"What happened?"
Antares's expression shifted, his gaze turning unusually serious.
Lin Moyu felt a sense of unease as well, though he had no idea what had happened.
Antares stared intently at his soul, "Did you encounter anything else?"
Lin Moyu thought for a moment, "That should be everything."
"I'll see for myself."
As soon as Antares spoke, a massive eye appeared within Lin Moyu's soul world.
Law art: Divine Dragon's Discernment.
Antares activated Divine Dragon's Discernment to inspect Lin Moyu's soul.
Trusting that Antares meant him no harm, Lin Moyu opened his soul for inspection.
The longer Antares looked, the graver his expression became.
His voice grew serious, "Have you come into contact with the Zerg?"
Lin Moyu recalled the incident, "Yes. I wanted to find out what happened back then, so I searched the soul of a Transcendent God 3rd tier Zerg."
"What did you find?"
Lin Moyu shook his head, "Nothing. There was no useful information in its soul."
Antares snorted, "Of course there wasn't. A Transcendent God 3rd tier Zerg is nothing more than cannon fodder. Why would cannon fodder need information? As long as it can follow orders, that's enough."
"It's no different from a combat puppet. Does a puppet need independent thoughts? It only needs to fight and kill."
"Go on. You weren't satisfied with finding nothing. What did you do next?"
The look on Antares's face clearly said: I know exactly what kind of person you are.
Lin Moyu thought for a moment and continued, "I delved deeper into its soul. At the very bottom, I saw something different."
"A colossal three-dimensional web stretched endlessly before me. Layer upon layer, countless strands intertwined. I couldn't even tell how many levels there were."
"The web was covered in nodes—so many that counting them was impossible."
"Then, at the center of the web, a giant eye appeared."
"It launched a soul attack at me, and I immediately retreated."
"Oh, right. It also spoke."
Antares urgently asked, "What did it say?"
"Those who spy upon my race deserve to die!"
"Heh... Those who spy upon my race deserve to die!" A strange smile appeared on Antares's face, and he repeated the words.
Lin Moyu frowned, "Is there a problem?"
"A problem? It's a huge problem!"
"Brat, you're in deep trouble. This entire world is in deep trouble."
"Do you have any idea what you've provoked?"
Antares sounded exasperated, and there was even a trace of fear in his eyes.
Lin Moyu felt as though he had accidentally offended some unimaginable existence.
Then he reconsidered. Something didn’t add up.
If the Zerg were truly that terrifying, how had they failed to conquer this world in the first place?
At that moment, Lin Moyu noticed a faint trace of amusement hidden in Antares' eyes.
He glared irritably, "Is scaring me fun?"
Antares immediately broke into a sheepish grin, "Ah, you've figured it out."
"Explain. What’s really going on?"
Lin Moyu knew something was wrong, but it clearly wasn't as disastrous as Antares had made it sound. At the very least, it hadn't exceeded Antares's ability to handle.
Antares chuckled, "What you entered was the Zerg’s soul network. The Zerg’s structure is fundamentally different from most races."
"They revolve around a single broodmother, who gives birth to countless offspring. Every Zerg is controlled by it."
"The eye you saw and the voice you heard belonged to the broodmother itself."
"The Zerg’s soul network is essentially their private domain. By entering it, you became an intruder; naturally they’d try to kill you."
"Although you escaped the broodmother's soul attack, it still left a mark on you. The Zerg can use that mark to track your location."
Lin Moyu said, "But I'm inside a small world. The Zerg can't enter here."
Antares replied, "They can't enter directly. But if they're willing to pay a sufficient price, destroying a small world is well within their capabilities."
"Besides, the Zerg aren't known for being reasonable. What you did is one of their greatest taboos."
"As far as they're concerned, you are now a mortal enemy."
"What the…" Lin Moyu was left speechless.
He just took a single look... How did that turn into such a massive problem?
"It's fine. The Zerg are far away. It will take them time to reach you."
"I'll remove the mark they left on you. Once it's gone, they won't be able to track you."
"The greater world is vast. How would they know where you are?"
As Antares spoke, a beam of light shot from his Divine Dragon's Discernment and struck Lin Moyu's soul.
Lin Moyu felt his soul lighten, as though something foreign was being cleansed away.
Moments later, the Zerg's mark was completely erased.
Antares withdrew Divine Dragon's Discernment and added, "Actually, the Shadowkind had left a mark on you as well. I removed that at the same time."
Lin Moyu felt a surge of frustration, "Do people in the greater world really enjoy leaving soul marks on others that much?"
Antares burst into laughter, "It's standard practice. You'll understand eventually. Just get used to it."
Lin Moyu was speechless. Was this really one of the unwritten rules of the greater world?
..
Deep within the starry sky of the greater world, the Zerg star racing through space suddenly came to a halt.
Their guiding beacon had vanished, leaving them directionless.
Far away in the depths of the starry sky, the broodmother opened its eyes and released a furious roar.
Its soul-echo reverberated through the silent void.
"Who dares interfere in the affairs of my race?"
"No matter who you are, I have memorized your aura. Sooner or later, I will find you."
The broodmother transmitted Lin Moyu's aura to the entire Zerg.
Across the endless reaches of starry sky, broodmothers awakened one after another as they received the message.
The Zerg possessed a unique means of communication, allowing their collective will to spread instantly throughout the race.
From that moment on, Lin Moyu was officially placed on the Zerg blacklist.
Within the Shadowkind territory in the greater world, a group of Shadowkind had gathered.
The figure who had attempted to ambush Lin Moyu, only to be wounded by him instead, sat slumped on the ground in a miserable state.
Around him stood a circle of Shadowkind elders, staring at him as though he were some rare specimen.
Each elder possessed overwhelming strength. Under the weight of their pressure, he hardly dared to breathe, let alone speak.
He had never imagined that returning to treat his injuries would cause such a commotion.
"His soul has been cursed. It's a composite curse containing several forms of damage."
"But that's not the most frightening part. I can sense traces of the law of time within it."
"I sensed it as well. Which human powerhouse cast this?"
"It appears to have been mastered only recently. The law of time is still shallow."
"Even so, anyone who can wield the law of time cannot be underestimated."
"To think that someone among the humans has mastered it... how enviable."
"It seems another unequaled powerhouse is about to emerge within the human race."
The elders discussed the matter animatedly.
The wounded Shadowkind felt like crying.
After all their analysis, none of them had actually treated him.
Every second, the curse gnawed at his soul, tormenting him with unbearable pain, yet he was being observed like an exhibit on display.
His hatred for Lin Moyu deepened further.
If given the chance, he wished he could tear him into a hundred million pieces.
…
For an entire month, Lin Moyu focused on refining the Coffin of Slumber.
During the first ten days, he stripped away the world force.
During the next ten days, he removed every law contained within the world core.
In the final ten days, he expanded the world core's internal space, transforming it into a unique environment of absolute emptiness.
A world core was a unique treasure formed only after the destruction of a world.
It retained certain fundamental properties of the world itself.
For example, it could contain an immense internal space without relying on the law of space.
Once its world force and laws had been removed, all that remained was space.
Within that space, even the law of time no longer existed.
Anything that entered would fall into a state of complete stillness.
As faint ripples of light spread outward, the Coffin of Slumber was finally complete.
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