Swallowed Star
chapter-1422-30041322

Amidst the void space of Universe Ocean, which was filled with chaotic airflow, a battleship was advancing. Inside it was “Jue He True God,” one of the eight great overlords. In another region of the same void space, a nine-story tower was also advancing. Both were heading toward the same destination: the miniature universe of Rampaging Devil God.

At the same time, many other great beings from Universe Ocean were also rushing over to the same destination.

Rampaging Devil God transmitted some information to the various true gods within Universe Ocean at the same time. “Jue He True God. Milky Way Horde Leader. Divine Eye True God. Nine-Headed Demon Master… Just a while ago, the devouring of my miniature universe origin ceased. I have also boarded my palace supreme true treasure and went out to take a look. The Sector Beast is nowhere to be found! It has disappeared!”

The news spread. True god great beings who had rushed over from various other places, as well as many other great beings who had yet to rush over, were shocked.

“Rampaging Devil God, you are saying that it vanished? How long has it been since it started devouring? It has only been a day, and yet, it has disappeared?”

(A “day,” in the context of the pulse of Earth, referred to a frequently used time unit; whereas, “day” in the context of Universe Ocean translated into Earth language would refer to a time conversion unit.)

Jue He True God was shocked. To devour an entire origin of a miniature universe would require eight to ten days. How much could it devour in just one day?

“Rampaging!” Nine-Headed Demon Master also transmitted his message with urgency. “After devouring for only one day, it disappeared? Could it be a true god is engaged in a war with it?”

“No!” Rampaging Devil God replied. “There isn’t a single great being at war with it.”

Divine Eye True Master was also trembling with unease. “It was not subjected to any attacks at all. It merely spent an entire day devouring the origin of a miniature universe. Then, without rhyme or reason, it vanished?”

“Yes,” Rampaging Devil God said confidently. “It disappeared just like that.”

******

Within the nine-story tower, Luo Feng originally still had a trace of a smile. When he received this piece of news, his expression instantly changed.

“Now… this spells big trouble,” Luo Feng said slowly.

By his side, Hong and Fire Dome also wore solemn expressions. There was no fooling around. Everyone could tell that this time around, the action plan of this Sector Beast contained an element of danger.

Hong said in a low voice, “After devouring the origin of the miniature universe for merely a day, it disappeared. Under a situation where there is no great being attacking it at all. From these facts, we can ascertain that it has disappeared voluntarily! If it is because of some special reason, for example, there are movements within the Sector Beasts’ nest that summoned it back. Thus, it needed to leave in a rush. If that is the case, we have nothing much to worry about… But if there isn’t any other factor and it just leaves, we can see that it has learned to be more prudent and more cautious.”

Luo Feng whispered in response, “True. If it devoured this miniature universe for one day—devoured the origin of this miniature universe for just one day—then in just a day’s time, how can we all make it over in time? There is simply no way we can lay siege around it to entrap it! This will make killing it an all the more challenging task.”

Fire Dome replied right away, “This time around, it devours for a day; next time, it may devour for another day. The same miniature universe, upon being devoured for up to seven or eight times… will most probably meet its end like that.”

Hong’s expression was awful. “This is even more terrifying than staring at a miniature universe being continuously eaten away.”

“No rush,” said Luo Feng with a frown. “Let’s wait and see. See what its next step will be! From the next step it takes, we can ascertain… that whether it was acting as such for unique reasons. That would mean it will only do this occasionally. If not, it perhaps has intentions to do this on a long-term basis.”

“Hmm.” Fire Dome and Hong both nodded.

Star Tower came to a halt. Then it remained suspended amid the chaotic airflow within the void space.

******

Within the entire Universe Ocean, all the true gods knew what it signified when a Sector Beast behaved as such. They were all worried. They were all hoping—hoping that it was merely because of a special reason that caused the Sector Beast to behave like that.

Time passed. One day. Two days. One month. Two months… The Sector Beast still had not reappeared.

“Sector Beast did not appear!”

