Chapter 882: Chapter 824: Endless Regret, Sorry Senior

Atabia left quickly; there really wasn’t anything worth talking about.

He traveled through with 3%+1.5% of Matter on him, then left 0.4% of this Cosmos’s Matter behind to anchor this Cosmos’s coordinates, and left.

With a loud splash.

He returned to the present world.

Then Atabia said to the other two:

"You can’t take everything Nokron says at face value. We can’t spend the whole 1.5% Matter in our hands to keep traversing into the future of his Cosmos."

"If we use it up, we’ll end up with five or six Parallel Universes, each ruled by 0.3% worth of Nokrons. That’s way too big a problem."

Minis and Herodotus: "..."

So you’re going back on your word now?

Feeling the looks from the two, Atabia was a bit embarrassed, but still said, "In that situation, if I hadn’t agreed, Nokron would never have let go."

"This is for balance, too."

Atabia was helpless in his heart as well. If Nokron hadn’t been so hard-line, how could he have done something this lacking in conscience?

But from a practical point of view—

He could only do it that way; that was the best choice.

He didn’t know if Nokron was the mastermind or not—madly helping him traverse and deepen his foundations. The risk was enormous!

"In my eyes, Nokron is the most dangerous one, the one most likely to be the mastermind. Of course I have to help the Emperor and Elis resist him and keep a balance—that’s the safest. That way, whoever the mastermind is, they won’t get too strong."

He wasn’t the type to cling to face over his life.

"Next, we go to Elis, the Emperor and the others, prophesy the Future five thousand years for them, and create their second Parallel Universe five thousand years later."

Atabia took a deep breath.

Everyone’s number of Parallel Universes would be the same.

Once this round was done, the Cosmos would have nine Parallel Universes.

He’d truly be like the description of the Future said: each traversal representing the birth of a Parallel Universe.

And he wasn’t losing out!

The work was tiring, sure, but the main point was stacking Minis!

Now there were nine Cosmoses; once he slowly stacked up to eighty-one, Minis would be a true 140-point Renaissance Man!

That wasn’t even that far off.

Jumping that number wasn’t hard.

...

...

"Atabia, you’ll regret this," Nokron said angrily. "I know I’m not the mastermind, so giving everything to me is the safest. Between those two, one of them definitely has a problem."

"Do you not even trust the Dream Garment? I’m the one it chose; you should trust the Dream Garment."

Atabia left behind a quiet "sorry," feeling a bit guilty as he walked away.

Usually he was thick-skinned and black-hearted, but when it came to this kind of going back on his word, his face wasn’t thick enough; he didn’t dare stay.

"This guy broke his promise. He said he’d use all the Matter to traverse the Future of my place." Li Qing watched Atabia run off, his expression odd.

Mighty brows, big eyes, and still playing this game.

But he himself was only pretending to lose out; in fact, he hadn’t lost anything.

Helping the other two traverse their Cosmoses, didn’t he still get the data?

"Heh heh heh, he’ll be coming to apologize to me soon enough."

"Because he’s about to realize the mastermind is Elis. He’ll feel insanely guilty about having helped Elis go after me, after having struck at me before."

Li Qing couldn’t be bothered with him. The guy got scammed and still had to thank him.

After sending off Atabia, Li Qing looked at the intel sent back by his self in that Cosmos and smiled. "One step closer."

However—

Through this traversal, Atabia had also, after Li Qing, sensed the Great Tribulation of Saints: he had to self-abolish his Cultivation and complete and raise the upper limit of his 140 Tao Foundations, or he might not be able to maintain his rule.

"Man, every version has a Saint’s Tribulation."

"I just got through the previous Great Tribulation of Lifespan, and now here comes a Great Tribulation of Tao Foundation."

"Sure enough, if I don’t jump out of the historical development of this era, I’ll always be pushed along by the torrent of history. One Realm Great Tribulation after another at every era node, totally out of my control."

Li Qing didn’t dwell on it.

Instead he looked at the harvest in front of him and let a faint smile show.

Done!

It had taken him a full five Parallel Universes stuck in place, but he’d finally hammered out a preliminary blueprint for Space-Time Fusion.

After grinding so hard for so long, he’d finally got the prototype done; it hadn’t been easy. For this wave he’d gone to every possible length to scheme against Atabia, squeezing his own brain dry.

But now, with Space-Time and Spiritual Essence out in the open, he could start laying out his plans.

