by <unknown>
Boom!
Amidst the tremors, Han Xiao could feel the strong undercurrents shooting toward him. At the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his brain as he got hit by the enemy's mental attacks.
However, to him, it was no different from scratching an itch. With just a blink, his HP was full.
There was something strange about this black liquid. It caused his energy perception to fail, and his radar to be ineffective. He could not find the other party, so he could only use violence to force the other party to appear. If this was a dimensional consciousness, then the dimension itself was the other party's body. If he released energy inside, it would be equivalent to giving the other party an enema. The other party would not be able to last long.
Not long after, the entire space was shaking violently, as though it was going to explode and disintegrate at any time. The mental attacks were getting weaker and weaker, and they were filled with pained emotions.
Han Xiao looked around and narrowed his eyes.
"Still not coming out? Do you really want me to inflate you?"
As soon as he said that, the pressure around him suddenly became lighter. The black liquid-like substance shrank and turned into a whirlpool. The black sea flowed into it like a bathtub filled with water had its plug pulled out.
As the black sea disappeared, Han Xiao's energy perception quickly recovered, and his vision returned to normal.
This secondary dimension was a white world without anything. It was like the prototype of a secondary dimension that had yet to be fully formed. It was also like all matter was swept away by the receding black sea.
In the distant horizon, there was a black vortex that was getting smaller and smaller, sucking away all the black matter. It was about to open a spatial rift and escape.
"Running? I will break your legs!"
Han Xiao opened his hands, and mechanical soldiers appeared one after another.
The mechanical army that appeared immediately released the binding force field and held onto this black mass, preventing it from moving. At the same time, they also used the secondary dimension spatial stabilization device to fix the spatial rift that the other party had torn out.
This black liquid was extremely strange and slippery. However, under the control of Han Xiao's mechanical army, it was still frozen in place and turned into a high-density liquid state. It kept changing its shape as though it was struggling.
At the same time, its mental energy fluctuations spread out in all directions with this liquid at the center. The solemn atmosphere from before was gone, and only shock and anger were left.
"Foreign life form! You will pay the price for your actions. Realmless King will take it from you!"
Han Xiao turned a deaf ear and told the mechanical army to increase the binding force field. He then took out a cylindrical container and stuffed the mass inside. The black mass was compressed into a fist-sized liquid that floated in the container. Tiny electric arcs were attached to it, causing the liquid to jolt nonstop. It was extremely painful.
This was a special equipment that he had used to capture Primal Esper Ability Entities. He did not expect it to be suitable for this strange substance.
After locking it in the container, the liquid finally stopped. Han Xiao knocked on the outside of the container and asked curiously:
"What are you? Also, did a fleet pass by here recently? Where did you take them?"
"So you're looking for those people. Looks like you're a high-level life form in the main material universe!" The mental fluctuation of this liquid was unstable, and it was already covered in a layer of fear. However, it soon turned into anger. "I'm just one of the guardians of the millions of dimensions. I've already offered them to the Realmless King. If you have the guts, go find him!"
"Offerings?" Han Xiao raised his brows. "Tell me everything you know… Forget it, since you're not cooperating, I'll just interrogate you."
Han Xiao injected his Mechanical Force into the container, and the container was instantly filled with lightning, forming a mini ion thunderstorm. This liquid was like a bug trapped in an electric mosquito swatter, crackling from the electricity.
After torturing it for a while, Han Xiao finally got the information he wanted.
This liquid life form was an energy field type life form, born in the secondary dimension of a nurturing type life form. This black liquid was the shell given to it by the so-called Realmless King. It called itself one of the guardians of the million dimensions, the confidant (doubtful) of the Realmless King. Its name was Bobanica, meaning 'Erosion' and 'Swallowing'.
Through this kind of black substance, the Realmless King devoured the matter and energy of the various dimensions and transformed them into his own 'territory'. He occupied this area with a large number of guardians guarding the dimensions that he occupied.
The fleet that Harrison was in had indeed been taken away by him. Through the special connection between the black liquid and the Realmless King, it had used dimensional teleportation and sent them to the 'King's Land' where the Realmless King was. This was the main job of a guardian like Bobanica. The life forms that had been intercepted and sent to the Realmless King were called 'offerings'.
"Tsk, looks like I'll have to find this Realmless King if I want to get them… I wonder if it's a good or bad thing for Harrison to encounter something like this with his luck."
Han Xiao stroked his chin.
He pondered for a few seconds, shook his head, changed into the Dimension Travel mechanical suit, set the coordinates given by Bobanica, and headed toward the Realmless King's location.
...
In the middle of a secondary dimension, on a huge platform that looked like a black crystal, Harrison was floating in midair. His eyes were closed, as though he had lost consciousness, but his face was filled with pain.
