Chapter 1455: Death by Time

Urban Reality

Two Great Dao beings, from the realm of true creation, collided.

Endless raindrops fell, like the beautiful aurora of countless universes—vibrant, vast star rivers swirling in colorful vortices, slowly merging in magnificent splendor.

All beings watched this scene, stunned.

"This goes beyond traditional combat; it's as if two cosmic singularities are colliding..."

"No, it's like a battle between two universes!"

"It's the Great Universe giving birth to two cosmic infants, destined to grow and rival the Great Universe itself, now fighting each other!"

Everyone watched the spectacle, dumbfounded. They finally witnessed what the ultimate battle at its most extreme looked like. Beings of a lower dimension couldn't even comprehend it, let alone observe!

With each continuous collision, Emperor Venerable's power steadily increased, seemingly adapting and comprehending this new realm at a rapid pace. The Insect Race Matriarch, feigning death nearby, swiftly absorbed Tu Xin's insights, significantly elevating Xu Zhi's combat power.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It was as if the entire universe was shaking, countless True Dao sounds resonating. A beautiful, colorful singularity vortex, constantly collapsing and converging, was sent flying backward. The next second, threads of colorful light particles condensed, reforming into a human shape.

"He actually blocked Tu Xin's attack instead of being instantly shattered?" The Insect Race Matriarch was dumbfounded, muttering, "We furiously traveled thousands of years into the future, and our realm is finally able to clearly see battles of this level! Emperor Venerable's strength is rapidly breaking through and developing. Could it be that he indeed encountered an extremely high-pressure opponent, and then he broke through himself?"

"A monster, this person is simply a monster!" Zhi Zhu also frowned, "After we traversed thousands of years, the combined might of the universe's experts only reached this level. Yet he broke through directly in battle, in one go?"

This was simply impossible! Yet it forced him to believe that such a genius, one who surpassed human limits, existed in the universe. He had even surpassed the limits of a race like Tu Xin. Even Tu Xin couldn't achieve such a breakthrough in battle in just a few minutes! Tu Xin spent a full hundred million years in deduction and cultivation!

He originally thought victory was assured. Time, dimension, life—the three fundamental rules of the universe—plus his perfect plan: whatever realm Tu Xin broke through to and opened up, they could secretly reach the same realm. Yet now, he felt uneasy.

"The two sides are now evenly matched!" The Insect Race Matriarch's expression sharpened. She couldn't help but command, "Faster, even faster, give it your all! Our previous expectations were enough for us to win, but we need to be even stronger, more skilled in using this realm than them! Only then can we defeat them!!"

Everyone knew it was the final, decisive moment. Their plans, all their strategies, were now useless. This was a tough battle, a contest of solid combat power. When paths converge, the brave prevail!

"Ren Jiu, great and sole deity who commands the time of the universe! The glory of our human bloodline depends on you to save!" the Insect Race Matriarch urged, "Thousands of years are no longer enough for us to win. We need another hundred thousand years, a million years, even a hundred million..."

Ren Jiu's expression became dazed. The hundred million years just now had already consumed all his strength; he had nothing left. Even a few thousand years meant squeezing every last drop of his potential.

"Ren Jiu, Master's dream, let us three realize it!!!" Zhi Zhu couldn't help but roar, "Please, Senior Brother, please use the power of time to save our universe!!"

The surrounding roars brought Ren Jiu, bathed in blood, back to a slight awareness. "Save the universe, save our future? When have I ever failed to fulfill your requests, my junior brothers and sister?" Ren Jiu's gaze flickered with realization. He looked at the ancient heroes beside him, those great beings in human history, whose eyes were filled with yearning.

They might harbor other intentions, but he no longer cared. Did he not know? He knew their maliciousness better than anyone. The power of time made him understand human hearts better than Life or Dimension, and he had witnessed more treachery and evil than the other two.

"Chong Shou, Zhi Zhu, I have always been different from you." Ren Jiu's gaze held the vicissitudes of distant ages, "You saw despair in Master, and so you fell from heroes into the abyss. But I saw a warning in Master."

"What is a true hero?" His expression was calm, his mind recalling Master's old question. On the cliff of that planet, it was a question for his three disciples, and a question for Master himself, but ultimately, even Master had no answer.

