Chapter 34: The Throne of Rotting Stars
Location: The Primordial Garden – The Tower of Origin
The silence in the center of the universe was heavy. It was the kind of silence that precedes the death of a galaxy.
Jiang Chen floated outside the Void Piercer, his EX-Rank aura forming a sphere of absolute order around him. Opposite him hovered Cang Yu, the First Sovereign—now the Void Emperor.
Cang Yu looked human, terrifyingly so. But his skin was the color of ash, and the six wings on his back dripped with a liquid that sizzled against the fabric of reality.
"You look like me," Cang Yu smiled. His teeth were black crystal. "Before I opened my eyes."
"I saw your message," Jiang Chen said, Nightfall resting on his shoulder. "You said you failed. You said the Void consumed you."
"I lied," Cang Yu laughed. It was a sound like tearing metal. "I didn't fail. I evolved. The Grandmist... it is a cage. It forces you to maintain Order. To be a gardener of a chaotic universe. It is exhausting."
Cang Yu spread his arms. The grey nebula around him pulsed.
"But the Void? The Void is freedom. No rules. No protection. Only hunger. It is the purest form of existence."
He pointed a grey finger at the Void Piercer. Specifically, at the nursery.
"That child... he is not a Gardener. He is a Devourer. He belongs to me. Give him to me, and I will let you live as my Viceroy."
Jiang Chen's eyes went cold. The three rings behind his head—Black, Gold, Purple—began to spin.
"You want my son?" Jiang Chen raised his sword. "You can choke on my blade first."
"Pity." Cang Yu sighed.
He snapped his fingers.
"Kill the ship. Keep the baby fresh."
The Eight Void Lords roared. They were the strongest of the Eleven—massive concepts of Fire, Ice, Time, and Decay, all corrupted by the Void. They charged toward the Void Piercer.
"Mo You! Feng Xi!" Jiang Chen shouted over the comms. "Don't let them touch the hull!"
"Understood!"
The airlock of the Void Piercer blasted open.
"Abyssal Art: World Shadow!"
Mo You didn't just come out; she expanded. Her darkness covered the ship like a cloak, turning the dreadnought invisible to the naked eye. She stood on the hull, a lone Valkyrie in black armor, dual daggers gleaming.
"Solar Art: Heavenly Fire Turrets!"
Feng Xi connected herself to the ship's weapon systems. The Void Piercer's hundreds of point-defense lasers turned gold.
PEW-PEW-PEW.
A wall of solar fire erupted, intercepting the Void Lords.
The Sovereign Duel
Jiang Chen didn't watch the ship. His focus was entirely on the monster in front of him.
Cang Yu drew a weapon. It wasn't a sword. It was a Scythe made of a collapsed black hole.
"Chaos Sutra: Third Stance - Entropy Slash."
Cang Yu swung.
There was no beam of light. There was just a line of death. The space between them died. The concept of distance died. The scythe was instantly at Jiang Chen's neck.
Jiang Chen's instincts screamed.
"Grandmist Art: Reality Rewrite."
Jiang Chen didn't block. He teleported the space he occupied three meters to the left.
The scythe slashed empty void. A tear in reality opened where Jiang Chen's neck had been, revealing the chaotic static of the dimension outside the universe.
"You use the Chaos Sutra," Jiang Chen noted, sweat forming on his brow. "But you use it backwards."
"I use it correctly," Cang Yu spun the scythe. "Creation requires effort. Destruction is natural."
They clashed.
Nightfall met the Void Scythe.
BOOM.
The impact shook the entire Primordial Garden. The golden waterfalls evaporated. The crystal trees shattered.
They moved faster than light. To a normal observer, they were just streaks of Purple and Grey colliding thousands of times a second.
Jiang Chen was strong. He was the perfect fusion of three bloodlines.
But Cang Yu was ancient. He had millions of years of combat experience. Every move Jiang Chen made, Cang Yu countered effortlessly.
CLANG.
Jiang Chen was knocked back, crashing into the base of the Tower of Origin. He coughed up blood—golden, EX-Rank blood.
"Is that it?" Cang Yu hovered above him. "You rely too much on the Trinity. You think adding a Dragon and a Phoenix makes you strong? It dilutes the purity!"
Cang Yu raised his scythe.
"The Grandmist stands alone."
He swung down to decapitate Jiang Chen.
Suddenly, a massive shadow blocked the sun.
"ROAR!"
A colossal black tail slammed into Cang Yu, knocking him sideways.
Mo You—in her full Abyssal Dragon Form—had broken away from defending the ship to save her husband.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Mo You shrieked, breathing a cone of Abyssal Fire at the Emperor.
Cang Yu floated in the fire, unburned. He looked annoyed.
"A Lizard," Cang Yu sneered. "Disgusting."
He reached out and grabbed Mo You's massive dragon neck with one human hand.
"Kneel."
