Tower Defense: Public Enemy

Chapter 581 Three Hundred Years of Starry Sky

Through the cross-shaped spatial rift, Lei Chi arrived directly at an unfamiliar sea area in the eastern part of Tianji Star.

Under the vast blue sea and clear blue sky, Leichi witnessed a peaceful and tranquil scene.

Exploring with their quantum computers, they quickly discovered that about a thousand miles away, the beings of Futu were meditating with their eyes closed on an island.

The Ascending Heaven Venerable and Yu Baichen were not far from him either. The Ascending Heaven Venerable was about three thousand miles away, seemingly returning to the Northern Ice Plains, while Yu Baichen was about ten thousand miles away, strolling leisurely in a rather bustling city, appearing to be an ordinary passerby.

This is where the extraordinary nature of the Heart of the Universe is revealed. Lei Chi was in the Heavenly Mystery Tomb, nearly a hundred years later than Yu Baichen and the others, but now in the spacetime of Heavenly Mystery Star, he is only a moment later than Yu Baichen and the others.

"I have completely mastered the mysteries of this Celestial Star. Now it's time to head to another special place..."

Lei Chi gazed into the void, pondered for a moment, and then gently stroked his imagined mount. The mount understood his intention and carried him directly across the void to an island a thousand miles away, appearing before the Floating Pagoda.

The beings in the Floating Pagoda sensed something, looked up at the Thunder Pool, and immediately their faces lit up with joy. They stood up, cupped their hands, and said, "Junior Brother!"

Lei Chi returned the greeting and addressed him as "Senior Brother".

In truth, his relationship with the people of Futu was very shallow; the terms of addressing him as senior brother and junior brother were merely formalities. Now that Lei Chi was planning to leave Tianji Star, he had only come here to say hello to this so-called senior brother.

"Now that the Heavenly Secrets Tomb is closed, what are your plans next, Junior Brother?" Futu Zhong Sheng asked Lei Chi.

Lei Chi said, "Leave Tianji Star and wander through the starry sky."

"Wandering..."

After a moment's thought, Fu Tu Zhong Sheng took out a fist-sized piece of jade and said, "Junior Brother is about to embark on a long journey, and as his senior brother, I don't have any treasures to give you. Here is a star map, marking the distribution of various star forces and some resource planets within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council. If Junior Brother doesn't mind, please accept it!"

"This is a very good item. Thank you for the gift, Senior Brother."

Lei Chi put the jade away, thought for a moment, and then pointed a finger, causing ripples in the void. A nine-story pagoda, about the size of a palm, slowly appeared.

"This pagoda contains a trace of primordial energy; I'll return it to my senior brother!"

Lei Chi then delivered the small pagoda he had just created to the beings in the Floating Pagoda.

Although this small tower was built on the spot, it imitated the structure of the black coffin and the treasure gourd. Not only was it very sturdy, but its internal space was also huge, and it could slowly generate Primordial Dust Qi. Thunder Pool also stored a lot of Primordial Dust Qi in it.

The beings in the Buddha Temple were overjoyed, realizing that Lei Chi had given them something good, and after a slight refusal, they accepted it.

Lei Chi then asked, "What are your plans next, Senior Brother?"

"Me?" Futu Zhong Sheng smiled. "Perhaps I'll try to become the Grand Speaker! Sonic probably won't be coming back, but the Supreme Council still exists, and its overall power hasn't been damaged much. It remains the strongest power in this star system."

"If Senior Brother wants to become the Grand Speaker, I will support him..."

Lei Chi chatted with the beings of the Floating Pagoda for a while, then left to meet with the Ascended Great Venerable.

Lei Chi didn't care whether the Floating Beings could become the Grand Speaker of the Supreme Council. He felt that with the strength of the Floating Beings, the chances of this happening were extremely high.

Upon his re-encounter with the Ascended Supreme Being, the latter's attitude towards Lei Chi changed drastically. He invited Lei Chi into the Crystal Glazed Palace, where Lei Chi learned much information that interested him.

For example, a path that leaves the star field and heads towards the cold universe.

In Lei Chi's understanding of the real estate market, the Star Domain is the Star Domain Universe, which is also the Starry Sky Universe, while the Cold Domain is the Cold Domain Universe, which is another universe. The laws and mysteries of the universe within it may be similar to those of the Starry Sky Universe, but there are things worth observing.

Lei Chi spent three days in the Crystal Glazed Palace and learned a lot about the Rebirth Heaven. In addition to being keen on performing rituals to help the strong pass on, this organization also seemed to be involved in the business of buying and selling corpses. Some of its members were keen on searching for the corpses of the strong and turning them into puppets, possession objects, and so on, for trading.

