Chapter 726: Octopus Dyson Sphere (Two-in-One)

Xu Zhi, observing secretly, instinctively felt something was amiss. He looked at the galaxy image the two were discussing. It was indeed a terrifyingly large octopus, floating in space and slowly revolving around a golden, sun-like molten star. Its countless tentacles unfurled like sails, making the entire octopus spin like a satellite, resembling a catkin.

A real alien creature? Xu Zhi was immediately surprised. Emperor Qi's spaceship had been flying for so many years; had it truly discovered alien life? Xu Zhi had never believed that Earth was the only planet with life, nor that the Zerg were the sole form of life.

"After flying for seven millennia through the vast universe, a period during which an eighth-tier deity would age from prime to death, it was indeed plausible to encounter strange things. However, this colossal cosmic octopus creature was unlike anything he had imagined..." Xu Zhi fell into deep thought. He had initially expected to find something akin to Earth, a life-sustaining planet. Instead, they had stumbled upon a solitary, mysterious cosmic creature. It was like Columbus setting sail to discover a new continent, only to find a mysterious dinosaur instead.

"Yet, this encounter could be a starting point... Any life form drifting alone in the universe might not be simple," Xu Zhi mused, resting his chin in his hand. Perhaps it was a monstrous beast that devoured stars, a forbidden creature of a cosmic super-restricted zone, capable of directly annihilating any lower-tier civilization that encountered it? Xu Zhi looked at the enormous octopus. Due to the immense distance, it appeared as hazy as a planet viewed through a telescope, its true nature indiscernible.

He was certainly surprised, not expecting them to be engaged in such an endeavor. After drifting through the vast universe for seven millennia, Emperor Qi had encountered genuine extraterrestrial mysterious life for the first time. "Emperor Qi was consulting, clearly studying this mysterious creature, while Meng Mei clearly thought that if it was a solitary being, they should go 'hunting' and initiate battle..." Xu Zhi pondered. These individuals likely saw it merely as a new creature, or at most, a new civilization from the myriad worlds. But they had no idea that this was an entirely new, unknown cosmic entity, completely outside Xu Zhi's plans. At this moment, the Earth Mother Goddess was still studying intently. Emperor Qi asked, "What do you think of this creature's realm?"

In fact, Emperor Qi himself had been ecstatic the moment he first discovered it. Previously, the Woodcutter Giant had told him that the universe was real and worlds were illusions, urging his younger self to explore the vast cosmos. He had spent his entire life doing so – a full seven millennia! The lifespan of a deity from their prime to near death. Aside from the "parasites" within him, he had exerted all his might to drift outwards and had only now, for the first time, seen a true living being! And it was alive! How could he not be excited? It was like Robinson Crusoe; in the vast, empty universe, seeing even an ant, let alone an octopus, would be thrilling. But they had returned before getting close enough.

"'Its realm? The distance is too great; it's unclear and hard to discern,' the Earth Mother Goddess said, resting her chin in her hand with a serious expression. 'But such a massive, mysterious life form is indeed perplexing. Let me ponder for a moment, think it over carefully, and retrieve memories!' With that, Meng Mei slightly closed her eyes, clasped her hands behind her back, and added, 'Watch me communicate with the myriad worlds and listen to the insights of the ancient saints in the netherworld.'"

Online, Meng Mei logged directly into the external forum and found that discussions were still dominated by the world's power dynamics and ongoing battles.

"I heard that Emperor Qi, our 'dad,' has a new plan?"

"Trembling in fear!"

"Apparently, he's upgrading the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art! The Alchemy Factory will frantically produce tens of billions of red blood cells, letting the souls of a world he previously killed flow through the incense veins to withstand another surprise attack from the Three Pillar Gods."

"So, the Alchemy Factory will become a red blood cell processing plant within his body, constantly producing red blood cells and working itself to death? (Comical)"

"Wuwuwu, so tragic! The righteous and brave Grandmaster Akina has finally become Emperor Qi himself; the dragon slayer has become the evil dragon! (Dog head)"

"Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter! Akina's speed is too tragic!"

"And it's not just that, apparently! Emperor Qi is also accelerating population growth, restoring ecosystems in his nine inner-world ruins, and encouraging over-reproduction!"

Countless people got goosebumps from fright. Emperor Qi truly was an innate ancient god, viewing acquired life forms as ants – truly like chives, mown down and growing back again.

