Outside the secret realm barrier, the void roared without rest.
Bai Yue continued his meticulous exploration, unaware that the wills of the Three Great Clans had already converged upon him. His focus remained absolute—verify every weak point, determine the earliest viable entrance, and secure the initiative for the Human Race.
Years passed in silence.
One year. Two. Twenty. Fifty.
By the sixty-third year, more than half of the candidate regions identified by Venerable Nanzhu and the others had been personally rechecked. At Bai Yue's current pace, ten more years would be enough to complete the work.
The Feiyuan Divine Boat shuttled steadily through spatial vortices and seas of lightning at sub-light speed. Bai Yue's nascent Chaos Domain unfolded continuously, stabilizing the surrounding turbulence. Even in this extreme environment, everything within a sixty–light-year radius remained under his control.
Only the direction obstructed by the secret realm barrier itself resisted clear perception. From there, he could sense only vague, indistinct fluctuations from within.
After confirming the thickness of the barrier in one region, Bai Yue guided the Feiyuan Divine Boat away, heading toward a relatively stable pocket of space. Once he locked onto the next target, he prepared to relocate instantly.
Then—
"Beiming."
A cold voice cut through space and time.
Boom!
The instant the Feiyuan Divine Boat completed its spatial shift, a terrifying force slammed into it head-on. The ancient vessel was blasted backward—only a few kilometers—toward the secret realm barrier.
Only a few kilometers.
For a palace treasure comparable to an Eternal True God–level artifact, even a sudden strike like this barely counted as a disturbance.
Inside the vessel, the Universe Exalts felt nothing more than a faint tremor.
"Junior Brother, were we attacked?" Gui Yi Venerable asked cautiously.
"It's fine," Bai Yue replied calmly. "I'll deal with him. Just a clown."
He stepped forward, dismissed the Feiyuan Divine Boat, and stood alone in the void. His Chaos Domain erupted outward, instantly seizing control of the surrounding space-time.
"Lord of Hunyuan," a voice echoed with boundless malice, "if you hid inside that palace treasure, I might have been helpless. But you chose to come out yourself. Are you seeking death?"
From the distant darkness, a figure emerged.
Black armor. A bone mask. A cold, oppressive aura that seemed steeped in endless slaughter.
"Beiqiu Prison Master," Bai Yue said flatly.
This Universe Lord was infamous throughout the Primordial Universe—ancient, powerful, erratic. He attacked without reason, annihilated entire factions when displeased, and treated all races with arrogant contempt.
Every major power had attempted to recruit him.
Every attempt had failed.
If not a battle, then immediate retreat—there was never negotiation.
Almost every peak faction had suffered losses at his hands. Yet Beiqiu Prison Master survived unscathed for countless years, relying on the Beiqiu Prison, a top-tier palace treasure, and his unparalleled ability to preserve his life.
In the Primordial Universe, where Universe's Strongest were suppressed, few could truly threaten him.
But that was only the surface.
In truth, this identity belonged to Zuo Shanke's second disciple—Yan Emperor, the traitor of the Human Race.
Bai Yue did not know this.
Nor did he care.
If this was Zuo Shanke himself, all the better. If not—then the one before him would not be leaving today.
"Noisy," Bai Yue said indifferently.
He expanded his divine body to ninety thousand kilometers. God power surged. The Chaos Domain—now bearing a faint yet unmistakable chaotic intent—descended like an iron curtain.
The surrounding space-time was seized outright.
"This Domain… impossible!" Beiqiu Prison Master's eyes burned with greed. "You've only just broken through—how can your suppression be this strong?"
"Hand over all your treasures," he snarled, drawing a dark spear, "and I may spare your life."
Bai Yue answered with a single motion.
His palm rose gently.
Five-colored divine light converged, forming a colossal hand that fell from the void.
The world shattered.
Space collapsed, law patterns disintegrated, and the region was reduced to chaos. Lightning storms were wiped clean, spatial vortices erased outright.
When the Primordial Universe's laws repaired the damage, Beiqiu Prison Master reassembled his body in the distance—yet his aura had plummeted.
The spear was gone.
Shattered completely.
His god body had lost more than half its power.
"What… what kind of monster is this?" terror replaced arrogance. "That attack—was it a Universe Lord's ultimate fusion technique?"
Indeed.
This Beiqiu Prison Master was not Zuo Shanke.
It was Yan Emperor.
And with a single strike of Bai Yue's Five Emperors Palm, his god body had nearly been annihilated.
Panic took hold.
The moment his body stabilized, Yan Emperor retreated into the Beiqiu Prison, activating the palace treasure at full power and attempting to flee.
The Jie Armor flared, weakening incoming force to a hundred-thousandth.
Even so, fear gnawed at him.
"Even with the Jie Armor, I lost over half my god body in one blow… I can't survive a second strike."
Without hesitation, he crushed the life-saving token Zuo Shanke had given him.
Only then did his heart steady.
But it was too late.
Bai Yue's Chaos Domain contracted violently.
Beiqiu Prison froze in place—unable to move even an inch.
Within moments, the vast Domain condensed into a gray bead, no larger than a fingertip, suspended between Bai Yue's fingers.
Inside it, endless chaotic strands bound the Beiqiu Prison at the center.
Yan Emperor raged silently, madness and jealousy twisting his mind.
A junior who had cultivated for less than ten thousand years—
Suppressing him.
A Universe Lord.
Bai Yue studied the bead briefly, then cast it into his Original Universe.
He intended to erase this traitor entirely.
Then—
A sigh echoed through the void.
A supreme will descended.
Space blurred, and an incomparably vast green mountain manifested. At its peak sat an aged figure, cross-legged, his presence alone overwhelming heaven and earth.
Zuo Shanke.
One of the most mysterious Universe's Strongest.
To the Primordial Universe, an untouchable legend.
In truth, the reincarnation of a God King from the Origin Continent—an existence even the universe origin feared.
They faced each other in silence.
Bai Yue casually rolled the gray bead between his fingers, already considering what price he might extract.
"Lord of Hunyuan," Zuo Shanke finally spoke, his voice ancient and profound. "The most talented Universe Lord the Human Race has ever produced. To reach this realm in mere thousands of years… I did not expect our meeting to be like this."
"And I didn't expect Senior to appear personally," Bai Yue replied calmly.
Zuo Shanke studied him deeply.
Too many anomalies.
Too many impossibilities.
"Release Beiqiu Prison Master," he said at last.
"Ordinarily, I might," Bai Yue answered evenly. "But he attacked me openly. I need to establish authority."
Zuo Shanke laughed softly. "After today, who would dare underestimate you? I'll exchange a peak-grade treasure."
Bai Yue shook his head.
"Then two."
"I lack nothing," Bai Yue said simply.
For the first time in countless years, Zuo Shanke hesitated.
"Name your condition."
Bai Yue met his gaze. "I comprehend all Ten Origin Laws. I wish to fuse them. Senior is knowledgeable—give me guidance."
Silence fell.
In the depths of the universe, two existences stood facing one another.
And the balance of fate quietly shifted.