The once-peaceful Valley of the Earth Abyss suddenly erupted in violent tremors.

The ground, once as hard and solid as cast iron, now tore apart like fragile paper, shattering into fragments.

Viewed from high above, hundreds of millions of tons of earth and rock churned as if a Giant Dragon were turning over, sending out massive ripples.

Lava erupted, and terrifying heat waves rolled forth like a surging tide, rushing toward the sky.

Suddenly, a thick, pitch-black shadow burst through the ground, lunging toward Hu Qi to entangle him.

A closer look revealed it to be a mountain-sized tentacle, its surface covered in massive, contracting suction cups.

Seeing this, Hu Qi’s eyes snapped open, and the Red Mirror Saber appeared instantly in his hand.

As he raised his hand, the blade began to hum ceaselessly.

CLANG!

The Long Saber left its sheath, slashing straight toward the tentacle.

The Red Mirror Saber, having been infused with the Power of Fortune and nourished by Void Power, was no longer what it once was. Its sharpness and durability far surpassed its former state.

Now, the Long Saber was drawn.

A blinding, crescent-shaped red Sword Light erupted. It was like a colossal mountain suddenly toppling over, carrying an unstoppable, terrifying might as it crashed down.

The moment it made contact with the terrifying black tentacle, the tentacle split down the middle, sliced vertically in two.

After splitting, the tentacle burst into a dense black mist that swept toward Hu Qi from all directions.

Seeing this, Hu Qi didn’t linger to get entangled.

A white light suddenly flared from his body, becoming dazzlingly bright like a white sun, and directly forced the black mist back.

After doing all this, he did not attack again. Instead, his eyes glinted as he looked down and said with a smile,

"Mother Earth, this place is too small to go all out. How about we take this fight beyond the heavens?"

As his words fell, without waiting for a reply, a light flared from his body again, purifying and dispelling the shadows that were once more creeping forward.

When the light faded, Hu Qi’s figure had already vanished.

The surrounding waves of shadow also disappeared in an instant. The Valley of the Earth Abyss, which had been undulating like the surface of water, stopped shaking, and the spewing lava gradually subsided.

Looking closely, the inky-black shadow that had been hidden beneath the lava was also gone.

Hu Qi transformed into a streak of white light, instantly leaving the Earth Core. He reached the surface and then shot straight up.

His speed was so great it was as if he were constantly performing Spatial Shifts.

In fact, that was exactly what was happening.

The First Realm of Void, Void Transformation, is the process of using Void Power to reshape one’s True Body. This True Body is long since different from an ordinary body of flesh and blood; it is constructed from Void Power, making it far more powerful.

It can even control the power of space to a certain extent.

In simple terms, it involves using the Power of the Heart to precisely control molecular movement, breaking down oneself or surrounding matter into a molecular state.

These molecules are then rearranged and recombined to form a structure capable of rapid movement, thereby achieving an effect akin to traversing space or teleporting.

In an instant, Hu Qi crossed the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere.

The white light converged, coalescing into a figure that emanated a silvery glow.

He now stood in the void of space.

To one side, a massive, azure celestial body was slowly rotating. It was Earth Star.

Looking at it, he could clearly see vast continents and oceans of various shapes, along with continuous brown mountain ranges and white clouds drifting like silk.

On the other side was the white Moon Star, only a tenth the size of Earth Star.

And directly ahead was a giant star that radiated a scorching red light.

This situation was almost identical to the Solar System of the former Blue Star.

The only difference was that, apart from Earth Star, he saw no other planets.

Gazing into the distance, he saw the endless, pitch-black universe, with occasional points of light twinkling within it.

There were also colossal, dreamlike nebulae writhing in the distance, their colors variegated and dazzling.

He was currently in outer space, a place filled with extreme hazards like vacuum, lack of oxygen, low temperatures, cosmic radiation, microgravity, and depressurization.

If an ordinary person were to appear here without any protective measures, the vacuum would instantly cause the pressure inside their body to exceed the external pressure. The gases in their body would rapidly expand, causing it to swell or even explode, leaving not even a scrap behind.

But Hu Qi’s expression was calm, showing no signs of discomfort.

In fact, after reaching the level of a Refining God Venerable and gaining the Power of the Heart, a Secret Martial Artist could remain in outer space without any protective measures.

The Power of the Heart could insulate them from the various forms of radiation and low pressure in outer space; it was as if the Secret Martial Artist existed within their own pocket of reality.

As long as their Power of the Heart was not depleted, they would feel no discomfort whatsoever.

As for those who had entered the Void Realm and condensed a True Body, their physical forms required no protection from the Power of the Heart at all.

