where is this place?”
Linley stared at his surroundings. The surrounding space was filled with that strange, foggy gray energy. His own four types of Sovereign power had joined together and formed this exact same type of energy, which had then transformed his body and soul. Just now, his sword attack seemed to have shattered the skies, allowing this energy to cause the deaths of the many Sovereigns.
Linley turned to look, then saw a translucent membrane. At the opposite side of the translucent membrane was chaotic space. “I…where am I?”
Linley’s gaze suddenly turned sharp as he stared in front of himself. Because…someone had appeared in front of him. This person was dressed in unadorned hemp clothes. He had a head full of wild, tousled hair. This middle-aged man’s face had an extremely excited smile. “Haha…it has been a thousand Grand Kalpas, but my waiting is finally at an end.”
“A thousand Grand Kalpas?” Linley was completely confused. “Second Brother, come with me.” The middle-aged man smiled, then extended a hand. He grabbed Linley by the arm, pulling him forward at high speed.
What astonished Linley was, every single step this middle-aged man took covered a limitless amount of distance. His speed was incomprehensibly faster than Linley’s.
“Why do you address me as ‘Second Brother’?” Linley looked at him, puzzled. “And who are you?”
“Haha…because you are the very first person, after the passage of countless years, who was able to break through the bindings of the Cosmos and enter this place, this Hongmeng Grandmist.” The middle-aged man said with a clear laugh. “What is the ‘Cosmos’?” Linley hurriedly asked. “You said I broke through the bindings of the cosmos. Are you saying…that the countless planes I live in comprise the Cosmos?”
“To be more precise, the countless material planes, the Seven Divine Planes, the Four Higher Planes, the various minor planes, and chaotic space; they combine to form a whole, which can be referred to as the Cosmos.” The middle-aged man smiled as he spoke. “As for this energy? I refer to it as the Grandmist spirit-energy.”
Linley took a deep breath. Indeed…the Chief Sovereign of Fate had sensed that it seemed as though an invisible hand was controlling the countless planes, and had wanted to break free from this control. It now seemed as though the invisible hand was the mysterious middle-aged man in front of Linley.
“Grandmist spirit-energy?” Linley stared carefully at the primal gray energy. “My home is up ahead.” The middle-aged man pointed towards the front. In the center of that endless amount of primal energy, there was an island that was only a few dozen meters in circumference. This island had a thatched cottage built atop it, and by the side of the cottage, there was a thick, gnarled dwarf tree. Beneath the tree was a stone table and two stone benches.
“Let’s sit first, then chat.” The middle-aged man laughed as he sat. Linley, filled with questions, sat down as well.
“Take a look.” The middle-aged man waved his hand, and instantly, a watery mirror formed. A giant sphere emerged from the mirror, and this sphere was surrounded by four much smaller spheres. The middle-aged man laughed as he pointed towards the small sphere on the right. “This is the Cosmos you live in!”
“What?!” Linley stared, slack-jawed. “There are three other Cosmos like mine? And an even larger one?” Linley was truly stunned.
“The Cosmos in the center is the main Cosmos, while the four Cosmos surrounding it are secondary Cosmos. They are only a tenth of the size of the main one.” The middle-aged man smiled. “The various Cosmos all exist within the Hongmeng Grandmist region! As for myself…my name is Hongmeng.”
“Grandmist?” Linley looked at the middle-aged man. “As a matter of fact…” The middle-aged man sighed. “Linley, let me put it to you this way. Long, long ago, this Grandmist region gave birth to me. I was the only living creature within the Grandmist.” Linley nodded slightly.
“After a long, long period of time, I felt bored. I had a sudden flash of insight, and began to build the Cosmos! First, I built up the main Cosmos, but I felt that by itself, it wasn’t stable enough, and so I then built the four much smaller secondary Cosmos, forming a stable whole.” Linley nodded.
“The energy I used to build the Cosmos was this Grandmist spirit-energy.” Hongmeng laughed as he pointed towards the primal gray energy. “In the Cosmos, I created the various living creatures. In order to ensure that the various races would be able to develop in equilibrium, I had to set many rules and edicts.” Hongmeng laughed. “For example, in your homeland, the four Overgods in that secondary Cosmos were actually created by myself, based on the four Edicts that I set up. All they are able to do is carry out my orders; they don’t have a shred of emotion at all.”
