1 Endless Stardust

The scent of blood permeated the air, filling the battlefield with its dreadful presence. The landscape around was tinged with red, bearing witness to the instant eruption of millions of beings into a mist of blood.

At the center of the chaos, hovering in the sky, stood a humanoid creature engulfed in burning black flames.

"Your efforts always seemed ridiculous to me," the figure spoke disdainfully. Its voice echoed throughout the battlefield, laden with arrogance and superiority. "Four mere humans in the Divine Origin Realm truly believed they could challenge a Divine Emperor Realm." The creature expressed a twisted smile, resembling a sadistic demon.

"The first one is already gone."

A wave then spread across the battlefield. This overwhelming power shook the remaining experts. Their thirst for blood only intensified.

Dozens of kilometers away, a trail of destruction stretched as evidence of the intense clash. The ground was cracked and desolate, and the sky seemed heavy with the residual energy of the battle. The natural laws of the world appeared to have been broken, space contorted, and the air vibrated with a sense of chaos.

At the end of this path of desolation, a majestic mountain lay reduced to a pile of rubble. Broken and collapsed rocks formed a devastated landscape. Among the debris, the body of a human lay sprawled, his exposed bones suggesting lifelessness.

Not a single part of his body remained intact, and his blood stained the surrounding ground.

As darkness nearly engulfed the man's eyes, his weakened gaze turned towards the rubble. A dull glow emanated from it. A faint ancient aura could be sensed.

He spewed out pieces of his organs along with a mouthful of blood and crawled towards the glow.

It was a ring of rustic appearance, with a bluish hue that exuded a mysterious aura. It seemed to be made of a deadly metal. Carved on the surface of the metal, numerous mystical runes caught one's attention, radiating a power that seemed to envelop the very soul of whoever observed them.

"This could be a spatial ring," the man thought, without hesitation in attuning his senses to the ring.

Upon doing so, a vision unfolded before his eyes, revealing a vast space intended for item storage. However, to his disappointment, the space seemed empty, devoid of anything inside.

A sense of frustration began to arise, but as the man attuned his spiritual energy with the ring, his eyes widened slightly. An expression of surprise and even amusement lit up his face as if he was about to burst into laughter.

***

Flames burned the battlefield. A middle-aged man was filled with horror; his condition was terrible. He had black wounds, rendering him unable to heal. Just as he was dealing with the flames, a bolt of lightning struck. A black spear appeared.

At this critical moment, he pulled out a dragon-scale shield, which was green as emerald and bore ancient immortal runes on top. This was his divine protective item.

BOOM!

The lightning spear landed directly on the shield, instantly shattering it. But the middle-aged man also escaped with his life, although the explosion gravely injured him. His own physical body was almost broken.

"Hahaha, you all can die now!" the humanoid creature laughed, but soon after, its expression turned ugly.

A pillar of light emerged from the depths of the cosmos, causing the stars to tremble in their splendor.

The creature's eye sockets ignited with two divine runes shining brightly in its eyes. This was the same creature that was causing havoc on the battlefield a moment ago, the Divine Emperor! However, all the confidence from before had completely disappeared. Majestic wings sprouted from its back, while a sinister horn rose from its forehead. Driven by its primal instinct, it unleashed all of its power, causing the earth to quake and stirring the astral energy around it.

A rift in the fabric of space descended from the heavens, radiating an aura of pure and transcendent Yang energy. Its destructive Qi was felt as a divine punishment. As it approached, the entire space seemed on the verge of shattering under the imminent strike of a single devastating blow.

*BOOM!*

All the creature's actions were for naught. The creature began to disintegrate before everyone's eyes, its body fragmenting into particles, merging with the air, and turning into a sinister red cloud. The bloody mist undulated in the air, exuding a metallic and morbid odor. It was as if the creature's malevolent essence merged with the environment, leaving only traces of its terrifying presence.

***

A few years later, on a small blue planet with a sky filled with sparkling stars, a couple found themselves atop a peak amidst a stunning backdrop of multicolored flowers. There, sitting hand in hand, they shared an intimate and special moment. The woman radiated a bright smile, overflowing with newly found joy and happiness.

She emitted a natural radiance, and her captivating smile illuminated the surroundings. Her presence exuded grace and charm.

The man, with a slightly shy expression, revealed his genuine happiness, filled with the love that encompassed that special day.

That was the day they got married. The magical ambiance and deep connection between them made that moment a true fairy tale, sealing their love in a unique and memorable place.

"This ring has given me a second life. Now, it represents our second life together." Engulfed in a moment of deep connection, he gently slid the ring onto her finger. Their gazes met, conveying a mixture of intense and sincere emotions.

Within the astral space of the ring, a bright and small fragment of his soul resided.

The planets comprising this region were looked upon with disdain, and their exploration seemed of little value. The Qi present there was so weak and shallow that even cultivators experienced an uncomfortable feeling as if their own life force was withering. Naturally, this planet wasn't part of the Higher Plane, the Divine Plane.

He was Zeck, an Overlord. He was also the one who gave the Divine Emperor Realm humanoid creature the finishing blow. Only three other cultivators could match him in battle in the same Universe. In his 20,000 years of life, he had many enemies. His family was killed when he had just started cultivating in the Mortal Plane. Upon entering the Divine Plane, he had an Elven lover. She was then killed by a demonic beast because he was too weak to protect her.