"Who can deny it? Not just the ancient humans, but us too, all living beings are chives! Today, the 'cancer stock market' got slaughtered! (Teary-eyed)"

"Holy cow, won't the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art be even more awesome now?! A blood-powered furnace, an inner-world-powered furnace, the new Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, driven by both living and dead energy sources! A dual internal circulation of life and death, secretly aligning with the chaos dividing into yin and yang, a true Pangu body – two cores are stronger than one! Plus the defensive power of body cultivation martial arts, it's practically a super-reinforced safe! (Emperor Penguin.jpg)"

"It's over, it's over! Emperor Qi secretly learned our 'safe' technique and is frantically reinforcing it. The Three Pillar Gods won't be able to pry it open and will just cry themselves to death!"

Many people felt uneasy. This was simply too impressive.

"And there's more," it was rumored, "Emperor Qi has already integrated the True Qi and Radiation systems into the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, and is diligently practicing them!" Everyone felt something was completely off; how was he still improving? Emperor Qi was truly hardcore! Was he determined to integrate all cultivation systems into the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, forming a Grand Luo Heaven Scripture with it as the core, to continuously resist the Three Pillar Gods, and then slowly cultivate himself into a hundred ninth-tier beings?

This person was too ruthless. They could already imagine the Three Pillar Gods' bewildered expressions when they next encountered Emperor Qi's unified cultivation technique.

"The Three Pillar Gods, with question marks on their faces, would start grumbling and prying open the safe! (Comical)"

"Emperor Qi: Hahaha, didn't see this coming, did you, Three Pillar Gods? You'll be the most miserable Ninth-tier ever, unable to get energy, starving to death in the desert. I'll slowly cultivate, reach your realm, and then cut you down! (Manic laughter)"

"Emperor Qi, hands on hips: You want to talk about secretly learning? You're too green. Look at my unified cultivation technique."

Holy moly! Everyone's faces darkened. This group of drama queens was letting their imaginations run wild. But everyone instantly understood the strategy: to constantly resist, preventing the Three Pillar Gods from gaining any advantage, until Emperor Qi broke through to the Ninth Tier.

Someone became serious. "But isn't he on the verge of dying of old age?"

"That was before. Now that he has 'quality,' he can probably hold on for another one or two thousand years, just like Armin!"

"Apparently, he's now inspired and has started studying Ah Chou's 'Three Body Severance Technique,' cutting off three main clones to quadruple his speed! Perhaps he can also try to break through to the Ninth Tier faster!"

Everyone gasped, their faces filled with dread.

Wouldn't Meng Mei and the others have no hope of turning the tables? Inviting the wolf into the house meant a complete return to dark rule. Wouldn't it be even harder for the immobile Divine Tree, God-Slaying Platform, Laurel, and Thunder Hammer to rise up and rebel this time?

"But now, the situation is different. Emperor Qi can withstand one Three Pillar God, but not a second. Caroline is likely to secretly intervene! The three major forces are stirring up a storm!" Everyone nodded in agreement; the situation was indeed tumultuous.

Just as everyone was discussing, Meng Mei stepped forward. "Ahem, ahem, I want to ask everyone something: Emperor Qi previously discovered an unknown, mysterious cosmic creature in the vast universe. What are your thoughts?" Screenshots were shared. Everyone was instantly stunned, failing to react.

Balloon Fish: "So that's how it is? Quickly show your value to 'Dad' Emperor Qi, lest you be squeezed dry and killed. But if you ask me, your role should be to continuously advance your Dragon Vein Incense system, giving 'Dad' Emperor Qi more to learn. When he has completely exploited your body and there's nothing left to learn, you'll be useless and discarded! (Serious face)"

Meng Mei's face darkened. "At least I had millennia of glory; I once contended with Emperor Qi and advanced civilization for thousands of years. Meanwhile, you've been clinging to a meager existence under the rule of the Three Pillar Gods from start to finish."

"This octopus?" Instantly, everyone's attention focused on the blurry, indistinct image, and they became completely serious.

"Huh? Another unknown creature? So that's it. This big octopus, is it Cthulhu? Cthulhu-sensei?"

"I don't know, but it revolves around a sun like a satellite. Is its habit sunbathing?"

