Chương 243: The Universe Within the Cauldron

"Mo Wuji! How dare you act so presumptuously?"

A deep, resonant voice echoed from outside the main hall. It was not the voice of the Great Witch Wupeng, but that of Prince Guiwang, a great merchant.

"Your Majesty?"

Mo Wuji's face stiffened, and he hesitated.

"You dare defy me? Or perhaps you intend to betray my Great Shang?"

Upon hearing this, Mo Wuji lowered his body, knelt on one knee, and called out to the king.

"Hmph, at least you know when to back down!"

King Zigui, clad in full armor, strode into the arena, his gaze sweeping over Mo Wuji.

The boundless rainbow light was suddenly unobstructed and instantly filled the entire hall.

The other generals under King Chonghou's command changed their expressions drastically upon seeing this. They knew perfectly well that the king was here to purge King Chonghou.

Instantly, boundless true energy surged forth, and they turned and leaped back to Chonghou King's side, resisting the onslaught of the rainbow light.

"Mo Wuji, what time is it? Are you perhaps going to betray the Marquis?"

The generals were frustrated by his lack of ambition; despite his immense strength, he always hesitated and held back when it came to such important matters concerning the nation.

If we had listened to them earlier and struck first, we wouldn't be in such a passive position now.

"Are you planning a rebellion?"

King Zigui's face was somewhat unpleasant. After all, he was the ruler of a country, yet these soldiers did not respect him as their superior, but instead protected their own brother.

Upon hearing this, the generals remained silent, but their momentum did not falter in the slightest. Having reached this point, retreating even a step would mean utter destruction.

"Brother, you have led a fine army; they are indeed loyal and devoted."

Zi Guiwang spoke in a sinister tone, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the seven or eight generals, a surge of anger rising in his eyes.

The generals felt their scalps tingle under his gaze, but they did not falter in the slightest. As long as the Marquis of Chong was there, they had the strength to fight.

The soldiers on the frontier are all their men; as long as they protect the king, the situation is in their hands.

"My brother, my brother, you are a talented ruler, but you are not a shrewd and decisive leader. You are indecisive and will not accomplish anything. Kneel down now, and I will forgive your past transgressions."

Zi Guiwang's eyes were cold, and his right hand remained firmly gripping the hilt of his sword.

King Chonghou, surrounded by his generals, looked at Mo Wuji, who was kneeling on one knee in front of him without saying a word, and his face turned pale.

It wasn't that he didn't want to fight to the death, but Mo Wuji's attitude was the most crucial factor.

As one of the top masters in the entire Shang Dynasty, he not only excelled in martial arts but was also outstanding in military strategy, political affairs, and internal matters.

He commands the most elite tribal forces, and gaining his support is tantamount to gaining the support of most of the major powers of the Central Asian merchants.

Before the Guixu Great Shang Dynasty was destroyed, he had once had a slight idea of competing with it. Unfortunately, after testing Mo Wudi's attitude several times, he did not get the support he wanted.

He himself is indecisive, and because of this procrastination, things have come to this point!

It's all about timing and fate!

King Chonghou smiled bitterly, his body trembling slightly, and he was about to kneel down.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't! We will fight to the death to protect you!"

A burly general with a gold ring through one nostril and a bear-like appearance grabbed Chonghou Wang and stopped him from kneeling.

With this kneeling, these generals became undeniably rebels!

There is no chance of a comeback.

If the King of Chonghou does not kneel, they will have a legitimate reason to fight and will still have the strength to contend with him.

"Your Highness, you mustn't!"

"Mo Wuji, are you going to use your supposed righteousness to trap the Marquis in a hopeless situation?"

"Mo Wuji, one day you will regret this."

The generals were filled with sorrow. They had conquered the world, and it was Zigui who had lost their ancestral lands, yet now they were the ones who had ended up in this predicament.

A surge of grief and indignation erupted forth, almost tangible.

These words made Mo Wuji, who was kneeling on the ground, look extremely ugly.

Both sides focused their attention on him.

"General Mo, you have fulfilled your duty to defend the land and made great contributions to expanding the territory. You are hereby granted the title of Holy Witch Sovereign and will continue to govern the thirty-six tribes."

King Zigui looked at him and said in a deep voice.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, but I dare not take credit for this."

Mo Wuji hurriedly clasped his hands in thanks, but as soon as he said that, he knew that he had no room for regret.

"Mo Wuji, I despise you!"

The burly general spat out a mouthful of phlegm, which transformed into a streak of light and flew towards Mo Wuji.

Mo Wuji neither dodged nor avoided the phlegm, letting it hit him, a complex expression on his face.

"Brother Chonghou, you and General Mo are both my pillars of support. This vast territory is all thanks to your efforts. If we one day reclaim the Huixu, what is the harm in bestowing Central Asia upon you, my worthy brother?"

