Wandering Era

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, a hundred years had passed since the day Ten Thousand Stars was destroyed.

The place where Ten Thousand Stars had once stood remained empty and desolate.

Yet, at some unknown time, a star had appeared there. Judging by its size, it seemed to be in a state much like an unhatched egg.

Yakelis and Helles had not died. Their contract with Chen Tian still existed, which also meant Chen Tian had not perished.

No one knew the final outcome of that battle.

There was no answer as to where that man from the Second Universe had gone in the end.

Only Yakelis and Helles remained, searching through the vast universe for Chen Tian's whereabouts. That search lasted a hundred years.

Qing Wan had also vanished without a trace. On that day, she had said she was going somewhere—but where had she gone?

She had never revealed it. They only felt that, in the end, she seemed to have become a different person.

As time passed, the Universe Competition drew near.

Although the Eight Universes did not have much contact with one another, once the competition arrived, there would inevitably be some interaction.

The main people in charge were the Spirit Lords of the Eight Universes.

They jointly oversaw the Universe Competition.

As it happened, the Universe Competition was held after the ranking battles.

Every contestant in the Universe Competition was an exceptionally talented young genius from their respective universe.

In previous competitions, the First Universe had always claimed the title.

It was said that ever since the very first competition was held, the First Universe had taken first place.

In later competitions, the First Universe had occasionally placed second, but it had never fallen out of the top three! This showed just how formidable the First Universe was—it stood in a league of its own.

Before this competition began, the First Universe had already won sixteen consecutive championships!

To this day, no one had been able to shake its position.

Supreme glory had brought them countless flowers, applause, and powerful patrons.

Under such overwhelming momentum, the young geniuses who participated in later competitions had also become exceedingly arrogant.

They had once believed their only true opponents were contestants from within their own universe, while the Second Universe was the only one that posed even a slight threat.

The other seven universes were simply not worth mentioning.

Still, they could hardly be blamed for their pride.

In terms of strength, aside from the Second Universe, contestants from the other six universes were utterly unqualified to threaten them.

Though there was no gap in peak-level strength among the universes, the divide at the lower end had only grown wider.

And in the history of the Universe Competition, there had once been an extraordinarily helpless incident.

After the First Universe claimed its tenth consecutive championship, the eleventh Universe Competition had briefly faced a situation where no one was willing to compete!

Later, after the Spirit Lords learned of it, they exhausted every method before persuading those young geniuses to participate.

The reason this situation had arisen that year lay in the previous competition.

At the time, the First Universe had won its tenth consecutive championship with astonishing ease.

Not a single person from the other universes had caused them even the slightest trouble. Even the Second Universe had failed to reach the final round.

The entire competition could be called the First Universe's personal showcase—or a practice match.

After all the contestants from the seven universes had been defeated, only the First Universe was left to compete against itself. Some contestants had even openly declared that the competition was terribly boring.

In an instant, the powerful figures of the other universes were left with no face to show.

The final showdown had become an internal selection for the First Universe. From then on, the eleventh competition fell into the awkward situation of having no participants.

That competition was widely remembered and hailed as the strongest in the history of the Universe Competition! Though its outcome had been somewhat dull.

Perhaps realizing the gap between them, the Spirit Lords discussed the matter several times and decided to offer some help to the seven universes.

They wanted to prevent another situation where the outcome was so utterly without suspense that contestants simply gave up participating.

Later, those with lower rankings could still receive rewards, though naturally they were not as generous as those for the top three.

With this measure in place, no further incidents occurred.

This Universe Competition was unlike those before it. Every universe had erupted in cheers to varying degrees.

The reason was that every one of them had produced a batch of peerless geniuses! Their information spread far and wide, and everyone eagerly awaited the answer: which universe's peerless genius would seize the championship?

This was also the first time that not everyone believed the First Universe would take first place again.

That was because the peerless geniuses in the other universes were not inferior to those of the First Universe at all.

Those responsible for leading the contestants into the competition were Venerable God-level powerhouses.

They were peak experts beneath the Spirit Lords and above True Gods. The Spirit Lords were responsible for operating and maintaining order throughout the Eight Universes.

But they did not belong to any single universe.

Therefore, the Universe Competition was entirely led and managed by Venerable God powerhouses.

Speaking of which, Yakelis and Helles were True Gods of the Second Universe, ranked among the Seventy-Two Demon Gods.

Though they were not as powerful as Venerable God experts, they were still overlords of a region in the universe.

When they had been young, they too had participated and both reached the final round.

It was only that they had both lost to the top three.

Yakelis ranked fourth, while Helles ranked fifth.

Though their rankings had been lower, after the tempering of time, they had both forged illustrious reputations throughout the universe.

Following Chen Tian's mark, they continued their pursuit.

They passed many life-bearing planets and saw countless races celebrating.

"The Universe Competition is coming," Yakelis said blandly.

"Yes. In the blink of an eye, another Universe Competition has arrived," Helles said with emotion. "Yet even now, we still haven't found our master."

Helles sighed. As time faded away, the contract Chen Tian had placed upon him had changed him as a whole.

For some reason, it seemed that the contract Chen Tian had made was subtly altering his thoughts.

Yakelis felt the same way.

A hundred years had passed in an instant.

They seemed to understand more and more why Chen Tian had done what he did.

The two of them belonged to two different races. Though they looked human, they were not pure humans.

Only after being ranked among the Seventy-Two Demon Gods had they slightly altered their appearances.

"Where do you think our master is?" Helles asked.

"I don't know either."

Yakelis had constantly traveled in search of Chen Tian. She had never considered leaving the Seventh Universe and returning to the Second Universe.

"Although we can't find our master, his power seems to be telling us something through the contract," Yakelis said.

Helles nodded. He too could sense Chen Tian's power.

"Our master's power is very weak, but it remains connected. And recently, my body and power seem to have been affected by our master's power. They've become somewhat different."

Yakelis was startled. Looking at Helles, she said, "The same is true for me!"

"Our master's power seems to have changed my body!"

When Yakelis had first noticed it, she had been somewhat surprised. She had also been very curious about the reason.

"The Universe Competition is approaching, along with the ranking battles. By then, the entire universe will fall into a frenzy. We need to speed up and avoid any accidents," Helles said seriously.

Yakelis nodded at him, and the two of them accelerated together toward the depths of the universe.