128: Chapter 128: The Time Demon Clan

Extreme North.

Dark magma churned, and toxic smoke burned through the firmament.

Dozens of Platinum-tier Calamity Fire Spirits, standing several tens of meters tall, stood at the volcanic crater.

The bone-like halos behind them rotated slowly, gazing longingly downwards.

There, millions of Heaven-Devouring Zerg were trampling over the ashes of their companions, rushing towards the magma.

At first, the Fire Spirit felt quite annoyed by this swarm of bugs that came in droves every day to throw their lives away.

The Heaven-Devouring Zerg's base camp was in the New Continent, too far from the Extreme North.

Furthermore, the strongest big brothers among the Fire Spirit were currently in seclusion deep within the magma, attempting to break through the Diamond-tier barrier.

Without a leader, the Fire Spirit couldn't be bothered to make a long-distance assault to the New Continent for a counterattack.

They could only defend passively, brandishing their Karma Fire whips to burn these annoying black-armored bugs into ashes.

But as time passed, the attitude of the Fire Spirit changed.

They began to enjoy this endless slaughter.

There was no other reason than the sheer quantity of Zerg sent every day was simply too high.

Moreover, the current Heaven-Devouring Zerg, having been baptized by the essence of Plane 093, were of a very high tier, with their carapaces containing abundant biological Origin.

When the dark, grayish Karma Fire burned through the Zerg carapaces, igniting their flesh and blood along with their Soul, it released quite pure energy.

This energy flowed back to the Fire Spirit along the Karma Fire.

To the Fire Spirit, these high-tier Zerg were no longer annoying flies, but top-tier fuel.

In the magma lake, a thirty-meter-tall Platinum-tier Fire Spirit inhaled deeply.

From the hundreds of thousands of burning Zerg corpses ahead, large swaths of grayish-black firelight rose.

The firelight, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, surged into the Fire Spirit's mouth and nose.

The bone-like halo on its back erupted with dazzling radiance, and the Karma Fire on its body surged several times over, its aura approaching the Platinum Peak.

"Roar!"

The Fire Spirit let out a satisfied howl.

The abundant fuel not only enhanced the strength of the existing Fire Spirit but also greatly accelerated the reproduction of the race.

The birth rate of the Fire Spirit ushered in an unprecedented surge.

Originally, it took ten days to half a month to gestate a few hundred new Fire Spirit from the magma.

Now, hundreds of newborn Fire Spirit broke through the magma every day.

The Fire Spirit lined up early every day at the edge of the volcano, waving their fire whips, their eyes filled with a craving for fuel.

On the outskirts of the Extreme North.

Tens of thousands of Tyrant Demons squatted on the ground.

Holding dark, high-energy metal embryos in their hands, they chewed with a crunch, sending sparks flying.

Watching the bugs rushing madly towards the Fire Spirit, the metal embryos in their hands suddenly didn't seem so tasty anymore.

If not for the Creator issuing the oracle that "The Violent Demon Race is restricted to internal conflict, and interference in external battlefields is strictly prohibited," they would have already rushed in to have a go.

A battlefield of this scale was undoubtedly a paradise for the Violent Demon Race.

The Mother Nest emitted a low rumble, discharging another batch of metal embryos.

The current kin of the Divine Domain.

Whether it was the Demon Vultures in the sky, the Bone Fish in the ocean, or the Heaven-Devouring Zerg underground.

Their bodies all possessed, to varying degrees, the characteristics of living metal.

Having undergone multiple evolutions, the Arsenal had long possessed the ability to directly digest the biological corpses within the Divine Domain and convert them into metal embryos.

Thus, Lin Yuan let the Arsenal's resource supply run freely.

If the Violent Demon Race wanted to eat high-tier metal embryos, they had to find ore veins themselves, find corpses, or go kill for corpses.

Then drag them to the Arsenal to be digested.

And because the population of the Violent Demon Race was relatively small, there were simply not enough corpses to go around.

Consequently, some quick-witted Violent Demons developed a brand-new way to play.

Recruiting underlings.

A Golden Peak Shadow Abyssal Demon named Gul ran to the edge of the New Continent.

He beat the leader of a crab swarm that possessed one hundred thousand [Oscillating Liquid Metal Crabs] until it knelt and begged for mercy.

Gul didn't kill them; he unilaterally established a master-servant contract.

The one hundred thousand crabs became Gul's private laborers.

Their daily task was to fish for Bone Fish corpses in the Styx and pick up Heaven-Devouring Zerg remains on the wasteland.

Then they would drag them back to the Central Basin in droves and throw them into the Mother Nest's intake.

The Mother Nest would spit out metal embryos, and Gul would lie to the side and take them all.

This capitalist method of "reasoning with others" quickly spread among the Violent Demon Race.

The Violent Demons set out one after another, running to the peripheral areas to press-gang laborers.

The Demon Vultures in the sky, the Bone Fish in the Styx, and even some stray branches of the Heaven-Devouring Zerg were all forcibly incorporated by the Violent Demons.

Some powerful Violent Demon leaders even had hundreds of thousands of underlings under their command.

Larger than the direct guards of some small chieftains.

A strange ecology appeared throughout the Wasteland Divine Domain: Violent Demons sat in the rear, commanding swarms of sea and air creatures and Heaven-Devouring Zerg to pick up trash.

