Outside, in empty space.
The vastness of the universe would always be more than humanity could fully comprehend. In this seemingly chaotic, vast emptiness, three miniscule figures shot through the void. No matter how fast they moved, they couldn’t stir up the slightest ripples.
“Nothing!” They stopped within the void of space, but all they saw was pitch-black nothingness. When they looked behind them, they could dimly discern a few planets, but from this distance, they looked like specks of dust.
The one who’d just spoken was the incarnation of Supreme Treasure, the Great Sage. He was currently wearing his and Fairy Zixia’s matching couple outfit.
He raised the Ruyi Jingu Bang, and his Fiery Eyes of Truth flashed, like two bright lamps amidst the darkness of the void.
He surveyed his surroundings, then put his hands to his eyebrows and crouched down, as if searching for something.
“Monkey, what’s going on with you? We trusted you, and now you’re telling me you lost track of them?”
Yang Jian’s thick eyebrows shot up, and he glared. This trio was, naturally, the one who’d gone off to investigate the Outside and the era-destroying giant beast: the Great Sage, Yang Jian, and Fox Queen Su Liu’er.
“Didn’t you say you could see it with your Fiery Eyes of Truth? We’ve been on that big lug’s tail all this time, yet now you’re saying you lost him?”
This group had come to investigate the primordial giant beast, and survey the place where the earlier scouting expedition had fallen.
In a way, they were lucky. When they arrived, the Ender was still there, enjoying his delicacies. They naturally saw the bodies of the scouts it had killed, too; due to the lack of gravity, their mangled corpses still hovered in space.
When the three of them saw the beast, as expected, they attacked. It was just as Su Liu’er said earlier: the beast in the video really did have a surging, powerful aura. Although they were imperial lords, they couldn’t help but tremble when they saw it.
However, when they actually crossed blades with it, they discovered…
The giant primordial beast wasn’t as fierce as they’d imagined!
They couldn’t deny that it had some real strength, but it mostly just relied on its enormous body.
This was its advantage, but its attacks were too simplistic. Or rather, it wasn’t particularly bright, and it could only attack in the most primitive, bestial of ways.
When it encountered Yang Jian’s trio, its fate was sealed.
After clashing for less than half an hour, the thousand-foot-tall primordial giant beast was grievously injured. It knew it was no match for them, so it scurried off in a panic.
Although it was huge, that didn’t influence its agility in the least. Or perhaps this sort of chaotic void was advantageous to beasts like it. Either way, Yang Jian, the Great Sage, and Su Liu’er couldn’t catch up with it right away. They could only keep after it, following the smell of its blood.
However, due to their long journey, they’d long since entered chaotic space.
Fortunately, after becoming rulers, their need for oxygen was far less severe.
Although the chaotic void of outer space lacked the atmosphere humans needed to survive, the three of them could absorb other elemental essences to sustain their bodies and prevent suffocation.
However, this unusual environment still restricted their divine senses’ range to under a thousand meters. Even Yang Jian’s celestial eye’s range could only extend about two thousand meters.
Only the Great Sage’s Fiery Eyes of Truth could see clearly, even from ten thousand meters away. That was why the task of forging the path ahead naturally landed on the Great Sage’s shoulders.
Who would have thought that, just a pot of tea’s worth of time later, the Great Sage would lose sight of their target!
“Monkey….” Yang Jian sighed, stretched out his hand and pointed at the Great Sage, but a long time passed without him saying anything.
They’d lost the wounded Ender’s trail, which meant they’d lost their only lead, and they couldn’t truly investigate the Outsider Gods’ situation. Fortunately, they wouldn’t be returning from this expedition empty-handed; at least they’d learned that the Enders weren’t as vicious as they imagined, and that they were at most imperial kings. If the scouting expedition had enough rulers, they could have killed it themselves. The giant beasts’ attacks were too simple, and it lacked the ability to think. This gave humans and sentient yao an advantage against it.
Unusually, the Great Sage had no retort. He knew it was his fault they’d lost the giant beast’s trail. He’d been so confident earlier, patting his chest and guaranteeing nothing would go wrong, only for this to happen.
“What do we do now?” The Great Sage licked his lips, and his expression wasn’t quite natural.
“What else can we do? Let’s just go back and tell Ye Zichen and the others what we found. Hopefully it’ll be somewhat useful.” Yang Jian shrugged.
Honestly, he wasn’t at all willing. They’d already chased it this far. Just a little more, and they were sure to catch it. They might even find the Outsider Gods’ nest.
The Third Era’s biggest disadvantage was how mysterious their enemies were.
They didn’t know how many experts the Outsider Gods had, nor did they know where they lived.
It was because of all this uncertainty that the people of the Third Era lived beneath such a dark shadow. Even more stifling, even when the Outsider Gods’ offensive failed, they could just hide in their lair and recover. The Third Era didn’t know where their nest was, so they could only defend bitterly.
They were so close!
Yang Jian clenched his fist, but unwillingness wouldn’t help them now.
They’d lost their only clue. The era-destroying giant beast had definitely found a safe place to nurse its wounds, and even if they lingered here, it might very well have returned home already.
Even if they stuck around, it would be of no use.
Perhaps, if they waited until the beast recovered from its wounds, it would bring its clansmen back to make trouble for them.
Although the three of them were elites even among imperial lords, and they could defeat several era-destroying giant beasts on their own, they had no way of knowing just how many beasts would attack at once. Also, Ye Zichen had told them that the beasts were only the lowest-ranked of their enemies, and that they were led by sentient divinities.
These divinities’ cultivations were undoubtedly even higher, and they might very well be beast masters.
With the Outsider Gods to lead them, the beasts’ lack of sentience, their biggest disadvantage, might very well become an advantage.
The Great Sage agreed to follow their path back from whence they’d come, but they didn’t begin their journey back right away. They knew full well that the true decision-making power lay with Su Liu’er.
They’d come to the space Outside following Su Liu’er, after all.
“Liu’er.”
The Great Sage was still Yuan Hong’s older brother, and he was relatively close to Su Liu’er.
He turned to her and whispered, but she didn’t respond at all. When he took in her expression, he saw absolutely no intention of returning.
“Shall we go back?” The Great Sage couldn’t help but ask, and Yang Jian nodded, only for Su Liu’er to shoot another hundred meters further into space. Since she cultivated the Breath of Ice, her long hair had long since turned silvery white.
Strands of her long, silvery hair fluttered about despite the complete absence of winds in outer space. She raised her palm and fired off the Breath of Ice’s cold energy in an endless stream. “If you want to go, go. I refuse to believe that a mere wounded beast can escape from right under three imperial lord’s noses. It…. is absolutely still nearby! If it thinks it can hide, I’ll just have to freeze it out!”
