The King of the Boundless? What's that? It sounds intimidating.
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, showing interest.
If the problem here were simply a bizarre Secondary Dimension with strange rules, it would be a bit troublesome. But since it's actually a conscious life form capable of communication, it's much easier to handle.
It felt like being in the deep sea, with immense water pressure hitting him from all sides, overwhelming him. But this pressure only made his body tense slightly, causing almost no harm. Compared to the power field of the Dragon Emperor, this force was not even a massage; it was more like wearing a tight-fitting suit.
Secondary Dimension World are extremely dangerous, but once you reach the Peak Beyond Grade A, most dangers are no longer a threat. Especially since he is one of the best among the Peak Beyond Grade A, as long as he is not an anomaly like Federation of All Stars, there shouldn't be any major problems.
Han Xiao hovered in place, ignoring the pressure around him, his body remaining perfectly still, and asked curiously:
"What is this 'King of the Boundless' you're talking about?"
As soon as he finished speaking, another mental message arrived, carrying an even more authoritative aura:
"The King of the Boundless, born from the black sky storm and rising from the void, is the lord of millions of dimensions and the hunter of countless worlds. Any life form that sets foot on his territory is a servant under his royal authority!"
Wow! The art style suddenly became magical.
"That's impressive, such a long title, it's almost as high-class as mine."
Han Xiao secretly grinned.
He sounds like a powerful dimensional deity dwelling in a deeper Secondary Dimension. If an ordinary Beyond Grade A encountered him, he might be in mortal danger... Unfortunately, he is not an ordinary Beyond Grade A.
As he pondered, the voice grew stronger, like a great bell tolling in his mind, echoing with a powerful buzzing sound:
"Alien life form, leave immediately, or I will expel you!"
"Why don't you give it a try?"
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, mobilizing the cells in his body as if activating miniature reactors, and suddenly pumped out his energy.
Laugh!!
A golden arc of electricity shot out of the body with a bang, leaving a scorching trail of light, as if splitting the surrounding black sea.
He flipped his palm, and a ball of pale blue Psionic Energy emerged from his palm, unleashing spherical shockwaves that seemed to stir up endless ripples on the surface of the sea.
Although we don't know what's going on in this Secondary Dimension, the previous attempts were ineffective, most likely because there wasn't enough energy.
Fearing that he might injure Harrison and the expeditionary fleet, whose whereabouts were unknown, Han Xiao did not unleash too much energy at once to destroy the entire Secondary Dimension. Instead, he controlled the energy output power, increasing it step by step.
At first, nothing changed; the burst of energy seemed to sink without a trace, causing no reaction. But after a while, the black liquid substance that filled the entire space began to vibrate slightly, as if it had exceeded its tolerance limit, stirring up large waves, like squid tentacles on a hot plate, whipping and turning.
Rumble--
Amidst the tremors, Han Xiao sensed a series of powerful, surging currents shooting towards him, and at the same time, a needle-like pain shot through his brain, indicating that he was being attacked on a mental level.
But for him, it was like a tickle; his eyelids would fill up with blood as soon as he blinked.
This black liquid substance is strange; it rendered his energy perception ineffective and his detection radar malfunctioning, preventing him from locating the other party. He could only force the other party to reveal itself through violence. If this is a dimensional consciousness, then the dimension itself is the other party's body. Releasing energy within it is equivalent to constantly giving the other party an enema, and the other party will eventually be unable to withstand it.
Before long, the tremors in the entire space became extremely violent, as if it were about to explode and disintegrate at any moment. The mental attacks that came at them became weaker and weaker, and they were already carrying the emotion of pain.
Han Xiao glanced around and squinted, saying:
"Aren't you coming out yet? Do you really want me to burst you?"
As soon as the words were spoken, the pressure around them suddenly eased, and the black liquid substance contracted completely, as if it had formed a vortex. The Black Sea surged into it, like the plug being pulled from a bathtub full of water.
As the Black Sea receded, Han Xiao's energy perception quickly returned, and his vision returned to normal.
This Secondary Dimension was a vast, white world, devoid of anything, like a nascent Secondary Dimension that had not yet fully formed, or as if all matter had been swept away by the receding Black Sea.
In the distance, a black vortex, growing smaller and smaller, floated in the sky, sucking up all the black matter and about to open a spatial rift, desperately trying to escape.
"Run? I'll break your legs!"
With a wave of his hand, Han Xiao conjured up a series of mechanical soldiers, one after another, accompanied by arcs of Mechanical Force, creating an illusion of soldiers appearing from scattered beans.
The mechanical troops that appeared immediately released a binding force field, grabbing the black mass and preventing it from moving. They also used a specially made space device of Secondary Dimension version to repair the spatial rift torn open by the object.
This black liquid substance had strange properties; it was slippery to the touch. However, under the control of Han Xiao's mechanical troops, it was still fixed in place, turning into a high-density liquid mass that kept changing shape, thrashing left and right as if struggling.
At the same time, mental fluctuations continuously radiated outwards from the liquid, losing their previous solemnity and replaced by shock and anger.
"Alien life form! You will pay the price for your actions; the King of the Boundless will demand it from you!"
Han Xiao ignored them, instructing the mechanical troops to increase the binding force field. He then took out a cylindrical container and, like a whale swallowing the ocean, filled it with the substance, compressing it into a fist-sized liquid mass that floated in the container. Tiny arcs of electricity clung to the mass, causing the liquid to tremble violently and in great pain.
This was equipment he had specially made when capturing Primordial Esper Ability Entity; he never expected it would also be applicable to this strange substance.
Once inside the confinement container, the liquid finally calmed down. Han Xiao tapped the outside of the container with his finger and asked curiously:
"What are you? And didn't a fleet pass through here recently? Where did you take them?"