And in the center of the basin.

The total population of the Violent Demon Race had already broken through the six-million mark.

The area of the basin had expanded a hundredfold, and the scope of the Blood Abyss Sea had surged accordingly.

But five million Violent Demons still seemed crowded.

The rules remained the same.

The most core area of the Blood Sea was occupied by the Tyrant and several hundred top-tier Violent Demons attempting to reach the Diamond-tier.

The circle further out consisted of tens of thousands of Platinum-tier elites.

Further out were those at the Golden Peak.

Those lacking strength were kicked out of the basin to stay in the peripheral areas.

The hierarchy was strict, and order was maintained.

No Violent Demon dared to overstep the bounds.

Strength determined your survival position in the basin.

Outside the Time Light Cocoon.

In the Void Realm turbulence.

A starship pieced together from white bones was docked at the edge of the crystal wall of the Wasteland Divine Domain.

On the starship's deck stood thousands of humanoid creatures with hunched figures and grayish-white skin.

They had no eyes, and on both sides of their cheeks grew slits resembling fish gills; in their hands, they held bone daggers emitting spatial fluctuations.

The leader lay on the edge of the starship, feeling the fluctuations of the Time Law emitted by the silver light cocoon ahead.

"Time acceleration period... and it's a nascent world that has just completed a tier upgrade."

The leader's voice was deep and hoarse, revealing extreme greed.

He saw the black-red tree roots piercing through the crystal wall, taking root in the Void Realm turbulence to absorb energy.

"A plant core that can directly extract Void Realm energy! A divine object! An absolute divine object!"

The leader was trembling with excitement.

A newly upgraded world had not yet fully stabilized its Laws.

The kin inside were often still in an adaptation period and were at their weakest.

Plus, the Creator could not intervene during the time acceleration period.

This was the perfect prey.

"Tear open the time barrier and sneak in. Kill all the natives inside, and dig out the Origin of that plant!" the leader issued the command.

Several wanderers carried a black pointed cone and walked to the bow of the starship, aiming it at the Divine Domain crystal wall.

In the center of the Wasteland Divine Domain.

On the hundred-thousand-meter-tall trunk of the [Liquid Metal Blood-Devouring Demon Tree], a liquid metal human face slowly emerged.

It sensed the movement outside the crystal wall.

A few hundred little bugs, not even reaching the Transcendent tier, were poking its house with toothpicks.

The Demon Tree instinctively wanted to mobilize the root system rooted in the Void Realm to directly crush the bone starship along with the bugs on it.

But the next second, the liquid metal human face stopped its action.

The master's voice echoed deep within the core: "As much as possible, do not interfere with the slaughter, reproduction, and resource distribution of the kin below. You just watch."

The Demon Tree's nascent intelligence began to function.

The bugs outside were very weak.

The strongest one might not even be able to beat the big metal guys soaking in the Blood Abyss Sea.

Letting them in wouldn't damage the Foundation of the Divine Domain.

It could also give the kin below, who were bored out of their minds all day, something to do.

Logical closed loop.

The Demon Tree's human face let out a silent yawn.

The outline merged back into the trunk and disappeared completely.

It turned over and continued to sleep peacefully, extracting Void Realm energy.

...

Starry Sky University, library leisure area.

"Let me tell you, that auntie serving food in the Third Canteen definitely has space-type divine arts. Every time she serves me meat, her hand shakes, and the meat just disappears into thin air!"

Lin Yuan sat opposite, flipping through the "Encyclopedia of Strange Abyss Species" in his hand.

He turned a page.

The title on the page caught his attention.

[Starry Sky Wanderers]

Lin Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly, and he carefully read the text below.

"At the junction of the vast starry sky and the endless abyss, a group of wandering races without a fixed plane is bred."

"They do not establish Divine Kingdoms, do not develop faith, and live purely by plundering and parasitizing."

"This race has extremely complex branches; the following are several high-risk branches."

Lin Yuan continued to read down.

[Branch 1: Time Demon Race]

"Characteristics: Proficient in time gap traversal, this branch is born with mastery of a Void Realm wonder, specializing in targeting Divine Domains that are in a time acceleration period and a closed, unmanaged state."

"They can precisely locate the weak points of the time light cocoon and tear open cracks to sneak in. During the years when the Creator cannot perceive them, they slaughter kin, drain the earth veins, and plunder the Origin of core buildings. When the time acceleration ends and the Creator returns, what they often face is a completely dead and silent ruin."

[Branch 2: Ore-Devouring Race]

"Characteristics: Absolute earth vein affinity. Small in stature, skilled in Void Realm escape techniques. They are not keen on head-on combat but instead descend directly into the underground of the Divine Domain through Void Realm traversal. They specialize in stealing high-tier minerals, Abyss Source Crystals, and Divine Domain associated ore veins. They steal and run, making them extremely difficult to capture."

[Branch 3: Astral Parasite]

"Characteristics: Meteorite camouflage and parasitism. They transform themselves into dormant Void Realm meteorites, allowing the Void Realm turbulence to smash them into the interior of the Divine Domain."

"After landing, the parasite wakes up and quickly searches for the core plant or building within the Divine Domain. It forcibly merges, absorbing the resources provided by the Creator from the inside, and eventually usurps the nest."

[Branch 4: ...]