"The next war?" Li Chen looked at the Heavenly Dao with confusion.

"That’s right." After a pause, the Heavenly Dao smiled again, "Perhaps, I should say the war after next."

The Heavenly Dao didn’t explain, but Li Chen knew, with the Supreme Asura Realm still intact, the war that shattered the Seven Realms hadn’t occurred yet.

"Is it the World-Destroying Beast?" Li Chen couldn’t help but ask.

The most powerful being he had encountered was the World-Destroying Beast. The Soul Splitting entities that emerged from it had already disrupted the Four Realms, and if the Beast itself appeared, it was likely that no one in the Four Realms could fend it off.

"Yes, and no." The Heavenly Dao shook its head, "According to my calculations, the World-Destroying Beast is just one part, and we may face even stronger enemies."

Upon hearing this, even Li Chen couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart.

The World-Destroying Beast could devour the entire Starry Universe, ultimately becoming the Creation Beast.

Yet such an existence is only part of it?

What is that even stronger enemy?

"You don’t understand now, nor do you need to know. When the time comes, you will witness it with your own eyes." The Heavenly Dao looked at the sky above, then smiled, "Perhaps you’ll see it soon."

Li Chen indeed didn’t understand, merely looking at the Heavenly Dao with confusion.

The Starry Universe was all he knew, and the World-Destroying Beast the strongest being he was aware of.

But... does an enemy even more terrifying than the World-Destroying Beast really exist?

"You carry the Luck of the Great Realms, it seems ’I’ must have made a desperate gamble." The Heavenly Dao laughed, found a spot with many fallen leaves, casually sat down, and waved to Li Chen, "Sit."

Li Chen obediently came to sit beside the Heavenly Dao.

Currently, he was indeed very powerful, so powerful that even Soul Realm experts found it hard to deal with him.

But compared to this being before him, it was like comparing a glowworm to the bright moon.

Furthermore, this analogy wasn’t exaggerated, even somewhat modest.

"Actually, our Seven Realms civilization is not the first generation of civilization of this Era." The Heavenly Dao casually uttered a shocking statement.

"This Era? First-generation civilization?"

"That’s correct." The Heavenly Dao nodded, "The birth of each World-Destroying Beast and the death of each Creation Beast marks the end and beginning of an Era, and our Seven Realms don’t actually count as the first-generation civilization of this Era."

"Before the Seven Realms civilization, were there even older civilizations?" Li Chen couldn’t help asking.

"That’s correct." The Heavenly Dao nodded, "This conclusion was forcibly deduced after I inherited the Supreme position, stealing the Power of the Heavenly Dao from all Seven Realms when there were no other masters of Heavenly Dao in the Six Realms, and after finding some clues."

"After an Era ends, theoretically, all life, civilization, even traces of everything within should completely vanish without a trace." The Heavenly Dao spoke gravely, "But exceptions always exist!"

"And if you want to find this exception, only one place can offer it. Coincidentally, after hundreds of millions of years searching in the Starry Universe, I finally found that place!"

Saying this, the Heavenly Dao’s gaze tightened, "Based on my deductions, our Era is somewhat different from previous Eras! Or rather... vastly different!"

"Different?" Li Chen’s curiosity was piqued, "In what way?"

"Our Era...is too long!" The Heavenly Dao’s gaze was strange, "According to deduction, our Era may be several times longer than previous Eras combined!"

Li Chen asked, "Is an Era’s Time fixed?"

"Not fixed, but it doesn’t vary much. At least from the traces I’ve found, previous Eras didn’t differ greatly in length. However, our Era is peculiar, as the World-Destroying Beast should have been born long ago and started devouring the Starry Universe, but sensing recently, the World-Destroying Beast has just been born."

Saying this, the Heavenly Dao’s eyes squinted slightly, "Originally, this might be good for beings in our Era, but for me, it poses a new hypothesis!"

"The World-Destroying Beast was born in previous times, but... was killed!"

Li Chen felt a tremor in his heart, "Isn’t the World-Destroying Beast unkillable?"

"Correct, for us in this Starry Universe, the World-Destroying Beast is indeed unkillable. No matter how powerful we become, at most, we can Seal it, not kill it, because it itself is part of this Starry Universe, killing it would require destroying the entire Starry Universe." The Heavenly Dao nodded.

"But..."

The Heavenly Dao didn’t continue, seemingly apprehensive, looked up, and gently shook its head.

Seeing this demeanor, Li Chen didn’t press further and changed the topic, "Then what civilization preceded our Seven Realms civilization?"

"From remnants and Relics I found, it seems to be a civilization completely different from our Seven Realms cultivator civilization... a Mechanical Civilization." The Heavenly Dao showed a thoughtful look in its eyes.

"This Mechanical Civilization was very powerful, likely not weaker than our current cultivator civilization. I even found some Relics hinting at battles with the World-Destroying Beast." The Heavenly Dao slowly spoke.

Li Chen felt a shiver in his heart.

He finally understood why the Heavenly Dao suspects the World-Destroying Beast was killed.

The Heavenly Dao sensed the World-Destroying Beast was just born, but if previous civilizations belonging to the same Era had already birthed the World-Destroying Beast, then where did the Beast from ancient times battling with past civilizations go?

Vaguely, hearing the Heavenly Dao’s narrative of these eternal mysteries and guesses, Li Chen felt an undeniable chill.

It was as if, in the nether, an invisible hand manipulated everything in the Starry Universe.

And that nether hand was so powerful, so mysterious.

Even the Heavenly Dao, arguably the strongest being in the Seven Realms, could only guess, unable to confirm anything.

The Heavenly Dao, while guessing, harbored deep fear, some thoughts buried in heart, afraid to speak.

"So, what kind of enemy is it?" Li Chen’s heart sighed.