Through his exchange with the cosmic consciousness, Ye Wen learned that this universe, like life-bearing planes, had its own limits of endurance.
The maximum number of Divine Sovereigns this universe could support was seven.
And these seven couldn't just be any random individuals. Each had to correspond to one of seven core Dao laws.
For instance, Ye Wen's law was Nature.
The other six would need to represent Time, Space, Creation, Destruction, Reincarnation, and Stars.
With Ye Wen already occupying one spot, it meant only six more Divine Sovereigns could emerge in this universe.
Ye Wen wasn't surprised by this revelation; he had anticipated it. After all, nothing was without limits—except perhaps the endlessly mysterious Chaos, which Ye Wen had never truly encountered.
But with only seven slots available, Ye Wen increasingly felt this universe bore resemblance to the Heavenly Dao of Honghuang.
However, as their exchange continued, Ye Wen noticed something amiss.
"You… where did you gain such high intelligence?" Ye Wen's gaze fixed on the cosmic consciousness.
Previously, due to the lack of sufficient intelligence in this universe's Heavenly Dao, Ye Wen had exploited loopholes to accumulate vast amounts of merit to boost his cultivation.
But the clear and logical cosmic consciousness before him didn't seem easily deceived.
Realizing this, Ye Wen's brows furrowed deeply. He suddenly realized his hasty use of merit to enhance his cultivation might have landed him in a major predicament.
At this moment, the cosmic consciousness spoke with a cheerful female voice, "As expected of you, you caught on so quickly. In fact, I owe my heightened sentience to you.
This universe is vast, too vast for it to unify the consciousness of all living beings and birth complete intelligence.
But because you fused unprecedented amounts of merit, the universe responded by nurturing my emergence."
Ye Wen thought, 'I've been careless. This feels like the path to becoming a Heavenly Dao Saint' ⊙﹏⊙!
(T/N: Getting into Chinese Creation mythology now.)
Hongjun Dao Ancestor had genuinely broken through to the Saint realm on his own, then divided the six strands of primordial purple qi and combined them with heavenly merit to create the six saints of Honghuang.
But Ye Wen had taken a shortcut, using merit to reach the peak of Divine Sovereign. Comparing himself to a Dao Ancestor now seemed overly presumptuous.
However, the deed was done. Ye Wen realized he had become inseparable from the merit; there was no way to detach himself. Sighing, he asked,
"Since you were born because of me, you must have seen the Honghuang novels written by my Douluo civilization. Do you want me to become a Dao Ancestor-like figure to merge with you and govern this universe, or do you want me to serve as a Heavenly Dao Saint akin to the Three Pure Ones?"
The cosmic consciousness chuckled softly and replied calmly, "From the moment you fused those merits, your fate became intertwined with this universe. You prosper together, and you suffer together.
Thus, I'm not worried about you harming this universe. What I need you to do is quickly cultivate the remaining six Divine Sovereigns.
I sense a great terror approaching the dimension where our universe resides. You must hasten to nurture these top-tier powers to prepare for the impending crisis."
As Ye Wen pondered whether some terrifying chaos-law practitioner had emerged, the cosmic consciousness directly stated,
"This crisis comes from outside, but it is not chaos. Once you cultivate six Divine Sovereigns, I will explain further.
Here are the six core laws that reach the universe's roots. Deliver them to those you choose."
With that, the cosmic consciousness departed.
Ye Wen's expression darkened. The feeling of being led by the nose hadn't surfaced in a long time.
"How unpleasant," Ye Wen muttered coldly.
But beyond his loss of freedom, what troubled Ye Wen more was the universe-wide crisis the cosmic consciousness mentioned.
Holding the newly transformed Karasuki, Ye Wen suspected the crisis likely originated from his homeland, Blue Star.
But Ye Wen knew idle speculation wouldn't help. The priority now was to gather six Divine Sovereign-level powerhouses as soon as possible.
As for the candidates corresponding to the six laws mentioned by the Heavenly Dao, Ye Wen quickly identified suitable targets for all except the Star Law.
Time and Space, when cultivated deeply, were inherently interconnected. Given their immense power, many in Ye Wen's Douluo civilization practiced them.
But as the saying goes, "One doesn't let the fishpond water flow to outsiders." Ye Wen had no intention of granting these supreme Divine Sovereign positions to anyone outside his family.
Though the feeling of being controlled was unpleasant, facing an apocalyptic crisis, Ye Wen didn't dwell on it. Strengthening his family was paramount.
The foundation of Time and Space was matter. Thus, Ah Yin, the Earth Mother Goddess who commanded the greatest amount of material substance, and Bo Saixi, the Goddess of Water who mastered all water-based laws, were best suited for these roles.
Creation and Destruction required no further explanation—they were the fundamental laws of Gu Yuena and Na'er.
As for the Reincarnation Law, Ye Wen hesitated between Huo Yu Er and Xue Di.
Both had reached their respective limits in cultivating the Reincarnation Law.
At this thought, Ye Wen paused his habitually tapping fingers.
"Though Xue Di cultivates the Reincarnation Law, her coexisting plane consciousness is inherently a star. Could she use the ambiguous Star Law?"
