Chapter 495

The surrounding spacetime scenes flickered and vanished. Meng Chuan was swept along by the spacetime turbulence, remaining cautious.

Just like water flows downhill, spacetime turbulence also follows certain patterns, for instance, gravitating towards areas of least resistance. Places like suns, stars, or the cave-dwellings where Tribulation Realm mighty ones have set up formations... these have immense resistance and repulsion, making it highly improbable to reach them.

Of course, the term 'turbulence' implies disorder. This is also why accidents sometimes happen. For example, if the spacetime turbulence becomes too violent, it can forcefully appear in unimaginable places, such as directly surging into the core of a sun! If Meng Chuan were to reach the core of a sun, he would likely be instantly reduced to ash and perish.

“I’m getting out!” While maintaining his cautious vigilance, Meng Chuan saw a void rift appear ahead. Swept along by the spacetime turbulence, he shot out through the void rift.

In a vast, dark, and silent void, a void rift rippled into existence. Meng Chuan burst forth from it, quickly stabilizing himself to stand suspended in the air.

“Where is this?” Meng Chuan looked around.

In the distance, there were numerous stars, and he could faintly discern worlds between them.

“Good fortune, I didn't appear in a deadly zone or a barren wasteland,” Meng Chuan thought to himself with relief. “I can see several life-bearing worlds at a glance, so there must be many cultivators here.”

Meng Chuan used his movement technique and quietly flew closer.

The resistance in the outer void was almost negligible, allowing for continuous acceleration. Even ordinary Venerables, without the suppression of universal laws and with no resistance, could cover hundreds of miles in a flash! They could even keep accelerating to cover thousands or tens of thousands of miles in a single flash.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.” Meng Chuan transformed into a golden streak of light, continuously accelerating. He soon reached a speed of three hundred thousand miles per flash.

In the outer realms, any Venerable traveling would accelerate to extremely high speeds. At the same time, Meng Chuan also altered the flow of time around him, though only to three times the external rate.

“Since I’m new here, I should keep a low profile. Maintaining a three-times time flow isn't overly conspicuous,” Meng Chuan thought. “Coupled with three hundred thousand miles per flash... my travel speed now effectively reached nine hundred thousand miles per flash.”

Covering three hundred thousand miles in a flash only after a long period of acceleration doesn't truly represent one's strength. It would be terrifying if one could burst forth with such astonishing speed instantly.

Meng Chuan continued flying towards the distant star-filled region, his domain hidden and his aura restrained.

On a fast-flying star fragment, over a thousand miles in diameter, there was a massive cave-dwelling. The dwelling covered over a hundred miles, and terrifying sword qi permeated the surroundings.

Five figures were landing on the surface of the star fragment, gazing at the ancient cave-dwelling.

“Ah,” a strong cultivator clad in green scales muttered, clutching his head with one claw. “My primordial spirit clone was annihilated. It was killed by the sword qi right after entering the cave-dwelling's gate.”

“Brother Qinggu failed too?”

“He tried twice and failed both times.”

The five Venerables all stared at the cave-dwelling before them. Three of them had reached the sixth level of the primordial spirit, and now two had failed after sending their primordial spirit clones.

Even if a primordial spirit clone was annihilated during exploration, the main primordial spirit would recover within a few years.

“Primordial spirit clones are, after all, significantly weaker and lack powerful treasures,” the purple-robed leader said indifferently. “According to the old rules, whoever risks entering and successfully explores the cave-dwelling will receive an extra ten percent of the treasures within.”

The other four Venerables remained silent. From previous explorations, this cave-dwelling appeared too dangerous!

“Cang Qu, your life-saving abilities are strong. You go in,” the purple-robed man commanded.

“Brother Fang,” a burly, yellow-haired man quickly interjected, “I’m the only Venerable from my home world. If I die…”

“Go in!” the purple-robed man said coldly. The other three Venerables also looked at him. The green-scaled Venerable chuckled, “There are many such lower-tier worlds with only one Venerable. Since Brother Fang told you to go, just obey. If you can explore the cave-dwelling, you’ll get an extra ten percent, won't you?”

The burly, yellow-haired man gritted his teeth and could only enter cautiously.

A moment later.

“Hmm?” A faint glow dissipated from the token on the purple-robed man's waist. He frowned slightly.

“Cang Qu is dead.” The other three Venerables’ expressions turned grim.

