Swallowing the Stars: 100x Return for Teaching Apprentices

Chapter 159 Seeking the King in the Time-Space Prison

hum~~
Ripples spread through the void, and an ancient sword-shaped spaceship, dark gold in color and faintly marked with cloud-like patterns, appeared.

In the spaceship's control room, Qi Yuan, clad in dark gold armor, looked at the scene in the void, his expression one of utter shock.

In the endless void in front of the spaceship, an incredibly large, dreamlike 'cloud' that seemed to cover half the universe floated in the void.

The entire 'cloud' twisted and spun wildly, forming a huge abyss vortex shape, within which mysterious 'bubbles' could be seen constantly floating.

Occasionally, a 'bubble' would be shattered by the surging energy, and one could immediately see what appeared to be a world within it collapsing along with it—

The earth shattered, mountains and rivers were destroyed, and everything was instantly washed away and broken down into particles of dust that were almost invisible to the naked eye by the endless surging stream of particles!
"This is the Time-Space Prison!"

Qi Yuan's Shangqing clone watched the shocking scene in the void, while his mind rapidly replayed a large amount of information about the scene before him.

The Time-Space Prison is the most dangerous and highest-level battleground in the Ninth Extraterrestrial Battlefield.

Those who venture here are all powerful individuals from various factions who have reached the level of King or Immortal!
The Time-Space Prison is a strange place naturally formed by time and space in the secret realm where the Ninth Battlefield is located. The energy range of the entire strange place is nearly 16 light-years.

Within this 16 light-year range, there is an endless, violent, and chaotic force of spacetime. The tides of this endless force of spacetime converge and violently churn and twist, forming a massive nebula vortex that seems to be constantly devouring and rotating!
Within this vast nebula vortex, where layers of spacetime tides converge, endless energy surges collide, forming relatively calm and safe zones—the 'bubble worlds' that Qi Yuan can see today.

However, although it is a safe zone, with the fluctuation of tides and the change of time and space, the original safe zone may instantly turn into a 'desolate place'!
In these isolated 'forbidden lands', time and space are cut off, and even the power of teleportation and divine kingdom teleportation is distorted and affected, making them unusable.

To escape this desolate land, one must forcibly cleave through the 'world membrane' of the desolate land and then fly through the surging tide of spacetime energy outside.

However, within this spatial prison, the chaotic spatial forces converged to create an energy surge that reached an unbelievable level of ferocity.

In that most core part, even the divine body of a cosmic lord would be instantly torn apart if it entered, let alone those who have been granted the title of king and immortal!

Therefore, if an ordinary Immortal King were to be swept into the depths of the vortex nebula by the tide of spacetime energy while in the 'Forbidden Zone', it would be no different from waiting to die!

And this is the origin of the name 'Time and Space Prison'.

However, in such an extremely strange environment, special materials and treasures containing powerful spacetime energy are occasionally born.

These materials and treasures are extremely suitable for crafting time-based or space-based weapons, and each one can fetch a considerable price.

In addition, when the various races joined forces to open up the extraterrestrial battlefield, many natives living in this secret realm who did not have time to escape rushed into the depths of the Time-Space Prison for refuge.

Although most of them were swept away and annihilated by the soul attacks of those cosmic venerables who opened up the extraterrestrial battlefield, many of their corpses and some of the treasures they carried fell into the depths of the Time-Space Prison.

Such a dangerous place, where even the divine bodies of cosmic venerables could be torn apart upon entry, naturally those venerables would disdain to risk their lives for the treasures of ordinary natives.

Some of the indigenous people's treasures were thus left behind. As the tides within the Time-Space Prison change, some treasures that were originally deep within the Prison may be swept to the outside by the energy tides, becoming another 'opportunity' in this Prison.

The unique environment that nurtured treasures, the relics of the native inhabitants, and the special environment where a large number of powerful individuals gathered naturally attracted more powerful individuals to come here to explore and fight.

According to the information obtained by Qi Yuan, the number of Kings and Immortals from various factions gathered in the Time-Space Prison is in the hundreds of thousands, which is no less than the number of Star Tower areas described in the original work!
"According to the information I have obtained, there are at least a dozen 'pseudo-King-level Invincible' powerhouses active in this Ninth Battlefield who are confirmed to possess treasures at the 'Great Treasure' level. There should be many more who have secretly obtained great treasures without making it public."

"However, no matter how well such a person disguises himself, he should still have some behavior that is different from ordinary people of the same level. If we observe him with a purpose, we should be able to find some clues. I can explore and test the improved secret technique while keeping an eye out for some special information."

Qi Yuan pondered for a moment, then steered the spaceship rapidly toward the massive, constantly twisting and rotating nebula ahead.

Wangshan is a dead horse.

Even though the distorted vortex nebula clearly covered half of the universe, the spaceship, traveling at almost the speed of light, still took nearly ten days to get close.

whoosh whoosh~~~
A colossal nebula vortex, with endless, turbulent currents of spacetime constantly twisting and eroding it.

At the troughs where layers of temporal and spatial turbulence and tides collide and cancel each other out, enormous 'bubble worlds' float continuously.

As the tides ripple, these 'bubble worlds' surge and move, sometimes approaching the outer edge, sometimes being swept away by the undercurrents and instantly disappearing into the depths of the nebula vortex.

Worlds collided one after another, sometimes shattering and sometimes being born, making the spacetime around the nebula vortex extremely chaotic.

After getting close enough, Qi Yuan put away the spaceship and continued flying deeper into the area.

