Chapter 1968: Billion Worlds

The War Priest shook his head, “The spatial rifts in other places aren’t as large as the one on the demon side, making it very difficult to cross over. Even I had to prepare for a long time and expend a great deal of effort to barely make it this time.”

“Which secret realms can be used as spatial rifts to this world?” Zu An pressed.

“Each being has its own abilities; we don’t fully understand each other’s methods, so it’s hard to say definitively. However, successfully crossing over defies the will of this world, and various celestial phenomena will appear nearby,” the War Priest replied.

A thought struck Zu An: Tongluo Mountain, for example, had recently undergone strange changes, with dense white mist enveloping its periphery and purple mist filling its core.

It seemed that while it wasn’t possible to prevent such incursions entirely, there were ways to react in time.

“What is your world called?” Zu An continued, remembering the adage: know your enemy, know yourself, and you will never be defeated.

“Lambda N151 Barbarian Star…” The War Priest uttered a string of obscure sounds.

Zu An was momentarily stunned; these demons and monsters had names that sounded surprisingly scientific.

“Are there other worlds?” Zu An silently memorized the name.

“Countless. One layer of the universe contains hundreds of millions of civilizations, and we don’t yet know how many layers of universes exist in the starry sky.” As a War Priest, whose focus was conquest, he possessed more intelligence.

Zu An was speechless.

Ji Dengtu and Ji Xiaoxi, standing nearby, were utterly flabbergasted. They had never heard anything like it.

Hundreds of millions of civilizations, and even other layers of the universe—it sounded like a mythical legend.

Zu An said gravely, “What is the strength of your world in the universe?”

The War Priest replied, “The further a world is from the center of the universe, the scarcer its resources and the weaker its power. We are roughly at the edge of the middle circle, while your world has been relegated to the outermost layer.”

Ji Dengtu and Ji Xiaoxi exchanged glances. They understood that much: apparently, their world was the weakest in the universe.

Zu An frowned, “If resources are more abundant closer to the center, why do you come to our world, which is at the outermost edge?”

At that moment, extreme fear suddenly contorted the War Priest’s face. “Because our world is on the verge of destruction…”

Zu An’s heart sank. He could sense that the War Priest he was fighting was not in its full power, likely constrained by this world’s protective barrier. Given that there were many such War Priests in their world, it showed how powerful their world was. What kind of entity could bring such a mighty world close to ruin?

Hearing his question, the War Priest opened its mouth, “It’s… it’s the Gh—”

As it spoke, its entire body suddenly began to tremble violently, and its eyes cleared, no longer controlled by Daji’s Demonic Charm.

But in their place was extreme terror. “No, I didn’t say it, I didn’t say it yet…”

Mid-sentence, with a loud bang, its entire head exploded, splattering countless purple liquids everywhere.

Fortunately, Zu An swiftly shielded the others, preventing them from being contaminated by the fluids.

“What… what happened to it?” Ji Xiaoxi’s face was pale; the recent scene was truly shocking, like something out of a nightmare.

Zu An said gravely, “It likely tried to utter the name of an unnameable entity. There are extremely powerful beings in this world whose mere mention can bring death.”

Ji Dengtu’s face turned ashen. “Such beings exist in this world?”

In that instant, even Teacher Bai in his arms no longer seemed appealing.

“Indeed, they do. If you are ever unfortunate enough to encounter such beings in the future, you must be extremely careful. Some cannot be looked at directly, some cannot be named, and some cannot even be thought of,” Zu An said with a wry smile. If he hadn’t encountered such beings in that ancient tomb back then, he wouldn’t have known any of this.

“What do we do now?” Ji Xiaoxi swallowed with difficulty; everything that had happened today was overwhelming for her.

“Fortunately, it provided some valuable information,” Zu An said with a hint of annoyance. He had intended to interrogate it further, but who could have expected it to touch upon a forbidden entity? “What you’ve seen and heard today must be kept absolutely secret. Not a single word can be revealed to outsiders, or chaos will engulf the land.”

If the common people knew that such terrifying entities were attempting to invade their world, panic would surely spread. And those cultivators, with their immense power, might even more easily disregard existing rules.

The collapse of human social order would only make it easier for these demons and monsters to invade.

“We understand.” The matter was too grave; even Ji Dengtu abandoned his usual flippancy.

Just then, several figures suddenly flew towards them, landing nearby in a flash.

Leading them was none other than Yan Xiangu of the academy, followed closely by Empress Liu Ning and Eunuch Lu. Also present were Vice Minister Pei Zheng, Grand Secretary Pei Ming, Right Assistant Minister Bi Qi, and Prince Guangling, Zhao Yuan.

Seeing the War Priest’s enormous body and the devastated state of Shadow Moon Lake, everyone present was aghast.

The Empress’s expression was filled with worry. Upon seeing Zu An, she instinctively wanted to rush to him, but noticing others present, she quickly halted her steps. “Regent, were you fighting just now? Are you hurt?”