“Previously, when it was devouring Firefly True Master’s miniature universe, the Sector Beast had devoured more than half of the universe. It is definitely capable of devouring much more. Yet this time around, it had only devoured for a day… Then it disappeared for such a long time. Maybe it had some important matters to see to and needed to be somewhere else.”

“Previously, it merely ate for a day before it disappeared. Perhaps it had some other matters to attend to.”

The true gods were earnestly praying that the actual situation was as they discussed.

Nine-Headed Demon Master, Luo Feng, Skeleton Master, and the rest were all of one mind. After all, in the face of the Sector Beast—who was never lacking for methods—they all earnestly wished that there would be more true gods around, which would be much better for them in terms of combining efforts to deal with the Sector Beast.

******

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed since the Sector Beast had devoured the origin of Rampaging Devil God’s miniature universe.

In the chaotic void space—

Hu!

“Oh how comfortable.” The Sector Beast shook its tail leisurely. “Previously, I devoured a portion of the origin of that Rampaging Devil God’s miniature universe. Now, I have already completed transforming it into my– strength! And now my powers are even stronger… Hahaha! Oh, I am simply too intelligent. Within the nest, it would be too difficult to kill and eat another Sector Beast. I would need to wait a very, very long time to eat one. And also, ‘Beddy’ is there! As for here… these miniature universes are just sitting there, without any ability of means of resistance. I can devour them to my heart’s content. My power will continue to increase, and the rate of increase will be much faster than that of Beddy or any of the rest.

“By the time I return, I will become the final king. By then, I will have swept and destroyed all the miniature universes. That’s why I will move on to devour the primal universe. Hahaha…” The Sector Beast was overjoyed and quite satisfied with his plan. “Time for the next one. Who shall I choose?” It considered for a moment. “I shall have to give up on the few most highly skilled ones for the time being. For the next one, let’s make it Eye Devil God.”

Hua!

The sector beast immediately teleported and disappeared within this region of the chaotic void space where it spent slightly more than a day’s time. In terms of teleportation, it was much faster than the true gods of Universe Ocean. In hardly more than a day’s time, it had quickly advanced from a region far from the various miniature universes to the void space containing Eye Devil God’s miniature universe.

“The origin of the miniature universe.” Sector Beast looked at the rough silhouette from afar. “The most delicious food that can increase my power. Let’s begin.”

The Sector Beast stuck out its tongue, which was so long that it resembled the tongue of a frog. It licked its lips, and a black fog started to fill its surroundings. Waves of distorted light started to extend out toward the void space over a distance of light years beyond count, as they penetrated the void space. Then… it started devouring!

******

At that moment, Eye Devil God sat within one of the palaces atop the divine tree. This divine tree was the tallest and oldest divine tree in his miniature universe. Previously, he had used it as a core to establish the structural framework of his miniature universe.

“Not good!” Eye Devil God’s eyes flew open, his colorful face registered shock as he said, “The sector beast is here!”

******

The sector beast was here!

After spending only one day devouring the origin of Rampaging Devil God’s miniature universe, it had disappeared; half a year later, it was back! This made the entire Universe Ocean nervous.

Divine Eye True God was the first to transmit a message. “Eye Devil God, keep a close watch over it. Keep it under your watchful eye. We shall see how long that Sector Beast intends to spend devouring the origin of a miniature universe this time!”

Luo Feng also transmitted a message. “You need to get on board your palace supreme true treasure and make your way over to it. Keep a close watch over it.”

One after another, great beings were transmitting messages over to Eye Devil God.

Eye Devil God, on the other hand, was panicking. He quickly transmitted his message back to the various true gods: “Everyone, I wonder when you all will arrive. I am not a match for that Sector Beast.”

Previously, when he and Hong had gone to the Sector Beasts’ nest to probe for information, he had been seriously injured. He had still not fully recovered. How could he dare to challenge this Sector Beast? Of course, sitting inside his palace supreme treasure to search and investigate was still a manageable task for him.

He was aware that so long as he did not set foot outside the palace, nothing would happen to him.

Luo Feng transmitted his reply. “Don’t worry. We are rushing over now.”

“Milky Way will definitely be there,” Divine Eye True Master said via voice transmission. “Nearer to you will be Skeleton Master, who will also be rushing over.”

