A World of Chaotic Time-Space Laws
A key can normally only open one door. But if the key's shape changes, it might open a different door.
Gu Ding encountered a similar situation.
Originally, there was only one fixed teleportation point in the Death Mode of the Gate of Purgatory, but the aftershocks of the battle between the Twelve-Winged Angel and the Death Knight caused a tremor in the spacetime tunnel, changing Gu Ding's original teleportation route and sending him to a completely different spacetime gravel.
Standing on the ground, where various plants grew so lushly it resembled a primeval forest, Gu Ding felt a surge of excitement. "I thought the finish line would be a desolate place, but I didn't expect the landscaping to be so well done."
"Gu Ding, don't be careless. This piece of spacetime sand is about the size of more than twenty Deep Sea Star. It contains many beings with extremely powerful auras, which are completely beyond your current level." The Sea Emperor quickly investigated the information about this world.
"Are there many powerful beings at the level of true gods?" Gu Ding couldn't help but ask.
"Besides the True God level, there's an even more powerful one... I suspect it's a Celestial God. However, the aura of all creatures in this world is very peculiar; it feels like their cultivation is entirely built up from physical energy." The Sea Emperor found this somewhat strange.
"Body Cultivation? But surely not everyone in a world is Body Cultivation?" Gu Ding was also somewhat surprised.
Sea Emperor didn't offer much explanation, but instead projected a video, saying, "Take a look at this."
In the video projection, a boar-like creature killed a snake-like creature and swallowed it whole. After eating, its body began to change dramatically. Its size increased by half in less than three minutes, visibly growing from two meters long to three meters. Not only that, its height also increased, and the muscles in its limbs became noticeably more developed.
Then, Sea Emperor projected a second projection.
In the second projection, a group of humanoid creatures dismembered a colossal beast tens of meters tall and then devoured its flesh raw. After eating, the humanoid creatures, already over two meters tall, visibly grew several tens of centimeters longer. Their muscles also became significantly more developed.
Immediately afterward, Sea Emperor projected a third, a fourth... video projection. Each video projection displayed the same bizarre scene: all creatures were directly consuming other creatures, evolving at a visible speed.
"What's going on?" Gu Ding was also somewhat alarmed. If this was the case, then the individual evolution of organisms would be far too simple; they could just keep eating.
"If I'm not mistaken, the evolutionary rules of this world are the same as those of spores; one only needs to continuously devour to evolve. No wonder so many true gods, and even celestial gods, appear in such a small place." The Sea Emperor scanned the area, gaining a general understanding of the world's rules.
"But if evolution continues in this way, won't the entire world perish? A god would have to devour countless lives to reach that point, wouldn't he?" Gu Ding raised his own question.
"Take a look at this!" Sea Emperor said, projecting another image.
The scene depicts an endless ocean, above which float countless dandelion-like life forms. These life forms constantly devour each other and evolve. In less than half an hour, a dandelion-sized life form evolved into a giant bird over a meter long and began to devour other smaller birds...
Within the ocean, countless microorganisms are constantly devouring each other, evolving into dandelion-like creatures that detach from the seawater and float away...
"There are thousands of similar oceans in this world, covering fifty percent of the entire planet's surface. These oceans constantly produce microorganisms that cannibalize each other, evolving into spore-like organisms that leave the ocean and begin a frenzied evolutionary process. The birds that leave the ocean's reach have essentially completed their initial evolution, becoming Low-rank God. Afterward, they continue to evolve by devouring other life forms on land and in the sky. The number of these microorganisms produced in the oceans every day is comparable to the number of stars in the Universe Sea —an astronomical figure. Therefore, all predators will never lack a food source."
"Moreover, each different area is protected by special spatial rules, which prevent predators of other levels from entering. The ocean is the First Level evolutionary space, and all creatures that have left the sea surface are refused entry by these spatial rules. The airspace above the ocean is the Second Level evolutionary space, and any creatures that have left the airspace above the ocean will also be refused entry. In this way, the source of life's evolution is guaranteed to never run dry."
"From this perspective, time in this world has an accelerating effect on the rules of evolution. And the rules of space protect the continuation of this evolution." The Sea Emperor finally analyzed the special characteristics of the spacetime rules of this world.
"Accelerate the rules of evolution? You mean the effect of time acceleration only applies to the rules of evolution and not to anything else? Is that even possible?" Gu Ding was somewhat doubtful about the Sea Emperor's analysis.
