"Haaaa…" Yan Zaizen deeply sighed, dismissing his five black holes. He now understood more about this mysterious trait in his soul. It was divided into two parts, devour and consume. Devouring is simply a force that grabs all things. Consuming is to digest and convert what is devoured into actual energy which can then be redistributed.
For example, soul crystals can be devoured and consumed at a fast speed, converted into his own usable soul energy.
Whenever he consumed something soul-related, his soul would receive direct benefits. The same could be said for body and essence. He also understood that the strength of the black holes devouring force and consumption speed were directly interconnected to his individual cultivation in body, soul, and essence. It was hard to quantify due to the different metrics of standard, but at the moment, his body held the strongest devouring force.
As for the protective seal, it was still there. When it activates, the greatest strength of the black hole can be mustered. However, he can't control or direct this. He could only sigh. If he had direct control over this miraculous black hole, what did he need to fear?
"Let's go." After some thought, he decided to take his leave. Dwelling on these matters wouldn't do much good, after all. He actually didn't know where he was.
Withdrawing the realmship, Lang Xue and Tao appeared along with. Their expressions were flicked with shock and disbelief. In truth, Tao didn't know much about a sub-realm collapsing, but Lang Xue did.
By now, they should've died.
Unless…
When she saw Yan Zaizen, she understood — they survived. She softly sighed in relief, her hand pressed tightly against her grand-sized chest, and she calmed herself down. Tao, however, was a little more innocent. "Is it over?" He directly asked.
"Mhm. However, I have no idea where we are." He mentioned, looking at Lang Xue in hopes she had a way to solve this. Otherwise, they will have to travel to another realm before getting their bearings. Luckily, Lang Xue did have a solution.
She withdrew a compass from her heavenly space. It had an arrow and no directional markings. Instead, there were strange characters on the surface of the arrow. It spun until it pointed towards a single direction, then the characters flashed with a faint grey glow. "We're pretty close to the Sirius Titan Realm, but we're rather far from the Elysian Realm." As she spoke, her eyes flickered.
Yan Zaizen furrowed his brows. Initially, he was going to travel to the Elysian Realm to see its rumored hell connection, but now…
"Is that true?" He asked, his eyes looking at her every expression.
"Of course! I have no reason to lie, hmph." Despite her words, her tone was a lot softer than before. She realized her estimation of Yan Zaizen was vastly below his capabilities. If he could escape a collapsed sub-realm, then he had his abilities worthy to be top-class.
"Haaaa! Fine." Yan Zaizen shrugged, sending a soul transmission to Lang Xue detailing the piloting method, "Pilot the ship." After giving this order, he went into one of the cultivation rooms.
With a realmship, they didn't need to worry about odd creatures because they could travel through the spatial void. He could spend his time resting, cultivating, and comprehending the essence of his new bloodline.
Lang Xue was caught off guard. To think that Yan Zaizen would suddenly give her the piloting method for the realmship, wasn't he scared that she would take control of it and leave?
In truth, Yan Zaizen couldn't care less at this point. Mentally, he was fatigued to the limit. He felt a sudden urge to sleep swell within his mind. Unwilling to personal pilot the ship, he pawned off that responsibility.
Bai Lufeng and Tao were incapable of piloting the ship due to their cultivation bases, but Lang Xue had such capabilities. Leave the task to those who can do it!
He found a comfortable bed and just dropped into it. It's been a while, a very long while, since he slept like a mortal. When one's cultivation reaches the Essence Formation Realm, sleep becomes non-essential. His mind wandered as his consciousness started to slip. Before long, his breathing reached an even rhythm. Sounds of snoring echoed in his chambers.
A month passed as he slept.
When he woke up, he had a sandy crust at the edge of his eyes. He rubbed his eyes to remove the discomforting feeling. With a good stretch, he felt refreshed, but he still felt a slight urge to sleep a little longer.
"Morning," Pinaka said softly. She was currently materialized in her soul form in the real world. Yan Zaizen trembled as he saw this True Spirit beauty. Pinaka's tone had changed subtly. It transitioned to a warmer, softer tone than before. If it wasn't for his familiarity with her, he wouldn't have noticed.
He lightly chuckled, "Morning! Although, in the Border Expanse, can't really say its morning."