"Perfect. Atabia is off to the neighboring Cosmos to find Elis, help her spend money to traverse five thousand years into the Future." Li Qing smiled. "Elis, holding the Spiritual Essence blueprint, becoming the second Saint with a dual Saint’s Seat... she’s showing up right on cue."

"Rise, my vanguard Elis."

...

...

Cosmos No. 04.

One of the four front-line Cosmoses ruled by Elis.

Atabia quickly traversed over and said to Elis, "It’s your turn. Head to the Future five thousand years from now for this Cosmos of yours."

"Alright." Elis smiled. "Let me just finish prepping the five-thousand-year development plan."

Elis had long since made her preparations. In fact, within this Cosmos that she ruled, she’d already found the Volga of this Parallel Universe and used the old tricks to get him under control.

Letting him, in this Cosmos, help with plans and strategy.

She’d drawn up a huge pile of messy secret research projects, driving her future self and her team to work like lunatics for five thousand years.

Then when Atabia traversed five thousand years ahead, she’d just freeload off her Future self.

"I’ve got more experience this time. In the last Cosmos I cooperated with the Light Ancient God; in this Cosmos I’ll use these five thousand years to figure out how to devour and take down the Light Ancient God."

Elis plotted in her heart.

To devour the Light Ancient God was to devour Matter + Life. She had been preparing this devour-life plan for so many years just for this day.

"I hope the moment Atabia descends, it’ll be the instant I succeed." Elis silently prayed.

And in the shadows of this Cosmos—

The Li Qing belonging to this Parallel Universe was also silently scheming: In these five thousand years, I’ve got to give her a hand and help her develop the "Spiritual Essence blueprint."

With a splash.

This time, Atabia once more traversed, entering the Long River of Time, drifting downstream, leaping forward five thousand years.

When he broke the surface again—

He found that the Future Universe ruled by Elis was eerie and terrifying.

The Six Paths of Reincarnation in this Cosmos had actually grown on the Sun. The entire Cosmos was filled with the mysterious and vast aura of the Cosmic Gods, brimming with life, like the opening of primordial times.

"What happened in this Future?"

"How is this possible!? The Six Paths of Reincarnation and the Celestial Dao’s Sun actually fused together? Hanging up in Heaven?"

"This Cosmos... how is this possible!!"

With a thunderous boom—

Atabia suddenly took a long-lost sap to the back of the head.

His head spun; when he came back to his senses, he saw a "Nokron" radiating the wind of Matter, looking at him coldly. "Didn’t expect it, did you? This Cosmos is ruled by me, Nokron, too."

Atabia almost laughed from sheer anger on the spot.

This was Elis’s Cosmos. Five thousand years later, she’d supposedly let Nokron break free from his seal, seize control and take over?

Even a fool wouldn’t buy it.

"So the mastermind is you, Elis. But how is that possible?? With your capabilities... how could you reach the level of holding two Saint’s Seats??"

He truly hadn’t expected that in just five thousand years, Elis had actually managed to take down the Light Ancient God, forming two Saint’s Seats and becoming the strongest in the Cosmos.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t guarded against Elis; it was just because—

It had only been five thousand years!

What kind of aptitude did it take to become a dual Saint?

It was like you were still a PhD in the humanities yesterday, and suddenly the next day you’d become a top-tier PhD in both the humanities and the sciences. That kind of knowledge simply couldn’t be completed in a mere five thousand years! There had to be something off!

"Could it be that from the very beginning, Elis was already..." Atabia was shaken to the core.

So she hadn’t been stupid at all—she’d actually been the best at playing dumb among us?

This woman had spent her whole life acting crazy and foolish, but had always possessed cutting-edge technology far ahead of her time. Even the three of them had been completely fooled by that clear, seemingly stupid gaze of hers.

"Hahahaha!" Elis suddenly burst into wild laughter. Her body flickered, shedding the skin of the Light Ancient God, and the corner of her mouth crooked up. "Couldn’t have imagined it, huh? It’s been me taking action all along!"

Atabia’s face showed clear regret.

He’d never thought Elis was the one hiding the deepest. He really owed Nokron an apology—he’d actually suspected the senior before!

If not for that, how would he have fallen for this scheme? If he’d really spent the whole 1.5% of Matter on Nokron’s Cosmos, then without these five thousand years of Future for her, she would never have had the day to break out of her cocoon and become a butterfly.