Beneath the golden phantom of the divine tree in Passage One, the only world passage that remained, on the top layer of the central building in the Alliance's main city...

Inside the meeting chamber, its compressed space a thousand times wider than the outer world, Chen Chu, Shi Feitong, Qian Tian, the Primordial King, the Celestial King, and Zhenwu sat around the conference table. Since this was an internal human meeting, the faerie kings and others didn't participate.

From the host's seat, Chen Chu smiled slightly. "I know everyone is curious about how I came to know Feitong."

The Primordial King, who looked like nothing more than an ordinary old man, chuckled and nodded. "Indeed, very curious. After all, the human's divine region is so far from here, so under normal circumstances, the two of you could never have crossed paths."

Chen Chu said with a trace of emotion, "That is true, but sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. It was back when I broke through to the mythical level, and struck deep into the rear of the Purgatory Empire to slay demon kings and great demon kings. I was besieged by three demon gods, and while I heavily wounded one and managed to escape, I myself was gravely injured. Deorus shattered my transportation forbidden weapon and I fell into the turbulent currents of time.

"There, I encountered a titan-level Silver Time Butterfly, and we fought a battle to the death. Though I eventually slew it, in the end that titan detonated its time crystal core. The tremendous burst of time power triggered the temporal turbulence, unleashing a time storm that swept me and a Time Dragon inside. That was how I was cast back into an age long past, descending into the Lost World in the midst of its apocalypse, where I met Feitong and her sister..."

Chen Chu gave a general recounting of the incident, though certain details were adjusted. Just like how he himself shattering the time crystal core was presented as the Time Butterfly's final act at death, his leap back by means of the hell coordinates was attributed to the Time Dragon.

By the time he finished, Qian Tian and the others were left speechless, overwhelmed with shock. Besieged by three demon gods as a mythical cultivator, grievously injured, then encountering a titan-level time-based colossal beast, only to be cast back ten thousand years into a doomed world... Any one of these situations would have meant certain death for them. Even if, by some miracle, they had survived, no one could have returned from such ancient ages; they would have been lost forever in the temporal currents.

While the Primordial King and the others sat stunned, Shi Feitong looked dazed. "No wonder there was such a violent fluctuation of time when you left back then."

Over the years, she and her sister had searched endlessly yet found no trace of Chen Chu. They had long suspected that perhaps he no longer belonged to the same time as them. However, they had never imagined that more than ten thousand years separated them. After all, under normal circumstances, cultivators at the mythical level had no right to touch upon time itself, much less traverse it to the past or future.

"...Wait, Big Brother Chen, may I ask how old you are now?" Shi Feitong suddenly realized something, her eyes flickering as she fixed her gaze upon him.

Before Chen Chu could answer, Zhenwu mused aloud, "I recall seeing Chen Chu's date of birth... I believe it was January 13. Now it's already late January, so he should have just turned eighteen."

The chamber fell silent. Shi Feitong gaped in disbelief. "You're only eighteen?!"

The Primordial King nodded with deep emotion. "Indeed, Chen Chu is truly only eighteen. Now you can understand why we were so shaken by his breakthrough, and that's just his cultivation realm. Back when he was only at the beginning stage of the ancient titan level, his strength was already comparable to an ordinary true spirit. On the battlefield, he could shatter a demon god's true form with a single halberd strike. Now that he's broken through to the late stage, it's impossible to imagine how strong he has become."

At that point, the Primordial King fell into silence. Zhenwu and the Celestial King were equally speechless. They had been shocked many times before, yet whenever they recalled Chen Chu's age alongside his cultivation and strength, an unreal feeling always overcame them.

Chen Chu shook his head. "There's no need to be so astonished. Once we reach the ancient titan level, age itself loses its meaning. So long as we avoid calamities, we can live tens of thousands, even millions of years. If one can condense an Innate Demon God True Form, one can even live as long as heaven itself. In that sense, decades or even millennia make little difference."

That... sounds reasonable.Zhenwu nodded instinctively, then caught himself.Reasonable, my foot. I've spent decades merely to reach the ancient titan level, while you needed only a year or two. At this pace, within two more years, you may have already reached the primordial level while I'm still stabilizing my beginning-stage cultivation.

Shi Feitong, on the other hand, agreed wholeheartedly. "Big Brother Chen is right. Age has lost its meaning for us. Whether twenty years or several thousand, there's no difference."

Chen Chu grinned. "Exactly, no difference. Feitong, you still look just as you did back then, still that sixteen-year-old girl."

Shi Feitong blushed slightly. "Though I'm happy you say so, that's a bit of an exaggeration."

Despite her words, however, her smile grew ever brighter. Every woman liked being told she looked young, especially when those words came from Chen Chu.

"Ahem!Let us move on to the next topic." The Primordial King coughed lightly before turning serious. He solemnly looked at Shi Feitong. "Vice Palace Master Shi, if I may ask, will the arrival of the divine region's envoy cause us trouble?"

It was because Chen Chu and Shi Feitong were clearly close that the Primordial King asked the question so directly. Shi Feitong's expression grew solemn as well. "In some ways, yes, it will be troublesome. Especially since this envoy carries a decree from a true emperor."