Though stars were abundant throughout the universe, and Ye Wen even used star power to arrange the Great Array of the Heavens and Stars, true Star Gods—those who made stars their foundational law—were exceedingly rare.
In all his years as a god, Ye Wen had never encountered one. After careful screening, he found only Douluo's plane consciousness as a potential candidate.
If push came to shove, and time constraints loomed, Ye Wen would have no choice but to spread his teachings across the universe to find a suitable candidate.
But to say there were no suitable candidates at all wasn't entirely accurate. Douluo had produced individuals with star-related martial souls, yet none had managed to ascend to the Star God position.
Due to Ye Wen's dissemination of Honghuang novels and the concept of the 'Investiture of the Gods', few dared to become star gods akin to the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.
Under this cultural influence, Ye Wen's Douluo civilization had yet to produce a proper Star God over the years.
However, if no candidate emerged, Ye Wen didn't mind personally delving into the Star Law. With his accumulated knowledge and the vast resources of the Douluo civilization, achieving the Star God position swiftly wasn't impossible. If necessary, Ye Wen wouldn't hesitate to create a dual-god position version of himself.
To Ye Wen's surprise, those he selected proved highly compatible with their respective core laws. Those who had been stuck at the God King level for years broke through one after another.
With the consecutive breakthroughs of the six individuals, the seven Divine Sovereign slots of this universe were finally filled.
In an instant, following Ye Wen's ascension, the universe erupted with another massive phenomenon. All sentient beings felt they must revere these seven top-tier powerhouses.
This day would later be known as the Birth of the Seven Heavenly Divine Sovereigns.
The reason for this name was that Ye Wen subsequently unified all divine-level beings and life-bearing planes in the universe, establishing an unprecedented unified civilization.
At the end of this civilization's formation, Ye Wen, drawing from Douluo's political framework, named the central authority housing him and the six women as the Celestial Court. They created seven layers of super-divine planes infused with spiritual energy for the gods to reside, work, and develop their civilization to face future crises.
Word of this Celestial Court spread far and wide, eventually becoming known as the Supreme Seven Holy Heavens.
Ye Wen and the others, as Supreme Gods, received new titles that spread throughout the universe, serving as sources of faith.
Heaven Beyond Heaven · Dao of Nature Divine Sovereign.
Silver Universe Heaven · Primordial Truth Divine Sovereign.
Cosmic Waves Heaven · Six Directions Universal Divine Sovereign.
Birth Moon Heaven · Benevolent Virtue Divine Sovereign.
Destruction End Heaven · Origin Annihilation Divine Sovereign.
Reincarnation Heaven · Equality of Sentient Beings Divine Sovereign.
Stellar Heaven · Great Imperial Star Divine Sovereign.
While Ye Wen vigorously developed this universe's civilization, Blue Star outside was undergoing monumental changes.
Due to the difference in time flow, even though nearly twenty thousand years had passed in Ye Wen's world, only a little over a decade had elapsed on Blue Star.
Blue Star Federation's Highest Council—
Though Blue Star had achieved unification, people naturally grouped by affinity. The final three major factions still firmly held the highest reins of power. Now, within this hall representing the federation's ultimate authority, the three factions argued fiercely.
At this moment, the impeccably dressed Hua Guo high-ranking officials angrily rebuked the blond-haired, blue-eyed Beacon officials.
"You bastards! Didn't you claim all alien relics from third contact were secured in the federation's private vault?
Now you uncover traitors colluding with aliens? How do you explain this today? Are you trying to get us killed faster?"
Though Ye Wen's brief appearance had amused Blue Star, its leaders were perpetually on edge, investigating their own territories thoroughly.
Among them, the Beacon region, long rumored to possess alien relics, naturally became the focal point.
For years, despite Ye Wen's absence, no leader relaxed vigilance, continuously probing for hidden dangers in each other's regions.
Beacon, once synonymous with freedom, had spawned many reckless individuals who disregarded others' lives.
Today, after over a decade of continuous investigation, traces of collusion were finally uncovered.
Remnants of Beacon's old era had secretly tried to contact alien civilizations, hoping to restore Beacon's greatness and spread the light of freedom across Blue Star!
Present officials, educated under Hua Guo's nine-year compulsory education system, couldn't help but cover their foreheads, inwardly cursing, 'Damn idiots!'
Don't they understand the simple truth—"Non-kin have different intentions"?
Hadn't the wars taught these remnants of the old era the difficulty of finding common ground?
Even now, voices within Blue Star advocated inviting advanced extraterrestrial civilizations capable of interstellar travel, seemingly oblivious to the chaos that would ensue.
A Beacon official clutched his forehead in anguish, "What good does blaming me do?
You know how chaotic things were back then. Beacon was overrun by capital groups, and though the seventh district's contents were heavily guarded, you know how crafty those capitalists were. Leakage was inevitable.
It's surprising anything remained in the vault. Who would've thought those old capitalists would resort to such reckless actions? Back then, they were clever—I assumed they'd merely study the technology. Who knew someone would go this far?"
His words plunged the room into silence. The Beacon official was right. The so-called free Beacon had long been corrupted by capital. True patriots had barely survived the capitalists' exploitation.
