It was not a rout. It was a strategic retreat. The beast withdrew most of the Black Tide into its body and curled itself into a tightly packed sphere.
The Devouring patterns on its scales all lit up. It was using a defensive stance to reduce its expenditure.
No more fighting. Just waiting it out.
It was betting that Chen Hao would give out first. After all, he had only just broken through to the True God Realm, and his foundation was unstable. The longer this dragged on, the more likely something might change.
Chen Hao did not pursue it.
He needed time too. The three thousand origins had fused too quickly. They had been poured into him, not comprehended one by one through his own efforts.
The cooperation, coordination, and interplay between those laws all needed to be gradually honed in actual combat.
Fifty years of exchanging blows had been the best possible training ground.
He sat cross-legged in the void and closed his eyes.
Within him, the Three Thousand Great Ways began shifting from "operating independently" to "flowing into one another."
Space joined with time. Karma intertwined with Fate. Life and death linked end to beginning. The Five Elements circulated without end. Yin-Yang transformed into one another.
Three thousand rivers became a single ocean.
The seventieth year.
The Gold-Eating Beast sensed something was wrong.
The aura pouring from the man sitting motionless in the void with his eyes closed grew denser by the day. So dense that the pressure began deforming its spherical defensive posture.
It could wait no longer.
It had to launch its final offensive before Chen Hao completely integrated the three thousand origins. Otherwise, it would not even be able to escape.
The Gold-Eating Beast spread its scales. All the Black Tide within its body