Tick! Tick!
Wu Ming removed his oxygen mask, and droplets of seawater fell to the ground from his body.
Before his eyes lay a vast cavern, enclosed on all sides, yet oddly filled with a stream of fresh air.
“But since they can create a teleportation formation, this should be a piece of cake!”
Thinking of that previous red sigil, Wu Ming’s expression turned extremely serious.
The trench was merely a doorway. To decipher the sigil’s secrets and activate it while surrounded by numerous sea monsters was an extremely difficult task for any transcendent being.
But Wu Ming was definitely an exception!
Because the key was already in his hands!
“The specifications of that teleportation formation, or rather its basic structural rules, I’ve seen before!”
Wu Ming murmured softly, “Inside the Temple of the Sovereign!”
As a Sovereign, his familiarity with the Temple of the Sovereign ranked only beneath that of its original master. Now, within this ruin, he had encountered the same technique!
“Or perhaps, it was intentionally designed so that only the Sovereign of the Temple of the Sovereign could activate the teleportation and arrive here?”
Wu Ming sighed, a smile forming on his face. “Finding this place on my first search—should I say my luck is too good or too bad?”
Undoubtedly, this was the ruin left behind by that mysterious original master of the Temple of the Sovereign.
As for what exactly was left within—whether fortune or misfortune—remained completely uncertain.
“But isn’t this exactly why I came here?”
Wu Ming took a deep breath and walked deeper.
The walls on both sides shimmered with shifting lights and shadows, hazy and colorful, as if containing myriad realms, evoking a sense of temporal and spatial disarray.
“An illusion formation?”
This kind of formation was also quite familiar to Wu Ming.
After all, within the Great Luo Hall, if one could be easily affected by such disturbances, how could one hope to harness Great Luo power and explore the myriad worlds?
He continued walking, ignoring the scenes flickering across the rock walls, resolutely moving forward.
Finally, all illusions vanished in an instant, revealing before Wu Ming a magnificent stone palace.
The entire palace seemed carved from a single massive gray rock, exuding an ancient, unified, and unadorned beauty.
“A residence?”
Wu Ming’s divine consciousness fluctuated intensely, but upon contacting the stone palace, it was completely repelled.
“I come to pay my respects!”
He stepped forward and knocked gently on the palace’s door.
A deep sound echoed outward, but there was no response for a long time.
Sighing, Wu Ming thought that if the ancient being were still alive, surely they would have sensed his arrival when he activated the teleportation. Now, it seemed, that was indeed the case.
Whether he felt disappointment or relief, he pushed the door open with a complex heart.
Buzz! Buzz!
The palace’s material could resist divine consciousness but did not hinder physical actions, opening easily at his touch.
The palace’s interior was extremely vast, seemingly spanning several massive football fields, clearly having undergone spatial expansion.
On the walls surrounding him, numerous strange lines meandered or darted about, or simply formed chaotic tangles, giving Wu Ming a strange sense of familiarity.
“This is also… a manifestation of part of the Temple of the Sovereign’s rules… to be expressed in such a form?”
Wu Ming’s eyes widened, his face filled with admiration.
The Temple of the Sovereign was an inconceivable artifact, crafted from countless worlds and dimensions.
Here, however, were partial concepts and even blueprints of the Temple of the Sovereign!
“The ancient being of old truly conceived the idea of the Temple of the Sovereign within this universe and brought it into reality…”
Wu Ming could completely understand these blueprints, after all, they were only superficial designs. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to move deeper into the palace.
“One cannot attain true eternity without achieving Great Luo!”
Deep within the palace, there was only a simple stone chamber, with a line of mysterious symbols on its door, their meaning instantly appearing in Wu Ming’s mind upon sight.
“This means that without attaining the Eighth Level Great Luo, one cannot truly embark on the path toward eternity?”
Wu Ming immediately grasped its meaning.
Great Luo signified a universal rank, capable of transcending cosmic limits and wandering freely.
Without attaining the Great Luo rank, achieving the Seventh Level Golden Immortal within a single world and considering it eternity was merely a “false eternity.”
Only by transcending the universe could one achieve true eternity. The path of Great Luo was merely the beginning!
“Could it be that inside this chamber lies the ancient being’s insights into the Great Luo path…”
Wu Ming’s heart burned with excitement.
He himself was currently exploring the path toward Great Luo. If he could gain inspiration from this ancient being, it would surely be of great benefit, even to his original self.
With a bit of trepidation, he pushed open the stone chamber’s door.
Inside the chamber was very simple, the four walls bare, except for a stone bed at the center, upon which rested a luminous pearl.
“Could it really be a legacy left behind, with no ill intent toward future generations?”
Wu Ming’s face showed confusion.
Just then, an unexpected change occurred!
Whoosh!
Upon sensing Wu Ming’s presence, the semi-transparent pearl suddenly emitted a burst of light, traversing space to reach his forehead and pressing against it.
