Chapter 1297: Entering the Game with One's Body

Chapter 1297: Becoming the Pawn

At this moment, within the Fourth Star Ring, one of the original Four Forbidden Zones—the Rift—collapsed utterly.

All within it ceased to be.

Dissolved into absolute nothingness.

The very notion of its existence was stripped away, shattered.

Even the chaotic currents of time and space were consumed, becoming part of the void.

Like an immutable decree.

An eternal absence.

Beyond, whether the Immortal Lords within the Fourth Star Ring or the God-Emperors of other rings, the perceptions of these supreme beings now converged with grave intensity upon another region.

Their gaze fixed upon the starfields where the Fourth Star Ring neared the Third.

That expanse of cosmos rippled.

As if a presence imperceptible to any below the rank of God-Emperor now merged with those stars, advancing in an inconceivable manner.

To the lives dwelling within that starfield, this was invisible, unfathomable.

For it lay beyond their comprehension.

Even deities hidden there remained blind.

Such an existence defied the limits of their understanding.

As though it were merely an abstract concept.

This concept was the escaped Ancient God-Emperor from the Rift!

His form enveloped the starfield; his consciousness transcended time and space.

His being became part of all things, rendering his speed unquantifiable.

And he fled.

Where he passed, storms engulfed the entire star ring. Countless bizarre lives were born within the tempest, only to die in the next instant—becoming inevitability, becoming fate.

Becoming fragments of the concept, fueling his advance.

Driving him ever closer to the Third Star Ring.

Yet his consciousness churned.

For he knew well: God-Emperors differed utterly. Even Shanghuang, grievously wounded as he was, held a Semi-Divine rank—the pinnacle of ascension.

Every movement would make all God-Emperors tremble.

Unresistible!

Moreover, he was acutely aware his own state was far from peak.

Long ago, defeated in the struggle for divine authority by the current Fourth Star Ring God-Emperor, he had been sealed for eons—

Continuously imprisoned, relentlessly weakened. Now he was grievously frail.

In such a state, facing Shanghuang’s Semi-Divine might, flight was his only recourse.

“The Divine Umbilical will not part for me.”

“The path before me seems clear: seek another star ring, borrow its divine breath to shelter my concept, thereby concealing myself!”

“Yet the Fifth Star Ring brims with immortal essence, unfit for the retreat of divine authority.”

Within this starfield-fused concept, the Ancient God-Emperor’s divine consciousness surged.

After Shanghuang’s descent, all causality collapsed; countless hidden things were laid bare, including traces of external manipulation.

This fractured causality, through his omniscience, gradually filled the missing pieces.

When completeness was achieved, the Ancient God-Emperor laughed.

“That Immortal Lord surpasses even deities in stratagem. Truly, the only one in history to ascend from Immortal to Lord.”

“His design always included me—from the start, weaving fate-chart consciousness through causality, driving the Fate-Chart God-Emperor to willingly sacrifice all, entering the Divine Umbilical.”

“Then luring Shanghuang, forcing me out—his aim was to send me into the Third Star Ring, paving the way for his next move.”

“He calculated I would go there, for only there did I glimpse a thread of survival.”

“He calculated I could not enter the Fifth Star Ring—for there, death was certain!”

“Step by step, ring upon ring. The origin lies with those two, themselves bound to Shanghuang’s causality!”

Within the concept, the Ancient God-Emperor’s divine consciousness surged violently.

Laughter rippled through the abstract expanse.

“But Immortal Lord, having used Shanghuang twice—though you minimized causal taint by one remove—”

“Truly, do I have no other choice?”

The next instant, a scene that stunned all observers erupted within the concept.

The Ancient God-Emperor reversed course, his concept instantly inverted, reappearing—

At another sector of the Fourth Star Ring!

Infinitely close to the Fifth Star Ring!

This act instantly shook the other star rings.

“You treat me as a pawn?”

As the concept spread across the border in unimaginable ways, invading the Fifth Star Ring, the Ancient God-Emperor’s divine consciousness echoed through all thirty-six Ascendant Star Rings.

“I, a Primordial Deity, stood supreme throughout my life—slaughtering multitudes, ascending to God-Emperor, gazing upon the path to Divinity—”

As his words resonated, every God-Emperor’s spirit roiled. And the concept he embodied now truly entered the Fifth Star Ring.

The immortal essence recoiled violently at his arrival, rippling in resistance. Within that rejection, the concept shifted from formless to tangible.

Revealing the Ancient God-Emperor’s terrifying form—a colossus whose flesh birthed constellations, whose swaying tendrils witnessed stars born and stars dying.

As if his very being were woven into the star ring’s rotation.

His voice still thundered:

“Those who scheme against me in this life shall not escape fate.”

“The Fate-Chart fell thus. And you—”

This divine consciousness crashed like celestial thunder through the minds of the Fifth Star Ring’s inhabitants, shattering like infinite lightning—eliciting wails, withering all life.

Yet he, in the act of broadcasting his consciousness, chose to deliberately shed his concealment, rendering his form more distinct, more vivid within the Fifth Star Ring.

Causing the Fifth Star Ring’s fortune to shudder under unbearable strain, while countless universes and stars trembled as if reaching their limit.

Having cast off his veil, the Ancient God-Emperor stood within the Fifth Star Ring, his presence blazing like a cataclysmic star.

Attracting endless gazes.

And drawing the pursuit of his pursuers.

Thus, in the next instant, within the void behind his essence, gilded pupils suddenly appeared!

Within them reflected all beings and phenomena, containing infinite universes, vast beyond measure, yet filled with sanctity and inviolability.

It was the Eye of the Primordial Wasteland!

, the moment it manifested upon the Fifth Stellar Ring, the entire ring’s cultivators felt their minds resound.

Each heart quaked with inexplicable dread, their flesh twisting as if warped.

The terror that had once gripped the Wanggu Continent now manifested across the Fifth Stellar Ring.

As all beings paled in fear, the Eye of the Primordial Wasteland fixed its gaze upon the Ancient Divine Lord ahead!

Yet the Ancient Divine Lord remained indifferent, his eyes cold, his expression resolute, as his divine consciousness surged skyward in that instant, merging his will into a proclamation that shook the heavens!

"No being may treat me as a pawn!"

"If you cast me as your piece—then the board shall shatter!"

Mid-sentence, the Ancient Divine Lord abruptly turned, facing the Eye of the Primordial Wasteland head-on.

He allowed his form to begin dissolving under the Eye’s gaze, never flinching.

Only his divine consciousness roared upward!

"Divine Sovereign, I forsake the vitality of the Third Stellar Ring, choosing my death to bind the Primordial Wasteland’s essence eternally within your Fifth Stellar Ring!"

The spirit of his intent, dispersing the instant his words were spoken, caused the Ancient Divine Lord’s divine essence to erupt outward, fracturing into countless concepts that formed a path of ascension.

In the next instant, the Primordial Wasteland’s gaze engulfed him completely, then surged along the conceptual path he had forged, spreading instantaneously across the starry expanse in all directions.

Its reach spanned nearly a third of the entire Fifth Stellar Ring!

Then came the sight that stunned all beings and deities alike.

More to follow.