"Under normal circumstances, it definitely wouldn't work. It's like a rope; no matter where you put it, the total length of the rope won't change. But since the rules of time are disordered, you can think of it as this rope being made of pure cotton. Under these disordered rules, it's like being soaked in water and then taken out to dry—it shrinks. So, it's possible." The Sea Emperor's analogy was quite simple, but at least Gu Ding understood it.
"Can this rule also apply to me?" Gu Ding asked curiously. If so, he could probably evolve to a terrifying level in a year.
"No, those creatures that originated in the ocean have had abnormal evolutionary rules since they were still microorganisms. You are an alien species, and your evolutionary rules are different from theirs." The Sea Emperor's words immediately dampened Gu Ding's initial excitement.
Upon hearing the Sea Emperor's answer, Gu Ding's initial excitement immediately faded. "How unfair! Those microorganisms can be eaten into Low-rank God in just a few days. Just thinking about it makes me feel so happy to live in this world. I don't need to cultivate every day, I just need to keep eating."
"Your idea is too naive. This world is completely closed off; even that celestial being cannot escape it. In my view, it can be seen as a pasture for that celestial being to graze. If that celestial being wants to keep evolving, it must keep consuming beings whose strength is second only to itself. As for those that are not strong enough, they are slowly nurtured until they are old enough to be eaten. This is why there is only one celestial being in this world, and not even a single Strongest King."
Although Sea Emperor didn't witness the celestial being devouring other life forms, he also didn't see a Strongest King. Therefore, he made this cruel conjecture.
This conjecture, though cruel, makes a lot of sense. If that celestial being doesn't devour beings weaker than itself, it cannot evolve. Not only that, but other beings might evolve to the celestial level and take its place at the top of the food chain; it's even possible that it will become food itself. Therefore, all it can do is devour those about to break through to celestial status, eliminate those who might threaten its position, and continuously evolve.
Gu Ding only needed to think about it for a moment before he understood the principle.
"Actually, this place isn't without its advantages for you," the Sea Emperor suddenly said with a smile. "All the life forms here are powerful, flesh-and-blood beings, making it an excellent choice for you to enhance your physical strength."
"That sounds like a good idea. There's still room for improvement in both my physical strength and the divine power of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body." Gu Ding also made up his mind to focus on improving his physical strength first and cultivate the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body to the Third Level of the Emperor Body Realm within this year.
"Then let's head straight for the two o'clock direction. There's a city about three thousand kilometers away. Once we get there, you can rest and experience the local customs and culture." The Sea Emperor quickly devised a plan for Gu Ding.
"Cities still exist in this world? Were they built by those Wildlings you showed me before?" Gu Ding was also somewhat surprised.
"No, there are humans in this world too. In the video projection I showed you before, those Wildlings were just a kind of humanoid creature, not real humans." The Sea Emperor knew that Gu Ding had misunderstood. "The humans here look similar to the humans in your previous plane, only more robust and stronger, similar to the Body Cultivation of the Middle Ancient Era. Moreover, most of the battles in this world are resolved by the strength of physical energy, with only very basic martial arts techniques. Of course, some people do possess supernatural abilities that enhance their physical bodies, but they are still no match for the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body."
"Another point is that all living things in this world, due to this abnormal evolution, have a common weakness—their soul strength is particularly weak."
"Even the Peak-rank God only possess the soul strength of demigods. Half-Step True God, from one to three stars, have soul strength comparable to Low-rank God; from four to six stars, they are comparable to Mid-rank God; and only from seven to nine stars are they comparable to High-rank God. The soul strength of the First Sequence and Second Sequence of true gods is only at the level of extremely high-ranking gods."
"Your soul strength is at the level of One-Star Half-Step True God. Without using Combat Strength enhancement, you can crush the Second Sequence True Gods here. If you use Combat Strength enhancement, your soul strength will reach the level of Nine-and-a-Half Star Half-Step True God, enough to kill the Eighth Sequence True God in this world."
The Sea Emperor finally brought Gu Ding some wonderful news: the weakness of the creatures in this world's souls was perfectly countered by Gu Ding. Although Gu Ding hadn't cultivated many soul-related techniques, his soul strength had never been weaker than his physical body, and he had also learned some simple soul attack methods from the Sea Emperor, which were more than enough to deal with the creatures of this world.
"Save soul attacks for when necessary. Now is the time to train your physical body." Gu Ding unleashed his Combat Strength and charged towards the horde of beasts not far away.
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[The spore evolution theory in this chapter is inspired by the game "Spore" and has no actual scientific basis.] (To be continued...^)