Instantly, the pearl became transparent, directly sinking into his consciousness sea.
Wu Ming immediately froze, standing motionless.
After a while, he regained his senses, hand over his brow, a faint bitter smile on his lips: “It’s actually this…”
Within the pearl, automatic information transmission occurred, and upon receiving it, Wu Ming already knew what the ancient being had left behind.
“A defective or prototype version of the Temple of the Sovereign…”
Wu Ming’s expression was complex.
“The true Temple of the Sovereign was forged from countless spaces and worlds, a vessel bearing the Dao of Creation, a salvific ark capable of elevating beings to transcendence and achieving fruition…”
His original self in the Zhou Dynasty world had risen precisely because he obtained the Temple of the Sovereign, an undeniable fact.
“The Temple of the Sovereign’s primary functions are actually the Cosmic Transformation Ability and Great Luo power! But this prototype I obtained only possesses partial Cosmic Transformation abilities without the Great Luo power, meaning it cannot traverse the myriad worlds. However, with sufficient power accumulation, it can generate myriad worlds… Its power is likely only about thirty to forty percent of the original, making it quite compatible with me!”
Wu Ming’s smile instantly vanished, replaced by an extremely solemn expression.
His original self with the Temple of the Sovereign, and his clone obtaining a defective version—truly a complementary pairing.
But whether there was any hidden plot involved was another matter.
“A clone cannot be controlled or bewitched, but what about voluntary betrayal, especially after gaining power…”
Wu Ming touched his brow: “Discarding a defective item that was originally junk meant nothing to that being, yet it has presented me with a dilemma…”
Fortunately, his original self had anticipated such a scenario and taken many precautions. At this moment, Wu Ming’s clone had no intention of doing anything drastic: “I must immediately contact my original self, reposition the universe, open a channel, and preferably have the Temple of the Sovereign directly absorb this prototype…”
Boom!
At that moment, a spiritual imprint suddenly emerged from within the stone chamber, transmitting a message.
“Do you want it? The power that was once mine, the hope of Great Luo and eternity… If you desire it, then explore well within this world! Remember… when the imprint is triggered, this world will begin rejecting all outsiders, even those wielding Great Luo power! Haha…”
The imprint appeared out of nowhere, then vanished in an instant, leaving only the laughter echoing within the chamber.
“Closed off… the entire world?”
Wu Ming’s face darkened instantly.
The opponent’s arrangement clearly considered the Temple of the Sovereign factor. Even if his original self was willing to go to great lengths, it would likely be powerless.
Within this world, it was truly only himself now.
Creating a sealed environment, combined with the temptation of Great Luo and eternity, he would probably have no choice but to keep searching within this world…
“An ordinary person changes from yesterday to today; how much more so after embarking on the path of power…”
Wu Ming sighed: “It’s easiest to lose oneself in the pursuit of power… Once I first grasp the Dao of Great Luo and eternity…”
The pursuit of eternity was deeply engraved in Wu Ming’s true soul, shared identically by both clone and original.
And what price was he willing to pay for it?
Wu Ming’s eyes suddenly gleamed with determination…
…
In the Zhou Dynasty world, within the Temple of the Sovereign.
On the Throne of Ten Thousand Worlds, Wu Ming’s original self frowned, taking a single step forward.
Time and space instantly transformed, and in the next moment, he arrived at the Great Luo Hall.
“That universe indeed has issues!”
With a wave of his hand, the Primordial Pool trembled, opening a hyper-dimensional channel to the universe.
But immediately, a powerful resistance arose from within that universe, accompanied by information transmitted from his clone.
“Funny, resisting my power?”
A torrent of crimson light appeared in Wu Ming’s pupils.
Even if he descended with the Temple of the Sovereign, the opponent would likely unhesitatingly shatter the entire world, adopting a stance of mutual destruction.
“As long as I still have the slightest desire for that ancient being’s legacy, I cannot force my way in!”
Wu Ming pondered: “Is this a game of wits between us?”
He had such a feeling.
Though he had never met the ancient being who created the Temple of the Sovereign, not even knowing its appearance or whether it was alive or dead.
Yet at this moment, he felt as if he were facing that being across countless eons and spaces, engaged in a silent game of chess.
“It’s only a clone anyway. Since you want to gamble, I’ll naturally play along!”
Wu Ming muttered silently.
The worst-case scenario was his clone gaining power and rebelling. Compared to the temptation of Great Luo and possible eternity, the cost of such a failure was negligible, so naturally, he was not averse to taking the gamble.
“Originally, the clone’s entry into this universe was for testing purposes; its loss wouldn’t matter much. I just didn’t expect the opponent to prepare such a method…”
Wu Ming’s original self gazed deeply, as if piercing through the crimson torrent, seeing into the depths of that world…
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage