Swallowing the starry sky, my clones can evolve infinitely.

Chapter 178 The Hope of Taking Control of the Spaceship

Inside the deep, dark red cave passage, the stream of light that Bai Yujing had transformed into was flying at several times the speed of light.

Of course, this is only Shen Mu's limit, not Bai Yujing's limit.

As Shen Mu gains a deeper and deeper understanding of Bai Yujing, his future flight speed will inevitably reach the limit of the cosmic sea, which is a hundred times the speed of light.

"The temperature here is high enough that even the divine body of a cosmic overlord cannot withstand it."

In the cosmic ocean, those incredibly high and low temperatures are created by various powerful laws, and cannot be measured by the concept of energy.

Moreover, as Bai Yujing ventured deeper, Shen Mu was able to detect that the temperature inside the dark red cave was becoming increasingly terrifying.

This deep cave is very dark and has countless branching passages. If you choose the wrong one, you may not be able to find the treasure left by Jie Fanzi.

However, Shen Mu also had a technique: whenever he encountered a fork in the road, he would always choose the largest and hottest fork.

……

Nine years passed in the blink of an eye, and Shen Mu, driving the Baiyujing, finally arrived at the end of the passage.

This is a vast, enormous space resembling a fiery cavern, with countless streams of white, fiery lava rumbling and rolling.

These streams of liquid emitted a red, blue, and gray halo, and their terrifying temperature was enough to incinerate the divine body of the Lord of the Universe, unless protected by a powerful treasure armor.

"These liquids are excellent materials for refining fire-type treasures."

After receiving the treasure-refining inheritance from the Mountain Hermit, Shen Mu became very sensitive to various mystical substances and could easily determine whether these materials were suitable for refining into supreme treasures.

Amidst this terrifying flow of molten lava, there were also rows of seemingly ordinary stone pillars.

These seemingly ordinary stone pillars completely disregard the terrifyingly high temperatures that could easily annihilate the divine body of the Lord of the Universe, and upon closer inspection...

One can then perceive that within the endless grains of sand that make up these stone pillars, each grain contains a space.

Among the stone pillars, one is particularly special because it has a four-finger claw print, which is about the size of a normal human hand.

This claw mark was extremely strange, emitting a special fluctuation that seemed both extremely hot and extremely cold.

"It seems I didn't take the wrong path."

Shen Mu controlled Bai Yujing to quickly approach the stone pillar with the claw mark. He saw that a strange aura was emanating from the sand at the very center of the claw mark.

"Enter!"

Bai Yujing transformed directly into a stream of light and disappeared into the space contained within the sand and gravel.

Inside the gravel space, the temperature was significantly lower, only around a hundred million degrees Celsius, a temperature that even the weakest immortal god could not resist.

Inside Baiyujing, Shen Mu looked around and found the entire space deathly silent, with nothing special except for the endless mountains and earth composed of rocks.

"Domain, open!"

Shen Mu's own domain of laws combined with Bai Yujing's domain of immortal light swept out, instantly enveloping the entire gravel space.

Immediately, Shen Mu noticed a strange fluctuation emanating from one of the mountain peaks.

There was a smooth rock face on the mountain peak, and two items were placed on the ground in front of the rock face.

One of them was a blue pendant with carvings of strange beasts.

The other item was an incredibly beautiful piece of silk fabric, its black and gold colors intertwined, radiating an aura.

This blue beast carving is recorded in the treasure trove of the human race; it is a token of the Cosmic Ship, one of the three forbidden lands.

Holding this token grants certain privileges within the spaceship and allows access to some hidden spaces, which is why countless powerful individuals speculate that the spaceship may be man-made.

As for the strange black and gold silk cloth, it was the Silk Map, made of the same material as the Silk Map that Lord Yuan Ao had taken out before.

call out!

Shen Mu's figure appeared, and with a wave of his hand, he put away the two treasures. Then his gaze fell on the smooth cliff face.

These two treasures are not the source of the strange fluctuations; the real source of the strange fluctuations is within this smooth cliff face.

hum!

As Shen Mu activated a wisp of divine power, a wave of branding energy emanated from it.

Images emerged from the smooth cliff face, showing two figures.

One of them was an incredibly beautiful woman covered in endless green leaves; seeing her was like seeing the most vibrant being in the universe.

