Chapter 21: Rise – Section 4

Silence, absolute silence.
Just as the black-haired man spoke, the light sphere on the altar suddenly contracted, followed by a burst of intense light. A green pillar of light shot into the sky like a sword piercing the heavens. The sky itself changed drastically—within moments, a terrifying vortex, visible to the naked eye, appeared among the brilliant stars. It spun rapidly, drawing nearby stars toward it. The spectacle was so awe-inspiring it was almost breathless.

At first glance, the mysterious master’s presence weighed heavily on the pirates’ hearts like a boulder, turning their faces pale with fear.
The ability to manipulate nature, to change the sky, to devour stars—was he a god?
The mysterious master’s powers far exceeded everyone’s imagination, leaving the entire square in utter silence. On the Blood Wolf Pirates’ communication channel, however, sounds of heavy breathing could be heard one after another. Pools of sweat streamed down the pirates’ foreheads as the cramped cabin felt like a steamer.

At that moment, the light sphere on the altar seemed to have had its fun enough. It contracted again, twisted, and when it became clear once more, it took the form of an old man. His long beard and hair were a vivid green, like a clump of wild grass. He held a crooked wooden staff, its veins twisted, seemingly having endured countless years.

The old man had a kind appearance, but sadly, his first words shattered that impression.
“Wretched humans. Every time I see you, nothing good happens. I regret letting you in in the first place.”
“I regret landing too,” the black-haired man retorted sharply, disdainfully curling his lips in response to the mysterious master’s hostile words.

He had already adjusted his mindset. Since the mysterious master held such a poor view of humans, he needed to revise all his previous plans. Achieving victory through peace was now out of the question. At this moment, he couldn’t show the slightest sign of weakness.
No one would pity the weak. Nor did the black-haired man need their sympathy to achieve his goals. So he had to appear strong now.

Clearly, his approach worked. As soon as he spoke, he saw the figure on the altar frown slightly, seemingly surprised. Instantly, the black-haired man understood. Calmly, he reached out and opened the cockpit lid of the Killing Emperor, revealing himself completely to the other party, with a hint of mocking smile on his face.

“Speak up. What do you want us to do? What price are you willing to pay?”
“Hm?” The mysterious master was momentarily stunned by the black-haired man’s words.
“You could have blocked our scans, but you didn’t. If that was an act of hospitality, then why attack us nonstop after we landed? Add to that the changes in the cave. Is more explanation needed?” The black-haired man smiled casually, glancing around.
“The environment here is quite nice. That transformation just now must have cost you a lot of energy, right? Or do you really think of me as a fool? Can’t you see why you did all this?”
His smile turned cold, and his gaze sharpened like lightning.
“You want us to do something you can’t do yourself, but you’re worried about our abilities. You need to test us through battle. And spending so much energy to change the environment to show off your strength means this task is highly tempting for us. You’re afraid we might break free from your control, so you try to cast doubt in our minds through these tactics.”
At this point, his voice grew eerily solemn, even making the monkey beside him shiver.
“Stop wasting words. Tell me everything. And what’s your offer? Believe me, I’m a practical person. As long as the price is reasonable, why not help you?”
“You…” The figure on the altar seemed stunned by the black-haired man’s analysis, unable to speak for a long time. Its gaze at him was as if it were looking at a devil.
So unexpected… The human’s perception of it was truly surprising.
The black-haired man’s analysis was spot on. It indeed needed some help, and everything it had done was in preparation for that. But it never expected the other party to see through its plans at a glance. The feeling of being exposed was like being naked, sending a chill through its heart.
For some reason, at this moment, the mysterious master unconsciously placed the black-haired man on an equal footing with itself, no longer daring to look down on him in the slightest.
After a long silence, its expression softened slightly. Then it slowly stepped down from the altar and approached the Emperor of Slaughter.

