Mother Goddess: Wait, Have I Become the Substitute?

In the depths of space lay a dead-silent star domain.

Far from any civilization, only a few dying red giant stars clung to life, shedding a dim glow.

In this forgotten corner, a body that had once belonged to a human man floated quietly.

It was Yang Yu's old shell, the perfect vessel he had cultivated into the beginnings of Body is Universe.

Now, earth-shattering changes were sweeping through it.

Countless intricate, ancient runes surfaced beneath its skin: the divine patterns of the First Enlightened One's rules.

Like living snakes, they ravenously devoured the sparse starlight around them and transformed every inch of its flesh.

Crack, crack, crack...

Bones reassembled. Muscles stretched.

The masculine lines softened without losing their strength.

The face reshaped itself amid shifting light and shadow. Its features grew finer and more profound, radiating a divine beauty beyond gender.

When the last divine pattern sank beneath the skin, the light faded.

A woman beautiful enough to dim the Star River stood barefoot in the void.

Her hair fell to her ankles like a waterfall, every strand seeming to carry the brilliance of the Star River.

Her skin was almost translucent in its fairness, yet tough enough to withstand the collapse of a neutron star.

Most captivating of all were her eyes.

Gone were Yang Yu's black eyes and their roguish glint. In their place were violet-gold eyes that seemed to hold an endless abyss, yet remained utterly clear.

Abyss Mother Goddess, Apolium.

Or rather, she should now be called...

The new Yang Yu.

She slowly lowered her head and raised her slender, jade-like hands to examine them. At a gentle rub of her fingertips, ripples spread through space.

"Whew..."

She drew a deep breath.

That single breath seemed to drain all the free-floating energy within several light-years.