Pinaka pouted but didn't respond. After that day, she felt odd in her heart. While Yan Zaizen slept, she protectively guarded his defenseless body and while doing so, whenever she looked at him, she found herself getting lost in chaotic thoughts.
Looking at this spirit, Yan Zaizen couldn't help but feel grateful and warm. In the moment of one's expected death, true thoughts emerge. However, he softly sighed when he thought of something. Placing these thoughts away, he asked suddenly, "Sirius Titan Realm, do you know of it?"
"...A little. It has existed even before my birth in the Chaos Era. At that time, it was a seventh-level, heavenly-tier force. At least, that was tens of thousands of years ago. It was one of the major realms with two suns, a planet that exceeds the size of its suns, and moons that exceed the size of normal planets."
"The name Titan comes from its sheer immensity. Sirius comes from its creator, the White Sirius Heavenly Monarch. An expert that reached the Heavenly Creation Realm." Her words caused Yan Zaizen's mind to shake. A realm created by a Heavenly Creation expert?
Wait, in that case, why is it at the seventh-level?
As if reading his mind, Pinaka moved her loose, long black hair away from her face, "the White Sirius Heavenly Monarch perished long ago. The realm no longer belongs solely to his force or lineage and was claimed by others. His name maintained within the realm was only in display appropriate respect to its creator."
Yan Zaizen looked at Pinaka as she calmly explained. This woman could always read his thoughts. Yet, he never felt uncomfortable by it. "Heavenly Monarchs, why the title? Did he rule this heaven?"
Pinaka was startled initially by his question, but then she recalled how this was the first time she referred to the realm beyond Heavenly Genesis. "They are called Heavenly Monarchs because they can project their own minor heaven, much similar to a conceptual domain. They rule the entirety of this minor heaven. All experts at this level are given that title."
"As for those who control one of the 33 heavens, they are called Heavenly Gods. After all, they control the heaven directly. Even Heavenly Genesis experts at the seventh level or higher are given the title of Heavenly Commanders. After all, they've reached the sovereign-level."
Yan Zaizen thoughts changed, he recalled an unruly girl dressed in red, Hong Hong, who cursed everyone to die - especially him. She baited and taunted them, giving everyone hope beforehand. Her sadistic means made Yan Zaizen feel immense disgust, but she had a spatial talisman created by a seventh-floor Heavenly Genesis expert.
She escaped due to this very talisman.
"Don't think about it too much. The difference of each floor is like the difference between the sky and earth." She said, obviously unwilling to dwell on it. She had her own share of bad feelings towards Heavenly Commanders. After all, her previous master was so close to claiming that title before his demise.
"The cultivation world is vast and grand. Even with my increase in strength, I feel that I'm still so tiny in comparison." He commented. Meteorite City was his whole world before, but now, it was lesser than a speck of dust in the vast universe.
"Until you stand at the highest point, you will always be unable to safely look down. As long as there's a sky above you, it can always collapse." Pinaka muttered. Her words were recited as if she was quoting another.
Shrugging, Yan Zaizen stretched once more, "I'll take one step at a time. Until the day I breathe my last breath, I'll journey on. Sooner or later, I'll either reach that point or the end of my path." His voice was careless and casual but contained profound meaning. "So I'll enjoy every breath I can." With a soft smile, he laid back on his bed to drift off in his unfinished bit of rest.
"..." Pinaka gazed at Yan Zaizen, her heart trembling, but she hid it well on her expression. Silently in her heart, "I'll follow every step and enjoy every breath with you. Perhaps one day..."
Yan Zaizen slept in comfort.
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[Special official 200th Chapter Author's Note]: It's been three whole months since we started, April 20th is the day that I, in my living room, was sitting and chatting with my niece. She was talking about Episodes(Choose Your Story), and I was talking about how people write novels! She wanted to make episodes, I always had the intention to write novels. Dusting off a plot outline I've been devising since forever with a deep competitive mindset, I put my fingers on the keyboard.
Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies was born.
Now, here we are. It still amazes me to this day every time I recall that I've written and published nearly 350k words[Counting Patreon] since. All I can say to the others who were like me, having the desire but not the drive to write, don't be afraid to simply put your work out there! You never know the end result. To those who supported me throughout, regardless of how, I'm profoundly thankful.