One end of the black fog-like energy stream was connected to his glabella while the other end was connected to a gigantic black finger. Light flowed on the finger.
The owner of the finger was a black entity the size of a mountain. It had a human form and had many heads and arms. It was sitting on a black throne—it was the Realmless King.
After a while, the Realmless King retracted its energy stream, and Harrison lost the ability to float. He fell onto the platform and was still unconscious.
"Interesting. With that tree finding a new prey, I can harvest delicious souls again…"
The Realmless King let out a deep laugh, but in the ears of others, it would only be a frenzied roar.
As a powerful entity in a secondary dimension, the soul of a life form was a rare delicacy. However, it could not completely descend into the main material universe and could only project a portion of its power. Furthermore, the main material universe was extremely vast. Without coordinates, one could only wander the endless universe, and it was very difficult to find life.
At this moment, he had absorbed the memories of these life forms from the main material universe, learned the coordinates of the three Universal Civilizations, and also knew that the famous World Tree Civilization was fighting with them. In his eyes, this was a feast to harvest souls.
Under normal circumstances, even a powerful dimensional entity like him was afraid of the power of a Universal Civilization and was unwilling to provoke them.
However, if a Universal Civilization were to fall into war, the situation would be different. He still had the guts to take advantage of the situation.
"After provoking that tree, your doomsday is almost here. Hehe, rather than becoming its servants, you might as well become my food… However, the World Tree actually has the weakness of a main body? This is the first time I've learned of it."
The Realmless King moved its body, producing a rustling sound like countless insects crawling.
Then, countless eyes on his body turned to look at the unconscious Harrison on the platform. Greed and desire appeared in the eyes, but they quickly suppressed them.
"It's rare to
meet a life form with such strong luck. If I eat you, my causal force will increase by a level… It's a pity that the guy behind you isn't easy to deal with. It would be better to make a deal with him."
The Realmless King looked away.
From Harrison's memories, he saw Han Xiao and knew that they had a close relationship.
He was extremely wary of the top-notch experts of the main material universe. It was precisely because of Black Star that he did not dare eat Harrison immediately.
The Realmless King knew that this was one of the mediums of the causal force, but he did not intend to violate it. This was because there was a high chance that he would pay the price for violating the causal force. If he ate Harrison, the price would most likely be this Black Star coming to fight him to death.
Right at this moment, a black mass suddenly fell from the sky filled with black fog and floated in front of the Realmless King. It contained the emergency message from Bobanica before he was captured, showing the image of Han Xiao releasing energy to open up the black sea.
"Oh? He came so quickly. It seems like this useless thing, Bobanica, will not be able to escape his grasp. He will give me my coordinates. This is good too. Wait for him to come and find me."
Seeing this, the Realmless King changed his posture and waited for Han Xiao to come.
Black Star was very powerful and might be able to threaten his life, but the Realmless King did not panic at all.
In terms of secondary dimension exploration, the World Tree was far ahead of the three Universal Civilizations. Although the Realmless King had no dealings with the World Tree Civilization, he knew how to send a message to the World Tree Family.
The intelligence that he had obtained from the expedition team contained the coordinates of the secondary dimensions of the three Universal Civilizations as well as various other information. This was the best bargaining chip that he could use. He believed that the World Tree would be very willing to accept this gift.
However, the Realmless King did not intend to tell them. After all, he did not want to have too much contact with the World Tree. In comparison, he was more interested in Black Star, the guest of a new Universal Civilization.
Chapter 1367: Unexpected Deal |
The flowing light particles formed an endless tunnel in front of him. There was only a single point of light at the end, and time and space were pulled into an infinite line in his senses. He did not know how much distance he had crossed or how much time he had spent, but it felt like only an instant.
Countless strange scenes flashed past outside the tunnel, and his body seemed to have turned into smoke. For a moment, he could not feel the existence of his body, and all his senses that were used to explore the world were mixed together. However, the next moment, all his senses returned to normal, and his vision suddenly changed. He had arrived in a new space.
Endless black fog pervaded the area and red lightning flashed from time to time. It was like dark clouds that were brewing lightning, or dark clouds from a volcanic eruption. It was like the end of the world.
A black mountain range flowing with lava-like scarlet light was floating in the black fog like an island. The mountain peak at the center was steep and tall, and a rusty dark gold chain was wrapped around it, forming spiral-like patterns. It was connected to a black crystal-like platform that was suspended in the air, and on it sat a gigantic black figure the size of a mountain. Countless red eyes turned in unison and looked over.
“Oh my, isn’t this going to cost me my sanity?”
Han Xiao smacked his lips. He took a look at the scenery of this secondary dimension with interest and captured a photo as a memento. Otherwise, if they were to fight later, he might accidentally crush this place.
Looking up at the mountain-like figure, Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.
“You’re the Realmless King?”