In such a chaotic spacetime region, even the spaceship's navigation system is greatly affected, making flight on its own the more reliable way to travel.

"Chi chi chi~~~"

The initial area was alright, but as they ventured deeper, spacetime began to distort, and extremely chaotic spacetime turbulence began to wash over Qi Yuan's body.

"With such active spacetime energy, even the laws of perception have become a bit easier. This environment alone is a treasure trove for cultivators who practice the Dao of Spacetime!"

Qi Yuan felt the constant surge of spacetime power washing over him, but a slightly surprised smile appeared on his face.

"This way, we can hunt down our targets while also using the environment here to cultivate."

Qi Yuan began to delve deeper into the enormous 'nebula vortex' from its edge, his body shifting tens of thousands of kilometers with each movement. Chaotic tides of spacetime energy constantly crashed against him, but were easily neutralized by his dark gold battle armor.

The deeper one goes into the Time-Space Prison, the more violent the energy tides become. Even Universe Venerables dare not venture into the core area, but the turbulent tides at the outer perimeter are something that even a peak Marquis can barely withstand.

woohoo~~~
After flying for about ten days, Qi Yuan finally approached the nearest 'bubble world'.

From a distance, they look like bubbles, but up close, each 'bubble' is frighteningly large, some even comparable to some of the huge land fragments seen in the Thousand Islands Domain!
"Entering these bubble worlds is quite simple; all you need to do is use enough power to isolate yourself from the outer spacetime barrier."

Qi Yuan recalled the information he had collected before coming here, while his palm shone with a dazzling light of gold and silver.

"Wow~"

With a wave of his hand, a blade of light, combining gold and silver, shot out and sliced ​​a huge gash in the almost invisible 'membrane' in front of him.

Qi Yuan quickly entered through the crack and immediately found himself in a completely new world.

The silvery-white desert stretches as far as the eye can see.

Here, time and space are no longer chaotic; there is even a gentle breeze rippling through the air.

However, at the very edge, in all directions, at the very top of the sky, there are invisible barriers that prevent any approach. One can only vaguely see the colorful and dazzling turbulent currents of spacetime constantly washing and flowing outside the 'membrane'.

"The flow of time here."

The moment he entered, Qi Yuan immediately sensed something.

He quickly made a judgment by using the connection between his clone and his main body.

"The flow of time here is almost three times slower than in the normal primordial universe, roughly the same as in the initial universe. It's amazing that even the flow of time has been altered in a naturally formed place!"

Qi Yuan had researched a lot about the Time-Space Prison beforehand and already had a good understanding of the situation of these 'bubble worlds'.

Each 'bubble world' is formed by chance after the convergence of extremely chaotic spacetime turbulence. Therefore, the flow of time and the stability of space within the bubble are extremely uncertain.

In the 'bubble world' he had just entered, the flow of time was slower than in the normal region of the original universe, but the stability of space was about the same as in ordinary space.

In some bubble worlds, time flows much faster than in the outside world. Sometimes, you might spend almost a year in a bubble world while only a few days have passed in the outside world!
In other worlds, the space is extremely fragile. A mere burst of power from an ordinary novice King could cause the entire bubble world to collapse!

at the same time……

Countless 'bubble worlds' are constantly in motion.

In other words, even if you remain motionless within a bubble world, your coordinates relative to the original universe will constantly change over time.

Moreover, detectors, world projections, and telekinetic exploration can only be used within a certain bubble world; they cannot penetrate this bubble world to reach another world. Teleportation can also only be performed within this bubble world.

As for teleportation to the divine kingdom, it can still be done in some of the outer bubble worlds, but once you go deep into the core, the extremely chaotic spacetime energy may prevent even a stable divine kingdom passage from opening.

The bubble world that Qi Yuan entered was only about one billion kilometers in diameter. He quickly finished exploring it but found nothing of value.

"This bubble world in the outer area has probably been explored countless times. If we want to gain anything, it seems we need to go even deeper."

Qi Yuan pondered to himself.

According to the summaries of countless immortal kings who have ventured into this place, there are two ways to delve into the Time-Space Prison.

The first method is to directly fly through the chaotic spacetime tides outside, which is the most direct and effective method.

However, the downside is that it consumes too much of oneself, especially when one goes deeper and the spacetime tides become increasingly violent, even annihilating the divine bodies of those who have achieved immortality.

The second method is to find a relatively 'active' bubble world and stay inside it, letting the external spacetime tides sweep over you. As this bubble world floats and moves, you can wait until you move to the vicinity of another bubble world and then take the opportunity to enter it.

This method is relatively safe, but the downside is that the destination is very difficult to control, and which direction to go is mostly up to chance.

Qi Yuan's divine power has now reached tens of millions of times that of a World Lord. Even without wearing any armor, he can roam freely in this outer area. Therefore, he naturally chose the simplest and most direct first method.

Over the next three months, Qi Yuan began to fly deeper into the Time-Space Prison.

As they delved deeper, the spacetime tides became increasingly chaotic and violent. In some places where spacetime was severely disordered, an undercurrent surged forth, as if spacetime itself had shifted, instantly transporting Qi Yuan hundreds of billions of kilometers.

In other places, he felt as if he had been flying for ten days or so, but by comparing with his other clones in the outside world, he found that only half a day had passed in the outside world.

Therefore, although it only took three months to travel by air, Qi Yuan had already traveled more than one light-year into the depths of the Time-Space Prison due to various coincidences!
During his journey, he would occasionally enter random bubble worlds to explore.

On this day, while exploring a larger bubble world, Qi Yuan finally made some unexpected discoveries—

(End of this chapter)