The other figure was dressed in a gray robe and looked like a piece of dead wood at first glance. His head was somewhat like crystal and had no hair, ears, or nose, only three eyes and a mouth.

"I am Jie Fanzi," said the gray-robed figure.

"I am Zhenlin," said the beautiful woman surrounded by countless green leaves.

Jie Fanzi continued, "When you pick up the two items I left behind, you will see this image! But I don't know... in which era of reincarnation you will see this image."

"I am the strongest lone traveler. Before this final battle, I don't want to waste my legacy, my countless efforts. So, on my journey to conquer that cycle of reincarnation, I placed the token and map from that spaceship..."

Finally, Jie Fanzi spoke up, "If possible, please carry forward my legacy, though this is not a request."

As for the other woman with green leaves, she was Jie Fanzi's companion, but it was just a joke, and she did not leave behind her own legacy.

"We've finally received the inheritance. Now, let's head straight for the spaceship."

After leaving the gravel space, Shen Mu glanced at the stone pillars and tried to collect one of them.

"The Divine Sword, appear!"

The crystal-white longsword that Shen Mu had previously forged appeared. After years of tempering, this crystal-white longsword had finally reached perfection and was an ordinary peak treasure.

However, for Shen Mu, the power of this crystal-white longsword was even greater than the most exquisite and supreme treasure weapon of the human race.

The hexagram in the I Ching, Thunder over Water, signifies "Relief." Therefore, Shen Mu named this longsword the "Sword of Relief."

"Fusion Secret Technique, Frost Calamity!"

The laws of thunder and water intertwined and evolved, countless secret patterns emerged on the Divine Sword, and endless divine power condensed into a dazzling blade of light, forcefully tearing apart the space here.

The spacetime in this fiery cavern is terrifyingly stable. If the spacetime on the original star trembles violently due to terrifying pressure, the spacetime here is absolutely still, without the slightest spatial fluctuation.

A fierce sword light burst forth, accompanied by a terrifying spatial rift, slashing deeply into the stone pillar, leaving only a very shallow scratch.

"With the combat power of my Yan Shen clan avatar, and with the blessing of the Divine Armor, this attack is absolutely comparable to the full-force ultimate move of Lord Peng Gong, yet it can only leave a shallow scratch."

Even the most basic stone pillars have this kind of hardness. If they were to be refined into a supreme treasure, the weakest one would be a top-grade supreme treasure.

"It's a pity I don't have time to waste here any longer, otherwise I could grind a stone pillar down and take it back to refine a treasure."

Shen Mu's figure flashed, and he returned to Baiyujing, then drove Baiyujing away from the original place.

……

More than twenty years later, the vast ocean of the universe is filled with endless chaotic currents.

"We've finally arrived."

After countless teleportations, and through ultra-long-distance teleportation via natural wormholes, Shen Mu finally traversed vast distances and arrived near the spaceship from the Peak Realm.

In the White Jade Capital, Shen Mu gazed at the endless, majestic cosmic ship in the distance.

It was an incredibly massive, damaged ship, tens of millions of light-years high and hundreds of millions of light-years long.

The entire piece is a mix of black and purple, creating an eerie and profound atmosphere.

Shen Mu's gaze fell on the enormous ship. Even though it was hundreds of millions of light-years away, he could still see countless cracks and holes.

This demonstrates just how severe the damage to the spaceship was.

Boom! Bang! Rumble...

A series of enormous roars shook the endless chaotic mist, echoing throughout the boundless cosmic sea.

The damaged spaceship constantly emitted terrifying gravity, frantically devouring the surrounding chaotic airflow.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the small, incomplete universe being swallowed up below the spaceship.

This is also the origin of the name "Cosmic Ship," because this terrifying behemoth has the ability to devour shattered smaller universes and transform them into the purest cosmic energy.

In this process, magnificent rivers of fire that can stretch for hundreds of millions of light-years, endless oceans of cold air, various dazzling rays of light, electric snakes, and endless violent energy are released.

These energy aftershocks alone would be enough to give countless people a headache, yet this was merely the noise generated by the spaceship feeding.

"As expected of a supreme treasure of a super-large mechanical palace, it's a pity I won't have the chance to witness the power of billions of true gods activating this cosmic vessel at its peak!"

