Chapter 1173: The Fisherman on the Cosmic Beach

This place was incredibly lush and prosperous. Powerful racial deities set up stalls and moved about here. The lowest among them were Eight-tier, with many common existences being Nine-tier Dao-attained beings.

An elderly, white-haired man was tending a stall, with mud sculptures displayed in a corner, attracting no business. He looked up as Xu Zhi and his group approached, his eyes lighting up. “Did you come from subspace?”

“How do you know we didn’t ascend from below?” Medusa asked with a smiling face, pointing downwards.

“Haha, those who ascend from the lower realms are truly extraordinary, ancient and great cosmic existences who have attained sainthood and become ancestors. They are unparalleled figures throughout history, capable of ranking among the best in the universe, past and present. It’s been an unknown amount of time since anyone like that ascended to our region. Our ancestors down there each govern their own territory. Essentially, as soon as someone breaks through in the lower realms, other ancestors descend ahead of time to eliminate them. Even if someone manages to ascend by chance, they would only have achieved ultimate mastery in a single Dao. How could they possibly be so ostentatious, strolling around here, unafraid of being slaughtered by other existences?”

The old man’s face was ruddy, possessing the air of an immortal with a pair of prominent ears, and he was very talkative. “We are all descendants of ancient existences. I am a descendant, many generations removed, of the seventh offspring of the Old Ancestor of Sculpting Wind City. You, on the other hand, clearly just emerged from subspace, didn’t you?”

It seemed there were many sects within this region’s towns. This was the outer perimeter of an ancient existence’s Dao field. The old man explained that this ancient cosmic existence had lived for millions of years, having thirteen offspring, all born at the Ten-tier and incredibly powerful. He himself was one of the countless descendants of the seventh offspring.

“Ten-tier ultimate offspring? Aren’t they just tea-serving attendants in the Dao field?” Shi Ji asked curiously.

“Little girl, how dare you disparage such existences?” The old man was startled. “So many people would be overjoyed to serve tea and water to such great ancient existences! Ten-tier offspring are born divine; once they mature, they are destined to reach the ultimate level. Even pseudo-Ten-tier beings are unimaginably powerful.”

Clearly, even if Ten-tier offspring couldn’t truly break through to the genuine Ten-tier and merely served tea and water, they were still incredibly high-status existences beyond the Chaotic Heavens. Originally, Xu Zhi had expected it to be rather desolate and lonely. However, beyond the Chaotic Heavens, the Dao fields of Ten-tier existences had a more “human atmosphere” than Xu Zhi had imagined, and they were also developing their own Ten-tier ultimate civilizations.

Or rather, communication only occurred between Ten-tier civilizations! How could ants and giants communicate? They weren’t even on the same dimension! It wasn’t that they wouldn’t fight, but they had clearly established a certain degree of checks and balances, always targeting the ‘easy targets’ who had just broken through in the lower realms.

“Yes, we’ve just emerged,” Medusa replied, looking around with a faint smile. “We’ve only just broken through to become deities, which is why we’re finally qualified to come out here. After all, if one isn’t even a deity, they simply cannot withstand this chaotic aura.”

“Many like you have emerged recently; this generation has seen a great number of prodigious talents, especially lately! It’s said that this is due to a mysterious tremor within the universe some time ago, when a ‘tumor’ or foreign object appeared. Countless ancient Dao existences descended to investigate, even visiting each other’s Dao fields to exchange information, but they found no definitive answers. It’s rumored that a major change might be imminent. They speculate that an external multi-dimensional Saint, capable of traversing the multiverse, is orchestrating a plan, possibly plundering our universe’s cosmic fortune. After all, the entity carries an aura that doesn’t belong to this universe. We can only hope that the existences of our universe can intervene and thwart this entity’s scheme.”

The old man smiled and said, “Our realm is the land of Ten-tier civilizations! It is the true center of the universe! Below, it’s far too barren. Although the lower realms are vast and boundless, those millions of miles of desolate wilderness pale in comparison to this place. Countless ancient and great Ten-tier existences have all come to this chaotic realm. We who are born here live very happily.”

Xu Zhi nodded. That indeed made sense. Here, there were only Ten-tier offspring, Nine-tier offspring, and Eight-tier offspring. It was truly a case of ‘when one attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.’ Ten-tier civilizations were almost never seen within the universe itself. Because they had all gathered here, it truly was the cosmic center, a region where the entire universe’s top powers were concentrated.