They could easily absorb cosmic radiation for their own use, and the various hazards of space simply no longer existed for them.

Hu Qi looked to one side, where the void began to ripple.

Immediately after, a figure of unimaginable size manifested.

Its lower body consisted of countless writhing, octopus-like tentacles, dancing in the void like terrifying giant pythons.

The surface of these tentacles was covered in mysterious and bizarre patterns. They would contract and extend intermittently, each movement stirring the surrounding interstellar dust and energy flows.

The tentacles were as dark as ink and exuded a chilling aura, like the limbs of a Demon from the cosmic abyss.

Its upper body, however, was that of a woman. Her face was as pale as frost, and her eyes glinted with an otherworldly light that seemed capable of piercing one’s soul.

Her long hair drifted in the vacuum like black flames.

Hu Qi’s gaze hardened.

He stared at this figure.

It was colossally huge, almost a third the size of the nearby Earth Star.

Standing before it, Hu Qi was like a speck of dust so tiny it could be ignored.

Evidently, this thing was the so-called Mother Earth, the culprit behind the repeated destruction of the Earth Star Human Race’s civilization and the source of the Black Blood Species.

Hu Qi was not surprised that she had followed him outside of Earth Star’s atmosphere.

With their current power, if they truly fought,

Earth Star would likely be torn to pieces before a victor was decided.

With Mother Earth’s power, destroying Earth Star wouldn’t be difficult.

But she hadn’t done so.

Based on her frequent hibernations and her practice of constantly harvesting human civilizations,

it was clear she was after something in the Earth Core. Until she obtained it, she would be unwilling to see Earth Star destroyed.

Moreover, he had seen her figure before in the Inheritance Illusion Mirror for the Taiqing Immortal Slaying Sword Technique.

This indicated that she was capable of traveling outside of Earth Star.

"It seems you are this era’s Heaven’s Chosen One. Hmm? No, that’s not right. Why can’t I sense any Power of Fortune on you?"

Just then, a slightly strange female voice sounded in Hu Qi’s ears.

It didn’t belong to any known language, but Hu Qi understood its meaning perfectly.

However, Hu Qi did not answer.

He raised his head, staring at the colossal Mother Earth before him.

A trace of greed and desire flickered in his eyes.

’If I devour this thing, how many Modification Points will it give me?’

As if sensing Hu Qi’s strange gaze,

Mother Earth’s expression turned cold.

"A mere, lowly member of the World Earth Race. You’re courting death!"

As her voice fell,

two more giant tentacles from below her body suddenly swept toward Hu Qi.

Faced with this, Hu Qi’s expression hardened.

With no intention of holding back, he directly unleashed the Taiqing Immortal Slaying Sword Technique.

A blood-red Sword Light flared, and the two attacking tentacles were instantly severed.

The severed tentacles disintegrated into a tide of black mist, which quickly began to coalesce, attempting to reform into tentacles.

But just then,

a ripple emanated from Hu Qi, spreading outward.

The gathering mist that was about to reform into tentacles vanished into thin air, as if swallowed by an invisible, giant mouth.

At the same time, the Sword Light, its momentum undiminished, continued straight toward Mother Earth after severing the two tentacles, though it had shrunk by half.

Just as it was about to reach Mother Earth, however, she casually slapped it out of existence.

"You are not one of this world’s Natives. Who are you?"

Sensing that she had completely lost connection with a part of her tentacles,

Mother Earth’s previously placid face showed a change for the first time.

Her eyes, as large as stars, stared at Hu Qi’s position.

In that instant, she had sensed a familiar aura.

However, the memory associated with this aura was too ancient, and for a moment she couldn’t recall where she had encountered it before.

Hu Qi didn’t answer Mother Earth’s question. He simply stood his ground, staring at her with a strange expression.

More precisely, he was staring at the palm she had used to swat away his Sword Light.

On her palm, a tiny wound had appeared. Although it vanished in an instant, healing rapidly, Hu Qi had clearly caught sight of it.

This made Hu Qi feel a bit strange.

’This Mother Earth is in the Void Realm, but her power seems far weaker than I estimated. She isn’t as strong as I imagined.’

’In that case, maybe I don’t need to be so cautious.’

Thinking this, the white light on Hu Qi’s body suddenly surged and spread.

The next moment,

Mother Earth watched this, and just as she was about to act, she seemed to sense something.

A flicker of confusion appeared on her pale face, but it was immediately replaced by shock and disbelief, as if she had seen a ghost.

"Th-This is... the aura of the Snake of Destruction? No, how is that possible?!"