Swallowed Star: Lord of the Wolf

Cangya shook his head with a bitter expression, the joy he had felt for his young son replaced by a deep sense of helplessness.

He sighed, his deep yet clear voice echoing in the magnificent main hall: "Rong'er, I could have broken through to immortality long ago. With my current understanding of the laws and accumulation of divine power, once I broke through, I would definitely be a super strong among immortal gods. With the help of the treasures and secret techniques bestowed by my teacher, I could even directly rival some weak cosmic venerables. But... my teacher's prohibition still does not allow it."

Upon hearing this, Bai Rong's eyes showed even greater worry.

She walked to Cangya's side, gently took his hand on his knee, and felt the surging, immense power within him that far surpassed that of ordinary realm lords, yet he could not break through to the level of immortal god at will.

"Dominate him... or insist that your will reach the level of a cosmic overlord?"

"Yes." Cangya raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the palace dome, looking towards the boundless void in the endless starry sky, filled with deep awe and a complex emotion that was hard to describe.

"Whenever I'm about to lose my patience, I hear my teacher's words echoing in my ears—'When your will reaches the level of a cosmic overlord, come find me. At that time, I will give you an immense opportunity.'"

Logically speaking, as a powerful being whose will has reached the level of a Cosmic Venerable, Xu Yang should have already achieved mastery of mental cultivation and shouldn't easily fall into anxiety. However, unfortunately, Xu Yang's status is now too high, so high that even as his personal disciple, it's extremely difficult for him to see him…

In the primordial universe, Xu Yang has gradually become a myth. Even the most powerful beings in the universe, who hold high positions, feel inferior to him and are somewhat humble in his presence.

Therefore, it's no wonder that he was affected. After all, even those great beings with higher willpower and self-cultivation than him would have their minds complicated by Xu Yang's words and actions.

"An incredible opportunity..." Bai Rong murmured repeatedly, her eyes filled with both longing and heartache.

She understood how much the Lord of the Heavenly Wolf valued Cangya. Otherwise, given the Lord's current status, why would he care about such a 'trivial matter' as a disciple breaking through to the Immortal God realm?
And what the ruler calls an extraordinary opportunity must be of earth-shattering significance.

But at the same time, she also knew how difficult it was to attain the will of a cosmic overlord!

That is a threshold that countless cosmic venerables cannot reach in their entire lives... The torment and pressure of sending one's husband, a realm lord, to attempt to reach that level is unimaginable.

"I understand that the teacher is doing this for my own good and has high expectations for me." Cangya gripped Bai Rong's claws with his other hand, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force, as if he was suppressing the immense divine power within him that was eager to break through.

The hall fell into a brief silence.

The two cosmic overlords standing not far away—the Sky Rift Overlord and the Lava Emperor—heard their conversation clearly. Their eyelids were lowered, and their auras were almost completely concealed, like two ancient statues.

However, beneath their calm exteriors, their hearts were already churning with turbulent emotions.

'Cosmic Overlord-level Will!'

The Sky-Splitter Overlord trembled. 'The Sovereign's expectations of the Palace Master are so high! A Realm Lord's body, yet his will is expected to rival ours? This…this is simply unimaginable!'

Previously, the Sky Rift Overlord and the Lava Emperor were merely leaders of idle minor clans, cultivating only divine power techniques and basic soul cultivation. They would never bother to hone their will. The improvement of their will depended entirely on the life sublimation brought about by the advancement of their realm, which could only guarantee that their will reached the qualified level or average level of that realm... This is also a portrayal of the vast majority of ordinary strong individuals.

Without a complete lineage and the guidance of a good teacher, most people would never even think of delving into this 'minor path' that doesn't improve combat power.

Thinking of this, they felt incredibly fortunate to be able to stay by Cangya's side.

After a long silence, Bai Rong, nestled close to him, seemed to have made a great decision. Her gentle voice rang out again, carrying a hint of advice: "Husband, constantly cultivating in the depths of the Blue Flame Palace, sitting in meditation facing the laws and runes, may not be the best way to break through the barrier of will. Our teacher asked you to temper your will, not just through sitting in meditation, right? This vast universe, with its countless civilizations and billions of beings, each has its own rise and fall, its joys and sorrows. Go out and see the magnificent universe that our teacher led our Sirius Clan to build, a world where all races coexist. Perhaps… a change of scenery, a change of mindset, might bring unexpected inspiration and gains?"

Cangya paused slightly and looked at his wife.

A glint of wisdom shone in Bai Rong's eyes. She was not just talking nonsense; she knew that the path of cultivation sometimes required breaking free from established frameworks.

