Swallowing the starry sky, my clones can evolve infinitely.

Chapter 172 Self-created Two Strongest Secret Techniques

"In the primordial universe, the concept of the soul was far too rudimentary."

As a top-tier cosmic overlord, Naz Qianzhu can be considered a newly arrived cosmic lord. With such strength, he would only be instantly killed in front of a fifth-tier cosmic lord.

However, because he possessed a high-level soul defense treasure, he almost completely eliminated the possibility of being controlled by the souls of powerful beings below the level of a true god.

If Shen Mu hadn't used his secret will technique to suppress it, it would have been almost impossible for him to control the Lord Ziqian with his soul, as the latter still had the ability to self-destruct.

"We still need to create a true martial arts secret technique."

Shen Mu has created countless secret techniques, but only three are truly valued by him: three secret techniques corresponding to Water and Void, Thunder and Time, and the mysteries of all laws.

Among them, Shen Mu used "The Light of Calamity" and "The Universe of Water" the most.

The former is based on the Law of Thunder-Time Fusion, encompassing the mysteries of all lower-level fundamental laws. The latter is similar, except it is based on the Law of Water-Void Fusion.

Both of these secret techniques are considered to be at the level of ultimate secret techniques, with the former being slightly stronger.

As for the cosmic singularity that contains all the mysteries of the Ten Laws, although its power is no weaker than that of the Thunder Universe, Shen Mu rarely uses it.

Because the underlying laws contained in this secret technique are uneven, unbalanced, and not complementary, it gave Shen Mu a strong sense of incongruity when he used it.

"We can put the cosmic singularity aside for now, and perfect it after we have fully comprehended all ten fundamental laws."

Shen Mu calmly raised his hand, and a vast ocean surged in his palm, evolving into a boundless universe of water.

Boom!

A dazzling bolt of lightning suddenly burst forth in the illusory water universe, as if transforming the illusory into reality, evolving into two completely different secret techniques, and entering a state of seclusion.

For the strong, time is but a fleeting breeze.

Those legendary lives that seem extraordinary to ordinary people are, to those powerful beings who look down upon the universe, merely a link in the vast ocean of change.

Even though Shen Mu is known as the youngest universe master in the original universe, he is actually not young anymore.

Although Shen Mu was only born a little over 100,000 years ago on the time scale of the primordial universe.

In reality, Shen Mu had already spent 80 million years in the small universe of the Mountain Guest, trying to comprehend the fundamental mysteries that transcend the laws.

Whether it was the later creation techniques or the study of the structure and evolution of life genes, all of these were accelerated a hundredfold by the Temple of Time.

In the blink of an eye, more than 300,000 years have passed since Shen Mu perfected his two secret techniques.

However, in the original universe, it was only a little over three thousand years, which is not a long time for a domain lord or even a universe-level being.

In fact, for the strong, the cost-effectiveness of accelerating time is extremely low, because they all possess eternal life.

Moreover, whether it's secret techniques or the understanding of laws, once you reach a certain level, you will encounter a bottleneck.

Bottlenecks cannot be eliminated by the passage of time; otherwise, the ancient beings in the two sacred lands of the Cosmic Sea would have long been invincible.

However, Shen Mu is different because he has not yet encountered his own bottleneck; all he needs is a sufficiently long time.

Inside the solemn palace, Shen Mu, who was immersed in perfecting the secret technique, suddenly opened his eyes.

"Sister Yongqing has finally broken through."

Shen Mu's gaze fell on a small world inside the Divine Fall Secret Realm. At this moment, the endless ocean of primordial laws had already begun to baptize Tang Yongqing.

The entire process of breaking through to immortality was very fast because the divine body of an Earthling is very small, only about two meters tall.

Before the Great Nirvana, ordinary Earthlings were only between 1.5 and 1.9 meters tall.

However, as one's cultivation level increases, one will naturally grow to the theoretical height limit of Earthling genes, which is a little over two meters.

Tens of thousands of years ago, Shen Mu had already prepared various opportunities for his relatives to create clones.

For ordinary beings below the level of World Lord, there are still some extremely special and precious treasures that can grant them the ability to create clones.

However, after becoming a realm master and condensing the Origin Pearl, the only option left is to possess another body.

However, apart from Shen Mingyue, neither her parents nor Tang Yongqing rejected the option of possession.

……

This is a canyon where endless hurricanes rage year-round.

At this moment, the rich divine power of the wind source surged between heaven and earth, and a graceful figure could be vaguely seen in the azure divine light.