"I wonder if my Jade Palace will ever be able to evolve to this level."

Bai Yujing possesses the ability to absorb energy and evolve naturally. This greatly pleased Shen Mu, proving that anything produced by Zuoshanke is bound to be of high quality.

However, there is definitely an upper limit to this kind of growth. It is simply impossible for Bai Yujing to grow to the level of the Spaceship.

Shen Mu's intention was also to wait until one day he could reforge Bai Yujing and evolve it to the level of a spaceship.

"The Spaceship is a super-large mechanical treasure. The original work clearly states that it is a national treasure of the Wu Kingdom."

"As for the broken mountain in the Peak Realm, it could not have been a natural fracture; it must have been severed by an unparalleled powerhouse."

"Such a powerful being could not possibly be born from the cosmic sea. Even Luo Feng did not possess such abilities before transcending reincarnation."

"Therefore, the Peak Realm is most likely a product of the Origin Continent. After its peak was severed by an unparalleled powerhouse, it came to this cosmic sea for some unknown reason."

"If the speculation is correct, two of the three forbidden zones of the Cosmic Sea are not native to the Cosmic Sea."

"Is the same true of Liuchong Mountain?"

Shen Mu's eyes shone with boundless divine light, and countless thoughts raced through his mind in an instant as he deduced information about Liu Chongshan based on the intelligence already possessed by the human race.

Unfortunately, the human race doesn't seem to be very interested in Liuchong Mountain. It's the one of the three forbidden zones that we know the least about, so we have no way of knowing anything about it.

"There are boundary beasts being bred inside the Qingfeng Realm, so it's best to avoid going there unless absolutely necessary."

"After the ancient inheritance event is over, perhaps we can go and explore Liuchong Mountain."

After making his decision, Shen Mu's gaze fell upon the spaceship.

"Go to the Black-Patterned Stone Pillar area first. The treasure left by Jie Fanzi is located in the space of the Black-Patterned Stone Pillar area."

The Black-Patterned Stone Pillars, also known as the Heavenly Demon Pillars among the human race, consist of 16 pillars and are one of the many wonders within the spaceship.

These 16 black-veined stone pillars, each over a thousand light-years tall, possess boundless power. No attack can damage or remove them; they have extremely magical effects.

They exuded endless impact of will, and the closer one got, the more terrifying that impact of will became. Moreover, the closer one got to the Towering Demon Pillar, the faster the flow of time became!

The black-patterned stone pillars can both temper one's will and accelerate the flow of time, making them an absolute holy land for Shen Mu's cultivation.

"With my current willpower, I don't know how many times faster the time flow rate I can enter."

Shen Mu piloted the White Jade Capital, flashing continuously, directly entering the void area influenced by the aura of the spaceship.

Teleportation is almost impossible to perform here unless one uses a realm-type artifact to control space and time.

However, once inside the spaceship, no one dared to teleport at will.

Especially since Shen Mu's target location is deep within the spaceship, teleporting casually would be tantamount to suicide.

According to the spaceship map that Shen Mu had, the fastest route to reach the Black-Veined Stone Pillar area would take about a hundred years of flying.

……

While Shen Mu was exploring the spaceship, his will also logged into the virtual universe, intending to share the map left by Jie Fanzi with the entire human race.

Of course, one thing to note is that Shen Mu logged into the virtual universe through an avatar inside the original universe.

The primordial ancestor's secret techniques were incredibly powerful, but they only covered the interior of the original universe and his own initial universe.

It is impossible to log into the virtual universe within the cosmic ocean or within the miniature universe of the Giant Axe Founder.

However, this is not a problem for the strong; they can simply create a divine avatar and place it in the primordial universe.

At this moment, in the virtual universe, the exclusive dimension of the creator of the giant axe.

Before the simple temple, Shen Mu, dressed in a white feather robe, appeared.

"Giant Axe".

Shen Mu's voice rang out, and then he stepped directly into the temple.

Inside the temple, a dormant wisp of the Giant Axe Founder's consciousness revived. Seeing Shen Mu arrive, he smiled and said, "Hun Yuan, how does it feel to first enter the Cosmic Sea?"

