Chapter 1141: The Ancient Myth of the Universe

This realm contains time, space, gravity, and matter. Yet, it is truly a vague concept, not yet fully defined or possessing detailed parameters. It is like a seedling that has just sprouted from the soil, but its branches have not yet extended. This leaves room for exploration; with Xu Zhi's current profound knowledge, he could even slightly adjust the core laws of time to align with his desired direction.

Xu Zhi was currently sitting cross-legged at the center of the chaotic Big Bang. He vaguely saw this universe's tree-like map of laws, which was very crude and simple. It was far from the prosperous and complete state of the greater universe he knew; in fact, it was incomplete because the universe Xu Zhi created did not originate from a true singularity but merely gathered most of the universe's laws.

"Space encompasses all directions, up and down; time extends from antiquity to the present. Yet, this realm has not truly formed into a universe... It lacks the sense of past and present, a chaotic era without calendars, and a spacetime without measure..." Xu Zhi murmured softly.

Amidst the primeval darkness, he sat at the heart of the universe, his gaze sweeping over this realm and its vaguely evolving rules. Light could not truly be called light. Gravity had barely taken shape. There were no planets, only distorted clumps of earth. These material clumps floated within the Big Bang, not even qualifying as solid three-dimensional matter. They possessed an elusive, hazy quality, like a mirage, or even more indescribable than the legendary Klein bottle. These clumps drifted indistinctly between one, two, and three dimensions.

"Even dimensions haven't taken form." After a moment of silence, observing this chaotic and murky scene, he fully grasped the meaning of "nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards." Even his formidable cultivation had almost entirely dissipated.

"In this universe, my power is less than one-thousandth of what it was... Indeed, I could truly become a mortal." Xu Zhi quickly found the foundation of the Great Dao. He began to explore the patterns between them, discovering that there were indeed no quantitative measures. At this point, even the concept of time was vague, because a "concept" without detailed parameters or scales might not even be perceived by living beings.

"This means I can transcend the limitations of the greater universe here, and in this realm, set one day to be tens of thousands, or even hundreds of millions of years long?" Xu Zhi's face flushed and grew warm, his blood beginning to boil. If he could achieve this, he would create a truly world-shaking event, a monumental breakthrough! He would be invincible! What would it be like to have one day last a hundred million years? He would instantly take off.

He quickly organized his thoughts. "Let me think. The outside universe has this upper limit, but this new universe doesn't... This implies that in the ancient era of the primordial chaotic universe, a supreme being, after achieving ultimate enlightenment, modified the universe's maximum time scale, setting the highest parameter for high-dimensional spacetime to one day equivalent to one hundred years... This has persisted until today. Why would they have set it that way?"

Xu Zhi pondered inwardly: "Surely, before that being set the limit, high-dimensional spacetime had no upper bound. The deities of that ancient era could enter high-dimensional spacetime and experience an insane time flow of one day equating to a hundred, a thousand, or even a hundred million years!"

What did this imply? It meant terrifying and chaotic anomalies throughout the universe! For instance, in a battle between two deities, if one enemy entered a high-dimensional spacetime where one day equaled a hundred years, the other might enter one where a day was a thousand or ten thousand years, striving for a faster time flow than their opponent! High-dimensional warfare against lower dimensions! A dimension-reduction strike! This would lead to both sides frantically escalating their battles into even higher-dimensional spacetime. How could the mere few thousand-year lifespan of a deity withstand such consumption? They would instantly age and die. Even the victor, if they survived, would be on the verge of death from old age.

"It's clear that battles in the ancient, primordial universe were utterly chaotic and murky, with no established rules. The lack of limits on high-dimensional spacetime led to this tumultuous situation..." Xu Zhi softly said, "Therefore, upon witnessing this, a great and benevolent ancient sage devised a method: to limit the extremes of high-dimensional spacetime. By attaining enlightenment themselves, they set the universe's high-dimensional spacetime limit, thereby quelling the chaotic era... From then on, even the most powerful beings could only fight in high-dimensional spacetime where one day equaled one hundred years, preventing fundamental harm."

From that point onward, the endurance limit for biological consciousness in the distant future of the universe became one day equaling a hundred years. Any terrifying high-dimensional flow rate surpassing one day per century was the flow rate of a Creator God; such an excessively high flow rate caused the body to rapidly age and lose the ability to think.

"Moreover, the limitations on high-dimensional spacetime not only brought order to the cosmos but also significantly extended the universe's lifespan..." Xu Zhi mused, "After all, if there were no limits, the rapid iteration and cultivation speed of powerful beings would accelerate... This would mean a faster emergence of Tenth-tier beings, and the universe, like a catalyst-fed tree, would grow frantically and complete itself... Once the universe was fully complete and the gate to the Tenth-tier closed, the universe would enter its decline."

Witnessing this, Xu Zhi could deduce the historical civilizations of the ancient universe. At that time, the universe was in utter chaos, devoid of rules. Generations of great sages, by attaining enlightenment themselves, established peaceful and stable, regulated universes, leading to the present era. This was also the significance of his extraordinary sandbox deductions: to deduce the sandbox, understand the laws of the universe, and seek paths for future cultivation.

"That era must have been incredibly magnificent!" Xu Zhi mused, his eyes shining brightly: "For instance, the moment the great sage who established the high-dimensional parameter limit for the entire ancient universe achieved enlightenment, the rules of the entire universe changed accordingly! Mortals, deities, and enlightened beings living throughout the vast nebula systems would clearly feel a strong tremor! The universe's turmoil would instantly subside! Countless ancient divine beings would seek tutelage under, and revere, this great and benevolent Cosmic Saint!"

It was a splendid and glorious ancient universe. The enlightenment of every enlightened being would shake heaven and earth, changing the era! They mastered incredibly terrifying core laws! Their Great Dao bloodlines were truly invincible! At that time, it was feared that merely one Great Dao bloodline could utterly defeat a group of current ultimate beings with five Great Dao bloodlines!

One must understand that it was not like today's mature and complete universe, where almost all important secondary branch laws have been fully enlightened. When beings like Deep Blue Heavenly Venerable attained enlightenment previously, there were only slight tremors, as their Great Dao involved minor details and barely changed the universe.

"For instance, that great sage who set the extreme parameters for high-dimensional spacetime—who could contend against their Great Dao bloodline? They limited the common beings, yet remained unrestricted themselves... To be able to experience a hundred million years in high-dimensional spacetime, they must have swept across an entire cosmic epoch, becoming an invincible sage of an era, their glory illuminating the entire universe!"

"It's as if I'm dreaming of ancient times." Xu Zhi smiled faintly.