However, the place of the Ascended Venerable is very pure and does not involve the trafficking of corpses.

Three days after leaving the Crystal Palace, Lei Chi found Yu Baichen in a bustling city called "Beidu".

Lei Chi has always regarded Yu Baichen as a senior and highly regards his strength. Even now, he still doesn't know the upper limit of Yu Baichen's strength, but at the very least, it is comparable to a Heavenly Monarch and much stronger than a Great Venerable Ascended to Heaven.

"Senior, you've been to the Tomb of the Gods before. Could you give me a brief introduction?"

Lei Chi cupped his hands in greeting to Yu Baichen.

Yu Baichen was dressed in a very fashionable outfit that matched the trends in Beidu, wearing brown glasses and carrying a briefcase, looking just like a business elite in Beidu.

Having defeated the eternal Sonic, this ancient sage has achieved his goal of coming to the star system and now seems to be letting go and experiencing the life of an ordinary person.

He pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and said, "What, are you planning to enter that divine tomb? Perhaps you also want to steal the system's power?"

Lei Chi said, "I will definitely go to that divine tomb. As for whether or not I will steal the power of the system, we'll talk about that later."

Yu Baichen examined the Thunder Pool for a moment, then straightened his expression and said, "That can be said to be the most dangerous place in the Divine Realm, even ten times more dangerous than the Heavenly Mystery Tomb!"

"Oh?"

Lei Chi frowned. He did not doubt Yu Baichen's words, but was surprised by the danger of the Divine Realm.

You should know that the Black Coffin Emperor was hidden in the Heavenly Mystery Tomb, and even the Eternal Emperor was eventually defeated. There is a place that is ten times more dangerous than that.

"Could it be that there is a Heaven-Treading expert in the Divine Tomb?"

Lei Chi tentatively asked a question.

Yu Baichen shook his head and said, "No! Let me be frank with you. Based on my analysis, the Divine Realm System was created by a certain, or even some, super strong person. In terms of strength, those super strong people are probably at the Heavenly Ascension level! And the Divine Realm System is indeed a kind of Heavenly Dao, or rather, a growing Heavenly Dao. We were absorbed into the Divine Realm for its growth."

After a slight pause, Yu Baichen continued, "The Divine Tomb is where the laws of the Divine Realm are absorbed and born. There are methods left behind by powerful beings who have reached the Heavenly Realm. You've naturally heard of stealing the power of the system. Admittedly, the power of the system is very strong. By attaching it to objects, one can create incredible super artifacts. But if you go to the Divine Tomb, I advise you not to steal the power of the system, because stealing it is a provocation against the creator of the system and will bring many misfortunes! Several of my friends perished because of such misfortunes; they all died young!"

"Well, I'm afraid no matter what I say, I probably won't be able to dissuade you from exploring the Tomb of the Gods. I can only say, 'Take care of yourself, and good luck in advance!'"

Lei Chi bowed and thanked him.

Just as Yu Baichen said, although he received a warning from Yu Baichen, he would still go to the Divine Tomb.

Of course, if he were to enter the God's Tomb, given his current mindset, he might not necessarily steal the system's power. He simply wanted to observe the God's Tomb space to understand the laws of the God Realm and then use them to perfect the pseudo-Tower Universe within his body.

After chatting with Yu Baichen for a while, Lei Chi took his leave. He rode on [Imagination] and instantly broke through space, arriving at a prison that resembled a space station.

The prison is also known as the Heavenly Prison on the star of Tianji, which is quite fitting.

Lei Chi came here because two acquaintances of his were imprisoned in this prison: the treasure hunter Holke and Lan Zheng, the head of the Lan family in the Azure Star Realm.

These two followed Lei Chi and provided him with a lot of information. However, it was precisely because they followed Lei Chi that the Supreme Council members, unable to subdue Lei Chi, took them down. Afterwards, they resorted to coercion and enticement, trying to learn about Lei Chi through them.

Therefore, these two haven't had many good days since arriving on Tianji Star; they've spent most of their time in prison.

Lei Chi, a powerful figure, arrived silently at the cell where they were being held, riding his [Imagination] mount. Seeing the two men with heavy metal collars around their necks and looking extremely haggard, he knew they were not having a comfortable time.

"These two people were ultimately implicated because of me, and I can't bear to ignore them."

With this thought in mind, Lei Chi reached out and pointed at the air, and the collars around Holke and Lan Zheng's necks shattered silently.