Venturing in the outer realms was inherently a matter of the strong preying on the weak. When they followed the purple-robed man, it meant they could get the scraps while he took the main share! And it was also much safer. But sometimes, when cannon fodder was needed, they had to obediently step forward.

“Brother Fang, Cang Qu’s life-saving abilities were much stronger than ours. If he’s dead, there’s no point in us going in.”

“Brother Fang.”

“This cave-dwelling is too dangerous. Going in means certain death,” the three Venerables said, looking somewhat panicked.

The purple-robed man frowned, musing, “This cave-dwelling has been drifting for an unknown number of years and has arrived in our section of the void. I discovered it first, so I must obtain it. It seems relying on them won’t work. I’ll send my primordial spirit clone to try first.” He was only at the sixth level of the primordial spirit, with just one primordial spirit clone. If his clone died, it would also take several years to recover. He would rather his subordinates risk their lives than suffer a loss of his own strength. But since his subordinates risking their lives proved useless, he had no choice but to go himself.

“Hmm?” The purple-robed man suddenly sensed something and turned to look into the distance.

“There’s a cultivator flying at high speed,” a white-clad woman said, staring into the distance. Although Meng Chuan concealed his presence while flying at an astonishing speed, he left a trail! With his terrifying speed of three hundred thousand miles per flash, combined with the three-times time flow, long ripples appeared in the void wherever he passed.

A slender man in black armor, his eyes glowing with purple light, looked into the distance and gravely said, “It’s a Venerable, and the time flow around him is three times the external rate.”

“Brother Fang, we can make this lone Venerable go explore,” the white-clad woman quickly said.

“Yes, one more to test, and we can discover more dangers of this cave-dwelling,” the green-scaled cultivator added.

The purple-robed man nodded slightly. “First, go investigate his background. If he has no special connections, then capture him.”

In the entire Heavenly Peak River System, some factions were very powerful. However, most cultivators came from smaller worlds and were ordinary Venerables without significant backing! This was because among the more than one hundred thousand life-bearing worlds in the Heavenly Peak River System, only just over six hundred were medium-tier worlds. The rest were lower-tier worlds, and in such worlds, it typically took thousands or even tens of thousands of years for a single Venerable to emerge. When they arrived in the outer realms, they were isolated, without any background or support. For example, the burly, yellow-haired man 'Cang Qu' earlier was a Venerable from a lower-tier world, completely without backing.

Cang Qu had chosen to pledge allegiance to the purple-robed man, and over the years, he had indeed gained many benefits, cultivating to the 'Venerable Realm perfected' stage and even bringing back treasures and cultivation texts to his home world. However, this time, while exploring for the purple-robed man, he did not survive. The outer realms were like this: if cultivators weren't from the same world, their relationships were mostly based on personal gain, making it a much more brutal environment.

Meng Chuan had left his home world to venture alone into the outer realms. As a medium-tier world that had once given birth to a Seventh Tribulation Realm mighty one, Cangyuan Realm had deep foundations. Meng Chuan had brought many treasures with him, including the 'Phantom Mask', which he always kept.

With this 'Phantom Mask', Meng Chuan could perfectly disguise his aura as that of a normal Creation Venerable. As for a Chaotic Hole Realm aura? If a Chaotic Hole Realm cultivator released their aura, it would be overwhelmingly domineering, almost comparable to an Emperor. But if they contained it, absolutely no aura would leak out. Even regular Emperors found it difficult to perfectly conceal their aura like this; it was a unique ability of the 'Chaotic Hole Realm'.

While venturing in the outer realms, it was best to disguise oneself as the most normal and common type of Venerable. Otherwise, whether the aura was too domineering or too perfectly concealed with no leakage, it would be too unusual! Any passing Emperor, upon seeing Meng Chuan, would find him peculiar. The Phantom Mask was a wondrous treasure! Even mighty cultivators of the Tribulation Realm would need to be in close proximity to detect Meng Chuan's true strength.

“Hmm?” While flying at hyper-speed, Meng Chuan suddenly sensed four streaks of light intercepting him from afar. These four streaks of light had also accelerated to three hundred thousand miles per flash, with their time flow reaching ten times the normal rate.

“Friend, please stop.”

As the four streaks of light approached, a voice resonated through the surrounding void. The void itself began to solidify, and a powerful resistance forced Meng Chuan's flying speed to slow down.

Meng Chuan stopped, watching the four approaching figures.