He deeply understood the cruelty and reality of the universe. This was a dark forest, vividly demonstrating the law of the jungle. Some would decay with time, living only for themselves, but eventually, some would stubbornly, rigidly stand up to guard the pure land in their hearts.

The other elites present, were they fighting under the guise of survival for racial continuation? For the countless living beings behind them, the endless sentient beings of the planets? Protecting the old, the children, the women, the men...?

No, they didn't truly want to protect the weak. If there was an opportunity to infiltrate a new life form and survive, they would not hesitate to become members of the new race, disguised perfectly, and in turn slaughter and enslave the old humans. If there was an opportunity to break through to the eleventh order, they could even kill billions upon billions of sentient beings, not caring if they were the only living thing left in the universe.

But he was different. On those endless planets across the universe, the smiles of timid women, the shyly kind expressions of children, the gratitude in the eyes of the elderly... innocent, kind faces, timid and small, surfaced in his mind. Even after experiencing much deception, he still remembered his initial vow: to open up heaven and earth, and build a paradise suitable for his people to live in. And that initial dream before Master, the vow he made:

"From this day forth, we shall hold sway over the heavens and wield power, until death do us part!""From this day forth, we shall faithfully perform our duties, living and dying here!"

He looked at the other elites around him. He whispered softly, "You may have other intentions, but I hope if you win, you will treat the lives in our universe kindly. We absolutely will not be farmed... You, the saints and heroes of history, fought for yourselves. I fight for those behind us."

"Not for your ugliness, but only for those I love in my heart."

Boom!!

Time around him accelerated wildly, as if he had boarded an unimaginable space-time train. Time surged like a flowing river. An inexplicable, ethereal flame ignited on Ren Jiu, his life force rapidly draining away, moving towards the Five Signs of Decay.

"Tu Xin!!""Emperor Venerable!!"

Ren Jiu's gaze was sharp, fixed on the figures battling before him. He could not comprehend the combat of these two incredibly talented and powerful existences; compared to them, he was utterly mediocre.

"If wisdom is not enough, compensate with time!"

Ugh ah!!!! He tilted his head back, letting out a strained roar. Endless time twisted the universe, gushing forth, like a distant temporal leap, bending the entire cosmic timeline, stepping into the distant future!

Ren Jiu himself transformed into the universe's most fundamental time particles, emitting the most brilliant light. "One hundred thousand years! One million years! Ten million years!!" He let out a silent roar, entering a profound time tunnel, surging towards the future.

Time around them began to halt.

"Time, we have ample time again!""Senior Ren Jiu, you finally succeeded!""Did you also break through your limits, unleash your potential, and manifest even greater power?""We won! If this is the case..."

Endless voices rose and fell, like enthusiastic cheers in a plaza, filled with unspeakable excitement.

"This guy..." Zhi Zhu gently touched Ren Jiu, who had already turned into a statue. In an instant, he transformed into a handful of sand, gradually dissipating into the universe. Zhi Zhu raised his head, watching the dissipating sand. He clearly knew that the God of Time, one of the three supreme rules, had fallen.

Not everyone was like Emperor Venerable, always breaking through when on the verge of death, creating incredible miracles, and becoming stronger. Even Ren Jiu, one of the strongest geniuses in the history of the universe, couldn't. This was the cruel reality. So-called miracles require an equivalent price.

From ancient times until now, as the most difficult God of Time to kill, he had the least to worry about his own life ending. Even if he lost the immortal realm he created, he could trap himself in a distant time cage, waiting for people to awaken him. No one could kill Ren Jiu. But he, himself, could kill himself with his own hands.

"How ridiculous!!!"

"You are still so foolish!! How did such a person become our senior brother back then!????" Zhi Zhu burst into frenzied laughter, his expression full of sarcasm and disdain, yet he was completely unaware that his face was already streaming with tears.

"The God of Time, died by time."

Crack.

He opened his hand, letting the time sand fall, and a gust of wind blew past. Within the sand, the last memory in Ren Jiu's mind lingered, still in the palace where the vow was made:

"My eldest disciple, your name is Ren Jiu. The scale of time is the strongest power to protect humanity, leading people to permanence."

The scene flashed, and a voice suddenly echoed in his mind. "Zhi Zhu, Chong Shou, the rest is all up to you two. Don't die."