For Lei Chi, who has mastered the laws of the cosmos, disintegrating ordinary metal is a piece of cake.

Holker and Lan were overjoyed to see Lei Chi come to their rescue. They immediately knelt down to pledge their loyalty, saying they would do their utmost and never betray him.

However, Lei Chi no longer needed such servants, much less their loyalty. After casually bestowing upon them some worldly ambition, Lei Chi said, "You are free. You no longer need to follow me. If you want to find a backer, you can go to Futu Zhong Sheng and mention my name. He should take you in."

Lei Chi took the two out of the prison and brought them to the Buddha's realm, where he made some arrangements for them.

On this day, the sky was clear and cloudless.

Lei Chi left Tianji Star, riding on [Imagination], heading towards the third special place in the starry universe, known as: Thunderclap Sea.

The Thunderous Sea is difficult for ordinary people to enter. It contains a strange power that condenses into an ocean, from which stars constantly rise and fall.

For the next twelve years, Lei Chi remained in the Thunderous Sea, where he witnessed stars being ignited, giant stars collapsing and shrinking, planets crumbling, and matter annihilating...

When Lei Chi left the Thunderous Sea, his sixteen dimensions had significantly expanded compared to twelve years ago, and two new collectibles had been added to his spiritual cage.

One of these two collectibles is called "Black Moon," a strange celestial body. It is not large, only about the size of an adult's fist, and is entirely silvery-white. However, it is also a real celestial body with an extremely large weight. It rotates, completing one revolution every 12 hours, and emits a strange dark light that makes the areas it illuminates appear gray.

The second collectible is a purple crystal pillar shaped like a cane, which Lei Chi named the "Yama Staff." It can provide eerie thermal radiation, and if it is driven into a star, it can even ignite the entire star.

Lei Chi then explored other cosmic secrets, spending three hundred years traversing fifteen of the most unique places in the starry universe.

He had seen black holes devour stars, seen cosmic behemoths locked in a fierce battle, seen rainbow rays pierce through stars, seen desolate stars traveling through the cosmos like shooting stars, seen plant planets, seen mysterious rivers flowing between two planets, seen endless ancient purple pyramids, and seen strange creatures growing in reverse...

He has also experienced battles, annihilated powerful enemies, and obtained many secret treasures and cosmic artifacts.

Three hundred years is a fleeting moment for Lei Chi.

Like a traveler, he walked and looked around, and when he looked back, the entire starry universe was already in his sight.

He had glimpsed all the mysteries of the starry universe—the material, the energetic, the spacetime, the life-giving… For him, there were no more secrets in this universe.

His sixteen dimensions were also expanded to a near-limit level, and the first universe within his body, the pseudo-starry universe, was completely perfected.

"The book 'Starry Sky and the Universe' is a wonderful work, but it's finished!"

Lei Chi stood atop a colossal celestial body composed entirely of ice, gazing upon the cosmic spectacle of a fiery river flowing through the starry sky, and felt a deep sense of awe.

For him, observing the universe was like practicing a cultivation technique, and the universe he observed was like a cultivation manual. Now that he had read through the entire manual, it meant that his three-hundred-year journey should come to an end.

As for Lei Chi's current strength...

Lei Chi himself couldn't make a judgment, but the combat power assessment given by the pioneering light brain for his six spirit tower apostles was all around 800 billion.

He also created the seventh Spirit Tower Apostle.

This apostle is not the cosmic spirit of the fourth universe, but the cosmic spirit of the fifth universe, the Ling Cage universe.

To create it, Lei Chi used a large number of cosmic artifacts and consumed a great deal of cosmic resources.

This spirit tower is enormous, large enough to occupy an entire star system. It is a flesh-and-blood creature, shaped like an octopus, with 1600 tentacles, each of which is responsible for a star world.

His name is "Ongdora". He is the "Warden" created by Lei Chi for the Ling Cage Universe, and is also the most special spirit tower in Lei Chi's body.

In other microcosms, there must be two spirit towers, but in the Spirit Cage universe, Thunder Pool only needs one administrator, Wengdora.

"It's time to leave the starry universe. As planned, I should return to the Divine Realm to observe its operating laws and the existence of the System... Three hundred years is neither long nor short. I wonder if the War of Faith Gods has ended, and what my former playmates look like now!"

A look of anticipation appeared on Lei Chi's face. The next moment, with a thought, [Imagination] appeared beneath him.

"Moo..."

[Imagine] let out a roar, like the whistle of a train. It took a step forward, carrying Lei Chi across time and space, embarking on the journey back to the divine realm.

(End of this chapter)