The Boundary Sea
"You... you can't leave! The Thirteen Nodes can't do without you!"
"Yes, Garrison Envoy!"
The other veterans also stepped forward, their expressions excited, their eyes filled with fear and reluctance.
In their hearts, Chen Fan was no longer just a leader, but a god, the faith and pillar of everyone in the Thirteenth Node.
Looking at these comrades who had fought alongside him from humble beginnings and shared life and death, Chen Fan smiled gently.
He raised his hand and made a slight gesture to signal everyone to be quiet.
All good things must come to an end.
His voice was steady and powerful, carrying a calming force.
"I pursue greater power, also for the future of Human Race. Only when I am strong enough can I truly protect Human Race from the humiliation of the emperor."
Immediately, his intense gaze fell upon Wei Changkong, and he issued his final and most important order as the Garrison Envoy, word by word.
"From this day forward, Wei Changkong shall assume the position of Garrison Envoy of the Thirteenth Garrison Node!"
These words struck like a thunderbolt.
Wei Changkong trembled violently, looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Chen Fan's voice was filled with unquestionable trust.
"Now, the Thirteen Nodes are strong and well-equipped, with abundant treasuries, and you, an Eighth-Order Late Stage expert, are in charge. I believe you are more than capable of protecting this Star Domain that we conquered with our own hands!"
Amidst the complex gazes of the crowd, a mixture of shock, reluctance, and a hint of realization, Wei Changkong's lips moved, and ultimately, all his words were uttered with resolute determination.
He suddenly knelt on one knee, placed his right hand on his chest, and accepted this responsibility, as heavy as the Star Sea, with the highest military salute of the Federation and in a hoarse but extremely firm voice.
Wei Changkong... accepts the order!
"We swear to protect the Thirteenth Node the death, and respectfully send off the Garrison Envoy... on his new journey!"
All the veterans knelt down on one knee in unison, their roars shaking the heavens.
The handover is complete.
Chen Fan nodded with satisfaction, no longer harboring any worries.
He took a step forward, and his figure was already standing in the silent starry sky.
He glanced one last time at the fortress that had been transformed by the flames of war into a mighty steel city, and looked at the familiar figures and tearful faces on the city walls.
He then resolutely turned around.
At this moment, the Dao Heart is perfect and flawless.
He raised his right hand and, without hesitation, crushed the white token in his hand!
"Snap!"
A soft sound, as if it were the beginning of an ancient era.
The instant the token shattered, a pure white light, indescribable in words, shot into the sky, ignoring space and time, and directly tore apart the Dimensions barrier of the universe!
Amidst the light, an unimaginably magnificent portal slowly opened from the void.
Behind the door, instead of a dazzling galaxy, a bizarre and chaotic scene unfolds.
A chaotic, ancient, and boundless aura seeped out from behind the door. Even a mere trace of it was enough to make Ninth-Tier Emperor's heart tremble and his Divine Soul freeze.
That place is the Boundary Sea!
At that very moment.
A towering figure, formed from pure radiance, appeared silently beside the portal.
It was the White Emperor.
His gaze did not fall on Chen Fan, but instead looked into the chaos behind the door, his tone calm, as if stating an age-old fact.
"This place is the Boundary Sea."
Chen Fan bowed and stood quietly listening.
"The Boundary Sea is the confluence of countless universes' births and deaths. You can think of it as... the graveyard of universes, and also the cradle of new life." The White Emperor's voice was devoid of any emotion. "It does not belong to any particular universe, and therefore, it is not subject to the jurisdiction of any supreme cosmic will. This is truly Lawless Land."
His gaze finally turned back and landed on Chen Fan, as if he could see through the Miniature Universe that was evolving within Fang Zheng's Dantian.
"The Ninth Tier, the Divine Kingdom in the Palm, ultimately evolves by borrowing the laws of your universe. And the Martial God..."
The White Emperor paused for a moment, then uttered the ultimate secret that would drive any Ninth-Tier Emperor mad.
"It's Transcendence! It's transforming the Divine Kingdom within you into a truly independent and self-contained universe!"
"Completing this final step of transformation requires a massive amount of incredibly pure 'Universe Origin'."
Before he finished speaking, he pointed to the bizarre and chaotic scene behind the door.
"And the Boundary Sea is the most direct place to obtain the Universe Origin. A unique kind of creature called World Beasts roams here. They are formed from the remnants and resentment of the shattered universe, born to devour the Origin Source, walking treasures, and deadly calamities. By slaying them and stripping away their cores, one can obtain the purest Universe Origin."
The White Emperor's tone finally took on a serious tone.
"But you must also remember, the Boundary Sea is also the final battleground for all the Ninth-Tier Peak experts of Ten Thousand Races. For that sliver of possibility of breaking through to Martial God, they will stop at nothing. There are no rules here, no racial righteousness, only the most primal law of the jungle."
"You cannot enter Beyond the Ninth Tier. Here, you can only rely on yourself."
His words thoroughly analyzed the cruelty and opportunities of this ultimate battlefield.
Chen Fan listened quietly, his eyes showing no fear, but instead burning with an even more intense flame.
This is where he belongs!
He bowed deeply to the White Emperor, his voice steady and resolute.
"Disciple understands!"
Then, he took one last look back at the Thirteenth Garrison Node, which had already turned into a distant dot of light in his field of vision, and deeply imprinted the faces of Wei Changkong and his comrades who had shared life and death with him in his heart.
When he turned back, all that remained in his eyes was absolute determination.
"Go."
The White Emperor nodded approvingly, said no more, and simply waved his hand casually.
A gentle yet irresistible force enveloped Chen Fan, pushing him directly into the chaotic portal.
Chen Fan's figure was instantly swallowed up by the endless chaos.
The magnificent gate slowly closed, eventually transforming into a beam of white light and vanishing into nothingness.
Passing through the bizarre and chaotic Law Turbulence, Chen Fan felt as if he had been thrown into a Millstone that grinds everything.
The laws here are in such a chaotic state that they could tear an ordinary Ninth Tier expert and their Dao Fruit to shreds in an instant.
He immediately activated [Divine Kingdom in the Palm].
A Miniature Universe enveloped him, making him impervious to all laws. No matter how violent the external Law Storm were, they could not shake him in the slightest.
After an unknown amount of time, the tearing sensation suddenly disappeared.
Chen Fan's body sank, and he landed in a completely new world.
This is a desolate Void.
There were no Stars, no light, only endless darkness and cold.
Countless unimaginably massive continental debris, like isolated islands, float silently in this dark ocean.
The distorted laws here formed visible energy storms, raging silently and exuding an aura of impending doom.