"So you're looking for those people. Looks like you're a high-level life form from the prime material universe!" The liquid's mental fluctuations were unstable, already tinged with fear, but quickly turned into rage. "I'm just one of the Guardian of millions of dimensions. I've already offered them up to the King of the Boundless. Go find Him if you dare!"
"Tribute?" Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. "Tell me everything you know... Fine, seeing you're not cooperating, I'll just interrogate you."
Han Xiao infused Mechanical Force, and lightning flashed and thunder roared inside the container, forming a miniature ion thunderstorm. The liquid was like an insect trapped on an electric mosquito swatter, crackling and popping from the shock.
After some torment, Han Xiao finally managed to extract the information he wanted from the other party.
This liquid life form is essentially an energy field life form, born in a Secondary Dimension of nurturing field-like life. These black liquid substances are the outer shell given to it by the so-called King of the Boundless. It claims to be one of the Guardian of millions of dimensions and a confidant of the King of the Boundless (this is questionable). Its name, transliterated using common language, is Babu Aenica, which translates to "erosion" or "devouring."
The King of the Boundless used this black substance to devour matter and energy from various dimensions, transforming them into his own "territory." He occupied this area and had a large number of Guardian under his command, stationed in each dimension he had conquered.
Harrison's fleet was indeed captured by him. Through the special connection between the black liquid substance and the King of the Boundless, he used dimensional teleportation to send them to the King of the Boundless's "King's Land"—this is the main job of Guardian like Babu Aenica: intercepting passing life forms and sending them to the King of the Boundless, a practice known as "offering tribute."
"Tsk, looks like if we want to get him out, we'll have to go find this King of the Boundless... With Harrison's luck, running into something like this, I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing."
Han Xiao stroked his chin.
He pondered for a few seconds, shook his head, changed into the mecha specifically for dimensional travel, set the coordinates given by Babu Aenica, and headed towards the location of the King of the Boundless.
In the center of a Secondary Dimension, on a massive platform resembling black crystal, Harrison floated in mid-air, his eyes closed as if he had lost consciousness, yet his face remained contorted in pain.
A black, mist-like energy streak connected one end to his brow and the other end to a giant black finger, with light flowing across it.
The owner of the finger was a black entity the size of Mountain, humanoid in shape, with several heads and numerous arms, currently seated on a black throne— the King of the Boundless.
After a while, the King of the Boundless withdrew the energy shards, and Harrison lost his levitation power, falling onto the platform and remaining unconscious.
"Interesting. That tree has found new prey; I can harvest sweet souls again..."
The King of the Boundless let out a low laugh, but to others it sounded only as a frenzied roar.
As powerful entities in Secondary Dimension, the souls of life forms are rare delicacies, but they cannot fully descend into the primary matter universe. They can only project a portion of their power. Moreover, the primary matter universe is incredibly vast, and without coordinates, one can only wander in the boundless starry sky, making it difficult to find any life.
At this moment, he absorbed the memories of these life forms in the prime material universe, learned the coordinates of the three great Tu Shu Civilization and a wealth of information, and also learned that the famous World Tree Civilization was at war with them. In his eyes, this was a feast for harvesting souls.
Under normal circumstances, even a powerful dimensional entity like him would fear the power of a cosmic-level civilization and would not want to provoke it.
However, if a cosmic-level civilization is embroiled in war, the situation is different. He still has the audacity, and a great deal of audacity, to take advantage of the chaos and plunder.
"You've provoked that tree, your end is near. Heh heh, it's better to become my food than its slave... But the World Tree actually has a weakness—its true form? I've never heard of that before."
The King of the Boundless moved his body, making a rustling sound, like countless insects crawling.
Immediately, countless eyes on his body turned to the unconscious Harrison on the platform, their eyes filled with greed and desire, but they quickly restrained themselves.
"It's rare to encounter a life form with such strong fortune. If I were to consume you, my Cause and Effect Power would increase by a level... Unfortunately, the guy behind you is not to be trifled with. It's better to make a deal with him."
The King of the Boundless looked away.
Harrison saw Han Xiao's figure in his memory and learned that the two had a close relationship.
He was wary of the top powerhouses in the prime material universe, and it was precisely because he saw Black Star as a powerful backer that he dared not immediately devour Harrison.
The King of the Boundless knew that this was one of the manifestations of powerful Cause and Effect Power, but he did not intend to violate it, because violating Cause and Effect Power would most likely come at a price. If he insisted on eating Harrison, the price would most likely be that this fierce man called Black Star would come to his door and fight to the death.
Just then, a black substance suddenly fell from the misty sky and floated in front of the King of the Boundless. It contained Babu Aenica's urgent message before she was captured, showing a scene of Han Xiao releasing energy to open up the Black Sea.
"Oh? They're here so fast. It seems that useless Babu Aenica can't escape his grasp and will give me my coordinates. That's fine, I'll wait for him to come looking for me."
Seeing this, the King of the Boundless shifted his body, found a more comfortable position, and waited leisurely for Han Xiao to arrive.
Black Star is powerful and may be able to threaten his life, but the King of the Boundless is not worried at all.
In terms of exploring Secondary Dimension, the World Tree is far ahead of the Three Universal Civilizations. Although the King of the Boundless has no interaction with the World Tree Civilization, he knows how to send messages to the World Tree Familia.
The intelligence he obtained from the expedition's memories included the coordinates of the Secondary Dimension territories of the Three Universal Civilizations, as well as various other data. This was the best leverage he could have, and he believed the World Tree would be happy to accept this gift.
However, the King of the Boundless had no intention of informing on them, after all, he did not want to have too much contact with the World Tree. In comparison, he was more interested in the visitors from the new cosmic civilization, Black Star.