A smile appeared on Shen Mu's face: "The Cosmic Sea truly lives up to its name, with endless opportunities. I have been in the Cosmic Sea for less than a hundred years, yet I have already obtained a Cosmic Ship token and a map."

"A map of the spaceship?"

The burly, savage-like man's expression turned serious as he inquired, "That map... is it detailed? How reliable is it?"

"It's infinitely more detailed than any map of our human race."

As Shen Mu spoke, he pointed his finger into the void in front of him, and instantly endless chaotic energy surged forth, transforming into a huge phantom of a ship.

This is an extremely detailed map, encompassing all the important locations in the outer regions of the entire universe, much more detailed than the outer regions map of humankind.

Of course, if it's just an outer realm map, then it's nothing special.

Most importantly, this map of the spaceship also contains a large number of maps of the spaceship's inner domain, with a size comparable to that of the human race's spaceship inner domain map.

Moreover, the overlapping area between this inner domain map and the inner domain map of the human race is extremely small, even negligible.

There are also maps of some core areas, and maps of the core areas of the game are extremely valuable.

Because in the core area, even a true god can perish if he is not careful.

The entire human race only possesses a very small number of core area maps of the Peak Realm, and these are remnants of the original ancestors.

"Excellent! As expected of Hunyuan!"

The founder of the giant axe was overjoyed. By comparing the maps of some human groups with the locations superimposed on this map, he was able to determine that the map was highly credible.

The overlapping portions of the two maps show identical markings for the danger zones, and the map in Shen Mu's possession even includes more detailed explanations, making it highly credible.

"With this map, our human race may be able to shift its focus of exploration from the Peak Realm to the spaceship."

The founder of the giant axe looked at Shen Mu with some emotion and asked, "How did you obtain this map?"

Shen Mu didn't hide anything: "I obtained the inheritance of a powerful figure from countless reincarnation eras ago. Not only does it contain a map, but it also shows the location of a treasure."

"Based on my understanding, this powerful figure is a top-tier tenth-order existence who is no weaker than the Primordial Ancestor."

The founder of the giant axe had a look of sudden realization on his face, and he smiled and said, "So that's how it is. This explains why this map is so detailed. It was left behind by a powerful being comparable to the Primordial Ancestor."

As for the rest, the founder of the giant axe did not inquire.

"Shen Mu, you have contributed a map to the clan, and it is a map of the Jedi, which is a great contribution to the clan."

"With such a detailed map of the spaceship, our human race can easily obtain many more treasures."

"In the future, the tribe will continue to acquire more treasures and avoid more dangers because of this map."

"Logically speaking... the value of this map is hard to estimate, at least worth 10,000 to 20,000 Treasure Points."

"However, the treasures of a race are also finite, accumulated only through the endless sacrifices of the Lord of the Universe. Therefore, when the contribution is too great, the race cannot provide an equivalent return."

Giant Axe looked at Shen Mu with a embarrassed expression: "Therefore, the clan can give you 8000 Treasure Points, or you can choose any top-tier treasure."

The clan's treasury is very limited; all the treasures come from the contributions of a dozen or so cosmic lords and the creators of the giant axe.

Moreover, the Lord of the Universe's contributions are not high; they are mostly high-grade treasures, with a few being top-grade treasures.

These palaces are nothing compared to the Great Axe Founder.

Of the supreme treasures in the entire human race's treasury, seventy percent were collected by him, and the rest were almost all remnants of the original ancestors. Only a few supreme treasures were contributions from other universe lords.

Over countless years, every cosmic lord has used contribution points to exchange for treasures suitable for themselves in the treasury.

The founder of the giant axe alone, despite having made the greatest contribution to the tribe, did not receive a single treasure from the treasury.

Shen Mu laughed and said, "No need. I have more than enough Treasure Points. I'm about the same level as you now, Giant Axe. The treasures in the clan's treasury are of no use to me. I have to acquire them all myself."

Although Shen Mu directly handed over the black artifact to the giant axe last time, the giant axe also transferred a large number of treasure points to him.

Including his previous accumulation, Shen Mu had a total of 1.4 Treasure Points, but the clan's treasures were no longer of interest to him.

The World Tree and the Nether Sea Avatar did not participate in the battle, but remained in the Divine Kingdom. Therefore, it was enough for Shen Mu to leave behind only the Sword River Luo Domain.