A Hua Guo official cleared his throat and solemnly stated, "Enough. It's done. No use crying over spilled milk. Fortunately, we have our ancestors' contingency plans. How's the Wallfacer Project progressing?
Any substantial progress to bolster our civilization's strength against potential alien threats?"
Officials responsible for the project exchanged glances, shaking their heads dejectedly.
Novels are novels, reality is reality. They believed they had many high-IQ talents, but analyzing the full capabilities and methods of enemies from mere alien remains…
It was a pipe dream.
Moreover, high-IQ talents weren't omnipotent. Relying on one person to lead an entire civilization's technological iteration in this increasingly complex academic era was equally unrealistic.
As for leveraging the universe's Dark Forest law to trap aliens, they needed to know the enemy's planetary coordinates first.
A profound sense of helplessness enveloped the officials.
Facing a civilization with space capabilities and interstellar travel—at least a Type III civilization according to Blue Star's classification—it was an existence the Type I Blue Star couldn't hope to resist.
Now, even mutual destruction wasn't an option. The gathered officials exchanged helpless glances, falling silent.
But just as everyone was at a loss, alarms blared throughout the highest parliamentary chamber. Everyone's expressions changed.
This was the safest place on Blue Star. Only one scenario could trigger an alarm here.
Blue Star had encountered its worst-case scenario!
"Damn it, why so soon!" A Hua Guo official slammed the table, rising furiously. His tiger-like eyes bulged with bloodshot veins.
But most Hua Guo officials were gripped by fear. They had hoped for some buffer time to preserve the seeds of their civilization, but this sudden interruption left no room for survival.
Outer Solar System—
A spacecraft resembling the flying saucers often depicted in 20th-century alien lore hovered silently at the solar system's edge.
Two oddly shaped aliens conversed in a language incomprehensible to Blue Star inhabitants.
"Who would've thought civilization could emerge in such a remote place? Good thing we discovered it early. Though, the previous reconnaissance team was utterly useless, dying here and relying on these inferior beings to relay messages—how laughable."
"Indeed. According to data, they've rapidly developed to this point within a universal timeframe. It's a highly dangerous civilization. If given several dozen more universal timeframes, they could pose a threat. Best to apply for permission to use planet-destroying weapons and eliminate this civilization."
"Yes, agreed. Wasting time in such a remote area for this mission irks me. I need to return to focus on my entrance exams."
After their brief exchange, the two aliens began operating their equipment. Destroying an entire planet's life was routine for them.
"Planet-destroying weapon permission granted."
"Star locking in progress."
"Locking complete."
"Star-burst missile, launch!"
"Spaceship initiating retreat. Maximum-level protective shield activated."
"Commencing pest extermination operation log."
"Estimated arrival at target star: ten, nine—"
Cold mechanical tones droned on. The two aliens were unfazed, accustomed to their task. Their goal wasn't merely to destroy Blue Star but to annihilate all potential contingencies within its range.
Triggering the sun's explosion would undoubtedly render this star system completely lifeless.
Even though Blue Star had begun advancing toward a Type II civilization, colonizing planets within its solar system, as long as they couldn't escape this range, the sun's explosion—spanning hundreds to thousands of light-years—would incinerate all lower civilizations.
But just as the two aliens watched the star-burst missile approach the sun—
Space twisted.
Aliens: !? What's going on?
As the two aliens froze, a figure clad in azure-gold divine armor appeared aboard their ship.
Ye Wen's eyes lowered. "So this is the danger the cosmic consciousness warned of. It seems my universe isn't simple—it rivals the highest-dimensional Eye of Evil Civilization from *The Three-Body Problem*.
If your suspicious little gadget had struck the sun and triggered an explosion, my world within the solar system would've been affected. It seems we narrowly avoided disaster.
Fortunately, I've been lying in wait here.
But since you attacked me, I assume you won't object to my retaliation."
By now, the spaceship had detected Ye Wen's presence, triggering frantic alarms.
But compared to Ye Wen, whose physical body had attained sainthood and moved freely in the universe, this spaceship seemed trivial.
Moreover, when Ye Wen's clone had descended earlier, he sensed that the laws of his world applied here too.
With a glance, Ye Wen immobilized the two aliens and their ship, sealing them away with spatial laws.
"A purely tech-based civilization? Not a bad research subject," Ye Wen murmured, then turned toward Blue Star.
Though he no longer felt attachment to his homeland, deep down, Ye Wen still considered himself a Blue Star native.
His roots shouldn't be casually annihilated in such a civilization war.
Thus, Ye Wen decided to annex his old home.
Before the overwhelming power disparity, Ye Wen deployed divine soldiers, swiftly subjugating the century-old Blue Star Federation. Then, he demoted Blue Star's dimension and integrated it into his Douluo universe.
Subsequently, Ye Wen, alongside Ah Yin and the six others, began relocating the coordinates of his Douluo universe.
This wasn't an act of retreat but a strategic relocation.
Facing unknown adversaries, stubbornly defending an exposed base would be suicidal.
Thus, Ye Wen embarked on a new era of civilization conquest.
[End of Book]
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