“You’re right, Rong’er.” Cangya slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, a hint of relaxation appearing in his eyes. Perhaps leaving the Blue Flame Palace temporarily wasn’t such a bad thing. “Perhaps… it’s time to go out and travel. My teacher once said that reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. The tempering of one’s will may also need to be experienced and verified in the myriad phenomena of the mortal world.”

He had taken brief trips before, but he had not yet truly made up his mind to travel the entire universe.

And now, he has made a decision.

Several days later, a seemingly ordinary small spaceship, capable of holding only a few people, left the bustling core of the Sirius Clan without attracting any attention.

On the spaceship, Cangya was dressed simply, appearing only as an ordinary peak-level World Lord wolf clan expert. Beside him was a middle-aged guard with an equally restrained aura, who appeared as an ordinary-looking man with a burly, rock-like build—none other than Lava Emperor.

The Sky Rift Overlord needs to stay in the Blue Flame Palace to handle daily affairs and protect Bai Rong and Cang Xiao, so this trip is escorted by the Lava Emperor.

They don't just go to famous star regions where powerful people gather and civilizations are brilliant. They often deliberately avoid the bustling areas and follow some ancient star maps to go deep into the wild and desolate parts of the universe.

They had seen some primitive tribal civilizations whose technology was just beginning to emerge, gazing at the stars in bewilderment...

I've also seen some decadent civilizations teetering on the brink of self-destruction, wallowing in desire...

They ventured into the desolate and treacherous lands, where the laws of nature were chaotic and the environment harsh, experiencing the power and cruelty of nature...

He had once witnessed a war between two weak races fighting for a resource planet in a remote star field. The brutality and tenacity of the war moved Cangya deeply.

Throughout the journey, Cangya remained a silent observer.

He witnessed the tenacity and fragility of life, the brilliance and darkness of civilization, the flashes of wisdom and the abyss of ignorance.

He has seen countless landscapes of varying heights and experienced all sorts of emotions.

The Lava King remained silent behind him, like the most solid rock, only intervening when necessary to deal with some foolish space pirates or obstacles in his way.

In this aimless wandering, Cangya's will seemed to become more rounded and restrained, like a pebble being washed by invisible water, but it was still just one step away from that indestructible barrier of cosmic overlord.

Until this day.

Their spaceship rested on the edge of a very remote star system, a place no longer under the direct control of the demon race and where life was scarce.

According to star charts, this star system has only one planet that barely meets the criteria for a habitable planet, and it is still in a very primitive stage.

On a whim, Cangya decided to land and take a look.

The planet is named 'Dust Star'. Its environment is harsh, with endless yellow sand and extremely scarce water resources. The main intelligent life form is a type of werewolf-like creature, smaller in size and of average intelligence, currently in the early stages of a slave society.

Powerful tribes enslave weaker tribes; survival resources are the only rule.

along the way.

Cangya and Lava King, disguised as two ordinary wandering wolf warriors, walked through a rudimentary tribal market built of massive rocks. The air was thick with dust, sweat, and a faint, foul stench of blood.

The defeated tribes were enslaved as a whole, and the slaves were chained up like livestock with thick iron chains, their eyes filled with despair or fear.

The sounds of trading, whipping, and painful groans mingled together.

Cangya frowned, feeling a slight unease at this primitive barbarity, but he didn't intend to interfere. The universe is too vast, and there are too many such corners; forcibly altering the course of civilization on a planet might not be a good thing.

He was preparing to leave the noisy market.

Just then, an even more piercing wail came from not far away, drowning out the noise of the market.

On a slave trader's stall, a emaciated, wounded female werewolf slave was roughly dragged out.

She was tightly clutching a thin werewolf cub that looked only the size of a four or five-year-old human child.

The cubs trembled with fear, yet clung tightly to their mother's fur.

"No! Please! Spare my child! He's still so young! Eat me! Eat me first!" The female werewolf howled in despair, desperately shielding her cub with her body. "Keep him! Keep him! He'll fight for you in the future! He won't hold a grudge, he won't!" "Little one! Quickly kowtow to the master, kowtow!"

The female werewolf's eyes were filled with the most primal madness and protectiveness of a mother beast. In her panic, she pressed the head of the child in her arms and slammed it against the ground, trying to beg for his life.

"Get out of here, you old bastard!" The slave trader, a burly werewolf with a diagonal scar on his face, impatiently kicked the female werewolf, knocking her to the ground. At the same time, he reached for the cub. "The Chongshan tribe has countless warriors, why would they care about a little cub like you? This little cub is tender, though, perfect for serving as a snack with Commander Meng's wine!"

"It's your good fortune to be able to merge with the number one warrior, Meng Shuai."

In the surrounding market, pairs of eyes watched this scene with a mixture of amusement, schadenfreude, and calm indifference. To them, it was all too common, a scene they were used to.

The cub was so frightened that it let out a sharp, mournful cry.