Just as everyone was discussing, some more knowledgeable netizens observed some useful data. "Based on the size of nearby planets and meteorites, this octopus is estimated to be roughly the size of Australia."

"It revolves around an entire sun-like star, so it could very well be a Dyson Sphere-like cosmic organism."

Everyone paused. What was a Dyson Sphere?

"A Dyson Sphere is a theoretical artificial megastructure. According to Earth's civilization hierarchy, when a planetary civilization develops into a stellar civilization, it inevitably requires enormous energy extraction. Where does cosmic energy come from? Stars – super-luminous celestial bodies like our sun – are the greatest energy source in a given galaxy. A Dyson Sphere is essentially a hollow sphere built around a star to entirely enclose it and siphon its energy." Everyone paused. So, a Dyson Sphere was like a solar power plant that completely enveloped a sun, entirely blocking its light?

"Some scientists believe that the construction of Dyson Spheres is an inevitable process for the development of advanced cosmic civilizations. A civilization's energy demands will inevitably expand infinitely. When a planet's internal energy sources can no longer meet its needs, harnessing stars becomes a necessary step. If humanity has a future, our future energy source will undoubtedly be a Dyson Sphere." Everyone had no objection, as this indeed made sense. However, a Dyson Sphere is merely a theoretical ideal. Building one that entirely encloses a star is impractical. Thus, partial Dyson Spheres were conceived, covering only a portion of the sun to absorb solar energy. Variant forms include Dyson swarms, Dyson shells, and Dyson bubbles.

"In fact, the Dyson Sphere theory also provides humanity with a potential method for studying cosmic civilizations: by observing stellar brightness, we might discover super-cosmic civilizations that appear to use Dyson Spheres in the vast universe."

"It's worth noting that in September 2015, the Kepler Space Telescope detected a peculiar dimming of light by 23% from Tabby's Star, the first star in the Cygnus constellation. Even Jupiter, the largest planet, only blocks about 1% of the sun's light when it transits. Calculations suggest that this 23% dimming was likely caused by an object nearly half the size of the star itself, obstructing it at close range... We began to suspect it was a Dyson Sphere."

"When people tried to observe Tabby's Star a third time, the Kepler Space Telescope suddenly malfunctioned and couldn't be repaired... Even today, numerous theories have emerged, but none perfectly explain what truly obscured that star? (Dog head)" Everyone: "......" They wanted to continue observing, but the telescope simply broke down. "Terrifying when you think about it!"

"Aliens: What are you looking at?"

"Aliens: Hey high-beam driver, turn down your lights. Haven't you seen interstellar civil engineering? Blaring such bright lights late at night, don't blame me if I poke out your high beams! (Dog head)"

Everyone immediately reacted, feeling a chill. And this creature, no wonder it was described as a Dyson Sphere-like cosmic organism? Was it also revolving around a star, siphoning energy, acting as a solar panel?

That person continued: "I'm not bringing up these theories for any other reason than to say: this creature perfectly fits the form of a cosmic organism! Personally, I believe that whether they are super-civilizations or super-organisms, they will exhibit behaviors similar to a Dyson Sphere. Just as organisms on Earth instinctively seek sunlight, this is a fundamental law of survival for any life form in the universe."

Meng Mei felt her eyes opened after hearing this. This was an unwritten law of the universe. Just like the Three Pillar Gods, who were now frantically consuming energy and seeking resources. Indeed, knowledge was power. Their current knowledge, no matter where it was applied—even across the entire universe or other worlds—would be perfectly usable and not considered backward. However, it was clear that their current understanding applied to the natural laws of tiers one through eight; at tier nine, laws began to twist, and the rules of the first eight tiers no longer applied.

Meng Mei, resting her chin in her hand, said: "So this huge octopus, merely acting as a small satellite orbiting a sun to absorb energy, must at least be a high-tier deity, right? After all, based on the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art's physique calculations, the larger one is, the more terrifying their combat power! It's very likely a Ninth-tier being, or even, most frighteningly, a Ninth-tier world-class cosmic behemoth!"

Meng Mei shook her head, thinking it best not to provoke it. "Furthermore, according to the theory of biological evolution, it couldn't have evolved alone. There must be a species, with uncles, fathers, grandfathers... A whole group of Ninth-tier worlds, impossible to provoke, absolutely impossible."

Xu Zhi, too, was deep in thought. The bigger, the stronger? He felt something was off.