This woman now was merely a mortal cultivator. Despite never disclosing her planet of origin, he could never be at ease when he had to return to the Divine Plane if he couldn't take her with him.

However, his thoughts were stopped as sudden ripples in space appeared. A sense of danger immediately sprouted in Zeke's soul. He looked towards space. Soon, he realized he was one step behind. Divine runes emerged and connected. A formation was activated, capturing the entire planet.

"God Sealer Formation..." His soul trembled; he realized he had been ambushed.

"I will speak with some acquaintances; I'll be back soon, Lyn." Fear took over every fiber of his being, replacing any trace of anger or hatred that might exist. In the midst of this inner darkness, he could barely feel anything else; his focus was completely consumed by the fear that overwhelmed him. Nonetheless, he left to meet those who put the formation in place.

Two of the other three Overlords of the Universe silently waited outside the formation they had just activated, immersed in their own thoughts. Just at that moment, their eyebrows furrowed. An abrupt change in the air filled the surroundings as a powerful aura erupted violently, permeating the space around them.

One of them, a man with a middle-aged appearance, looked at it and began to speak. "We know you are here, Zeke. Hand over all the artifacts and secrets you found on the battlefield that day," spoke the middle-aged man with a grave expression. "The peace in our Universe comes from the balance among the four major sects. If you surrender everything, we will divide it equally among ourselves."

Taking a deep breath, Zeke's eyes gleamed with a cold light... "The ring was the only thing I accidentally stumbled upon. It was able to turn the tide of the battle because it contained a remnant of primordial Qi. You know very well I only destroyed that evil creature because of it. Also, it was enough for just one strike. I even gave it to you to confirm the ring's power for yourselves."

Zeke closed his eyes and continued. "You have no intention of negotiating. The formation has already been fully activated. You waited for me to lower my guard and trapped me within the formation. Now you want my life. My sect will be divided among you. The artifact was just an excuse," he spoke with his overflowing murderous intent.

The middle-aged man snorted. "Your life is not as valuable as the power you have gained."

Zeke looked at the middle-aged man's expression, seeing all the greed and pleasure he was taking in his actions.

"You need to watch this closely," the middle-aged continued with his meaningless pretense, not minding Zeke's words at all. "We will destroy this planet and see if you're willing to hand over the artifacts or not."

When Zeke heard the words, his eyes slightly lost their color. He was completely incredulous... The formation illuminated as its annihilation power was activated. Under a shocked gaze, Zeke's pupils shrank to the extreme. That power destroyed layers of space that crashed into that blue planet.

In the blink of an eye, the small blue planet was split in half before disintegrating completely, turning into countless blue fragments. Everything was quickly turning into nothingness in the face of that overwhelming power.

The scattered fragments transformed into endless stardust, spreading a long river of stars. Then, under the devouring power, they were destroyed into an even smaller cloud of dust... until everything returned to the absolute void.

Zeke froze in place and didn't move. His eyes widened in shock, and his mouth opened in a silent scream of anguish. In the past, his family was killed without him being able to react. The image of a young female elf that had always haunted him also came to mind.

Now his wife and love was killed...

He couldn't protect anyone...

All the memories of her... all of them, in his colorless eyes, forever turned into magnificent and terrifying dust. Under the power of this divine formation, even the stars in the low, Mortal Plane were weak and insignificant.

Divine tattoos began to manifest on his skin and body. He was taken over by a terrifying transformation. Intricate and mysterious lines spread rapidly, plunging every inch into a deep black, as if darkness itself were incarnated there.

A sinister aura erupted from his being, eclipsing the light that once surrounded him. Now, he radiated dark energy, charged with a bloodthirsty and savage ferocity. It was as if the essence of a demon had been awakened within him, giving him an intimidating and fearsome presence.

Those who witnessed this transformation couldn't help but shudder, as it became clear that something dark and powerful had been unleashed. The life-sustaining Qi no longer mattered to him. He knew that within this formation, a Divine Emperor would easily meet their demise. Let alone him, someone in the Divine Origin Realm.

In a mix of regret and hatred, the energy of his life exploded from the depths of his soul, completely out of his control. With a deafening roar that echoed through the skies, this individual's self-created divine ability reached its peak. In a dazzling display, all the celestial Yang laws bowed before the Heavenly Yang Judgment.

Fire and Lightning Qi converged into a single powerful divine strike, displaying an unparalleled intensity. The divine slash cut through space, defying the limitations of reality, and struck the formation with unmatched force. The resulting impact was overwhelming, unleashing a wave of destruction that reverberated throughout the cosmos.

The middle-aged man was alarmed and activated the formation once again. However, it hadn't fully recovered from its previous use.

*Boom!*

Half of the formation runes dimmed. But it managed to defend against Zeke's last desperate attack.

A slight smile appeared on the middle-aged man's face. However, a second later, he felt that something was wrong with his Qi.

"Myriad Corrosive Poison!" The middle-aged man's accomplice said, as he was also affected by it. That was feared and cursed divine ability among divine cultivators was employed. Its creator collected over ten thousand distinct and exotic toxins, using them ruthlessly to poison their enemies.

The formation was already weakened, and the initial strike had only made a path through the barrier. Quietly, a small poison arrow hit its targets. Although the infiltrated poison couldn't kill them immediately, it would remain in their bodies like a curse from a vengeful demon, consuming them slowly.

After Zeke delivered his final blow, his eyes lost the spark of life, and he took his last breath. He was dead.