Chanelle spoke unhurriedly.

"We once promised him in the name of the Golden Holy Mountain that from that moment onward, the Visca Galaxy would be his territory. As long as he had the ability to hold it in his palm, what would it matter even if he occupied the entire galaxy?"

"As for excessive plundering that damages the vitality and balance of those worlds, that is indeed somewhat improper."

Chanelle paused for a moment.

"However, Faustus is currently facing an unprecedented crisis. He needs a massive amount of resources to exchange for Origin Crystals in order to maintain his survival. I hope you can understand the hardship behind this."

"As for demoting him..."

Chanelle raised her brows slightly.

"I do have a suggestion."

"Oh?"

"How about this? I will make a few more trips to the Origin Universe and gather more Origin Crystals. We can moderately raise the points required for exchange, thereby compensating the Golden Holy Mountain for its losses. What do you think?"

"After all, the largest customer for Origin Crystals right now is still Faustus. Consider it as Faustus contributing a modest effort to the Golden Holy Mountain in another way."

Chanelle’s proposal was watertight, like a soft blade that left Noxis’s anger with nowhere to land.

Daniel needed resources.

Because no energy could be absorbed within the Chaosverse, but Origin Crystals contained pure energy that could be absorbed.

And Origin Crystals were a specialty product of the special universe known as the Origin Universe.

Only Oracle-grade beings were qualified to set foot there.

Therefore, Daniel could only obtain Origin Crystals through the Golden Holy Mountain’s exchange channel.

This was his only path.

After hearing this, most of Noxis’s anger faded.

He let out a long sigh, filled with deep helplessness.

"Your care for Faustus has truly reached the point of meticulous concern. Even the most loving elder treating their most cherished junior might not go this far."

"Since you are so certain of his future, then we will do as you say."

Chanelle merely nodded lightly, unconcerned, and said nothing more.

"The Endless Starsea has always been this cruel and real."

Chanelle sighed silently in her heart.

"Faustus, what I can do for you is ultimately limited..."

"The rest of the road depends entirely on your own Fortune Points and the edge of your sword."

...

The Chaosverse.

The tenth year after the Chaosverse was sealed.

The entire Chaosverse had fallen into unprecedented chaos.

The Order Faction and Chaos Faction no longer slaughtered each other, because both great factions had already fallen into enormous internal turmoil.

Internal upheaval was far more bone-piercing than external war.

Moreover, under this hellish situation...

What meaning was there in fighting over territory?

What use was there in plundering mountains of wealth?

Supreme-grade powerhouses could no longer climb upward. Demi-sages were nailed outside the threshold. Divine-grade powerhouses could not move an inch. Even Oracle-grade beings were like birds in cages!

Everything had turned into empty dust.

And what was even more suffocating than this was the chess player hidden behind the curtain!

An Eternal Sage, a supreme-grade existence standing above the Time River.

Not a single living being in the entire Chaosverse could resist such mighty power.

Even those Forefathers who lurked behind the great forces and had lived through countless eras were like startled birds, not daring to voice even half a complaint.

When that Eternal Sage led His army to tear open the firmament and descend into this place, the life and death of every living being in the Chaosverse would hang upon a single thought from Him.

Perhaps it would only take one sentence spilling from His lips.

Perhaps it would only take one contemptuous glance from the corner of His eye.

And so, despair seeped silently into the hearts of every living being like a plague, corroding their will and devouring their reason.

The Chaosverse had been chaotic before, but at least there had been the two reins of the Order Faction and Chaos Faction, chains that restrained the raging beast.

But now, the chains had snapped, the reins had burned away, and everything had fallen into an even more chaotic, even more frenzied abyss.

Nineteen years ago,

in an unknown galaxy, thousands of supreme-grade powerhouses could no longer endure the torment in their hearts and launched an unprecedented massacre.

Eighteen years ago,

hundreds of demi-sages captured all living beings within a galaxy and imprisoned them in an arena, forcing them to slaughter one another purely for amusement.

Fourteen years ago,

a Divine-grade powerhouse raised his butcher’s blade in the endless void and destroyed countless living beings in his plane one after another...

Five years ago,

within the Astral Realm, an Oracle-grade being suffered a collapse of the heart.

Once, he had been a prodigy of extraordinary talent, a rising star of hope within a great force.

But one day, he suddenly went mad.

For powerhouses who had climbed to the peak, even long stretches of time and loneliness were ultimately nothing more than a string of numbers.

The true reason he fell into madness was...

Despair!

He began frantically killing every living being within his sight.

Every time he killed one, he released a crazed sound that was half-laughter, half-sobbing, like a mournful elegy.

"Damn it... I can never advance to T4 Oracle-grade again!"

"My Sacred Tribulation will eventually descend... but now I cannot advance... death is only a matter of time... hehehe..."

When there was no hope of moving forward, the despair carried by time became deadly poison!

"Why should I be the only one trapped in the abyss of despair while all of you enjoy peace..."

"Die with me... hehe... fall into eternal darkness with me... hahahaha..."

That Oracle-grade slaughtered countless powerhouses, and in the end, he was personally killed by one of his closest friends.

It was said that those two Oracle-grade beings had been brothers with extremely deep affection.

And all of this had happened within only a short dozen years after the Chaosverse was locked down.

If even more time passed...

The consequences would be unimaginable.

If one could not absorb energy from heaven and earth, one could not advance.

The bodies of living beings would gradually wither, like flowers that had lost their spring water, slowly wilting beneath the blazing sun.

If one could not advance in Rank, then even those mighty powerhouses who once shook the world would eventually have a day when they turned into yellow soil.

Moreover, the tribulations of Oracle-grade beings were the coldest judgments between heaven and earth.

Once the time arrived, the tribulation would descend as promised.

Those Oracle-grade beings who could not accumulate strength and could not advance would ultimately be reduced to ashes beneath those tribulations, without even bones left behind.

The saddest part was that no one knew when the shackles placed upon the Chaosverse would finally be undone.

...

The Astral Realm.

Faustus walked between heaven and earth, passing through one plane after another that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

Many years of bitter cultivation had still failed to bring him the dawn of advancement.

He wanted to come out and walk around, to brush away the gloom in his heart.

He arrived at a certain plane and unexpectedly encountered many old acquaintances there.

"Faustus?!"

Harris raised his eyes and looked at him, complicated emotions interweaving in his gaze.

"Wasn’t he meditating this whole time?"

Udi murmured to himself, his voice carrying a trace of daze.

"In the current Astral Realm, he is probably the only one still attempting to advance."

Igor sighed softly, and an inexplicable sense of admiration rose in his heart.