Chapter 1448: Victory or Defeat

Ten moves.

From a distance, everyone's expressions changed.

The entire universe suddenly fell silent, as if only the two of them remained.

One was a white porcelain, three-headed thundercloud giant, spanning countless planets, its body crackling with lightning elements. It accumulated power, its form imbued with various incredibly profound cultivation techniques and divine abilities. Opposite it was an equally colossal humanoid being, possessing the density of a white dwarf star. Both figures possessed extremely high mass density, appearing pure white and delicate. Merely by standing there, they generated infinite spatiotemporal gravity, absorbing and collapsing everything.

With a fierce roar, both almost transformed into beings of light, their fists and palms colliding in an instant. Endless shockwaves erupted, like a colossal nuclear explosion. The universe rapidly twisted under this terrifying power. Light bent and swirled, and even sound was contorted, forming a massive sphere of luminous particles that enveloped the two combatants.

Caroline's consciousness black hole unleashed swirling vortexes. Various virtual cosmic phenomena began to sweep through and pierce the entire space-time.

The Three Pillar Gods drew their three Pillar God Swords. Three great currents of destiny—the Human Pillar, Beast Pillar, and Plant Pillar—combined with Subaru's thirty-fold burst. Di Qi, meanwhile, demonstrated an endless array of ingenious techniques that seemed to flow naturally. This ultimate being unleashed its full power.

Emperor Zun, holding the Sword of Samsara, united his three forms. He seemed to be murmuring an inexplicable, distant holy song:“Advanced defense.”“Strong immunity to Dao techniques.”At this moment, it was as if the entirety of Samsara blessed his body.

With a thunderous crash, the entire universe suddenly blazed with blinding light. People vaguely felt they saw a black mushroom cloud surge upward, and countless sections of space fractured like mirror shards in all directions.

Wooooosh!

Howling gales of energy swept forth, as if carrying endless sorrow. In the next second, there was no sound, no clear image; everything simply collapsed into a twisted expanse of spacetime. Broken and fragmented spatial turbulence still bore witness to the scene.

The smoke and dust had not yet cleared, and energy ripples continued to billow. The players' hearts clenched tightly as they stared blankly at the center of the universe.

“Who won?” someone asked excitedly.

“It must be the Three Pillar Gods, Caroline, and Di Qi,” You Shanfu-jun declared. “They’ve slain Emperor Zun and restarted the ancient immortal path.”

“Emperor Zun definitely won!” a player retorted, unconvinced. “Don’t forget, he’s the descendant of a perfected ultimate Tenth-Tier bloodline, possessing five genes, perfecting all five paths, reaching the ultimate pinnacle of perfection!”

“I didn't expect such an outcome in the end.” A calm, serene voice spoke; it was Di Qi.

People followed the voice with their gaze. As the turbulence subsided, the ultimate and perfect Three Pillar God entity had transformed back into three individuals. They were severely battered, standing on three of the largest distant spacetime fragments, floating amidst the spatial turbulence. Emperor Zun, however, still stood upright in the void, his body shattered, yet remarkably steady.

Despite the fierce struggle, Emperor Zun had still prevailed. However, he himself was severely wounded. To be precise, it was a mutual defeat, with both sides suffering heavy losses. But this was inevitable. When strengths were comparable, even if one could win, it would invariably be a Pyrrhic victory for that side.

“There’s no need to continue fighting.” Emperor Zun’s voice was calm. “You have indeed surpassed all expectations. To push me, with my completely perfected foundations, to such an extent… Imperfect, yet battling against the flawless, you have surprisingly reached this level.”

“The three of us have lost,” Di Qi smiled, his gaze fervent. “We fought to the very end, pushing all our laws to their utmost limits, then started battling with our physical bodies. But your body is simply too terrifying, too perfect.”

Indeed. Caroline also sensed the terror within it. Emperor Zun, this individual, was still at the beginning of the Ninth-Tier Law path and the cell fusion path. The laws he used were merely temporarily borrowed. His strongest foundation, however, was his fundamental physical body. It was horrifying. All the perfected physical body systems—the Nine Revolutions Profound Art, the All-Race physique, Martial Dao—these three major body cultivation techniques—defense, recovery, and body mass—were compounded geometrically. Every single cell was forged to its extreme, making it arguably the most invincible supreme golden body in the world. They had just discarded their laws and began to compete with their physical bodies, only to be utterly shattered! This was the reason for their defeat.