It had to be said that this guy’s appearance was quite scary. Ordinary people would probably be shocked to the point of losing their minds at first glance, triggering a deep-seated phobia of giant creatures. However, Han Xiao was used to seeing all kinds of things, so this scene did not have any impact on him at all. The shock was far less than a fleet salvo during the interception battle.
“Yes, I was waiting for you, Black Star,” the Realmless King replied slowly.
“You know me?”
Han Xiao was a little surprised. He looked down at Bobanica in his hands and remembered that he did not mention his name. Could it be that his name had already spread from the main universe to the secondary dimensions? “I know why you’re here. You want to take this fleet and this intelligent creature called Harrison away, right? I learned about your civilization from their memories.”
The Realmless King sat still, but the black fog in the sky suddenly moved away, revealing a fleet. It was the missing expedition team of the three Universal Civilizations. However, it was only shown for a moment before the black fog covered it again, making it impossible to sense.
The unconscious Harrison flew up from the platform and hovered in front of it.
Han Xiao’s eyes flashed, but he was not in a hurry to make a move. He asked curiously, “I see. Then why are you waiting for me here?”
The Realmless King did not reply immediately. He slowly said, “I usually digest the prey I capture immediately, but I learned your name from their memories. To be honest, I’m very afraid of you high-level life forms in the main material universe. Because of your existence, I did not eat them immediately.”
“You’re quite cool-headed.”
Han Xiao sized up the Realmless King with surprise.
Your cowardice saved you, baby!
Just from the memories of Harrison and the others, he knew that I was their backer, so he did not dare to attack the expedition team… It seems that I am still very intimidating.
Seeing that the other party was giving him face, Han Xiao’s expression softened a little. He stretched out his hand and said with a smile, “In that case, I don’t mind being friends with you. Let them go first.”
However, the Realmless King shook his head. “I didn’t say I would return them to you.”
Hearing this, Han Xiao paused. “If you’re not willing to provoke me, and you don’t want to return the people, what are you going to do?”
“I want to make a deal with you.”
“Deal? Although you didn’t eat these people, you captured them and brought them here. I don’t owe you any favors. You want to use these people as bargaining chips? It’s difficult.”
Han Xiao replied casually.
The Realmless King said slowly:
“No, my bargaining chip is the intelligence of the three Universal Civilizations in their memories. You guys are fighting a war with the World Tree, and I believe the World Tree will definitely like this intelligence. They will be able to find your secondary dimension territory, and I happen to have a way to contact the members of the World Tree.”
This news was out of his expectations. Han Xiao’s eyes narrowed, and he immediately put down his hands.
“Threatening me? Are you tired of living?”
“It’s not a threat, it’s just self-preservation. Even if you agree to make a deal with me, I’m afraid that you’ll take revenge on me after I return the person to you. I don’t have the confidence to win against you… And with this trump card, I believe my safety will be guaranteed. This is the basis of the deal.”
The Realmless King’s tone was matter-of-fact.
“…How can I believe you when you say that you can contact the members of the World Tree? Do you think you can scare me with just a few words? It’s not that I don’t dare to bet that you know the term from their memories. Show me the evidence.”
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.
The Realmless King did not mind and explained:
“I understand what you mean, but I’m not lying to you. Although you and the World Tree fought in the main material universe, the secondary dimension world
is their base camp. They have devoured secondary dimensions one after another for countless years.
However, the secondary dimensions are endless, and the World Tree does not eat every single one of them. Its main method of expansion is to take root and imprint the secondary dimensions into their territory, turning them into territories that allow them to travel quickly. For some special secondary dimensions, they don’t even interfere with them and instead focus on observation and research.
At the same time, they sent out countless members to explore the outside world, spreading the name of the World Tree and its connection channels. It’s similar to what they did in the main material universe. One of their exploration teams passed by my outer territory, and one of my guardians received a lot of information and reported it to me…”
As he spoke, the Realmless King shared a small portion of his memories through mental communication.
Han Xiao did a check, but there were no signs of forgery. He did indeed have the contact information of the World Tree members, and he was a little annoyed.
“This is a little tricky… There’s no 100% chance of stopping the information leak if I try to kill this guy. If the World Tree starts a secondary dimensional battlefront, our situation will become worse.’ Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled, and he quickly calculated.
The World Tree’s main body was rooted in the secondary dimension, and this was its territory. Although its main body was found in his previous life, if not for the Multi-Dimensional Sky Opening Transportation Device transporting to the central area and launching a sneak attack, it would have been almost impossible for frontal attacks to pass through the secondary dimension defense circle near the World Tree’s main body. Right now, the three Universal Civilizations were in a good situation. One of the reasons was that the World Tree did not have the time to figure out the secondary dimension territory of the three Universal Civilizations like in his previous life and did not activate this battlefront, which reduced the pressure on them.