"This is... an immortal divine body, truly extraordinary."

Tang Yongqing felt this fundamental change in her life, her expression slightly dazed.

"Now, we can finally banish this damned divine power!"

Tang Yongqing suddenly gritted her teeth.

Because of her personality, she did not want to pursue strength and evolution too much.

Initially, it was indeed a whim to want to undergo a life-or-death experience, but that bastard Shen Mu threw her directly into the Godfall Secret Realm and cut off her access to the virtual universe.

For nearly 90,000 years, she has been undergoing various trials of life and death.

Whenever she was about to give up and find a place to hide and start doing nothing, the divine power dormant within her would begin to erupt.

The attack itself was bad enough, but the divine power also seemed to impose some restrictions on Tang Yongqing. It made her struggle with her desires, unable to reach the ultimate state.

This went on and on until her will was nearly destroyed by the "fire of desire."

At first, Tang Yongqing resentfully speculated that Shen Mu was just indulging in a perverse pleasure and wanted to see her make a fool of herself.

However, with each test of willpower, Tang Yongqing also noticed the changes in herself. She rarely had thoughts of shrinking back or giving up, and she became stronger in the face of difficulties and setbacks.

"Go to hell!"

Pong!

Illusory divine flames surged around Tang Yongqing, unleashing terrifying energy.

Tang Yongqing's mastery of the laws barely reached the level of a King-level immortal. For ordinary human immortals, the strength of their divine bodies is at most ten thousand times that of a Realm Lord.

However, with the blessing of a hundredfold increase in gene strength and a tenfold increase in amplitude, her divine body underwent an instant qualitative change, becoming comparable to a cosmic venerable without gene enhancement or amplitude secret techniques.

In the blink of an eye, the wisp of illusory divine power that Shen Mu had left in her body was completely burned away.

In fact, expelling divine power is simpler, and since divine power is a part of Shen Mu, directly burning divine power would be a negligible harm to Shen Mu.

Previously, the gentle Tang Yongqing would never have chosen to directly burn the divine power left behind by Shen Mu.

But people always need to vent.

"Congratulations, Sister Yongqing."

A gentle voice rang in Tang Yongqing's ears. She was startled and turned around to see Shen Mu dressed casually.

He wore a simple, pure white training uniform and had a faint smile on his face, just like when he was still in Kyoto Base City 100,000 years ago.

"Amu..."

Tang Yongqing's eyes welled up with tears as she threw herself into Shen Mu's arms.

"From today onwards, I can stay by your side forever," Tang Yongqing murmured.

Shen Mu raised his hand and brushed Tang Yongqing's long hair: "Well, I won't urge you to cultivate anymore."

Tang Yongqing did not respond, but buried her face in Shen Mu's chest and took a deep breath.

"You're a human from Earth, aren't you?" Tang Yongqing's face was buried in Shen Mu's chest, her voice muffled.

"Yes." Shen Mu chuckled to himself. This initiative was clearly something he had done too much over the past ninety thousand years.

Tang Yongqing looked up at Shen Mu, her watery eyes rippling: "What are you waiting for? Isn't 90,000 years enough for your sister, Cunzhi?"

Shen Mu held Tang Yongqing in his arms, their figures melting into the void.

In the magnificent palace, naked light and shadow danced.

Spring goes and autumn comes, a hundred years have passed.

After Shen Mu killed the clone of the Lord of Changjiu, the primordial universe, which had finally settled down, was suddenly stirred up again.

The Blood Cloud Palace Master, the embodiment of cosmic evil, has appeared on the Primordial Star.

"Ah... Master Ice Peak actually invited me to ambush and kill Lord Blood Cloud Palace."

Shen Mu's expression was very strange. The Blood Cloud Palace Master was just an alias of the Mountain Guest.

The current Blood Cloud Palace Master is clearly Luo Feng, the junior brother who created the secret technique to emerge from seclusion.

This wave of floodwaters has washed away the Dragon King Temple.

Who is the Lord of Blood Cloud Palace?

Tang Yongqing's voice trembled slightly, and her eyes became increasingly dreamy and tender.

"A notorious villain in the universe, but right now he's probably disguised as Junior Brother Luo Feng."

Shen Mu declined the invitation from the Lord of Ice Peak, without revealing the true identity of the Blood Cloud Palace Master. He only told the Lord of Ice Peak that the Blood Cloud Palace Master would not truly harm humans.