Zhenwu's eyes narrowed. "Do you mean they will take action, forcefully suppress us and claim dominion?"

Shi Feitong shook her head. "No. In the eyes of the six divine regions, your Human Federation, whose strongest force amounts to only five ancient-titan-level powerhouses, is insignificant. They won't care about ruling over you. Their goal is the ancestral world itself. When the time comes, they may forcibly drag this world away."

The Primordial King was stunned. "Wouldn't that be good for us?"

If the solar system's world were transported to the divine region of humanity, then with primordial-level forces standing behind them, along with cultural and technological exchange, the Federation's power could expand dozens, even hundreds of times in less than ten years. For the Blue Planet, wouldn't moving to the divine region be a blessing?

Shi Feitong slowly shook her head with grave solemnity. "They want the world, but not the people. Of course, since you are also human, they will not slaughter the Federation's people. They will likely carve out a region for you, and relocate everyone to a new environment."

Before Qian Tian and the others could ask, she said, "You do not truly understand what the ancestral land means for those beneath the true spirit level. It means that ancient-titan-level powerhouses can draw upon the ancestral land's world principles, making it far easier for them to reach the emperor level. It means that the descendants of those strong ones can rely on the world principles of the ancestral land to break through the shackles of life itself, and gain a cultivation speed far beyond what is possible in the vast world. Just like you.

"I'm sure all of you have already noticed how abnormal your cultivation speed has been, not just Big Brother Chen. Even you, Councilor Qian Tian, cultivate at a pace dozens of times faster than beings of the same realm in the vast world. Today, after tens of thousands of years, our population in the six human regions has exceeded five hundred billion. Every newborn is born a transcendent lifeform, and by adulthood each one already equals a fourth-level cultivator. But among them, very few can break through to the mythical level within a hundred years. To become a titan-level monarch within a thousand years marks one as a genius. As for top-level monarchs at the ancient titan level, they are one in a hundred million. To become true-spirit-level emperors is rarer still.

"Even for me, since breaking through to the true spirit level, I've advanced only a small step in thousands of years, barely approaching the middle stage. It will still take another decade before I can break through further."

"Why is it like this?" Zhenwu asked in astonishment.

Shi Feitong's gaze turned heavier. "Because the vast world itself is a colossal beast. In truth, we are all living inside the body of this unimaginable creature. The vast world brims with transcendent energy, its space incomparably stable, its principles flawless. In many ways, it is a perfect holy land for cultivation, but due to the unique nature of life, we who dwell within this beast are also affected by it. For example, time. In our original understanding, a day is twelve hours. But in the perception of that unfathomable beast, time flows unimaginably slowly. According to my master, the True Radiant Sky Emperor, this slumbering beast takes more than forty days for a single breath, and one turn of thought equals three years.

"And so, everything about us is slowed as well. As independent lifeforms, our thoughts and consciousness remain unaffected, but our cultivation, our comprehension of the laws of heaven and earth, our growth—every aspect of our time is enveloped and assimilated by that beast's time perception. The longer we live within the vast world, the more deeply the world's principles, or rather, the power of that beast, shape and bind us. Especially for those born within the vast world. From the moment of birth, they are assimilated. It is as though life itself is shackled."

"I see. No wonder," Chen Chu murmured, recalling the New Humans born in the mythical world, whose cultivation speed was abnormally slow.

The Primordial King suddenly understood. "So that's why. I thought my talent had reached its limit after breaking into the ancient titan level, but it was the mythical world's influence slowing me down."

No sooner had he spoken than Shi Feitong gave him a strange look, leaving him bewildered. "Vice Palace Master Shi, did I say something wrong?"

Shi Feitong replied with a faint smile, "You did. The truth is, because you frequently entered and exited the ancestral land, the world principles there have repeatedly washed over you. The time mark of the vast world on you remains faint, so it hasn't yet reached the level where it slows your cultivation."

The Primordial King immediately fell silent.Alright, so it really is my talent after all.

Qian Tian's expression darkened. "So this time, things may truly be troublesome."

The three-meter golden cube spun slowly, and the ancient voice of the Celestial King rumbled forth. "Indeed. For the powerhouses of the six divine regions, the Blue Planet represents their future. They may stop at nothing to seize it."

Was humanity united? Yes, it was. In the era of the great expeditions, seven emperors had led the combined might of humanity into the battlefields of other worlds, fighting for tens of thousands of years.

However, that unity belonged to the Ancient Civilization. It had nothing to do with today's Human Federation. As that thought settled, everyone's faces grew heavy.

They had only just crushed the Purgatory Demon Clan. Must they now go to war against their own, the Ancient Civilization of humanity?

Just then, Shi Feitong said, "Big Brother Chen, you need not worry too much. Under the will of the six true emperors, the first rule of humanity is that internal slaughter is forbidden. So the worst outcome this time is only the loss of control over your ancestral land. With your cultivation speed, it won't be long before you reach the emperor level, perhaps even reach the primordial level within a hundred years. At that point, even the true emperors will have to respect your voice, and you will reclaim control over the ancestral land."

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