"I, Blood Orchid, have roamed the Universe Ocean for two Reincarnation Eras, yet I've never heard of such a powerful being appearing here. May I ask your name?" Blood Orchid Ancestor smiled warmly, the blood-red flowers surrounding her swaying gently. She looked quite friendly.
Anyone who knew her well would have found this unusual. But Shi Yan wasn't acquainted with Blood Orchid Ancestor, and the only thing he remembered hearing about her was that she was evil by nature. In practice, however, that seemed to mean little more than monopolizing the 9th Stone Pillar Space and keeping outsiders away.
So when Blood Orchid Ancestor appeared out of nowhere, Shi Yan was wary, but not particularly nervous.
"You may call me Three-Life True God, Ancestor," Shi Yan replied with a faint smile, giving her a false name. He had come up with it before entering the Universe Ocean. His mastery of time focused on the past, present, and future, so he had chosen the alias "Three-Life True God."
"Oh? Three-Life True God?" Blood Orchid Ancestor wondered to herself. She wasn't completely certain of Shi Yan's identity, but she had already committed herself and couldn't back out now. So she smiled and asked, "I've been in the Universe Ocean for so long, yet I've never heard of a True God as powerful as you. Are you from the current Reincarnation Era of the Primal Universe?"
"Of course. I'm a Special Lifeform from the current Reincarnation Era of the Primal Universe." Shi Yan nodded. There was no point in hiding that. "As you know, this Reincarnation Era began not long ago. Nearly all of us newly ascended Universe Supreme Beings lack Supreme True Treasures, and our strength is limited. If I weren't on the verge of a breakthrough, I wouldn't have come to explore the Black-Veined Stone Pillar Space."
"You're far too modest, True God. I watched your battle with Hengxing. Even before your breakthrough, you were more than strong enough to roam the Universe Ocean at will." Blood Orchid Ancestor's smile grew wider.
"You flatter me, Ancestor." Shi Yan replied, feeling baffled.
"Did Blood Orchid Ancestor stop me just to trade compliments?" he thought to himself, already unwilling to waste any more time. "If there's nothing else, Ancestor, I'll take my leave."
With that, Shi Yan prepared to leave the Black-Veined Stone Pillar Space.
Blood Orchid Ancestor cursed inwardly, but quickly stopped him. "Wait, True God. I can see that you're quite powerful, and I'd like to spar with you. What do you say?"
Before Shi Yan could answer, another deep voice rang in their ears. "Hahaha... Blood Orchid, we've been neighbors in the Black-Veined Stone Pillar Space for so long, yet I never knew you liked sparring with people."
"Star Lord Beichi?" Shi Yan looked toward the speaker, even more confused. Why were all these people suddenly appearing here?
It was Star Lord Beichi. When he saw Shi Yan turn toward him, a meaningful look crossed his face. "Three-Life True God, is it? Blood Orchid doesn't often leave the 9th Stone Pillar Space..."
"Old man! What business is it of yours?" Blood Orchid Ancestor snapped, cutting him off in irritation.
Shi Yan suddenly grew alert. "You don't usually spar with people... and you don't often leave the 9th Stone Pillar Space?"
There was no such thing as a free lunch.
The words flashed through Shi Yan's mind, and he immediately sensed something was wrong. He hurriedly said, "You two, excuse me."
Without waiting for them to respond, he flew straight into the Silver Flying Ship before him.
"Whoosh!"
The Holy Sound Ship sped away, leaving Blood Orchid Ancestor looking furious.
"Old man, you just wait!"
After cursing Star Lord Beichi, Blood Orchid Ancestor immediately pursued in her own Palace Supreme Treasure.
"..."
Star Lord Beichi wasn't angered by the curse. Instead, he shook his head helplessly. "Who has Blood Orchid teamed up with? The God Eye Race? The Skeleton Race? Isn't she afraid they'll turn on her and take everything? Never mind. At least I did what I could."
Star Lord Beichi hadn't come here specifically to help Shi Yan. He had no particular connection with him, but he and Blood Orchid Ancestor had been neighbors in the Black-Veined Stone Pillar Space for so long that they had formed a bond.
Blood Orchid Ancestor wasn't strong enough to take Shi Yan down on her own. Star Lord Beichi had quickly guessed that she had found allies.
Only a handful of forces in the Universe Ocean could surround and kill a powerful True God, and none of them were benevolent. Star Lord Beichi didn't want to see Blood Orchid Ancestor walk into a trap.
But she was determined to go through with it, and there was nothing he could do.
Meanwhile, Blood Orchid Ancestor chased Shi Yan relentlessly in her Palace Supreme Treasure, her expression complicated. As a True God, she was no fool. She understood Lord Black Lotus's concerns and Star Lord Beichi's well-meaning warning.
But every True God was steadfast in their convictions. Blood Orchid Ancestor had made up her mind and wouldn't change it easily.
"So what if it's the God Eye Race?" Blood Orchid Ancestor had lost all her earlier amiability. Her lovely face was filled with murderous intent, and the blood-red flowers around her seethed with bloodlust, making her seem even more ferocious.
"This Time Beast God is unbelievably fast. At this rate, he'll shake me off before long." Blood Orchid Ancestor stared at the distant Silver Flying Ship as it raced away.