King Zigui spoke with a smile, while the Great Witch Wupeng beside him waved his hand, and boundless rainbow light enveloped the entire hall, leaving no gaps.

"That's enough!"

King Chonghou broke free from General Jinhuan's support and knelt down with a thud.

"Your Majesty, I, your humble servant, thank you."

As King Zigui knelt down, the other generals looked extremely grim. They exchanged glances and couldn't help but let out bitter smiles.

Two people then knelt down.

The remaining people, though still standing, had transformed their initial anger into resolve.

"How dare you!"

Wu Peng, the Great Witch, turned cold and suddenly reached out. The rainbow light that filled the entire hall transformed into countless strange beasts and birds, which attacked the group.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The five generals, their bodies radiating true energy, each wielding a divine weapon, attacked the strange beast formed from the rainbow light.

"receive!"

With a clench of his left hand, the Great Witch Lord Wupeng unleashed boundless rainbow light, instantly drawing all the people and the strange beasts and birds into a bizarre space.

"Ha ha!"

Seeing this, King Zigui strode towards the center of the main hall where King Chonghou had previously sat. As he walked, his laughter was unrestrained and arrogant, making the lamps on the roof rattle.

"Please! Once His Majesty has ascertained General Mo's innocence, this great shaman will personally apologize to the general."

After Wu Peng, the Great Witch, finished speaking with a half-smile, two Divine Talisman Warriors walked behind Mo Wuji and stood solemnly.

Mo Wuji stood up expressionlessly and said to King Chonghou, "Both I and King Chonghou are subjects of the Great Shang Dynasty. Our hearts are as clear as the sun and moon and as worthy of witnessing by heaven and earth."

After saying that, he strode out of the main hall.

"Take your brother away. Make sure he is well taken care of. If he is left without servants even for a moment, I will not let him off lightly."

After King Zigui finished speaking, King Chonghou, like Mo Wuji, was taken away by several divine talisman warriors.

The starry sky and the universe!

As Zhao Rui watched the planet draw ever closer in the distance, feeling the immense gravitational pull emanating from its direction, a sense of solemnity welled up within him.

The mighty power of heaven and earth!

Being on the blue planet, with the sky and earth as the boundaries, one feels the vastness and boundlessness of the world.

Only by venturing beyond Earth and traversing the starry sky can one truly appreciate the vastness of the universe and the immense number of stars.

A person's perspective will always advance with their steps. Anyone who possesses a perspective that transcends the scope of their current world must be a person of great wisdom.

"This is the boundary!"

Mo Longteng pointed to the enormous, unnamed planet in front of him and said in a deep voice.

"This is?"

"Yinghuo Ancient Star! It's a planet that doesn't exist in your world."

Mo Longteng stopped keeping him in suspense and revealed the result directly.

Zhao Rui was taken aback and was about to ask a question when Mo Longteng continued, "I only learned about this change in the planets after I came to your world. At the time of the Ruins, there was no such thing as the sun and moon—only this ancient star, Mars."

"My father and I explored this place ourselves and found that this ancient star Yinghuo is not a real planet. It is more like a door, a door that you don't know what's behind once you push it open."

"At first, we thought it was the ancient land of Zhongzhou, since the spiritual energy had already recovered by then."

"But it was later discovered that the two places were not connected."

Hearing what Mo Longteng said, Zhao Rui felt as if his heart was in turmoil.

These words shattered his decades of education and his established beliefs.

"After arriving on Earth, I read many of your books and learned about the extent of your past technological prowess."

"However, everything is nothing but a mirage. As long as the ancient star Yinghuo exists, all worlds beyond the reach of Earth are not necessarily real."

"Because we can't fly out."

After Mo Longteng finished speaking, boundless true energy surged around him, and he suddenly rushed towards the space next to the ancient star at lightning speed.

In the blink of an eye, Mo Longteng's body seemed to have collided with an invisible and intangible transparent barrier.

It emitted a burst of crystal-clear light, and the person was bounced back.

The immense force took him quite a while to stop his backward movement.

"Did you understand?"

Zhao Rui's pupils dilated slightly; he understood perfectly well.

So this is the boundary wall, a spatial cage formed with the ancient star Mars as its base, enclosing the entire blue planet as well as its sun and a small number of planets.

The separation and reunion of Guixu and Lanxing are all within this spatial cage; there is no such thing as an alternate dimension.

"Who erected this spatial barrier?"

Zhao Rui frowned and asked.

"have no idea!"

"That----"

"The pinnacle of martial arts is the dead end!"

Mo Longteng suddenly uttered these words, and then slowly closed his eyes.

Let's go!

