The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

But it's too slow. Energy is too scarce in this corner of the universe. Other babies might grow up and take shape in tens of millions of years.

It's here, billions of years have passed, and it's still an infant.

Then that thing came.

The scenes in my memory have changed.

Darkness, darkness surging from the depths of the universe. Not the darkness of emptiness, but a tangible, willful, and moving darkness.

It felt fear for the first time.

A fear that doesn't need to be understood through language, a fear etched into the very instincts of life.

That thing is eating it.

Starting from the periphery, it began by devouring the outermost parts of its body, the outer layer of matter that it had spent countless years condensing.

Those things that were later called Pluto and Neptune were all part of his body.

It tried to resist.

The body pushes outwards the energy of its own laws, forming a barrier. It works. It blocks it temporarily.

During that period, the creatures on the surface of Earth called the dissipated energy of the laws "spiritual energy," and they began to reclaim most of the spiritual energy to resist it.

The ancient era of cultivating immortality.

But later, that dark thing intensified its erosion.

It had to withdraw most of its outward pushing force to plug the ever-expanding wounds.

The spiritual energy has been cut off.

The era of cultivating immortality has come to an end.

For a long time afterward, it was locked in a stalemate with that thing.

Every day it's being gnawed at, every day it uses its last strength to protect its core. Shrunk little by little. Planet by planet being swallowed.

Decades ago.

It can't hold on much longer.

The last resort.

The remaining power is released once more, mysteriously revived. At the same time, a container is selected through the fundamental laws of space.

One person infuses fragments of laws into it, fostering its growth, until that person becomes powerful enough to merge with it.

Accelerate growth.

The price is...

Chen Hao felt the price he paid while inheriting those memories.

After the fusion, the infant will no longer have the possibility of developing independent intelligence. All its essence will become a part of Chen Hao. It will disappear.

It's not death; something that has never truly lived can't be called dead. It's that it will never "wake up."

It hadn't yet had the chance to possess its first complete intelligence.

I haven't had time to figure out "who I am".

I haven't had a chance to grow up yet.

But it made that choice.

Within its chaotic, still-forming consciousness, there exists a very simple understanding:

That person embodies its essence. That person fought for it for ten thousand years. That person is a part of it.

If they're integrated together, then they haven't disappeared, have they?

That's what it "thinks." If that vague impulse can be called a "thinking."

The final, fundamental law: the principle of cause and effect.

It flowed out from the chubby little hand and entered Chen Hao's newly formed Dao Foundation.

All origins converge. The three thousand great paths return to one.

Above the Immortal Emperor.

A completely new realm unfolded in Chen Hao's consciousness, and the knowledge he gained from his inherited memories told him the name of this realm...

True God Realm.

At the moment of breakthrough, Chen Hao sensed something.

The touch of that chubby little hand is fading. The warmth at its fingertips is waning. The tangible sensation of having one's fingers grasped is slowly dissipating.

His consciousness—which could no longer be called consciousness, but rather divine essence—turned back to look at the infant.

It is becoming transparent.

It begins at the extremities. Fingertips, toes, elbows, knees—each becomes transparent, as light and shattered as thin ice pierced by sunlight.

The light of the origin of the law was transferred from its body to Chen Hao. Its meridians were empty and darkened, and the patterns that once flowed with light liquid became dried-up riverbeds.

It's still laughing.

Her round face still held that smile. Two small dimples. Her crescent-shaped eyes were becoming transparent, almost disappearing.

"whee."

The last cry of laughter.

It was lighter than before. So light that it was almost inaudible. Like the faint sound of a bell hanging on the tail of a breeze.

Then its face became transparent.

The smile vanished into the void.

Nothing was left behind.

Chen Hao opened his eyes.

He's no longer in a state of consciousness. He has a body. A complete body.

It is not an illusion maintained by the art of transformation, but a real body, full of power, and filled with the origin of the Three Thousand Great Daos.

He stood in the void.

No support is needed beneath one's feet. Three thousand fundamental laws circulate within the body, each a complete river, converging in the bottomless lake at the center of the Dao foundation.

The power of the True God Realm makes his very existence a law; wherever he stands, the space becomes stable for him.

He looked down and inward.

The blue planet is inside him. The sun is inside him. The moon is inside him. The three celestial bodies orbit quietly, enveloped and protected by his body.

Just like the baby did before.

Chen Hao withdrew his inner gaze and looked up outside.

In the void, not far away.

It was pitch black.

It's not the black of emptiness. It's a black that has quality, will, and is in motion.

It spreads everywhere, boundless and vast, like a splash of thick ink on the canvas of the universe.

Kuroshio.

Its source lies in the deepest, darkest part of that place.

A massive outline lurked within the black tide. Its shape was indistinct, and its full form was obscured.

Only a rough size could be seen, which was a few inches larger than that of the infant.

It lies there, like a giant whale lurking in the deep sea, and the Kuroshio Current is the stream it spews out.

Gold-devouring beast.

A True God Realm expert. A True God Realm expert who has cultivated to that level.

There are two kinds of True God Realm: one is the cultivator who has cultivated to this level, and the other is the Original True God Realm born from the origin of the Primordial Universe.

Although both are True God Realm experts, the Origin True God is naturally stronger than the True God who has cultivated.

And so, powerful beings at the True God Realm set their sights on these Primal True Gods. On the desolate edge of the universe, some Primal True Gods grew extremely slowly.

They can absorb very little cosmic energy in barren lands, and their growth is very slow. Therefore, this primordial god is still in the form of an infant and has not yet grown up.

It was found by the Gold-Eating Beast, which turned out to be a powerful being at the True God Realm who was devouring the solar system.

He is a True God Realm expert who has cultivated to the point of being powerful. As long as he devours this Origin True God, he can improve his True God Destiny and will not be weaker than the Origin True God.

This powerful Gold-Devouring Beast True God began devouring this world tens of thousands of years ago during the ancient era of cultivation.

Devouring a primordial true god can elevate its destiny, allowing it to break through the ceiling of a cultivation-type true god.

Make it equal to those original gods who are inherently superior to it.