******

With the other great beings lending him confidence, Eye Devil God boarded a gray battleship and flew out of his own miniature universe, where he rushed toward the direction of the Sector Beast.

A short moment later…

“Sector beast!”

Eye Devil God took one look at the sector beast in the distance. It was big and sturdy and had a golden body in humanoid form, but Eye Devil Master knew that even universe masters could easily change forms. Undoubtedly, this Sector Beast was a terrifying life form that could transform its appearance easily.

“Sector Beast, get out of my territory!” Eye Devil Master hid within his battleship as he executed his domain type supreme true treasure. Through this domain, he attacked the Sector Beast as he transmitted his orders in angry shouts.

For the Sector Beast, the domain was like an itch. It was not the least bit bothered by it.

“Humph.” The sector beast cast an indifferent glance at Eye Devil God in the distance and said, “Foolish and timid Eye Devil God. The best you can do is to hide in that ship, yet you still think of getting me to leave this place? If you had dared to come out, I would have killed you easily.”

“You…” Eye Devil God was furious, but the sector beast was right. He was afraid to go out. “Loathsome Sector Beast, get lost!”

Eye Devil God burned his godly power to activate his domain type supreme true treasure. Condensing the power of the domain to form a gigantic ribbon, he carried out a long-range manipulation of his treasure to execute his secret technique, whereby he threw multiple attacks at the faraway Sector Beast.

However, this condensed domain—made to form a weapon—would be weaker than a normal attack type supreme true treasure. And it did not have the magnitude of an automaton-type treasure!

Eye Devil God was skilled in illusions and soul attacks, so he knew that the Sector Beast was highly skilled in soul attacks. This was why he had chosen to manipulate a domain attack instead. However, no matter how he attacked, without the magnitude of an automaton-type treasure, and dealing with attacks that were not within his field of expertise, the strength and might of his power were weak. To the Sector Beast, his attacks were like a gentle breeze caressing its cheeks.

“How weak, how weak,” said the Sector Beast, not bothered whatsoever. Eye Devil God’s attacks were not even enough to interrupt its devouring of the miniature universe.

A day later…

“You can hide in that battleship all you want. Your miniature universe will ultimately be eaten up by me. All of it.” Sector Beast laughed without inhibitions. Then, with a single teleportation, he vanished and departed.

Eye Devil God suddenly revealed an awful expression. “Sector Beast. It’s… it’s gone!”

******

“Again, he only devoured for a day!” Luo Feng’s expression was awful, too.

Hong shook his head. “Disaster. Disaster is here.”

******

All the great beings of Universe Ocean heard this news and were furious, but at the same time, they were utterly helpless. The Sector Beast had only devoured the origin of Eye Devil God’s miniature universe for a day. Then it had disappeared once again.

Half a year later, the Sector Beast appeared again. This time around, it also spent a day devouring the origin of Luo Zhen True Master’s miniature universe and disappeared after that.

Another half a year later, the Sector Beast appeared again. Every time it appeared, it would devour the origin of one true god’s miniature universe for one day. Then it would disappear and reappear half a year later.

Why was it always at half-year intervals? There were three possibilities. One, its devouring skills needed a period of time between each execution before it could be displayed again; two, it might require time to digest what it absorbed; three, this was just a unique preference that it had.

11 years later, Luo Feng was so mad that he had to transmit his thoughts on the matter.

“Every time the Sector Beast returns, it appears outside the miniature universe of a weaker true god! I have mentioned this before… Earlier on, I suspected that Great Thunder Star Master, Zhen Jia Emperor, and Dragon Rock Ancestral God were likely from the Sector Beasts’ side. Now, Great Thunder Star Master has died, but Zhen Jia Emperor and Dragon Rock Ancestral God are still alive. They know a vast amount about Universe Ocean. It’s no cause for concern for you all, because all of you mainly remain in your own miniature universes. But as for me, I alone occupy two regions, which were respectively near two miniature universes. Why is it that this region I am at… is always unvisited by that Sector Beast? Could it be that my location is already known to Zhen Jia Emperor and Dragon Rock Ancestral God?”