Chapter 121: The Celestial Emperor's ******

The source of space-time is at least somewhat useful, knowing how to suppress the unruly power of space-time destruction.

"Hmm, in the future, I can create space-time cross-sections, force them to collapse, and then absorb the destructive space-time energy released during the collapse to strengthen myself."

"Exactly, exactly! Let’s create them together and absorb them together. Two swords combined—we’ll be a pair of space-time terrors!" The Celestial Emperor, hearing Sang Sang’s muttering, nodded repeatedly and spoke without inhibition.

"Where is your racket?" Sang Sang asked, poking at his sore spot.

The Celestial Emperor instantly deflated. He had originally intended to condense a super-invincible, imposing Dharma manifestation, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be a badminton racket. Once set, it couldn't be changed, and his future source star core would take this same form.

Sang Sang offered some insincere comfort: "A racket isn't bad. You like using energy orbs and devourer orbs anyway; just treat them like balls and smash them at your enemies."

The Celestial Emperor took her seriously. He thought about it and nodded, saying, "Good idea! I’ll fuse the devourer star core into it as well and make a super-invincible, imposing 'Devourer Racket.' Every grid will be a space-time. No matter what I hit, it will devour without mercy, absorbing, converting, and storing energy. I’ll make it the number one racket in the universe!"

"Are you for real?" Sang Sang opened her eyes. Seeing the Celestial Emperor so passionate, as if the number one racket were already a reality, she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. "Perhaps you should reconsider. Although one usually follows the form of the Dharma manifestation when condensing the source star core, it’s not impossible to change the shape—it just takes some time."

"No need. The racket is fine. It can be large or small. I can swat star beasts or smash planets. Aren't the Zerg very arrogant in invading this universe? If I run into them, I'll just swat, swat, swat!" The Celestial Emperor condensed a racket out of energy and swung it wildly.

Sang Sang was almost caught in the crossfire. She casually cast a space-time exile. Sensing that the space-time energy the Celestial Emperor used to resist was somewhat abnormal, she narrowed her eyes and observed him closely.

The Celestial Emperor stood tall and proud, carrying his racket on his shoulder like a peacock fanning its tail, his entire demeanor screaming, *Look, look! Aren't I even stronger now?*

"Why has your aura changed?" Sang Sang frowned. "Both the space-time energy and the devourer energy are different from before. They have... a sense of destruction?"

The Celestial Emperor beamed. "I knew you’d be able to sense it, Sang Sang. Let’s have a go; let me test my destructive space-time."

"Destructive space-time?" Sang Sang grasped the crux of the matter. She flew up alongside him, her hands spreading wide to manifest a mirrored space-time. "You didn't purify the destructive aura from the space-time energy; you absorbed it directly!"

"Exactly. Destructive space-time energy has greater offensive and destructive power." The Celestial Emperor struck out with only half the space-time energy he had used before, yet the mirrored space-time shattered. He took a long breath, swallowed the shards, and licked his lips. "The mirror is indeed weaker than the real thing; that little bit wasn't even enough to fill the gaps in my teeth."

So arrogant!

"Then try my upgraded space-time imprisonment," Sang Sang sneered.

The principle of intercepting a segment of space-time was not difficult. Through the experience of rescuing Aslan, she had learned how space-time cross-sections were formed. Her current space-time imprisonment was no longer a simple restraint; it isolated the opponent's past and future, trapping them entirely in the present.

Of course, this isolation was not a severance. If an opponent were powerful enough, they could break the imprisonment and reconnect their past and future.

No past, no future, existing only in the present—it sounded like the state of Ye Xiu from the Time Clan. But Ye Xiu’s state was fixed to his own person, whereas the Celestial Emperor’s current state was fixed to a ten-meter radius around him.

One was a person who never changed; the other was an environment that never changed.

The Celestial Emperor stood at the edge of the confinement. He reached his hand out past the barrier and discovered that his hand disappeared. To the space-time outside, he was already in the past, so his hand naturally vanished.

"Interesting."

The Celestial Emperor continued to study the space-time imprisonment. Meanwhile, Sang Sang heard Tom calling her back for a late feast, claiming the Celestial Emperor was in seclusion and didn't need to be saved a seat. Little Jin was silently gnawing on energy crystals, saying nothing.

As the feast drew to a close, Jun Shi reported with some difficulty that the recruitment for the logistics team had passed the initial written examination and was moving to interviews. It had been decided that the Celestial Emperor would serve as the interviewer for the guardian knights, and she wondered if they should postpone it to wait for him.

Sang Sang, who was peeling a shrimp for Dodo, paused. She had almost forgotten the important matter. She turned her head toward the combat zone built on the roof of the castle. Just as she was about to release the space-time imprisonment, she felt a violent fluctuation of space-time. She nudged the little one toward Hu Yang and vanished.

The next instant, Sang Sang appeared in the combat zone. She opened her domain, intending to prevent the fluctuations from spreading outward, but it was already too late.

In the blink of an eye, the space-time collapse occurred. While Sang Sang’s reaction was instantaneous, the violent shockwave from the collapse arrived faster. The combat zone disintegrated, and the collapse threatened to engulf the entire castle, putting everyone dining below in danger.

When the shockwave from the space-time collapse hit, everyone in the Divine City who had condensed a source felt a jolt of palpitations.

The weaker Xuan-level practitioners only felt a warning from their intuition and panicked, suspecting that some peerless master was undergoing a trial of the heart and had begun a massacre in the Temple.

The Yuan-level masters had a much clearer sense. They knew the danger stemmed from instability in space-time and could even pinpoint the general direction. Discovering that the source of the tremors was Bishop Anthony’s star territory, those under his command naturally set aside their tasks and rushed to the scene using their fastest methods, while a few who valued their lives evacuated the area.

Within seconds, countless figures appeared in the void outside the star territory. Some sought the truth, while others feared the spreading instability and were ready to provide support.

Those at the Yu-level or above, who had grasped the mysteries of space, were dismissive of this minor fluctuation. They assumed some old friend was trying to break through to the Zhou-level and had made a mistake in their perception of time, causing the disturbance. However, when their divine senses swept over the center of the fluctuation, they were stunned to find it was Bishop Anthony’s star territory—a place occupied only by children and commoners, with not even a single adult above the Xuan-level present.

Before they could investigate further, Bishop Anthony activated a massive defensive array, driving their divine senses out of the territory. To enter now would require brute force. While not impossible, it wasn't worth the effort. Most shook their heads and let the matter go, though the curious ones summoned their servants or juniors to find out what had happened.

The most anxious of all was Knight Commander Kane. Bishop Anthony happened to be working in the Divine City, quite close to Red Leaf Star City. When he sensed the space-time fluctuations, his expression shifted. Both men shared the same thought: Had someone been arrogant enough to covet Sang Hongye’s laws of space-time, acting recklessly within the Divine City and forcing her to use her laws to protect herself? Combined with the Celestial Emperor—that fearless, monstrous youth—they must have caused a space-time collapse together.

Sang Hongye was their public trump card, full of immeasurable potential that could not be lost.

The Celestial Emperor was their secret trump card, with even greater potential and terrifying aptitude—a divine being who might eventually reach the height of the Lord of the Divine Court. He, too, could not be lost.