Chapter 803 Breakthrough to the Eternal Realm
“You... You can resist a black hole’s gravity?”
The moment Hadrian finished speaking, his body vanished into the heart of the black hole.
“Aaargh!”
“No!”
“Help me!”
The screams of the three Machine cultivators rang out one after another, followed by the grinding of their impossibly durable bodies being crushed.
Wrapped in four-colored spiritual light, Kael crossed the void in several rapid flashes and returned to his original position. He stared into the lightless depths ahead.
A furious roar erupted from the center of the black hole.
A mechanical hand vast enough to eclipse the stars reached out from the darkness and clawed at Kael. Its fingers came within tow inches of him before the black hole’s overwhelming pull stopped it.
The black hole dragged the mechanical arm back from afar, stretching it thousands of miles through space. A moment later, the entire arm snapped back into the darkness.
Kael finally released a long breath.
He had exhausted every trace of Origin Power in his body.
Then a terrifying hunger spread through him.
Alarm shot through Kael. He hurriedly took out his Blood Dragon Pills and emptied bottle after bottle into his mouth. It took more than a dozen bottles before the hunger finally subsided.
Unfortunately, that left him with only one bottle of the Blood Dragon Pills he had received from Hadrian.
It wouldn’t last long.
But Kael had prepared for this before luring Hadrian to the black hole.
He looked up at his Galactic Points.
[Galactic Points: 586,323.32]
What? I killed three Eternal Realm cultivators of the Machine Race, and I still don’t have six hundred thousand?
Frustration surged through Kael.
Left with no alternative, Kael poured all his Galactic Points into his cultivation.
[Human King: 788.639]
[Galactic Great Circle: 98%]
[Stage Twenty of the Fiendgod Transformation: 100,000,000/200,000,000]
[Grand Celestial Manifestation: 1/100]
[Sacred Skin—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Tendon—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Muscle—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Organ—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Bone—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Supreme Divine Craftsmanship: 4,500/5,000]
[Divine Alchemy Dao: 50%]
[Basic Inner Cosmos: 299/500]
[Myriad Spirit Eye Tier 1: 15/100]
[Sound Spirit Root: 3%]
He was only two percent away from the Eternal Realm.
The progress bar for the Tier 10 Sanguine Edge had also disappeared.
“You... You actually lured our Patriarch to his death?”
The last Eternal Realm Machine cultivator stared at Kael in disbelief.
Hadrian had already been an Eternal Realm expert when this elder was only in the Nascent Soul Realm. For countless years, Hadrian had been both a legend and a living myth to the Machine Race.
Yet now, the patriarch of the second-ranked race in the universe—the figure he had admired above all others—had been killed by a mere human’s scheme.
Kael drew a deep breath and activated Stage Twenty of the Fiendgod Transformation once more. His spirit sword, Astral Mountain, and the Time Mirror appeared in the hands of his towering form.
If he couldn’t kill this Eternal Realm cultivator and obtain enough Galactic Points, the Devouring Beast would consume him within hours.
This battle would determine whether he lived or died.
“There’s no need to fight him, Kael,” Goldgnaw said. “Come with me to the insect homeworld.”
Kael shook his head and slashed forward with his spirit sword.
The void trembled on the verge of tearing apart. Countless spatial fractures appeared around the blade.
The Machine elder steadied himself and answered with a sword strike of his own.
Neither side’s divine abilities could overwhelm the other. Their enormous swords collided in the void, producing a shriek so piercing that several nearby asteroids crumbled into powder.
Their blades collided again.
Kael staggered back more than a dozen steps, while the Machine cultivator only grew fiercer as the battle continued.
Kael’s Origin Power drained away at an alarming rate. Once half of it was gone, the Devouring Beast inside him would awaken again.
When that happened, Kael would have nothing left to feed it.
Their swords collided for the ninth time.
Kael’s entire body shuddered.
A terrible hunger surged from his dantian and spread through every inch of his body.
The Machine elder let out a mocking laugh.
“The Devouring Beast inside you is acting up, isn’t it?”
Sweat poured down Kael’s face. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t force out a single word.
“It seems you would rather die than refine another drop of Immortal Spirit Liquid for the Machine Race. In that case, die.”
The Machine elder raised his spirit sword and aimed it at the back of Kael’s neck.
Farther away, Goldgnaw hesitated but made no move to interfere.
He had devised an even more vicious plan.
Once the Machine elder severed Kael’s head, Goldgnaw would immediately implant a parasite inside it and take the head back to the insect homeworld.
The Machine elder’s sword descended toward Kael’s neck with overwhelming force.
Just before the blade struck, Kael—who had been curled into a ball from the pain—abruptly raised his head.
Two beams of piercing golden light erupted from his eyes.
“What?”
The Machine elder met the golden light’s glare and froze.
A surge of Spiritual Sense tore open his sea of consciousness and flooded his mind.
His mechanical sword slipped powerlessly from his hand.
The Eternal Realm cultivator went still. Every trace of emotion vanished from his face.
A moment later, his head exploded.
Kael’s soul returned to his own body.
“Aaargh!”
Kael screamed and pulled up his blue robe to examine his lower abdomen.
A rapidly spinning vortex had appeared there.
His cheeks hollowed out in an instant, and his eyes bulged from their sockets. After consuming all the energy stored in his dantian, the Devouring Beast had begun devouring his physical body.
Even Kael’s Spiritual Sense was being dragged toward it.
He forced himself to remain conscious and looked at his system panel.
[Galactic Points: 83,265.03]
Put... them... into my cultivation!
Kael forced out the command with the last of his strength.
[Human King: 792.639]
[Eternal Realm: 6.32%]
[Stage Twenty of the Fiendgod Transformation: 100,000,000/200,000,000]
[Grand Celestial Manifestation: 1/100]
[Sacred Skin—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Tendon—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Muscle—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Organ—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Sacred Bone—Fortification: 10,000/20,000]
[Supreme Divine Craftsmanship: 4,500/5,000]
[Divine Alchemy Dao: 50%]
[Basic Inner Cosmos: 299/500]
[Myriad Spirit Eye Tier 1: 15/100]
[Sound Spirit Root: 3%]
[Machine Spirit Root: 0%]
The Devouring Beast went still.
Even so, those few dozen seconds had inflicted tremendous damage on Kael’s body.
He slowly uncurled and straightened, then moved his limbs before examining his dantian.
The rotating galaxy that had once occupied it was gone. In its place hung a pitch-black sphere, with a solitary planet revolving slowly around it.
“So this is an Eternal Realm dantian?”
Kael studied the black sphere again.
Wasn’t it essentially a black hole?
As for the lonely planet orbiting it, that was where he had established his Inner Cosmos.
Kael examined the rest of his body.
His Origin Power reserves were more than five times greater than they had been at the peak of the Galactic Realm. His physical body had become twice as powerful, and his Spiritual Sense had doubled in strength.
More importantly, his Spiritual Sense, Physical Body, and Origin Power had formed an intimate connection with one another.