The Earthling himself possesses the Wings of Eternity, an all-powerful mechanical single-target treasure. Its attack and domain capabilities are both at the level of supreme treasures, and its defense is absolutely immune to all material attacks.

The Yan God Clan's clone possesses the Divine Armor and the Divine Sword of Dispelling Divine Power, which is more than enough for a short period of time.

The Azure Dragon clone also stayed in the initial universe and did not come out. He studied the crafting of supreme treasures every day and has now crafted the prototype of a peak supreme treasure armor. It only needs time to accumulate before it is completed.

Aside from the most powerful treasures, Shen Mu can now refine whatever he wants, ensuring that the treasures and secret techniques are perfectly compatible, and he has no interest in peak treasures.

The burly, wild man laughed and patted Shen Mu on the shoulder.

"Speaking of which, when do you plan to break through to the level of Universe Master?"

"Years ago, Bingfeng said that your path to becoming the Thunder Beast God was already perfected, and you only needed one more trigger to become the Lord of the Universe."

"Most people might struggle with this for countless years, but it shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"

Shen Mu didn't hide anything: "There's no rush."

"I had a premonition that as long as I went to the Ancestral God Cult and received the Beast God's inheritance again, it would be enough to trigger the descent of the origin of the universe and break through to become the Lord of the Universe."

"During the battle against the Lord of Yuan'ao, the Ancestral God Cult asked me if I would be willing to become the Protector God, but I have not yet agreed."

"Once my Azure Dragon clone finishes crafting the treasure, I will have it permanently stationed in the Ancestral God Sect as a guardian deity, ready to break through at any crucial moment."

"However, there are countless opportunities in the cosmic sea, and some inheritances may require a cosmic venerable to trigger."

"Furthermore, I haven't decided on the secret technique for my cosmic venerable level yet, so there's no rush."

Putting aside everything else, just consider the challenges in the inheritance of the Duan Donghe River.

The difficulty of the trials for the Cosmic Venerable and the Lord of the Universe is on a completely different level.

The three trials of Duan Donghe's inheritance are easy to overcome. The first trial is simply defeating a puppet.

The second test is to solve the Rhinoceros Emperor's puzzle.

From this point onward, the requirements for the three realms of Cosmic Venerable, Cosmic Lord, and True God begin to change.

However, Shen Mu was confident that this hurdle would not be difficult for him. Even if he became the Lord of the Universe, Shen Mu would definitely be the one who reached the requirements the fastest.

The most difficult part was actually the final test.

In the original work, this challenge required Luo Feng, who was a cosmic venerable, to create a secret technique at the level of a sixth-order true god, which spanned two major realms.

By analogy, the test for the Lord of the Universe must be higher than that for the Venerable One of the Universe, at least a seventh-order secret technique.

Shen Mu was confident that he could create a sixth-order secret technique within a certain time, but the possibility of creating a seventh-order secret technique was too low because of the time limit.

As for the eighth-order secret technique, there is absolutely no possibility of it, because there is still not enough time.

The original work clearly states that during the countless years that Duan Donghe spent under the control of the Lord of the Universe, very few people were able to create an eighth-order secret technique.

Moreover, Shen Mu's goal is not only to sever the Donghe lineage.

In the original novel, although Luo Feng became the new generation of Duan Donghe, he did not become the master of the Cosmic Ship in the end, but only inherited the Tomb Ship.

It seems that inheriting the Cosmic Ship will also require going through trials, and the difficulty of those trials will definitely not be lower than that of the Duan Donghe inheritance.

As for how to initiate the inheritance trial of the spaceship, it is likely that the previous generation of Duan Donghe, who inherited the Duan Donghe legacy, will have relevant clues.

At the very least, he had to become a test subject of the third trial of the Duan Donghe inheritance, otherwise it would be absolutely impossible to obtain clues about inheriting the spaceship from the previous Duan Donghe.

If the test of inheriting the spaceship is successfully initiated, then this test will inevitably be more difficult than the test of the Duan Donghe lineage.

Moreover, it is highly likely that the difficulty of the test will vary depending on the level of cultivation, and the level of the Universe Venerable will have a huge advantage.

This was practically the only chance to take control of the spaceship, and Shen Mu didn't want to give it up.

(End of this chapter)