After replying to the Lord of Ice Peak, Shen Mu continued to focus on perfecting his own secret technique.

Tang Yongqing suddenly felt a sense of frustration: "Don't you feel anything?"

Shen Mu chuckled and said, "How could that be? Material stimulation is nothing to my will and soul."

As he spoke, Shen Mu's fingertips brushed against the precious red bead at the source of the stream, and invisible ripples spread out from the crystal-clear bead.

Tang Yongqing's mind was completely suppressed by this finger, and she trembled for a long time before she came to her senses.

"I want to learn your secret method of amplifying the senses!"

Her soul and will are now very strong, at least at the immortal level, and passing through all 21 islands of the Illusionary Sea is not a problem.

The 21 islands of the Illusionary Sea require a will approaching that of a cosmic overlord to conquer.

Shen Mu's decision to hone his will on the 30th island of the Illusionary Sea was a special case. It was similar to opening up a private space; normally there are only 21 islands.

As a result, even such a powerful will had no effect on this secret technique.

"Even if you learn it, it won't be of any use to me," Shen Mu said with a smile, giving Tang Yongqing a break from polishing the precious red pearl.

A thoughtful look appeared on Tang Yongqing's slightly flushed face, and then she said, "Then don't resist. I don't believe it won't have any effect."

Shen Mu couldn't help but laugh: "Why is Sister Yongqing so eager to get revenge?"

Shen Mu has been very gentle in his approach to testing Tang Yongqing's will.

When Shen Mingyue was training her willpower, Shen Mu asked Master Zuoshanke for a treasure similar to the Star Tower Bead.

He told Shen Mingyue directly that as long as she could recognize this precious treasure as her own, he would no longer care about it.

This treasure is somewhat different from the Star Tower Bead. The process of recognizing this treasure as its owner requires actively imprinting it with divine power; if the imprinting process stops, the recognition will fail.

The Star Tower Beads, on the other hand, are passively bound to the soul and cannot be stopped once they begin.

Shen Mingyue was also quite stubborn, and she almost had a mental breakdown several times because of her own actions.

This prompted Lord Youhou, who was Shen Mingyue's teacher, to come up to her and tell Shen Mu, the father, not to be too cruel.

Tang Yongqing snorted, "You're holding a grudge? You went too far!"

"Alright, alright, whatever you say."

Shen Mu was helpless. Even if he didn't resist, Tang Yongqing's crude illusion skills couldn't possibly affect him.

……

After a brief moment of pleasure, the ancient palace once again became solemn.

"Sister Yongqing, with the blessing of this Wind Sword Box, you're practically invincible as a king. Why don't you think of a title for yourself?"

The Wind Sword Box was a set of precious treasures that Shen Mu specially left for Tang Yongqing when Jianhe Luo was born.

Tang Yongqing, who was repairing her palace dress, looked up and thought for a moment, "Let's call her Yaoqing. I'm used to being called Saintess Yaoqing all these years."

In the past few years in the Godfall Secret Realm, Shen Mu, in his capacity as the Ancient God of the Nine Heavens, declared Tang Yongqing as his only disciple, known as the Holy Maiden Yaoqing.

As for the other ancient gods, they had long since become Shen Mu's soul servants, using internal strife to have their assassins intercept and kill Tang Yongqing in various ways.

Tang Yongqing hesitated slightly before saying, "Actually... I think the people on the Godfall Continent are also part of humanity. Why should they be confined within the Godfall Secret Realm?"

Tang Yongqing is only 100,000 years old, but he has spent more than 80,000 to nearly 90,000 years in the Godfall Secret Realm, and has long regarded it as his second hometown.

In fact, she didn't understand that the human race is a group of countless races. If we discuss it from the perspective of life forms, some races cannot even be called human.

On the contrary, the people in the Fallen God Realm look very similar to Earthlings, and in terms of genetic morphology, they can be considered a branch of the ape race.

The most common physical forms of the entire human race are ape-men, winged men, dragon-men, snake-men, werewolves, and so on.

Humans, in essence, belong to a branch of the ape-man race. The ancestors of humans on Earth were originally extraterrestrial beings whose job was to herd dinosaurs on Earth.

"You intend to make the people of the Fallen God Realm part of the human race?"

In response to Shen Mu's question, Tang Yongqing nodded slightly: "Nowadays, the Godfall Secret Realm is extremely hostile to outsiders. I can say directly that you, the Nine Heavens Ancient God, are an outsider, and the other ancient gods are all under your control."