“You’re right, young man. It seems I was careless. Very well. I can tell you everything. But you must understand that there are some secrets that shouldn’t be known by others. If I reveal them, you won’t have any other choices. Of course, after this is done, I’ll also give you a generous reward. Trust me—there’s no better reward you could find in this realm.”

Threats and temptations? How cliché… The black-haired man sneered as he jumped off the Killing Emperor and stood in front of the old man.

“Speak. I’m listening.”

It wasn’t actually that complicated. This mysterious master was just an ordinary alien from a realm called Califor. Unlike this universe, their realm’s technology wasn’t advanced. But they had highly sophisticated civilizations when it came to energy manipulation. It was one of such civilizations—a small tribe called Sicily.

The Sicily tribe was very small, with an exceptionally low number of members. Yet each of their members was highly skilled at manipulating the natural environment, especially controlling plants and animals, reaching the pinnacle of that realm’s civilization. It was said that at their peak, they could even use plants to create a defense system spanning dozens of planets in space, completely breaking free from planetary gravity constraints and turning it into something like a fortress. However, about 50,000 years ago, a great war broke out in the universe of Califor, involving almost all civilizations. They couldn’t escape either. During the war, the Sicily tribe’s most important Life Crystal was stolen by their enemies. Since then, they never recovered and became one of the weakest civilizations in that realm.

The Life Crystal was the source of power for the Sicily tribe and also a special tuning crystal. Through this sacred object, their abilities could be amplified exponentially, with an influence far beyond human imagination. So for the Sicily tribe, this was nothing short of a disaster.

The universe-wide war lasted for countless years, and the number of Sicily tribe members continued to decline. Yet they never gave up searching for their sacred artifact. Finally, 7,000 years ago, they discovered traces of the Life Crystal.

“You mean this universe is where the Life Crystal is?” The black-haired man frowned, interrupting the mysterious master’s narration.

After all, this was utterly absurd. Realms were different from other spaces and extremely difficult to cross. If that so-called Life Crystal had come to this universe, did that mean there were already races from Califor here?

A joke, truly a joke. If that were the case, human society would never have been able to develop. A mature civilization could easily sweep across the universe, wiping out all races and becoming an absolute dominator. But obviously, that’s not the situation now. The mysterious master across from him also seemed to find it absurd, shaking his head gently. “Not this universe. But right here!” “Hm?” The black-haired man was taken aback. “The galaxy you see was actually created by the Life Crystal. And it’s located deep within this galaxy, at the center of a vortex,” the mysterious master explained eloquently, though a hint of pain appeared in his eyes. “Our Sicilian tribe can control nature, but we can’t reach that vortex because it’s a masterpiece of the Life Crystal. It’s filled with terrifying ‘Bai’ elements—things our Sicilian tribe fears the most. If we’re touched by them, we’ll instantly lose all our power and turn into cosmic dust.” “If it’s that serious, why did you come to us?” The black-haired man stared quietly into the other’s eyes, his face expressionless. “If even you can’t withstand those elements, wouldn’t it be pointless for us to go?” “Not at all,” the mysterious master suddenly smiled. “Those elements are only deadly to our Sicilian tribe. They have little effect on humans. Your living environment is already harsh enough. No matter how powerful those elements are, they can’t compare to your environmental pollution. To be honest, your industrial waste is even more terrifying than the ‘Bai’ elements. I really don’t understand how you can survive in such an environment.” Is that so!? A flash of insight struck the black-haired man, who immediately thought of racial differences. Just as humans have their own quirks, the differences between cosmic races are almost like insurmountable chasms. An environment suitable for one species might be poison to another. There’s nothing much to say about that. But his real question remained unanswered. How did that Life Crystal and these Sicilian people get here? Could they, like the Mason Planet, have crossed dimensions? With this thought, the black-haired man cast another questioning look at the mysterious master. The latter seemed to sense this and suddenly smiled. “You want to know why I’m here? It’s simple. I passed through a point of rule transformation. In your terms, it’s called…” “Dimensional fusion.”