The ship's silhouette blurred, occasionally leaving afterimages, as if it were traveling back and forth along the timeline. It had reached an astonishing speed of four hundred thousand times the speed of light. Nearly all True Gods had a maximum speed of only tens of thousands to just over a hundred thousand times the speed of light. Speed wasn't easy to improve, and the faster one became, the harder it was to go faster still.
"I need to find a way to slow him down!" Blood Orchid Ancestor's thoughts stirred, and she transformed into her true form, hundreds of millions of kilometers long.
The two traveled one behind the other. Although Shi Yan was fast, they had only opened a gap of a few hundred thousand kilometers in that short time. Blood-red vines swiftly overtook the white ship.
"Strangulation!"
At her icy command, countless vines coiled toward the Holy Sound Ship. Pale green light flowed through them. This was Blood Orchid Ancestor's only attack-type Supreme True Treasure, always fused with her vines. No one knew what it had looked like originally.
"Chaotic Space-Time!"
"Lightning Prison!"
Inside the Holy Sound Ship, Shi Yan unleashed his domain Secret Technique and his Supreme Treasure, his expression turning grim. His domain slowed Blood Orchid Ancestor's vines considerably.
But the vines, fused with a Supreme True Treasure, surged with overwhelming might. Even Shi Yan's domain could do little to weaken them.
On top of that, the vines were so dense that Shi Yan's speed was still greatly affected. With this interference, teleportation was also out of the question.
Seeing that Shi Yan wouldn't be able to shake her off anytime soon, Blood Orchid Ancestor quickly contacted the God Eye Race. "God Eye True Master, where are you?"
"We're close to the Black-Veined Stone Pillar Space. We'll reach it in about a day," God Eye True Master replied at once.
"The Time Beast God realized something was wrong and ran, but I'm holding him up now. Here are the coordinates. Hurry and surround him." Blood Orchid Ancestor sent the coordinates to God Eye True Master.
"This is... near the Divine Fire Prison." God Eye True Master glanced at the coordinates Blood Orchid Ancestor had sent and immediately pinpointed Shi Yan's location.
When it came to detailed maps of the Three Great Forbidden Lands, the Two Great Holy Lands ranked first, and the God Eye Race came next. In the original story, Luo Feng had obtained a map from the Black Token Space he received from Master Wuhun of the God Eye Race, and used it to fill in the map of the Inner Domains of the Three Great Forbidden Lands with remarkable detail.
One could imagine that the God Eye Race's maps of the Three Great Forbidden Lands were even more comprehensive, and that they had even explored parts of the core regions.
"Second and Bi Yan, you'll go together. Third and Seventh, you two go together. I'll go alone." God Eye True Master quickly assigned everyone their roles.
The God Eye Race had sent five True Masters this time, leaving Fourth True Master and Fifth True Master back with the clan.
Although there were only five of them, the God Eye Race had once obtained a complete ancient inheritance. With the strength of their seven True Masters, any two working together could unleash power close to the Ninth Order. As for God Eye True Master himself, he possessed true Ninth Order strength. Even when facing Original Ancestor one-on-one, he could only be suppressed.
It could be said that the God Eye Race's current strength at the True God level was something even the Two Great Holy Lands probably couldn't match. Thus, only the God Eye Race had the confidence to surround and kill other True Gods.
"Understood."
"Yes, Teacher."
The other four True Masters quickly followed God Eye True Master's instructions and went their separate ways.
"Whoosh!"
Two Palace Supreme Treasures flew out of God Eye True Master's Supreme True Treasure, the "Eternal Palace," and sped off in different directions. God Eye True Master then sent a message to Blood Orchid Ancestor. "Blood Orchid, we've split into three groups to surround the Time Beast God. Don't let him escape."
"Don't worry, God Eye True Master. With me here, he won't get away for at least ten or fifteen days." Blood Orchid Ancestor quickly assured him.
"..."
Having received Blood Orchid Ancestor's assurance, God Eye True Master didn't send another message. Instead, he slowly closed his eyes.
At the same time, a massive halo appeared behind his head. At its center was a huge, fleshy eyeball, as if grown from flesh and blood. It gazed into the boundless void ahead, as though everything in the world were visible to it. Faintly, it could make out a Silver Flying Ship darting through the Divine Fire Prison.
"Hmm?"
God Eye True Master suddenly frowned. The white ship reflected in his giant eye suddenly split into nine, and the nine ships traveled in different directions.
"Different timelines can actually affect my calculations with the God Eye?" God Eye True Master was astonished. He had become a Universe Supreme Being through his mastery of the God Eye, and no one in the entire Universe Ocean could match his skill at divination.
What was more, the massive halo was also a Supreme True Treasure, one that complemented his God Eye. Together, they made his already powerful ability to calculate things virtually unrivaled.
He hadn't expected the technique to hit a wall against Shi Yan. A faint sense of foreboding rose in God Eye True Master's heart, but he immediately dismissed it as absurd.
God Eye True Master had great confidence in his clan. The God Eye Race had sent out most of its forces, carrying no fewer than eight Supreme True Treasures. He didn't believe that a newly ascended Universe Supreme Being without even one Supreme True Treasure could escape.
"Nine timelines. Three of them are heading in roughly the same direction. Let's go that way." God Eye True Master withdrew his Secret Technique and set off in the direction with the highest probability.
Before you continue