invincible Kings.
Crack!
Jiang Zhe snapped his fingers elegantly.
"Extinction Lightning Chains—bloom!"
The spear erupted into countless violet-black chains of destruction, whipping through the air, shredding the Invincible Kings' bodies and grinding their divine particles to dust.
At the same time, Jiang Zhe ignited his divine body, gathering energy into a massive black fist—
"Ninefold Refinement Fist!"
The void filled with earth-law sigils, condensing into a mountainous fist that collided head-on with the dragon claw.
—Boom!
The claw shattered. The black fist pressed forward, smashing through the Overlord's body.
The fist's "black hole" pull devoured the Overlord's scattered divine particles, grinding them away.
In mere breaths, the Overlord's divine body was nearly half gone.
Seizing the moment, Jiang Zhe flashed forward, golden wings slicing through chaotic space currents, his speed unparalleled.
A streak of afterimages marked his path—each a step in his movement art.
Before the Overlord could re-form, Jiang Zhe appeared before him, lightning orb in hand.
"Beast, take this—Palm Lightning!"
—BOOM!
The explosion tore space apart, rending millions of kilometers into turbulence.
Protected by the Silken Nest and his massive divine body, Jiang Zhe withstood the blast.
And when the dust settled, the dragon-headed corpse lay defeated, its body forced into slumber from overdrawn divine loss.
The remaining nine Invincible Kings were casually collected into his storage as trophies.
Only then did Jiang Zhe descend upon Thunderfall Isle itself.
Lightning rained upon him, yet he strode through and began "mining."
One by one, azure crystals and lightning treasures were drawn into his inner universe.
As they merged, his Lightning Universe entered its final phase—accelerating into collapse.
"Unfortunately… I'm still in the second stage of the Guiding Secret Art. I may miss the true moment."
He sighed, retreating into an underground cavern for seclusion.
Even at maximum speed, the collapse took over ten years to arrive.
Finally, in the year 7064 of the Hanxia Calendar—
The collapse began.
Stars withered. Life-force was stripped. Galaxies fell to ruin.
It was as though the plug had been pulled on existence itself.
The Lightning Universe shrank, devouring all energy, all matter, all life.
And then—
—BOOM!
With a blinding burst of multicolored brilliance, the Lightning Universe vanished, leaving behind only a core of primal origin energy—awaiting rebirth.
Jiang Zhe did not immediately expand it into the Earth Universe.
First, he immersed himself in the insights of universal collapse, harvesting every shred of comprehension.
Next, he channeled the backflow of energy into his divine body, hardening it until he reached one hundred million times World Lord strength.
It was only the beginning. Each collapse would yield more.
The path was set.
Smiling faintly, Jiang Zhe poured his complete Earth-law comprehension into the origin.
"It begins."
"The second universal transformation—Earth Universe!"
—BOOM!