Linley’s heart trembled. So the four Overgods were nothing more than tools which this Hongmeng had randomly created.
“The larger a Cosmos is, the more stable it comes. I allowed part of the Grandmist to transform into the Five Elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. These five types of energy served as the foundation for the primary Cosmos, and then gave birth to Ying and Yang, two opposing types of energy, as well as the tribulation power of lightning.” Hongmeng laughed. “As for the four secondary Cosmos…they were small, and so they didn’t need the Five Elements. I thus controlled the Grandmist primal energy into four basic types of energy; earth, fire, water, and wind. They then gave birth to light and darkness, as well as the tribulation power of lightning.”
“The Grandmist…was transformed into earth, fire, water, and wind?” Linley was stunned. He was beginning to understand. The main Cosmos was formed from a foundation of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; the Five Elements. As for the secondary Cosmos, they were formed from a foundation of four types of energy; earth, fire, water, wind.
“Although I created the main Cosmos and the four secondary Cosmos, it is very, very difficult for the living creatures within the Cosmos to escape into the outside world.” Hongmeng sighed. “Very difficult?” Linley asked, puzzled.
“Right. The main Cosmos is infinitely vast. There are many, many living creatures which are far more powerful than the Sovereigns of your secondary universe! Amongst them are Godkings and even Exalted Celestials, who are capable of sensing the Laws of Space and the Laws of Time. If they were to go into your secondary Cosmos, they would be capable of shattering the binds of that Cosmos.”
Linley was stunned. The experts of that Cosmos were actually so numerous? “However, the stability of the secondary Cosmos is inferior to the main Cosmos, and thus I wouldn’t permit lifeforms capable of comprehending the Laws of Time and Space to exist within them. Thus, within the secondary Cosmos, it is impossible to train in space and time; at most, a few innate divine abilities would be able to impact them.” Hongmeng laughed.
Linley nodded slightly. “However, Linley, your current level of power has surpassed even the most powerful of Exalted Celestials of the main Cosmos.” Hongmeng laughed.
“Oh?” Linley was rather surprised. “Because you have a Grandmist Body!” Hongmeng laughed. “There are two types of powerful bodies. The most powerful is the ‘Inextinguishable Xuanhuang Body’, while the slightly weaker one is the ‘Grandmist Body’. You must understand that the Grandmist energy is the most basic level of energy there is. Even the Exalted Celestials of the main Cosmos who enter this place will be dissolved into Grandmist energy.”
“Because a Grandmist Body is formed from Grandmist energy to begin with, the Grandmist energy here won’t harm it.” Hongmeng explained.
“Then where does this ‘Indestructible Xuanhuang Body’ come from?” Linley asked. “Afterwards, when you, too, set up a Cosmos and establish a universe, you will naturally begin to generate Xuanhuang energy, which will gather in your body, causing it to once more rise in power. You will then gain the most powerful Indestructible Xuanhuang Body’.” Hongmeng laughed.
“Me? Create a Cosmos?” Linley was stunned. “Yes. Like I did.” Hongmeng laughed. “I care not one whit for the lives and deaths of the living creatures within the Cosmos. I can create countless living creatures at any time. I only care about those who are able to, on their own, break free of the bindings of their universe and surviving in this place. You are worthy of being the brother of myself, Hongmeng.” Hongmeng laughed as he waved his hand, and a single leaf suddenly floated down from the nearby tree.
The leaf flashed with light. “I’ve imprinted the methods for creating a Cosmos within this leaf. Use your spiritual energy to look into it, and you’ll understand everything.” Hongmeng handed the leaf to Linley.
Linley looked at Hongmeng, then accepted it. “This…” Countless amounts of knowledge instantly flooded into Linley’s mind. In an instant, Linley’s understanding of the Grandmist region reached an extremely deep level. He even fully understood the various ways by which the Grandmist could be used, such as how it could be divided into the Five Elements, or resolved into earth, fire, water, and wind.
“So…for me to break through the Cosmos required so many coincidences. It was so difficult.” Linley now completely understood.
“Right!” Hongmeng nodded and laughed. “You just so happened to have four clones of earth, fire, water, and wind. If you had an extra one, it wouldn’t have worked; if you had one less, it also wouldn’t have worked. And then, you successfully underwent a Soul Mutation! This gave you a chance, but…the four types of energy in the universe are actually four different types of Sovereign energy. You had to be able to control those four types of Sovereign energy and