The End of an Era

The Seventh Universe was vast and boundless. On nearly every life-bearing planet, life and death played out every moment.

In a remote star system, the destruction of a not particularly advanced planet would not draw much attention.

In the eyes of higher races, such things were no more than a speck of dust in the universe, utterly insignificant.

If one life-bearing planet vanished today, then tomorrow, a primitive planet might begin to give rise to life and rejoin the ranks of life-bearing planets.

Among the countless star systems of the Seventh Universe, there were an unknown number of life-bearing planets.

As for planets that had not independently spawned life, they were even more numerous, nearly twice as many as life-bearing planets.

Yet it could not be denied that Ten Thousand Stars had managed to reach its current state, and was indeed far better off than ordinary life-bearing planets.

Every universe had its own divisions and distinctions.

The Seventh Universe was no exception. Its 1,000,086 star systems were governed by eight star domains.

The highest authorities of the eight star domains were Spirit Lord-level powerhouses.

Under their administration, all star systems developed in an orderly fashion. Any planet that displayed sufficient strength would receive the Spirit Lords' aid.

That meant thoroughly perfecting their cultivation methods and fully adopting the universe's Great Cultivation Method.

After several long months of development, the top five hundred thousand star systems had basically stabilized, and all development had entered a normal state.

The star systems ranked below five hundred thousand still developed on their own, independently creating and exploring cultivation methods.

Though they differed from Ten Thousand Stars' Martial Artist Cultivation, they were broadly similar in essence.

Cultivation methods might change in a thousand ways, yet they never strayed from their roots.

Star systems that earned the Spirit Lords' appreciation naturally advanced by leaps and bounds, far surpassing those groping about in place.

Take the star system ranked just ahead of five hundred thousand and the one ranked just behind it. They were separated by only a single rank, yet their overall strength was as different as heaven and earth.

To put it more precisely, the weakest planet in the higher-ranked system could utterly crush the strongest planet in the lower-ranked system.

This situation had continued for an unimaginably long time.

Because the bottom five hundred thousand star systems had yet to produce any worthwhile evolution.

The Spirit Lords had no choice but to discuss making changes.

Thus, at some unknown point in the ages, every star system received a new rule.

Star systems ranked below five hundred thousand could challenge star systems in the top five hundred thousand if they met the strength requirements.

Likewise, star systems in the top five hundred thousand could challenge those ranked even higher! If the challenge succeeded, they would take the original position, while the systems behind them would automatically shift back.

The moment this rule appeared, every star system was stirred. Those with lower rankings were eager to try, while those ranked slightly higher were filled with worry.

For a time, the overall strength of every star system rose across the board.

This was a good beginning.

The Spirit Lords were also very satisfied with the result.

Over the years, countless star systems underwent a massive reshuffling. Aside from the top three systems, nearly all had changed places.

Through endless challenges, the divisions in strength gradually became clear, and some star systems, seeing no hope, chose to withdraw voluntarily.

This phenomenon forced the Spirit Lords to alter the rules once again.

They established time-limited point-based challenges. Every few years, the challenges would open, and participating star systems would receive rewards.

The points challenge was simple. Each star system could send only five contestants, all restricted to a certain level.

The five contestants would then take part in preliminary selection matches, elimination matches, challenge matches, team matches, and more.

Winning a match earned ten points, while losing deducted five. Everyone began at zero points; if someone lost while at zero during the initial stage, they would fall to negative five points.

The preliminary selection matches were meant to filter out star systems able to advance and eliminate those lacking sufficient strength.

In the challenge matches, the contestants jointly selected a star system to challenge. If they succeeded, the two sides exchanged rankings and points.

Finally, elimination matches were conducted according to points.

Based on point totals, the final elimination brackets were formed. The elimination matches were divided into individual battles and team battles.

The final winner of each group was determined by point totals.

Once the top fifty thousand star systems had their final rankings determined, the defeated systems entered the losers' bracket and began challenges to determine the rankings after fifty thousand.

However, star systems like Ten Thousand Stars were generally eliminated during the preliminary selection matches.

After all, the gap in strength was far too great. The Hun Yuan Star System ranked only nine hundred and seventy thousandth, so by rights it did not even qualify to participate. It was simply too weak.

Star systems that had not obtained the complete Great Cultivation Method found it difficult to defeat opponents who used the Great Cultivation Method.

Of course, Ten Thousand Stars knew nothing of this. Even the best planet in the Hun Yuan Star System could only suffer a crushing defeat, let alone them.

Ten Thousand Stars' development was still far too slow for the universe, for its planets. Although even more planets developed slower than Ten Thousand Stars, now that Ten Thousand Stars had been destroyed and not a single living creature had survived, its seemingly tragic state could not truly draw much attention.

Before long, several people wearing white cloaks appeared from nowhere.

"Is this the place?" one person asked. "According to the records, a life-bearing planet named Ten Thousand Stars was destroyed."

Among them, an elderly man with a long beard stepped forward. "Scan it and see what caused it."

He seemed to be their leader. At his command, everyone respectfully began scanning according to his instructions.

Not long after, a young man shouted, "Elder, I found the cause. Come take a look!"

The old man took one step forward and instantly arrived beside the young man.

Being able to shrink the earth to an inch in the universe showed just how terrifying the old man's strength was. "Let me see."

The old man took the device from the young man's hand. The image displayed on its screen was extremely blurry, as though it had suffered some kind of interference.

Then the old man said calmly, "It seems this planet was caught in the aftermath of a battle between two great powerhouses, which led to its destruction. Even the surrounding celestial bodies could not escape."

"Ah! Then what should we do? Should we report it to the higher-ups?!" the young man asked.

The old man chuckled. "No need. The duty of us Universe Patrol Envoys is merely to record the cause behind the destruction of life-bearing planets."

He had long grown used to such things. Either cultivators from powerful planets had come into conflict, or people from other universes had arrived to fight over treasures.

He had held this position for countless ages and had seen innumerable similar cases.

"All right, finish the record and return. Don't you still have to go participate in that thing?" the old man said.

The young people beside him immediately laughed.

They began chatting with the old man about amusing matters, then vanished from sight.

They did not know that, at the moment they disappeared, a blue light appeared where they had just scanned.