He squeezed.
CRACK.
"ARRGH!" Mo You screamed, her dragon form flickering. The Void corruption spread from his hand into her scales, turning them grey.
"MO YOU!" Jiang Chen roared.
He exploded from the rubble. His eyes turned completely white.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY WIFE!"
[Chaos Sutra: Overdrive.]
Jiang Chen didn't use a technique. He used pure, unadulterated rage. He tackled Cang Yu, slamming him through the floor of the dimension.
They crashed into the Sub-Space—a realm of swirling colors beneath reality.
Jiang Chen pounded Cang Yu's face. One punch. Two punches. A thousand punches.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
Cang Yu's face cracked. His grey skin shattered like porcelain.
"Enough," Cang Yu hissed.
A pulse of Grey Light exploded from his chest.
It blasted Jiang Chen away.
Cang Yu stood up in the Sub-Space. His face healed instantly. But he looked angry now.
"You fight like a beast," Cang Yu spat. "Fine. If you want to be a beast, I will treat you like one."
He raised his hands. The Grey Light formed a cage around Jiang Chen.
"Void Art: Genetic De-Evolution."
"What..." Jiang Chen felt his body seizing.
His blood was boiling. The Dragon blood and the Phoenix blood were rebelling. Cang Yu was forcibly separating the Trinity Fusion.
"NO!" Jiang Chen gritted his teeth, his aura flaring.
"You are not a Sovereign," Cang Yu chanted. "You are just a man, a lizard, and a bird glued together. FALL APART."
Jiang Chen screamed as his wings were ripped from his back. His golden eye faded. His black eye faded. He was reverting to a pure human—but a human without the power to fight a God.
Location: The Void Piercer
"Husband!" Feng Xi screamed from the gunner seat. "His signal is fading! The fusion is breaking!"
Outside, Mo You had reverted to human form, falling onto the ship's deck, clutching her bruised neck. She was too injured to help.
The Eight Void Lords were hammering the shields. The barriers were at 10%.
"We're going to die," the Ship AI stated logically. "Probability: 100%."
In the nursery, Jiang Xing woke up.
He felt it.
Daddy was hurting. Mommy was hurting. The nice metal lady (the ship) was scared.
The baby sat up. The Golden Crown on his head spun rapidly.
He didn't cry this time.
He got mad.
He climbed out of the crib. He floated through the door. He floated onto the bridge.
"The Baby!" Feng Xi gasped. "Xing'er, go back! It's dangerous!"
Jiang Xing ignored her. He floated to the main viewport.
He looked at the Eight Void Lords attacking his house.
He looked at the grey light trapping his father.
Jiang Xing raised his chubby little hand. He pointed at the Void Lords.
"BAD."
The word wasn't a sound. It was a Decree.
The Spirit Realm Authority slammed into the Eight Void Lords.
They froze.
"WHAT... IS... THIS?" Void Lord #1 gasped. "I... CANNOT... MOVE."
Jiang Xing didn't stop. He looked at the ship's console. He saw the big red button labeled "MAIN CANNON: SINGULARITY (NO AMMO)."
The ship was out of ammo because they had used the Divine Heart to warp here.
Jiang Xing patted his stomach.
Burp.
He vomited a small ball of pure, concentrated Star Energy (the remains of the Mirror King and the Galaxy he ate).
He shoved the ball into the ammo slot.
[System Alert: Unauthorized Ammo Detected.]
[Ammo Type: Primordial Spirit Energy.]
[Weapon Overcharge: 5000%.]
The Void Piercer began to shake. The main cannon glowed—not purple, but Rainbow.
Jiang Xing smashed his fist onto the "FIRE" button.
"BYE BYE."
KA-BOOM.
A beam of Rainbow Light—a literal stream of baby-processed cosmic energy—shot out of the dreadnought.
It hit the Eight Void Lords.
They didn't stand a chance. The beam was wide enough to engulf a moon. It vaporized them instantly. Their Divine Souls were scrubbed from existence.
The beam didn't stop. It continued, piercing through the dimension, piercing through the Sub-Space, and smashing directly into the Genetic Cage holding Jiang Chen.
SHATTER.
The cage broke.
Jiang Chen gasped, the pressure vanishing. The Trinity Fusion snapped back into place, stronger than before.
He looked up. He saw the Rainbow Beam cutting through the sky.
"My son..." Jiang Chen grinned, wiping blood from his mouth. "My son just gave me a refill."
He grabbed the residual Rainbow Energy floating in the air. He absorbed it.
His EX-Rank aura changed. It gained a fourth color: Rainbow.
[Resonance Achieved: Father and Son.]
[Temporary Rank: Spirit Lamp (Half-Step).]
Jiang Chen looked at the shocked Void Emperor.
"Hey, Cang Yu," Jiang Chen cracked his knuckles.
"Round Two."
[End of Chapter 34]