"Brother, what did you just say? Why didn't you transmit your voice?"

Within the protective aura, Mo Ling'er looked blankly at her brother and Zhao Rui, who were solemnly facing the enormous planet in front of them.

He asked, somewhat puzzled.

But what awaited her was a high-speed return flight.

"Excellent martial arts?"

Zhao Rui glanced silently at Yinghuo Ancient Star, then suddenly stood up and quickly caught up with Mo Longteng and his sister ahead.

The heavens and earth are vast, and the starry sky is boundless.

Humans use true qi as a medium, carrying boundless power, to break free from the shackles of their nature, roam freely, and reach for the stars and the moon.

Zhao Rui's heart was filled with turbulent waves; the waters of Blue Star and Guixu were far deeper than he had imagined.

He traveled thousands of miles to the land of Da Shang to find Mo Longteng because he knew nothing about his current realm.

Due to the passage of time, the highest level a martial artist in the Song Dynasty can reach is the Domain Realm. Even some reclusive masters find it extremely difficult to reveal themselves.

Now that Mo Longteng has shown himself, how could Zhao Rui not seize this opportunity to find out more?

The outcome was better than he had hoped; at least Mo Longteng was an "acquaintance" and had told him some things he wanted to know.

But this result was the worst possible outcome.

If there is no future in martial arts, then what exactly are we cultivating?

He wouldn't completely believe Mo Longteng's words, but the existence of the ancient star Yinghuo was definitely something he hadn't expected.

Just then, two things suddenly came to Zhao Rui's mind. One was the base that Old Ge had once taken him to, where it was said that he had discovered alien technology.

If there are boundary walls, how did alien technology come about?

Another thing is, what was the extraterrestrial demon he and Master Qingyang of the Taishan Sect encountered when they first set foot in the starry sky?

Zhao Rui frowned in thought, his eyes gradually clearing.

He has not yet reached the pinnacle of martial arts; the path ahead is long and arduous. If there is no way forward, what harm is there in carving one out?

The three of them transformed into streaks of light and flew swiftly towards Blue Star. The return journey was much faster than the journey there.

Before long, the three of them passed through the atmosphere, gliding through the brilliant light like shooting stars—well, they were already considered shooting stars—and flew downwards.

As the ground drew ever closer, Mo Ling'er's eyes widened in terror. The sheer force of the impact was enough to horrify even someone of her high-level Dharma Aspect status.

If it weren't for her brother being by her side, she would never have let anyone lead her to do such a thing.

That's terrifying.

"Look, a shooting star! Quick, make a wish!"

"I want a stunningly beautiful woman!"

"I want 100 million."

"I want to be king!"

On a distant, barren mountain, several tourists suddenly saw three streaks of light falling from the sky. They all thought they were shooting stars and quickly bowed their heads to make a wish.

After the three finished making their wishes, they looked up, their eyes filled with astonishment.

"What is that?"

In the sky, a rainbow of light transformed into a gigantic hand that blotted out the heavens, reaching straight for the three shooting stars.

The three meteors, which were originally falling straight down, suddenly changed direction and evaded the giant hand's capture.

But the large hand seemed to be a cut above, with a wider palm. Before the three meteors could escape, it had completely enveloped them in its palm.

Then the enormous hand that blotted out the sky disappeared into the night sky.

"This is a highly accomplished Dharma master!"

"It's from the major merchants in Central Asia!"

"Is war about to break out?"

The three were terrified and stopped climbing the mountain, running downhill in a panic.

In some unknown space.

Zhao Rui and his two companions were currently inside. This space had no sense of direction, and all they could see was darkness.

The space was filled with corrosive power, constantly eroding the martial artist's true energy.

Furthermore, there was an inexplicable binding force that restrained the martial artist's body.

"Where is this? Why does it look so much like the Central Universe that Father spoke of?"

Mo Ling'er exclaimed in shock.

"Indeed, it is the Central Universe of the Great Wizard Wupeng!"

Mo Longteng said, his face pale.

"How could this be? Why would the Great Witch Lord Wupeng attack us? Could it be...?"

"Indeed, His Majesty has made a move against King Chonghou!"

"That father!"

Mo Longteng remained silent. If his father was safe and sound, the Great Witch Lord Wupeng would not dare to attack them.

But even with my father's strength, he's slightly inferior to the Great Witch Venerable Wupeng, unless... the Great Zhou Dynasty— Mo Longteng shook his head, dismissing the idea.

King Zigui was driven out by the Great Zhou, so how could he possibly cooperate with the Great Zhou?

"Thinking about this is useless; let's focus on how to get out of here!"

Seeing that the two still had time to consider these things, Zhao Rui couldn't help but remind them.

"Um!"

Mo Longteng regained his composure and nodded.

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