Chapter 424: Breakthrough to Heavenly Emperor

High-level deities currently represent the highest realm achievable within the entire sandbox.

Although Emperor Qi and Ermin are already mid-level deities, Phoenix has achieved the highest realm, approaching the high-level deity category after countless "nirvana rebirths," and will soon cross into it.

Undeniably, Caroline, having consumed most of the creatures from the ancient lava land, currently holds the highest realm. Although she is a high-level deity, she is non-combatant and not a fighter by nature; she is a scientist.

This is a tremendous advantage for the sandbox.

Furthermore, this highlights the terrifying nature of the Ishudar race. Their average strength ranges from Tier 4 to Tier 5, and they boast a population of 1.1 billion. The sheer quantity combined with quality is almost unimaginable!

This high-level deity already possesses energy equivalent to what fifty or sixty ordinary deities would need to achieve godhood. This is because it originated from an ancient world a hundred times larger, naturally producing a hundredfold more energy. The reason it's not a full hundred portions is simply that most of the zombies still survive on this land; not even half the energy has been collected, so it doesn't truly qualify as a mass extinction that annihilates all living beings.

"Is this the sole remnant created by a civilization once so brilliant it proclaimed itself a race of gods—a single high-level deity?"

Xu Zhi walked leisurely across the great prairie, pondering, "This is an epoch-making leap. What kind of power will a high-level god possess? And after reaching the high level, it's the peak realm, where one begins to attempt to break through to the legendary Tier 9, to glimpse the truth of that realm..."

Tier 9 is still relatively distant—an unknown cultivation path that Xu Zhi's "cute little white mice" in the sandbox are meant to explore for him. At this moment, Xu Zhi's main body sat in the living room, silently sensing the surging energy as he underwent the final breakthrough into a new realm!

He was breaking through to the Tier 7 Heavenly Emperor realm, a stage he had long ago deduced and meticulously perfected.

Already a Tier 6 Quasi-Emperor, his body was now rapidly filled with energy—the massive extinction energy feedback, enough to create a high-level deity. This torrent bridged huge energy gaps, forcing open the next stage of life, that brand-new door to Tier 7 Heavenly Emperor.

Boom!

A colossal surge of energy poured in.

The energy, equivalent to fifty or sixty ordinary deities achieving godhood, transformed into a tsunami within him, constantly impacting and swirling massive energy tides.

"Fortunately, I was prepared," he thought. "I had already broken through the path of a body-cultivating Heavenly Emperor once before... Although I haven't fully grasped the Dao Heart of the magic system path, I can now first achieve the Heavenly Emperor realm through body cultivation."

In the living room, Xu Zhi sat quietly, cross-legged.

He sensed the energy within his body, continuously deducing and refining the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique. Breaking through to the Tier 7 Heavenly Emperor threshold involved considerable, not insignificant, risks.

In the sandbox, Xu Zhi had witnessed countless Quasi-Emperors perish while attempting to break through to the Heavenly Emperor realm. The vast number of Quasi-Emperors compared to the scarcity of Heavenly Emperors in each transcendent world highlighted the immense danger of this breakthrough—like a precarious single-plank bridge where one wrong step meant utter destruction.

"It would be quite ironic if I failed to break through to Heavenly Emperor and died from the backlash," he mused.

He took a deep breath.

As time slowly passed, the mass extinction energy feeding back into his body gradually diminished and weakened. Finally, amidst the torrent, he used his last reserves to open the door to Tier 7 Heavenly Emperor.

"Success!" he exclaimed. "Fortunately, I had already broken through once before using Messiah... Now I've finally reached Tier 7, after being stuck for a full half month."

He silently sensed his body, feeling a terrifying energy that signified a qualitative change.