"Then I will defeat you as a newly ascended ancient god, and defeat the other ancient gods as well. At that time, I will naturally unify the Godfall Secret Realm."

"The rest is easy to handle. After all, the Godfall Secret Realm is unaware of the outside world's situation, and it's easy to guide the people of the Godfall Secret Realm to fully integrate into the human race."

Shen Mu raised an eyebrow: "Alright, let me also see how much you've grown over the years."

Within the Divine Fall Secret Realm, Tang Yongqing was busy with her business, while Shen Mu was also perfecting his two secret techniques.

Meanwhile, a major event was also happening in the universe.

First, the Lord of Blood Cloud Palace disappeared again, followed by the reappearance of the Immortal Blade River King, who currently holds the greatest potential among the human race.

Moreover, the River King of Blades appeared directly on the Primordial Star, making the entire universe lively.

For a time, countless powerful figures, both openly and secretly, wanted to kill Luo Feng, including some marginal figures of the Hong Alliance.

The result shocked countless people: Luo Feng annihilated the clone of the Lord of the Universe and thousands of clones of the Universe Venerables with a single move, unleashing the combat power of a Lord of the Universe.

Thus, the 20th human being, and the 16th publicly known cosmic ruler, was born.

……

In the virtual universe, atop Thunder Island, within the temple of the Lord of Ice Peaks.

The temple was once a private space, but now it has been transformed into an endless expanse of space, adorned only by two or three points of light.

At this moment, in that endless void, two figures stood facing each other from afar; they were Shen Mu and the Ice Peak Master and his disciple.

However, at this moment, the auras of Shen Mu and the other person continued to surge, and their momentum was rising steadily, eventually stabilizing at the level of a hundred times the divine body of the Lord of the Universe.

"Disciple, I'm about to unleash my ultimate move, be careful!" The Ice Peak Lord's icy voice echoed throughout this space and time.

A look of inquiry appeared in Shen Mu's eyes: "I'm very eager to witness Teacher's most powerful secret technique!"

"Freeze the cycle of rebirth!"

The Ice Peak Lord, clad in ancient battle armor, slowly extended his hand, and countless illusory monsters combined in his palm to form a universe!

Clang!

The endless monster universe transformed into a pure and supremely beautiful sword light. The dazzling sword energy seemed to slice through the void, freezing time and space wherever it passed, and all things returned to silence.

"Please, teacher, also take a look at my secret technique for merging water and air."

Shen Mu's spear, held upside down, suddenly flashed, a dazzling point blooming at the tip, dense mist swirling around the shaft, piercing straight through.

Endless cold mist condensed into billions of ice rays, seemingly evolving into a universe of ice.

The next instant, this vast ice universe suddenly contracted, condensing into a singularity.

Boom!

The sword light and the spear light collided, annihilating and devouring each other.

Just then, the dazzling sword light suddenly dissipated, turning into endless wisps of light that swept outwards.

Even the laws governing the operation of spacetime around him underwent a subtle change, leaving a visible trace in the void before rushing towards Shen Mu.

"Robbery!"

Grayish-white lightning burst forth in Shen Mu's palm, its radiance capable of annihilating all living beings, tearing the space in two, like a mirror image.

Boom!

The calamity light instantly annihilated the Ice Peak Lord's endless faintness, and then continued to rush towards him.

"Sword Peak!"

The sword light flashed across the Ice Peak Lord's palm. It was an ordinary strike, yet it severed the passage of time and space. This was the pinnacle of his swordsmanship, a secret technique he created before becoming the Lord of the Universe.

An ordinary sword strike, without any sword light, seemingly a casual swing, annihilated Shen Mu's calamity light across endless time and space.

"Not bad, the Thunder Time Secret Technique is excellent; it's the strongest secret technique."

"The Water-Void Secret Technique is slightly inferior; while its power is considerable, its versatility is insufficient."

The Lord of Ice Peak looked at Shen Mu with great admiration. His former disciple had now completely surpassed him.

In just 100,000 years, he created two of the most powerful secret techniques, which is legendary in the entire history of the primordial universe.

Shen Mu smiled and explained, "This disciple's mastery of the Water and Void Laws is somewhat lacking. I can only pursue power as much as possible and have no time to pay attention to the variations of secret techniques."

Of course, Shen Mu's gains over the years are not limited to these, but Shen Mu felt it was unnecessary to reveal everything.

(End of this chapter)