In one of the Great Thousand Worlds within the Primordial World.
An old man in purple robes opened his eyes and began calculating on his fingers.
"Hongjun is dead?"
"He's vanished from every time, space, dimension, and even every world!"
"The Journey to the West World has been devoured too!?"
"Who did it?"
"The Taotie Law?"
"E...den..."
A sharp glint flashed through his eyes. He immediately summoned all his disciples.
Several hours later.
His disciples, scattered across the Great Thousand Worlds, gathered before him.
"My disciples, I have calculated the location of the Taotie Law."
At those words, the disciples cried out, "We are ready to serve!"
The old man in purple nodded faintly.
"Good."
Specks of golden light flew from his fingers and entered the disciples' foreheads.
The disciples who received the light nodded and cupped their fists.
"We understand."
With that, they vanished from the spot.
Once the square was empty, the old man in purple gave a strange smile.
"These snacks should be enough to feed the Taotie Law.
I hope to obtain the complete Taotie Law when the time comes."
In Eden.
Thanos was preparing for the next invasion.
His idea was simple.
Rather than waste time searching worlds one by one and then expend vast amounts of energy breaking through their barriers, he could build a Portal instead.
It would let weaker people at the Transcendent Level cross over and disrupt a world's story, throwing it into chaos and making it easier to invade.
Once he had that idea, Thanos knew what to do.
He needed to build a small Portal that could quietly slip past a world's barrier. Its energy level did not need to be high, so it would not attract the attention of the world's will.
But he did not specialize