Xu Zhi suddenly gave a wry smile, feeling his head spin. "This is sixty to seventy portions of god-achieving energy, and I've only just broken through to Heavenly Emperor... Before, Ermin, Emperor Qi, and Phoenix provided the energy of merely six or seven deities, allowing me to advance from Tier 1 to Tier 6 Quasi-Emperor. Yet now, with sixty to seventy portions of god-achieving energy—the birth of a high-level deity—I've only barely managed to break through from Quasi-Emperor to Tier 7."

The disparity was immense!

Even with his prior mental preparation, Xu Zhi was left utterly dumbfounded.

If breaking through to Tier 7 demanded this much energy, what would later stages require?

The increase would be geometric.

Although Ermin, Emperor Qi, Phoenix, and the others are already mid-level deities, some even approaching high-level, with energy not far from Emperor Sakura's, this isn't how it's calculated; they don't provide energy feedback to him.

Once they became gods, they experienced irregular mass extinctions. The energy they diligently cultivated day and night wasn't shared with Xu Zhi; only the energy from each mass extinction was divided with him.

Only through slaughter could he truly gain anything.

It even sparked an impulse in Xu Zhi to "fatten up" these deities, waiting for them to painstakingly break through to mid-level and high-level, then kill them to claim their experience! Of course, he knew he had to suppress such short-sighted thoughts.

Medusa, Ermin, Emperor Qi, and others would form the core of the Zerg's foundation in the future.

"But finally, Tier 7, the power of a Heavenly Emperor," Xu Zhi sighed softly.

He hadn't gone to see Caroline earlier because he was busy absorbing the colossal mass extinction energy and couldn't spare the time.

Inside his Gastronomy World.

"Holy heavens! The world is falling apart!"

"Is the world changing?"

Countless people watched, dumbfounded, as the world's landmass expanded wildly, shifting like oceans turning into mulberry fields.

"The game development team is so brazen; they don't even give a heads-up when rolling out a new update!"

"This is mind-blowing!"

"Alright everyone, let's grind!"

Mikia Grand Ranch.

The air in the ruins was utterly still. The remnants of the former city, once reinforced concrete, were now overgrown with flowers and vines.

Emperor Sakura knelt, gently touching one of Caroline's gravestones. She began digging a rectangular grave, her own future resting place, beside Levi's tomb.

Her movements were very slow, her expression gentle and serene, like an ordinary mortal tending a grave. She began wiping Mr. Levi's tombstone, clearing weeds, and offering flowers. Her actions were incredibly solemn and heavy; Levi's tomb held profound significance.

She also seemed to be waiting for something through this ritual.

She unconsciously tidied the grave, gazing at the empty cemetery, a faint loneliness unconsciously rising within her. Her eyes, filled with despair, betrayed her profound weariness. A strong desire burned within her: to desperately find someone to prove that she wasn't alone, that there were still companions in this cycle of civilization, another grave-keeper from a different civilization... But he still didn't appear.

"I look forward to a brilliant death."

A gentle breeze blew.

Suddenly, a voice drifted from afar, vast and distant.

Caroline trembled, her pupils abruptly dilating. She turned her head to see a young wizard approaching, a blurred silhouette of light and shadow, as if riding on magnificent, shifting light.

"In my spare time, long ago, I often envisioned a scene," the wizard began. "I would be wearing a sharp black suit, lying quietly in a coffin, hands clasped, enjoying eternal sleep... I actually look forward to it, a feeling I can't even comprehend myself."

Xu Zhi stopped, silent for a moment. He then said to her, "Levi once told me the very same thing here... I never imagined that today, you too would reach this point... building a grave for yourself."

He gazed at the cemetery, feeling a profound sense of emotion.

Time was the cruelest weapon in the world. Caroline, like Levi before her, though immortal, desired to bury herself, to abandon the era she should have dominated and fall into an eternal slumber.

Perhaps, in some ways, fate truly was... a cycle.

"I..."

In Caroline's desolate eyes, a glimmer of hope suddenly ignited.

"What do you want from me?" Xu Zhi chuckled softly.