Xu Zhi had just begun to reflect on this.

“What cosmic center? This is clearly just a slightly better backwater town,” Little Shi Ji said with a serious, innocent, and utterly proud expression. “That’s because you haven’t seen the *true* cosmic center!”

The white-haired old man immediately stared blankly, failing to react for a moment.

“Ahem, ahem, ahem, this little girl is ignorant, please forgive her,” Medusa said, changing the subject. She lowered her gaze to the sculptures, which were exquisitely crafted and ancient, and couldn’t help but ask, “What exactly are you selling here?”

The old man was momentarily stunned, then chuckled and said, “As you can see, these items were all fished out of the Chaotic Sea. The Chaotic Ocean is immense, with countless decaying ancient civilization relics floating within it, often washed ashore by the tides. Some ‘fishers’ often go to the coast to scavenge.”

“Fishers?” The Martial Alliance Leader asked, intrigued.

“Yes, those with weak power can only pick things up on the beaches. Powerful existences can fish in the Chaotic Ocean, and even more powerful ones can dive and swim in that ocean for a period of time. Our Old Ancestor, for example, can swim submerged for a full ten minutes before being forced back to shore! Our star domain is still relatively weak. Other star domains occupy broader sections of the ocean. It’s even said that some even more powerful ultimate great existences, at a certain point, will build a Great Ship of Deliverance and choose to venture across the sea, navigating the vast expanse between parallel universes. But how difficult is that? It’s a journey with nine deaths and one survival; countless existences have drowned in the ocean, their bodies perished and their Dao extinguished, their remnants washed ashore.”

Xu Zhi listened intently. It seemed this vast, chaotic ocean was incredibly mysterious, an ocean that buried the remnants of countless great civilizations from ancient and modern times. The old man was clearly a talkative sort. He explained to them that the Chaotic Ocean transcended time, and the items washed ashore were not necessarily prehistoric creations of this universe. They could even come from other parallel universes, often bringing ancient, mysterious tools with different laws. It was said that this aspect was very mysterious.

Throughout history, many fortunate individuals, walking along the chaotic beaches outside the universe, have stumbled upon incredible opportunities. It’s even rumored that one existence, rising to prominence, obtained secret treasures and inheritances from the era of the universe’s creation over ten billion years ago in primordial times, cultivating to the Ten-tier ultimate level, and becoming a Supreme Saint who enlightened the universe’s Dao.

“Now, these ancient sculptures are incredibly old. Although there are many on the beach, they are all incomplete. My collection here is very well-preserved, all acquired from others, and worth collecting. These are at least five billion years old. According to our speculation, it’s likely that an unimaginably great civilization appeared in the universe before that era, one that was enthusiastic about sculpting. We just don’t know why they were so fond of sculpting such common objects…”

Pfft! Shi Ji let out a soft laugh.

Upon hearing this, Medusa suddenly shook her head repeatedly, looking as if she had indeed encountered a bumpkin from the countryside.

The old man was utterly bewildered. He froze completely, sitting at his stall, unable to utter a word.

Some ancient existences enjoyed collecting antiques. When he had nothing to do, he liked to set up a stall here to earn a bit of pocket money. He also enjoyed acting as a mysterious, unfathomable senior figure to younger generations, often giving them pointers. Even a casual favor from him was enough to be a massive opportunity for them. He himself cherished these items, and now someone was mockingly uttering such ridiculous words. It was an absolute disgrace!

“Heh, just because you don’t understand many things doesn’t mean they don’t exist.” Medusa merely shook her head, her gaze pitying as if looking at a bumpkin, and sighed. “How pathetic, truly pathetic. You think you’re well-versed in ancient and modern times, but you’re just a pathetic fish in a pond.”

“Why would they need sufficient lifespan? Because in that ancient era, they lived in eternal longevity. Why would they need to traverse the cosmos? Because in that ancient era, no stars had even appeared; in fact, the stars themselves were built by them—”

The white-haired old man trembled, his face filled with disbelief.

Even the stars were built by that group of mortals!!

What kind of ancient secret was this? Were they lying, or was this a true ancient cosmic miracle that had actually happened? What exactly were these sculptures…?

“Your Majesty, let us go,” Medusa said with a smile. She stepped over the stall. The group continued forward, chatting merrily, while uttering words that sent shivers down the old man’s spine. “Please continue to tell us more about the era of the universe’s beginning, and the story after the art of sculpture…”