Such massive combat fluctuations had naturally alerted the powerful cultivators in the capital, who had rushed over to investigate.

Given Liu Ning’s status, she wouldn’t normally need to come in person, but in her view, who else in the world could generate such terrifying battle fluctuations besides Zu An?

Worried, she had rushed straight to the scene.

“Your Majesty, rest assured, I’m fine.” Zu An naturally sensed her concern and offered her a gentle smile.

Liu Ning’s face flushed slightly, but then she finally relaxed.

Yan Xiangu couldn’t help but ask, “Lord Libationer, what happened here just now?”

“A spatial rift appeared here just now, and a demon from another world attempted to descend…” Zu An gave a general account of what had happened. Those present were the empire’s highest-ranking officials, and many subsequent actions would require their cooperation, so there was no need to conceal anything from them.

“What?!” Aside from Yan Xiangu and Liu Ning, who remained silent, the others erupted in an uproar. Some even began to question if his information was mistaken. After all, moments ago, the world was peaceful; how could it suddenly be facing a demonic invasion?

Ji Dengtu spoke up, “Young Zu’s words are absolutely true. My daughter and I witnessed it firsthand…”

He then recounted broadly what he had seen, describing the monsters they had encountered in the mountains over the past few days and how they had been hunted.

Yan Xiangu rose from beside the War Priest’s corpse and stated, “This creature does not belong to this world. There are no records of it in any ancient texts.”

Hearing him, everyone finally had no choice but to accept the shocking reality.

“We can discuss other matters later; let’s deal with this spatial rift first.” Zu An floated above Shadow Moon Lake. The lake surface had calmed, but deep within, a dark rift, tinged with purple, was still visible, resembling a vertical eye.

Without waiting for others to react, he drew out the Taia Sword, and a dazzling sword light directly cleaved towards the lake surface.

The lake water seemed to be repelled by an invisible force, parting automatically to reveal the deep spatial rift within.

The sword light, as brilliant as a galaxy, surged into the spatial rift. Soon, the entire rift began to twist and tremble.

All those present were top masters and immediately sensed the space becoming chaotic. As expected, the spatial rift quickly began to collapse, eventually forming a black hole and vanishing.

Witnessing this, even many who were usually Zu An’s political adversaries couldn’t help but cheer.

Only Bi Qi cast a wary glance at him, thinking, “This young man is truly stronger than I imagined; he’s indeed not someone to be contended with.”

Zu An, on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief. He couldn’t, of course, destroy stable space, but a newly formed spatial rift was at its most unstable, making it far less difficult to deal with.

If it had been the demon race’s sealing grounds, which had existed for countless ages, it would have been beyond human power to destroy.

“This… War Priest was actually capable of fighting you, and that wasn’t even its strongest form. What level of being is something like that among those demons and monsters?” Liu Ning’s brow was etched with worry.

“It should be considered a regional overlord, but certainly not the strongest among them,” Zu An replied. Although the War Priest hadn’t explicitly stated it, many things could be inferred from its tone and demeanor.

“Such a being isn’t even the strongest.” Pei Zheng’s face was clouded with worry. The terrifying energy fluctuations just now were comparable to a peak Earth Immortal in their world. He wondered how powerful the external enemies they would now face truly were.

“Actually, there’s no need to be overly anxious. They can’t yet breach this world’s protective barrier, so they can only resort to these clandestine crossings. As long as we discover and destroy these spatial rifts in time, we should be able to temporarily overcome this crisis.” Zu An explained his recent analysis to them.

The grim expressions on everyone’s faces eased slightly. Pei Ming couldn’t help but chuckle, “It’s fortunate that the Regent discovered these demons’ plot in advance. This way, we can take preventative measures; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

“This was also a stroke of luck, proving only that Heaven is looking out for us.” Zu An wondered if this was the world’s will secretly assisting them.

Hearing him say this, everyone else also chuckled. After all, this was an era tinged with superstition, and people always believed in a mysterious divine will.

Liu Ning cleared her throat, “This matter must be kept secret. If word gets out, chaos will erupt across the land. Before the demons even invade, we’ll already be in turmoil. General Zhao, take your men and seal off Tongluo Mountain. No one is permitted to approach until this area is secured.”

“Minister Bi, you are to intercept the people from various noble families who are rushing here after hearing the news.”

“Ministers Pei, you two will be responsible for investigating whether any new spatial rifts have appeared throughout the land.”

“Master Yan, we will also need your help with runic formations. Furthermore, academy disciples are spread across the land; I hope you can mobilize their strength.”

Everyone listened to her well-organized instructions, not without a hint of admiration.

Finally, Liu Ning looked at Zu An. “Regent, from what I understand, the demon race seems to be resisting a sealed area. Given your close relationship with them, I hope you can act as a liaison to see if our two races can cooperate in resisting this powerful enemy?”