The Three Pillar Gods stated coldly with awe: “You are indeed perfect, but we are not unconquerable. The gap isn't as vast as imagined; it's our foundations that aren't solid enough. Our breakthrough to the Ninth Tier was too rash…”

“Yes, our breakthrough was too rash,” Caroline’s expression was cold as she continuously analyzed the disparity between them and the reason for their defeat. “In these past years, we have constantly focused on cell fusion, striving to complete the Ninth-Tier path, yet we neglected to fully cultivate our original major systemic techniques to perfection!”

The Ninth Tier is about establishing a world-nation. It involves evolving a being into a world, with its cells evolving into living beings, and every wisp of soul integrating with every cell… In that case, this world would possess one hundred trillion citizens.

And what are cultivation techniques? Supernatural cultivation techniques are for forging the quality of these one hundred trillion citizens. Martial Dao and various body cultivation methods are for forging the physiques of these one hundred trillion “cell citizens.” Soul Dao and various soul cultivation methods are for training the spirits of these one hundred trillion “cell citizens.”

At this point, they had only just acquired one hundred trillion citizens and crossed the threshold of nation-building, yet they rashly wished to establish a world-nation without refining the average quality of these citizens. Their populace was akin to a scattered army of old, weak, and disabled. Their opponent, on the other hand, was a world-nation with strong, capable soldiers. When two nations clash, when two “supernatural worlds” confront each other, with one hundred trillion soldiers charging, who would be stronger? The answer was clear at a glance. While the sheer number of one hundred trillion cells was certainly important, their quality was also extremely crucial.

“Our foundations weren't stable at all, yet we relied on our astonishing talent and recklessly rushed down this path…” Di Qi shuddered inwardly. Emperor Zun’s words, though seemingly mocking them, were indeed the truth; they truly were incredibly weak. They had been racing before! Competing to see who was faster, because the faster one could completely suppress the other! But breaking through too quickly would, on the contrary, leave behind numerous foundational weaknesses, flaws, and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, if the cultivation foundation for the initial one hundred trillion cells wasn’t solid, the difficulty of refining them later, after breaking through to the Ninth Tier, would increase by countless folds, essentially leaving permanent defects. Only a Tenth-Tier five-gene lifeform, capable of freely altering genes and changing life forms without inherent fixedness, could retrospectively compensate for the imperfections left at each stage of their previous cultivation path. However, if one’s cultivation foundation wasn't solid to begin with, how could they even talk about breaking through to the Tenth Tier and mending the flaws from previous stages? Their hope would inevitably become even slimmer. This was a vicious cycle.

“I no longer have the strength to kill you. You have not lost.” Emperor Zun stood ramrod straight, then his body jolted, and the flowing blood instantly ceased. He turned and strode towards the direction of the Six Paths of Samsara, moving rapidly, growing more distant with each step. “At this moment, you are free to break through. I am powerless to stop the three of you united, and thus I must depart.”

Emperor Zun gently extended a hand and pushed. The Six Paths of Samsara transformed back into a circular wheel, dark, mysterious, and vast, slowly revolving as it entered the spatial passage to the Six Paths of Samsara world.

“However, though I cannot kill you, if you remain this weak, a direct breakthrough to the Ninth Tier will inevitably be a dead end. Who among the three of you is stronger? Who defeated whom…?”“But what does that matter?”“The enemies of the Super Ancient Gods, the opponents from beyond this world, must be faced sooner or later. To be shortsighted and only contend for immediate victory… My gaze has long been set on the distant eons, ten thousand years from now.”

As Emperor Zun walked further and further away, his voice gradually faded.

Di Qi took a deep breath, watching Emperor Zun’s receding figure. He stated coldly, “Next time, next time, I will surely forge my perfect foundation. I will directly defeat you among those of the same tier!”

A five-gene being has its perfect foundation, and a four-gene being also has its perfect foundation. Both can reach their limits, though with different levels of strength. By thoroughly cultivating multiple systems—Martial Dao, Soul Dao, and various other cultivation paths—to perfection, and refining the physique and spirit of each individual cell, one can then attempt another breakthrough.

Emperor Zun’s voice drifted back from behind him: “Be careful. The Super Ancient Gods haven’t left us much time. That terrifying opponent… my elemental divine body originated from its supernatural bloodline.”

“An elemental being…” Di Qi paused, his body tensing, and looked towards the direction Emperor Zun had walked, where he had now vanished.