Su Chen was puzzled. He could not find any trace of Tian Mingzi. The latter had vanished completely, as if he had evaporated from existence.

"Is that the Heart of the Universe?" Su Chen murmured. He too had arrived at the mysterious location and saw the indescribable existence.

He remained cautious, staying alert for any possible ambush from Tian Mingzi. However, there was not the slightest movement around him.

Su Chen shattered the final barriers. The area was filled with a destructive aura, forming chaotic currents. He did not find Tian Mingzi, but he did find the Heaven Refining Gourd.

Su Chen opened it and released Qin Wujie.

Qin Wujie no longer looked human. His Chaos Dao had nearly dissolved. Had Su Chen arrived even a century later, Qin Wujie would have been completely refined into a Chaos Pill—a supreme tonic.

Qin Wujie still had a faint breath left.

Tian Mingzi, however, had disappeared without a trace.

"It seems Tian Mingzi is dead," Su Chen said softly as he looked at the Heart of the Universe. He did not rush to refine it.

Su Chen brought Qin Wujie back to the Emperor Court and had him consume the Undying Divine Medicine, hoping it would help him recover.

He then summoned Di Chan and Chi Yao.

"Master… even you are not certain?" Di Chan asked, gripping Su Chen's sleeve tightly when she heard what sounded like final instructions. She could not bear to let him leave.

Chi Yao remained silent, simply staring at that towering figure.

In the end, Su Chen still departed. After arranging everything, he sealed both Di Chan and Chi Yao.

He might return. He might die. But Su Chen believed—he would definitely return! With the path to transcendence right before him, he would not give up, no matter how uncertain the road ahead might be.

...

Su Chen discovered that fusing with the Heart of the Universe was far smoother than he had imagined.

The Heart showed signs of rejection, but he suppressed them effortlessly.

Countless tens of thousands of years passed.

Su Chen opened his eyes with a strange expression. In a single thought, he seemed to have gained control over the entire universe. He had refined the Heart of the Universe without obstruction.

A vast amount of inherited memories flooded his mind—knowledge about the world beyond.

At this moment, he officially belonged to the Void Cosmic Sea and gained the qualification to cultivate there, allowing him to step into a higher realm.

Thirty-six tribulations for Rulers, exchanging for a slim chance at immortality.

Su Chen began organizing the sudden surge of memories in his mind. He seemed to have originated from a place called the End Land. He was the most talented Immortal Spirit born from a region infused with a wisp of aura left behind by a True Immortal. Two mighty figures from the End Land had cast him into the Void Cosmic Sea… specifically into the fallen ruins of a True Immortal.

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The Void Cosmic Sea was vast—how vast, Su Chen did not know. His inherited memories did not contain such details. He only understood that universes there were as numerous as grains of sand in a desert, and the world he came from was merely an insignificant speck among them.

In this place, a supreme powerhouse existed. His Dao had established the cultivation rules for all beings here. To become a True Immortal—indestructible across billions of tribulations and eternally transcendent—one had to follow the rules set by that supreme being step by step.

The fall of that True Immortal in the region where Su Chen had been had left an empty True Immortal position in the Void Cosmic Sea. This attracted the intervention of countless powerful forces, who poured in innumerable geniuses…

The Heart of the Universe served as a certificate for the Void Cosmic Sea. Only by obtaining it would one be recognized as belonging to the Void Cosmic Sea and gain the right to compete on the path to immortality.

Refining the Heart of the Universe was no easy task. According to the rules of the Void Cosmic Sea, native beings from a universe within it would face 100% rejection when attempting to refine the Heart. Each accompanying treasure of the universe reduced the rejection value. In Su Chen's universe, every one of the Nine Innate Supreme Treasures lowered the rejection by 10%.

Beings from immortal lands outside had special methods that could halve the rejection value without needing any treasures.

This was also where Zhao Wuhen's confidence had come from when he claimed he could transcend after overcoming only the Seven-Layered Emperor Tribulation.

Su Chen's expression darkened.

In his previous life, the rejection value when he tried to break out of the world had reached 200%. He had been directly killed by the backlash. If he had possessed even a single Innate Supreme Treasure back then, he would have already transcended. Unfortunately, he had only held three-quarters of the Death Book and had not even qualified to sense the Heart of the Universe.

In this life, thanks to his identity as an external Immortal Spirit and his possession of three Innate Supreme Treasures—the Wheel of Time , the Heaven Refining Gourd, and the complete Death Book—he had refined the Heart of the Universe with shocking ease.

Meanwhile, that unlucky fool Tian Mingzi had known nothing of these rules. Born from the accumulated fortune of the Nether Mansion over tens of millions of years, he had believed that possessing just one Innate Supreme Treasure was enough. In the end, he had died without leaving even a trace behind—Su Chen had not been able to find any remnant of him.

Su Chen's aura reached its peak, even surpassing that of the Undying Nether Emperor in his previous life.

Peak Three-Tribulation Ruler!

All living beings in the original universe felt an overwhelming terror in their hearts, as if the heavens themselves were enraged and about to unleash divine punishment.

Every action Su Chen took now represented the will of heaven. He was the consciousness of the universe, and the consciousness of the universe was him. This was the path of cultivation in the Void Cosmic Sea. To grow stronger, one needed to continuously devour other universes and turn them into nourishment. Only by enduring the thirty-six tribulations and reaching the peak of the Ruler realm could one gain a slim chance to compete for an immortal position.

In the fallen ruins of this True Immortal, how many universes existed? How many monsters and geniuses? How many undying powerhouses had accumulated over billions of years?

Yet Su Chen did not retreat. His Dao Heart now held only an unyielding will to seek the Dao. Knowing that the road ahead was boundless did not bring him loss or discouragement—only excitement.

This time, Su Chen left the original universe with effortless ease and transcended the heavens and earth.

Beyond the universe lay an endless sea of chaos. Here, there were no heavens or earth. The concepts of time and space seemed to have vanished, completely annihilated, as if all existence had been forcibly stripped of its foundation.

Su Chen, a peak Three-Tribulation Ruler capable of destroying his original universe with a single thought, felt like a drop of water falling into the ocean when placed here—he could not stir even the slightest ripple. The eternal silence was suffocating.

Beside the original universe floated another world, slightly smaller than it—Ten Absolute Martial Emperor's world.

Su Chen did not explore further. He refined that world and merged it into the original universe.

Countless tens of thousands of years passed.

One day, the living beings in the original universe suddenly felt something strange.

"Weird… Why has my cultivation speed suddenly doubled? Could I be a hidden supreme genius who has finally awakened?"

"I broke through! Hahaha! I've been stuck at the peak of Nirvana for a thousand years and finally broke through! Damn you, old rival—prepare to be swept aside!"

"What? You broke through to the Saint realm too?"

"Quasi-Emperor! Some old monster has broken through to Quasi-Emperor!"

"Quasi-Emperor is nothing—someone has become an Emperor!"

"Not good… There's more than one new Emperor… One, two, three, four, five…"