Just as that filthy hand was about to grab the cub's neck...

boom!
Time seemed to freeze in Cangya's eyes.

The noise of the market disappeared.

The sandstorm came to a standstill.

The slave traders' hideous faces, the female werewolves' desperate eyes, the cubs' terrified expressions... were branded into his mind like a mark.

It's as if... my thoughts have been slowed down, and I've entered a time-stopped state.

Behind him, the Lava Emperor looked slightly puzzled. He had seen far more tragic scenes along the way, but he had never seen the Palace Master react so strongly... What was going on?

For Cangya—

This scene...it feels so familiar!
In an instant, images buried deep in his memory, almost deliberately forgotten, surged forth like a flood bursting its banks!

That was before he rose to prominence; he was born into an extremely weak and precarious tribe, where he and his only relative depended on each other for survival...

It was a similar dusk when the tribe was attacked by a powerful predator...

In the chaos, the young boy was shielded tightly behind his older brother...

Faced with the ferocious beast that lunged at him, radiating a terrifying aura, his equally weak brother let out the same blood-and-tears howl as the female werewolf before him:

"Escape! Escape!"

In the end, his brother pushed him down the ravine with all his might, while he himself was pierced by the beast's claws... The eyes that looked at him were filled with the same despair, madness, and... a sense of responsibility that transcended death!
That was a pain that would never fade in his heart, and it was also one of the most primal driving forces that led him to embark on the path of becoming a strongman!

So that we will no longer be weak, so that our loved ones will no longer have to sacrifice themselves because we are powerless to protect them!
“Brother…” Cangya murmured almost inaudibly.

His body trembled slightly.

Just as the slave trader's fingertips were about to touch the cub—

An invisible and intangible, yet terrifying will that seemed capable of suppressing everything suddenly erupted from Cangya's body!
It has both form and substance!

Om-!
Centered on Cangya, the air within a radius of tens of thousands of miles seemed to have turned into solidified crystal!
All sound suddenly stopped!

The running slaves, the whip-wielding overseers, the hawking merchants, the arrogant slave trader... all the movements of all living beings froze completely, like mosquitoes frozen in amber!

Only in the depths of his eyes did he reveal a terror that came from the very core of his being!
It was as if an invisible, gigantic cosmic hand was gripping this world!

"This...this level of willpower! Palace Master...has broken through?!" The Lava Emperor's heart was filled with shock as he stared incredulously at the seemingly ordinary wolf youth's back.

In the arena, the only ones not completely frozen were the female werewolf who had been kicked to the ground and the cub in her arms.

They did not feel any terrifying pressure; they only felt that the falling blade and the claws reaching for the cubs were frozen in mid-air by an incomprehensible force.

They looked up blankly and saw only the unfamiliar wolf youth standing not far away.

Cangya's gaze pierced through the frozen space and landed on the werewolf mother and child. Their desperate eyes overlapped with the last look in his brother's eyes that he remembered.

A single, scalding tear silently slid down Cangya's cold, stern eye, instantly evaporating in the dry air.

He didn't speak, but his thoughts stirred slightly.

Click!

The thick iron chains that bound the female werewolf turned to dust without a sound.

The slave trader's outstretched arm, along with the frozen, ferocious expression on his face, shattered like a sand sculpture, turning into ashes without leaving a trace.

The entire slave stall, along with the instruments of torture used to bind the slaves, vanished without a trace.

That so-called powerful tribe also disappeared without a trace.

call!
Cangya slowly withdrew that astonishingly powerful aura of will.

The frozen air was shattered by a scream.

"what--!"

Immediately afterwards, all the creatures in the market fled in panic as if they had seen a ghost, their eyes filled with fear as they looked at Cangya and Lava King.

The female werewolf held her cub, looking blankly at everything before her, then at Cangya.

She seemed to understand something, struggled to her feet, and crawled deeply, with all her might, towards Cangya, her forehead slamming heavily against the yellow sand.

Cangya ignored them and the terrified looks around him.

He slowly closed his eyes, feeling the indestructible, vast willpower deep within his soul, like a cosmic barrier.

A cosmic overlord's will!
"Teacher..." Cangya murmured to himself, a sense of unprecedented ease and enlightenment welling up within him, "I...did it."

"Brother, thank you."

He turned around and calmly said to the Lava King, "Let's go, Lava. We... should go back."

The Lava Emperor took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and bowed respectfully: "Yes, Palace Master!"

This time, his respect was tinged with a deep-seated awe—awe for the realm master and palace lord before him, whose will was no less than that of him, the overlord of the universe!
hum-

The spaceship quietly took off and left this primitive planet covered in yellow sand.

Cangya stood by the porthole, taking one last look at the tiny, chaotic tribe below.

He knew that the female werewolf and her child should survive. (End of Chapter)